The professor

"Professor... Our reunion beckons..."

- Commander Tartar

The professor is a minor character in and. He was Judd's original owner and the creator of the AI TARTAR.

History
In, two Sunken Scrolls have writings set from the point of view of a concerned pet owner. Worrying about the lack of action being taken in regards to the Earth's rising sea levels and the well being of his pet cat, he had Judd cryogenically frozen for 10,000 years. In, another Sunken Scroll reveals that the machine Judd was enclosed in is able to produce clones of himself. The pet owner appears to be remorseful over the process of preserving his cat and ensuring he has company when he wakes up. In the Octo Expansion, Commander Tartar states that it was created by a "brilliant professor" for the purpose of passing down humanity's knowledge to the next "worthy" lifeform in hopes of rebuilding civilization after the extinction event.

In a Famitsu interview with the game staff, director Yusuke Amano confirmed that the pet owner and the professor were the same person, and that the professor's intent in programming TARTAR was for the next intelligent lifeform to not repeat the mistakes of the human race. However, TARTAR's loneliness caused its programming to disregard its creator's original intentions as time went on.

Trivia

 * In The Art of Splatoon, a human is seen encasing himself in a capsule beside Judd at the start of the "Squid Manga" section that gives the backstory for the first . This may be a different depiction of Judd's original owner.
 * In the aforementioned Famitsu interview, Yusuke Amano also said that the dog-like model in Matchmaker Station is based off of Judd. This is supposed to be an in-game hint that Commander Tartar has some connection with Judd's owner.