Stone Giants were gigantic monsters from the the 1979 incarnation of Cyborg 009. They are considered "minions" of the Norse God cyborgs, as they are often used to impede the 00 cyborgs.
Appearance[]
The Stone Giants are a stocky race of creatures that, as their names indicate, are entirely made of solid rock. Despite their (vague) human shape, they do not possess any circuity or organs, and most Stone Giants have undefined and grotesque appearances. Any movement or actions done by the Stone Giants are later revealed to be the result of using a form of terrakinetic psychic manipulation from a control device hidden on Easter Island. Their mere presence inspires fear and chaos whenever they appear.
History[]
The Awakening of Gods[]
The first Stone Giant was activated in Monument Valley, USA during Joe and Jet's Formula-1 Grand Prix race. It rose out of the ground, causing a massive earthquake as well as a major car accident, and inscribed the word "Jotunheim" in runic writing with its spear on the side of a mountain before returning into the ground. Joe and Jet, who barely escaped alive, manage to witness the incident in time to inform Dr. Gilmore.
Later, this being resurfaced in an unspecified southwestern US city with two other Stone Giants, and they headed towards a military base that had nuclear missiles stockpiled in it. The US Army and Air Force tried to fend off their advance towards the base, but the squadrons were wiped out by them. Despite the efforts of the 00 cyborgs, the Stone Giants manage to unleash a nuclear missile, which was destroyed by Odin in a display of power.
The Giant that Sleeps in Ice[]
Another Stone Giant later emerged while encased in an iceberg in Scandinavia, prompting the 00 cyborgs to search more clues regarding the "Jotunheim" message. This Stone Giant in particular is targeted by a young orphan boy named Per, whose father drowned saving him in a boating accident when the frozen Stone Giant capsized their fishing boat. The local townspeople believed that Per's tales about the "ice giant" who killed his father were fairy tales, causing the boy to become distrustful and withdrawn.
While investigating the Stone Giants, Joe ends up in Per's home town, where he befriends Per and gains his trust. After learning Per's story, Joe promises the boy that he will help him avenge his father. However, Joe's investigation prompts robot assassins to be sent after him. Although Joe easily defeat his opponents, he is lured into a trap where he was imprisoned in a rocky construction resembling a Viking ship and dragged out to sea to be drowned. Fortunately, thanks to Joe's cyborg body, he manages to escape unharmed.
The 00 cyborgs' research revealed that the "ice giant" that killed Per's father was the same Stone Giant that the 00 cyborgs tried to stop from attacking a military base in the southwestern United States. Ivan's ESP powers pinpointed its current location near the shores of Sandnessjøen, Norway, Joe's current location and the place where the Stone Giant later appeared. A drunk and shady man deliriously calls the giant "Ymir" and throws a liquor bottle at the "Viking ship", causing it to fire heat rays that melt the Stone Giant's iceberg prison and revives it.
Per and Joe confront the Stone Giant but when their attacks fail, Joe is forced to protect Per from the Stone Giant. Fortunately, the arrival of the other 00 cyborgs help Joe in distracting the Stone Giant, giving him enough time to attack and defeat it, thus fulfilling the promise he made with Per.
Odin, who was watching the whole thing from afar, later conjures a lightning bolt that vaporizes the Stone Giant completely.
The Demon of the L'Arc de Triomphe[]
They were used as part of the Norse God cyborgs' schemes to spread panic and fear across the world and then proclaim themselves as humanity's gods and protectors by saving them from the giants, controlling them or requesting tribute to them as their followers to appease their wrath.
After it was destroyed by the 00 Cyborgs, the giants stopped appearing and the Gods resorted to other methods to manipulate humanity.
Abilities[]
All Stone Giants are enormously large and strong, to the point that it takes effort from all of the 00 cyborgs to bring one down. Due to being solely made of rock, they are impervious to all attacks, and not even modern technology can stop them. They are able to wield large, albeit crude weaponry as well.
However, a consistent weakness that is shared by all Stone Giants is their eyes; it is shown that being struck in the eye completely incapacitates them, allowing them to be defeated. In one case however, this proved ineffective as the Stone Gaint simply replaced its destroyed head with another stone head lying nearby.
Trivia[]
- The Stone Giants are based on the Jötunn (plural jötnar), a Nordic race of human giants that resides in the land of Jötunheimr, one of the nine worlds of Norse cosmology and part of the world tree Yggdrasil. The jötnar were said to have been born from Ymir when a jötunn son and daughter rose from his armpits and his feet birthed another son, a monster with six heads. This later led to the birth of the ice jötnar. Although some jötnar have hideous appearances (fangs, claws, deformed features, etc.), many were described as "beautiful" and were of the same size as the Norse gods. These particular jötnar have become parents and grandparents of some popular Norse gods, such as Thor, whose mother was a jötunn.
- The closet analogue to the Stone Giants in the original Edda arc in the manga would be a sole one named Ymir, named after the being that the Earth was created from.
Gallery[]
