Sir Grodus

"And then I, Grodus, will build a new world! A perfect, ideal world... Yes. A world made by me, about me, and for me! GAAACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!"

- Sir Grodus

Sir Grodus (or simply Grodus) is the supreme leader of the extraterrestrial organization called the X-Nauts and is one of the three main antagonists (the others being Beldam and the Shadow Queen) in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. The organization consists of X-Nauts, a band of thugs determined to capture the Crystal Stars before Mario so they can dominate the world with the treasure behind the Thousand-Year Door.

Background
Prior to the start of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Grodus learns of the Shadow Queen buried beneath Rogueport from the Shadow Sirens. Grodus soon begins his plans to find the Crystal Stars and use them to revive the Queen in order to conquer the world. He learns the location of three of the Crystal Stars (Hooktail's Castle, Great Tree, and Rogueport Sewers), and the Shadow Sirens inform him that a "pure maiden" is needed as a host for the Queen. The X-Naut organization eventually comes into possession of the Magic Map's treasure chest, though Grodus was unable to open it. He then decides to use the chest as a way of finding the pure maiden, since only a pure person can open it.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
By the time the story starts, Grodus has obtained the Crystal Star found in the Rogueport Sewers, which ends up under tight security in the Fortress. With this in hand, Grodus sends the Shadow Sirens to find a pure maiden for his plans. At Rogueport, Beldam eventually finds Princess Peach, a suitable candidate to be the maiden, but since there were too many witnesses for her to kidnap Peach, Grodus loses his patience and sends some X-Nauts to abduct her themselves. After Grodus is given Peach, he is annoyed to find that Peach doesn't have the map, having already sent it to Mario. Hoping to gather more information on the Crystal Stars, he sends Lord Crump back to Rogueport.

After failing to acquire any more information on the Crystal Stars, Lord Crump reports back to Sir Grodus, who began setting his plans in order. Grodus' first appearance is when he's interrogating the princess about the whereabouts of the map. Peach accidentally reveals that Mario is the one who's going after the Stars, letting him know that he has the Map. Afterwards, Grodus sends Lord Crump to the Great Tree to speed up the search, and sends the Shadow Sirens to steal the map from Mario. Mario, however, is able to defeat both of them, infuriating Grodus. After Mario successfully obtains the third Crystal Star, Grodus calls the Shadow Sirens once again to stop Mario, though this plan ended miserably.

At the Fortress, Grodus instructs TEC-XX, who he designed to be the "perfect computer", to keep an eye on Peach, but TEC ends up becoming infatuated with Peach and helping her foil Grodus' plans. He continues to send his minions out to stop Mario, such as Lord Crump to Keelhaul Key and Doopliss to the Excess Express, though they are always stopped due to Mario's intervention. As his plans continue to fail, Peach and TEC obtain Grodus' data disk that outlines all the aspects of his plans. With the disk, TEC is able to ultimately prepare to for Peach to escape.

Grodus eventually finds out that TEC has been letting Peach in and out of her cell and has been hacking into other files that he was forbidden to go into. He shuts down TEC just as TEC prepared to let Peach escape and then takes her to the Thousand-Year Door, leaving the Fortress and the final Crystal Star under the command of Lord Crump. However, Grodus planned for Crump's eventual defeat, knowing that he could trick Mario into opening the Thousand-Year Door for him. While Mario attacks the fortress, Grodus had Doopliss abduct Professor Frankly and disguise himself as the professor, using the guise to convince Mario to open the door. Once it was open, Grodus enters and waits patiently for Mario in the Palace of Shadow's throne room.

After Mario confronts Grodus at the Palace, he reveals he tricked Mario into collecting the Crystal Stars to open the Thousand-Year Door. Grodus then engages Mario in battle, using various forms of magic and technology to aid him, though he ends up badly weakened. Not accepting defeat, he reveals Princess Peach imprisoned in a compact force field, threatening her life if Mario refuses to surrender. As Mario stands motionless, Grodus attempts to attack him, but the ceiling comes crashing down on him, being crushed by Bowser and Kammy Koopa who fall through the ceiling.

While Mario fights Bowser and Kammy, Grodus escapes to the resting place of the Shadow Queen with Peach. Once Mario defeats Bowser and Kammy, he goes down to the Queen's resting place, where Grodus is waiting. Declaring himself as the new ruler of the world, Grodus summons the Shadow Queen, presenting Peach as a vessel for the Queen's spirit. Unfortunately, when Grodus tries to order the Shadow Queen to destroy Mario, the Shadow Queen does not obey and blasts him, destroying his body and leaving him as merely a head.

Grodus is shown to be still alive, although barely, as a mechanized head. The Queen attacks him again, sending him flying out of the room. The Shadow Sirens then appear to explain that they tricked Grodus into thinking that he could control the Queen in order to revive her. In The Thousand Year-Door ' s epilogue (narrated by Goombella, Grodus is revealed to still be alive, residing in Poshley Heights alongside Lord Crump and some X-Nauts, and has reportedly changed for the better.

