Mental

                           

This article contains spoilers. Read at your own risk!

Tah-Um
Biographical information
Alias	Mental Chaad Sheen (translated as "Wizard Exterminator")
Other names	The One Infinite The End of History Tah-Um the Magnificient (by Howard Brand) Tah-Um the Mad (by Charlie) False god (by Father Mikhail) Notorious Mental (by NETRICSA) Khad Shain (by the Witch-Brides of Achriman) The End of History The Evil Lord of Unreason
Homeworld	Sirius (presumed)
Status	Alive
Functions / Belongings
Rank / Occupation	Galactic overlord
Abilities	Immortality High intelligence Near-omnipotent magical abilities Power bestowal Necromancy
Physical description
Species	Hum-Tah
Gender	Male
Chronological and political information
Era	Tunguska Offensive Mental War
Affiliation	Mental's Horde Mental-Altani (SSBD) (Non-canon)

 

"The might of Tah-Um will crush this world, as it has crushed every other that stood against him."

―Lord Achriman warning Sam not to underestimate his master

 

Tah-Um, better known by mankind as Mental, is the main antagonist of the Serious Sam series. His appearance has been kept a secret since the series' inception. 

Biography

Mental is the last of the Hum-Tah, or the Infinite Ones, extremely powerful entities of unknown nature, who once ruled over intergalactic empires for eons.

It's unknown when Tah-Um started his genocidal campaign to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy, but it's believed that he has been doing this for thousands, if not millions of years. Allegedly, soon after this discovery, the Eillians were spotted and exterminated by Tah-Um. At least a hundred thousand years after, the Sirians too, were wiped out by Mental's armies once they discovered traces of those who came before him.

It is suggested that Mental wipes the galaxy clean of intelligent life once every one hundred thousand years. In between these cycles of war, he enters a state of hibernation and supposedly leaves autonomous machines (mostly around homeworlds of extinct species) on guard, watching out for any activity in the galaxy.

Origins

The first mentions of the Hum-Tah's existence come from the ancient race of Eillians, who discovered ruins of long forgotten civilizations:

 

"Of the infinite, there are three kinds:
Lost ones, they are lost in infinity
And useless.
Ones that create, they were our gods
They were finited.
Ones that destroy, they were banished.
But The One Infinite is still."

―Unknown

 

This ancient message hints that the Hum-Tah, with the exception of one, are all extinct or banished from the universe. Tah-Um, being the only surviving Hum-Tah in the galaxy, was slowly driven mad by loneliness, to the point of insanity, and thus, developed a deep hatred towards the younger races, as they were able to avoid the terrible fate which befell upon his kin.

Aliases

Although Mental's true name is unknown, he's known by several aliases:

• "Tah-Um" ("The One Infinite" in Eillian) was a name bestowed by the Eillians and is believed to be Mental's original name. He is also referred to as Tah-Um by his servant Lord Achriman, as well as Achriman's Propaganda Drones, hinting at the possibility of this being his actual name. Several other characters, such as Charlie, also refer to Mental by this name.
• "Mental" was a name bestowed by humanity (and various NPCs in Serious Sam 2 and Serious Sam 4) because of how chaotic and insane his army is. He is also called "Notorious Mental" by NETRICSA. He seems to have embraced the moniker by naming his daughter Judy Mental in Serious Sam 3: BFE, and his fortress the "Mental Institution" in Serious Sam 2.
• "Chaad Sheen" ("wizard exterminator" in Sirian) was a name bestowed by the Sirians before they were wiped out by his armies.
• "Khad Shain" is the name bestowed upon him by the Witch-Brides of Achriman, before they were corrupted into serving him by none other than his dreaded servant, Lord Achriman.

History

Battling the Sirians

Many, many years after the fall of the Ellians, the Sirians appeared and helped more primitive species, such as the Kleers. During their travels, the Sirians stumbled upon ruins of the ancient Eillian civilization. Soon after, they translated their old song about the Hum-Tah, revealing the danger that Mental poses. At the same time, coincidentally or not, Chaad Sheen ("Chaad Sheen" was a name bestowed by the Sirians) found the Sirians, too.

