“These fragile chains guide me to this realm, where I am now made manifest.
I am both the nightmare, and the beast that devours it!”
— Van, during his transformation into Grendel Alter and Shin
The Grendel (魔装鬼 グレンデル), also known as the Darkness-Clad Armored Demon: Grendel (黎を纏い魔装鬼 グレンデル), is the mysterious Shard armament form Van Arkride dons in certain circumstances.
Profile[]
- See also: Van Arkride
Appearance[]
As Grendel, Van appears clad in a fit, flexible full-body armor which stands taller than his human body by approximately one head's height. The form prominently displays his thin but defined musculature with long arms. Van has glowing waist-length hair falling from behind the armor's helmet while possessing extended glowing claws and toes on each limb. Van's Grendel form possesses a gray-bluish armor with glowing turquoise energy lines. The glowing hair has a dominant turquoise gradient fading to yellow-orange tips. The claws and toes are also turquoise colored.
Background[]
The exact circumstances surrounding Grendel's origin and nature are yet to be revealed. Van originally takes on the form when in a life-threatening situation and continues to use it when facing formidable opponents. Upon its first usage, the AI from his holo core Mare manifests in the real world and displays sentience that should not be possible under normal circumstances. Mare asks Van whether he will 'bear the nightmare' or not each time she is invoked and waits for a response.
Quatre Salision describes it as being composed of extremely high density shards. Later, it is revealed to be a form of restraint that separates Van from Vagrants Diaspora.
Trails through Daybreak[]
“Will you bear the nightmare? Or not?”
— Mare to Van, during his first transformation
During Prologue: "Spriggan of the Slums", Grendel first manifests when Van Arkride struggles to pull though and protect Agnès Claudel against two drug-enhanced members of Almata. At this time, his Xipha's holo core Mare appears after Agnès's great-grandfather's Genesis glows.
Mare cautions Van about overusing or being too eager to use the form. Upon trying to use the form in Tharbad, Van instead glows red and an error seems to occur, leaving Van reeling in pain. A voice tells him that he scarcely needs to bear the nightmare, as he is himself the nightmare.
When trying to extract answers about Grendel from Mare, the party calls her out in Dirke Memorial Park while fighting Lagrantula. Although they cannot comprehend everything Mare states, they discover she is influenced by something external and is therefore able to lend power to Van. Should Van overuse it, he will become something else.
Two alternative forms of Grendel, Darkness-Forging Armored Demon: Grendel Alter and Darkness-Roused Armored Demon: Grendel Shin, are used in Chapter 5: "The Restless Carnival" and Finale: "For you, Upon Your Return", respectively.
“Well then, Van? Will you wake from your dream? Or not?”
— Mare to Van, during the battle against Gerard
Van enters Grendel's true form when fighting Demon Gerard, Grendel Shin. Using this form, he is able to take back the diabolic core from Gerard, but in doing so he truly becomes Vagrants Diaspora. Mare states this is Van "casting off his restraints as Grendel and embracing his true self."
Van would later don the form to fight his demonic self and use it to cast the core into the reaches of the Endless Expanse.
Trails through Daybreak II[]
Grendel is used again to fight with Grendel Zolga and its own holo core AI Altera. By the end, the Grendel's mystery is not resolved, but its required activation circumstance is. It later disappears alongside Mare for months until S.1209.07.
Gameplay[]
Van Arkride can don Grendel for certain storyline battles. The transformation significantly boosts his stats and makes Van capable of attacking twice in the same turn. Additionally, using S-Boost will grant him another action, thus making him able to perform a total of three actions in a single turn.
His basic attacks can be used as many times as desired. His physical and magical attack crafts will deal their respective damage type and can be used once per turn. When in Full Boost, Grendel can expend 100 CP to utilize an S-Craft.
During Daybreak's Intermission, Van gains the Craft Take the Grendel that allows him to become Grendel for 3 turns. This is only available in certain fights against strong opponents.
Crafts[]
- Main article: Van Arkride#Crafts
Gallery[]
Trails through Daybreak[]
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.png "The Girl and the Demon (Kuro).png (2.09 MB)")
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.png "Grendel Combat Icon (Kuro).png (125 KB)"){kind=icon}
.png "Grendel SIN Combat Icon (Kuro).png (125 KB)"){kind=icon}
.jpg "Mare - Promotional Screenshot 3 (Kuro).jpg (267 KB)")
.jpg "Grendel - Promotional Screenshot 1 (Kuro).jpg (213 KB)")
.jpg "Grendel - Promotional Screenshot 2 (Kuro).jpg (195 KB)")
Trails through Daybreak II[]
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.png "Grendel SIN - Concept Art (Kuro II).png (299 KB)")
.jpg "Grendel - Promotional Screenshot 1 (Kuro II).jpg (577 KB)")
.jpg "Grendel - Promotional Screenshot 2 (Kuro II).jpg (399 KB)")
.jpg "Grendel - Promotional Screenshot 3 (Kuro II).jpg (447 KB)")
Kai no Kiseki: Farewell, O Zemuria[]
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Trivia[]
- Grendel is the name of a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, described as "a creature of darkness, exiled from happiness and accursed of God, the destroyer and devourer of our human kind."
