Welcome to MEAT&MARROW, a new series where I delve into body horror and all things fleshy, transformative and unusual. I’ll be taking a dive into overlooked body horror in media as well as personal faves. Let’s get to the meat of it!
Content warning for death, death of a child, suicide, gore and disturbing imagery.
Grandia 2 is one of my favourite RPGs. The real-time battle system that lets you cancel enemies attacks with well-timed hits, the use of animation for special attacks, and some cutscenes and the wonderful music have led me to replay it several times over the years. I still own my Dreamcast version (with a soundtrack CD) but the easily available remaster for PC and Nintendo Switch (bundled as a collection with Grandia 1) is a great affordable option for those wanting to give this classic a try. It’s also not a very difficult RPG and very straight-forward in terms of areas to explore.
The story follows Ryudo , a bounty hunter or “Geohound” tasked with escorting Elena, a Songstress of Granas after a failed sealing ritual. Elena has been possessed by the Wings of Valmar, a buxom woman named Millenia who takes over her body from time to time. Her easy-going flirtatious personality is in stark contrast to the shy and reserved woman of Granas. While it uses the classic good-VS-evil plot it throws a few nice twists here and there. Granas is akin to the Christian God and Valmar his counterpart as Satan.
Each piece of Valmar ends up possessing someone, usually resulting in a boss fight and is representative of its organ: heart, tongue, eyes, etc. One memorable aspect is the sound effect used for these; a wet, throaty breathing that’s quite loud in relation to the music, as if to remind you this being is ALIVE. Mareg, the beast-man of the party often uses his keen sense of smell to locate creatures of Valmar and states they smell of death and decay. These bosses are cartoonishly gross and I love them. Major spoilers ahead!
Tongue
The first piece of Valmar you encounter after setting out, (besides Millenia) and what an introduction it is! The seal for Valmar’s Tongue is located underneath a town, and a consequence of the Tongue’s presence is the townsfolk’s new lack of taste. When Ryudo and the gang stay at the local inn they are served a large root vegetable tasting of sand. It’s apparently the only thing the villagers can stomach. In the centre of town lives Gadan, manager of the Skyway our party needs to progress. He is a rotund gluttonous man seen constantly stuffing his face, so you know instantly who the bad guy is here.
The tongue’s true form is similar to a crab, with several fleshy, spindly legs. Each arm sports a head with massive rows of teeth. The central body consists of a round abdomen covered with a hard shell that splits vertically to reveal the main mouth and titular tongue, usually lolling outside and drooling. On top of this is a “head” similar in shape and structure to an antlion with huge pincers, legs and yet another mouth. Transforming into this creature doesn’t rob the tongue of speech either, and it states how delicious everyone appears and that it intends to strip the flesh off their very bones.
All four pieces move and attack independently, with the special attack from the main mouth titled Starving Tongue. A CGI cutscene of a fleshy orb sucks in the lifeforce of your party before chewing intently. I really hate how this animation has very HUMAN teeth VS the carnivorous chompers of the boss itself.
Millenia, being a part of Valmar herself, will absorb each boss after you defeat it, gaining these special attacks. So now you can see it all the time! Fun!
Eyes
By far the saddest case, the Eyes of Valmar possesses a young blind girl named Aira, her mother Sandra calling this a miracle. She retreats into a warped imagination world thanks to the power of the Eyes that she calls the Garden of Dreams. Unfortunately this begins to affect the villagers, putting them one by one into a deep sleep. They appear as floating orbs of light in Aira’s world. After her secret is uncovered and the scar above her eye opens–an unnaturally round and unblinking eye of Valmar–Aira retreats even further into her imagination, now a physical world full of monsters and dream imagery. Soft musicbox melodies echo in the background as you make your way through clouds, flying whales and descend into a fleshy hellscape with rivers of blood and of course, giant, unblinking eyeballs everywhere.
Aira herself sits alone in a fittingly named Room of Solitude, yelling at Ryudo and the others to leave her alone before transforming into the Eyes of Valmar–a floating plant-like monster with large “eyestalks” and flowers. The boss also uses buzzing eyes with metal spikes to bombard you and will need to be dealt with immediately. The Room itself is a grostesque yellow colour with red and blue veins cross-crossing the floors and walls, which are also covered in eyeballs.
Once defeated, Aira tells Millenia to remove the Eye from her body. “I saw my mother smile, so it’s okay now”. The power, and with it, the Garden of Dreams–which Aira manifested from stories her mother told her–are gone. Once a piece of Valmar has been removed from a host, they are left comatose. Sandra weeps over her daughter and proclaims she will plant a new garden herself, and once it blooms, Aira’s soul will return. This is just something Millenia tells her to do to keep the poor woman going. There is no cure, no bringing Aira back. Utterly depressing.
Heart
As someone who grew up without religion the symbolism of this was lost on my 12-year old self but it smacks me in the face now. The high priestess of the church impales herself on the guard’s swords, and they collectively become the Heart of Valmar—a bloody pulsating heart with giant veins sticking out the back like a “tail” and blades jutting out at various angles. It looks similar to a cuttlefish in this way, in addition to the horizontal irises and even moves “backwards” like they do. One of the hearts attacks is Aorta Pummel–it lifts up and wiggles the vein-tentacles on a party member, slapping them around. During another, the heart spins around in circles spewing black blood. Unlike the other pieces of Valmar, the heart has no “special” attack, but it does a lot of status disorder spells.
This is the point in the game where you learn “oh actually the church is bad, who could have seen that coming?” I also love what it looks like before the boss encounter starts: just a massive lump of flesh and dripping blood with the bodies of the sacred guard poking out here and there.
Body
The biggest piece of all, the body. On the outside it’s a bulbous, fishlike creature with extended spinal ridges, constantly spewing purple gas. Millenia flies the party inside a hole and they fight their way to the innermost chamber, where this Resident Evil lookin’ guy meets them. A tiny mouth surrounded by what I presume to be lungs and other organs, with two tentacle arms for protection. A smaller, secondary mouth with fleshy feelers sits under the first. Attacks are very basic, with a vacuum sucking the party in so the tentacles can damage everyone at once.
Valmar’s Core and Final Forms
Well, turns out the pope is super evil and revives Valmar VIA Millenia, who now holds all the pieces of the puzzle. The party ONCE AGAIN makes their way inside the God, who takes the form of a giant black hydra. The core is relatively small, a tri-headed alien with large claws and a elongated head which I’m hereby calling a “brain sac” Connected to this are several webs that anchor the Core to the ceiling, and another directly underneath that serves the same purpose, to the floor. It can still move around freely though! The three heads resemble a traditional Noh Mask, particularly the Okina or “old man”. The jaw unhinges when casting spells. This is the hardest boss in the game!
It’s not really a JRPG without a SECOND final boss though, is it? Now you’ll face a small, multi-winged floating head. The fight starts with the head “closed” and encased in a hard exoshell. Around the halfway point Zera’s face pops out. Honestly, as much as I love this game…I hate this boss. I think it looks a bit silly in comparison to the others, who all have fun designs based around their respective body part.
Thanks for joining me on this little look at one of my fave games. If you have any body horror media you’d like me to cover, please let me know!! ※
LORMAGGOT 