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You had him at Grave Robbing.

"It'th a pleathure to be commanded in a clear, firm, authoritative voithe, mithtreth."
Igor, Carpe Jugulum

The Igor is the Sidekick and manservant to a Mad Scientist. He's an absolute toady, loyal to a fault, and has no problem doing unsanitary scut-work (such as Grave Robbing) for his genius master, who is always addressed as "Master," sometimes with an impressive lisp. He'll typically be a hunchback, dwarf, or even some small variety of monster. Evil Sorcerers can substitute a tiny imp or demon. A vague European accent and/or a Lorre Lookalike impression (though Peter Lorre played mad doctors in Mad Love and Arsenic and Old Lace, he never played an assistant) round out the vocal category.

Igor can't fight (usually), and if encountered by the hero in a combat situation, will high-tail it out with or without his master, unless the master tries to sacrifice him to enhance his own chances. Abduction of helpless young ladies, however, is well within Igor's skillset.

This character is completely defined by Fritz, a character who appears in the 1931 Universal Pictures adaptation of Frankenstein. Fritz is not a book-original character, but was added to the 1823 play adaptation, Presumption: or the Fate of Frankenstein (the earliest recorded play adaptation of Frankenstein and the only one Mary Shelley saw), to have someone Dr. Frankenstein could talk to to convey the story. From there, he was picked up by the film, a choice possibly further motivated by Rotwang's servant in the film Metropolis, from which Frankenstein is theorized to have taken several cues. The name "Igor" comes from a similar character named Ygor (played by Bela Lugosi) who appeared in the second and third sequels, Son of Frankenstein and The Ghost of Frankenstein. Most modern uses and references include at least a subtle twist. Justified for works set during the Steam Age or earlier, as the logical choice of Dumb Muscle for a Mad Scientist would be a deformed, despised and illiterate guy nobody would listen to if he decided to snitch out his master and also who would be cheap.

Is often Working for a Body Upgrade. Can overlap with Satellite Character. Compare to Battle Butler, Crusty Caretaker and Professional Butt-Kisser. For a related trope involving vampires instead of mad scientists, see The Renfield. See also Dr. Fakenstein, who is almost guaranteed to have an Igor employed.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Nemu Kurotsuchi, Mayuri Kurotsuchi's servant in Bleach, though she lacks many of the physical traits specified above and calls Mayuri by his name with a -sama honorific (which is often used by servants to their masters).
  • Jaken, Sesshomaru's servant in Inuyasha.

    Comic Books 
  • Batman, of all people, actually had a mute hunchback assistant for a while in the '90s. Harold Allnut was a gifted mechanic and electronics technician who helped out in the Batcave.
  • Batman: Castle of the Bat, an Elseworld with the premise of retelling Frankenstein with Bruce Wayne in the role of Victor Frankenstein and his father Thomas as the monster, has Alfred Pennyworth's counterpart consist of a hunchbacked assistant to Bruce named Alfredo.
  • During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Psycho Pirate was this to the Anti-Monitor.
  • Etrigan: The original The Demon series by Jack Kirby had an arc where the villain was a Mad Scientist named Baron Von Evilstein, who covered all of the common mad scientist tropes, including having a hunchbacked assistant named Igor who frequently responded to orders with "Yes, master".
  • Vincent Frankenstein in The Frankenstein Monster has a hunchbacked servant named Igor. However, in this instance Igor is also a brute who is almost as tall and strong as The Monster.
  • Godland features Eghad, the simple assistant to criminal mastermind Friedrich Nickelhead. Eghad's intelligence is extremely lacking, and he knows little but undying loyalty to his master. Unusually for this trope, he's also Nickelhead's bodyguard and packs a frankly ridiculous amount of power in his tiny frame. Also somewhat uniquely, Nickelhead isn't cruel to Eghad — likely because he himself was a servant once.
  • Gina from Gold Digger teases her sister Britanny by referring to her as her Igor.
  • In Little Gloomy, Mad Scientist and jilted boyfriend Simon von Simon employs the hunchback Boris as his assistant. Boris, however, bears no real allegiance to Simon and only works for him because, as a hunchback, he doesn't have any other job opportunities. Boris is also somewhat explicitly much more sensible if not in fact smarter than Simon.
  • The Madballs comic book published by Marvel Comics subsidiary Star Comics had Snivelitch, the hideous and bumbling assistant to the Madballs' archenemy Dr. Frankenbeans.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) had Snively in this role during his early appearances. He's still a toady nowadays, but after 16 years he's grown to hate his job a bit. Sniv has come to rely on being a Deadpan Snarker as his chief coping mechanism. It seems to work decently enough.
    • Grimer from Sonic the Comic is an exemplary Mad Doctor's Assistant to Big Bad Dr. Robotnik. As well as the usual Igor traits (hideous goblin-like appearance, frail build, intense loyalty, referring to his boss as "Master", etc) he was also something of a Hypercompetent Sidekick, being the primary designer of many of Robotnik's most dangerous war machines and personally coming to Robotnik's rescue on several occasions. His finest moment came when he was jailed after Robotnik was apparently destroyed by the Chaos Emeralds, where he proved he was a manipulative Chess Master and managed to manipulate the heroes easily from his prison and save his master.
  • Toad plays the Igor role to Magneto in early X-Men comics.

