Grima (character)

"I am the wings of despair. I am the breath of ruin. I am the fell dragon, Grima..."

- Grima introducing himself to Validar.

Grima is the ultimate antagonist in Fire Emblem Awakening, and a secret boss in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Grima tends to go by the title of the Fell Dragon and is feared by most of the world.

Birth of "The Creation"
Grima originally had no name and was just referred to as the Creation. Engineered by a mad alchemist named Forneus in a bid to create the perfect lifeform, he was the product of many materials, including the blood of a Divine Dragon, something that Forneus had taken a great risk to acquire. With it, Forneus mixed the blood with human fluids, certain herbs, and nectar, and sealed the concoction inside a vial for 40 days. This mixture resulted in the birth of the Creation.

At first, the Creation was tiny, merely the size of a thumbnail, and resembled a human fetus. Keeping the Creation under a temperature of a horse's womb, each day, Forneus gave the Creation his blood. On the 80th day, the Creation began to undergo a transformation. It began to resemble less like a human, sprouting eyes, extending its neck, and even growing a tail. Slowly, it began to take the appearance of an unusual dragon, not like that of a Divine Dragon that it was created from.

The Creation had six eyes that stared at Forneus through the vial, seeming to smile, indicating that it seemed to have developed a consciousness and was possibly smiling at Forneus. Eventually, the Creation grew to the size of a puppy, but it was said to have a terrifying power and seemed to have moments of rampage that Forneus attempted to control before the Creation reached full maturity.

The Creation's voice began to connect with Forneus, where both were able to see inside one another, and Forneus began to sense the dark and violent thoughts within the Creation, enough to make his heart tremble, while the Creation stared at Forneus trembling and smiled at him reassuringly.

Eventually, it reached a point when Forneus realized that his creation was too powerful to ever be controlled, and he sought to destroy it. It is unclear exactly what happened afterward, but it is presumed that the Creation killed Forneus in retaliation for his treachery.

If the player goes inside Thabes Labyrinth in Act VI of Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, they eventually reach the end of the maze to encounter the Creation itself. After a fierce battle, the Creation is defeated, but despite that, it is mentioned that the malevolent presence that filled the place with a sense of dread never faded, implying that the Creation's spirit lived on.

The First Exalt
Around a thousand years afterward, the Creation returned, under a new name, calling itself the Fell Dragon, Grima. Grima presumably made a pact with a human and tried to destroy the continent of Ylisse, but both were defeated by the First Exalt of Ylisse and Naga, which Grima put into a long slumber. A cult that fanatically worshipped Grima as the god of annihilation, the Grimleal, formed a country, Plegia, in order to revive their fallen master. For centuries, the Grimleal tried to create a suitable vessel for Grima to take, someone who held the Heart of Grima.

Awakening
Eventually, Validar, a failed vessel for Grima, produced a child with pure enough blood to be a suitable vessel, the Avatar. However, Validar's wife feared for their child's future and took them away to an unknown location, angering Validar and delaying their process of bringing Grima back.

In the alternate future, Grima managed to possess the Avatar and kills Chrom at The Dragon's Table, bringing destruction to the world. To prevent Lucina from interfering with his resurrection in the past, Grima followed her through time but ended up losing a large amount of his power in the process. He managed to find his past self's body and attempted to fuse with the Avatar to give himself his blood and restore his power, but the massive amount of memories and the weak Heart of Grima the Avatar had at the time gave the past Avatar amnesia and caused Grima to lose even more of his power. After Validar's death in Chapter 6, Grima approaches Validar and revives him for his grand purpose.

Two years after Gangrel's defeat, Validar introduces his hierophant, a hooded figure who looks exactly like the Avatar. However, before Chrom and the Avatar can ask further, Validar reminds them to make haste to prevent Valm's invasion. After stopping Walhart and the Valm empire, Chrom returns to Plegia to receive the last Gemstone, only for Validar to betray them by stealing the Fire Emblem. With the Emblem in hand, Validar rushes to The Dragon's Table to perform the Awakening and resurrect Grima. Though Validar is killed before Grima's Awakening can be completed, the mysterious doppelgänger met in Plegia before the Valm invasion warps onto the Table. The doppelgänger reveals that their exact same appearance with the Avatar is because the body they use, is in fact, the Avatar, the alternate future version of the Avatar from the same time as Lucina and the other children. Unlike the present Avatar, the future Avatar was successfully possessed by Grima, killed Chrom, and led the future to its ruinous state. The Grima-possessed Avatar tries to persuade the present Avatar into accepting the Fell Dragon's influence. Taking the present Avatar's question about not yet being the same as their refusal, undeterred, the Grima-possessed Future Avatar decides to finish the Awakening himself by sacrificing the Grimleal, and powers up the Grima of the present. Both Grimas leave the Dragon's Table to go to Origin Peak to regain the remaining power they need to destroy the world.

