Zardo
| Brave of you, to venture where you don't belong. This article contains spoilers about TowerClimb! |
"Hey you! Give me your stuff!"
-Zardo, Chapter 1
Zardo is the one of the main antagonists of TowerClimb, inhabiting both the lower and the upper towers. His main goal is killing every climber who enters the tower. In Chapter 1, Zardo attempts to hinder your progress by stealing your potions and berries, as well as running Zardo's Gallery, a dangerous coin-collecting game hidden in the Path of Exiles. In Chapter 2, Zardo sleeps in his house at the top of Zardoland, and serves as the boss at the Top of the Tower.
General Information
Appearance
Zardo has dark brown skin, red eyes, and a long white beard. His clothes consist of a dark blue robe and wizard hat topped with a purple ball. He always holds onto the Vapour Wand (even while asleep), a long yellow wand tipped with a red orb. In terms of size, he is about four times as big as the climber.
Powers and Abilities
Zardo can fly and teleport, and is assumed to have control over the towers. In Chapter 1, he appears randomly within the levels, where he can do little more than shoot at you with the Vapour Wand, whose shots can only stun you for a little while. These shots can also break blocks, as a blast berry or corrode potion would. Furthermore, they transform items that they touch, including berries. Zardo uses the short time you are stunned to steal all of your berries and potions, and scatters your items across the level. He also runs Zardo's Gallery.
In Chapter 2, Zardo never appears randomly within the tower. He shows up at 46F, the Top of the Tower, where he serves as a boss. As a boss, he has a plethora of attacks. The first thing he does is summon arcane lava beneath the climber, and commands the climber to give him back his stuff. In normal form, Zardo can fire magic blasts in either methodically or in rapid, increasing succession, or drag a magic ball at the end of a string along the ground. At the end of a phase, he can use the Vapour Wand to charge and fire a huge ball of magic, almost as big as Zardo himself. This ball of magic explodes into smaller magic blasts if it touches the ground, and can be reflected back at Zardo. This is the only thing that can stun Zardo long enough for him to fall into the pool of arcane lava beneath him. When big in phase 2, Zardo and fire a wave of magic bolts or 4 homing bolts out of his hands, and when big in phases 3 and 4, Zardo can fire single magic bolts out of his fingers, attempt to squash you, and summon a large laser that spins around 8 cannons in a circle.
Finally, he shows up at the top of Zardoland in his house, where he has a superhuman basketball talent, but only in his dreams.
Roles
In TowerClimb, Zardo attempts to stop you from reaching the top of his tower, where he keeps his "greatest possession", the ??? (also known as the Z-Sword). He does this by trying to steal your stuff, attempting to kill you in a sadistic game, and trying to kill you himself at the Top of the Tower. It is implied that he made the upper tower, as it contains two locations named after him (Zardoland and Club Z). Furthermore, there is a temple near the top of the tower devoted to him, filled with crazed devotes and Watchers to keep them in check. He, or someone related to him, supposedly created a religion out of the tower.
Zardo's Gallery
Main article: Zardo's Gallery
Zardo runs his own gallery in Chapter 1 within the Path of Exiles shortcuts. In the gallery, the climber has to collect 3 coins in 15 seconds, suspended over lava, while hopping across 6 blocks, 3 of which are directly above the rest, facing death if they cannot. Spikes gradually begin to cover the blocks, and jump berries are given at the start of each round. The climber has to complete 4 rounds to survive.
Z-Ball
Main article: Z-Ball
Inside Zardo's dream, Zardo is a very talented basketball star. He challenges the climber to a 1 on 1 match, where the first person to score 11 points wins.
Trivia
- Zardo, despite attempting to steal your stuff in Chapter 1, claims that he "hates thieves" at the end of Chapter 2 when you try to take his sword.
- Zardo has different text when encountered at the Top of the Tower on Easy mode; instead of calling you a thief, he calls you a child and says that you are too young to wield his sword.
- The plush toy Zardo has in his house is a smaller replica of the giant stuffed animal holding the "GAME" sign at the entrance of Zardo's Gallery.