Rufus is NOT the Hero [Analysis/Spoilers]

[Grey Acumen]

I've just finishind working my way through the series, and like many others, i was left a bit disatisfied with the ending. At the same time, I considered alternate endings and realized that I ultimately would have found them even less satisfying.

Rufus is an ♥♥♥.

Yes, it is a downer that Rufus, who is the primary story focus, doesn't get the girl, that he may be dead (we don't even know for certain) and Goal is with that pretentious ♥♥♥, Cletus, but lets not forget that when it boils right down to it, Rufus really is an incredibly horrible human being.

Rufus is directly responsible for knocking Goal out, practically poisoned her, tore apart her memory chip, broke her into 3 personalities, stabbed her in the chest with what should have been an overdose of happy/truth juice, and though his feelings may have become more complex, ultimately the majority of the feelings Rufus has demonstrated towards Goal revolve around the "concept" of Elysium that she represents, and the fact that she continues to defend his antics.
He has driven Toni to literal mental breakdowns, blown up/chopped up/burned down/etc people's houses, steals compulsively, has sabotaged businesses, destroyed just about every piece of personal properties any of his "friends" might have ever had claim to, poisoned Cletus (who he thought was his own clone) and then operated on him, possibly removing an important organ in the process, broke apart a happy couple and effectively sold them both into what amounts to literal slavery, and fed at least one child to a unwilling slime monster. On top of that, he basically confessed to being responsible for the death of his own foster mother (though to what extent he was actually responsible is entirely speculative) but it is far less speculative that he most likely (inadvertently) killed his foster father soon after that admission. (to be fair, his foster father did just kill one of him at about the same time)

And he's STILL not really sorry for any of it. Sure, maybe a lot of that is specifically because of how he was created, but it doesn't negate the fact.


Compare that to Cletus:

Cletus was Goal's Fiance to start with, he was the only reason Goal was able to get off Elysium without her father's knowledge, and as he said himself, Goal was his primary focus through the entire series. He initially intended to report back that Deponia was uninhabited so that it would be blown up only after Goal's father explained what it meant for Elysium, and by proxy, Goal. He was going to wipe Goal's memory so she could remain innocent of the consequences of her comfort and safety, but when that wasn't possible, he explained and initially convinced her of that reasoning. When she was fractured, he was willing to change his mission and sabotage the Red Sea Bombing and try to work on Elysium with Goal once they got back. When he was rejected by Goal, he didn't simply toss Donna out, nor did he betray Goal, but continued to work against the Organon in order to ensure her safety and with the ultimate intent to eventually (at least try to) save Deponia himself. In the end, he stayed with Goal and is willing to suffer having to act like Rufus (who he despises, and ultimately knows that Goal has chosen over him) for Goal's sake, as well as the sake of Deponia.


Cletus may be a sissy, anal-retentive ♥♥♥♥♥, but ultimately HE is the one who has actually been accomplishing anything. Rufus may be DOING a lot, but 90% of Deponia's storyline is just him doing a bad job of sloppily patching the damage he has already done. Goal already knew that Deponia was inhabited before Rufus crashed into the Organon cruiser. Her father was head of the organon, so either Cletus would have gotten to her, or her father would have, at which point she could have convinced either one to admit to the council that Deponia was inhabited, and judging by he the council reacted at the end, they would have forgoed blowing up the planet even from the very beginning.

If a person like Rufus actually got to be the "hero" and win the girl and live happily ever after, I think I would have been sick. I like having a story where the "hero" kinda sucks, but I also like the fact that the girl of the story doesn't end up becoming the prize for winning.

So if you feel like the ending is hollow, just consider that A) the only time Rufus has ever not made a situation worse has been by just accepting it was time for him to step out, and that's what he went out doing, B) that this is really an alternate perspective look at a story of Cletus's heroic selfless efforts, which Rufus is going to be getting ALL of the official credit for, and C) that if Goal's attitude is anything to judge by, she totally knows that Rufus sacrificed himself, that Cletus is the one there, and she's carrying out Rufus's last will and testament by commiting herself to making sure that Cletus suffers for taking Rufus's place.

It's just how Rufus would have wanted it.

[Lord Trilobite]

You have some interesting points. And yes I agree, rufus is a terrible human being.
But you cannot escape the fact that Rufus is the one who set everything in motion. So for better or worse, in the end, he did help save deponia by sacrificing himself.
So I would say he is the hero, in a weird way. But a terrible hero.

