Elum is a foul-tempered riding beast that considers itself anything but Abe's sidekick. If Elum isn't running away from Abe or being fed then he's slobbering him with affection. In Abe's Oddysee (as well as in New 'n' Tasty) you ride him to the Scrabanian and Paramonian temple. He has great affection for Abe and will follow him wherever he goes, as evident when Elum is told to wait by Abe, he will howl to the sky in sadness.
His design had to capture the characteristics of a lovable yet annoying companion. The skin bump and color maps were based on the wrinkles and folds from rhinos and elephants. While his underbelly was lighter like a dog's, the Elum's back is darker in color from the sun.
Abe rode this wild beast bareback across the wilderness of Mudos. Concept art of Elum had him with a saddle on.
(Above info taken from The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years 1994 - 2004)
Anatomy[]
The Elum's skin is thick and its colour includes various shades of tan or brown. The Elum moves in a bipedal manner with a horizontal posture. Its back muscles seem to be strong, making it excellent as a mount and pack animal. Its chest and abdominal cavity are wide providing good respiration and food storage. Two curved horns can be seen on top of its head. It's unknown if there is any degree of sexual dimorphism as far as horns and other features are concerned. Its eyes are set wide on the side of its head, as an adaptation to being preyed upon by predators, and thus has a wide field of vision. It has two short double-clawed arms. Its legs are muscular and its toes have three black claws. A vestigial dewclaw is also present. Elum's body ends in a short movable tail used to convey its emotion.
All body features hint at the Elum species being primarily a herbivore. An Elum's favourite food is honey, and will obsessively lap it up if the Elum finds any. The only thing that can stop an Elum, once it's been distracted, is bees, even though it does not find bees lethal.
Abe's Oddysee and New 'n' Tasty[]
They are summoned by ringing an Elum-Bell and help Abe traverse the dangers of Scrabania and Paramonia, aiding him in jumping large gaps and running faster to escape enemies.
If an Elum spots honey, it will immediately start eating it and completely ignore Abe. To proceed, the player must use bees to chase Elum off and get it moving again while running away
Minor Appearances[]
In the final level of Munch's Oddysee, as well as the Good Ending, at Vykkers Labs there are several butchered Elums in the Vykker Suites.
In the final level of the Toby's Escape DLC for Soulstorm, a single Elum can be seen fleeing the Stockyards when Toby releases the gates.
Appearances[]
- Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (First Appearance)
- Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
- The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years 1994 - 2004
- Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty
- Oddworld: Soulstorm (Toby's Escape)
Trivia[]
- Elums lack the ability to do critical thinking, as it gives them headaches. However, they still CAN think.
- Elum spelled backwards is mule. The Elum is the Oddworld equivalent of a real-world mule.
- Elums aren't picky about what they eat, but they love honey, and won't be distracted by anything else.
- Elum is the largest character in Abe's Oddysee.
- Their meat was used in Elum Chubs by Rupture Farms.
- Elums were once used by the ancient Mudokons for cavalry.
- In Abe's Oddysee, Elum was supposed to show up in the Monsaic Lines but due to a limited space in disk, it was scrapped.
- Elum's rare appearances as a gameplay element are mainly due to technical limitations and development time restrictions. In Abe's Oddysee, Elum was a very RAM intensive character, restricting the puzzles to only involving at most one slig on screen at a time. In addition, Elum's highly complex nature required a lot of development time to prevent a litany of glitches. Aside from New 'n' Tasty, Elum has made nothing but cameo appearances for this very reason.[1]
Gallery[]
