Razputin
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- This article is about the video game character. For the Russian mystic, see "Grigori Rasputin."
Razputin Aquato (or Raz for short) is the main character of the game Psychonauts, voiced by Richard Horvitz.
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[edit] Life
He is a ten-year-old boy who was raised in the circus, he showed considerable psychic potential at an early age, but was forbidden to use his powers by his (unnamed) father. Raz's father commanded him to constantly practice difficult acrobatic maneuvers, leading Raz to believe that he hated him for having psychic abilities; in truth, his father was himself a psychic and feared for Razputin's safety, hoping that demanding physical training would help him develop discipline over his mental powers as well. Shortly before the events of Psychonauts, Raz runs away from the circus and breaks into Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, where the game takes place.
For reasons not explained within the game, a family of gypsy psychics from a rival circus family cursed Razputin's family to always die in water. Whenever Raz enters water deeper than a few inches, a supernatural liquid-like hand attempts to grab him and pull him beneath the surface. The Psychonauts manual refers to this eerie hand as the Hand of Galochio, which is named for the family that imposed the curse.
In Russian, Rasputin means "disreputable". This would probably make Raz suspect his father for hating him even more, especially being given a name meaning such.
[edit] Character history
According to an interview with creator Tim Schafer [1], "Raz" was the nickname of one of the game's animators, Razmig Mavlian. Schafer "stole" the name, and expanded it to "Rasputin", which was later changed to "Razputin" so that it could be trademarked. The name Dart (short for D'Artagan) was also considered, however the original Dart's character design was very different from Raz (see next point).
During character design, Raz was going to wear a long stocking cap and a thick winter jacket. This design was carried out until the character was computer animated. The animators abandoned this image because they felt that the long hat would end up looking like a ponytail and would cause gamers to think Raz was a girl. The cap was also very hard to animate.
Raz is the only major character in Psychonauts whose surname is not mentioned (many minor characters' last names are given as well). However, one level features a poster depicting the name "Aquato" and a group of acrobats, one of whom resembles Raz's father, and one of whom wears goggles like Raz himself. If this is Raz' last name, it is quite ironic in light of the Curse of Galochio his family bears.
Raz possesses one curious anomaly; he has five fingers on each hand while all other characters in the game, except Raz's father, have only four. Whether this oversight was accidental or intentional on the part of the game designers is unknown.
[edit] Psychic abilities
Raz starts the game with the ability to strike nearby objects with a large psychic hand and to "double jump" using a bubble of mental energy. During his stay at Whispering Rock, Raz also learns the following psychic abilities:
- PSI-Blast: The ability to channel large amounts of aggression into a damaging blast of focused energy.
- Levitation: The ability to levitate on a psychic ball that also allows Raz to move quickly, bounce in the air, and glide during a fall.
- Telekinesis: The ability to mentally move an object with enough force to inflict significant damage if it strikes another object.
- Pyrokinesis: The ability to focus psychic power so that objects or creatures burst into flame.
- Invisibility: The ability to become invisible to other creatures.
- PSI-Shield: The ability to project a mental shield that temporarily protects Raz from damage and, when upgraded, reflects it back to the attacker.
- Clairvoyance: The ability to see through the minds and eyes of others, which often shows Raz how others perceive him.
- Confusion: The ability to cloud others' minds, often leading them to attack other nearby beings.
