Invader Zim is something of a Nickelodeon cult classic.
It stands alone for it’s weird humor, dark colour palette and doomsday mindset.
The main focus of the show is the Irken Zim, having been tricked into observing the Earth
and told that he’s there to take it over.
But many fans have wondered exactly what pushed Zim to be the force of nature he was during
Operation Impending Doom 1.
What happened to make him so hostile and crazy?
Why have the Tallest seemed to always resent and mock him?
When did it start?
That’s what we’ll be tackling today.
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge and this is Zim’s Defective Origin.
The Lore
The origin of Irkens is pretty interesting on it’s own.
We’ve managed to be given bits of information here and there between the show, comics, video
games and interviews during Invadercon.
With a body structure that’s a strange mix of bug, lizard and human, they’re built
to be pretty scary.
While the Irkens we see in the show are more civilized and in control, original Irkens
were designed as much more primitive.
With large eyes that were ideal for looking around in the dark caves, clawed feet and
hands perfect for hunting, and sharp teeth to attack prey and fight for territory.
They weren’t something you wanted to take on.
It was stated at one time that Irkens used to engage in cannibalism against their own
kind, much like hippopotamuses do here on Earth.
That’s a real fact about hippos, by the way.
During Zim’s time however, things are different.
Irkens are taught to be repulsed by dirt and more natural environments.
Their diets consist mainly of carbohydrates and sugars.
Their teeth resembled more of a zipper pattern and were dulled.
They cover from head to toe in clothing, trying to separate themselves from any outside force.
And most notably, they were given a PAK which serves many functions from defense to maintaining
their body functions.
Zim’s Past
Zim himself started life like many Irkens his age.
He was confirmed to be the same age as Tallest Red and Tallest Purple, going through the
same training they had.
The creator stated Zim was actually dubbed “cutest smeet” more than once and that
no doubt played into Zim’s vanity.
Like others of his kind, he was cloned and programmed to a PAK right away.
PAKs do more than just maintain an Irken’s body, though.
They are also used to store information, holding everything from behaviours instilled during
training to saving all the memories that particular Irken has accumulated.
There was an episode called “The Trial” that didn’t make it on air, but explained
that the PAKs would be used by the Brains to take the experiences gathered to pass on
certain behaviours to future generations of Irkens.
This is also how Irkens are deemed Defective.
Irk’s definition of Defective being an Irken “that cannot be controlled by the Imperial
Control Brains and are therefore considered unpredictably dangerous.”
We see a glimpse of these Brains when Zim is labeled a food drone, a typical punishment
to keep Defects from the rest of Irken society.
Honestly it was a lucky sentence since Zim could have just as easily been sentenced to
death.
Zim’s Position
Upon training, Zim was given the role of a scientist long before he was made an Irken
Invader.
Of course he dreamed of being an Invader and did all he could to be given recognition.
His urge to be seen as the best is no secret but his ambition is typically what gets him
into trouble.
Here’s where ideas become a little divided, but the end result is the same.
We’ll start with the facts given by the creator and the unaired episode.
The fact is, Zim’s creation of an energy absorbing blob resulted in the death of Tallest
Spork.
He was the successor to Tallest Miyuki and his death was the reason Red and Purple rose
to power.
Spork was seen as unique as far as other Irkens were concerned, not only for his height but
due to features such as his teeth and his smaller eyes.
He was said to be a commanding presence and the only reason Zim wasn’t arrested or put
to death for Spork’s demise is because Zim had used an inflatable Spork as a decoy to
escape.
Though it was never made clear on how he got an inflatable Spork.
The Defect
Now to discuss the divided theories.
There are a few reasons that Zim is thought to have become Defective.
The first is that Zim was simply born as such.
This idea states that he was the one who slipped through the cracks.
There were no warning signs when he was younger and so no one had done anything to stop him
from achieving his goals.
But the more power he obtained and the more regarded he was, he began to grow hungry for
more power and control.
Sort of like the mad kings of our own history, Zim was one of the rare cases that stuck out.