Mental began waging a war against them, executing their people and resurrecting and recruiting the fallen soldiers as members of his army. Soon enough, he had wiped out all of Sirius and its colonies, including firebombing the Kleers and reanimating their skeletons. Unknown to Mental was that Sirians had one more of its search parties out in the universe, which resided on Earth. These Sirians had left much of their technology and warnings about Mental to the humans.

After wiping out the Sirians, Mental hid in an unknown region of space, leaving an array of autonomous machines around Sirius, disguised as an asteroid field, for the purpose of alerting him should any intelligent life appear.

War on humanity

Main article: Mental War

Around two thousand years later, humans discovered old Sirian technology buried under old ancient Egyptian ruins. After some reverse-engineering, mankind obtained ways to travel between stars with ease. An exploratory force of the vessel Surveyor, led by Captain Sam Stone, was sent to chart out the remains of Sirius for a corporation. However, there was something unusual; the planet was surrounded by an asteroid bubble not mentioned in the records. Sam examined one of the asteroids and accidentally set off an alarm system in the process, bringing Mental back many thousands of years earlier than usual.

Having laying dormant for so long, Mental immediately showed extreme hostility towards the humans. He sent in his armies at full force, until the humans eventually suffered the same fate as the Sirians.

Mental's army

Main article: Mental's Horde

The logo representing Mental's Horde.

Tah-Um's main military force is known as Mental's Horde. Mental utilizes both technology and magic to achieve his goals. The extent of this can be seen in his army, where he uses cyborgs, executed enemy soldiers raised from the dead, spaceships, biological weapons, reanimated skeletons of long extinct races, manufactured clones of human soldiers, low-grade models made from sewn-together parts of KIA soldiers, telekinetic sorcerers, clones trained in casting spells, creatures made out of pure magic, labor animals, robots, trained war animals, mercenaries, and even plain vehicles. These creatures are often sent in very large numbers, which is possibly why Mental always manages to defeat any species he encounters.

He also recruits primitive races to bolster his ranks. He has established agreements with a race called the Aludran Reptiloids in order for them to work for him, and has even tampered with the evolutionary paths of some creatures so he can mold them into troops for his own purposes. He uses several methods to coerce races into working with him. In the case of the Aludran Reptiloids, he granted them magical powers. In other cases, such as the Zorgs, he simply paid for massive amounts of disposable troops.

This isn't to say that Mental has no intelligent creatures working with him; General Maxilla, Ugh-Zan III, and Ugh-Zan IV appear to be intelligent enough to serve as admirals or generals in Mental's army, and Lord Achriman served as Mental's chief strategist, philosopher, and propagandist. Also, Mordekai the Summoner was intelligent enough to properly use and research magic. These are most likely exceptions.

Mental-Altani

Main article: Mental-Altani

In Serious Sam's Bogus Detour, Mental forges an alliance with a planetary mining company known as the Altani corporation. He uses them to start producing a mutagenic substance called the "ooze" on a massive scale, and then has the company go from planet to planet and conduct various experiments on the native lifeforms. One of the planets that the company found was Earth; a planet Mental was already familiar with. Once Mental-Altani found Earth, Mental had them use the ooze on the Earth's ecosystems, wreaking havoc on the environment and polluting its oceans. His main objective here was to wipe out the human race and prevent Sam from saving the fate of humanity in the past.

Mental was fascinated with the properties of the ooze, thus he had the company begin experimenting on his own troops as well, in an attempt to enhance their abilities and make them tougher than usual. One of the test subjects used were Gnaars, but after they were exposed to the ooze, they became hostile, so the corporation decided to contain them inside vats so they couldn't escape.