And I would also note that the original meaning of a hero back in the times of the ancient Greeks, a hero was not someone who did the right thing. But rather someone who did extraordinary things.

[SmashBaal]

An Open-ending ? Deponia the sequel ?
I must admit i have been disapointed by the end . not disapointed in fact , but shocked. i have a bad taste in the mouth , because i had loved the trilogy all allong the story and then... ALL THAT FOR THAT?
I find the ending beautiful, epic, i even cried. But after having analyzed the ending , the conclusion is so opened that it makes me wonder several points:

WARNING SPOILERS!

-when Rufus falls to his fate , we see at the end that he has Argus' laugh. Since it is barely possible to see differences between the free brothers , excepted for Cletus who has the beard and the voice , it is possible that the Rufus we have seen falling may not be the good one.

-Moreover, if it's really Rufus who is falling , we have seen that He won't die so easily of a fall. And since we have other options in the final dialogue where Rufus tries to convince Goal that he is the real Rufus, I don't think he has abandoned yet (His final laugh is because of Barry , which could mean "Me, changing ? AH AH AH ! What a joke ! i won't give up so easily !"

-Okay , one Rufus falls , the other is rescued. But what about the third one ? It isn't mentioned what happened to him. We don't see him killed or falling. Hm... And if the Rufus falling seems to have Argus' laugh , what could that mean ? ^^

-Problems on Elysium seem unresolved : Overpopulated , Lack of supplies , just about to run out gas...And according to Cletus' propositions , they won't resolve it one day ^^. A crash or a landing on Deponia one day ? (either way , Rufus' solutions have the tendancy to create more problems. And if Cletus tries to behave like him, in a less inpired way ...

-It is obvious that Goal is aware that Cletus is the one rescued. And she knows that Rufus can't so easily die (C'mon, just see the entire series) Maybe a sequel with Goal ?

-i've read Poki's interview saying this the end of the Deponia's trilogy , so no Deponia 4 . But this doesnt mean that the universe is definitly closed , it could just mean that the future episodes won't be called "Deponia" . Maybe a "Welcome to Elysium ?"

Please give your opinion about the ending , Deponia is such a good point and click and i totally know that few people have appreciated the ending. Just have hope

[mercygrim96]

Um excuse me, Rufus is without a doubt the hero of this story. All heros are flawed in some way, that's what makes them heros to begin with. Just look back at a lot of storys like lord of the rings, Frodo was a flawed character, but he was still considered the hero of his story. Tony Stark, who's Iron Man if you didn't know, was kind of like Rufus, very selfcentered and a bit narcissistic, but as he developed as a character he started to make choices that showed he really did care for those around him, and even through all of that he still kept his personality.

I think Rufus really did want to apologize for all the things that he did to hurt the people that he cared about, but Seagull was being a ♥♥♥♥ about the situation, I wouldn't have apologized in that situation, being forced to apologize at gun-point will not give a real apology.

Rufus did love Goal, that is something that I believe strongly in, he wouldn't have gone through the hell he did to try and save her time and time again, and do what was right to help what she believed in time and time again. It wasn't just the concept of Elysium that he loved about her, it was her.

Rufus made the ultimat sacrifice that any hero could ever make, he knew that if he didn't jump off then Goal would have stayed there, trying to figure out who the real Rufus was, and she would have died with them. And then he thought about all the Deponians that needed her to be alive to tell the elders that they were there, the people that he cared about needed him to do this. He realized all of this at the very end and decided that he really did care about all of them, and he deemed it the only way.

As for all of the things he has destroyed and the people he's hurt, sure he couldn't change his past, but he was trying to make his future better. How would you feel if you were a clone, trown away and negleted, only to be raised by someone with a terrible personality who didn't care about you at all? How would you turn out?

At the end he was just trying the hardest he could, in his own way of thinking, to save the people he cared for and Goal, the woman he loved. So please don't say he's not a hero, because he is one, he's a flawed human being who gave up his life to save everyone else.

And on one final note, NO ONE IS PERFECT.

[Kavolssk]

I agree with the fact that Rufus is the main protagonist but not a hero. Well...not from our view. Cetainly he is from his point of view.
I actually felt sorry for Cletus and had no idea why was the game against him in the first place. He did like one thing wrong whereas Rufus did one thing right. Even his (those of Rufus) intentions were not always pure.

Also there is no reason for thinking that Rufus actually LOVED Goal.

Lollipop was more important than her memory even if he was not supposed to pay for those cartridges.