Melzar the Mad

Melzar the Mad is one of the three wizards who escaped from Crandor when the dragon Elvarg destroyed it, and the only one of them to have survived, although he has lost his sanity since, leading to his nickname. He currently resides in a large mansion north of Rimmington, a small town where the survivors of Elvarg's attacks fled to initially, where he practises his necromancy.

When you fight Melzar on the last and final floor, he punches or kicks, casts a weak version of Fire Strike or weaken/confuse/curse, or performs a magic spell that produces a cabbage in a random spot throughout the room. He will randomly blurt out things that make no sense.

Melzar the Mad is one of the only few F2P monsters (excluding Revenants and Dungeoneering monsters) that has more than one attack style, such as Catablepons, Elvarg, and Dragith Nurn. When players defeat Melzar the Mad, he will drop the magenta key, which leads you on to the final room in Melzar's Maze.

Melzar the Mad is fight-able as a class H boss monster in the Dominion Tower minigame if the player has completed Dragon Slayer.

He is briefly mentioned by New Varrock's Trial Announcer as the owner of bot gladiator arena.

Descent into madness
If a player takes the time to search the bookcases found within his maze, they will find random writings from Melzar which refer to Elvarg laying waste to Crandor, and the fates of those who tried to escape to Rimmington. These include writing about his attempts to summon the deceased spirits of his former allies. Also, if you open one of the wardrobes inside Melzar's Maze, and then search inside it, it will say something about many skulls with small numbers imprinted on their foreheads. These might be the failed experiments to animate the skeletons that now roam the third floor of the maze.

On the second floor, with the ghosts, the wardrobes have random objects like toys. In his notes, it says that he used objects important to his former allies to summon ghosts of his allies. His greatest success in necromancy happened when he forced a ghost into a skeleton, and then grew flesh onto the skeleton. He did this twice, resulting in the zombies that are in the underground level.

His notes suggest that he captured the lesser demon in the basement and channeled its energy to fuel his necromancy. This demon is also believed to have some influence on him, as in one of his notes it is said, "...Cried again today. Great weight in heart. I am causing so much pain to the souls I capture from the dead-world. But demon says they will thank me in the end..."

Melzar has a passionate love for cabbages. In his notes, he makes many references to cabbage. He wrote a poem about cabbage, and had a dream about the "Cabbage of Jas." When you are fighting him, he summons cabbages. He also occasionally refers to using his magic being fueled by cabbage, although there is some doubt about whether this is true or not.

Malignius Mortifer will tell you that Melzar was driven mad by his use of necromancy, when a spell went awry, although his notes suggest that his descent into madness was slowly brought on by his anger and grief after Crandor. He also says that this affected his ability to raise the dead, hence the summoning of cabbages rather than undead when you fight him. This is also arguable, as his notes often refer to cabbage and some believe he summons them just because he loves them. Melzar will occasionally spout off random quotes throughout the battle.

2014 Hallowe'en event
During the 2014 Hallowe'en event, Melzar the Mad summoned an army of ghosts to invade Death's mansion in an attempt to take control of Death's domain so that he could revive the dead Crandorians.

Trivia

 * The Oracle sometimes refers to Melzar the Mad: "He who uses the power of custard mixes it with his tears."
 * Another Cryptic writing talks about the "Cabbage of Jas". This piece of dialogue was added alongside the Dragon Slayer rework in 2007, and references the Stone of Jas (or perhaps Brassica Prime). Notably, the cabbage is sacred to Guthix, who is often associated with the Stone of Jas. Also, some believe the Stone of Jas looks somewhat like a cabbage.
 * Melzar might be referring to Zaros or Zamorak in one of his notes: "With power custard I have mastered life force. Souls of dead kinsmen scream and twist, but I can contain them into bodies. All hail Zamor Za Zaro Z ZZZ..." Melzar may have been referring to Zamorak and Zaros's hatred for each other, or he may have been undecided on which one he worshipped.
 * Melzar had a wife who died when Elvarg either attacked Crandor or attacked the survivor's camp.
 * M. and thok letter (part 5), which describes Lexicus Runewright, begins with "Honestly, who would be crazy enough to use a book as a weapon? Mad Melzar maybe, ..." indicating that Marmaros has met, or at least knows of, Melzar.
 * He is voiced by Mod Moltare.
 * There is currently a glitch where Melzar interrupts himself, causing a jumble of words. Khazard, when fought in Fight Arena, also has this glitch.