Dr. Habit
Dr. Boris Habit, commonly referred to as "Dr. Habit", is the main antagonist of Smile For Me. As the creator and overseer of The Habitat, his main objective is to draw in as many estranged, traumatized, or otherwise "unhappy" people as possible to The Habitat for the "Big Event".
(This page contains many spoilers for the late-game and story content, read at your own risk!)
Personality
Initially, through the website advertisement and in the first PSA video the Flower Kid sees, Dr. Habit presents himself as a happy and caring individual. However, he is stilted enough to come off as uncanny through his eccentric speech patterns; which involve an abundance of typos, improper grammar, and smiley face emoticons.
Though initially friendly, when Flower Kid cheers up the Habiticians Dr. Habit slowly becomes more unsettling and passive-aggressive, believing that making people happy should be his job only. He quickly begins acting jealous and cold, singling out Flower Kid with threatening messages as punishment for giving the Habiticians "false hope." He repeatedly mentions the "Big Event" as something the Habiticians should "save their smiles" for, and even encourages residents to dwell on or exacerbate their depressive thoughts to combat the spreading happiness. Habit has had this mean streak before the Flower Kid arrived, mocking Kamal and Randy's problems. It is implied he did the same to Wallus.
Alongside his vindictiveness, however, he is also very sensitive about his work and shows signs of depression. Tiff was unable to break her contract with Habit due to him breaking down sobbing whenever she tried to quit or rejected one of his songs. Whether this was genuine or an act of manipulation is up for interpretation. His Carnival Attendants, who seem to be made from crumpled paper or metal, all refer to him as "dad" or "father" to different degrees, and when inspecting objects related to Habit such as the crumpled pages or the Tooth Lily, the Fortune Teller implies and then outright states that he "hasn't been happy in a long time."
Habit is obsessed with teeth, and reveals the true purpose of The Habitat was to use Martha to create a gas- likely nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas- and then steal the teeth of the Habiticians while they are under its effects. It is unclear if this is so he can implant them in himself to become a "bioweapon" of happiness and smiles or to implant them in others to make more people smile. His interest in teeth seems to have stemmed from his parents' unhappiness growing up. His father is implied to have hit him, knocking his teeth out and leading to Habit being teased by Martha at school for not having teeth to smile with. He resented the fact that his parents had perfect teeth but never smiled and were constantly unhappy. It seems he has also always been rather disconcerting when working, as his diary pages also mention all his patients running away from him screaming. Habit also takes insults to teeth and poor dental hygiene personally, and feels that only good, happy people deserve perfect teeth.
Despite his frightening methods, Kamal describes Habit as having a soft spot in him still, which reveals itself when confronting him with the Tooth Lily. His demeanor instantly shifts to eloquent and somber in stark contrast to his manic and disturbing mannerisms while extracting the Flower Kid's teeth, and he seems ashamed of his actions after seeing the Flower Kid cheering the Habiticians up by being personal and considerate. He is also very lonely and seems to have some self-loathing, acting very surprised and glad if the Flower Kid agrees to be his friend. In the bad ending, it is noted that Habit does not make a move against Flower Kid, and seems to believe he deserves to die, stating that a "younger him would've done the same." After Flower Kid makes the finishing blow, he calls them "Flower Hero," implying that Dr. Habit sees himself as the villain.
Though the places he applies them are particular and strange, even scary, Habit has always been patient and dedicated to what he loves. As a child he took the time and cared enough to make his lily grow, even remarking as an adult that the gardening process is very specific and secret. The posters scattered around The Habitat are likely all his own designs, and The Habitat itself serves as an example of how far he is willing to go for something he cares about. Other creations of his include Martha, the carnival games and attendants, presumably his puppet of himself, and the songs he wrote for Tiff to sing.
Backstory
Habit's Diary
Habit's Diary
Habit's Diary
Habit's Diary
Habit's Diary
Habit's earliest diary page is dated June 4th, 1967, which is mentioned to be when he was 10 years old in the second journal page. His parents are both doctors and are described as never smiling; his father in particular is depicted as a terrifying figure that becomes angry with him for his interest in flowers. Habit mentions missing several teeth as a child, and the slideshow on the Terrace has a slide with Habit with a bloody nose and missing a tooth after his flowerpot has been destroyed, implying recurring physical abuse. His office also has a mural depicting a frowning Habit with several missing teeth.
During middle school and high school, Habit was made fun of by other kids, which he internalized as having to do with his teeth. He was already interested in trying to make others smile when he was young, but it stuck with him as he grew older through his parents pressuring him to become a doctor as well, rather than the florist job he desired. By the time Habit entered college, he was continuing to observe sadness around him as he pursued a doctorate, likely at his parents' demands, and he went into dentistry as an outlet for his interests and budding equivalence with good teeth and being happy.
Habit was not happy as a dentist, apparently causing many patients to run away from him screaming. According to his diary pages, he decided to officially leave the practice in the October of 1988. By this time he had become very bitter about his missing teeth, going so far as to describe sad people with full sets of teeth as hogging all the good teeth.