It wasn’t until his actions during Impending Doom 1 did the Tallest realize how much of
an issue the smaller Irken would be and decided to have Zim reassigned to minimize any more
chaos.
The second is that Zim was driven to insanity or made a scapegoat by Red and Purple.
It’s no secret that dirty politics is a thing, both on Earth and in space.
This theory states that Zim may in fact be sensible by Irk’s standards and was never
radical.
The idea implies that Zim was simply the perfect Irken soldier but Red and Purple singled him
out and labeled him a trouble maker to take attention off of the fact that they were horrible
leaders.
We see more than a few times of Red and Purple having little concern over their troops unless
that particular Irken does something amazing that will make the Empire look fearsome.
They shoot Skooge at a planet, they assign more deadly tasks to the shorter of the species,
and they would happily retreat if their snacks were at stake.
It’s possible that they make a public mockery of Zim and make his missions appear like failures
or give him broken equipment to sabotage Zim’s image.
The third is that Zim scrabbled his PAK himself.
This is the more tragic of the theories.
This followed the second one closely, but has the difference of Zim being the one to
hurt his own image rather than having someone else do it for him.
It is possible that after his hand in Tallest Spork’s death, Zim couldn’t handle the
information and tried to erase it which is why he isn’t sentenced to death when we
do see the Brains look at his memories.
But there was an unwanted consequence: in trying to destroy the memory of killing the
new leader, Zim also hurt how he was meant to behave.
He began being violent and hard to control, no longer caring about his fellow Irkens and
only being driven to succeed and be seen as worthy of carrying his Empire’s name.
This theory paints the Tallest Red and Purple in a slightly kinder light, implying they
may have known or suspected that Zim was the one who made the energy absorbing blob, but
due to their shared past of training together decided not to sentence their former friend
and tried to have Zim only perform menial labour as a punishment.
How We Know Him
However it happened, during his time on the show we see Zim for how he is: a loud and
arrogant alien with a craving for power and praise.
Whether you see Zim as crazy or not, his actions in the show could support any of those theories.
It’s easy to believe that he was just born Defective with how much he has a hard time
with life on Earth.
He accepts his assignment on the planet without question even though it’s clear his Tallest
don’t care for him.
When he calls, he keeps his leaders on the call for hours, sometimes not saying much
of anything but just trying to get their attention even if he already has it.
He had no issue believing that GIR was superior technology since the robot acted much like
himself at times.
And their disguises are pretty pathetic to say the least.
But there’s also some evidence that Zim could be a pawn for his leaders or had hurt
himself by tampering with his own PAK.
Let’s start with the pawn idea.
Zim is given horrible equipment.
He was sent off into space to die in isolation since he didn’t accept being banished.
He was given a SIR unit that was made up of garbage and spare parts.
His calls are usually ignored and his requests for tools to use for his plans to take over
the Earth are either disregarded or denied outright.
Even when Zim was a large robot by mistake, no one bothered to correct it.
The Tallest had no problem believing Zim would mess up using the equipment.
And the bugs for that thing were obviously still being worked out, with the robot needing
to stay plugged in and having an only partially successful invisibility mode.
However, the last theory also has some evidence.
The Tallest during their interactions with Zim do what they can to please him while also
brushing him off.
They try to buy him off with a sandwich, they make him a SIR unit that they feel won’t
be a threat, and at one point Red pushes Purple to fake an enemy attack.
That could be played off as them not wanting to anger a maniac, but they could have just
as easily destroyed the small Irken.
Is it possible that they are in their own weird way protecting an old friend and comrade
that is no longer himself?
Did they know that Zim must have scrambled his PAK and so were trying to help him find
some use of himself in a way that didn’t hurt anyone else?
It’s hard to say, but it is an idea.
But what do you think?
Do you have a theory on Zim’s origin?
Let us know.
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In fact, check out our Invader Zim Good-to-Evil.
Where we break down the Invader Zim series characters from Good to Evil.
But most importantly, stay wicked!