The Most Infamous Earthbound Theory and why it Sucks 

D I N G D I N G

I like what the angry video game nerd said about giygas, that you are fighting the actual background of the enemy encounters that has been mind controlling all the enemies in the game. Giygas is sort of like a signal that gets transmitted over space and time that people and animals can tune into. When you kill giygas he turns into white noise and the signal goes out like a tv turning off.

Giygas is the embodiment of how it feels to not have an official English Mother 3 release

I always thought the weird chamber containing the Devil's Machine looked more like a brain

I remember a theory that the fetus is meant to represent Giygas leaving his physical form and being reborn as a cosmic entity. But to be honest fetal imagery has been used for horror before, thinking of Splatterhouse, Redon's Cyclops, Silent Hill, Midori, Binding of Isaac, so I think like you said it wasn't meant to be taken literally

I think Giygas having a baby image in the sprite also is meant to symbolize his desire to return back to when he was a baby because of his remaining love for Maria.

I think what I dislike most in this theory is that it makes the Giygas fight appear to be dark only for the sake of being dark. In reality, it's darkness is there to be yuxtaposed with love. And hope. It's there to show that even though the evils and hurdles of life may often seem huge and inexplicable, they can be overcome with the help of the people that care about you. The fetus theory is part of this ''appears wholesome but is actually edgy'' interpretation of EarthBound, when the game is ultimately still wholesome, and that is why it also has to be dark from time to time. It's all about contrast.

Wait, what? Thousands of years? Why did I think the cave of the past was only ten years in the past? Now it all finally makes sense!

The only reason there is a baby silhouette is because Giygas is defeated via lullaby in the first game. The series namesake, MOTHER, is partly in reference to Maria's nursing of the infant Giygas.

Gonna be extremely nitpicky here but isn't the expression "one bad apple ruins the bunch"? If an apple is bad, it releases ethylene, which causes the other apples to over ripen

The first time that I encountered with Giygas, I thought it was the face of a man screaming in pain. So after watching this video, I think maybe, MAYBE it's a representation of the struggles of becoming an adult.

I remember seeing a theory on Earthbound Central that if you flip Giygas upside down, he will vaguely resemble a distorted version of his corporeal appearance in Earthbound Zero. Dunno if that’s intentional or just pareidolia, but it’s better and less disturbing than the fetus theory lol.

I didn’t recognize that Giygas was a distorted screaming skull for the longest time, and instead I interpreted his sprite as being a sideways view of the imposing alien leader instead. I saw the antennae ofc but up to the left of his head I thought he had insect like mandibles and generally had a very broad and menacing figure that slowly drifts down into a ghost tail. I saw it as him wearing some kind of alien suit of armor. I have no idea how I got this image of Giygas, but instead of the outright horror that the usual and obvious interpretation brings along with the agony Giygas is or was in; I saw this imposing and unfeeling alien leader who would wipe your party out without a second thought.

Personally I feel like Giygas is definitely meant to be erotic/sexual to some degree, since, at least in my opinion, the development of or encounters with feelings like that are frequently connected with the loss of innocence. The talking of feeling good at the same time as things aren’t right, it hurts, that all definitely reminds me of a feeling of “violation” generally too, but that’s in a way that’s not really that sexual. I also feel like it’s at least meant to feel “body-ish”, what with all the intestine-ish tubes, the breathing in the soundtrack. It’s definitely some of my own personal experiences that make me say this, but personally, I associate the feeling of being trapped in a disgusting body with my own personal loss of innocence as I grew up. Overall I could be mistaking things though because I know that Japanese culture treats sexual things in a fundamentally different way to “western” culture. Still Giygas is a really fascinating thing and honestly I wish I could capture some of the same feelings in my own work someday

maybe i heard the theory differently but i remember the theory saying you weren't killing giygas before he was born but rather, before it was reborn as evil itself, you're basically killing it before it takes an unstoppable form.

Don't you take away my abortion RPG away from me.

This channel is criminally underrated by the algorithm. What other genius is RU-vid hiding??

