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"I am very DISAPPOINTED!"
―Zorg, one too many times [src]

Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg, or simply Zorg, is the secondary antagonist in The Fifth Element. He is the head of a major corporation, and the inventor of various weapons and devices who is secretly working for Mr. Shadow, unaware of its real nature, and he is willing to use any means to reach his goals.

Biography[]

The Art Dealer[]

Jean-Baptiste Zorg is the lifelong founder and owner of his powerful, namesake weapons-manufacturing company known as Zorg Industries. He is first seen on his way to a meeting with the Mangalore mercenaries who destroyed the Mondoshawan ship. Left Arm, one of his workers, arrives with a message, suggesting that they fire employees in response to potential trouble with the economy. When Zorg suggests firing a million employees, Left Arm tries to argue that 500,000 would be enough, only to be met with a glare that sends him running off.

At the meeting, he demonstrates his newest weapon; an all in one assault pod weapon system called the ZF1, to the Mangalores, offering four cases of the guns in exchange for the four Elements. When the case proves to be empty and they threaten him for compensation, he leaves them one case, deliberately not warning them about the weapons' self-destruct and letting most of them die in the resulting explosion.

Afterward, he sends for a priest named Vito Cornelius, whom he'd asked about the Elements before, and has him brought to his office. Vito refuses, and Zorg elucidates on his philosophy while serving himself a drink, believing that life is an inevitable result of destruction. As he begins to choke on the drink's cherry, Vito counters that his so-called power means nothing when he is being killed by something so small, and saves him, prompting Zorg to spare him for the moment.

The Plan[]

Zorg then sends his assistant, Right Arm, to spy on President Lindberg, where they learn that the Diva Plavalaguna has the four Elements. When they learn about Korben Dallas winning a contest (a trick to get him to Fhloston Paradise, where the diva will perform), Right Arm tips off the police, and Zorg sends him in Korben's place. However, the police had arrested one of Korben's neighbors by mistake, and when it turns out that Korben is already on the plane, he kills Right Arm by detonating his phone.

Death[]

Zorg death

Zorg moments before his death.

Zorg later gets a call from Mr. Shadow, who demands a report on the status of the four stones, and tells him that he will be arriving shortly. Mr. Shadow's overbearing concentration on Zorg causes blood to start flowing from his scalp, in the same manner as General Staedert bled during the initial attempt to destroy Evil's newly-formed planetary body.

Terrified, Zorg flies off to Fhloston Paradise himself, where he steals another chest from the diva's suite, shooting Leeloo in the process, and leaving a miniature bomb to destroy the cruise liner. After he realizes that he has another decoy, he returns to the ship, barely missing Korben and the rest. He manages to disarm his bomb with five seconds left, but the Mangalores, who had tried to get the Stones for themselves only to be defeated by Korben and Leeloo, activate their own bomb, destroying the cruise liner and Zorg.

In the script and novelization, it is revealed that Zorg may have survived, at least initially, as his Zorg ZF-1 pod weapon had a secret feature that when activated coated him in an indestructible magnetic and energy-based sarcophagus which preserved his body and shielded him from the explosion, sending the sarcophagus falling down to Fhloston where it landed on one of the planet's frozen polar continents.

Sometime after landing, the sarcophagus de-activated and Zorg used his communicator to call his secretary, desperately requesting that she send a ship to retrieve him on Fhloston. Assuming he meant the Fhloston Paradise cruise ship, she immediately sends one there, but he quickly tries to correct her and explains that the ship has been destroyed and that he is trapped on one of the polar continents, but before she can hear the last part, his communicator runs out of power, leaving him stranded and alone. His last words were "I need to think" as he presumably froze to death.

Trivia[]

  • The reason why Zorg lost most of his hair, has a scar near his right eye, and walks with a limp, possibly due to an artificial leg, is never mentioned, although it may be related to Mr. Shadow in some way who caused Zorg grave pain and even manifested his corrosive essence on his head.
  • In the script and novelization, he is described as "the galaxy's cruelest financier".
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