Seeing as Magnifi offed himself...why did he do it in such a retarded way? For someone to shoot themselves square in the forehead would mean their hands being in a VERY uncomfortable position. Especially with a big pistol like that. I'm suprised his tendons would let him pull the trigger.

On top of that, wasn't it obvious that if he did it like that the police would suspect Zak and Valant? Magnifi didn't really show any animosity to Zak and Valant.

Well, he set it up as a test for his two students. To pass, they had to shoot the clown in the forehead and the person who did that would get his tricks. I think he did it to make sure the right person (in his mind at least- I would assume that it was testing to see if they thought the way he did or if they could interpret his instructions correctly) inherited his tricks and he clearly wanted Zak to succeed him as he gave him the earlier time which allows him the first shot (quite literally in this case). I'm not sure he meant it to hurt either of them as the gun would have been in his hand and the wound was clearly made at close range (and considering the circumstances would likely be correctly interpreted as being self-inflicted). This went wrong when Valant decided to frame Zak and moved the gun out of Magnifi's reach so it couldn't possibly be a suicide.

Hm, that is true. But it still makes absolutely no sense why any logical person would go through the trouble of shooting themselves in the forehead. Magnifi made his peace and wanted to die. @_@ This maybe could be a goof-up by Capcom...or just another reason why Magnifi is really an odd old man.

I think he is more than a bit odd, but he was also dying very slowly by this point and there was no hope of recovery. With both liver cancer and diabetes (I think those were what he had), I imagine he was probably in a lot of pain and decided to end it painlessly with everything tied up nicely (or so he hoped).

But doesn't it seem set up against Valant? Zak get's the first chance. If he shoots the clown, he gets the secrets, if he shoots Magnifi, no secrets for Valant anyway. Bit unfair, ne?

It's also, in a way, to test their reaction times. The reason Valant was slower was because he was agonizing over his decision. Zak, however, just goes and does it stat.

At least, that's my theory.

My opinion is that... well, someone already said it for me. He had a tumor and diabetes, so he was probably in a lot of pain, and either way he would die. So he chose to go the fast and painless route. He had three chances to die: Zak shoots him, Valant shoots him, or he shoots himself. Of course, he also wanted to give his rights to one of them... Zak getting the earlier time because, in my opinion, Magnifi knew that Zak was a better magician than Valant could ever be.

Valant admits that in the end, he was the weaker of the two. Also, when you think about it, Magnifi might have known about Valants possible feelings for Thalassa. (According to Brushel anyway) and that might have influenced his decision.

Of course it might have just come down the the fact that he liked Zak more and knew he probably would have passed the test. And if the worst came to the worst, his granddaughter would recieve the secrets. Now I come to think of it, maybe Little Trucy might have come into the equation: There's a good chance that Valant would never get married, and the tricks would be lost if he let Valant go first.

It's all just speculation of course.