Zarniwoop Vann Harl - Wowbagger, The Infinitely Prolonged

Wowbagger, The Infinitely Prolonged

In contrast to most other immortals, Bowerick Wowbagger was not born one, but became immortal due to an accident with "an irrational particle accelerator, a liquid lunch, and a pair of rubber bands". Unlike other immortals whom he calls "a load of serene bastards", he doesn't cope very well with his infinite life, having particular problems finding something to do on Sunday afternoons. Eventually he comes up with a plan to keep himself busy: he will insult every single living being in the universe - in alphabetical order. He appears in the novel Life, the Universe and Everything, while insulting Arthur Dent with the phrase, "You're a jerk, a complete arsehole" (in the US changed to "...complete kneebiter"). Later, after Arthur escapes prehistoric Earth, Wowbagger shows up again in the present, but when he sees Arthur he says, "I've done you before, haven't I?" After Arthur, his next planned victim is A-Rth-Urp-Hil-Ipdenu, a slug he intends to call "a brainless prat." In the novel Life, the Universe and Everything, one Arthur Philip Deodat is also a victim of Wowbagger, during the Krikkit Robot attack on Lords Cricket Ground.

Wowbagger makes a return in the novel And Another Thing... in his ship, the Tanngrisnir where he falls in love with Trillian, fights with Thor (during which he loses his immortality, but survives) and calls Zaphod "a fat arse".

Wowbagger is also present in The Private Life of Genghis Khan, where he insults Genghis Khan, provoking him to burn down large segments of Asia.

In the new radio series, he is voiced by Toby Longworth. In the radio series The Quintessential Phase, he finally reaches the end of his quest by insulting the Great Prophet Zarquon, who revokes Wowbagger's immortality.

Appears in:

• the novel Life, the Universe and Everything
• the novel And Another Thing...
• The Private Life of Genghis Khan, published in The Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book

Cultural reference:

• Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged was the inspiration for an insult generation program of the same name, originally available on Atari ST computers and later rewritten for Windows-based systems. Since early 2013 its support site has also incorporated the insult functionality, at which moment the software got a "no longer supported" status.