Material Ghoul: The Noble Night Guard

Name: Kevin Eller

Nickname: Kruller

Occupation: Mall security guard

Born: June 1, 1952, in Gary, IN, US

Died: August 28, 1989, in Indianapolis, IN, US

Spouse: None

Children: None

Favorite Foods: Donuts, Pizza, Fast Food, Roasted Chicken

Hobbies: Roller-skating and motorcycle riding

…

"Look, total bummer about your friends, okay? I'm sure that they're really good people. But the two who gave me this elevator button kinda freak me out, so it would be best not to disobey them, y'know?"

…

Kruller, real name Kevin Eller, was born on a farm in Gary, Indiana on June 1, 1952. His dad was an Air Force pilot during World War II, and his mom had managed the family farm in his absence. The Ellers had a family friend who was a respectable sheriff, known to arrest lawbreakers without firing a shot or resorting to excessive violence. This family friend became a mentor of sorts to Kevin, who initially wanted to join the Navy, but ultimately settled for a career in law enforcement. To prepare, he spent his teenage years participating in ride-alongs with his mentor and planned to pursue a Criminal Justice major in college.

In 1970, however, those plans were put on hold when the Army drafted Kevin to fight in the Vietnam War. He served his country bravely and honorably, rising to the rank of Captain. After he was honorably discharged in 1974, he moved to Indianapolis, Indiana and attended college, taking a job as a mall security guard to help pay for his tuition. Finding that he enjoyed the job, Kevin decided to table his plans to become a police officer.

Throughout his career as a night guard, Kevin sought to imitate the protagonists of various cop shows and cop movies, making a favorable impression on his boss and his colleagues. Those who worked and shopped at the mall would remember his eccentric, fun-loving personality. Due to Kevin's love of donuts, he earned the nickname "Kruller", a play on a type of donut called the cruller.

By 1980, Kevin was promoted to head night guard. When the mall experienced a major shopping boom in the 80s, the demand for night guards increased, and Kevin decided to personally train the new arrivals. He encouraged his fellow security guards to think of each other as family members and to use violence only when attempts at diplomacy failed. Also, he was known to take his colleagues to the movies or the arcade on their nights off. As a result, he gained a reputation as "the coolest nightguard in the mall".

The night of August 28, 1989, started off normally enough, with Kevin and the other night guards going about their rounds. Unfortunately, things took a dark turn when they confronted a group of young troublemakers. After discovering that these troublemakers were armed with baseball bats and knives, and that they had no qualms over using them, Kevin knew that all pretenses of diplomacy were off the table. When the troublemakers attacked, the night guards valiantly defended the mall, and while they succeeded in holding them off until the police arrived, many of them were injured, and Kruller tragically lost his life. He was only 37 years old.

Kevin was buried with full military honors, and the flag was presented to his parents and his now-retired mentor. But while he was no longer in his physical body, he vowed to continue serving and protecting as a ghost.

Kevin's ghost, now going by "Kruller", continued patrolling the mall until its permanent closure in 2006. Even then, the ghostly night guard still kept watch over the decaying building. Not until its implosion in 2018 did Kruller abandon his post. Numerous photographers and media outlets spotted him in the crowd, watching the hauntingly beautiful choreography of the explosive charges going off and the building crumbling away, openly weeping. As luck would have it, Hellen Gravely was also in that crowd.

After cheering up Kruller with a meal of burgers, fries and shakes at a diner, Hellen told him about a small shopping area located on the third floor of her hotel which needed a security guard. Happily, Kruller accepted the implicit job offer, and within two days, he was patrolling the Last Resort's Hotel Shops, emulating Paul Blart from the eponymous 2009 action comedy.

On October 31, 2019, Kruller had just completed a security sweep of the Hotel Shops, and he was killing time in his office when two visitors knocked on his door. Those visitors were none other than Luigi and Gooigi, the former patiently and calmly explaining his situation to the night guard. His psychotic, sadistic nemesis was holding his friends prisoner, and he and Gooigi were on a mission to rescue them. To that end, they needed the elevator button attached to Kruller's keychain.

But there was a problem. King Boo, the aforementioned nemesis, had allied himself with Hellen, who'd given Kruller the elevator button and told him under no uncertain terms was he to relinquish it to anybody. While Kruller empathized with Luigi's situation, he was scared of inviting Hellen and King Boo's wrath. After declining Luigi's offer of protection, he asked the two ghost-hunters to leave. However, Luigi, abiding by similar principles of not using violence until absolutely necessary, announced his intent to take the elevator button, forcing Kruller to engage in response, retreating behind a locked gate and arming himself with a water pistol. Thus, it fell to Gooigi, who could squeeze through the gate, to challenge him, claiming the button after a spirited battle.

Kruller accepted his defeat, harboring no ill will against Luigi or Gooigi. Once the former succeeded in rescuing his friends and King Boo's spell over the ghosts was broken, Luigi was just as forgiving toward Kruller. The two stabilized their relationship while helping to build the new hotel, which had an even bigger shopping area, located on the mezzanine.

Today, Kruller patrols the new Hotel Shops on a Segway, keeping as sharp a watch as he kept in that mall in Indianapolis, Indiana, all those years ago.