The Puppet-Master

**Character name** The Puppet-Master is mysterious entity who apparently controlls and manipulates the world of VTA. However despite this, the Puppet-Master claims to mean well, saying he is just trying to protect the characters from “the truth.”

## Biography

When he was young, he became interested in *VeggieTales.* But after *VeggieTales in the House* flopped, Big Idea advertised that they needed a creative consultant. So the Puppet-Master signed up, and pitched many different ideas for stories, utilizing the original format. While Big Idea themselves liked it, the leading executives didn't. So they pressured him to make the series extremely violent. The Puppet-Master, against his wishes, complied, knowing that if he didn't, the job might go to someone who completely misunderstood the concept of *VeggieTales.* He wiped the Veggies' memories clean, but they started to remember at some point, requiring his intervention into the *Abridged* universe, and may have prompted him to orchestrate the election of Bob Dole to king of the world.

## The Truth

In Episode 18, the Puppet-Master explains to Larry that there is a secret about this universe that no veggie shall ever find out. Larry has gotten too close to this "truth", so to protect him, the Puppet-Master reluctantly wipes his memory.

In Episode 19, after regaining their lost memories, Bob and Larry discover that Big Idea has been bought out by Classic Media. This leads Bob to question the Puppet-Master's intentions.

In Episodes 20 and 21, Bob and Larry get too close to the truth once again, and have to be put away.

In Episode 22, after bringing Bob and Larry back out of storage, the Puppet-Master finally reveals the "truth" he has been hiding from the characters all this time. The *VeggieTales* gang used to be very life-like and fun when they were under the maintenance of Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki. But after being sold away to DreamWorks, that all went away. Because of this, the Puppet-Master decided to adopt the characters in an attempt to re-create the original series; to remind the world of what they once were.

In Episode 25, George reveals that the Puppet-Master was hired by Big Idea after VeggieTales in the House failed, as a creative consultant. Unfortunately, George believed that he was the one who pitched the idea of VeggieTales Abridged, which stuck, much to the confusion of Larry. But before George is able to finish his speech, the Puppet-Master interrupts him. He then erases Goliath from VTA after the Veggies revolt.

In Episode 26, the Puppet-Master erases the entire VTA universe after Bob and Larry forgive each other. After which, he explains his backstory to the two, and after encouragement from them, decides to reload the series once more. This leads to the creation of *VeggieTales: Live and Reloaded*. In 2019, the Puppet-Master encouraged Universal Studios to allow Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki to produce the series, leading to *The VeggieTales Show*. The Puppet-Master now writes books for a living, but his full identity still remains a mystery.

## Behind the scenes

The Puppet-Master is played by Trevor Liedtke. It is currently unknown what exactly he is, although some fans have believed him to truly be the *VeggieTales* creator, Phil Vischer. This was officially disproven in Episode 22, when the Puppet-Master stated that it was because of Phil and Mike's carelessness for the characters that he decided to revive them. Due to the similarities between the motivations of the Puppet-Master for engineering the universe of *VeggieTales Abridged* and the those of Liedtke for his other YouTube series *VeggieTales: Live and Reloaded*, it may very well be that the Puppet-Master is some fictionalized form of Liedtke.