Max Hass

Max Hass
Country of Origin	Germany
Date of Birth	1933
Age	10 or 11 (Return to Castle Wolfenstein) 12 or 13 (Wolfenstein 2009) 13 or 14 (The Old Blood) 27 or 28 (The New Order) 28 (The New Colossus)
Hair	Bald
Eyes	Blue
Height	7' 1" (2.16 m)
Weight	445 lbs (202 kg)
Sex	Male
Nationality	German
Race	Caucasian
Occupation	Member of the Kreisau Circle Member of the American Resistance
Fate	Unknown
Relative(s)	Unnamed Grandmother (deceased) 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 a 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 from a heart attack.

He was found by Klaus Kreutz behind a dumpster, who took him in and raised him as if he was his own son.

Appearance

Max Hass is a very large individual, shown by the fact that he towers over even Blazkowicz himself, and is nearly 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 woolen 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 a Nazi soldier and knock them out with a hammer fist. He is also able to incapacitate Blazkowicz in one hit even with a super soldier body.
• Savant Syndrome: Max Hass has shown to have Savant Syndrome, a rare condition in which persons with developmental disorders have amazing abilities and talent. Max has exceptional skills in Chess(Beating Da'at Yichud member Set Roth and tricking him into a trap by making Set doubt his decision), Art(Mural for Klause, appraised by The Professor) and Billiards(Bombate showed him a few tricks, and Max could immediately perform high level trick shots.) and maybe Literature(When Max pointed out something important in Wyatt's readings that he couldn't find himself. However Max could just be pointing at something that stuck out.)
• Impressive Baking Skills: Max was the one that baked Blazkowicz's birthday Banana Cream Pie which Blazko complimented, however we do not know if he can cook anything else.

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 condition, Max's vocabulary 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.

In Wolfenstein: The New Order, a scoreboard above the target for the knife throwing range shows Max trumping Klaus' score by a significant amount. Though, this could just mean Max practices more on the board than Klaus does. However, in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, he appears to be capable of aiming a gun, and can understand what others say. He is also ironically shown 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 childish drawings to an entire complex Modernist collage, all in crayon only.

Despite his peaceful nature, Max displays an impressive level of strength and durability, performing impressive feats such as surviving a gunshot to the shoulder, knocking a Nazi out 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 soon after. He can also lift a torpedo largely on his own without fail - despite Fergus saying "Oh, he's gonna kill us all now, we're gonna die!", only to look in shock when nothing happened.

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 found 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' passing and later helped in participating in the attack on Deathshead's Compound.

No mention 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 he is 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 Fergus/Wyatt were unable to. He's also shown to be able to do trickshots in billiard and is also skilled in creating crayon art with the Modernist aesthetic. Max also draws all around Eva's Hammer, such as 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 the aged William J. Blazkowicz tells his daughters that Max was the first person to notice the effects of the weather from Hitler's doomsday device. His fate is unknown.

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 on 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.
• His catchphrase "Max Hass" is a possible reference to the character Groot from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. Groot is a tree like bipedal alien who's vocabulary consists of only "I am Groot" in different tones. Despite its lack of linguistic complexity, it's a functional language similar to the ones on Earth.
• Although Max can only say "Max Hass", people generally understand what he is saying which includes complex emotions such as doubt, subtle ideas and questioning (Ex: Klaus responded "I was thinking the same thing" to Max Hass' "Max Hass", He questions Set's move in chess, making Set reconsider. Helping The Professor with her romantic troubles, although the latter might just be The Professor interpreting Max to her inner thoughts.)
• 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.
• The project Whisper Helicopters are renamed "Hass 1" and "Hass 2" by the Kreisau Circle, potentially because Max drew in crayon all over them. Maria Laurent, the French mechanic and Fergus' crush, does not appreciate Max's Drawings, wanting to wash the crayon drawings clean.

Gallery

Main article: Max Hass/Gallery

References

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