Appearances

Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope

Set before the events of Serious Sam 3, the Mental War has only just begun. It turns out that not only did Mental target Earth and human settlements elsewhere, but also other planets with intelligent life on them, such as Pladeon and Shaanti. On the planet Shaanti, Mental advances his plans even further by conducting tests on a new superweapon. Sam receives a report from the EDF about this new threat, and destroys it before Mental can use the weapon for his own evil purposes.

Serious Sam 4/Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem

Set prior to the events of Serious Sam 3: BFE and after the events of Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope, the human space colonies have been all but wiped out by Mental's forces, forcing the humans to retreat back to Earth; the planet now serving as their last stronghold. Mental, ruthless as always, soon tracks them down, and a massive alien portal suddenly appears in the Tunguska Plateau in Russia, serving as a bridgehead for Mental's forces to invade and attack Earth. As his forces become established in the region and begin advancing towards Europe, several smaller portals begin to manifest in densely populated countries such as France and Italy.

At an unknown point during the Mental War, an alien race known as the Octanians became allies with Mental, since they both share the same goal of eradicating knowledge from the universe. An alliance was forged, and this new army vowed to help bolster Mental's ranks. Thus, they became known as the Cult of the Eightfold Manifestation. The Octanians managed to establish many bases and take over large human settlements, turning humans into the Processed with their Harvester Leviathans to serve as cannon-fodder for Mental's army.

A report from the Earth Defense Force found in Siberian Mayhem mentions that, with the death of the high-ranking Octanian general Ktapodius the Strangler, this has caused chaos and panic in the Octanian Army. Octinius the Swindler was assigned to replace the latter, but a combination of his terrible reputation among troops and additional sabotage by the EDF caused an increase in desertion rates. Mental was utterly furious at this development and his high command began looking into a replacement for their "cheap and obedient" ground troops, which ulimately led to the creation of the Cloned Soldiers.

Serious Sam 3: BFE

By the time Serious Sam 3: BFE has started, it is clear that humanity has lost. Mental sent wave after wave of his forces at the humans, wiping out their extraterrestrial colonies until Earth was humanity's last stronghold. During the war on Earth, many cities, such as Cairo, have become abandoned, indicating that the war took many human casualties. It seems that all that is left is a small group of Earth Defense Force soldiers posted somewhat in Egypt. The humans have placed their last hope on the Time-Lock, which is something that Mental seemed to be unaware of.

During Serious Sam's journey to power up the Time-Lock, Mental stages a final attack on the Earth Defense Force's headquarters, which effectively wipes them out. Now that the last bit of resistance is all but gone, Mental prepares to drop the Moon towards Earth in order to blow the planet up. Sam, however, fights his way towards the Time-Lock, hoping to get in there to give humanity one last chance. Mental attempts to stall Sam long enough so that he can be crushed by the Moon by sending in large amounts of his army and even Ugh-Zan IV, one of his trusted subordinates, but Sam manages to defeat them. As Sam heads towards the Time-Lock, he decides to give Mental a call and threaten him, but instead, Judy Mental, his daughter, answers his call. She tells Sam that her dad is about to "moon" the Earth at any moment. Right afterwards, Sam sees the Moon hurtling towards the Earth, so he makes his way to Time-Lock as quick as he can, right before the Moon hits and obliterates the Earth. In this timeline, Mental manages to finish off humanity, just like all the other species that encountered him.

Serious Sam: The First Encounter

After Sam enters the Time-Lock, he warps back to ancient Egypt. As expected, the Time-Lock alerts Mental from that time period that there is intelligent life on Earth, so he sends some of his forces to slaughter humans back then. This Mental is unaware of Sam's abilities at first, and sends only weak forces at him. However, after Sam slaughters them, he begins sending in more and stronger forces, such as the Highlander Aludran Reptiloid, against him. Sam still manages to slaughter every creature that Mental sends at him.

Knowing that something major is up, he sends Ugh-Zan III at Sam while he is approaching the Great Pyramid. Sam manages to retreat to the Great Pyramid and reach its top where the SSS Centerprice is parked. Ugh-Zan III scales the pyramid in order to finish off Sam, but Sam manages to manipulate the ship's security system to defeat Ugh-Zan III. After Ugh-Zan III is slain, Sam boards the ship and calls up Mental, who is not at home at the moment.

