Glumstone The Giant

* Phase 1
* Phase 2
* Phase 3

**Glumstone The Giant** is one of the new bosses in the DLC, fought in the level Gnome Way Out. He is the keeper of the Gnome Berries.

## Description

### Appearance

Glumstone is a burly giant in a patched-up tunic. On his back is a mountainous carapace that tapers into rocky protrusions on his skull. Gnomes sleep and cultivate their berries in his long white beard, which is laid across the stage in-game. He has a big red nose, puffy cheeks, dark circles, and a mouth missing some teeth; although his beard and hair are white, his eyebrows and the hair on his arms are dark brown. The Delicious Last Course's release date trailer as well as concept art depict Glumstone in open-toe sandals and a lifting belt.

The gnomes adhere to stereotypes, having pointed hats and clothes that come in blue, teal, and pink, as well as red on the cover of *Cuphead in A Mountain of Trouble*. Unlike other characters in the game, they are depicted as having stick-like limbs.

In his second phase, he rips off his beard, revealing a five o' clock shadow, and a bandage on the left side of his cheek. Glumstone then pulls out two hand puppets, both with buttons for eyes – one on his right hand as King Dice ("I'm the Devil's right-hand man"), and the other on his left as The Devil. King Dice is dressed as a jester, with a red and purple color scheme, and small bells on the end of his tassels, while The Devil is dressed as a king with a purple robe, a crown, and is coated with red fur instead of black. Glumstone tosses a large burlap sack filled with coins between his hands until phase three begins.

In the third phase, you enter Glumstone's stomach, you encounter Glumstone's stomach ulcer. Not unlike a hag, it has long strands of white hair, yellow eyes, a pendulous nose, maloccluded teeth, and a large, bushy unibrow.

### Personality

"Originally a denizen hinted at in the Rugged Ridge stage, this part-man-part-mountain monstrosity is a member of a race of giants that literally become the mountains that form the landscape. Looking to expand the mythos of the Isles, we thought of these massive slumbering beings, so old and sedentary that they have calcified into stone, covered in greenery, and become one with the earth. Much to our bearded bruiser's dismay, a society of gnomes have made their homes among these mountains and they've been steadily mining the rocks, disturbing the sleep of the giant. He's awake now and he's not happy about it!"

—The Art of Cuphead

Across different languages, Glumstone is described in his name and the Golden Chalice quest as aloof, stubborn, unruly, and mean; he claims a "heart of stone" in the Polish translation of his first death quote. In Cuphead: Cartoon Chronicles & Calamities, he's shown to be somewhat troublesome while also easy to trick, as he is easily baited into emptying a lake he guarded from Cuphead.

Glumstone's grumpy and impatient streak is accentuated in *A Mountain of Trouble*, in which he used to have "a curse for every occasion", bringing disaster to everything that slighted him. One such curse left Camp Hootenholler dilapidated and even attractive to ghosts against Cuphead's expectations. He is known to throw boulders at those who provoke him, such as yodelers who make his days miserable. Described by Cagney Carnation as "the meanest ol' hill you're ever likely to meet", Glumstone is heavily feared by the other characters, the gnomes included; however, when Cuppet makes a joke at his expense, he enjoys it and laughs. This fun side of his character is reprised in the second phase of his fight, in which he ventriloquizes and plays with puppets.

As shown in *A Mountain of Trouble*, his gnomes are shown to speak in rhyme, and are easily offended when referred to as "small". They are shown to respect Glumstone and appear to have a symbiotic relationship with him. They are also sportsmanlike and fair, being the judges of the camp competitions. In-game, they are all shown constantly smiling, even as they get knocked off in the fight intro. They appear to enjoy puppet shows.

## Battle

### Intro

Glumstone starts out as a snowy mountain in which his mouth is a goldmine. A gnome smashes his pickaxe into a chunk of gold which is his golden tooth in an attempt to mine it while two other gnomes watched on. This cause Glumstone to awaken, crushes the wooden scaffolding and his stony mountain hide explodes into pieces blowing away the gnomes and beginning the fight.

