Obelix

For information on the musical composer, see Obelix (artist) Obelix (Fr. Obélix) is a sidekick with superhuman strength in the Asterix comic books. He is Asterix' closest friend (they even have the same birthday) and works as a menhir delivery man when not bashing Romans. Obelix also owns the quarry where he chisles the menhirs himself. He has a little dog named Dogmatix (Fr. Idéfix). His parents live now in Condatum and he has relatives in Lutetia including distant cousin Metallurgix, a golden sickle maker.

He is a large man who does not however see himself as fat, preferring euphemisms such as being "well covered" or having a chest that has "slipped a bit," and may not even be aware when people are talking about him in that regard. On the other hand, when he does notice such allusions being made about him, he gets very angry about the "mistake". Sometimes, when he is in a bad mood, just hearing the word "fat" can enrage him.

Unlike the other villagers, Obelix has no need to drink Getafix the druid's magic potion that gives superhuman strength, because he fell into the cauldron as a baby and its effect on him became permanent. The story of that incident is told in How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When he was a Little Boy. Since this effect was not intended or expected, Getafix refuses to allow him even one more drop except under the direst circumstances, which annoys him greatly. (In Asterix and Obelix All at Sea, it is revealed that too much of the potion can turn the drinker to stone - exactly how much is not known, but a whole cauldron will certainly do the trick.)

Obelix is kind-hearted, but is socially inept — possibly because his strength means that others have had to adapt to him instead of vice-versa. He is still not completely aware of his own strength and almost invariably breaks any door he gently knocks on. He is frequently used as a human battering ram for opening locked doors or breaking through walls. He also has little interest in subjects of a formal education or intellectual pursuits, since sheer strength usually solves his problems, so he generally leaves any decisions to Asterix. His passions in life are hanging around with Asterix, beating up Roman legionaries (and occasionally collecting their helmets), eating, and making and carrying menhirs, in about that order. Like Asterix, Obelix is a bachelor, but he is easily smitten by a pretty face. He harbours a hopeless crush on Panacea, the daughter of Soporifix (one of the other villagers), and occasionally other young women, most notably Mrs. Geriatrix (which enrages her husband).

Obelix' favourite food is roast wild boar which he usually hunts with Asterix, but he has a voracious appetite, and will try eating nearly anything with few exceptions. In fact, he eats nuts and oysters in the shell, and is completely oblivious to drugs and poisons; however, when he consumes alcohol, he gets very drunk very quickly.

His trademark phrase is "These Romans are Crazy" ("Ils sont fous ces romains"), although he has applied a variant of it to nearly every group he's met in his travels.

Obelix's name is usually noted to be a play on the French word obélisque (obelisk), suggested by rotund physique and his habit of casually carrying heavy stone monuments (Menhirs) around with him. In fact "obelisk" is also (in both French and English) a variant of the word obelus (obèle), a typographical mark often found in a companion role to that of the asterisk, after which his friend Asterix is named.

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