Melzar the Mad

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Melzar the Mad is one of the three wizards who escaped from Crandor when the dragon Elvarg destroyed it, and the only one of them to have survived, although he has lost his sanity since, leading to his nickname. He currently resides in a large mansion north of Rimmington, a small town where the survivors of Elvarg's attacks fled to initially, where he practises his necromancy. Melzar's Maze contains a piece of the map of Crandor for the Dragon Slayer quest. When you fight Melzar on the last and final floor, he punches or kicks (hits up to 54), casts a weak version of Fire Strike (with max hit 40) or weaken/confuse/curse, or performs a magic spell that produces a cabbage (which can be used for food) in a random spot throughout the room. He will randomly blurt out things that make no sense. He will constantly say multiple things at once, causing a random jumble of words. Melzar the Mad is one of the only five F2P monsters (excluding Revenants and Dungeoneering monsters) that has more than one attack style. The others are the Catablepons, Cockroach soldier, Elvarg, and Dragith Nurn. When players defeat Melzar the Mad, he will drop the magenta key, which leads you on to the final room in Melzar's Maze.

Melzar the Mad is fight-able as a class H boss monster in the Dominion Tower minigame if the player has completed Dragon Slayer.

Descent Into Madness
If a player takes the time to search the bookcases found within his maze, they will find random writings from Melzar which refer to Elvarg laying waste to Crandor, and the fates of those who tried to escape to Rimmington. These include writing about his attempts to summon the deceased spirits of his former allies. He then animated skeletons and forced the spirits of his allies into the skeletons. He then grew flesh onto the skeletons, creating zombies. Also, if you open one of the wardrobes inside Melzar's Maze, and then search inside it, it will say something about many skulls with small numbers imprinted on their foreheads. These might be the failed experiments to animate the skeletons that now roam the third floor of the maze. On the second floor, with the ghosts, the wardrobes have random objects like toys. In his notes, it says that he used objects important to his former allies to summon ghosts of his allies. His greatest success in necromancy happened when he forced a ghost into a skeleton, and then grew flesh onto the skeleton. He did this twice, resulting in the zombies that are in the underground level. His notes suggest that he captured the lesser demon in the basement and channeled its energy to fuel his necromancy. This demon is also believed to have some influence on him, as in one of his notes it is said, "...Cried again today. Great weight in heart. I am causing so much pain to the souls I capture from the dead-world. But demon says they will thank me in the end..."

Melzar is insane about cabbages. In his notes, he makes many references to cabbage. He wrote a poem about cabbage, and had a dream about the "Cabbage of Jas." When you are fighting him, he summons cabbages. He also occasionally refers to using his magic being fueled by cabbage, although this is not believed to be true.

Malignius Mortifer will tell you that Melzar was driven mad by his use of necromancy, when a spell went awry, although his notes suggest that his descent into madness was slowly brought on by his anger and grief after Crandor. He also says that this affected his ability to raise the dead, hence the summoning of cabbages rather than undead when you fight him. This is also arguable, as his notes often refer to cabbage and some believe he summons them just because he loves them. Melzar will occasionally spout off random quotes throughout the battle. He often says them at the same time.

Trivia

 * The Oracle sometimes refers to Melzar the Mad: "He who uses the power of custard mixes it with his tears."
 * Another Cryptic writing talks about the cabbage of Jas. This is referencing the Stone of Jas (or perhaps Brassica Prime). Notably, the cabbage is sacred to Guthix, who is often associated with the Stone of Jas. Also, some believe the Stone of Jas looks somewhat like a cabbage.
 * Melzar might be referring to Zaros or Zamorak in one of his notes: "With power custard I have mastered life force. Souls of dead kinsmen scream and twist, but I can contain them into bodies. All hail Zamor Za Zaro Z ZZZ..." Melzar may have been referring to Zamorak and Zaros's hatred for each other, or he may have been undecided on which one he worshipped.
 * Melzar had a wife who died when Elvarg either attacked Crandor or attacked the survivor's camp.
 * M. and thok letter (part 5), which describes Lexicus Runewright, begins with "Honestly, who would be crazy enough to use a book as a weapon? Mad Melzar maybe, ..." indicating that Marmaros has met, or at least knows of, Melzar.
 * He is voices by Mod Moltare, developer of the Void Knight quest series and Player-owned ports.