Germaine van der Wijk[1], more commonly referred to as Egg Head is a character in Disco Elysium.
Background[ | ]
His nickname, Egg Head, comes from his love of Arno van Eyck—an "Eyck-head."[2] He is part of Andre's posse, the group of anodic dance music speedfreaks in the church. The other posse members are uncertain of his backstory; he met them in Coal City after a party and followed them back to Faubourg.[3] He affects a Gottwaldian or Oranjese accent while shouting, possibly as an homage to his hero.[4]
Egg Head considers anodic dance music to be about love, the most important thing in his philosophy.[5] He seems to have some affection for the Innocentic system, believing that The Perikarnassian's church is also about love.[5] He also wears a belt buckle with lung-shaped trees on them,[6] a symbol of Dolores Dei and, to Egg Head, of her love for the world and its love for her.[7] However, according to Noid, he is not a moralist (or a follower of any of the other three ideologies), though you can talk him into becoming one, as well as a communist.
Egg Head is a skilled remixer.[8] His role in the anodic dance club is what Acele calls the "party boy"[9] and Andre calls the "master of ceremonies"[10]—the person who sets the mood and gets the crowd going.
Despite his involvement in the party scene, Egg Head shows some aversion to drugs and is keen on starting the anodic dance club without a speed lab, describing doing it this way as "pure and true" and refusing to let you or Andre change your mind once they've agreed to start it without drugs.[11][12]
Interactions[ | ]
- At first, talking to Egg Head will be an unproductive loop of HARD-CORE. Solve the Egg Head puzzle by choosing the first dialogue option.
- Egg Head is worried that anodic dance music isn't actually as hard-core as it could be. You can accept the task to Make van Eyck's jam harder core and help him out.
- Egg Head's equipment is part of helping Soona with her research project. Be sure to solve his puzzle so you can ask him to plug her radiocomputer into his mixing deck.
Behind the Scenes[ | ]
- Egg Head's appearance, style, and way of speaking are reminiscent of H.P. Baxxter, the lead singer of Scooter. The use of nonsense catchy lyrics, hype shouting and a happy presentation of the self is present in both the band and Egg Head's dialogue.
- His Gottwaldian accent is stated to have the same vocal quirk as H.P. Baxxter, as he places emphasis on certain sounds in the same way.[13] This capital *G* can be heard for example in Scooter's One (Always Hardcore).
- He also directly references the songs "Posse",[14] "Maria (I Like It Loud)",[15] "Faster Harder Scooter",[16] "The Night"[17] and "How Much Is The Fish?".[18]
- Helen Hindpere mentioned Scooter as an influence in a 2021 interview.[19] “Disco Elysium has as much in common with the Eurodance band Scooter and the 2006 comedy “Dude, Where’s My Car?” as it has with… what have we been accused of lately? Hauntology? Existentialism?,” Hindpere says. “We’re about that, but we’re also about Scooter. Faster, Harder, Scooter!"
References[ | ]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1
EGG HEAD – Close to tears, the one with the large head hands you a card. The name reads: "Germaine van der Wijk."
- ↑
YOU – "Yeah, I'm a major Eyck-head."
EGG HEAD – "So am I! SO AM I!" He begins to shake his head so everyone would understand.
ANDRE – "Oh!" Andre almost falls over backward from the realization. "Is *that* why they call you Egg Head, because..."
EGG HEAD – "Eyck-Head to the mega! The K became the G! The boy became the man!"
- ↑
ACELE – "One time we were out partying, somewhere in backwater Faubourg. Or maybe even Coal City, I can't remember. Maybe it was Coal City..."
ACELE – "Egg was yelling along to some jams someone was spinning, all night long. Just kept yelling until he didn't have a shred of voice left. When the sun came up over the mines... there were mines? Yeah, it was in Coal City!" She nods.
ACELE – "Egg came with us. He made this wheezing puppy dog sound all the way back. Couldn't even speak."
ACELE – "It was definitely Coal City, because it took us two days to walk back to the Fau. He just wheezed the whole way, we never really asked him why he came with us. Or who he was. I think his name is Germaine..."
- ↑
DRAMA [Medium: Success] – This young man adds a capital *G* before the *H* in his *YEAGHs* and *AAGHs*. This produces a guttural, *Gottwaldian* accent and makes him sound more animal, more *in it*.
ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] – Or maybe it's not Gottwaldian, maybe it's *Oranjese* -- probably an homage to Oranje, where Arno van Eyck is from, judging by his name. Could you be listening to an Arno van Eyck creation *right now*?
- ↑ 5.0 5.1
EGG HEAD – "The Perikarnassian Church is about *love*! Anodic music is about *love*! I got love for my Perikarnassian posse, *love* is the relay out of death! WE DANCE!!!" He violently shakes the tape player, as if to see if he can break it.
- ↑
EGG HEAD – "We're close!" says the young man with the tape player and the large boiadeiro boots. Lung-shaped trees sprout on his silver belt buckle.
- ↑
YOU – "Why are there lungs on your belt buckle?"
EGG HEAD – "Lungs are for love!"
YOU – "Why would lungs be for love?"
EGG HEAD – "When Dolores Dei was anointed innocence, her lungs started glowing through her body, for the world loved her and she loved it back! YEAGH!"
- ↑
NOID – "I think it's just happenstance. Chaos in action. Contingencies of our limited existence. That and Egg Head's fantastic talent." He nods to his friend behind the turntables.
INTERFACING [Medium: Success] – Noid's right, Egg Head's technical talent is the key.
- ↑
ACELE – "Anyway, even if you don't have vocals you still need someone to say something every now and then, right? To urge things on. That's where the party boy comes in..."
ACELE – "He basically just stands on the stage and dances and yells how awesome everything is. It's very catchy."
- ↑
ANDRE – "He's a quiet man, mostly communicates through music... and by being a master of ceremonies."
YOU – "Uh, what's a master of ceremonies?"
ANDRE – "You know, a host. A declaimer of slogans. He's a performer. Gets the people going."
- ↑
EGG HEAD – "There *needs* to be a club for anodic music in there. Everyone hates each other. Everybody hates it here, it's all just drugs and we're slaves and I *can't*... We are running out of time!" Without his smile Egg Head looks heartbroken. And older than you thought he was.
EGG HEAD – "We need a win. I promise this will be a win! We won't cook speed in there, we'll do it clean, we'll do it true. We'll do it sober and *real* and beautiful. This will be a victory for the light."
- ↑
EGG HEAD – "No." A smile vanishes from Egg Head's face as he looks around the room. "No, I thought we agreed to do this pure and true. Guys, we're not changing our mind."
- ↑
DRAMA [Medium] – This young man adds a capital *G* before the *H* in his *YEAGHs* and *AAGHs*. This produces a guttural, *Gottwaldian* accent and makes him sound more animal, more *in it*.
- ↑
EGG HEAD – "I am the mic enforcer, I am the chicks checker, YEAGH!"
- ↑
EGG HEAD – "Skibadee, skibadanger! I am the rearranger!"
- ↑
YOU – "I am beginning to think this really doesn't have anything to do with the case."
EGG HEAD – "It's the message so listen and you will see. No illusion, the spirit is what you feel!"
- ↑
EGG HEAD – "HERE COMES THE NIGHT!"
- ↑
EGG HEAD – "No, Andre, it's *harder* now. This Hard Cop has come to show us how much the fish is and the fish is always *so much* more... We all know there was never going to be a club for anodic music with the speed lab. Now it has a fighting chance!"
- ↑ Disco Elysium: Bringing a Million Words to Life for The Final Cut - IGN