Morte

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Mortimer "Morte" Rictusgrin
Planescape: Torment character
Morte Planescape.jpg
Created by Chris Avellone
Voiced by Rob Paulsen
Information
Gender Male

Mortimer "Morte" Rictusgrin is a fictional character in the role-playing video game

Planescape: Torment, voiced by Rob Paulsen. He appears as a sentient, levitating
human skull with intact eyeballs. Morte accompanies the protagonist, The Nameless
One, from early in the game. He serves as comic relief as well as providing a
significant section of backstory. His attack consists of both biting and
relentlessly taunting his opponents.

Contents

1 Character biography
2 Gameplay
3 Reception
4 References

Character biography
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Morte is a "Chaotic Good" floating human skull. Despite his lack of a body, he is a
capable warrior in many respects, biting with his teeth and distracting foes with
sarcastic taunts. His small size, lack of vital organs, and undead nature, protect
him from attacks that would normally inflict serious wounds. It is shown that Morte
and The Nameless One have something of a history together. His name means "from
death" or "with death" in the Latin language. It literally means "Death" in
Italian.

Morte is included in the party from the beginning of the game. He can help The
Nameless One learn much about his previous incarnations, unless the player first
removes Morte from the party. His taunts are useful as they prevent a fleeing
character from escaping, and can also silence spell-casting characters, forcing
them into melee combat. However, his taunts do not work on the undead, creatures
possessing low intelligence, or creatures lacking wills of their own. Morte
provides much of the game's humor, not the least being the random conversations
between himself and the Nameless One, whom he calls "Chief".

Towards the end of the game, The Nameless One finds out where Morte came from; the
Pillar of Skulls on the plane of Baator. Morte was pulled from the pillar by the
Practical Incarnation. The pillar is composed of the skulls of all the people who
died and have caused another to die through their lies. Morte is tormented by the
fact that, prior to his death, he lied to the Good Incarnation that Ravel could
make him immortal, and is thus responsible for The Nameless One's lamentable
condition. If The Nameless One convinces Morte to reveal this history and forgives
him, Morte becomes significantly stronger, his personal torment lessened.
Gameplay

Being a levitating skull, Morte is difficult to hit but actually packs strong bite
attacks. He also has a useful ability to taunt magic-user foes into engaging in
melee combat with him.[1] The game's lead designer, Chris Avellone, described Morte
as: "a smack-talkin' floating skull companion, who's kind of your compass,
encyclopedia, friend, and resident jackass. His only real combat attack is his bite
and the fact that he's gathered such a repertoire of insults over the centuries
that he can literally taunt people to death."[1]

Morte's weakness is female zombies. The game's initial project director Guido
Henkel said: "Let's say you're trying to sneak out of an area, when all of a sudden
there a female zombie shows up. Morte, our nice little sarcastic skull, has a total
thing for female zombies. He just has to shack up with them. And although you are
trying to sneak out somewhere, Morte will walk right up to the zombie and start
talking her up. That, of course, destroys your whole plan because you have no
control over his actions at that point."[2]
Reception

The character was critically acclaimed upon the game's release. IGN gave Morte the
1999 Memorable Character of the Year award, stating that as an "unusual-looking
character with a quirky personality to match, as well as some completely unique
attacks and special abilities, he is impossible to forget, and also plays an
essential role in making the entire game a memorable."[3] Eurogamer gave him the
Gaming Globes 2000 award in the category Male Supporting Character.[4]

In 2000, GameSpot included him on their list of top ten video game sidekicks for
"his unique interpretations of friendship and loyalty, and the strange brand of
comic relief."[2] In 2004, he barely "didn't make the cut" for a similar list by
GameSpy, rejected for his awkward habit of "hitting it" on "other dead people."[5]
In 2008, Computer and Video Games ranked him as the sixth best character overall in
PC gaming, writing that "amongst a pack of memorable characters, Morte is the one
you love Planescape for" and contrasting him with Tommy from Prey.[6] In 2011,
Maximum PC listed him as one of 25 of gaming's best sidekicks, writing that:
"whether he's chomping on your nearest foe, making lame pick-up attempts at your
female party-mates, or cracking wise about his life as floating skull, Morte is
head and shoulderserr, at least head, above other gaming sidekicks."[7] In 2012,
Complex ranked him as fourth on their list of top "pervs in games" for his
"insatiable lust for the ladies, living or not."[8]
References

"Moret | PlanetBaldursGate - A Member of the GameSpy Network". PlanetBaldursGate.

Retrieved 2013-08-03.
"The Ten Best Sidekicks | GameSpot". Web.archive.org. 2005-04-20. Archived from the
original on April 20, 2005. Retrieved 2016-12-30.
"1999 Vault Network Awards | IGN". Web.archive.org. 2001-02-04. Archived from the
original on February 4, 2001. Retrieved 2016-12-30.
"Gaming Globes 2000 - (6/19) | Eurogamer". Web.archive.org. 2001-01-11. Archived
from the original on January 11, 2001. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
"Top 10 - Top Ten Videogame Sidekicks". GameSpy. Archived from the original on
March 3, 2007.
"PC Feature: PC Gaming's Best, And Worst, Characters". ComputerAndVideoGames.com.
2008-02-23. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
"Thanks Buddy!: 25 of Gaming's Greatest Sidekicks". Maximum PC. 2011-11-22.
Retrieved 2013-08-03.
"Morte The Top 25 Pervs In Video Games". Complex. 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2013-08-
03.