#i might've overdone my proof there lol

[britishsass]

Mr. Zanotto

For @perish-lolz and their Psychonauts Worldbuilding Challenge, I'd like to discuss a character who is brought up a couple times, but never actually shows up in the game in any form other than photographs: Bob Zanotto's father.

To start off, I'd like to note what we already know to be fact about him.

He was Tia's husband.

They had two kids at least, since Bob is an uncle.

He is dead.

We have very little information about him overall, but there are some things we can infer.

Exhibit 1: Tia Plant's statement during the boss fight.

She refers to "Another dead soldier," but since she fell apart after the death of her husband, it can be assumed that Mr. Zanotto was a soldier who died-- most likely, in combat. The fact that in Tia's Greenhouse, her grave is shown to be not next to anyone else's? That implies that there was no body for them to bury.

Exhibit 2: The moth's statement about "Sailing away forever."

Personally, putting this with the heavy references to boats, sailing as the main mode of transport, and the fact that there is no body to bury, I would assume this to mean that his father died at sea-- and, specifically, meaning he was likely in the Navy.

Even so, I will acknowledge that this could be about Lucy sailing away and how Raz has been sailing off for a while here.

Exhibit 3: Otto's letter to Ford, and specifically the line about Gelsin Mux dying in a war in Grulovia.

It would not be unreasonable to believe that this war has been going on for quite a while since Grulovia seems to end up in a lot of wars, and it could have included the country that the Motherlobe is in, be it America, Canada, or some fantasy country.

However, I have another theory. This being a version of our world since France still exists, I decided to go on an adventure through history. Psychonauts takes place in the year 1982, meaning that the Deluge was in 1962. If we assume the Psychic 7 were about 40 at that time, that would place their birthdays around the late 1910s to early 1920s.

There have been some events in the Psychonauts timeline that still happened in our own-- For instance, Napoleon, Waterloo, etc. Therefore, if I'm pushing my luck a bit, it's extremely possible that his father died in the Psychonauts version of WWI-- and therefore, a war that involved a draft. Since Bob was known to be very young when his father died, I assume his father was drafted into the war.

I went off on a total tangent there, but anyways, my point is that it could be either a war that's taken its time to settle down in Grulovia or an entirely different war.

Exhibit 4: The photographs.

There is a photo of a man climbing into a truck on the walls of the house as you first enter Tia's Bottle. He's assumedly Bob's dad since he appears to be older, and there's no pictures of him with Bob. However, there is another photo.

Seeing as this picture has a black ribbon over the corner, a symbol of mourning, we assume this man is dead. However, this leads to one moment of major confusion to me.

If that man with the beard is, in fact, Bob's father... How is there a picture of him and Bob at close enough to the same age as Bob is in the vault, while there's also a picture of him when he's older? Therefore! I do not believe the bearded man is Bob's dad, but in fact, his brother!

Would also explain why he's not at Tia's funeral, too-- He's dead by the time Bob is old enough to remember things well enough, like in Tia's Greenhouse, where he's shown washing dishes.

Seeing as Truman is seen at Bob's wedding looking just as he does in canon, it makes sense too-- He's born while Bob is in his early teenage years, and therefore would be about 30 when the Deluge happens. I could reasonably see him being about 50, especially given his line to Lili.

"That's only going to be funny for a few more years" implies he's closer to old age than he appears.

~

Continuing on to a segment without any proof: I have a personal headcanon that he was a marine biologist with a focus on plants. He wasn't psychic, and his family was anti-psychic, but he found psychic powers interesting. He had dozens of scientific journals that were kept everywhere, which is why there are all those books in Tia's bottle's shelving. He was an amiable guy, and always there to help others, which is why Tia got close to him in the first place.

I think that he was a good man, but didn't have enough time to do everything he wanted.

~

So, in conclusion: My personal opinion is that his father was drafted into the Navy, and died there. He had an older son who died before Tia did, and Truman was born while Bob was pretty young.

Hope I make sense, have a nice day everybody.

#psychonauts worldbuilding challenge #bob zanotto's dad #bob zanotto's father #the owl posts #the owl writes #lewis zanotto #i might've overdone my proof there lol #death tw. #war tw. #i don't know how to tag this tbh #psychonauts 2 #bob's bottles #psychonauts 2 spoilers