Quick Links
Metaphor: ReFantaziowill keep you on your toes during your entire playthrough, and one of the most consistently surprising design choices are the human monsters that you’ll encounter throughout. These horrifying creatures are a mysterious threat to the country of Euchronia, and stand out as a uniquely disturbing force compared to other monsters.
Throughout the length of Metaphor: ReFantazio, you’ll be fed tidbits of information about the true nature of humans, but it takes a while for the picture to become fully clear, and even then, it’s quite tricky to have a full understanding of just what these monsters are. So, what are the humans in Metaphor: ReFantazio, why are they important to the story, and how do they link to the protagonist specifically?
What Makes Humans Different From Other Monsters?
While you’ll regularly run into a wide variety of different monsters throughout Metaphor: Refantazio, the humans stand out compared to the more standard variety of fantasy-style monsters that make up most of the other enemies in the game. Humans have much moreunconventional and disturbing designs, taking inspiration from the artwork of 16th-century Dutch painterHieronymous Bosch.
Compared to other monsters, humans tend to contain more ‘human-like’ aspects of their design (human-like as in real life humans), withfeatures and appendages resembling people. A lot of these are direct references to the work of Bosch, while others just follow a similar style.
Aside from the obvious differences in appearance, what biological differences set humans apart from the other fantasy monsters in Metaphor: ReFantazio? While some creatures we encounter through Euchronia are shown to be able to use magic abilities, the humans have aunique relationship with magla. Beings that have a more attuned sense of magla (like the fairies and mustari) are able to pick up on theimmense amount of magla that humans contain, as well as how volatile the magla is inside of them.
While it is not a hard and fast rule, the more dangerous humans tend to be the ones that contain more of this volatile magla. For example, the giant human bosses contain significantly more magla compared to the standard human enemies that you can encounter like standard monsters in the overworld.
The biology of humans is unnatural and irregular, and this can be seen in howsome are able to reproduce, while others can’t, and some are able to live hundreds of years and could even beimmortal, while others live and die like other beings.
This magla has a direct link to therampaging and violent natureof humans. This is why the humans that cause the most trouble in the world of Metaphor: ReFantazio, are the biggest and most powerful and contain the most volatile magla. This out-of-control magla makes most humans actberserk and destructive, and in spite of their complex designs, theyrarely show any signs of intelligence. In spite of their limited intellect, they are shown to be able to wield muchmore complex magiccompared to the other creatures and monsters present in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
The specific biology of humans remains mysterious throughout the majority of the game, and the citizens of Euchronia are just as uninformed, only recognizing humans as uniquely dangerous monsters. This is why humans are commonly used as amethod of fear-mongering by authority figuresto manipulate the people of Euchronia, with antagonists likeLouis and Fordenutilizing this strategy multiple times throughout the story.
The citizens of Euchronia are particularly anxious about the threat of humans during the events of the campaign since they have beensighted more and more often in recent years, going from being an occasional appearance and an even rarer encounter to being a more active threat. For example, a few years before the story, the whole town of Halia (Strohl’s hometown) was destroyed by a human attack.
However, this fear of humans is completely grounded, with the more dangerous humans being capable of wiping out entire military forces.
Notable Humans Throughout Metaphor: ReFantazio
As you work through the story of Metaphor: ReFantazio, you’ll encounter humans regularly, and some of the most spectacular main bosses of the story are humans. The impact of these human attacks is massively impactful on the events of the story, so which are the most notable?
Homo Gorleo
The first prime example we get of just how dangerous humans can be is our encounter with Homo Gorleo. This monstrous flying creature manages totake out the entire military training centerright before our hero, and Strohl get there. Grius is the only character who manages to survive this attack, with the rest of the castle destroyed and littered with corpses.
The true nature of this attack is revealed soon after the protagonist manages to beat the boss using thepower of his archetype. The attack wasplanned by Louis to spread fear to the capital, further reinforcing his ideals of a more militaristic nation. This is also when it is revealed that the human attack on Halia was also one of Louis' ploys for further control as well.
Homo Avades
Continuing with the pattern of Louis using humans as a terrifying force to inspire fear, the ‘corpse’ of Homo Avades is dumped in front of the cathedral in Grand Trad as part of his plan to display the growing threat of humans with its horrific giant form literally placed right in front of the citizens of the city as anunavoidable warning.
In spite of the dramatic show, the protagonist’s starter party choose to ignore this and focus more on the active threat of Zorba in the cathedral, but after the necromancer is defeated,he revives the human right as it lies in the center of the city, letting it rampage in the most densely populated part of Euchronia.
Luckily, the heroes are able to stop the giant beast, but it serves as a reminder of how dangerous the human threat is, with how much damage it causes in such a short time.
