| “ | It's here! The Delicious Last Course!! | „ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker in the launch trailer. |
| “ | ♪ I am Chef Saltbaker, I have been a naughty crook. The recipe was in my book, the recipe was overcooked. I should not have let all of that power go to my head. Now I'll bake for good, now I'll bake my bread. ♪ ♪ I have learned my lesson, I have learned my lesson well. It's better to bake in Heaven than learn to cook in Hell. I'm still the best tartmaker, best tartmaker in the land. My baking will bring cheer to my new friends, whom I hold dear. ♪ |
„ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker singing "A Chef's Coda", describing his remorse and eventual redemption. |
Chef Saltbaker is the main antagonist of Cuphead's DLC expansion The Delicious Last Course. He is an anthropomorphic saltshaker and the finest cook in all of the Inkwell Isles.
At first, he acts as a friend of Cuphead, Mugman, and Ms. Chalice, but is then revealed to be a deceiving crook who tried to sacrifice the soul of one of the protagonists in order to gain control over the Astral Plane. After his defeat, he eventually reforms himself and becomes a true friend to the cups.
He was voiced by Luke De Ayora.
Description[]
Appearance[]
Saltbaker resembles an anthropomorphic salt shaker with clear skin and a lid with four holes on his head. He also has salt on the inside of him, a white coat with black buttons, and a red scarf and sleeves, with black eyes. But when he reveals himself, his eyes become yellow to show his insanity and madness from his greedy and power-hungry personality.
Personality[]
Initially, Saltbaker was polite and helpful toward the trio. He offered to help Chalice to stop being a ghost and gave good advice to the cups. However, this was a façade for his true nature, a cruel, psychotic, and manipulative chef who seeks to take over the Astral Realm using the soul of one of the heroes, and attempting to murder the other two to use as serving dishes. Fortunately, it is shown at the end of the epilogue that he eventually redeemed himself. During his song in said epilogues, he confesses remorse and guilt for his past actions, saying that he shouldn't have let the power go to his head and now cherishes the cup brothers and Chalice as genuine friends.
Abilities and Powers[]
Saltbaker is an incredible cook who can create foods with mystical abilities, such as the Astral Cookie which can switch a living person with a deceased one temporarily. In battle, he can use food ingredients as weapons, grow to gigantic size by using a magic mushroom and summon sentient pepper shakers. If his outer glass skin is broken, Saltbaker can continue to exist as a living mass of salt and can use that salt in a variety of ways. His main weakness is his own heart, which can also fight if needed.
Biography[]
Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course[]
In the beginning of the game's DLC, Cuphead and Mugman were brought to the fourth island of the Inkwell Isles by the Boatman as requested of Ms. Chalice. There, she reveals the astral cookie, allowing her to switch places with one of the cup brothers. She then leads Cuphead and Mugman to the island's bakery where they meet Chef Saltbaker, who is pleased to see that the cookie worked. When the cookie's effect wears off, Saltbaker informs them of the Wondertart, which can bring her to life permanently without the need for switching with another person. He trains Chalice how to use her special moves before sending them out to confront the enemies and retrieve the ingredients.
Saltbaker is then seen at the end of the game when Chalice and the cups get all the ingredients. One of the three will suddenly disappear while they go to the bakery. They find Saltbaker missing and a hatch to a secret dungeon beneath the bakery open. They enter and find Saltbaker, who sadistically reveals that he used the cups to get the ingredients so he can bake the Wondertart and gain all its power for himself. To their horror, he also reveals the secret ingredient to the recipe and shows the missing cup's soul trapped in a glass prison, begging them to come to his/her aid. Having no use for the heroes anymore, Saltbaker decides to dispose of them and then use their heads as serving dishes for the Wondertart, forcing the heroes into a fight with him.
Saltbaker takes the ingredients (which had somehow become sentient) from the heroes and uses them to fight them. After they prove to be a challenge for him, he uses a magic mushroom to grow gigantic and grabs the cups in his hand. He then summons living pepper shakers to attack the cups, but they manage to force them to attack Saltbaker instead. After taking several hits, Saltbaker's glass body breaks apart and all his salt falls out. Despite this, he continues the battle by forming two salty silhouettes of himself to dance around. When they are overpowered, Saltbaker creates a salt maelstrom while he reverts to his heart form to attack the cups personally. But through grit and gusto, the cups finally manage to overcome Saltbaker's evil power and defeat him.
As Saltbaker lies defeated in his own salt, the heroes free their captured friend. If the kidnapped soul is Cuphead or Mugman, he’ll swap his place with Ms. Chalice. However, the fight had caused Saltbaker's bakery to become unstable, and he along with the cups are forced to flee as it collapses. Saltbaker laments over the loss of his bakery, while Cuphead and Mugman are upset over the fact Chalice won't have the Wondertart to come back to life. Chalice reassures them, saying it wasn't worth sacrificing someone's soul and that she'll never stop her search to live again before embracing them in a hug.
