République packs its story (often literally) into every nook and shadow, but, for many fans, the unpacking only builds curiosity further. In particular, people want to know more about Mammoth, the oversized groundskeeper who hunts “Hope” in Episode 4. République’s writer, Brendan Murphy, sat down to answer some of the most popular questions about the brute.

Q: What inspired Mammoth’s creation?

Murphy: Mammoth’s roots lie in design. We wanted to make a Resident Evil 3: Nemesis style character to shake up the player’s experience. Once we decided on the character type, we fit him into République’s morally ambiguous world. Mammoth’s orders to “break mirrors” (destroy the test subjects) make him an accomplice of the State, but he is a victim and prisoner himself.

Q: What is Mammoth’s backstory?

Murphy: Mammoth was an early attempt to store data in DNA. The Overseer cultivated Mammoth in his off-site genetics facility, MOLOTOCHEK Labs. (Hackers exposed MOLOTOCHEK’s unethical activities to the world, forcing the Overseer to offshore work in Metamorphosis.) Mammoth’s experiment failed with tragic results. His scars give him a “Frankenstein’s Monster” appearance, and they suggest the physical and psychological trials that he endured. Despite having become monstrous through no fault of his own, he is an older brother to the same girls he kills.

Q: What is Mammoth’s relationship to Abal and Peretz?

Murphy: Abal and Peretz, Metamorphosis’s resident geneticists, arrived after Mammoth boarded the facility. Even though he is related to their “children” in spirit, they hardly treat him like family. They regard him more as a stray dog under their care, with pity rather than sympathy. They are experimenting with human life themselves, after all.

Q: Who is the “Captain” that Mammoth talks to?

Murphy: Mammoth appears aware that he is at sea, and he therefore refers to the Overseer as his “Captain,” always listening, always watching. Mammoth represents the paranoia of a society under constant surveillance. He is his most effective censor, and he constantly polices his thoughts, which the player overhears. Mammoth shows that “If you see something, say something” is an ideology that makes no exception for time or place because he always has himself to oversee.