I had a friend who believed Giygas was not only a fetus but also Ness' yet-to-be little brother who you have to abort from your own mother's vagingo to save the future, how do you come to those conclusions

I think Giygas is supposed to represent pure incomprehensible unnegotiable evil. Which can only be defeated by pure good (in this case, that would be praying to the all-good entities)

Excellent video! I've always felt similarly regarding this theory since it really just feels like people online attempting to make a "shocking" and "edgy" theory to explain the true, dark, meaning behind Giygas. But I always found it to feel like a stretch to me, but people have kind of treated it as fact at this point. I'm also glad to see someone else shares my belief on the battle being about the loss of innocence, I wasn't sure if I was alone in believing that or not. Great work!

Giygas is like Azathoth, the Blind Idiot God

Something to note is that the Giygas sprite upside down looks like Giygas' cat like form in Beginnings. I interpret this as you fighting Giygas' corrupted innocence and letting him move on, finally being with his mother like he was when he was a child, now as the stronger adult he grew into.

I always thought he was like an Inkblot test 😅

the last time I used Pray in EB it caused a complete Murder-Sewerslide scenario.

I was hoping you would be talking about that "The Truth About Giygas" Creepypasta. But of course, it's the fetus theory that's been perpetuated so many times. Well, I'll just have to see what's up with this video.

entirely unique, aside from the fight against the same boss from the first game which plays out fairly similarly. also, pray isn't entirely useless it has a effect every time it's used. several cause status effects to everyone on both sides, several of them restore a portion of every party member's HP or all the HP of one, and one of them performs PK Rockin β on the enemy.

5:13 OH MY GOD I legit thought I was the only one who was actually miffed at the "it was supposed to mean nothing" reveal by the author I remember the subreddit slobbering all over the tweets and saying it was a fitting ending, and I was there in the corner moping and thinking "so all the underlying themes and heavy stuff were for nothing, what a damn shame"

If you flip the background upside down, when it resembles a fetus, it looks a LOT like Giygas from mother 1, which I think is what they might have been going for, but I don't know, I'm not Itoi.

Random blotches of ink but it's clearly a defined silhouette of a bat.

HE'S BACK! AND DISSCUSING MY FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME!!!

i think his favorite pokemon it´s ampharon, i think

Dude… excellent video man!!new sub for sure. Also I’ve seen a lot of guys come and go on yt and I gotta say you check all the boxes to become successful as a RU-vidr. Just keep videos coming like this and letting your personality shine and you’ll have 100000 subs in a year or two

Also, pardon the double comment. Since this one doesn't fit with the previous comment. But, what does Giygas say in the Japanese version? I'm curious, since the game was rather... localized. Though, to be fair. I don't really see why they'd localize the dialog to still be horrifying to kid players. So, I'm assuming this might be one of the few parts accurately translated.

Don't know the lore of earthbound, but ill give it a try. Giygas looks to me like a mad man, some kind of mad scientist, who experimented on himself, or shot himself full of power, and then his body fell apart and he turned into a formless beast. Or something. Reminds me slightly of gaster from undertale.

I fused the terrible Giygas abortion theory with that one post about “Deltarune fans making the worst theories” post to create this awful theory: The Goner Maker segment from Deltarune Chapter 1 is a metaphor for miscarriage

9:16 clever visual gag ngl.

6:00 LISA MUSIC??

I think a lot of creators such as the creator of Evangelion or the one of chainsaw man say they don’t have deep themes to them or didn’t have something particularly in mind often just that stuff to not offend fans who have different interpretations. At least I think that’s the case with very popular media that is intentionally a little ambiguous

2:29 Me at this moment: the peck is the abortion theory?! I’ve heard of the fetus theory but not the abortion theory 💀

Mother 1 isn't a prequel.

Art, beauty, music interpretation is in the eyes of the beholder ❤

I would like to go so far as to say that a lot of fan theories are bad.

The abortion theory is nonsense, but the devil's machine is clearly a womb. Think about the name of the series, Mother, and the themes of the game. Giygas did not want to accept fate (grow up) and then retreated to the safest place that represents the earliest parts of development by returning to an artificial womb and is then reborn for the finale. Being born is itself a traumatic moment and represents the loss of innocence that Giygas' new form goes through.