    Comic Strips 
  • There are a few Far Side cartoons involving the classic "mad scientist's hunchbacked assistant" character archetype, including:
    • The Doctor scowling at Igor for having brought the wrong size wrench for Frankenstein's Monster.
    • Igor suddenly realizing Dr. Frankenstein didn't ask him for a train.
    • Igor and Dr. Frankenstein going scuba diving ("Ooh, Igor! Come take a look at this brain coral!").
    • Igor at a bar chatting about how thankless his job as Grave Robbing assistant is.
    • A young Igor being convinced by his friends they are merely "grave borrowing".
    • Alluded to in one comic showing a group of arguing scientists, captioned: "A classic case of too many scientists and not enough hunchbacks".
    • Also alluded to in another strip depicting "The College of Laboratory Assistants", where all the students are hunchbacks.
  • In Scary Gary, Dr. Frankenstein’s henchman Egor basically checks all the boxes for what defines the character, up to casually mentioning that Grave Robbing is one of his jobs. The only thing really setting him apart from other fictional Igors is that his name is starts with an "E".

    Fan Works 
  • Contraptionology!: Matching Twilight's descent into a Victor Frankenstein type of figure, Spike regresses into a shuffling, mumbling, servile Igor-like figure who refers to her as "master".
  • In A.A. Pessimal's Discworld tale Slipping Between Worlds the suggestion is made that in keeping with the Discworld principle that everything has its opposite quality, Biers' Igor is in fact a Rogi — the polar opposite of Igor-ness, one who is incredibly skilled at dismantling a living body, but not so hot at re-assembling it again afterwards.
  • The Assassins' Guild School is given a replacement medical specialist to take over from the ineffectual doctor of Pyramids. Matron Igorina snaps at the chance to work for methodically sane people, which she finds every bit as professionally fulfilling as working for homicidal psychopaths. The myriad ways in which a Guild student can damage themselves in the course of Education fully occupy her working day, and the fatality rate has dropped considerably. She takes every available opportunity to go out on Assassin missions as a non-combatant medical consultant, and even lectures Guild students in necessary areas such as Personal and Social Development. note  Matron Igorina's sex education lectures are long, detailed, supported by graphic iconographic slides, remorselessly emphasize all the things that may not go according to plan in a sexual encounter, and tend to leave traumatized and impressionable teenage girls staggering out vowing they will never, ever, bump uglies with a male. Ever. As a result the Guild School has a practically zero rate of regrettable things like teen pregnancies and only the most adventurous students break the School rules to pursue assignations. The School management is quietly pleased with this.
  • Fireshade from Researcher Twilight is initially the assistant of Grand Magus Arcana, who she hates, before working for Twilight, at no point does she question Twilights Sanity Slippage and transformation into a Mad Scientist. Twilight just tells her what to do and she does it.

