Granfalloon

If you wish to study a granfalloon, just remove the skin of a toy balloon.
A granfalloon, in the religion of Bokononism invented by Kurt Vonnegut in his 1963 novel Cat's Cradle, is defined as a "false karass". That is, it is a group of people who outwardly choose or claim to have a shared identity or purpose, but whose mutual association is actually meaningless in terms of fulfilling God's design. The most common granfalloons are associations and societies based on a shared but ultimately fabricated premise. As examples, Vonnegut cites: "the Communist Party, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the General Electric Company, the International Order of Odd Fellows -- and any nation, anytime, anywhere." A more general and often-cited quote defines a granfalloon as "a proud and meaningless association of human beings." Granfalloon was illustrated in the book as referring to Hoosiers, who are apparently Indianans, especially those who play basketball. In the same book, he introduced such terms as foma ("lies") and wampeter, all terms of Bokononism. There is a boss in the PlayStation and Sega Saturn game named Granfalloon. It draws off of and twists this definition. Keeping with the rest of the game's heavy horror theme, including other bosses such as Dracula, Medusa, and the Grim Reaper, Granfalloon is a giant floating ball of naked, hairless human bodies. It attacks by shedding bodies, which shamble toward your character in an attempt to obstruct and damage him. Defeating Granfalloon involves destroying the outer layer of bodies to reveal an inner core with tentacles that shoot lasers, then destroying the inner core. This definition of Granfalloon as a Castelvania boss appears again in the Game Boy Advance game , though in this game it is significantly smaller and its name is Legion. This is most likely a reference to the New Testament demon who was "composed of many."

 

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