Serious Sam: The Second Encounter

By the time Sam crash lands on Earth again, Mental is well aware of Sam's abilities and tries to stop him with stronger and newer forces from the start. He seems to be somewhat aware of Sam's plan to get a backup ship, as he does things such as installing an Exotech Larva in front of the portal to medieval Europe. He even manages to steal the Holy Grail, which is used to activate the backup Sirian ship Sam is looking for. However, he is unable to use or destroy it because he nor his creatures are authorized to use it, as they are seen as 'evil' and therefore are not within God's mercy. Sam manages to defeat the Holy Grail's guardian, Mordekai the Summoner, and uses it to activate the backup spaceship. Before he leaves, he 'confesses' to Mental and mocks him by pretending to apologize for killing his monsters and troops, then he tells Mental he is going to get him.

Non-canonical appearances

Serious Sam: Next Encounter

Mental makes a brief appearance at the start of the game where he tells the evil Serious Sam Clone that he shouldn't get into trouble nor mess with Mental's Time-Lock. During the scene, his hand can be seen; However, Croteam stated on Reddit that this game is non-canon, so this is not an reliable element regarding his appearance.

Otherwise, the main antagonist is the Evil Serious Sam Clone, although NETRISCA's entries constantly mention that Mental has been involved with the new and old creatures Sam faces in the game.

Serious Sam 2

When Sam is warped to the last of the Sirians' home, he is informed that Mental has one large weakness; a medallion. However, the parts have been scattered throughout the galaxy in order to prevent anyone from using it against him. Armed with this knowledge, Sam sets out to get each of the pieces and remake the medallion.

After clearing out Mental's forces from several planets, he finally makes the Medallion and intends to use it on Mental. Sam managed to pierce the defense shield on Sirius just long enough to enter Sirius, where he did battle against Mental's forces on his home turf. After many battles on Sirius, Sam managed to find Mental's base, the Mental Institution. After fighting off many enemies, including the base itself, Sam finally managed to get to Mental and finish him off once and for all. However, little did Sam know that Mental was already preparing to leave and sent a decoy voicebox in a dark room to distract Sam long enough so that he can escape. By the time Sam discovers the decoy, Mental has already left Sirius and begins heading out to another part of space.

As an end of credits blooper during after Sam retrieves the whole medallion from Ellenier, Sam returned to the Grand Council's home and informed them about having the medallion. While talking to them, he notices a large supply of boxes with individual medallions in the room. Sam learns that the medallion actually did nothing and that there were plenty of them. Angered, he chases the Grand Council around the room wanting some payback.

Serious Sam: Double D

According to Sam and NETRISCA at the start of the game, Mental has been defeated. However, after exploring ancient Egypt again, NETRISCA starts to see that something strange is happening, as Mental's forces and crystal beacons made by him have been found. More crystal beacons and monsters are found in two other time periods, suggesting that Mental is still planning to wipe out intelligent life. By the end of the game, it is highly suggested that Mental is still alive and that Sam's fight with Mental was actually him vacationing and turning off NETRISCA during it. The presence of one of Mental's generals, General Maxilla, suggests that Mental is still active.

Serious Sam: The Random Encounter

Humans are getting tired of hunting down Mental in the past, so they send Sam Stone and a few pals of his to kill Mental in the future. However, Mental appears to be aware of this, as he sends hordes of monsters towards them, and tricks Sam and friends to enter a large pyramid, where Ugh-Zan is waiting to kill them after solving a switch puzzle in it. After killing Ugh-Zan, Sam and friends strike a cool pose and return to the present, disappointed that Mental was not in the future. Where and when he is, is never told.

Serious Sam's Bogus Detour

Set during the events of Serious Sam: The First Encounter, Sam discovers more hostile activity than usual in Egypt, and encounters new kinds of enemies, the Orcs. He soon discovers that Mental has forged an alliance with the Orcs, who have founded a planetary mining company known as the Altani Corporation. The company's success had caught Mental's attention, and the latter became allies with them, and the company is renamed to Mental-Altani.

