| Title | Getafix |
| Category | Asterix Main Characters |
| Mangaka | nothing entered |
| Read Online | nothing entered |
Getafix is the village druid. In appearance he is tall with a white beard, white robe, red cloak. He is usually seen in possession of a small golden sickle. While his age is never stated, in the story of Asterix’ birth (in which all but the oldest villagers are seen as small children) he appears unchanged. In Asterix and the Big Fight the druid Psychoanalytix (who appears quite old) refers to him as his elder and teacher.
Although known for his strength-enhancing magic potion, he has many other magical and medicinal potions at his disposal- including a potion to make hair grow quickly, a potion to cure a man who has been poisoned with a drug that would kill him in a matter of days, and a potion that restores a person to full health after injury (Although this potion also causes the person who takes it to lose their recent memories while also interacting badly with the magic potion)-, and acts as the village doctor and occasional teacher. Asterix (and most other villagers) will consult him whenever anything strange occurs. He does not engage normally himself in combat, whereas most of the villagers enjoy a good punch-up (even with each other). One exception is one of the stories explaining Gaulish women, with using Mrs. Geriatrix as an example, with a fight sparked by Impedimenta. The final cut is shown with all the male villagers and two females, Impedimenta and Bacteria included, with Getafix running to stop the punch up, with a piece of fish flying towards him.
As the only individual able to produce the “magic potion” upon which the villagers rely for their strength, he is the focus of many stories- ranging from the Romans attempting to put him out of commission in some manner to requesting that Asterix and Obelix help him find some missing ingredient-, and the conscience of the village. On a few occasions, he has refused to make the potion when the villagers become too selfish, most notably in Asterix and Caesar’s Gift where he refused to provide the potion for anyone while the village was divided by an upcoming vote for a new chief, only to provide them with it once again when Vitalstatistix asked Getafix to provide the potion for Orthopedix, the man he had been running against for chief. He has also occasionally been taken prisoner by hostile forces to get access to the potion, only to be freed again thanks to Asterix and Obelix. Finding ingredients for his potions has also sent Asterix on several adventures; the full recipe of the magic potion itself has never been revealed, but it includes mistletoe, a whole lobster- the lobster is optional, although it apparently improves the flavour-, reasonably fresh fish, and a drop of rock oil (Later replaced with beetroot juice after his supplies of rock oil ran out as it tastes nicer, although unfortunately not before Asterix and Obelix travelled all the way to Turkey trying to find more oil).
Getafix is very similar to many wise old men who act as mentors and father-figures to the heroes, including Merlin, Gandalf, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Albus Dumbledore. In Goscinny’s earlier works, however, Getafix came across more as just a friend of the protagonists rather than a wise old counselor. He was also, from the very beginning, shown as a figure of fun and had a wonderful sense of humour: in Asterix the Gaul he’d cut his finger while using his sickle and roar with uncontrollable laughter at Asterix’ teasing of the Roman Centurion; in Asterix and the Big Fight he was shown as going literally crazy.
- French: Panoramix (“panoramic” or “wide view” or “he who sees everything”) – in most European translations this name is used, including Dutch, Italian, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Slovene, Spanish, Indonesian, Czech and Greek.
- In English, the name is a pun on “getting a fix” – a dose of a drug taken by an addict; the phrase can also mean to perceive or to get a solid sense of something. In the short-lived American version of the series, he was called Magigimmix (“magic gimmicks”). He was called Readymix (the name of a British cement firm) in newspaper comics during the 1970s, as Getafix was considered inappropriate for children.
- In Danish, German, Norwegian, and Swedish he is called Miraculix a pun on “miracle”.
- In Serbian, he is known as Аспириникс (Aspiriniks/Aspirinix), from the drug Aspirin.
- In Croatian, he is known as Čudomiks/Čudomix (pronounced chu-do-mix), from čudo (miracle) and miks (mix).
- In Finnish, he is Akvavitix, from “akvavit”, a Scandinavian distilled beverage (derived from Aqua vitae).
- In Esperanto, he is Miraklomiks, from miraklo (miracle) and mikso (mix)
- In Turkish, his name is Büyüfiks (büyü meaning in Turkish “magic”). Previously it was “Hokusfokus”, from the magic word Hocus Pocus.
- In Hindi, he is हकीम वैधिक्स (Hakeem Vaidhix), Hindi for a village doctor.
- In Hungarian, he is Magicoturmix, which is a composition of magic and shake, thus meaning Shake of Magic. Actually this is a reference to the potion he is brewing, which gives the villagers their wondrous superhuman strength.
- In Bengali, he is Etashetamix, meaning ‘mix this and that’.
- In Icelandic, he is Sjóðríkur, roughly meaning ‘one who boils’. In comparison, Asterix is Ástríkur, ‘one who loves’
- In Hebrew, אשפיקס (Ashafix), meaning ‘master of the craft’.
- In Welsh, he is Crycymalix, a pun on the phrase ‘cryd cymalau’ which means arthritis or rheumatism: referring to his old age.
- In Sinhalese – ” Vedha Pappa” which means a Druid or Witch
