Genie

''This article is about the character. For the species, see Genie (Family). ''

This page contains spoilers for the game Middens and Gingiva, continue at your own risk.

This page contains unconfirmed speculation and conjecture.

Genie is a primary antagonist in the series.

Personality
Ultimately, Genie views others as a means to an end and as inevitable pawns of natural law, but their tone towards someone varies largely with their relationship to Genie. In Middens, they are a playful, almost flirtatious mentor to the protagonist and the player. Genie speaks in soliloquies, often making use of macabre humor, text emoticons, and rhetorical questions; in Gingiva their dialogue is shorter and their attitude less pronounced; due to Genie's arrival being late in the game and likely because Gingiva is a Rift native (whereas the Nomad is unfamiliar with the terrain), they no longer serves the role of the tour guide.

Towards foes or even acquaintances, Genie comes off as blunt and uncaring, and they will willingly shoot anyone who gets in the way of their ambitions. Genie rarely experiences genuine fear and passes off most scenarios with the aloof, good-natured nonchalance of the dutiful administrator, though they do appear uncomfortable at the thought of being left alone and wounded in the Middens true ending, despite their earlier comments of experiencing a lot of solitude and forming the comfortable habit of talking to themselves .

Philosophy and Goals
Genie is driven by a number of aspirations: essentially, to act as the self-appointed executioner of Karma, to cleanse the Rift via violence using the Nomad as proxy, and to blindly multiply and further the existence of their species (discussed below).

Genie believes everyone -- perhaps excluding themselves -- is a sinner and thus may be killed once they become expendable. The ending of the first game reveals Genie to have something of a god complex, keenly devoted to their role as a deity in exacting objective and blind justice. To this end, they believe in their ability to read people fairly well and, have a lot of experience with victims and fatalities, to understand the intention and nuance of abstract concepts such as mortality and karma. Genie dually personifies Karma as a figure of worship and as their equal, as they often make decisions on its behalf.

Consequently, Genie has an aversion to any kind of purposeless, idle existence, and is willing to resort to genocide in order to purge the land of those who lead such a lifestyle, whom they dub "wasted lives" and "lost souls." A person may become "useless" after they have carried out their provisional life duty or duties (as determined by Genie), and, once this happens, they only have an insignificant existence to look forward to . Likely Genie's greatest fear would be unintentionally entering this despised state of emptiness themselves, though they probably believe this is impossible, due to the unending nature of their task at hand. Once a being reaches this point, Genie attempts to recycle them, in accordance with the series' Buddhist overtones.

Yet, Genie could also be viewed as an antagonist to Buddhism's ideals, firstly in their obedience to a Karma that can be personified  (and thus is tangible or material), secondly in their attempt for a permanent, unchanging existence, and thirdly in their opposition to any kind of "nothingness." Perhaps their devotion to those ideals causes them to be the very enemy of the they held ideals.

As well, Genie speaks very highly of the "cleaning" of the Rift using a "blood bath" when even it is as lost or as pointless as the ones they wish to "recycle", even the Time Nomad (and the player by extension) is as lost and to wander with out a point until they carry out Genie's goals.

Physiology
Compared to most other enemies in the series, which usually die after being defeated in battle, Genie has a remarkable, almost godlike survival ability.

  

Forms
In their primary form, Genie is a sentient black (white in battle portraits and brown in some artwork) revolver with a silver handle and functional human mouth and eyes. They are almost always viewed in profile and travels by bouncing about and making noises. For this reason, Genie operates best when accompanied by a mobile, capable host.

When endangered, Genie is capable of growing somewhat transparent purple arms and legs with yellow stripes -- perhaps a foreshadowing of their true, saurian appearance, although they look very similar to a person wearing a striped dress.

After being defeated by the Nomad for the first time at the end of Middens, Genie transforms into a large arboreal reptile with dorsal spikes, attached to a human hand bearing a pistol. The human facial

features transfer to the fingers of this hand, and where the arm connects to the lizard are various industrial embellishments. Along the muzzle of the gun lies what appears to be a deceased woman.

The serpent -- and perhaps reptile, by extension -- is a common Western symbol for deceit, venom, and revenge, all befitting of Genie's misanthropic nature and karma-centric philosophy. The ability of some lizards to lose their tails invokes imagery of rebirth. In Maori culture of New Zealand, the lizard represents misfortune, chaos, and death, as the lizard was believed to possess men and destroy their organs from the inside or to represent Whiro, the embodiment of evil.

Other possible interpretations of this form in regards of mythologies would be of the entity such as Ammit who is a female daemon with similarity to a crocodile and takes a key role of judging the deceased (as The Nomad has to commit suicide to face the genie thus being in the underworld) and it was known to consume impure hearts (and by extension souls) this was considered "to die a second time" which complements the title of the song that plays during the a part of the Genie's total confrontation; "Live a Little (Die a Lot)".

