Igor (fictional character)
Igor or
Ygor is the traditional
stock character or cliché
hunch-backed lab assistant to the
mad scientist, familiar from many
horror movies and horror movie
parodies. He is most closely associated with the
Frankenstein films.
In general, an Igor is any flunky, patsy, minion, or
henchman in a
fantasy or
science fiction work - the more disfigured the better. Typically, their stock line is: "Yes, master!" or, where speech impediments are present, "Yeth, marther!"
The cliché has its origins in the character of Ygor, a demented
blacksmith played by
Bela Lugosi in the
Universal Studios horror movies
Son of Frankenstein and
The Ghost of Frankenstein; the characterization most associated with the name, however, originates with
Dwight Frye's hunchbacked lab assistant in
the first film of the series, whose name was
Fritz (in the original novel,
Dr. Frankenstein had no assistant). To complicate matters further, the voice of the
archetypal "Igor" is usually associated with
Peter Lorre (As an homage,
Marty Feldman played the hunchbacked assistant as "Eye-gor" in
Young Frankenstein,
Mel Brooks's parody of Universal's Frankenstein movies).
The character might trace back to Aminadab, the savage assistant in
Nathaniel Hawthorne's
The Birth-Mark.
In other media
In
Terry Pratchett's humorous
fantasy novels, the
Überwald region of the
Discworld (that is, the region of the Discworld noted for resembling a collection of horror movie clichés) is home to a tribe of hunch-backed lab assistants with
speech impediments, every single one of whom is named
Igor; the females are all named
Igorina. They have a habit of passing on parts of their body to their family members when they die and are valued in rural areas where accidents with axes happen frequently. The Igors have now branched out into working in city-states such as Anhk-Morpork as medics and general lackeys for scientists, with the We R Igors (
A Spare Hand When Necessary) agency renting them out.
Igor appears in the 1990s computer game,
Hugo's House of Horrors. In this graphic adventure, Igor assists his master in performing experiments on the protagonist, Hugo. The protagonist must later enlist Igor's help to escape that room.
In the
Nightmare Before Christmas, the town's resident
mad scientist, Dr. Finkelstein, has a hunchbacked assistant called Igor who acts rather canine, working for 'Bone Biscuits'.
The cartoon series
Count Duckula features the titular character's family retainer, Igor, who is portrayed as an anthropomorphic vulture (hence the hunchback). Igor is a traditionalist and often schemes to convert his vegetarian master to a diet of blood, as was the case with Duckula's previous incarnations.
The "Albino" character in
The Princess Bride appears to be built on the Igor archetype.
Although he has a different name, the character "Riff Raff" from
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is very similar to Igor, sharing the hunched back and status of
servitude to a master of science.
He also appears in one
Superman comic book story, called "Transilvane", which appeared in Legends of the DC Universe #22-23. In the story, a mad scientist has created a whole world based on old horror movie characters. Ygor the Grotesque appears in an even more exaggerated form, as an essentially a (hunched over) head with mechanical arms and legs, though retaining eyes which look up and in opposite directions. He is the servant of Dragorin, who is leader of the
Vampires, and operates machinery for him.
The
Castlevania series of video games contains a prominent and recurring small, hunch-backed monster sometimes referred to as a "hopper" or "hunchback". Their similarity to the original Igor character is highlighted by the fact that one of them battles the player alongside
Frankenstein's monster in the
first installment of the series.
A hunchbacked graverobber named Igor is a reoccurring character in
The Far Side comics.
There is an Igor character named Koukol in the film
The Fearless Vampire Killers.
The
ReBoot villain & mad scientist Herr Doktor has an Igor-based minion known as Bunnyfoot.
