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This evil claw of water is a phenomenon only Raz and his family can see. Long ago, they were all cursed by a rival circus family - the Galochios - cursed to die in water, every one of them. So whenever a deep body of water is nearby, Raz gets understandably freaked out. He is literally gripped with fear, sometimes even paralyzed and pulled under. Do not take Raz swimming.

–Blurb from the Psycho Manual

The Hand of Galochio is a manifestation of Raz's fear of water instilled by Ford Cruller to protect Nona. The hand doesn't actually exist, and is a product of his imagination[1] sometimes made real by his hydrokinesis. The "curse" said the Aquatos were all doomed to die in water, and thus takes the appearance of a watery hand. It is named after the Galochios, the psychic family that was blamed for creating the "curse".

The hand will try to grab Raz if he comes too close to a large body of water. The hand does not appear in shallow bodies of water such as puddles or small streams. As of Psychonauts 2, the hand doesn't try to pull Raz underwater anymore. Instead, it lifts him out of water and places him on nearby land. Raz now uses it for acrobatic water tricks.

Psychonauts[]

The hand will try to drown Raz each time he lands on the surface of a large body of water. Raz can avoid a maximum of two attempted grabs before being pulled under on the third, giving him (and the player) a chance to get back to dry land. The maximum amount of grabs is one instead of two in Lungfishopolis, and Raz is immediately pulled underwater without grabs in Gloria's Theater and Meat Circus. A few seconds after being pulled under, Raz crawls back onto land, panting in exhaustion. The hand will not appear when Raz walks in small puddles or water streams.

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin[]

The Hand of Galochio appears when Charlie Psycho Delta gets flooded, preventing Raz from moving out of fear of being drowned by the curse. Using Clairvoyance on the other characters in the room confirms that only Raz can see the blue hands.

Raz Ror2

Raz being dragged down by orange hands.

Additionally, in the opening credits cutscene after The Pelican crashes into the ocean, Raz is shown being grabbed by several bright orange hands and dragged underwater. However, it is likely that these hands are actually a feature of the Charlie Psycho Delta security system, as they are orange instead of the normal blue. The psi-lock that prevents the jet from taking off during the escape scene manifests as orange hands identical to the ones seen grabbing Raz in the initial cutscene.

Psychonauts 2[]

The Hand of Galochio returns in Psychonauts 2, with the same effect as before: it tries to snatch Raz and pull him underwater, succeeding after three tries. This forces Raz to return to the last safe surface or platform he was on, and costs him some Health.

After Razputin reintegrates Ford Cruller's shattered psyche, Ford reveals that the hand isn't a curse, and didn't originate from the Galochio family. Instead, when Ford used the Astralathe to repress Lucrecia Mux's 'Maligula' persona, he also implanted a fear of water in her to stop her from reawakening her powerful hydrokinesis. As Nona, she passes this fear on to Augustus Aquato, and through him, to the rest of the Aquatos, including Raz. The hand Raz sees is a manifestation of this fear, hijacking his own hydrokinetic abilities.

Once Raz and his family realize the curse isn't real, the Hand ceases to be hostile. After completing the final levels of the game, entering water will instead cause the Hand to help Raz, bouncing him back up and out of the water twice. If Raz cannot make it to solid ground with two bounces, the Hand will bounce Raz into an acrobatic pose, and then carry him back to shore. Whilst this is effectively the same reset as before, Raz will no longer take damage from it.

Trivia[]

  • In Psychonauts 2, Mental connection can be used along with Archetype to indefinitely bounce on water. While the archetype is summoned, Raz can bounce on water and use mental connection to grab onto him. Doing this will restart the "bounce" sequence.
  • The hand is possibly a reference to the malocchio in Italian folklore.
  • The fact that the Hand doesn't completely disappear after Psychonauts 2 possibly means Raz still has a fear of water.
  • Evil Augustus calls it the "cold bloody hand of fear", which is very accurate considering the hand was created out of Razputin's fear of water.
  • The cardboard waves in Gloria's Theater can produce a cardboard Hand of Galochio to pull Raz underwater. A laugh track will play if the Hand grabs Raz.
  • The hand appears in the ink lake in Cassie's Collection. It is formed out of black pen ink.
  • The hand appears in a pool in Milla's Dance Party, although it can't pull Raz underwater. Milla will comment on his reaction, noting that she's never seen anything like it before. She implies that she believes it's caused by Raz having a subconscious fear of wetting the bed before Raz attempts to correct her. Ironically, this foreshadows the reveal of the hand being a true phobia instead of a curse in Psychonauts 2.
  • Two Hands of Galochio will appear if Raz gets close to the edge of the lungfish air bubble in the Lair of the Lungfish.
  • It's impossible to use Clairvoyance on the Hand of Galochio in any of the games.
  • Raz will groan when he escapes being grabbed by the hand of Galochio in Psychonauts 2, something he doesn't do in Psychonauts.
  • While in most cases it takes three times to land in water in order to get pulled by the hand, there are levels where the hand will pull Raz underwater after two or even one attempt:
    • Raz will get pulled the second time he lands on water in Lungfishopolis.
    • In Gloria's Theatre, the cardboard version of the hand will immediately pull him if he lands on the cardboard water.
    • In Psychonauts 2, if Raz falls from great heights, the hand will instantly pull him underwater.
    • In Bob's Bottles, in the level "Bob's Island", it takes two attempts to get pulled by the hand.
    • In that same mental world but inside of the bottle levels, it only takes one attempt.

Gallery[]

Concept art and Promotional Materials[]

Psychonauts[]

Screenshots[]

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin[]

Psychonauts 2[]

Screenshots[]

References/Notes[]

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