Homo Butera
Unlike the first two massive humans the party interacts with, Homo Butera has a less active role in the story, but it serves to display how standard monsters are able to becomedisfigured and mutate into a human form.The sandworm nestright outside Martirawas originally considered a threat since sandworms are one of the more dangerous enemies, but Homo Butera eclipses their power with its giant form and horrifying face.
This is also when we get a more in-depth look into the biology of humans, as before you can beat the monster, itswallows the entire party. The inside of the beast is as grotesque as its outer, with smaller humans even living inside.
Homo Jaluzo
Arguably the most unnerving human in the game, the twisted infantile design of Homo Jaluzo is unique for how it is able to live in somehorrific sort of harmony with people. The unhinged leader of Martira, Joanna, was driven off the edge following the unjust murder of her baby and in her grief, managed totame and almost raise Homo Jaluzo in the child’s stead.
Of course, this was not a conventional relationship, with her needing to bribe the more corrupt members of the town’s guard to kidnap children to feed the human.
Jaluzo seems to be under some kind of control since it never attacks Joanna, but it isbrutal with just about everyone else, even eating one of the guards that was feeding it.
Homo Sabara
Homo Sabara reminds us that humans are not just landbound, with this horrifying sea monster being one of the mostactive threats to the people of Brilehaven, stopping them from being able to freely fish, and halting the city’s main industry.
While Forden pretends to have killed the sea monster, it is not until Sabara attacks the Gauntlet Runner that the party realizes it still lives.
Homo Margo
While Homo Jaluzo shows that humans can be under some sort of control by people, Homo Margodisplays the most intelligence of any human in the game, having a level ofparasitic controlover a dragon.
Even after the party manages to defeat the manipulative human and its host dragon,thanks to Eupha’s help, the persistent human rematches them after it manages to reach the village on Virga Island. This is where we see even more of its intelligence, as it is able toswitch its weaknesses to adapt to the party’s attacks.
Homo Tenta
Standing out from their more disturbing brethren, the Homo Tenta are, in fact, humans, in spite of their morediminutive form. However, they are often overlooked as being part of this category, thanks to their complete lack of threat (perhaps excluding some more dangerous variants in the late-game), and are evenseen as cute.
You’ll find people referring to them as ‘wisdom teeth’, since they aresometimes able to talk, and instead of attacking the party, some will just share information about their environment.
There are variousmythsaround Homo Tenta, with the most popular being that they areall part of one particularly toothy larger human, but this is never seen in-game. There is also a folk tale that if you defeat them in battle, your molars will throb, but since toothache isn’t a status condition, this also remains unconfirmed.
The Truth Of The Humans
After Louis uses anunknown dark art on the protagonist to frame him as being secretly human, the party are left seeking answers, but since they are on track to visit the elda village right after, they are led straight to their answer.
The elda elder tells the party of the old world before the discovery of magla (which seems to be aparallel to the real world), but after magla was discovered and harnessed, theWar of Destructionbegan, leading to theevolution that spurred the creation of the eight tribeswe meet throughout Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Alongside the evolution that led to the creation of the eight tribes, the people of the old world (previously known as humans themselves), who were unlucky to faceprolonged exposure to melancholia,mutated and evolved into the humanswe know during the present events of the story.
Melancholia is a style of magic where the magla within one’s body bursts and causes unnatural biological functionsas well as leading to increasedaggression and violence. This specific process is referred to asmelancholisation.
Are The Elda Humans?
When Louis uses his dark magic on the protagonist to make him seem like a human, it spurred on themisconception that the elda are in fact humans themselves. While this is a twisted way to present the truth, it actually isn’t completely untrue either.
It is revealed that the elda are theclosest descendants from the old world, and are the people who escaped the most dangerous parts of the War of Destruction, and therefore didn’t evolve into the other eight tribes, anddidn’t mutate into modern humanseither.
Thanks to the elda being thestate of humans before they are mutated through melancholisation, the belief that they are cursed became ingrained within the eight tribes, leading to theirabject discrimination within wider society.
Louis And Humans
Louis is repeatedly shown tomanipulate humansand is greatly associated withmelancholia and corrupted maglathroughout the game’s story. Through sleuthing, Rella’s vision, and the exposition of Louis himself, it is revealed that Louis' grand plan is touse the Royal Sceptre’s magic to spread melancholia and greatly increase the presence of rampaging humans around Euchroniaas part of his radicalized vision of equality.
Both Louis, and his loyal necromancer Zorba, are shown toundergo voluntary melancholisation themselves, morphing into more powerful creatures to face off against the protagonist. However, thanks to their mastery of the archetypes, the party are able to defeat both of them, resolving the main conflict of the game.