He’s not literally a fetus he manifested as one because he’s alone and wants his mom. He was ripped away from his only protector - like an aborted fetus

3:34 Ness-essary haha funny

I think it can be compelling if you view it not as an abortion taking place in the past, but in the "present." As in, Giygas is about to be "reborn" and it must be stopped. And after the battle, all the protagonists exit the "cave" (wink) and are born again. Something along those lines. A metaphor about growing up using the aesthetics of being born.

anohter reason why, is maybe the baby was an mistake. if you turn around the grid giygas its his original form, since his mind has been destroyed, his ratonality i gone and he isnt actually concious hes an twisted shell of what he is.

Why do people get so offended by the fetus theory? Developers play around with ideas all the time and are not always honest. I don't blame him for not playing into it. I honestly like the idea of Giygas being upside down though. The creators did their part, they created somethint controversial and people are STILL talking about it.

3:26 ... what? There are people who have even heard of Earthbound who have heard of this Giygas abortion theory? 🤔

Honestly I gotta say man, you really look like a mix of Jay Leno and Chris Farley, you gotta get into like doing like a talk show or something, you'd be great for it This isn't like an insult or anything I just think you look like them

WORK HARDER MENTIONED!

Im a bit late to the party but to say somethint about the fetus imagery. Imo its the same as people saying majoras mask has female reproductive parts. Its purely a coincidence of how the sprie was msde. From a technical standpoint Giygas is a warped spritr thing . Throughout the battle that sprite mutliplies in a grid format, warpa and shrinks. What im trying to say is that you can give me any image and eith enough warping and photo effects i can make it "resemble" anything. We humans try to find paterns to any and all places we can, so it doesnt seem weird to me that we saw that baby in giygas and decided to go with it because it fit thr abortion theory. I agree with what you said about what he is supposed yo represent and to build on top of that id like to add that thats why he looks the way he does. Even as a still imsge sprite the creators made it so you couldn't understand what you were looking at. Thats ehat makes it unsettling. Not being able to understand what you are looking at. Thsta why you can add thr warp, twist and thrn filters to make it even more confusing. Correct me if im wrong but, earthbound doesnt have any jump scares at that point in the game. Usually when you are seeing something unsettling you expect a jumps scare or a big release of some short. This lets the brain go back to functioning as normal. If that release is missing though thr unsettling feeling doesnt go away thus making the next scene even more impactful. Its a technique that is used by film and game makers. That's why in my opinion everything just keeps getting more and more unsettling. To make the player be aware to keep em on edge waiting for the big release. Making them hyper focused on everything so they pay better attention to your creation Edit: from a bit of research i did i think thr creator of the mother searies confirmed that the fetus imagery was jsut made by coincidence because of the way earthbound created its enemy backgrounds

2:14 that's a COMPARISON, not a theory. If people have an actual theory about it, show a screenshot that actually showcases someone EXPLICITLY making a serious theory about it 4:36 lol this is so childish and unnecessary 4:50 "see? I depicted YOU as the soyjack, and me as the chad, therefore I'm more correcter and based" this is so embarassing 💀 5:17 this is NOT the same as it being "purposeless" like your mature chad meme pointed out earlier. He explicitly states in that tweet that there was SOMETHING in his head while he created the story, it's just that he didn't want to make it obvious in the story (unless I'm misinterpreting it?). You can get conclusions from Petscop based on the series' themes just like you did with your own Gyigas theory. And hey, isn't this EXACTLY what Earthbound's creator was doing with Gyigas, too? Having a specific meaning in mind but only IMPLYING what it is while telling the story? 5:25 do you really thing it's a valid way to present a story? In the meme where you portrayed yourself as the based alpha gigachad, the chad says that art "without a purpose" (being ambiguous IS a purpose) is "worthless" Good video, aside from these really, really odd things that I pointed out I see you're a BIG Kirby's Adventure fan too, by the way. Neat

Respectful

sans IS ness :3 o wrong theory

We all know that sans is Ness is a bad theory. You don't need a 20 minute video explaining it.

swag

didn't itoi decon that theory too?