After Chrom completes the Awakening, he learns that if he deals the final blow with the Exalted Falchion, Grima will only be sealed for another 1,000 years. However, if Grima dies by his own power, only then can he be killed permanently. At Origin Peak, the Avatar realizes that their link to Grima means that if they kill Grima, Grima will be "killed by his own hand." However, Naga warns them that if their bonds in this world are not strong enough, they will die in the process. After defeating Aversa, who led a band of Grimleal to avenge Validar's death, Naga teleports them onto present Grima's weak spot, Future Grima on his nape, although they prepared in advance and protects themselves along with the remaining Grimleal. After both Grimas are weakened by the Shepherds, the player can decide Grima's fate. If Chrom is allowed to land the final blow, he will send Grima into a state of slumber, just like a millennia ago. If instead, the Avatar lands the final blow, they will charge up a ball of energy, and Grima will ask them what they are doing. The Avatar responds that they are glad the two share something together and how the evils he would visit on this world would be unforgivable and believe they should meet their end together. Future Grima yells in despair as the Avatar launches the ball of energy on him, killing both Grimas. As the Grimas die, the Avatar also begins to fade away as the two are linked together. After an undisclosed amount of time, Chrom and Lissa find the Avatar on a hill, this time the Mark of Grima is missing from their hand — a sign that Grima is gone for good and the world can now enjoy peace.

The Future Past
In this alternate timeline, Grima has managed to control the Avatar's body, and at the same time, indirectly control Morgan. Like in the alternate future, Grima manages to plunge the world into despair. However, Ylisstol still continues on fighting despite being heavily outmanned by the Risen. Grima orders both Morgans, who lead a group of Risen, to stop the children from obtaining the Gemstones needed to perform the Awakening. As a unit, Grima remains in Avatar's body but summons a spectral version of his true form's head to attack.

He is the mysterious cloaked figure that attempts to kill Lucina, but Tiki takes the hit instead and dies from her wounds.

At the top of Castle Ylisstol, Grima appears and demands the Fire Emblem and the gemstone. Lucina refuses, and Grima sends a shockwave through her, Severa, Laurent, and Gerome, severely wounding them. However, as fate would have it, Chrom and his Shepherds from the main timeline appear and assist them in defeating Grima and his hordes of Risen. After the battle, Grima attempts to kill Chrom, but due to being weakened, is stopped by the Avatar, who then teleports Chrom and the Shepherds away back to their own timeline.

Should all the children survive, Grima will taunt Lucina, telling her that her friends are most likely dead as he had sent Risen on them. However, they appear and Grima deduces that both Morgans have failed him. Despite this, he still taunts her as the Awakening can only be performed at Mount Prism, far enough for Grima to regain his strength and finish them off. However, as his Risen overran Mount Prism, the holy energy searched for the next source closest to Naga: Tiki, whom Grima had carelessly left inside the castle. Tiki also becomes the new Naga of this world, and because Tiki's body is the holiest source in the land, Lucina is able to perform the Awakening on the spot. Lucina finishes off Grima, the Avatar freed from Grima's control in their body's death, thanking everyone for ending their torment and apologizing to Morgan for allowing them to fall under Grima's manipulation.

Should Lucina be the only child to survive, Grima will taunt Lucina, telling her how he killed her father, scores of Ylisseans and her friends. The Avatar, who has temporarily regained control of their body, tells her to complete the Awakening before he wakes from his slumber. The Avatar wished to be free of Grima's possession so that none of the events would have happened in this timeline. Lucina notes that their voice seems painfully familiar and expresses that she wants to save them, but they refuse as they are speaking freely as Grima is weakened. After Grima manages to take temporary control of their body, the Avatar claims that it is now impossible to separate the two, and leaves for his slumber, waiting for the day Lucina will kill him.

