Ratchet & Clank Wiki
Ratchet & Clank Wiki
Advertisement

Zanifar is a planet featured in A Crack in Time. Located in the Korthos Sector of the Polaris Galaxy, it is inhabited by fongoids and became the location of Dr. Nefarious' Tombli Outpost during his reign in the Breegus System. Zanifar has a mixed climate with vegetated farmland and many oil derricks constructed to harness the planet's resources.

Ratchet traveled to Zanifar at Clank's request. He used a time portal to travel back and forth between the time before Nefarious had built the Tombli Outpost and after.

A counterpart of the planet exists in Rivet's dimension.[1]

History[]

Before A Crack in Time[]

Five Bolts Wasted 2

Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence crash-landing onto Zanifar.

Zanifar was a celebrated Spring Break hot spot with nonviolent inhabitants.[2] It was also known for its beasts, including the mythical "abominable snagglebeast of Zanifar"[3] and, in one dimension, the "Zanifarian death weasels".[4]

Two years prior to the events of A Crack in Time, Dr. Nefarious's asteroid landed on Zanifar.[5] After taking power, he canceled Spring Break and, through unknown means, brainwashed the fongoids into believing he was a righteous being and into building his first base of operations.[2][5][a] The original name for the Tombli Outpost was "The Klunk Memorial Work Camp and Day Spa". However, after several legal battles with Klunk's estate lawyers, the name was changed.[2]

Eventually, after Nefarious partnered with Pollyx, he invited Orvus to the outpost under the false pretense of having a scientific discussion.[7] Instead, Nefarious captured Orvus and attempted to read his memory to find the location of the Orvus Chamber. Orvus had deleted it from his memory and warned Nefarious that only one would ever be able to access it, and vanished, but not before Pollyx was able to deduce that Clank was the one Orvus spoke of.[8]

When the Tombli Outpost was constructed, Nefarious's troops herded fongoids into containment camps.[9] After the Nefarious Space Station was built, Dr. Nefarious only used the Tombli Outpost to manufacture Nefarious Troopers. Fongoid prisoners were fed gruel and fried drophyd. He would occasionally visit for inspection and had three rules prohibiting: eye contact with Nefarious, "obnoxious noises such as crying and show tune singing", and the use of the word "redonkulous".[6] During Nefarious's rulership of the planet, a barrier of shield induction satellites was installed in Zanifar's orbit, blocking unauthorized ship landings.[10]

A Crack in Time[]

Deactivate the Containment Grid cutscene 1

Ratchet speaking with one of the fongoids behind the containment field.

The Tombli Outpost had commuter starships connected to Axiom City Spaceport.[11]

When Ratchet contacted Clank via the Obsidian Eye, Clank urged Ratchet to travel to Zanifar and use a time portal to save Orvus. Sigmund, at Clank's request, created a time portal using the oscilloscopic entanglement modulator to create a vacuum of negative energy on the planet.[12]

In "Travel to the Past", Ratchet arrived at Zanifar and found fongoids locked in a containment field, as they urged him to free them.[9] With the help of an escaped Fongoid Farmer, he deactivated the containment grid holding them there, giving him access to the time portal, leading to "Explore the Fongoid Village in the Past", in which the time portal took him two years into the past when the Tombli Outpost was still under construction.[5]

A Nefarious Revelation 1

Nefarious attempting to read into Orvus' mind in the past.

As the fongoids in the past were still brainwashed, Ratchet could not convince them to stop working for Nefarious, but was able to find Orvus.[5] Ratchet could not stop Orvus from disappearing or stop Nefarious from trying to read his mind, but learned why Nefarious was after Clank. After Nefarious in the past was alerted to Ratchet's presence, Ratchet threw a grenade and fled, causing Nefarious to have a scar that remained in the present.[8] Though unsuccessful in this mission, Ratchet managed to free the fongoid prisoners in the present from the containment field and oil derrick, and the fongoids pledged to shut down Tombli Outpost and restore their village.[13]

Geography[]

Tombli Outpost map 1
Tombli Outpost map 2

Map layouts of Tombli Outpost in the present (above) and past (below).

Zanifar appears to have a mixed climate. The area around the Tombli Outpost includes a temperate climate with cold, snowy winters and warm summers with evening thunderstorms.[14][b] The planet is home to a number of flora, and from space appears to be largely covered in water. Among its flora is the pollen plant, which, when hit, releases explosive bulbs.[9] The fongoids also grow vines from pink seeds, which can grow large enough to serve as grind rails.

The Tombli Outpost is a large walled Dr. Nefarious fortress located on an island, at the site of a former fongoid village. The fortress towers over much of the island and, as with the Nefarious Space Station, features Dr. Nefarious's imagery throughout (namely in the green glass trims and tower resembling Dr. Nefarious's head). Surrounding the fortress are trees and snowy mountains; with multiple oil derrick structures located in the ocean nearby, and inside the walls are open spaces where the containment grid holds prisoners. Dr. Nefarious's asteroid features on a pedestal next to a statue in his image.[5]

In the past, the fongoid village comprised a number of small tribal huts around a central bonfire. The village was located adjacent to the construction site of the Tombli Outpost's main building, and had farmland on an adjacent island. During Ratchet's visit, the mountains were instead bright and green, covered in forest.

Notes[]

Annotations[]

  1. The fongoids on Zanifar repeat back many phrases spoken by the Nefarious computer, such as "Dr. Nefarious is great", "I enjoy working for Dr. Nefarious", and "Dr. Nefarious is not a disappointment as his mother once suggested".[5] After the outpost was built, the fongoids later stated they did not know why they thought Nefarious was wonderful.[6] This suggests a form of brainwashing was used, although the means are unknown as the Galactic Trivia states that "no one knows how he did it".[2]
  2. The climate changes entirely in Ratchet's visit to the past compared to the present-day snowy climate. It is unclear if this is simply due to a seasonal change or if Dr. Nefarious altered the climate. Though the past which Ratchet travels to is said to be "two years ago",[5] it does not specify exact days.

Citations[]

Advertisement