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The Magician, also known as Type-0 (マジシャン) is a fictional character in Sega's popular House of the Dead series. The character is a sentient mutant android that, unlike many House of the Dead characters, possesses superior intelligence, heavy physical odurability, and conscious self-awareness. Magician also makes the most cameo appearances in the whole House of the Dead series, making an appearance as a final boss in House of the Dead, a deuteragonist and boss in House of the Dead 2, and again as a final boss in House of the Dead 4 Special.

The character has maintained a similar distinct design over the years, and has come to be recognized as the most popular character and enemy in the series. His theme (titled simply as Magician's Theme) is one of Sega's most popular compositions, and has been used in multiple games outside of the House of the Dead franchise.

Conception and Design
Introduced in The House of the Dead, the Magician was designed to bear a resemblance to several entities and creatures--with the most notable allusion being Lucifer, as both turned against their creators and bearing a desire for destruction in order to create a reformation. His demonic appearance also links his synonymity with malevolence, as well as a physical manifestation of his creator's declining mental state.

Magician's original concept art was displayed in the back of the original Japanese release of House of the Dead for the Sega Saturn. The artwork reveals that the Magician is a synthetic being, as it shows the mutant's exposed brain and a pair of ram horns above that have yet to be attached to his skull. Thick wires are attached behind the Magician's cranium, possibly being used to program data and information into the being's brain. The concept art depicts the lower half of Magician's body missing, instead revealing a mechanical spine.

The Magician appears as a tall, slender mutant with white, scaled armor and exposed musculature on his upper left arm, lower right arm, upper left leg, lower right leg, and the right section of his face. Over his exposed muscle are thick, black cables that pulsate like a heartbeat. His hands and feet are large in size, and his face is slender and human-like. A notable red scar runs into his left eye, and on top of his head are black, curled ram horns. Though his body shows deterioration in House of the Dead 2 and extensive modification in House of the Dead 4 Special, his appearance remains the same.

Background
The Magician was created by geneticist Dr. Roy Curien whom, after toiling as a single father in supporting his son through near-death sickness, began to lose his sanity and sought to tear the fabric between life and death. His research lead him to create hundreds of undead mutants which he unleashed on fellow scientists working under his leadership within his mansion. Aside from these mutants, Curien had worked on four other creatures which the AMS would battle as they ploughed through the doctor's abode. These beings consisted of Chariot, a zombie clad in durable steel armor, Hangedman, a creature consisting of a fusion between humanoid and Chiropteran genetic strains, Hermit, a large spider-like creature, and Magician.

Magician was dubbed by Curien, himself as his "masterpiece". Magician's concept art reveals that he was a synthetic being created with a fusion of humanoid and cybernetic components. Curien's intentions with the Magician remain mainly unknown, but speculations point to couple different possible outcomes. Due to Curien's mental instability, the doctor may have wanted Magician to destroy humanity. This theory is backed up by the fact that Magician was created with a strain called Formula X, which was a chemical referenced in House of the Dead Overkill as the main cause of zombie outbreaks and as a nameless antidote in House of the Dead 3 as being a potential gateway to curing Curien's son. Due to Formula X's unstable nature however, Curien's excessive proliferation of the chemical resulted in zombie outbreaks occurring in the doctor's domicile, which would later spread throughout the world in future House of the Dead games. The antidote was originally supposed to be used to create genetically-modified super-soldiers to fight in World War II, but was never completed and was kept in an underground bunker until it was rediscovered by a psychotic Clement Darling from House of the Dead Overkill in 1990. Because Formula X has a background of a chemical being used in warfare, this is what could have caused Magician to be violent, and was most likely created to be used as a bioweapon against humanity.

Curien mingled Formula X with other genetic strains and cybernetic implants to create Magician, whose physical appearance may have been wither modelled after the quasi-medieval architecture of Curien's mansion or was resulted as so due to the doctor's psychotic mind. Magician was revealed by the doctor to AMS Agents Thomas Rogan and Agent G on December of 1996 after the Agents confront him in his laboratory. The android however, reveals himself to be self-aware, and kills the mad doctor. It was most likely Magician's self-awareness combined with Formula X's history of being originally used for war that had Magician murder his creator.

