Giygas

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Giygas ギーグ Gyiyg
Sprite of Giegue from EarthBound Beginnings.
Giygas as he appears in EarthBound.
Gender	Male
Appears in	EarthBound Beginnings EarthBound
Relatives	Maria (foster mother) George (foster father) Ninten (Grandnephew through adoption)

Giygas, also known as Giegue in EarthBound Beginnings, is the main antagonist in EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound. Giygas is an alien being originally tasked with conquering the Earth and destroying humanity. However, after his initial failure, he returned far more powerful than before and brought the universe to devastation, becoming known as the "Universal Cosmic Destroyer". Due to Buzz Buzz's interference via time travel, Giygas's plans were disrupted, and his growing fear of Ness throughout the game's events leads to the destruction of his mind and body under his own power as he became the "Embodiment of Evil".

Background

Giygas was raised by George and Maria as a child when they were abducted by aliens in the early 1900s. Giygas loved his adoptive parents, growing especially close to Maria, while Maria loved him as her own son. Every night Maria would sing to Giygas a special lullaby. George, however, was unwilling to remain there, and two years later escaped back to Earth, sabotaging his captors by stealing vital information to impede their plans to attack the Earth. Upon George's return, he engrossed himself in the study of PSI and created EVE. When Giygas matured, he was tasked to invade the Earth once again. Even so, he retained an affection for Maria, despite unclear circumstances leading to her being entrapped in Magicant.

In EarthBound Beginnings

Giegue ギーグ Gyiyg
Stats
HP ∞	PP 0	Offense 15	Defense 20	Fight 20
Force 23	Speed 100	Strength 10	Wisdom 14
Experience/money yields
Exp. 0			Money $0
Locations
Mt. Itoi
Description
"(Ninten hears the voice of Queen Mary) Giegue cannot be defeated with force... You cannot defeat Giegue with a weapon of any kind. You must SING my lullaby, with all your feelings... SING my lullaby with all your heart."

In EarthBound Beginnings, Giegue leads an army of aliens and robots in an invasion of planet Earth, starting eighty years after George's escape from captivity at the hands of Giegue's people. The influence of Giegue throughout America causes inanimate objects and dead creatures to come to life, animals and people to become hostile, and alien forces to appear across the land. Giegue's forces began abducting and harrying the citizens of America, often under the guise of poltergeists haunting homes.

When Ninten confronts Giegue at his Mother Ship on the summit of Mt. Itoi, he attacks the party. Giegue only has one attack, the form of which is stated to be inexplicable. This attack deals high-level non-elemental damage to all members of the party.

At the start of the battle, Giegue expresses his debt of gratitude to Ninten's family for raising him, but mentions that George stole vital information from his kind to impede his people's plans. He also indicates that he harbors a deep hatred towards humans and wants them to perish. Giegue offers to spare Ninten's life and allow him to board the Mother Ship, presumably out of respect for Ninten's great-grandmother Maria for raising him. Ninten declines his offer, and Giegue continues to attack him. In battle, Giegue is immune to all forms of attack; while he appears to take damage, his HP is effectively limitless. Instead, after Giegue finishes talking, Ninten and his friends must repeatedly attempt to sing the Eight Melodies, reminding Giegue of his memories of Maria. The song fills Giegue with guilt and memories of his past with her, and he repeatedly attempts to cut their singing short. Eventually, as Ninten and his party manage to finish the song, the emotional stress becomes too much for Giegue to handle and he retreats, calling off his forces but promising that he and Ninten will meet again.

For clarity, the player cannot name a character Giegue.

Text	Effect
Inexplicable attack	Deals high-level non-elemental damage to all party members

In EarthBound

Giygas ギーグ Gyiyg
Appearance in EarthBound
Stats
HP 2000 ∞	PP 999 0	Offense 255
Defense 255 127	Speed 80	Guts 5
PSI strengths/weaknesses
Fire 50%	Freeze 50%	Flash 0%
Paralysis 0%	Brainshock 99%	Hypnosis 0%
Experience/money yields
Exp. 0		Money $0
Locations
Cave of the Past

“ No, Giygas is no longer the wielder of Evil. He has become the embodiment of Evil itself... which he cannot control on his own. He is the Evil Power. ” — Pokey Minch

What happened to Giygas between the events of EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound is largely unspecified. However, at some point he consulted the Apple of Enlightenment, which predicted his defeat would come to pass at the hands of four children. In a future 10 years after the time period of EarthBound, Giygas successfully conquers the universe, and has destroyed much of it. Buzz Buzz, a survivor of this destruction who continued to resist the future under Giygas's rule, travels back in time to inform Ness of Giygas' threat and create a new future, based on a legend that Giygas can be defeated by three boys and a girl. Why the defeat the Apple foretold does not seem to have happened in the future Buzz Buzz came from is unclear.