### Phase 1

"You thought you were bold, but I am boulder."

—Glumstone The Giant, Phase 1 Death Screen

In the middle of the battlefield, there are five rock pillars that constantly moving up and down randomly, making player(s) evaluate where is safe to dodge harm's way. Two pillars will fully retract into the ground during this phase. In Simple Mode, only one lowers much later in the fight. In Expert mode, two immediately lower and a third one will lower later.

Periodically, Glumstone will do one of three attacks:

* He transforms his nose to a curly red whistle and blows it, while holding up a sign of “GEESE XING” (crossing) and holding the other hand up like he is stopping traffic. The top half of the battlefield will be filled with geese crossing, some wear a bow, some have blue or cyan gnomes riding them on a saddle. He looks proud of himself during this attack and some of his hair and beard are blown forward by all the geese. In Simple Mode, this attack lasts shorter. In Expert Mode, this attack lasts longer.
* After pulling both his hands out and closing one eye to focus on the players, he stretches open his mouth to reveal two gnomes brewing purple potion in a witch cauldron. The blue one pours potion from a round-bottom flask and the cyan one climbs on a stair and stirs the content. Purple and Pink gas clouds comes out of the cauldron and fly toward the player(s) position quickly. The pink clouds can be parried. In Simple Mode, the gas clouds spawn less often and they travels slower. In Expert Mode, the gas clouds travel faster.
* He can pick up a huge bear from below the mountain and slowly pulls it from the left side until it reaches the third pillar. At that point, he will appear bored and throw it off the cliff and down to the town below. In Simple Mode, Glumstone pulls it to the second pillar to the left. In Expert Mode, he pulls it to the fourth.

Blue gnomes are hidden in his beard along the floor. When walking on them their hats will be squished for while and then they will poke their hats up through the beard and will stay there for a while before lowering back down. Some that are right in the middle of each pillar may struggle to poke through the beard for a while then permanently stay on the beard. They dance in places and can be defeated. They periodically shoot a puff of yellow cloud by pulling on their beard, cycling between straight above, diagonal, above, and the other diagonal. In Simple Mode, they jump up less often and some puff is pink and can be parried. In Expert Mode, they jump up more often.

Cyan gnomes show up at the base of the pillars and them climb up the side with their hands and feet visible, after they reach the top of it, they wind up and strike twice at the top of the platform with a hammer. They can be defeated.

After taking enough damage, he starts pulling on his beard out of anger, as his face turns red and his irises radiate. He holds onto the platform and pushes it away, ripping his beard off in the process while writhing in pain, as his eyes revolve around each other. After he realizes his painful mistake, he screams and falls down into the background, ending the first phase. Hitpoints = 575/450/510

### Phase 2

"Ah, such a delightful treat... I had a hand in your defeat!"

—Glumstone The Giant, Phase 2 Death Screen

Glumstone is ridden of his beard and left with stubble, has a bandage on his cheek and chin and also a black eye. All the stone pillars are flushed to the ground and he retreats to the background. He raises and holds up two puppets which resemble King Dice as a jester and The Devil as a king. Two groups of gnome are lifted up in the foreground on the bottom corners to spectate.

The King Dice puppet is holding a bag of coins which acts a like big rubber ball. The bag has to be avoided at all costs as the two puppets throw it at each other as if playing ball while attempting to cause damage to the player. The puppets are raised or lowered and it changes where the ball bounce.

The gnomes on the ground sometimes pop out and jump around. They can be defeated. Some of them wear pink and can be parried. In Simple Mode, they are spawned less often. In Expert Mode, they are spawned much more rapidly.