Appearances
In video games

The Magician, named after a tarot card in the occult Major Arcana like the other House of the Dead bosses, first appeared in the 1996 SEGA rail-shooter House of the Dead as the magnum opus of the main protagonist Dr. Roy Curien and acts as the final boss of the game. Upon unleashing the mutant to AMS Agents who have come to stop the doctor from releasing zombies out into the world, Magician reveals that he is in fact self-aware, and will not take instruction from anyone. Magician then proceeds to brutally kill his creator with a ball of fire, before escaping out onto the balcony. AMS Agents Thomas Rogan and Agent G pursue the mutant and eagage him in a final battle. The Magician, wielding pyrokinesis and rapid-quick levitation, acts as a difficult adversary that takes patience to kill. Upon defeat, the Magician utters a chilling omen, whispering in a hostile manner to the Agents "You...haven't seen...anything...yet!" before succumbing to death in a fiery explosion.

The Magician's second appearance occurs in House of the Dead 2 as the second to final boss of the game. Reanimated by the maniacal Caleb Goldman, head of the pharmaceutical DBR corporation, Magician acted as a researcher for Goldman's experimentations and incomplete theories regarding life and death. Magician was housed in the Goldman building in Venice to oversee the creation and birth of a mutant monikered Emperor, and was tasked to safeguard it during incubation. AMS Agents James Taylor and Gary Stewart arrive at the building's plaza to put a stop to Goldman's plans, but they are waylaid by the Magician, who now displays loyalty to both Goldman and Emperor. Magician's appearance in House of the Dead 2 is far more grotesque than his previous incarnation--and appears to the Agents as badly scarred, bloodied, and infected from exposure to Goldman's experiments. Out of his body jut what is either pink worms, veins, or red wires. Because he is an android instead of a human, his body is only what deteriorates while his mind and intelligence remains intact. Though his body is in a weakened state, and the fact that the AMS possess the upper hands by now possessing knowledge of the Magician's weak points, this does not Magician any more an easy adversary. Like the previous game, Magician relies on the mastery of fire as defense and attack. He will be persistent with the Agents and attack at greater speeds the more his health deteriorates, until he is eventually defeated by the Agents and dies out in the plaza.

The Magician makes an appearance in both House of the Dead 3 and House of the Dead 4 Special. In the third game, Magician himself does not actually appear, but is instead mentioned in a flashback, and a picture of him can be seen the beginning of the same level the flashback is shown in. Along with these subtle appearances is a golden statuette of Magician that can be seen flying in one area of the game, that if shot by the player in the brief time it appears in can grant the player a whopping 2000 points.

In House of the Dead 4 Special, Magician is resurrected as the final boss. AMS Agents Kate Green and Agent G attempt to thwart him, but end up appearing too late, and Magician breaks out of his incubation chamber by smashing the glass encasing him. Magician recognizes the agents, and refers to them aggressively as "friends". It is unknown if this avatar of Magician is the original or is a Clone, but from his recognition of the AMS agents, it appears that it is the original, once again revived from death. Magician reveals his plans to enact revenge from the pain he has endured. In this incarnation, Magician is show to have energy pulsating from his weak points instead of them bearing a pulse. He also gleams a metallic white and is much faster and lethal than his previous incarnations. After the Agents engage in a long and arduous battle with him, Magician will attempt to summon and open Pandora's Box, a euphemism for some sort of godly antidote. The player is given one chance and a timer to throw a grenade at the Magician--which will result in two possible endings. The "good" ending results from the player throwing the grenade in the correct spot and in the given time limit, which will result in Magician dropping the box, murmuring "Nothing can release my pain" before dying quickly from his wounds. In the "bad" ending, which results from either throwing the grenade in the incorrect location or letting the timer run out, the Magician will proceed to release numerous Clones from stasis, revealing the android cloned himself in order to unleash upon the world. The Magician begins to laugh quietly, implying that he will kill the Agents and the rest of humanity.

The Magician also appears in spin-off's and compendiums, such as Pinball of the Dead and House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return for the Wii.

In Zombie Revenge, a 1999 SEGA Dreamcast beat 'em up that serves as a spin-off for The House of the Dead, the final boss of the game is a mutant monikered Black Magician", also called Type 01''. This mutant bears heavily similarities with Magician not only in name, but also in physical appearance--as Black Magician also possesses thick armor protecting its body and other accoutrements.

In merchandise

The Magician, along with other bosses from The House of the Dead 2 video game, were originally destined to be released in the Summer of 2000 as collector figures manufactured by Palisades Toys, a company that specialized in making collectors items for adults. While final sketches and prototypes were released, the line was quickly cancelled, and were not released to the wide general public. The sculpts for the figures originated from Sota Toys, with the paint being shipped from Plan B Toys.