    Film — Animation 
  • Aladdin: Genie references the character archetype by briefly morphing into a hideous, green hunchback and speaking in a Peter Lorre impression while explaining The Rules, specifically (and appropriately) the one about not bringing people back from the dead.
  • Edgar "E." Gore from Frankenweenie looks like the Trope Namer, and is creepily eager to help Victor with his science project. Subverted when he forces the unwilling Victor to recreate his experiment for him and performs said experiment again later by himself.
  • The 2008 movie Igor not only has every Mad Scientist have their own Igor... but one Igor (played by John Cusack) decides to become a Mad Scientist himself and win the Evil Science Fair. That particular Igor is rather proud of earning his Yes, Master degree (majored in speaking with a lisp).
  • Mad Monster Party? had the character archetype filled by a Lorre Lookalike zombie obsequious to Baron Frankenstein by the name of Yetch. The prequel Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters actually used the hunchbacked assistant Igor as a character, with a major part of the conflict having Igor want to keep the Monstress for himself and actively try to defy Baron Frankenstein's orders that the Monstress is to wed the Monster.
  • Mad Scientist Doctor Finkelstein has one of these in The Nightmare Before Christmas. He likes doggy treats.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • Dennis Hopper's fried "photojournalist" in Apocalypse Now is an ardent groupie of Col. Kurtz. His daily routine involves walking past dozens of decapitated heads and chronicling the exploits of the Great Man. Did you know that "if" is the middle word in life?
  • In The Awful Dr. Orloff, Dr. Orloff is assisted by the slavishly loyal Morpho; a deformed monstrosity who delights in biting his victims.
  • Blackenstein: Although normal looking, the monotone Malcolm fulfills this role for Dr. Stein. He falls in love with Eddie's fiancee Winifred and sabotages Stein's attempt to cure Eddie, so he can have Winifred for himself.
  • Boris, the inexplicably out of place limping hunchbacked medieval hangman in Blazing Saddles. What exactly a medieval hangman is doing in a Western can be attributed to Rule of Funny. He later shows up in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, where he fits the aesthetic somewhat better.
  • The Bride: Initially, Dr. Frankenstein has two assistants. Dr. Zahlus is a fellow scientist, but Paulus is a hunchback whose main function seems to be to handle the physical labour for the scientists.
  • Cannibal Girls has Bunker, the Reverend's lowly, deformed manservant who lives in the basement of the bed and breakfast where he cleans up the Girls' messes and cuts up the victims' remains.
  • Paul "Dibbs" Plutzker of 1995 film: Casper, played by Eric Idle.
  • Both films of Count Yorga had Brudah, a deformed shambling man who serves as the Count extremely tough servant. He has been showed to defy his master once though in the first movie, where he rapes the damsel after Yorga controls her to come to his mansion during the daytime. He is later seen shameful of the act and begs Yorga to forgive him.
  • In The Devil Commands, Dr. Blair is aided in forbidden experiments by his mentally-challenged servant Karl, who was rendered mute by one of Blair's experiments.
  • In Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Wheelchair-bound Mad Scientist Dr. Durea is assisted by his mute, simple-minded assistant Groton (Lon Chaney Jr.), who murders young women with an axe to secure body parts for Durea's experiments.
  • Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine: The eponymous mad scientist has a flunky named Igor who mentally fits this trope, but physically is an ordinary-looking guy in a lab coat.
  • In The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein's assistant is a mute hunchback called Morpho (a Creator Cameo by writer/director Jess Franco) who is only on screen for few minutes before being murdered by Melissa.
  • In Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, there is a segment with a Frankenstein parody. The deformed assistant of the mad scientist is even named "Igor".
  • In Flesh Gordon and the Cosmic Cheerleaders, Emperor Wang has an Igor-like Mad Scientist henchman named Bator. Bator actually has his own underlings, but doesn't like them to address him as "Master" ("That's Mister Bator!") for obvious reasons.
  • The trope maker is Fritz, Frankenstein's sidekick in Universal's Frankenstein. Fritz was imported from an 1823 play adaptation, Presumption: or the Fate of Frankenstein — the earliest recorded play adaptation of Frankenstein and the only one Mary Shelley saw. The name comes from Ygor, the broken-necked character from the sequel, Son of Frankenstein (although Ygor is not the servile figure embodied in the trope but rather a conniving villain in his own right).
  • In Frankenstein Island, shipwrecked sailor Clay has taken on the role of Sheila Frankenstein's dogsbody; presumably to make himself useful so she does not use him for her experiments. He commands the zombie guards, takes the blood from Jason, kidnaps women and procures animals for her experiments, etc.
  • In Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks, Count Frankenstein has several assistants: the sycophantic Hans, the hunchback Gregor, and the Depraved Dwarf Genz.
  • In The Freakmaker, the hulking Lynch assists Prof. Noller in his experiments, and supplies experimental subjects by abducting girls and bringing them to Nolter's lab, in exchange for Nolter curing his physical deformities.
  • There's a moment in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers where Brad Dourif as Grima looks to be playing this off of Christopher Lee's Saruman — Lorre-ish bug-eyes and all.
  • In The Man Who Changed His Mind, Dr. Laurience's lab assistant (and Crusty Caretaker) is Clayton; an Evil Cripple confined to wheelchair and suffering from a condition that could kill him at any time, who is working for Laurience in exchange for having his mind transferred into a healthy body.
  • Pavel, played by Ted Raimi, serves as the Igor in Bruce Campbell's Man with the Screaming Brain. He collects a lot of corpses over the course of the film.
  • Six years before the 1931 Frankenstein, Old, Dark House horror comedy The Monster featured Rigo, the sidekick to Mad Scientist Dr. Ziska, who plays this trope completely straight, wearing a cloak, walking with a hunched back, and helping the Mad Scientist with his evil schemes. His name is even coincidentally an anagram of Igor.
  • Monster Mash (1995), like the classic song of the same name it was partially based on, featured a hunchback assistant named Igor who was subserviant to Dr. Frankenstein.
  • Dracula of The Monster Squad tries to use Frankenstein's Monster as one of these, ordering him to retrieve Van Helsing's diary. He's quickly won over by Phoebe, the youngest of the eponymous crew, and turns against his master.
  • Krull of Mr. Sardonicus is more well-spoken and normal looking than your typical Igor, but is still a good fit. He's Sardonicus' main servant/doer of dirty work, and has a deformity in having an eye missing (because Sardonicus ripped it out). While Sardonicus is the more villainous of the two, Krull is shown to be fairly sadistic himself, and ultimately gets revenge in a cruel The Dog Bites Back moment.
  • The Munsters has Floop, the kindhearted hunchbacked assistant of Mad Scientist Dr. Wolfgang. Once their monster — Herman Munster — is made, Floop becomes a sort of older brother figure to him. On the other side, the Count has a manservant whose name is literally Igor, although he acts more like a cross between Renfield and Jeeves.
  • Count Rugen's assistant the Albino in The Princess Bride.
  • Parodied in Return of the Killer Tomatoes!, sequel to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!. Dr. Putrid T. Gangrene the Mad Scientist (portrayed most lovingly by John Astin) is annoyed by the mere presence of his assistant Igor, who is a blond, buff, tanned surfer-dude who wants to be a TV News Anchor, and dresses accordingly.
    Dr. Gangrene: It's insulting for a misanthrope of my stature to have an assistant as good-looking as you!
    Igor: Sorry, Doc. Maybe if I walked with a hunch?
  • Riff-Raff of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a parody Igor. Though it's also mostly an act in-universe: he's not remotely loyal, and more intelligent than most examples; it's suggested that Frank is in large part taking credit for his work. The hunched back is fake, and while he's still rather short and physically unimposing, he ends up shooting and killing Frank with a ray gun and is a General in the sequel.
  • Rogue One reveals that Darth Vader has one at his evil castle on Mustafar.
  • Spiders II: Breeding Ground: Dr. Grbac's shifty-looking assistant, though not hunchbacked, certainly fits this archetype in his toady mannerisms.
  • The butler and maid from Transylvania 6-5000 were both hunchbacks, and a married couple whose son had an even more extreme hunch. Or so it seemed; really, all three of them were faking to conform to this trope's groveling-hunchbacked-servant expectations.
  • Cojo the midget plays this role to Alonzo the Armless in The Unknown.
  • Igor appears in Van Helsing, which is a riff on all the old Universal monster movies.
  • Victor Frankenstein: Played with. Igor starts off the film with a physical deformity and he does become Victor's assistant, but his personality is very different than what this trope is normally associated with. Igor is Victor's equal in terms of his intelligence, so their master-servant dynamic is downplayed—the movie instead presents them as mentor and protégé. Moreover, after Victor corrects Igor's crooked back, the latter looks completely normal.
  • Waxwork II: Lost in Time starts the adventure proper with a sequence based on Frankenstein (1931), and they did their homework, as the Doctor's assistant is named Fritz, not Igor.
  • Parodied in Young Frankenstein by Marty Feldman as "Igor" (pronounced "Eye-gore"). He doesn't seem to realize he has a hump. Arguably the Trope Codifier for the most stereotypical of Igors, with his buggy eyes and hooded Medieval peasant clothing, neither of which was original to the Frankenstein franchise.