Did you know that if you turn Giygas upside down you can see what seems to be his original appearance (Giegue) from the first Mother game? It's especially notable in the head. With his "jaw" being Giegue's ears.

Great video! I also think Giygas representing the loss of innocence makes a lot more sense for the reasons you mentioned and also how (iirc) the party is warned that once they go into the past as robots they might not be able to get their original bodies back, just like how once you lose your innocence you can't get it back. Also on a more personal note, I remember thinking the Giygas fight was so fascinating and creepy back when I first found out about it when I was like, 12 or 13. But then by the time I got to play Earthbound on virtual console as an adult I realized I wasn't scared of it anymore because I'D lost my innocence and I was like "oh... huh"

To me, it’s just his old body stretched out, and him screaming with a beeg face. And the Devil’s Machine is like Metroid’s Mother Brain, except it’s a vessel for Giygas rather than an unique AI. Giygas knows Ness because this is the cliche chosen one tale. Of course he knows the person destined to destroy him, and since he’s unstable he’s panicking.

Recently Ive come around on the fetus visuals. I dont believe in the abortion theory but hear me out. I think the fetus visual makes sense in a broader more artistic sense. In a way it is shock value to make Giygas more uncanny. However when you consider that the mother games especially Earthbound are about growing up and maturing. Therefore the villians would have to be antithetical in some degree to this concept.

Thing is, fandoms don't really see themes, they're too busy with "lore" and shock factor ideas.

Finally someone agrees with me about Petscop, dood.

I always saw it as a similar (though probably not intentional) ending to Steven King’s IT. That book is told through two concurrent narratives, one of childhood experience (seen through the lens of incomprehensible darkness, but also the light of innocence), and the other through adulthood (a “heart of darkness” style journey that rediscovers that childhood, and the trauma within). “IT” ends with a sort of co-union between both, which is the experience of the end of childhood, both as a child and as an adult. To me, Earthbound’s ending is simultaneously Itoi, and all adults, confronting childhood’s end, while at the same time, the children (in the narrative and playing it) experiencing it. It’s something we all must do, it’s sad and scary, but it’s also a part of life.

Lisa reference included, video liked! (Also the rest of the video is good too)

I've never really liked the fetus theory, but I never really thought about what else Giygas could represent until now. I honestly really like the idea that the baby imagery WAS intentional simply as a pure representation of innocence. It's such a simple idea, yet an effective one. And going just a bit further, defeating Giygas would mean destroying that symbol of innocence, showing that Ness and the party have finally grown up through their travels and encounters. Seeing this imagery twist and contort, the dialogue talking about pain yet also good feelings, to me, it feels like that transitionary period of puberty. You're changing, you're experiencing all sorts of new feelings and emotions, and while at times it might feel good to be growing up, it also hurts knowing that those innocent days of your life are coming to an end.

Great video! I really like your interpretation of the Giygas fight.

This whole topic reminds me of that one theory in Yume Nikki talking about Matdosuki’s past life and it was really bad. What is up with people making these characters unnecessarily go through traumatic events?

4:48 as they might be giants fan I feel your pain

I always thought the fetus theory was bizarre, basically relying on either massive misinterpretations of watching a Let's Play online, or the author barely remembering what actually happens in the story. Seriously, it bugs me how often I see people completely ignore everything that directly states "Giygas went back to the past and then dissolved into the red mist dimension monster thing when he got too powerful and lost his mind" to try and make this some kind of bizarre controversial story about killing babies. As for what the baby in the background represents: I always took it to mean Giygas himself, but in a more metaphorical sense than a literal one. He appears as an infant because his mind, his rationality, is completely gone; he doesn't mean you any harm, but he's too far gone to see what he's even doing. In a way, he has the mind of an infant now, just purely reacting to what's happening around him with no ability to actually understand _why_ it's happening. I always thought it was meant to make you pity Giygas and lament the state he ended up in, especially with how the Japanese version has Porky's dialog be way more harsh and insulting towards him. Once the ultimate conqueror of worlds and the master of all evil, now just a mindless animal, used as a weapon by some random kid. Sure, he did it to himself, but does that make it any less of a terrible fate? Then Porky's own fate in Mother 3 follows up on this by having his actions lead him to a fate worse than death, proving he failed to learn from his "master's" mistakes.

i have no clue how you only have 1k subs, this is some great content. Keep up the good work man!