During EarthBound, Giygas influences people, animals, and inanimate objects on Earth. Ness and his friends encounter his presence via wild animals, sentient plants, people with evil thoughts, his alien minions such as Master Belch, and otherworldly creatures. The Mani-Mani Statue also assists in spreading Giygas' domination by inducing control over people such as Mr. Carpainter and Geldegarde Monotoli. Spiteful of Ness as well, Pokey Minch eventually allies with Giygas, though it is not clear how aware Pokey is of his presence until near the end of the game.

As Ness gains the power of all eight Your Sanctuary locations, Giygas invades the Eagleland city of Onett. It is discovered that Giygas is attacking the Earth in the present from a location in the past. In order to follow and defeat him, Ness (along with Paula, Jeff, and Poo) travels back in time using the Phase Distorter to face Giygas in the Cave of the Past. Enclosed within the Devil's Machine, Pokey Minch states that Giygas' unfathomable power destroyed his body and mind, leaving him as he is seen in the final battle when the Devil's Machine is shut off. In this form, Giygas remains undefeatable by physical attacks. Rather, he is destroyed by the prayers Paula sends to the people of the Earth and receives in turn across time, as well as some that reach the Player themself. Giygas is destroyed once and for all, ending his evil influence over the world.

In Battle

Devil's Machine

"Pokey Means Business!"

"Giygas Stirs"

See also: Heavily Armed Pokey

Giygas' first phase is from within the Devil's Machine: the main threat is the now Heavily Armed Pokey, who uses a variety of attacks against Ness and his party. Giygas is capable of using PSI Rockin: a PSI ability previously only available to Ness and Ness's Nightmare. Giygas has a shield that reflects any damage he would take to a random party member. It is impossible to remove this shield, making him invincible to any attacks. Only PSI Shield α and Σ that Ness' party places will work; if β or Ω are used, Giygas' attacks will reflect off the player's shield and back from his own shield, hitting Ness and his party in the progress. If a psychic attack is reflected, it will ignore any PSI shields and hit Ness' party. He is vulnerable to Brainshock, but when confused he will often hit himself with PSI Rockin, which will reflect and hit the party.

Meanwhile, Pokey will alternate between releasing a stinky gas that lowers the party's Offense, and using strong physical attacks. Pokey is also vulnerable to Brainshock, and has a 50% chance to be affected by Paralysis, allowing the player to deal damage with Bashing, PSI moves, and bottle rockets. Pokey has 2000 HP: Once his health is depleted, he will taunt the party and turn off the Devil's Machine, revealing Giygas' true form.

Giygas' attacks

Text	Effect
PSI Rockin α	40-120 points of damage to all enemies
PSI Rockin β	90-270 points of damage to all enemies

First form

"Giygas' Intimidation"

"Giygas is Wounded!"

“ So, isn't this terrifying? I'm terrified, too. Giygas cannot think rationally any more, and he isn't even aware of what he is doing now. His own mind was destroyed by his incredible power. What an all mighty idiot! Yep, that's what he is! Heh heh heh heh... and you... you will be... just another meal to him! ” — Pokey Minch

When the Devil's Machine is turned off, Ness and his friends are trapped in a strange dimension, where Giygas is now susceptible to physical and psychic attacks of all kinds. Giygas himself, crippled mentally by his power, communicates via mysterious calls to Ness, statements of sadness, and vocalizations of pleasure. Much like in the prequel, all of his attacks are inexplicable and prefaced by "You cannot grasp the true form of Giygas' attack!".

In this form, Giygas, having 2000 HP, must be hit with the player's best attacks, while keeping health high enough to avoid death.