    Literature 
  • Played for humorous effect (along with everything else) in Bring Me The Head Of Prince Charming. The demon Azzie Elbub is aided in his plan by his hunchbacked assistant Frike, who proves himself the man for the job by slaying (off-stage) the other applicants for the job. Frike is quite a good Igor, except for his habit of breaking into Azzie's alchemical supplies in order to get drunk or high on them.
  • In Castle Hangnail, the head minion is a scarred old man who's lived and died and been revived and lived again in service of the castle. He's not actually a hunchback, but walks with a habitual stoop that gives the same impression.
  • Terry Pratchett's Discworld distills the trope by featuring a clan of these types, all named Igor (except the women, who are all named Igorina). They all have their own unique pattern of scars and deformities (except for the female Igors, who are oddly enough very attractive, although they usually keep a stitch somewhere as a sign), and all of them incredibly skilled surgeons, chemists and inventors. When they work for Vampires, Werewolves and Mad Scientists, they often double as a butler. They also have a tendency to replace parts of their own bodies with bits from other people which are no longer in use by their former owners. Often an Igor will accept as payment for a surgery a promise that they can help themselves to the patient's body (for themselves and other patients) when they eventually die — a promise they take very seriously. They also hand down useful organs; when an Igor says "I have my grandfather's hands", he is NOT being metaphorical.
    • Furthermore, they rarely have any qualms about who they work for — they don't work for Vampires and Werewolves and Mad Scientists because Evil Feels Good, but because "Inthanity getth the job done." An Igor would never do to another living person something that they wouldn't be willing to try first on themselves, though that doesn't necessarily narrow it down much. Even (relatively) sane and non-evil organisations (such as the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, The Free Hospital and a bank) recognize the value of an Igor and employ one or more.
    • Igors of Discworld are eerily good at:
      • Creating the essential and mandatory Cobweb Jungle using trained and specially bred spiders, urged on with very small whips.
      • Turning up behind you when you need them but don't expect them. (This might be a tribute to Eye-gor from Young Frankenstein, who went from the roof to right behind Dr. Frankenstein in less than a second.)
      • Opening the door exactly as you're raising your hand to knock. Relatedly, every door opened by an Igor will creak, whether or not it normally does. It's said to be a "skill".
      • Turning up at the moment of death.
      • Lisping, although this is done deliberately; "modern" Igors sometimes "forget to lisp." On one occasion, before delivering a somewhat longwinded explanation, the Igor in question asked if he could drop the lisp, to make said explanation easier to understand. (Later, another Uberwalder expresses concern when the Igor forgets to lisp, something that usually isn't done.)
      • Knowing exactly which Igor you're talking about.
      • Knowing when a lightning storm is coming, and using said lightning to power whatever mad invention they've been asked to create.
      • Surgery — in particular, they can re-attach lost limbs and perform transplants using only needle and thread, and also possess the ability to completely suppress the patient's immune system incompatibility with the donor organ through means unexplained. They also have the ability to bring back people who have actually died, if it's recent enough (and if they're allowed to — dwarves in particular will not allow Igors to bring them back. Igors are said to be "naturally disappointed" by this). As of Unseen Academicals, Lord Vetinari has been compelled to make a law about this, because murder trials have a tendency to go wrong when the (formerly) deceased walks through the door: "If it takes an Igor to bring you back, you were dead. Briefly dead, it's true, which is why the murderer will be briefly hanged."
      • "Acquiring" materials for their master's latest deranged scheme.
      • Quietly exiting just before the angry mob arrives.
      • They are also said to be quite popular with the ladies, despite their looks. We leave the reason for that to your imagination...
    • The motto of the Igors is "What goes around comes around"note  referring to both their habit of recycling body parts so much and so often and also their karmic approach to treatments. When an Igor gives treatment he expects that later he can come back and claim any strong organs that person has which might be able to help someone else (they tend to have waiting lists) but sometimes people get unnerved when an Igor shows up at their death bed looking rather patient and refuse to let him have their organs when they die. The Igor accepts this and leaves. And doesn't ever come back to that village. Nor does any other Igor. What goes around comes around... ... 
    • Interestingly, the Barman at Biers is named Igor, but is not a member of the clan — it's just a coincidence, which is odd as Biers is frequented mostly by the undead. He apparently finds comments about the incongruity of this rather irritating.note 
    • An early Discworld book from before the first Igor was introduced invoked this trope to describe thaumaturgists, the "lab technicians" whom wizards employ to collect Eye of Newt or powdered tiger testicle or whatever else they need.
  • In the Dragaera series, Sethra Lavode's servant Tukko/Chaz (his full name is Dri'Chazik a Tukknaro) comes across as a parody/subversion of this. In the Vlad series, he's described as constantly shaking and walking with a pronounced stoop, but Vlad suspects that this is Obfuscating Stupidity and Obfuscating Disability because despite his seeming infirmity, he never spills food or drink. This reading is supported in the prequel books in which he is revealed to be a famous wizard.
  • Rather than your typical hunchback, the lab assistant of the title character of Franny K. Stein is a dog named Igor who helps her with her experiments even when she doesn't want his assistance. He's not a pure lab, though. He's also part poodle, part Chihuahua, part beagle, part spaniel, part shepherd and part some weasely thing that isn't even a dog.
  • Starting in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the cowardly Wormtail plays this role to the Evil Sorcerer Voldemort.
  • Subverted in James P. Blaylock's Homunculus, where the hunchback creeping around the spooky laboratory actually is the Mad Scientist, Ignacio Narbondo.
  • In Malazan Book of the Fallen, Emancipor Reese serves as faithful manservant to the Evil Duo pairing of evil sorcerers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. He's not so much loyal to them as completely terrified, and while revealed in his origin story to have began as a seasoned if weedy former soldier, he quickly falls into the shambling part of the equation as he becomes an Addled Addict to dull the horror of his work.
  • Monster of the Year: The book features one who's literally named Igor, a hunchbacked former mad scientist's assistant, who accompanies the Frankenstein's monster named Sigmund Fred to the contest, but isn't planning to be a contestant himself.
  • In Myth Conceptions, Skeeve poses as a creepy hunchback to scare potential guests away from the inn he and Aahz have been living in. When he later auditions for the Court Wizard job at Possiltum, Aahz adopts the same disguise to pose as Skeeve's assistant, effectively playing the Igor to Skeeve's "cunning sorcerer".
  • The original Reek, the servant to Ramsay Snow (later Bolton) in A Song of Ice and Fire. After Reek was killed, Ramsay tried to break his captive Theon Greyjoy into becoming his replacement Igor.
  • In Sonic the Hedgehog in Robotnik's Laboratory, Robotnik has built himself a special lab-assistant called Eggor.
  • In Star Wars Legends, Onimi is the Igor to Supreme Overlord Shimrra, the leader of the Yuuzhan Vong. The very last book reveals however, that Onimi is actually the mastermind behind the Yuuzhan Vong invasion and that Shimrra was actually a puppet being telepathically controlled by Onimi.
  • Teen Power Inc.: In The Case of Crazy Claude, the eponymous inventor's violently protective lab assistant Eric is a hairy, slouching man who wears baggy clothes and rarely speaks except to grunt and make comments about cartoons. He does get some Hidden Depths in the final chapters, though, albeit in a bad way: his slouch, hair, wardrobe, and seemingly low intelligence are all fake so that Claude won't recognize "Eric" as a rival inventor who has been stealing Claude's ideas.
  • Strongwings from ''Wings of Fire starts out as Mastermind's Dumb Muscle assistant.