Personality
Like many Mario villains exclusive to the RPGs, Grodus's origin is never revealed. While nothing is known about his past, Sir Grodus is presented as a serious, short-tempered, and emotionless villain bent on nothing but total world conquest. Taking his plans and operations extremely seriously, Grodus will stop at nothing to obtain his desires. Cruel and ruthless, Grodus is willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish his plans, even if it means taking innocent lives.

Despite being outwardly calm on most occasions, Grodus's desires often drive him to appear insane, even psychotic on some occasions. Whenever discussing the prospect of his plans, he goes off into a maddened laughter that becomes more and more frequent as the story unfolds. This can be seen as a true reflection of his obsession and just how desperate he is to rule the world and remake it into a "perfect world." When he is not laughing maniacally, Grodus is often seen giving orders and insults to his organization, seeing most of them as pathetic inferiors. He is shown to be very uptight and short-tempered throughout the course of the game, but gets more calm towards his associates when he gets closer and closer to unleashing the Shadow Queen.

Grodus has shown no form of emotion other than anger and bitterness, mostly directed at his henchmen for failing their many tasks. Grodus does not have any sympathy for his minions, seeing them as only pawns to be manipulated. He does not care for anybody or anything other than himself and would willingly take the lives of his own followers in order to insure his own benefit. This is shown when Grodus does not tell Lord Crump about his plans of Mario defeating him. Grodus appears to have as much compassion and sympathy for his own associates as he does for his enemies, showing mostly everyone around him as little respect as possible. Grodus also shows an extreme dislike for disobedience, as he demonstrated when he angrily demanded one of his soldiers to bring the Shadow Sirens to him (and not allowing him to finish his sentence in the process), as well as when he attempted to command the Shadow Queen. Grodus also sees Mario’s relationship with Peach as a weakness and was ready to murder Peach if Mario refused to surrender (although this was probably a bluff since he needed Peach's body in order to truly revive the Shadow Queen).

Along with stereotypical villain traits, Grodus is also shown to be highly intelligent. He is shown to be very skilled at technology for the simple fact that his fortress and all his equipment are constructed from technological advancements that exceed those found anywhere in the Mushroom Kingdom. His technology goes as far as manipulating magic and using it at his whim. Grodus also always thinks ahead and is never ready or willing to admit defeat. He always has backup plans in case his original plans fail. He is also very cunning and is always prepared for an infiltration, as seen by the puzzles and traps he sets up in his base. He has shown to be very manipulative, even to his own organization, in order to play out his plans exactly as he imagined them. This tactic often works and is primarily the reason why Grodus came so close to throwing the world into endless despair and chaos.

Grodus’s faults, which ultimately led to his demise, are his arrogance and overconfidence. He underestimated Mario’s abilities, especially in his battle with him, and believed that Mario could never overcome all the trials that have been placed before him. Grodus’s arrogance led to his ultimate defeat in which he attempted to command the Shadow Queen even after she displayed that she is not so easily controlled. This mistake led to the destruction of almost his entire body at the hands of the Shadow Queen and nearly killed him. Grodus remains alive because of the fact that his head is still active. It is unlikely that he will return however as it is strongly hinted that he won't at the end of the game.

Powers and abilities
"Meet your ends, you meddlesome fools! You will know my power!"

- Sir Grodus

Sir Grodus can create Mini-Yuxes called Grodus X. He requires 4 Grodus Xs to create a force field to protect himself. If a single Grodus X is destroyed, the force field breaks. However, Grodus's Defense is increased by 1 for every Grodus X that he has. Grodus is also very adept at magic, using his scepter to conduct it. Using the scepter, Grodus is capable of casting lightning, setting fire to his enemies, and freezing them. His scepter is susceptible to being stunned after being attacked, preventing him from attacking for a while.

Quotes

 * "I don't care how you planned to end that sentence, fool. Go get them. Now."
 * "I wonder if sending Lord Crump alone is wise. He's a bit...out there."
 * "And then I, Grodus, will build a new world! A perfect, ideal world... Yes. A world made by me, about me, and for me! GAAACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!"
 * "You blew it again, Lord Crump. You sicken me."
 * "Meet your ends, you meddlesome fools! You will know my power!"
 * "Move one step, and she will breathe no more!!!"
 * "Worm! You would defy me?!? Do you not care for the life of your pitiful princess? Very well then..."
 * "Stop your blubbering! Meet your ends! Now!"
 * "Huh? What do you mean?!? I thought you were bound to obey the one who woke you!"
 * "Enough of this prattle! Do as I say!!! NOW! Or I'll send you back to the depths..."

Trivia

 * In Super Paper Mario, a novelist in Flopside wrote the script for the TV Show The Grodus Chronicles (a pun on "The Martian Chronicles"), apparently featuring Sir Grodus.
 * Grodus's dialogue has an error within the game's script. If the player chooses "Don't attack", he will say "WORM! You dare defy me?!?", even though the player is doing what he said. Likewise, if the player chooses "Attack", Grodus simply tells Mario to stop his blubbering. The responses appear to be reversed.