Text	Effect
Incomprehensible attack	(PSI Thunder β) 60-180 points of damage to two random enemies
Incomprehensible attack	(PSI Flash γ) 4/8 (50%) chance of crying 1/8 (12.5%) chance of strangeness 1/8 (12.5%) chance of paralysis 2/8 (25%) chance of instant defeat
Incomprehensible attack	Deals 135-225 Freeze-element damage to all enemies with a 25% chance of solidifying the target
"Ness..."	No effect

Second form

"Giygas is Fatally Wounded!"

"Giygas Disintegrates"

“ Heh heh heh heh. You must really be at the end of your rope. In this bizarre dimension, you four are the only force fighting for justice... And here you stand, waiting to be burned up with all the rest of the garbage of this universe... Haaaaah! That's so sad. I can't help but shed a tear. You know, my heart is beating incredibly fast, ...I must be experiencing absolute terror! ” — Pokey Minch

“ Ness! Ah, Grrr, Ohhh... Argh... Yaaagh!... It's not right... not right... not right... ” — Giygas

Once enough damage has been dealt to Giygas, Pokey will return to taunt the Chosen Four again and will then leave the party with Giygas once more. This time, Giygas, while barely wounded, remains invincible: Although attacks can successfully hit him, Giygas will never run out of health. The only way to destroy Giygas is to have Paula Pray. The prayer is the only thing effective against Giygas, and as Paula continuously prays, other people from the adventure (including the player) send prayers for the safety of the Chosen Four. The prayers become too much for Giygas to handle, and after 9 prayers, Giygas starts to vanish. This causes Pokey to appear again, stating his shock at how Ness and his party were able to defeat Giygas, but plans to run away in another era to think of his next plan, hoping he would see Ness again before taunting him once more as he leaves. Afterwards, Giygas then disintegrates and is finally defeated, ending the war against Giygas.

Text	Effect
Incomprehensible attack	(PSI Thunder β) 60-180 points of damage to two random enemies
Incomprehensible attack	(PSI Flash γ) 4/8 (50%) chance of crying 1/8 (12.5%) chance of strangeness 1/8 (12.5%) chance of paralysis 2/8 (25%) chance of instant defeat
Incomprehensible attack	Deals 135-225 Freeze-element damage to all enemies with a 25% chance of solidifying the target
"Ness..."	No effect

Trivia

• Giegue's design in EarthBound Beginnings may have been an inspiration for the Pokémon Mewtwo, a similarly powerful psychic being.
• Giygas's dialog in EarthBound was inspired by a traumatic event Shigesato Itoi had experienced around the age of five, where he mistakenly walked into a theater playing The Military Policeman and the Dismembered Beauty and witnessed a murder scene he initially mistook for sexual assault. Itoi wanted Giygas's dialog to evoke a combination of pleasure and pain in order to recreate the same kind of fear he experienced. Contrary to popular belief, Itoi did not directly borrow dialog, music, or imagery from the movie itself.
• Early previews of EarthBound reveal that Giygas was originally going to be named "The Geek" in English.
• The name Giegue was initially inspired by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger, who was most famous for designing the aliens in the Alien movie franchise.
• Giygas is one of the only 3 characters in the EarthBound series that can use PSI Rockin, the others being Ness and Ness's Nightmare.
• In EarthBound, if one turns an image of Giygas upside-down when his "face" is visible, his face will resemble his appearance in EarthBound Beginnings.
• During the last phase of Giygas in EarthBound, the outline of Giygas appears to resemble a human fetus. This started a popular fan theory that the heroes are traveling to the past to fight Giygas before he was born. This is confirmed false within the game itself. However, whether this imagery was intentional or not has never been commented on by Shigesato Itoi.
• In EarthBound Beginnings, it is possible to defeat Giygas without using the Sing command. If a battle goes on for longer than 255 turns, the text "The battle lingers on..." displays and the battle ends automatically. If the player does this, the battle will immediately end and the ending will proceed as normal.
  • A similar glitch is possible in the Japan-only port Mother 1+2, in which Giygas can be defeated without using Pray. In the first phase after the Devil's Machine is shut off, if the player uses the Viper to poison Giygas and lets his HP drop to 0 through poison damage, the battle ends as if it were a normal battle while receiving 0 experience points. Aside from minor graphical glitches, the ending plays as normal.
• After the first prayer cutscene when the text states that "Giygas' defenses became unstable", his defense stat does actually drop, even though he can't be defeated by regular damage at that point.

References