Malina

"Like what... video games? Sure, why not."
~~~Malina, The Sour Demon

Malina is the fourth demon encountered in Helltaker, and the crew's "salty nostalgia gamer" with a love for turn based strategy games. She is referred to as "The Sour Demon".

Appearance

Like the other demons, Malina has fair skin, red, somewhat baggy eyes, and white hair, styled into a messy bob. Moreover, a pair of short black horns emerge from her hair and a forked tail from near her waist, emphasizing her demonic nature. Her mouth is drawn to emphasize her sour personality and attitude, and it is fixed in a perpetual frown.

Malina wears a red button-up shirt with sleeves folded just below her elbows, with a black, buttoned, sleeveless vest over it. Covering her lower half, she wears a black pencil skirt over a set of black pantyhose. She wears a set of 3 thin black bangles on each wrist. While working in Hell, she wears a black tie on her collar, but she removes it (along with loosening her collar) prior to meeting the Helltaker.

Personality

Malina fulfills her title as The Sour Demon well; she is almost always in a grumpy mood, as well as being irritable, and/or aggressive, especially in the presence of her masochistic sister Zdrada. She tends to be among the most, if not the most foul-mouthed of the harem, befitting her tomboyish tendencies.

Malina tends to have a pessimistic view of her own life. In the "Prologue"^[1] comic she outright states she hates it. In her own words, the only thing that keeps her sane, are video games, or in particular turn-based strategies, as she holds up a few in the "Prologue" comic. Malina's favorite game is Heroes of Might and Magic III (or Heroes 3 for short).^[2] If the Helltaker asks for life advice in Chapter VI, Zdrada comments that Malina gets turned on while playing them. She is shown to be flustered thinking about Heroes 3 in the "Prologue" comic, after Zdrada shares this she's most likely telling the truth.

She has a extreme distaste for masochists, such as her sister. If the dialogue check in Chapter IV is failed, she assumes the Helltaker is one himself and kills him. However, despite her initial dismissive nature of him, she forms a bond over gaming with the Helltaker. When Azazel showed interest in Heroes 3, in the "Turn-Based Strategy Club"^[3] comic, Malina and the Helltaker of them show her the basics of the game, becoming quickly impressed with her skill in the "Inferno"^[4] comic.

Her interest in gaming also extends to board games, as she's been shown to be playing them twice in canon so far. The first was when she attempted to start a game of Gloomhaven^[5] in the comic of the same name. The second was the Heroes 3 board game on the beach with Azazel.^[6]

Malina's other passion seems to be alcohol, particularly vodka, as she makes herself a Screwdriver, and later chugs a bottle in the "Prologue" comic. So far, she been shown to be visibly drunk in canon three times, but tends to be shown paired with alcohol more often than not.

While in Hell, Malina's job was a janitor. In the "Prologue" comic she calls her tasks pointless, running way from doing it as much as she can. She appears to be a bit of a messy person herself; given her chosen hairstyle and the state of her desk in the "Songs of Conquest"^[7] comic. She gets aggressive when others make a mess in areas she cleans, to the point of making threats.^[8] Every time she's shown cleaning, her face has her signature frown or a scowl.^[9]

Encounter

Malina is first encountered in Chapter IV. Encounter starts with:

Great, more braindead idiots... Never seen your ugly face before. What are you playing at?

The player is given two options to respond with:

1. I'd sure love to play with you.
2. This is delicious. Please insult me more.

After choosing the first option, the player receives a "SUCCESS" prompt and Malina will answer the following:

Like what... video games? Sure, why not. As long as you're okay with turn based strategies.

After choosing the second answer, Malina will answer the following:

Fantastic. Just my luck to find another masochist creep.

The player is given a "Bad End" screen, which says "She made a sweeping motion and a fountain of blood exploded from your devastated throat."

Life Advice

Malina will answer to life advice in Chapter V and VI.

Chapter V

Malina: What? Never played rhythm based dungeon crawlers, have you? If the rhythm of spikes is not to your liking, just kick some rocks around until it does.

Cerberus: This place stinks of smoke. Zdrada must be close by. Ollo

Malina: Oh no... Please no...

Chapter VI

Zdrada: Don't look at me for puzzle hints. I'm not a nerd. Maybe go kill yourself on some spikes. It'll be amusing.

Malina: My sister's always like that. I can't believe you invited her...

Zdrada: Yeah. What were you thinking, man? Glad you invited Malinka, though. She spends too much time, all alone, playing most nerdy video games I've ever seen.

Malina: Can you please shut up?

Zdrada: Do you know how turned on she gets while playing them? That one time when she...

Malina: Kill one of us. Me or her. Please. Fast.

The player is given two options to respond with:

1. *Kill them both*

2. *Kill yourself*

If the player picks the first option, Pandemonica will urge Helltaker to leave them be.

If the player picks the second option, Helltaker will follow Zdrada's advice and impales himself on spikes while Pandemonica tries to stop him.

Trivia

• Malina's name is Polish for "Raspberry", and is a common name in Slavic countries.
• In older concepts, Malina possessed tattoos on her arms, but were scrapped due to Vanripper's inability to "make them consistent".
• She was the first demon to be revealed, seen in the Helltaker "Prologue" comic before the game's release.
  • According to the comic, she's shown to have obtained copies of UFO: Enemy Unknown, Heroes II and Heroes III, Disciples: Sacred Lands, Lords of Magic, and an unknown number of games in the Fire Emblem series.
    • On the inverse, the Fire Emblem series is one she has specifically shown distaste for, with her considering it to be "trash", and stating it "drives [her] mad".

Gallery

Malina's concept art.

Malina's map sprite.

Malina in one of the ending CGs.

Malina in one of the ending CGs.

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References