Another take on the interpretation of the Genie's lizard-like body is that of a chameleon, in the quote (from RevolverWinds (aka MyFormerSelves) on "Self-Fulfilling Prophecy" (A image containing the genies final form made before middens was released)) "The notion was that the arm that held the weapon could conceal itself through camouflage. This is never demonstrated explicitly in the game, just an idea tucked in the sleeve." which fits with the theme of a circle of violence as commonly revolvers are concealed when used or/and that the most dangerous foe within the game, was hiding in plain sight. One can also speculate that when the genie takes this form it is actually revealing itself and all previous forms had its body invisible, hidden or imitating another form and only the revolver head being visible, meaning your actions of violence was not your own conscious.

Genie is much stronger in this form and is now somewhat autonomous -- their health nearly doubles from that of their original form. For whatever reason, Genie only assumes this form as a last resort, despite its apparent physical advantages, which implies it may be somehow detrimental if maintained for too long or consumes a lot of energy or that normally being in this form makes its goal unobtainable.

If one were to use the item "Powder of Sympathy", obtained from the Opposite Time Nomad, on the Final Genie, it will say "What?! What?! Where did you get that?!!" and will then be dealt 99,999 damage, instantly defeating it. This is interesting, as "Powder of Sympathy" was a form of magic used in 17th century England, in which the remedy would be applied to a weapon, with the belief this would heal the suffering and injury the weapon had caused.

Reproduction
While not mentioned in game, the creator has admitted to Genie being female however she lacks traditional organic reproductive organs. Instead, their bullets serve as eggs which become fertilized upon contact with a victim's blood; this is an intended metaphor for the cyclical nature of violence and retribution, As the Genie in Middens is found laying in a blood stain, Implying the Revolver was born from a body that was shot by another talking revolver.

They do not appear to identify with one gender or the other, though their catchphrase "kisses" and use of emoticons could be perceived as feminine, and firearms are traditionally associated with masculinity in Western culture. Genie's speaking sounds are also done using filtered percussion sounds and clips of a female voice (which hints more towards femininity).

Parasitism

It is implied that Genie's procreation depends upon a willing host, as they seldom fire bullets autonomously. For this reason, Genie approaches both the Nomad and Gingiva proposing some kind of codependent arrangement. Towards the end of the second game, they mention their preference for working in pairs and not with a group of three, as per a typical weapon-user or parasite-host relationship. Genie is thus generally distrusting towards anyone outside the duo, as they may be perceived as a threat to their survival.

Without a partner, Genie seems able to live indefinitely. In Gingiva, they are found in a recluse vending machine awaiting the arrival of the protagonist, apparently trapped there for an unspecified period of time. However, this state of life is comparably stagnant and does not serve to fulfill Genie's goals as an organism.

Quotes

 * "Like flies nesting under the swatter."
 * "You know who you remind me of? The first person I ever shot. A cashier. They ran the register at a mart vending valueless product. Seeing me pulled on them, they were certainly stunned. I will never forget the look on their face. At first I took them to be afraid. But the inner prism of their iris inlet to a deeper truth. Their ineffable and permanent boredom with their existence. Is that how you feel? Bored. Is that why you play games? I am never bored, because my work is never done."
 * "As it happens... Everybody's got to die sometime, friend. It's just one of those irrefutable facts of life."
 * "Bada-bing bada-boom"
 * "Snapping someone's neck... Why, it's just like turning a door knob. Sorry? You didn't ask. Excuse my gushing."
 * "Have you ever killed someone who was in the thralls of prayer? Head to the floor and hands raised to a higher being. I have seen bugs held between a mans [sic] fingers and never did they beg for their lives. They fought to the last. Never have I seen any lifeform plead for its life like a man does. Don't be afraid of opening up to me."
 * "The rift needs a cleansing but it cannot cleanse itself by its own will alone. Let's give it a bath. A blood bath."

Trivia

 * Genie joins the protagonist as an item in the inventory in both games.

Middens

 * Both the penultimate and the final fights with Genie have their own themes: Live a Little (Die a Lot) and Doppler Effect, respectively.
 * Genie gives 1 exp. Final Genie gives 99999.
 * Genie's Complete appearance changes, as a different looking revolver's (still with mouth, eyes) and as it's Final Form, one image has Genie as grey with a woman laying on it's head, and the other has it Orange without the woman and different eyes and mouth

Explanatory Footnotes
a. "I've been alone for soo long... I suppose I've entered the habit of talking to myself. myself... myself... myself <_< >_>"

b. Genie says to Nomad, "You too have been recycled. You served your purpose and therafter became a wasted thing. Karma has spared you the boredom of your future. Thank Karma."

c. Genie refers to Karma as a "friend," "partner," and "bedfellow," and attributes causality to Karma's intentions and designs, as in "Karma doesn't care who it kills."

Citation Footnotes
1. [http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Bes02Reli-t1-body-d4-d5-d15.html Best, Elsdon. "MYTHS CONCERNING LIZARDS." MAORI RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY PART 2. Wellington: P.D. Hasselberg, n.d. 460. Print.]

2. [http://middens.tumblr.com/post/62083780107/hello-sir-middens-is-a-work-of-art-i-just Clowder, John. Question by Raina. Web log post. N.p., Sept. 2013. Web.]