    Live-Action TV 
  • On Black Books, Bill Bailey turned into an Igor briefly. Complete with lisp and hunch.
  • Both Jesse and Gale act as Igors to "Heisenberg" on Breaking Bad.
  • Condo to Mad Scientist Dr Solon in the Doctor Who episode "The Brain of Morbius".
  • Despite being Topher's assistant on Dollhouse, Ivy is a complete subversion of this trope being female, quite attractive and anything but slavish in her attitude towards him.
  • Twisted in the Farscape episode "DNA Mad Scientist": the Mad Scientist NamTar's female Igor, Kornata, turns out to be the original scientist, who was disfigured and enslaved by her rebellious creation.
  • Game of Thrones: Reek is this to Ramsay, complete with stooping gait and low-bent head.
  • Get Smart. Max goes up against a KAOS Mad Scientist who's using electricity to raise people from the dead. He naturally has a disabled toady for an assistant...called Bruce.
  • Gilligan's Island did two episodes with mad scientist Boris Balinkoff; Both times he had an assistant named Igor, the first time played by a human, the second by a monkey. (Considering the things Balinkoff got up to, it's even possible they were the same character..)
  • Good Eats introduced the dungeon under AB's kitchen, wherein his toadying Dungeon Master (an Igor in all but name) supplies him with painful kitchen appliances, such as a steak cuber and tortilla press. Yes, it's a cooking show; it's just not a normal cooking show.
  • Igor is the name of Grandpa's pet bat in The Munsters, and considering that he's a Mad Scientist Vampire... well...
  • TV's Frank was one of these to Dr. Forrester, on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
    • In the first season, it was Dr. Ehrhardt (despite being nominally a Mad Scientist himself).
    • And now it's "TV's Son of TV's Frank", AKA Max, who complicates matters by being madly in love with his boss Kinga.
  • Once Upon a Time: Igor is the assistant to Dr. Frankenstein, though is only briefly seen.
  • Parodied on SCTV with actor Woody Tobias, Jr., who actually was an ugly hunchback and thus was confined to this role (named "Bruno") as sidekick to 3-D filmmaker Dr. Tongue, who usually played Mad Scientist roles. Both were "serious" actors, to the point they attempted a remake of Midnight Cowboy in 3-D, but they didn't have much range...

