Mumbo Jumbo

Mumbo Jumbo, often referred to as just Mumbo, is a skull-faced shaman who appears in every game in the Banjo-Kazooie series. And he appears in the Banjo & Kazooie adventures series.

PersonalityEdit
Mumbo generally likes helping people out and has a very strong loyalty streak - he's never stopped being Banjo's friend, while he's been equally permanent as Humba Wumba's rival.

English does not appear to be Mumbo Jumbo's first language; he always speaks in the third person and often doesn't refer to people by their name.

AbilitiesEdit
In Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, Mumbo transforms the duo into various forms. While his spells must stay within a limited distance of the originating world, the transformations make Banjo completely incognito and allow him to explore otherwise inaccessible areas.

In Banjo-Tooie, Mumbo no longer performs the transformations but instead plays a more active role in the game. He is able to stand on a Mumbo Pad and, provided he has a Glowbo, can perform a spell designed to make things easier for Banjo and Kazooie. While on foot, Mumbo can't do much but jump, swim, and attack with his Zap Stick, and he has less health than Banjo. It is obvious he is extremely skilled in his magic, due to the fact that he is able to revive those who have died (as seen in Banjo-Tooie when he revived both Sabreman and the Aliens).

In Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Mumbo builds all the odd vehicles that the duo dream up. He also plays parts in various other worlds.

CareerEdit
Mumbo's past is largely a mystery, although he repeatedly states he was the best student at the Handsome Shaman Institute. What is known is that he was a magical instructor of Gruntilda's at some point in time. However, despite Mumbo's teachings, Grunty turned to dark magic and transformed Mumbo's head into a skull. (Mumbo's lower body suggests that he may be a Jinjo, but this has been repeatedly denied.)

Mumbo first appears in Banjo-Kazooie as the "best shaman in all game". Found in multiple worlds starting in Mumbo's Mountain, the skull-faced one transformed Banjo and Kazooie into native animals (and a plant) in return for Mumbo Tokens, as Mumbo wanted to help the bear and bird beat Grunty to get his face back. Despite Grunty being buried under a large boulder, Mumbo's face remained intact. Mumbo remained a friend of Banjo, while he and Kazooie got into dust-ups.

Months later, when Grunty went back in time to prevent Banjo and Kazooie from meeting, Mumbo sent Banjo back in time to fix what she had done. In this time period, Mumbo was less skilled as a transformer, but still allowed Banjo and Kazooie to fix the timeline.

In 2000, Mumbo was just about to get all of Banjo's cash in a poker game when Banjo's House started shaking. Being brave, the shaman ran outside to find out what was going on. He found that Grunty had been revived by her two sisters and ran to tell, but Grunty spotted him and destroyed the house. On the following adventure, Mumbo did some adventuring himself, helping the bear and bird get around by magically altering the environment (such as re-railing a derailed train and making the water in Jolly Roger's Lagoon breathable). However, Mumbo earned a competitor in the transformation business, Humba Wumba. The two hated each other, each convinced that they were better than the other. In the end, Grunty was beaten once more, but Mumbo's skull face still didn't revert.

In the time after Banjo-Tooie, Mumbo's transformation skills went unused. He decided to try his hand at mechanics for a change after getting wind that the next game would be all about vehicles. Finally, in 2008, Banjo and Kazooie showed up at Mumbo's Motors in Showdown Town for the first time. Mumbo gladly helped build all of the crazy vehicles the pair dreamed up, although he didn't like playing Lord of Games' "parts" in the game worlds so much.

Nowadays, Mumbo is still the masked shaman everyone knows him as. He still holds out hope that Grunty will be defeated permanently some day so he can get his face back, although the skull-faced look has grown on him.