Max Hass

Max Hass
Country of Origin	Germany
Date of Birth	1933
Age	27 or 28 (The New Order) 28 (The New Colossus)
Eyes	Blue
Height	7'1"
Weight	400 Lbs
Sex	Male
Nationality	German
Race	Caucasian
Occupation	Member of the American Resistance
Fate	Unknown
Relative(s)	Klaus Kreutz (adopted father, deceased)
Portrayer	Alex Solowitz
Appearance(s)	Wolfenstein: The New Order Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus Wolfenstein: Youngblood (Mentioned)

"Max Hass!"

―Max Hass.

Max Hass is a pacifistic member of the Kreisau Circle in Wolfenstein: The New Order. He makes a return in the sequel, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus as the member of the American Resistance and briefly mentioned in Wolfenstein: Youngblood.

History

Max Hass was born with a severe brain injury, which forced doctors to surgically remove half his brain. Shunned by his parents, and given that Nazi health policies advocated the euthanizing of anyone with physical deformities and disabilities, Max was raised in secret by his grandmother until she died.

He was found by Klaus behind a dumpster, who took him in and raised him like a son.

Appearance

Max Hass is a very large individual, shown by the fact that he towers over Blazkowicz and is almost twice as muscular. One side of Max's head is collapsed and his hair is shaven down to a buzzcut.

He is dressed in a striped woollen T-shirt and worn leather overalls. Max doesn't wear shoes or any manner of footwear. However in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, he is seen wearing red bowling shoes.

Abilities

• Immense durability: Max Hass is shown to be able to endure multiple gunshots from an assault rifle at point blank.
• Superhuman strength: Max Hass is able to dent a helmet worn by Nazi's soldier and knock them out with a hammerfist. 

Personality

Max has the personality of a young boy: he is a pacifist, is prone to tantrums, and often draws on whatever surface he can find, be it the walls of a building or a shirt. Due to his brain damage, Max's vocabularly is limited to "Max Hass" and "Max", and he often requires supervision from the other members of the resistance. His room in the resistance hideout has a large number of toys and childish-looking objects.

However, in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus he seems to be capable of aiming a gun and can understand what others say, and was seen ironically beating Set in a game of chess, showcasing a mysterious level of intelligence. This suggests that at least certain aspects of his brain seem to be highly functioning, showing that the brain damage didn't entirely cripple his ability to think, and even kept some parts of it largely intact. Max also shows an artistic side, from creating simple kid drawings to a complex Modernist collage, all in crayon.

Despite his peaceful nature, Max displays an impressive level of strength and durability, surviving a gunshot to the shoulder, knocking a Nazi to the ground with one punch, ripping off a car door with his bare hands, and later brushing off a full-force punch from the supersoldier body of B.J. Blazkowicz, whom he knocks out shortly after.

The New Order

Max was introduced when he greeted the Eisenwald Prison escapee (either Fergus or Wyatt), Blazkowicz, and Anya Oliwa. Most of the time, Max is always lying around at the base and playing with his toys. When the Nazis raided the Circle's hideout, Max remained hidden and saved B.J. and Klaus from Nazi Commandos by killing the Nazis with his bare hands, but was too late to save Klaus. After escaping, Max became very distraught of Klaus's passing and later helped in participating in the attack on Deathshead's Compound.

No mentioning of Max's whereabouts is made after Blazkowicz stormed Deathshead's fortress, but he is presumed to have remained on the Nazi U-boat along with Caroline and Fergus/Wyatt.

The New Colossus

"Happy Birthday, Max!"

―Klaus Kreutz, Max's Birthday Card

Max happily reunites with B.J. after getting revived.

Max returns, continuing to aid the Kreisau Circle in fighting the Nazis, honoring the request of his guardian Klaus who died a few months prior.

Despite his language deficiency and his child-like spirit, Max is quite talented: he beat Set Roth at a game of chess, has the highest score in Wolfstone 3D of anyone who has played the cabinet, and deciphered a book by the Da'at Yichud that both Set and Wyatt could not. He is also able to do trick shots in billiards and seems skilled in creating crayon art in the Modernist aesthetic. Max draws all around the ship, including in his room, a mural on a nearby wall, and on Fergus' shirt, much to the ire of Fergus himself.

Max has a unique relationship with Fergus or Wyatt in their timelines, as the former often gets angry with him or calls him an idiot (but later apologizes to him), and the latter is friendly. Max is very fond of Rosa, refusing to allow her to be killed by Bombate for food, and becomes friends with Mary Sue 'Professor' Ellington, as she often is seen at his side in the Eva's Hammer.

Through interactions on the ship, other characters note that Max is depressed. For example, B.J. can take on an optional side-quest from a resident that tells him that Max is sad, and that finding some toys for him might cheer him up. In a random encounter on the ship Bombate is attempting to cheer Max up, and when this doesn't work, Bombate quickly loses his cool and lashes out at Max.

Youngblood

Max was mentioned in Youngblood, as William J. Blazkowicz tells his daughters that Max was the first person to notice the affects on the weather from Hitler's doomsday device. His fate is unknown.

Gallery

Main article: Max Hass/Gallery

Trivia

• Interestingly, his last name means "hate" in German.
• Max Hass could be a reference to the iron giant, the huge robot from the animated film by director Brad Bird. Like Max Hass, the iron giant also has a big dent in the left side of the skull, and both of them exhibit childlike behavior. (In a few situations, both also express a certain intelligence.) Max as well as the giant can not stand the sight of weapons and violence. In addition, neither Max Hass nor the robot have any memory of their origin.
• Max Hass is very kind and attached to his allies, including Blazkowicz and Bombate.
• Set Roth refers to Max as a "golem" in The New Colossus. A golem is traditionally a large, strong, and servile entity from Jewish folklore, whose primary purpose is to follow simple orders, and is assumed to be somewhat unintelligent.
• Max Hass' age is 28 in The New Colossus. However his exact birthdate is not known, so it's not known if he was 27 or 28 in The New Order. The only clue to his birthday is a card given to him by Klaus Kreutz - However this was apparently given to him before events of The New Order, as there is no indication of his birthday having taken place during the course of the game.
• For a time it was incorrectly speculated among Wolfenstein fans that Max Hass was a failed supersoldier candidate or test subject.

References

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