Obelix (Fr. Obélix) is a sidekick with superhuman strength in the Asterix comic books. He is Asterix' closest friend (they even have the same birthday - although this is inconsistent with the comic Obelix and Co, where only Obelix's birthday is celebrated) and works as a menhir delivery man when not bashing Romans. Obelix also owns the quarry where he chisels the menhirs himself. It is never directly stated what the menhirs are used for, though it is hinted that they are just oversized knick-knacks. Obelix usually trades the stones away for whatever he needs, resulting in the village having a literal field of menhirs. He has a little dog named Dogmatix (Fr. Idéfix). His parents live now in Condatum and he has relatives in Lutetia including distant cousin Metallurgix, a golden sickle maker.
He is a large man who does not see himself as fat, preferring euphemisms such as being "well covered" or having a chest that has "slipped a little bit," and may not even be aware when people are talking about him in that regard, being confused as to who is fat. On the other hand, when he does notice such allusions being made about him, he gets very, very angry about the so called "mistake". Sometimes, when he is in a bad mood, just hearing the word "fat" can quickly enrage him. Being called fat, or being hinted as being fat, is one of the main causes of conflicts between Asterix and Obelix which leads to more developing conflicts in which they must work together, in each album. Although conflicts between the two friends invariably degenerate into insults being screamed back and forth, Obelix and Asterix inevitably make up swiftly.
Unlike the other villagers, Obelix has no need to drink Getafix the druid's magic potion that gives superhuman strength, because he fell into the cauldron as a baby and its effect on him became permanent. The story of that incident is told in How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When he was a Little Boy. Since this effect was not intended or expected, Getafix refuses to allow him even one more drop except under the direst circumstances (either out of fear for his life, or fear for the lives of others' should the inattentive and uncoordinated strongman become any stronger), which annoys him greatly. (In Asterix and Obelix All at Sea, it is revealed that too much of the potion can turn the drinker to stone; exactly how much is not known, but a whole cauldron will certainly do the trick. This appears to only work on grown people as Obelix didn't turn to stone as a baby) However, in Asterix and Cleopatra, Getafix gives him a few drops when opening a door in the Great Pyramid's Labyrinth (that even Obelix can't budge open); however, it is shown that a few drops of the potion do nothing but increase his strength further but at this point, he is already so used to his strength he doesn't notice anything different.
