Editing Grim Fandango (section)

== Synopsis ==
=== Setting ===
''Grim Fandango'' takes place in the Land of the Dead (the Eighth Underworld), where recently departed souls aim to make their way to the Land of Eternal Rest (the Ninth Underworld) on the Four Year Journey of the Soul. Good deeds in life are rewarded by access to better travel packages, provided by the Department of Death, to assist in making the journey (such as sports cars and luxury ocean cruises), the best of which is the Number Nine, an express train that takes four minutes to reach the gate to the Ninth Underworld.<ref>{{cite video game |title=Grim Fandango |developer=LucasArts |year=1997 |quote='''Celso''': The Number Nine?<br />'''Manny''': That's our top of the line express train. It shoots straight to the Ninth Underworld, the land of eternal rest in four minutes instead of four years.}}</ref> However, souls who did not lead a kind life are left to travel through the Land of the Dead on foot, which would take around four years. Such souls often lose faith in the existence of the Ninth Underworld and instead find jobs and stay in the Land of the Dead. The travel agents of the Department of Death act as the [[Grim Reaper]] to escort the souls from the Land of the Living to the Land of the Dead, and then determine which mode of transport the soul has merited. Each year on the [[Day of the Dead]], these souls are allowed to visit their families in the Land of the Living.<ref name="manual"/><ref name="Schafer design diary"/>

The souls in the Land of the Dead appear as skeletal ''calaca'' figures.<ref name="Schafer design diary"/> Alongside them are demons that have been summoned to help with the more mundane tasks of day-to-day life, such as vehicle maintenance and even drink service. The souls themselves can suffer death-within-death by being "sprouted", the result of being shot with [[Bioweapon|"sproutella"-filled darts]] that cause flowers to grow out through bones,<ref name="pcgamer preview"/> rapidly feeding off the calcium of the soul's skeleton. The ones who are sprouted are reincarnated. Many of the characters are [[Mexican people|Mexican]] and occasional [[Spanish language|Spanish]] words are interspersed into the [[English language|English]] dialogue, resulting in [[Spanglish]].<ref name="sfgate review"/> Many of the characters smoke, following a film noir tradition;<ref name="manual"/> the manual asks players to consider that every smoker in the game is dead.<ref name="manual"/>

=== Plot ===
[[File:Catrina-sculpture.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.5|alt=A photograph of a sculpture of a skeletal figure in a brightly colored, feminine outfit and hat.|The characters in ''Grim Fandango'' are based on Mexican ''[[calaca]]'' figures used to celebrate the [[Day of the Dead]].]]

The game is divided into four acts, each taking place on November 2 (the Day of the Dead) in four consecutive years.<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990508050903/http://www.gamespot.com/features/grim_gg/ |url=http://www.gamespot.com/features/grim_gg/ |title=Grim Fandango Game Guide |website=[[GameSpot]] |first=Wyatt |last=Shaker |year=1999 |archive-date=May 8, 1999 |access-date=March 13, 2008}}</ref> 

Manuel "Manny" Calavera is a travel agent at the Department of Death in the city of El Marrow, forced into his job to work off a debt "to the powers that be".<ref>{{cite video game |title=Grim Fandango |developer=LucasArts |year=1998 |quote='''Manny''': Oh I can't leave here till I've worked off a little debt to the powers that be.}}</ref> Manny is frustrated with being assigned clients that must take the four-year journey due to their poor living choices and is threatened to be fired by his boss, Don Copal, if he does not come up with better clients. Manny steals a client, Mercedes "Meche" Colomar, from his successful co-worker Domino Hurley. The Department computers assign Meche to the four-year journey even though Manny believes she should have a guaranteed spot on the "Number Nine" luxury express train due to her pureness of heart in her life.<ref>{{cite video game |title=Grim Fandango |developer=LucasArts |year=1998 |quote='''Manny''': Meche. I can see it in your face. And in your file here, where it says you're entitled to a first-class ticket to&nbsp;...&nbsp;...nowhere? WHAT?!<br />'''Meche''': Did I do something wrong?<br /> '''Manny''': Not according to your bio! It was spotless!&nbsp;... at least the part I read was.}}</ref> When Manny goes to his boss while asking Meche to wait for him fixing the issue, Meche starts her journey on foot herself. Don Copal uses it as a reason to arrest Manny. Manny is freed from arrest and sprouting by Salvador "Sal" Limones, the leader of the small underground organization the Lost Souls Alliance (LSA), who warns him of Domino and Don rigging the system to deny many clients Double N tickets, hoarding them for the boss of the criminal underworld, Hector LeMans.<ref>{{cite video game |title=Grim Fandango |developer=LucasArts |year=1998 |quote='''Salvador''': I was once a reaper like yourself Manuel, but I uncovered a web of corruption in our beloved Department of Death. I have reason to believe that the Bureau of Acquisitions is cheating the very souls it was charted to serve. I think someone is robbing these poor naïve souls of their rightful destinies, leaving them no option but to march on a treacherous trail of tears, unprotected and alone, like babies, Manuel, like babies.}}</ref> LeMans then sells the tickets at an exorbitant price to those that can afford it. Sal recruits Manny to help LSA by setting up a system of [[pigeon mail]] and providing the group with [[biometrics]] of Manny in order to access the computer systems of the Department. Manny recognizes that he cannot stop Hector at present and instead, with the help of his driver and speed demon Glottis, he tries to find Meche on her journey in the nearby Petrified Forest. Manny arrives at the small port city of Rubacava and finds that he has beaten Meche there, and waits for her to arrive.