Though it is unknown what Habit did in the years between the third and the fourth diary pages, sometime after quitting dentistry he began having dreams about creating The Habitat. He would spend the next two years building and beginning to advertise The Habitat as a place for sad people to recover, and began stealing teeth. At some point between the creation of the Habitat and the beginning of the game, Habit destroyed most of his diary and hid the remaining pages around The Habitat, which were later found by various Habiticians. It is also unknown just when he hired Kamal and Wallus, or how much they knew about his plan. At some point, however, Habit mocked them both enough for them to quit their positions and hide away from him.
Jimothan reveals that Habit is "LOADED" and that "he pays for everything" in the Habitat. The salary of a dentist is high, and is one way he could have earned enough money to fund and sustain the Habitat and its many residents for the indeterminate amount of time the Habitat has been open.
Relationships
Employees
- Kamal Bora: Former assistant (Possible boyfriend)
- Jimothan Botch: Bartender for The Lounge
- Wallus Breadbear: Former janitor
- Gillis Socco: Bouncer for The Lounge
- Tiff Webber: Contracted singer for The Lounge
Other
Trivia
- Dr. Habit's first name is not revealed unless the protagonist reads his diary entries or takes a photo of him.
- His birthday on the official Dr. Habit Twitter is listed as January 1st, 1957.
- This would make him a Capricorn.
- He has enjoyed gardening ever since he was a child, with a particular attachment and fondness for Erythronium plants, also known as Tooth Lillies.
- A re-enactment of the website he puts up to advertise The Habitat can be viewed on the Smile For Me official website, though it contains much more compared to the one in-game.
- This, along with his official Twitter, implies Dr. Habit frequents the internet, and has knowledge of web-development and social media.
- Randy describes Dr. Habit as "smelling like loose change." This can represent the rusty smell of blood or the metallic scent of laughing gas. This is further supported by Randy if you do not make him happy, where he says that the gas in the air "smells like coins and candy."
- In a livestream with Yugo and Day, they state that Dr. Habit has a Russian accent.
- Yugo, Day, and their friends from Team Egg are big supporters of the idea that Habit is transgender.[1]
- In a Q&A livestream "Habit trans" is stated multiple times, and later on the creators discuss how they cannot think of any reason why any character could not be interpreted as trans.
- This is further supported by having his puppet form say "trans rights!" in the same livestream.
- In the Q&A livestream as well as in tweets, Yugo has specified that aside from information in the game or supplemental material (like the Steam cards) character backstories are up to interpretation and not for them or Day to dictate.
- Habit appears to either have a crush on or is in a relationship with Kamal, as implied by one of Kamal's steam trading cards which depicts Kamal surrounded by gifts and love letters from Habit.
- Habit is 7'4 feet tall.[2]
- He ends up owning a flower garden as discussed in the epilogue.
- Habit's email is "[email protected]."
- Habit grew up while The Beatles were getting popular - his favorite albums would be Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour.[3]
- He would also enjoy the track "Ob‐La‐Di, Ob‐La‐Da" off their self-titled album.
Gallery
Dr. Habit's photo
Dr Habit's eyes
Creepy Happy
Creepy Happy
Evil plotting or general sinister
Evil plotting or general sinister
Excited
Excited
Too many teeth
Too many teeth
Punched
Falling
Kiss Habit
Quiet or asking a question
Relieved happy
Satisfied
Surprised
Sad wistful
Sad resigned
Unused sprite.
Graffiti
Graffiti
Puppet Habit
HabitCheer
HabitSign
HabitShocked
HabitLove
HabitCustomers
HabitClick
HabitWave
Habit's Redbubble sticker
Nod to say yes.
- 02 What will you say
What will you say?
Shake to say no.
Use your bouquet!
Hmm... What to use...
Lookie lookie!
Shuffle shuffle!
Nighty night :-)
Shadow Habit's Redbubble Sticker
Shadow Habit
Thanks for the support!
Habit drawn at the end of a livestream
20% off!
Habit's Twitter Profile Picture
Habit's Corkboard
Rain, rain Go away
"Wow-ee! What does thise mean?"
Interior gatefold of the game's OST vinyl.
Full gatefold cover of the game's OST vinyl.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| French | Dr. Zarbit | Dr. Weird in slang |
References
| Habiticians |
|---|
| Flower Kid - Dr. Habit - Dallas Smuth - Borbra Luddington - Gerry Podunk - Gillis Soco - Jerafina Tabouli - Jimothan Botch - Kamal Bora - Lulia Fame - Marv Truncler - Millie Coulro - Mirphy Fotoparat - Nat Vancey - Questionette - Parsley Botch - Putunia Mollar - Randy Hapukurk - Ronbo - Tiff Webber - Tim Tam - Trencil Varnnia - Trevor Garbo - Wallus Breadbear |