Giygas

This article is filed under Characters.

Giygas (ギーグ Gīgu, Gyiyg in the Japanese version) is once again the main antagonist from Mother. Known as both the "Embodiment of Evil" and the "Universal Cosmic Destroyer," Giygas is an evil alien that intends to sentence all of reality to the horror of infinite darkness. With an army of Starmen, UFOs, and other deadly war machines, Giygas also used his immense power to influence the evil parts of the Earth's beings to assist him.

Game History

In Mother

In Mother, Giygas is raised by Maria, a woman abducted along with her husband George from Earth by Giygas' alien race in the early 1900s. George studied the aliens' PSI powers without permission, and escaped back to Earth. Once he matured, Giygas was tasked by his people to make sure that PSI never spread onto Earth. However, Giygas didn't want to betray those who raised him, particularly his beloved Maria. In the end, he forced himself to detach from Maria, and began preparations for the aliens' invasion. Many years later, he starts the invasion, and is eventually confronted by the great-grandson of Maria and George, Ninten, and his companions. By singing a song once known by Maria and Giygas, the loving memories he had tried so hard to suppress weaken him. Giygas eventually surrenders, but promises revenge upon Ninten someday, and flies away.

In Mother 2

In Mother 2, Giygas returns as the primary antagonist, though he vastly differs from his appearance in Mother. Giygas gains such tremendous evil power that it destroys his entire being, including his mind, henceforth losing all semblance of life. As such, Giygas manifests as what can only be described as pure evil; in Pokey Minch's words, "he is the evil power". Due to the loss of his mind, Giygas becomes irrational, and incapable of thought; in the final battle, Pokey points out that Giygas isn't aware of himself, or what he is doing, referring to him as "an all-mighty idiot". This is highly reminiscent of the Lovecraftian god Azathoth, who is referred to as the "Blind Idiot God".

Now wielding vast cosmic power, Giygas becomes a threat to the existence of the universe. Ten years after the beginning of Mother 2, Giygas initiates the apocalypse. The only known being who manages to escape destruction is an alien insectoid named Buzz Buzz, who travels back in time 10 years and warns Ness of the impending catastrophe. In Ness's present-day, Giygas's influence is seen throughout the Earth, mainly in the form of enemies that Ness encounters. Now existing as the whole of evil power in the universe, Giygas is able to manipulate the evil in the minds of living beings, both human and animal, and he can apparently manipulate even the forms of inanimate objects.

In the final battle, Giygas is held within the Devil's Machine, an eyeball-like machine (with an image of Ness's face inside) created to contain Giygas' tremendous power. During the battle, Pokey shuts it off, causing all of Giygas's power to be unleashed; an event that creates a chaotic, bizarre dimension all around them in which only Giygas, Pokey, and the four robots remained trapped in darkness. His attacks are random and incomprehensible, and his speech is erratic and mindless. He is eventually defeated after Paula calls out to the people of the Earth to pray (including the player), and the combined prayers reach Giygas and exploit his weakness, which turns out to be human emotions (possibly due to his loss of Maria). He fades into nothingness, and the end of all things is averted.

First Used in a Poop by

Might add later.

Quotes

• "Ness..."
• "Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness..."
• "I...Feel...G..o..o..d..."
• "It Hurts...It Hurts..."
• "I'm Sad, Ness..."
• "Friends..."
• "You cannot grasp a true form of Giygas' attack!"
• "Go B..a..c..k"

Trivia

• Giygas in some ways could be considered a tragic character, due to the fact that he was emotionally torn between fulfilling his duty for his alien race and Maria, who took care of him when he was little. When he couldn't bring himself to complete his mission the first time, he did everything he could to become emotionless and evil. This ultimately consumed him, destroying his body and mind.

• Shigesato Itoi stated that his inspiration for Giygas' speech came from a traumatic childhood experience where he unwittingly viewed a rape scene in the 1957 film The Military Policeman and the Dismembered Beauty (or so he thought, considering that there is no form of rape in the movie.)

• Giygas was originally planned to return in Mother 3, and while the reason for excluding him has not been revealed, it may have to do with his being too frightening to the new, younger audience (due to the game being released for the Game Boy Advance as a sequel to a game released over ten years before), or because Giygas was fittingly destroyed permanently in EarthBound. It has been discovered by hackers that the unused Giygas/Claus boss sprite was left in Mother 3's code.