When this phase ends, the coin bag explodes, King Dice and the Devil puppet shakes around, slightly teared up and they are lowered by Glumstone. The gnome spectators platform is also lowered. Shaking in anger, Glumstone grabs the platform and crushes it, eating the rocks and the player(s). With a look of satisfaction on his face, Glumstone burps while the scenery changes. When the scenery changes to Glumstone's stomach, his ulcer laughs smugly before the fight continues. In Simple Mode, the battle will simply end here with him shaking in anger and the puppets stays on the screen shaking. Hitpoints = 575/585/663

### Phase 3

"Give up now is my suggestion, lest you give me indigestion."

—Gnome Leader, Phase 3 Death Screen

The fight continues inside Glumstone's stomach where the player has to use the heads of several long-necked, skeletonized reptiles as platforms in order to avoid falling into the stomach acid. The player must defeat Glumstone's sentient ulcer as it moves horizontally while spitting out chicken drumsticks or bones to the skull platforms. In Expert Mode, the ulcer moves around quicker. While the projectiles damage the player, the ulcer itself has no hurtbox.

If one of the skull platforms eats a drumstick, it will submerge itself into the acid lake, preventing the player from jumping to that platform, only letting them fall into the acid, which can damage the player. However, If one receives a bone, the skull will not eat it and it will open its mouth in which its tongue will proceed to ring a cowbell. This signals the player to parry slap the bell, which will cause the skulls that had submerged to reemerge from the acid, allowing the players to jump from one to another. In Expert Mode, he can spit out two projectiles/bones in quick succession.

On either side of the stomach acid lake, scuba diving gnomes will jump up and shoot a blow dart bird horizontally. The scuba diving gnomes can be defeated. Some blow dart birds can be parried. In Expert Mode, they jump out more often.

A huge spasm rocks Glumstone with his stomach/Gnome Leader upon defeating his ulcer, which sticks its tongue out in a daze. Hitpoints = 465/527

## Gallery

Glumstone's introPhase 1Phase 2Phase 3After entering the position,Ulcer is laughingUlcer attacking rightUlcer attacking leftUlcer is moderately attacking to the rightUlcer is moderately attacking to the leftGlumstone knocked outOverworld IconUnused Pink Chicken ProjectileSaltbaker working on his gnome berry farm in the epilogue.Glumstone (far top right) at the end of the credits.Official artwork in EDGE Magazine, August 2022From Cuphead Vol. 2: Cartoon Chronicles and CalamitiesCover of A Mountain of TroubleOfficial sticker by Hayashiuki from the Japanese physical edition
### Concept Art

Glumstone's full bodyBackground conceptsOther mountain giantsTurnaroundGold-flavored cereal avalancheMinecarts unfurling from his mouthGnomes combed out of his beardPredecessors to the cauldron attackSock puppet conceptPuppets resembling King Dice and the Devil, gnomes, and Cuphead and MugmanFinger puppets of gnomes, animals, Beppi The Clown, Hilda Berg, Grim Matchstick, Baroness Von Bon Bon, King Dice, The Devil, and Werner WermanExpansion on the medieval motif*Old Man of the Mountain*-inspired attackConcept for last phase transitionStomach concepts
## Unused Content

The pink drumstick is used as a failsafe. If he shoots out two drumsticks rapidly when there are not enough platforms left, the player can parry it and wait for him to spit a bone. An unused asset with unclear intent is the 'ParryThermometer', which is located in the first phase to the left of Glumstone.