Epilogue[]
After his defeat, Saltbaker is then arrested by the ant police for his crimes. During his trial, Judge Wise shows mercy to the pitiful chef and sentences him to community service. He is then seen doing hard labor for the island's residents who he tricked the cups into fighting. At some point, he overlooks the remains of his bakery and realizes how foolish he was to allow his obsession with power to consume him. After finishing his sentence, he then rebuilds his bakery and celebrates the grand re-opening with the residents and the cups, who apparently forgive him for tricking him before. It also shows all three cups in the living flesh, suggesting that Saltbaker did find a way to revive Ms. Chalice for good without the need for a sacrifice, but it is unknown how he did it.
Quotes[]
| “ | Welcome friends, welcome to my bakery. Ah, Ms. Chalice! I see my cookie has worked wonders for you! | „ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker upon meeting the heroes. |
| “ | Saltbaker: Oh my! A finicky thing, that cookie. The taste is sweet, but the effect is brief. Fret not, my concerned little cups... I've come up with an amazing new recipe! One bite of this Wondertart, and you'll have complete control over the astral plane! Cuphead: This Wondertart could bring Chalice back to life for good? No swapping place or nothin'? Saltbaker: Indeed! Just one problem... the recipe requires exceptional ingredients held by the most fearsome of foes! Cuphead: Well if this Wondertart is what it takes to bring Chalice back to life, then by golly, we'll find those ingredients! |
„ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker convincing the Cups to help him get the ingredients for the Wondertart. |
| “ | Stay on your guard intrepid cups! Fetching those ingredients will be a test of wit and will. But remember- like any good bake, heart and soul is the secret ingredient! | „ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker giving advice to the cups while also hinting his true intentions. |
| “ | Worry not! I'll keep perfecting this recipe while you're out and about! I just know you'll put yourself fully into bringing the Wondertart to life. The fabled ingredients await, friends! Hmm, now where did I put the salt? | „ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker informing the cups that he'll work on the recipe while they are away. |
| “ | One more thing, chaps! Remember to equip that nifty cookie charm in the menu if you want to battle as Ms. Chalice! | „ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker informing the player how to play as Ms. Chalice. |
| “ | Welcome back, you meddlesome brats! I didn't think you'd be back so soon. No matter, it's too late to stop me now. The Wondertart will be my finest work yet! A shame I never told you about the most important secret ingredient... a living soul! While you suckers were out doing my bidding, I nabbed your little friend here. When his/her soul is baked into the Wondertart, the cosmic powers of the astral plane will be mine! But first, I'll take those ingredients... and then I'll use your heads as serving dishes! | „ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker revealing his true nature and plans. |
| “ | Marinate in your defeat while I complete this astral treat! | „ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker in the Phase 1 Death Screen |
| “ | My power grows with much aplomb! Your end is here, upon my palm! | „ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker in the Phase 2 Death Screen |
| “ | Your futile efforts were in vain, this world will be my salt domain. | „ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker in the Phase 3 Death Screen |
| “ | The mark of my salinity shall scar thy fired glaze! | „ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker in the Phase 4 Death Screen |
| “ | No! My bakery! | „ |
| ~ Chef Saltbaker as his bakery falls apart. |
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Saltbaker's name is a portmanteau of "Saltshaker" and "Baker".
- Saltbaker's face when he revealed his true colors is an uncanny reference to the infamous shot of the Coachman's maliciously-grinning face from the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio (similar to King Dice).
- The way Saltbaker grows larger, eating a red and white mushroom is most likely a reference to the Mario games.
- He is the only antagonist in the Cuphead series who is redeemed by the end.
- Interestingly, he is also the only main antagonist to not have any known connections to The Devil.
- Also despite getting redeemed by the end, he committed some of the worst actions of all the Cuphead villains.
- Although, considering that the ingredients weren't alive to begin with, were going to be used as ingredients anyway and that they seemingly revived each time after he used them, it's likely it was just for visual effect.
- In the Epilogue, Saltbaker stated that he found the Wondertart recipe in his book and that it was "overcooked", which likely meant that it had a curse that drove him insane upon seeing it.
- Before he appeared in The Delicious Last Course, Saltbaker made his first appearance in the comics.
- He mentions that the bosses the heroes fight are his foes, implying that he has wronged them at some point. Considering that he is on good terms with them in the epilogue, it seems as if they forgave him following his redemption.
- His arms and hands are based off Popeye The Sailor.
- His Death Quote in Phase 4 ("The mark of my salinity shall scar thy fired glaze!") is a reference to Street Fighter III, in which main villain Gill says "The mark of my dignity shall scar thy DNA" before his boss fight (Quote was mistranslated as "dignity" instead of "divinity" as Gill was a God-like being).
- Funnily enough, The Devil also quotes a Street Fighter game in his death screen during his final phase, namely M. Bison.
- In the beginning of The Delicious Last Course as foreshadowing to his true evil nature, Chef Saltbaker tells the cups that "like any good bake, heart and soul is the secret ingredient", foreshadowing the actual secret ingredient of the Wondertart, which is an actual living soul.
- It also foreshadows the final phase in the fight against him, where he reverts to his heart form to attack the hero.
External Links[]
- Chef Saltbaker on the Cuphead Wiki
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 Villains
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