Malia Gedde

Malia Gedde is a wealthy and beautiful socialite of the Gedde family and love interest of Gabriel Knight in Sins of the Fathers. Under the influence of her ancestor loa, she is transformed into Tetelo, high priestess of the Voodoo Cartel and unwilling antagonist.

Background

Malia was a member of the famous Gedde family, who immigrated to New Orleans around the early 1800s (when Voodoo-related murders also occurred). She lives at 557 W. Ingraham, in the famous Garden District, known for its elaborate old plantation homes and mansions.

Born in 1965, she was an only child, and because of her mother's lifestyle, never met her father. She wanted to study psychology, but she put the family business first and instead earned a business degree from Vanderbilt. In the storyline, Malia has recently lost her mother, leaving her the responsibilities of the head of the Gedde family. A wealthy African-American socialite, she was reserved and cautious of the public eye, preferring to occupy herself with the fine arts. She curated her collection of African art when not tending the Geddes' holdings and business affairs, and also performed a lot of charity work in the prison and reform system. Her butler/bodyguard is Robert.

Sins of the Fathers

First meeting

Gabriel Knight falls in love with her when she passes by the Lake Pontchartrain crime scene with her car on Day 1, and asks Grace Nakimura to find her address.

On Day 2, Gabriel steals Franklin Mosely's badge in order to see her, under the guise of police business. During their conversation, she figures out that he isn't a police officer, and has him escorted out of her home.

On Day 3, she visits St. Louis Cemetery #1, and Gabriel sees her exiting the Gedde tomb. Gabriel once more professes his interest, with Malia expressing her concerns about living in different worlds. Gabe tells her he owns St. George's Books, in the Quarter, and invites her to visit him. She replies that she already knows about the book store. After she decides to reciprocate Gabriel's advances, Malia arrives at the shop just as Grace is closing up for the evening, and spends the night with Gabriel.

At the end of Day 4, she calls Gabriel, who visits her mansion and spends the night there.

On Day 6, Gabriel comes to discover that Malia is a member of a prolific New Orleans Voodoo cartel that is responsible for a spree of recent murders. He witnesses Dr. John giving her an entheogenic drug that allows her to be, "ridden," by the spirits. While under the possessive influence of her ancestor, the loa Tetelo, she commits ritualistic murders of the cartel's enemies against her own volition.

On Day 10, Gabriel finds that Grace has been kidnapped. Malia has left a note for Gabriel, swearing that she loves him but the forces that control her are more powerful than her, and that for his own safety, he must surrender the Talisman.

Despite her obligations to her family and her religion, Malia defies Tetelo in order to save Gabriel's life. Inside her bedroom at the Voodoo Hounfour, Malia goes to her altar and summons Tetelo, asking her to spare Gabriel and to find another successor, as she feels can no longer serve her. Tetelo chastises her for being drawn into the light, and warns Malia that Gabriel will betray her, like Gunter Ritter betrayed Tetelo. In the following ritual, where Grace is the planned sacrifice, Gabe plans to stop Dr. John from giving her the drug, but finds that it's too late, as Malia is already under Tetelo's influence when he arrives at the ritual. Moments before Grace can be killed, Gabriel brandishes his family Talisman to get Tetelo's attention. After confronting her, he throws the Talisman to Mosely so that it will protect him and Grace as they leave, and Malia works to overcome Tetelo's control over her. As Tetelo restrains him, Gabriel struggles and manages to break the ancient idol -- the source of the Gedde family's power.

The floor cracks open, exposing a deep, fiery chasm. Malia almost falls in, and Gabriel in turn must decide whether to save her life, or betray her and end Tetelo's influence on New Orleans once and for all. The player's choice affects the outcome of the game.

In the, "good ending," Gabriel attempts to save Malia. She realizes that Gabriel is not repeating Gunter's sin, and Tetelo cuts his arms with the ritual knife to try to force him to let go and betray Malia. To end this evil, Malia lets go, sacrificing herself and falling into the lava.

In the, "bad ending," Gabriel betrays Malia and refuses to save her. Seeing that Gabriel is repeating Gunter's betrayal and that Tetelo was right in her claim that Gabriel would turn away from her, Malia traps him with her whip, and pulls him down into the flames with her.

Personality and traits

Malia Gedde is a very beautiful, intelligent, and sophisticated woman of the sort that Gabriel has never before encountered (up til now there've been women with pink frosted lipstick, and Grace). She makes his knees weak and the rest of him pretty darn feisty. She MIGHT know something about the murders, but Gabriel bets she knows even more about other things. Something a little like lightning strikes Gabriel when he first sees her, and the two of them are drawn irresistibly together, though neither can figure out why.

Malia really did love Gabriel, but knew that she needed to die in order to stop the evil that ran through her family line.

Malia abhors snakes, in contrast to Tetelo, who is quite fond of dancing with them.

Behind the scenes

• In the CD-ROM version Malia is voiced by actress Leilani Jones. Jones notably portrayed also the Voodoo Lady, another voodooienne from the Monkey Island series.

See also

• Malia Gedde (GK1HD).
• Malia Gedde (novels)