Almighty Tallest (Red and Purple) Homeworld Irk Assignment To rule the Irken Empire Rank Tallest Gender Male (current rulers)

Any gender (previous and future rulers) Eye Color Red and Purple (current rulers) First appearance The Nightmare Begins

The Almighty Tallest are the leaders of the Irken Empire. As the name suggests, he or she is the tallest known Irken alive and they have virtually absolute power, besides the Control Brains.

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Description

The Irken Empire has a hierarchical class structure in which shorter individuals are both figuratively and literally looked down upon. The tallest Irken alive at the time in a specific generation takes command of the entirety of the Empire.

However, in the event that two Irkens are exactly the same height, they'll rule simultaneously, such as in the case of Red and Purple.

In such a case, which is likely rare, the two may or may not take responsibility for different aspects of the Empire, something that may be alluded to by the general attitudes of Red and Purple, with Red being more outspoken, active, and generally "in-charge", and Purple generally paying more attention to eloquence, social situations, and creature comforts such as food or drink.

There's no known official enthronement ceremony for the Almighty Tallest, however, and the only confirmed ceremony's that in which the thumbs of the recently ascended Tallest are amputated (though it has been implied that the current Tallest have forgone this by simply hiding their thumbs inside their massive gauntlets. [citation needed]

The Irken race as a whole almost fanatically refers to their leaders as "My Tallest", highly akin to the way humans participating in a monarchical societal structure refer to their rulers only as "Your Majesty". As a general rule of both grammar and respect, "My Tallest" is never pluralized, even when two Tallest rule in tandem.

Presently, the two current Almighty Tallest, Red and Purple, travel around to observe and supervise Operation Impending Doom II in the Massive, the largest and most powerful ship in the Irken Armada. It also serves as Red and Purple's personal vessel. While they appear to have a casual interest in expanding the Empire, as well as take great amusement from watching the process of such, the two are rather lazy and prefer to spend most of their time lounging around and/or eating junk food.

Although they are seen to have the ability to do anything that they please, it's likely that they really just don't want to do anything else, content with their already-leisurely condition of life.

Although they are the same species as their subjects, the Almighty Tallest differ from their subordinates in many ways other than height: They appear to only have two fingers (as opposed to the normal Irken amount of 3), and their waists are unnaturally thin.

Explaining the former, it was stated by the Invader Zim crew that when a Tallest is chosen, their thumbs are usually chopped off in order to prove that they can rule without them.

Role in Invader Zim

The Almighty Tallest hold near-omnipotent power in the Irken Empire and are practically worshipped by their subjects. They regularly appear at major events and gatherings, either playing a major role or simply providing their presence to raise morale.

For example, on an Irken holiday known as Probing Day, it's the duty of the Almighty Tallest to check up on all the Irken Invaders and ask them to conduct a presentation on how they plan to conquer their assigned planet.

However, as is to be expected, the generally-frivolous Red and Purple force the Invaders to instead do a puppet show on how they are going to conquer the planet. Failure to meet the Tallest's standards is met with punishment by whacking the individual on the head with mechanical mallets - referred to as a "pummeling". It's unknown how long this part of the tradition has been in place.

Sightings





















List of Known Tallest

The following table displays every known tallest in the order they have ruled.

Facts of Doom

Despite Red and Purple being the leaders of the Irken Empire, they are never seen on Irk either doing their role in leading their people or working to shape morale.

Red and Purple nearly died during "Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars", but unlike Tallest Miyuki and Tallest Spork who were killed by Zim, they were almost killed by Dib who flew the Massive towards a star.

Jhonen Vasquez confirmed in Mexico Pixelatl 2019 that the Tallest are dead (for real this time), you can watch the video here.

Despite Zim being the main antagonist of the show and the film, the Almighty Tallest are far more dangerous than he is as they have all the power of the Irken Empire on their hands and an immense military armada which they can use to ravage and conquer multiple worlds. Indeed, the Tallest are quite evil than Zim, who just wants to prove his worth as an invader.

In Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus , despite retaining their comedic traits, the Almighty Tallest are more evil and depraved than in the series and comics. While in the show they disliked Zim and sometimes they didn't want to check up his "mission" to either focus on Operation Impending Doom II or eat snacks, when Zim contacts them after a long time the Tallest decide that they have had enough of him and resolve to blow up the Earth just to get rid of Zim once and for all despite that millions of innocent people would die as a result.

, despite retaining their comedic traits, the Almighty Tallest are more evil and depraved than in the series and comics. While in the show they disliked Zim and sometimes they didn't want to check up his "mission" to either focus on Operation Impending Doom II or eat snacks, when Zim contacts them after a long time the Tallest decide that they have had enough of him and resolve to blow up the Earth just to get rid of Zim once and for all despite that millions of innocent people would die as a result. Purple has more lines than Red in the show.

References