    Music 
  • The evil genius of Jonathan Coulton's "Skullcrusher Mountain" has his assistant Scarface, whose description is textbook Igor.
  • "That Little Old Graverobber Me" by Don Hinson & the Rigormorticians has the singer describe his encounter with a misshapen creep who claims to be digging up bodies for Baron Frankenstein.

    Pinballs 
  • One appears on the playfield of Monster Bash helping the Mad Scientist reawaken Frankenstein's monster.
    Igor: "Nice torso! ...what's a torso?"

    Puppet Shows 
  • In Muppets Tonight, Dr. Phil van Neuter, host of the Tales from the Vet segments, was assisted by a grotesque brute named Mulch.

    Radio 
  • The World Domination Hour found here, broadcast from Emerson College, features the villainous Baron and his resentful assistant Freegor, whose duties include being beaten, tormented, and harassed on a regular basis.

    Tabletop Games 
  • In Blood Bowl, Igors, also known as Hunchback Henchmen in some version of the rules, are deformed minions who can be hired by the Necromancer Coaches of the various Undead Teams instead of apothecaries. These assistants are highly skilled at repairing and manipulating rotting flesh and allow a re-roll to one 'Regeneration' roll each game.
  • Chronicles of Darkness fan-made gamelines:
    • In Genius: The Transgression, Beholden fill this role. Beholden are otherwise ordinary people who see the world exactly as the Genius sees it and thus can handle Wonders without wrecking them, help build them, and do all sorts of dirty work for their masters. In fact, "Igor" is a slang term for a Beholden. It's not very pleasant being one. Beholden lose their ability to form any beliefs or meaningful opinions beyond copying those of a Genius (although they can break free in certain circumstances), and if they're without a master for too long, they either go mad or die. They also have a tendency to experience a Breakthrough in certain conditions and become a Genius themselves.
    • Hunchback: The Lurching is basically about playing as one of these. You have been inflicted by a supernatural mutation that grants you power, but deforms you and generally makes your life hell. Hunchbacks are drawn to serve a master, who is often a scientist and/or a Genius (the hunchback hopes that they will find a way to remove the mutation).
  • Magic: The Gathering: In fitting with the setting's Blue-aligned alchemically created zombies, modeled in the vein of Frankenstein's Monster, Innistrad also contains references to the mad geniuses who create them, and the assistants who... assist. Two are mentioned directly, Deranged Assistant and Stitcher's Apprentice, the latter of whom is name-checked in the flavor text of Rooftop Storm, which is a direct Frankenstein reference (and also calls back the Assistant's gripe about the way orders are barked at him).
  • Mordheim: The Undead warbands can recruit the Dregs, the hunch-backed and deformed human survivors of the comet strike. They serve their undead masters faithfully since they are the few who showed them kindness.
  • My Life with Master casts all the players as the lackeys of a cruel Master, usually some variety of Mad Scientist or Evil Overlord. The object is to build connections with the Townspeople in order to work up the nerve to defy the Master and kill them.
  • Dr. Mordenheim is Ravenloft's Expy of Dr. Frankenstein, so naturally he has an Igor: a hunchback named Horg, whom he's re-created via cloning each time his assistant gets killed. Robbing graves in Ravenloft isn't the safest vocation, so he's on his third or fourth Horg by now.
  • Tzimisce ghouls in Vampire: The Masquerade. Ghouls usually end up insanely devoted to their masters as a result of the Blood Bond and addiction to their master's vitae, and the Tzimisce are infamous for reshaping organic tissue into new and horrific shapes; the end result of this particular blend is a horribly-deformed servant fully prepared to do literally anything for their master — and given that the Tzimisce are usually of a morbidly scientific bent, that can include assisting them with their experiments. On the other hand, they're still better off than more combat-oriented ghouls, most of whom have been reduced to slavering monsters by constant trauma and invasive brain surgery.

    Theatre 
  • Koukol, Count von Krolock's hunchbacked servant in Tanz der Vampire.
  • In Ruddigore, Old Adam Goodheart is the trusted servant of the hero, Robin Oakapple. When Robin is forced by a family curse to resume his responsibilities as the wicked Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, Baronet of Ruddigore, Old Adam accompanies him and, in order to better serve his master, changes his name to Gideon Crawle. Some newer productions have him spontaneously develop a hump.