[[Image:Grim-fandango-cast.jpg|left|thumb|The cast of ''Grim Fandango''. In the front-center are Domino, Meche, Manny, and Sal. Glottis is in the upper left and Hector is on the far right. The game's creator, Tim Schafer, is in the bottom-left corner.|alt=A compute image of approximately 40 characters, most skeletal figures with a few large, cartoonish characters, arranged on a series of steps, posing for the photograph; one figure is of a human face imposed onto the character.]]

A year passes, and the city of Rubacava has grown. Manny now runs his own nightclub off a converted automat near the edge of the Forest. Manny sees Meche leaving the port with Domino, but when he tries to stop them, he is stopped by Meche. Manny learns from Olivia Ofrenda, the owner of the beatnik Blue Casket nightclub, that Don has been sprouted for letting the scandal be known.

Manny gives chase, manages to get on board of a leaving ship as a janitor, and a year later (after being promoted to a captain) tracks them to a coral mining plant on the Edge of the World. Domino has been holding Meche there as a trap to lure Manny.<ref>{{cite video game |title=Grim Fandango |developer=LucasArts |year=1998 |quote='''Meche''': You were headed for a trap, I was trying to warn you. Domino was using me like bait. I didn't want you to end up a prisoner here like me.}}</ref> All of Domino's clients who had their tickets stolen are also being held there and used as slave labor, both to make a profit with the coral mining and as a way to keep Hector's scandal quiet. Domino tries to convince Manny to take over his position in the plant seeing as he has no alternative and can spend the rest of eternity with Meche but he refuses. After rescuing Meche, Manny defeats Domino by causing him to fall into a rock crusher. Manny, along with Meche, Glottis and a few of the souls being held at the plant then escape from the Edge of the World.

The three travel for another year until they reach the terminus for the Number Nine train before the Ninth Underworld. The Gate Keeper to the Ninth Underworld won't let the souls progress without their tickets, mistakenly believing they have sold them, and it's further revealed that a wicked soul that has either not paid off their debt or tried to cheat the Gate Keeper with a fake or stolen Double N Ticket to gain entrance to the Ninth Underworld will cause the express train to transform into the hell train (which sends all souls on board to hell). Meanwhile, Glottis has fallen deathly ill. Manny learns from demons stationed at the terminus that the only way to revive Glottis is to travel at high speeds to restore Glottis' purpose for being summoned. Manny and the others devise a makeshift fuel source to create a "rocket" train cart, quickly taking Manny and Meche back to Rubacava and saving Glottis' life.<ref>{{cite video game |title=Grim Fandango |developer=LucasArts |year=1998 |quote='''Mechanics''': We shoot you now like an arrow into the wind. May you pierce the heart of the wind itself, and drink the blood of flight. Speed is the food of the great Glottis. Speed bring you life. Come back to us some day.}}</ref> The three return to El Marrow, now found to be fully in Hector's control and renamed as Nuevo Marrow. Manny regroups with Sal and his expanded LSA and with the help of Olivia, who volunteered to join the gang earlier in Rubacava, and is able to learn about Hector's current activities.<ref>{{cite video game |title=Grim Fandango |developer=LucasArts |year=1998 |quote='''Salvador''': Manuel Calavera, we meet again. I am glad to see you have found what you were looking for. It is fortunate that you should arrive just now, as we, too, are about to achieve great success. Our army has grown, and right now our top agents are in Hector's weapons lab, about to close in on the enemy in his own den. I couldn't have done it without you, Manuel.}}</ref> Further investigation reveals that Hector not only has been hoarding the Number Nine tickets, but has created counterfeit versions that he has sold to others while keeping the real tickets for himself in a desperate attempt to balance out his sinful life and get out of the Land of the Dead.<ref>{{cite video game |title=Grim Fandango |developer=LucasArts |year=1998 |quote='''Manny''': Is this where you tell me all about your secret plan, Hector? How you stole Double N tickets from innocent souls, pretended to sell them but really hoarded them all for yourself in a desperate attempt to get out of the Land of the Dead?}}</ref> Manny tries to confront Hector but is lured into another trap by Olivia, who is revealed to be Hector's girlfriend, who has also captured Sal, and is taken to Hector's greenhouse to be sprouted. Manny is able to defeat Hector after Sal sacrifices himself to prevent Olivia from interfering. 

Manny and Meche are able to find the real Double N tickets, including the one that Meche should have received. Manny makes sure the rest of the tickets are given to their rightful owners; in turn, he is granted his own ticket for his good deeds.<ref>{{cite video game |title=Grim Fandango |developer=LucasArts |year=1998 |quote='''Meche''': You can count them if you want. They're all here. <br /> '''Gate Keeper''': What about yours? <br /> '''Manny''': The company gave me one on the other end; sort of a retirement present.}}</ref> Together, Manny and Meche board the Number Nine for their happy journey to the Ninth Underworld while Glottis waves tearfully goodbye.<ref name="Prima Guide 1998">{{cite book |first=Jo |last=Ashburn |title=Grim Fandango: Prima's Official Strategy Guide |date=October 28, 1998 |publisher=[[Prima Games]], [[Random House]] |location=Roseville, California |isbn=978-0761517979}}</ref>