Personality
Grima is a very deceiving, strategic being that manipulates multiple individuals to achieve what he desires. He manipulates Chrom and the Avatar, disguised as Validar's heriophant to invade the continent of Valm, so that they stop by force Walhart, who had conquered the whole continent to have an army strong enough to challenge the Grimleal. He also shows to be the mastermind behind of all of Validar's schemes, even traveling trough time to make sure the plan succeeds. He has a strong loathing of humans and enjoys their suffering, which is expanded in Fire Emblem Heroes when the Grima possessed Hierophant states he hates humanity for their hypocrisy, explaining how humans beg the gods for help but shun them upon the request being answered. Also claiming humanity is arrogant and unable to learn from their mistakes, while any form of goodwill is merely for self-indulgence and selfishness, he says that his own repulsive form is a reflection on humanity's own ugliness, where humanity itself desires Grima to be evil. To this end, he can be extremely manipulative of others from steering history to his favor and exploiting the Avatar's children's feelings through his theft of their parent's body. Grima is shown to be a sadist that relishes in making his opponents suffer as much as he can, like when he cruelly mocked Lucina over her mother and father's deaths or during the final confrontation he offers the Avatar that he will spare his friends if he/she "becomes one with him", only to admit cheerfully afterwards that he lied (regardless of the choice made).He in fact tricks the Avatar multiple times, who's also a great tactician in his/her own right, like when he predicted that Chrom, advised by the Avatar would bring The Shield of Seals to Plegia to keep it safe, showing a very cunning side while also being able to directly control her/him to some degree.

He is also shown to be extremely prideful, regarding humans as "worms" coupled with a God complex of sorts, as evidenced by his tendency to refer to himself as a god and/or claiming that he is unkillable.

Grima is also shown to be a very calm individual, firmly believing that the future is set in stone, as even though Validar's plots were foiled and the Avatar did not succumb to Grima's will at the Dragon's Table, the future Grima only showed slight disappointment in the Avatar, before taking the Avatar's place to revive the present Grima. Such overconfidence extends to his skill, believing it to be impossible for the Avatar to regain control of their body, disregarding their bonds with others as a way to overcome his will. That said, his cool begins to break down during the final confrontation after the Avatar resists Grima's control, acting enraged and dumbfounded upon am obstacule in his plasn. Truly, the only time that Grima showed genuine shock and fear when speaking through his human host was when the Avatar began to finish Grima off themselves, which would lead to the death of both simultaneously.

However, when briefly conversing with Lucina in his original draconic form during one of her flashbacks, he seems to speak in a far more brash and aggressive tone - so much so that he appears to yell at her. Though it is possible that he was simply reveling in his victory at the time, this apparent tone shift is most likely just his natural way of speaking due to his massive size, or a combination of the two.

Fire Emblem Awakening
Help description: A baleful dragon, who seeks to plunge the world into darkness.

Endgame

 * -|Normal=


 * -|Hard=


 * -|Lunatic=


 * -|Lunatic+=

The Future Past 3

 * -|Normal=


 * -|Hard=


 * -|Lunatic=

* In Lunatic+, Aegis becomes Aegis+ and Pavise becomes Pavise+. Otherwise, Grima has the same stats from Lunatic.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Help Description: A twisted creature born of divine dragon blood.

Stats

 * -|Normal=


 * -|Hard=

Fire Emblem Heroes

 * -|Fell Reincarnation=
 * Fell Reincarnation
 * The Ylissean tactician Robin with body and soul ruled by the Fell Dragon, Grima. Appears in Fire Emblem Awakening.

Base Stats
Rarity: ✯✯✯✯✯

Passive

 * -|Fell Vessel=
 * Fell Vessel
 * The Ylissean tactician Robin with body and soul ruled by the Fell Dragon, Grima.

Base Stats
Rarity: ✯✯✯✯✯

Quotes
"...I AM...GRIMA... I AM...DESPAIR..."

- Grima's pre-battle quote in the Endgame

"...NNGH...AAAAUGHHH..."

- Grima's defeat quote in the Endgame

"DAMN YOU!"

- Grima's defeat voice clip

"...At last...I can rest... ...No one else...will suffer... ...because of me... ...Thank...you... ...I hope your lives are...filled... ...with...joy... ...... ...... ...Morgan...please forgive me... ...I put you through...so...much... ...... ......"

- Avatar of the Future speaking through Grima in the death quote in The Future Past 3

Vs. Chrom

 * Chrom: I come to end you, Grima!
 * Grima: ...ARROGANT MORTAL...I AM THE END!

Vs. Avatar

 * Grima: ...RETURN TO ME... COME... WE ARE ONE...AND THE SAME...
 * Avatar: ......

Vs. Lucina

 * Lucina: I lost to you once, monster. I shall not lose again! Die now, that our future can live!
 * Grima: ...YOU CANNOT SLAY... WHAT MAY NEVER DIE...

Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.
Grima makes a cameo appearance in Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., where he appears in the background when Robin uses his Thoron special attack.

Fire Emblem Heroes
Grima possessing the male Hierophant Avatar is a unit in Fire Emblem Heroes. The Grima Hierophant is an Armor and dragon type unit. Their attack consists of summoning the Grima of a different timeline to breathe expiration, similar to the final boss of Awakening's main game.

The (Earth) Legendary Hero version, the female Hierophant Avatar, is also a unit in this game. The Fell Vessel is a Flying and Dragon-type unit with the very first Colorless Breath weapon. Their attack is the same as their male counterpart.