    Toys 
  • Vican, a mutated Matoran, fills this role for Mutran in BIONICLE. Interestingly enough, Vican originally willingly became Mutran's lackey because he was bored of his old life and wanted more excitement, which resulted in multiple mutations to his body. He ends up being the the one to accidentally discover how to cure victims of shadow leeches when he gets hit by the scream of one of Mutran's creations, which causes his original good personality to return, allowing him to pull a Heel–Face Turn and help save the shadow Matoran.

    Video Games 
  • ANNO: Mutationem: Dr. Alan Doyle has an assistant bot called Igor who he tasks with various lab duties and is frequently annoyed with him bringing a burger instead of a seafood paella.
  • The game Brain Dead 13 has Fritz (most likely named as a Shout-Out to Universal's Frankenstein), an imp with hooks for both hands who pursues the protagonist throughout the game at Dr. Neurosis' orders.
  • Igor makes an appearance in Castlevania as an invincible fleaman that assists Frankenstein's monster in battle in the first game, thus subverting the usual idea that Igor doesn't participate in combat. In fact, Igor is the real threat of the fight- the monster just walks back and forth while Igor jumps around and tosses fireballs at Simon.
  • In Crash Bandicoot games, Dr. Neo Cortex always has a servile coworker who often makes all the work for him:
  • An Igor (called "Egor") is the protagonist of the Amiga platform game Frankenstein. Your goal in the game is to bring the required ingredients to dr. Frankenstein so that he can create the Frankenstein's Monster.
  • At the start of Monster Lab, the player is given a PDA aptly named I.G.O.R.
  • In Mystery Case Files' Ravenhearst games, Charles' hunched, cackling assistant Victor is an example, for all that he calls his boss "Father" instead of "Master".
  • Persona: Igor, a servant of Philemon, and all of the Velvet Room Residents are named after characters from Frankenstein.
  • In the game Psychonauts, Sheegor is a female Igor forced to work for Dr. Loboto to save her captured pet turtle Mr. Pokeylope. She switches over to your side when you retrieve him; she's scary at first, but actually sort of a Woobie.
  • Igor pops up in Quest for Glory IV, where he's the town's gravedigger and resident Pungeon Master ("Ha ha, little graveyard humor there!"); it's mentioned that he occasionally helps Dr. Cranium out too.
  • The Ultimate Haunted House has Igor Stravinsky, Dr. Synthesis' beleaguered assistant.

    Web Comics 
  • This trope has actually been reversed in Annyseed where our hero's are greeted at the door by a cute, defiant little Monkey.
  • Commander Kitty has Fortiscue, who fits this to a T, complete with worshipful improvised names for his mistress Zenith ("Yes, my one-and-onlyness!"). This doesn't stop him from being a Servile Snarker when she gets a tad too ridiculous. It's also a complete reversal of fate, since when he's not under the influence of the Mind-Control Device he himself created, he's her master—she's an android, and not intended to be evil.
  • Doctor Germahn of El Goonish Shive has an Igor of identical function but vastly different flavor. Her name is Amanda, and she's quite blonde.
  • Girl Genius:
    • An Enforced Trope; the whole of Europa has been under the control of Sparks for so long that pretty much anyone will be quickly reduced to a grovelling mess if one starts ranting like a cut-rate stage villain.
    • In "The Coffee Engine is Broken?!?" storyline, Agatha finally makes it to her ancestral keep, only to find the entire TOWN surrounding it is populated with Igors subconsciously pining for their masters the Heterodynes... and woe betide pretenders that hang around instead of getting eaten by the Castle.
    • This is a thing with Sparks in general. When in the madness place, they tend to drag others along in their fervor, with those who are exposed long enough becoming highly conditioned to serve Sparks (not exclusive to their original master). One character suggests this is an evolved survival trait; people who volunteer to be minions are much more likely to survive to breed than people who are selected to be test subjects. Apply this selection criteria on a community for fifty generations and you get some pretty devoted and skilled minions.
    • And von Zinzer, Agatha's follower whose reluctance to fall into "minion" routine, while useful in itself, produces hilarious scenes.
      Zinzer: [on being told that the traditional response to flipping the Big Electric Switch is "Yes Master!"] Not even if it would get me out of this castle tonight.
  • In Narbonic, most respectable mad scientists have henchmen. It's just the way things are done. Dave even jokes that his boss should call him Igor. The henchmen are also unionized.
  • Nosfera has the adorible Iggy, the man-flea.
  • The Order of the Stick has Giro as assistant to a Mad Scientist type wizard who makes Frankenstein's Monster-style flesh golems here. Giro isn't even a real hunchback; he wears a fake hump to get the job.
  • Pokémon-X parodies this with Professor Birch's assistant, named Igor, who is a perfectly normal lab assistant aside from the name and all the jokes he is subject to because of it.

    Web Videos 
  • The Cinema Snob noted in his review of The Body Shop that mad scientists in the movies he reviews always seem to have deformed sidekicks for no reason, and he wants to know how the assistant ended up with the doctor (at least one, Blood-Sucking Freaks, explains that Ralphus is just a sadist who does it for free.)
    "Oh, of course he has a deformed sidekick. Where do these people like Frankenstein GET their deformed sidekicks? Do they just post up a Craigslist ad? Were humpbacked miniature servants really that good around the science lab? Seriously, all of these fucking mad doctors have them! From Doctor Frankenstein, all the way down to fucking Sardu! "
    • In a later review, he gives Z-grade movie Geek Maggot Bingo props for explaining how they met, which actually does show the deformed assistant finding the job in a classified ad.
    "Honestly, I will have to hand it to this movie — it does explain how the doctor and his hunchbacked sidekick meet. In The Body Shop, The Astro-Zombies, or hell, even Bloodsucking Freaks, the duos just sort of already knew each other for some reason. This movie at least shows us their humble beginnings... and it still sucks."
  • Doctor Steel's robot servants are all hunchbacks.
  • Despite being based mostly on the original novel, where the good doctor worked alone, Frankenstein M.D. still references this trope with Victoria's lab technician "Iggy".