As part of Mental's plan to wipe out intelligent life from the universe, he has the corporation set up various military bases and outposts of any planet that harbors sentient life, including Earth. Then, he would have them experiment on the planet's flora and fauna with the ooze, wrecking havoc on the planet's biosystems and causing massive envrionmental damage in the process.

Serious Sam: Tormental

Serious Sam is sent into Egypt to find the Mentaloptican, a cursed artifact that is rumored to have a connection to Mental himself. Sam finds this artifact, destroys it, and winds up inside of Mental's mind. Once inside, Sam eventually comes to the Vault, a sinister part of Mental's mind where he keeps his darkest secrets. It appears that Mental is aware of Sam being inside his mind once he enters the vault, as Sam can interact with him once inside.

With Mental now aware that his arch nemesis is prowling around inside of his own subconscious, he is unwilling to do anything to stop him, and instead relies on his schemas and the other fowl creatures that run amok within his mind to dispose of him and his companions.

Appearance

Mental's appearance is unknown. One can speculate that his appearance is somewhat hinted by logos seen on some of his army's vehicles or creatures, where he's depicted as a Cthulhu-like creature (as seen in Serious Sam 2).

Mental's hand appears in a cutscene in Serious Sam: Next Encounter, but this game has been confirmed as non-canon by Croteam, hinting that it must not be taken into consideration.

In Serious Sam: Tormental, Mental is represented as a large black bat-like creature with horns, a menacing-looking eye and a big gaping mouth. This image is also featured on the game's logo and on the various Moods that act as difficulty modifiers. The Vault contains a way to communicate with Mental directly however, appearing as a simplified version of his logo guarding the door to the Cerebral Gateway. Just like with Next Encounter, since this game is non-canon, it should not be considered reliable.

Relationships

Sam Stone

As the main protagonist of the series, Sam is Mental's archnemesis; these feelings are reciprocal with Sam as well. He sees Sam as nothing more than an obstacle, a threat, and a constant hinderance and annoyance to him and his grand scheme to wipe out intelligent life from the universe. As seen throughout the series, Mental will usually send in weak, disposable troops to deal with Sam first, and as the latter progresses on his journey and kills everything that stands in his way, Mental will send in tougher and more formidable opponents, such as some of his evil servants, of whom Mental believes Sam will never be able to defeat them. Often, Mental will deploy hundreds, or even thousands of troops onto the battlefield just in an effort to kill Sam. So far, all Mental's attempts at killing Sam have failed, due to the latter's superhuman abilities and skills in combat.

Mental has, occasionally at times, jokingly referred to as Sam as his "son". This is usually just for comedic effect, and nothing has been confirmed by Croteam so far if Mental is indeed Sam's biological father.

Lord Achriman

Lord Achriman was one of Mental's must trusted servants who served as his chief strategist, philosopher, and propagandist. Achriman had accomplished many things during his years, such as conquering planets and enslaving countless species or killing them if they refused to surrender to Mental's demands. For performing such a tremendous service to his master and preaching the deconstruction of the universe in favor of eternal commitment to Mental, he was awarded the Golden Cross for his service.

Mordekai the Summoner

Mordekai was one of Mental's most faithful and trustworthy servants, having served him for over 3000 years. and Mental had a huge amount of respect for him. After Mordekai died in a strange accident, Mental missed him so much that he resurrected him from the dead, although he was a bit too late in the process, leaving Mordekai slightly brain damaged. Mental nonetheless gave Mordekai the important position of teaching his creatures the art of magic for use in "truly evilish purposes".

Ugh-Zan III

Another evil servant of Mental who had served for an unknown amount of time. He was sent to Earth by Mental and entrusted with wiping out mankind on Earth soon after Sam arrived in Egypt. He served as a last-ditch effort by Mental to kill Sam and to thwart his plans.