The reason that Gygas Is described as incomprehensible and a number of other things is because a lot of the description and staging of the fight is borrowed from the confrontation with It in the Stephen King book which it's very clear was read for inspiration. I'm sure he's also using some of his experience from the movie and it's a very famous story, but it's obvious that he used Stephen King and some other things as his guide for how to make a story set in the west feel.

... so... what you are saying then... is... THAT THE ABORTED FETUS IS SANS UNDERTALE! Yes... it all makes sense, Sans Undertale was secretly the aborted fetus this whole time. That is why he looks like Ness... >.>'

If you turn the baby upside down you get a entirely different perspective of whats going on. You'll see Giegue.

You’re wrong The most Infamous Earthbound theory is Sans is Ness

Why do things always have to be ruined

giygas is actually two bears high-fiving

Your scriptwriting skills are fun and entertaining! Reminds me of the older days of RU-vid!

i used "pray" every so often to try and get free healing. after all, why would i use my 4 pages of consumables? What if i need them later?!

I still think its pronounced "gee gus" because thats closer to the old name "Giegue"

I think the baby imagery in Gyigas is meant to repersent that all of humanity has some kind or at least potential of being evil. The whole "growing up" thing makes sense, but personally, I believe that "everyone has as equal potential to be evil, as they have potential to be good" is a better theme for EarthBound

This video debunked the literal fetus theory, but the metaphorical version of the theory is still on the table. We have to consider that fetus final bosses are somewhat common and only a fraction of them are supposed to be true references to 'bortions, the fetus is used for a different metaphor and the act only happens because that's just the word for it.

I like to think that the face that reflects on the Devil's Machine is not Ness', but rather Ninten's. Giygas is remembering his defeat at the hands of Ninten and company and is trying to not repeat his mistakes once more.

My theory is kind of out there, but I gave it a shot. There indeed is a fetus, but the fetus is Ness himself. Giygas was to be defeated by Ness, so there were two choices. Die or go back into the past to kill Ness. However there was a third option. Giygas could to attach himself to Ness in the womb and grow within Ness. By possessing Ness, Giygas has not only made it so Ness cannot defeat him but also gains the powers of Ness since the two now cannot be separated. This final battle is the crucial moment where Giygas is attaching himself to Ness and the team are doing everything they can to keep Giygas from finishing the attachment.

people debating over the fetus theory is just a 'battle against a weird opponent"

I’d love to hear you cover mother 3, it’s relations to earthbound, etc. it’s such a departure from the prior two games that I’d be interested in hearing what you have to say

My favorite theory (and by far the most plausible one) is that Giygas is Porky, waaaaaaaaaaaay into the future (remember, Giygas traveled to the past). If you play Mother 3, you'll notice that Porky is heavily aged and stuck inside a machine, basically unable to move and only able to speak. Now, remember the scene from Earthbound where Poo trains, and the voice removes your arms, legs, ears and eyes. The last thing the voice takes away is your mind. The theory goes that this was the series foreshadowing who Giygas really is. Porky had lost everything but his voice by the time you get to him in Mother 3, so the only two things he has left to lose are his voice and then his mind. And the implication is that this happened because he's been time traveling. So after Lucas destorys the world in Mother 3, Porky is the only one alive (remember, any attack with a form can't kill him inside the ASC), and after a few more trips through time to gather more forces, eventually ends up in the Cave of the Past, where he finally loses his mind from the excessive time travel. The imagery we see in the final fight is Porky's body completely warped beyond anything that the human mind can recognize. Basically, Porky evolved in a sense, which is why he looks like the infamous fetus image. It's not a literal fetus, but the equivalent of something you'd see in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's his physical body evolving, but leaving his broken mind behind. And in the ASC, he is still immune to any attacks with form to them. Contrary to popular belief, the Devil's Machine is NOT the ASC. If it was the ASC, then 1990s Porky wouldn't have been able to turn it off. What he turned off was the machine that had been built around the ASC. It served as both a limiter and a way of conveying some degree of Porky's thoughts to his minions, so they could get some kind of instruction on what to do. But because Porky's mind has been shattered, the instructions were also broken and inconsistent, hence why various places were under a totally uncoordinated attack. Had his mind been intact, they would've just launched a full scale attack on Onett right in the beginning of the game, Ness would've died and that would've been that. But it took most of the game for them to attack Onett, because 1990s Porky was only in control of the forces toward the end of the game. This is why praying is the only thing that works on him. Praying is the only formless attack your characters have in Earthbound, and as we know the ASC protects him from all FORMS of attack.

