| “ | TEC... You miserable machine. We all know what you're up to, traitor. In my most paranoid moments, I never thought my own computer would betray me. Well, it doesn't really matter in the end, I suppose... Especially since it ends here. Gack ack ack ack! Only one thing to do with a malfunctioning computer! Cut the circuit and delete all the programs and data that caused the malfunction! Obviously, all data relating to Princess Peach must go, as well... Yes, we must be absolutely sure nothing like this ever happens again... | „ |
| ~ Sir Grodus |
Summary
Sir Grodus is the crazed leader of the X-Nauts, and secondary antagonist in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
Prior to the events of the game, Sir Grodus was told by the Three Shadow Sirens that resurrecting the Shadow Queen would allow him to rule the world; the queen had the power to dominate the world without effort, and she'd obey the one that awakens her spirit and brings her a pure maiden to possess. Sir Grodus, hellbent on world domination at the time, believed this charade and immediately searched for the Crystal Stars and pure maiden. After coming into possession of the Magic Map's treasure chest, the Magic Map being the only thing to exist that can accurately show where the Crystal Stars are, he finds that he and his X-Nauts cannot open it, as they are not pure of heart. Grodus sets this as a trap for the pure maiden, and waits. As he waited, he managed to find the locations of three Crystal Stars on his own, and even obtain one of them.
This is when the events of the game begin to unfold, and Peach comes across the chest when visiting Rogueport. Calling Mario, Peach tells him of the place and that the map leads to treasure. She sends it to him to look at, and says that they should search for the treasure together. Beldam (the eldest of the Shadow Sirens) catches sight of this, but is unable to capture the princess due to witnesses. Grodus is enraged by this, and sends his X-Nauts to do the job, which they succeed at. When given Peach, he is annoyed to find that she does not have the map--having already sent it to Mario. Grodus then sends Lord Crump--his second in command, in a way--to go find info. This is when Mario arrives, and defeats the X-Nauts' first horde. Having failed, Crump returns to Grodus, whose plans are now progressing smoothly.
Grodus interrogates Peach in the meantime, who accidentally gives away that she sent the map to her friend Mario, who is looking for the stars himself. Grodus sees this as a small fix--he sends Crump to the Great Tree to try and find the second Crystal Star, and sends the Shadow Sirens to steal the map from Mario. But this plan backfires, as his minions return to him battered and bruised. Angered, Grodus now sees the score as 1-2. Soon, Mario obtains his third star, making the score 1-3. At this time, Grodus sends the Shadow Sirens out again, though his cunning fails once more. Irritated by this, Grodus ensures that his one hostage--Peach--stays by instructing his "flawless and perfect" computer, TEC-XX (or just TEC), to keep a close eye on the princess.
This ultimately backfires as well, with TEC somehow learning the ability to love from Peach and backstabbing Grodus. At first, however, Grodus does not realize this. Grodus--paranoid and scared of his failure--frantically sends his minions out to stop Mario, Lord Crump to Keelhaul Key and Doopliss to the Excess Express. But both minions fail. Around this time is when Grodus finds out about TEC's treachery, right as he's about to set Peach free, and pulls the plug (see quote for his reaction). This will ultimately lead to TEC's "death." Grodus takes Peach to the Palace of Shadow--ordering Doopliss to trick Mario into opening the door for him (which also shows he predicted Crump failing his orders. Correct prediction)--and headed into the throne room of the palace, then waited for Mario. When the plumber arrives, Grodus reveals that he'd been pulling the strings and that he tricked Mario into opening the door for him. The two do battle, with Grodus being beaten down, before revealing that Peach is his hostage and threatening to end her life if Mario chooses to not surrender. Bowser and Kammy Koopa crash into the room at this time, challenging Mario, who swiftly defeats them and follows Grodus, who'd fled the scene when the two Koopas came crashing in. He then awakens the Shadow Queen at last, but is shocked to see that she does not obey anyone, and finding that the Shadow Sirens had tricked him. He is then promptly blasted by the Shadow Queen--incinerating his body--and then blasted away, presumably killed. It is shown in the credits--after Mario defeats the Shadow Queen and seals her for eternity--that Grodus, Crump, Doopliss and the Shadow Sirens all lived through the incident, all of them becoming grateful for their life (Vivian convincing her sisters to turn a new leaf) and become good people. Grodus is presumably rebuilt and becomes a famous movie star alongside Lord Crump and the remaining X-Nauts.
Statistics
Tier: 2-A
Name: Sir Grodus
Origin: Super Mario Bros.
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Classification: Leader of the X-Nauts
Powers and Abilities: Superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, durability and agility, Pyrokinetic Magic, Cyrokinetic Magic, Electrokinetic Magic, His elemental magic can bust through natural defenses the enemy has and harm them, Force-Field Manipulation (Can protect himself with invincible barriers, imprison his foes and kill them by crushing them in the barrier, etc.), Can massively increase his agility and double or even triple his durability, corresponding to how many Grodus Xs are present, which can even lead up to Invulnerability so long as the Grodus Xs remain.
Attack Potency: Multiverse level+ (Can do battle with Pre-SPM Paper Mario)
Speed: Massively FTL+, likely Infinite (Could keep up with Paper Mario after the events of Paper Mario 64. Far superior to Lord Crump, who returned from being blasted out into deep space, far past even the moon, within, at absolute worst, a few hours)
Lifting Strength: Unknown
Striking Strength: Multiversal+
Durability: Multiverse level+ (Took two hits from the Shadow Queen back-to-back, which he had survived right after taking a beating from Paper Mario and Paper Bowser)
Stamina: Infinite (Can still be worn down through physical torment)
Range: Several dozens of meters via magic
Standard Equipment: Scepter
Intelligence: At least Genius (One of the most cunning, manipulative, intelligent and battle-ready characters in the franchise at the time. Outsmarted Mario easily, and used all his minions to make himself nearly win. Technically, he did win, it's just that the Shadow Queen didn't actually obey him. It should also be known that he created TEC, a supercomputer with knowledge of all things that is capable of being taught emotions, and always has back-up plans for possible instances of failure)
Weaknesses: Way overconfident in his abilities.
Notable Attacks/Techniques:
- Thunderbolt: Sir Grodus brings down a barrage of lightning strikes, bombarding all foes.
- Flamethrower: Sir Grodus shoots a fireball which, upon contact with the ground, bursts into a wave and blankets foes.
- Ice Beam: Sir Grodus shoots out a precise and acute beam of ice, which freezes with absolute zero cold.