Ugh-Zan VI

One of the members of the Warlock Giants, Ugh-Zan VI was entrusted by Mental to protect the portal in Tunguska. As such, he served as its guardian.

Personality and skills

 

"Like all conquerors, it is Tah-Um's way to ally himself with the very worst people in each civilization."

―Charlie to Sam

 

While Mental is never seen in any of his appearances and is rarely heard speaking, he is seen as highly intelligent. He is known to be a sadistic, cruel, ruthless, and manipulative entity who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. These quirks are also shared by some of Mental's servants, such as Lord Achriman and Mordekai the Summoner. Mental subjects anyone who dares to oppose him with alright cruelty and malice, and will not hesisate to commit genocide against other species, even if it results in their complete and utter annihilation. When the Sirians were defeated at the hands of Mental, he had the surviving rebels executed by beheading, and then resurrected them to serve as disposable footsoldiers in his army.

Although many of the creatures seen in Mental's army only serve as disposable fodder, he is not picky in choosing which species to add to his armies in order to bolster his ranks, whether it be taking primitive species and mutating them to fit his needs (as seen with the Fiendian Reptiloid Demon) or granting them magical powers or advanced technology in exchange for their servitude. One of Mental's favored tactics in assimilating intelligent species is by siding with the worst sides of their cultures (such as religious fanatics) and aiding them in overthrowing their governments, as he did with the Arachnoids.

Tah-Um's main intentions are to destroy any and all intelligent life in the universe. Said goal may be the result of deep-seated loneliness from one one of the last living Hum-Tah, while becoming envious of younger species becaused they escaped the fate of his people. Though it appears that he eventually simply took a liking to conquest and destruction, as he eventually had a daughter named Judy, though the nature of their relationship is unclear.

In Serious Sam: Tormental, which takes place inside Mental's mind, Tah-Um is portrayed as incredibly arrogant. Though he acknowledges that Sam has been a persistent annoyance, he also refuses to consider him as anything more than an insignificant insect compared to his own greatness. Bringing pain to intelligent lifeforms not only brings him joy, the mere existence of something outside of his dominion offends and disgusts him.

Powers and abilities

• Nigh-Omnipotence: As a member of the Hum-Tah, a race of cosmic entities that used to rule over galaxies, Mental is incredibly powerful and, quite possibly, immortal; never succumbing to age, sickness, or disease. Mental is so powerful that he could, potentially, be seen as a god himself, considering his nigh-ompinitence and superior magical powers.
• Skilled Magical Powers: Mental is extremely skilled in magic. An example of this is him being able to construct technomagical links, made from both magic and technology, that constitute the links that bind the bones of Kleer Skeletons together. Another invention of Mental's design combining technology and magic is the techno-magical ammunition replenisher, a device that supplies Mental's forces with unlimited ammunition. While Mental's skills in magic are indeed phenomenal, many of the devices he has created, including some which were made by combining magic and technology, have many flaws, and can easily be exploited by opposing forces.
• Power Bestowal: Mental possesses the ability to grant living creatures magical powers, such as in the case of the Aludran Reptiloids.
• High Intelligence: Mental has incredible knowledge regarding technology and magic, as seen in his forces, and the many technological constructs he's assembled, such as the life control unit, a device used to control resurrected infantry. He is also able to enhance objects with advanced technology, such as ordinary medieval cannons that have been enhanced with tracking capabilities and an auto-loading system, which led to the creation of the Rotating Cannon and Static Cannon. Despite Mental's superior intellect in magic and technology, however, he usually relies on his forces for whatever he commands them to do.
• Immense Strength: Mental has demonstrated immense strength. He has shown enough power to be able to push Earth's Moon out of orbit and force it plummeting towards the planet, resulting in destruction of both the planet and the Moon. Considering the size of the Moon (approximately 3,475 km in diamater) this would require an extreme and absurd amount of force to be able to achieve.
• Necromancy: Mental is skilled in necromancy. He has used this ability on several occasions in order to bolster his armies' ranks. Instances include the executed Sirian infantry (or "cyber-zombies") like Beheaded Rocketeers, and the Kleer Skeletons being resurrected after they became extinct.
• Extrasensory Perception: He was able to sense that his most hated adversary, Serious Sam, was lingering around inside of his mind in Serious Sam: Tormental.
• Laser Manipulation: A concept of Mental in the #howtokillsam series shows him emitting a laser beam on Sam from his eye, setting him on fire. Whether or not he can actually do this is unknown.