## Trivia

* He is the only boss whose official name was revealed before the Game Awards trailer with *Cuphead in A Mountain of Trouble*.
	+ His gnomes also made their first appearance on said cover, albeit with red caps instead.
* Some of the frames of the hammer gnomes don't have feet.
* There was a bug where Glumstone's hand disappear for a short while when using his GEESE XING attack. It is fixed in Patch 1.3.3 but a new bug appeared where his lower body turns into a black box sometimes. It is fixed in Patch 1.3.4.
* The earliest concept for the final phase involved fighting an elder gnome in Glumstone's stomach. Although this concept was never developed (on account of being a distraction from Glumstone himself), the ulcer accompanying the scuba gnomes is codenamed 'Gnome Leader'.
	+ Once it was decided that the player would harm Glumstone's stomach lining, one idea involved him continuing to feed, the live animals falling inside. This attack was recycled into the ulcer's bones and chicken.
* Similar to the painting of Brineybeard's ship in Clip Joint Calamity, and Wally Warbles' birdhouse in Botanic Panic, Glumstone is hinted in Rugged Ridge, the atmosphere for which *Old Man of the Mountain* served as a major inspiration.
* In the German translation, Glumstone is known as Rübezahl Rumpelstein. *Rübezahl* refers to a mountain tutelary in German and West Slavic folklore that takes the form of a giant, gnome, or demon; 'Rumpelstein' is a portmanteau of Rumpelstiltskin and *stein* (stone).
* The mugshot for Glumstone's second phase evokes the mugshot for The Devil's second phase onward, with his King Dice and Devil puppets in place of Cuphead and Mugman's lifeless heads.

### Inspirations

* Glumstone is modeled on the Old Man of the Mountain, a character from the 1933 *Betty Boop* cartoon of the same name. Apart from design, both characters have small creatures living in their beards; early concepts ascribe some degree of prehensility to Glumstone's, much like the Old Man.
	+ Files in the game's code refer to Glumstone as "omm", standing for "**O**ld **M**an (of the) **M**ountain."
* According to *The Art of Cuphead*, his expressions and clothing are inspired by those of Gustav the Giant from the 1938 Mickey Mouse short *The Brave Little Tailor*.
	+ The third phase bears some semblance to the brief scene in which Mickey finds himself in the giant’s stomach.
* *Golden Axe* is referenced in many aspects of Glumstone's fight.
	+ The gnomes by the cauldron are analogous functionally and physically to the Thieves, in particular the Blue Thieves that drop potions. Their hammer attack takes after the Bad Brothers.
		- Much like the Green Thieves, Glumstone's ulcer drops meat.
	+ As well as Studio MDHR's Canadian roots the geese attack is a reference to the various mountable animals in *Golden Axe*.
	+ "Gnome Way Out" quotes a riff from the Wilderness theme.
* Deliberate references are made to *Fatal Fury* in the bear's marking (similar to that of Big Bear) and the goose on the X-ing sign (Geese Howard's Double Reppuken attack).
* Ladislas Starevich's 1934 film *The Mascot* – specifically its devil puppet – led Chad and Jared Moldenhauer to base the puppets on King Dice and The Devil.
	+ The second phase with Glumstone mocking the two is reminiscent of anti-royal satire amongst medieval peasantry, tying the main game into the DLC.
* Glumstone's green stomach acid and the skeletons therein take after the Dead Pool stage in *Mortal Kombat II*, a flesh-melting acid pit.
	+ The scuba gnomes are directly inspired by the diver ninjas in the 1987 game *Shinobi*.
* The 1958 Canadian show *The Friendly Giant* served as a model for Glumstone's play with toys and smaller creatures.
* The prototype of the gnomes as shown in issue 349 of *Game Informer* is near-entirely taken from the Silly Symphony short *The Merry Dwarfs*. They retained the general physical motifs (most notably the stick limbs) as well as their mannerisms and penchant for beer.
* the Gnomes perchance of mining as well as an unused attack using mine carts invokes the seven dwarves from the Disney version of "Snow White"
* The final phase where the main character is eaten by the villain and has to defeat it inside out is inspired by the Prince Froggy fight in *Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island*.
* The skeletons and ulcer in Glumstone's stomach, as with many character designs in the game, take after *Swing You Sinners!*
* in the concept art for the two puppets used in the second phase one of them suspiciously looks like a mix Raggedy Ann from The Enchanted Square and the real life doll it was based upon

## External Links

* How Studio MDHR Builds A Cuphead Boss
* Glumstone the Giant - Antagonists Wiki