18:51I’m so glad that can be a theme though. It’s the theme of one of my games ideas, but a part of me said “Isn’t that kinda just what happens in a plot?”

6:42 Even in the original game, before Giygas became what he is in Earthbound, his attacks were incomprehensible, so I doubt that’s why

Ummm I didn’t like it but I don’t think you can improve

Little theory of my own with Giygas I suppose: all symbolism aside for a moment, the only reason Ness's name sticks with Giygas even through the destruction of its mind is both because it was held within the Apple for its own safety during travel to the past and was forced to see the prediction it made over and over. Thus, its urge to stop Ness from stopping its plan to take over the world is imprinted within its being- at least it is when the DM is shut off- and sticks with it even as it loses its mind.

Praying for this to make it to 1M views 🙏

Turn the image of Giygas' third phase upside down. It looks like Giegue.

Nice watch through the late-nights

Ness is...

6:01 thank you for using work harder

@ 5:16 Pressedyes isn't saying that there is no concrete meaning to Petscop. "I don't particularly want everyone to understand exactly what was in my head" implies that there was an idea in his head that he was working from. However, when you outright explain to the audience what the meaning of your story or art is, all discussion stops. The meaning that someone took from the work is now overwritten, written down, and the work is forgotten about. Art is far more meaningful when it *can* be interpreted differently by different people. Pressedyes isn't saying that there is no meaning to Petscop, rather he is saying that him explaining it would ruin the work, making it less meaningful for everyone involved. You should look up David Lynch "The Film is the Thing", where he speaks about this very topic. The video game, or the film, is the language which speaks to the audience. To simplify it back into easily digestible words is to take something away from the audience.

Itoi even debunked that theory indirectly as a result, however, I still like the idea of Itoi just straight up saying "Giygas isn't a fetus ya fuckin' nerds"

Its funny I just finished my 2nd playthrough of Earthbound yesterday, and when thinking about the ending of the game I literally said its about the loosing of ones innocences. The late John locke had once stated that humankind at birth is like that of a blanked canvas and its through our life experiences that this canvas becomes tainted. I believe the fight between giygas is actually a internal conflict.I believe the reason we see the reflection of ness in the devil machine is because ness is the only member of the team to absorb the sounds of the earth and and enter Magicant- a space that was created by the very person that raised giygas. This explains why giygas mirrors ness psi Attacks and not the others. I think that giygas represents an internal battle between the innocence of ness and the life experiences he faces through the game. Its only after porky turns of the machine that we see giygas how ness interprets him- As a deeply conflicted individual cursed with power but suffers internally due to his life experiences- Similar to how ness feels when he entered Magicant. I believe just like how ness had to fight his nightmares in magicant- After hearing Ninten and his crew sing the melody in earthbound beginnings, Giygas entered magicant and lost to his own nightmares. This in turn let his nightmares take over, making giygas a slave to his own nightmares- actively trying to regain control- flipping back and forth between being hurt and being happy. Its only after Ness and his crew pray for help, that Giygas was able to eradicate his own nightmares which resulted in his death.