Behind the scenes

• Mental was originally intended to be the final boss of The First Encounter, and fought in his headquarters on Sirius. This was ultimately scrapped, along with the rest of the other worlds Sam was supposed to travel to. The finished game takes place entirely in ancient Egypt and Ugh-Zan III was made the final boss in Mental's stead.
• Mental was the final boss of the original Serious Sam prototype before it was reworked into The First Encounter and Serious Sam 2.
• Leftover files in the SDK hints that Mental was supposed to be a brain in a jar with tubes connecting to it.
• The First Encounter Croteam Bighead model was repurposed from a prototype version of Mental with their faces edited onto Mental's head and the Alpha Sam texture edited onto his body.
• In the game files of the classic First Encounter and Second Encounter, the Bighead's model is referred to as "Mental". The name "Bighead" first appeared in Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter's game files.
• There are two unused animations for the First Encounter Croteam Bighead model, that shows the creature floating in a bowl and jumping out of it. It's likely that these are a remnant from when this model was used as Mental during development. Cutting off Mental's oxygen supply appeared to play a role during the battle.
• In one of the original drafts for Serious Sam, Mental was the only survivor of the ancient Neurons Civilization along with his brother, who was more powerful than him.

Trivia

• According to his voicebox in the final Serious Sam 2 cutscene, it's hinted that Mental is Sam's father. It's left ambiguous whether or not this is true, or a joke about Star Wars made up to distract Sam.
• According to Ivan, Mental is 1340 "tentasquids" tall, although he wasn't sure how many meters a "tentasquid" equats to, as its an Octanian term.
• At the end of Serious Sam 2, after Sam defeats the Mental Institution, he examines the doorbells on the Mental Institution while looking for Mental's. The other names listed are the names of several other villains that are staying there. Namely the latter, Jack Napier, Lex Luthor, Darth Vader, Doctor Moreau, and O. J. Simpson.

Gallery

Pre-release

Prototype model.

Serious Sam: Next Encounter

Mental as he appears sitting on his throne.

Serious Sam: Tormental

Mental shown killing Sam in the #howtokillsam series.

Ditto, sending his forces after Sam.

List of appearances

• Serious Sam: The First Encounter (First appearance) (Voice heard only)
• Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (Voice heard only)
• Serious Sam: Xbox (non-canonical appearance) (Voice heard only)
• Serious Sam: Next Encounter (non-canonical appearance) (Voice heard and arm seen only)
• Serious Sam Advance (non-canonical appearance) (Not seen)
• Serious Sam 2 (non-canonical appearance) (Voice heard only and not seen)
• Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter (Voice heard only)
• Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter (Voice heard only)
• Serious Sam: Double D (non-canonical appearance) (Not seen)
• Serious Sam: The Random Encounter (non-canonical appearance) (Not seen)
• Serious Sam 3: BFE (Not seen)
• Serious Sam: Double D: XXL (non-canonical appearance) (Not seen)
• Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter (non-canonical appearance) (Voice heard only)
• Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter (non-canonical appearance) (Voice heard only)
• Serious Sam's Bogus Detour (non-canonical appearance) (Not seen)
• Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope (Not seen)
• Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE (Not seen)
• I Hate Running Backwards (non-canonical appearance) (Not seen)
• Serious Sam: Tormental (non-canonical appearance)
• Serious Sam Classics: Revolution (non-canonical appearance) (Not seen)
• Serious Sam 4 (Not seen)
• Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (Not seen)