    Western Animation 
  • Aladdin: The Series: Aside from being a magical flying eel, the evil sorcerer Mozenrath's sidekick Xerxes fits this trope.
  • In All Hail King Julien, after becoming horribly disfigured, Rob gets a job as Nurse Phantom working for Doctor S which more or less ends up with him becoming the Igor to Doctor S's Mad Doctor. The only real difference is that they tend to bicker like an old married couple.
    Dr S: Back up the saw, Nurse Phantom, maybe next time...
    Rob: Told you we wouldn't need it, but no, you made me lug it all the way here for nothing!
  • Spoofed in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!. Dr. Gangreene's helper is named Igor, but he's actually a blond, tan, handsome man.
  • The cringingly villainous sidekick, Harry Slime from Avenger Penguins fits this trope more closely, right down to the Peter Lorre accent.
  • In the Beast Wars episode "Feral Scream", Waspinator fills in the role of The Igor while Megatron is creating Transmetal 2 Dinobot. Waspinator even speaks lines such as "Yes, Master" in a creepy sort of voice.
  • Averted in Count Duckula: Igor is Igor in name (and hunchback) only in this instance and is a very capable, intelligent albeit sinister butler. Also, don't mess with his master or you will regret it.
  • One of the several Mad Scientist antagonists on Courage the Cowardly Dog had a hunchbacked rat as a laboratory assistant.
  • The blatantly named Urpgor of The Dreamstone is this to Zordrak. While most Urpneys are sniveling toadies, Urpgor is exceptionally unhinged and weasel-like, even referring to Zordrak as "Master". As a bonus he is the Mad Scientist of the Rogues Gallery.
  • The Fairly OddParents! episode "Open Wide and Say Aaagh!" has Dr. Snipowitz assisted by a hunchback named Igor in the twerpectomy Vicky has scheduled for Timmy. He even says "yes, master".
  • Garfield and Friends:
    • In the episode "Rainy Day Dreams", Garfield uses his imagination to compare Jon's new relationship to Bride Of Frankenstein. He notices the assistant, Igor, and tells Odie that all assistants are named Igor. It's a rule.
    • The episode "Frankenstein Feline" has Jon dream that he is a mad scientist who creates a Frankenstein monster cat resembling Garfield, with Odie playing the role of the hunchbacked assistant.
  • Gargoyle in The Incredible Hulk (1996) is ugly, short, has a large head, and acts as an assistant to The Leader.
  • In Jibber Jabber, several of the boys' fantasies involved Jibber as "Dr. Jibberstein" with Jabber as his loyal hunchbacked assistant "Jabgor".
  • From Plasmo is Professor Sashimi's assistant Joyce. She looks the part to the point of being easily mistaken for male (to the point of having a male voice actor as well), and, despite being a loyal assistant to Sashimi, she also wants to make her own big scientific discovery, along with having a heavy infatuation towards Coredor.
  • ReBoot: In later seasons, Mad Scientist "Herr Doktor" is Megabyte's top man. The doc has an unnamed assistant who is a heavily disfigured, Frankenstein monster-like "one" binome.
  • A short-lived animated series based on El Santo featured a Mad Scientist named Dr. Clone as the main antagonist. He was accompanied by a bumbling assistant named Adenaido, who otherwise looks and fits the part of the classic Igor like a glove.
  • The Seven Little Monsters episode "The Adventures of Super Three" had Five pretend to be Four's hunchbacked assistant Figor (pronounced fye-gore).
  • In one episode of Sheep in the Big City, the Mad (I mean, Angry) Scientist is ready to launch his sheep-powered raygun. He presses a button, ominous music swells, everybody holds their breath... turns out the button only summons an Igor. Doubly funny because the Angry Scientist looks down on the Igor, even though he is exactly as deformed as the Angry Scientist himself.
    Igor: You rang, master?
    Angry Scientist: Yes, troll. Pushing this button for me.
  • Superfriends: The villain of The World's Greatest SuperFriends episode "The Super Friends Meet Frankenstein" was a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein who creates two Frankenstein monsters, one that followed the conventional depiction of Frankenstein's monster and the other resembling an amalgam of Superman and Batman with Wonder Woman's magic lasso who was created by transfering Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman's energies into a featureless body. The villain's assistant was a slouching toady name Gor, whose voice was even a Peter Lorre impression.
  • In the "Werehog of London" episode of Timon & Pumbaa, the Mad Scientist has a "Shegor" instead because he's an equal opportunity employer.
  • Toonsylvania has its Igor as one of the main characters of the show.
  • Lugnut in Transformers: Animated, who doubles as The Brute.
  • Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's Frankenhole has his assistant Ygor, who speaks with a high voice.

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