Fire Emblem Warriors
A Grima-possessed female Hierophant appears in a history mode map based on the Invisible Ties map in Awakening. Whilst Grima is killed, the female Hierophant is freed from Grima's possession upon the dragon's death and rejoins Chrom, unlocking the female skin for the Avatar.

As an enemy, the Grima-possessed Avatar fights with the same moves and abilities as the regular, playable Avatar.

Mysteries
It is not explained why Grima is connected to the Dragon's Table in Awakening when it was where Degenerated Dragons were sealed in Archanea.

It is unexplained why Grima commands the Deadlords when they were Loptous' followers.

In The Future Past 3, it is revealed that Grima had killed Naga in an alternate future, which was stated by Naga to be impossible. It is not clear if that particular Outrealm operated according to different laws, or if the Grima and Naga of the game's realm are wrong about their relationship, although this is contrasted by or arguably enhanced by Tiki taking up the mantle of Naga. That is, Naga meant the role of Naga was immortal (hence Tiki being able to fill it as the Avatar for Grima), or it is indeed more mysterious that Tiki could replace the original Naga as a 'new one' to still complete the Awakening ritual. This, in turn, makes it questionable whether Grima was actually killed here or just sealed away for another 1,000 years when Lucina struck him down.

Etymology
Grima's Japanese name may be named after Gimlé (alternately Gimli) from Norse mythology. It was a place where the survivors of Ragnarök were foretold to live. It is described as the most beautiful place on Earth, even more beautiful than the Sun. Alternatively, in Ásgarðr (the realm of the gods), Gimli is the golden roof of a building where righteous men go when they die.

Gimli was also the name of a dwarf who belonged to the fellowship in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Grima is the name of one of the minor antagonists.

Grima may come from Spanish grima meaning disgust or uneasiness, cognate to English grim. Alternatively, it may come from to Old English grima, which means mask, helmet, or ghost, cognate to English grime.

Trivia

 * Grima/Gimurei's title under himself and his worshippers is the Evil Dragon in Japan.
 * Grima's traits of having a blood bond with a human has a Tome named after him, commanding the Deadlords, and a fanatical cult is parallel to Loptous, the Loptyrian Cult, and Julius. If there is a relation, it remains unmentioned. Meanwhile, his strong loathing of humans and ability to come back from death are eeriely similar to Medeus. Interestingly, the  Knights of Iris  book speculates that he's possibly descended from the Earth Dragons.
 * Although Grima does not make an appearance in Fire Emblem Fates, he is mentioned in a support conversation between Odin and Laslow, and again by Anankos in the Hidden Truths 1 DLC, and even referenced by the DLC item Fell Brand (as his title was "The Fell Dragon") and the accessory Dragon Feather, which can only be acquired by use of the Robin amiibo.
 * In the English release of Knights of Iris artbook, Art of Fire Emblem Awakening, the Mark of Grima is called "The Brand of the Defile".
 * Grima is arguably the largest being depicted within a Fire Emblem game, as he dwarfs the size of the Dragon's Table and Ylisse. The final battle takes place on his back. However, even within Awakening, Grima's size is not consistent like many dragons in the series.
 * Grima is the first ever antagonist that acts both as a final boss (Future Grima in his Avatar vessel) and as the map in which he is fought (Present Grima's true body).
 * Despite this, Grima in his true form is never actually fought, and only the hierophant body from the Future is directly battled.
 * Grima is significantly smaller in Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. It is unknown if this was done from a designer perspective as Grima in Shadows of Valentia is actually fought directly as opposed to being the battle's background as in Awakening or if there is an explanation in the story. It's probable that this was done to show that Grima needed time to fully grow into his gargantous size seen in Awakening.
 * In Fire Emblem Heroes, Grima's sprite slightly differs between both of his forms. The female Robin's Grima sprite has an extra horn on his side.
 * This was changed in a later update to give the Male incarnation the missing horns.
 * Both times he has appeared as a boss in a main installment (Awakening and Echoes), he shows uncanny human features in some part of his body: his exposed face and arms + torso respectively.
 * Grima is the winner of the 11th Voting Gauntlet (Shadow in the Mirror) as Robin (Fell Reincarnation) in Fire Emblem Heroes.
 * This means that Grima is the first main antagonist to win a Voting Gauntlet.
 * Grima's creation method by Forneus, as well as the form Grima took as a human fetus, seems to be very similar to the method to create a homunculus.
 * This would make sense, given that Forneus was regarded as an alchemist.
 * Interestingly enough, when Grima was defeated by the First Exalt, Chrom or the Avatar, Grima left behind his skeletal remains. However, when he was defeated in Shadows of Valentia, his body merely vanishes.