Grim Reaper

The Grim Reaper is an Emblem Heartless that is found in Kingdom Hearts II. It is one of the bosses at Port Royal. By exploiting the Medallion, the Grim Reaper can become undead and invulnerable to attack.

Kingdom Hearts II
When Sora, Donald, and Goofy return to Port Royal to search for Organization XIII, they discover that the Aztec treasure has once again been stolen and that Jack Sparrow has become an undead. They head towards Isla de Muerta to investigate, but are confronted by Luxord, who summons the Grim Reaper to attack them. Though they throw it off the Black Pearl and into the sea, Luxord has his Gambler Nobodies steal some of the medallions. This activates the curse on the Grim Reaper and allows it to revive and knock the heroes onto the Interceptor, which Luxord then sinks with cannon-fire. Once Sora and his friends get to land and recover the medallions, they come to the decision that Luxord must have taken the chest of medallions back to town. They follow him there, where they find the chest and an undead Grim Reaper. They manage to defeat the Grim Reaper, removing the curse on Jack, but Luxord takes the monster's heart and escapes through a Corridor of Darkness.

Design
The Grim Reaper is a vaguely humanoid Heartless with an emaciated, legless, dark pink-skinned appearance. Its eyes are yellow and glowing and are surrounded by black rings. Its head somewhat resembles a human skull, and sports a wide crest on its head that resembles a headdress. Two black, angular, curled horns are present on either side of its head. It appears to have a very long neck, and it wears a black and steel blue garment that covers its neck and shoulders. The Heartless emblem is on the front of this garment. Its lower body is covered by a short, black and steel blue skirt with white bandages wrapped around it. The Grim Reaper also wears black gauntlets decorated by jagged, yellow and grey lines. It carries a large, black staff with a wide, steel blue, anchor-like blade on one end and a small, angular, heart-shaped one on the other end. It often holds the weapon with one finger through a hole in the smaller blade, swinging it like a pendulum.

When under the influence of the cursed gold, the Grim Reaper takes on a wilder, rotted appearance, with its ribs more clearly exposed and its clothing tattered. Its skin becomes a light shade of pink and its clothing becomes predominantly periwinkle and tan. The crest on its head gains a heart-shaped hole in it and its pendulum blades become larger. Three small, ghostly skulls the same color as the Grim Reaper's skin fly around it, each sporting glowing yellow eyes and Heartless emblems on their foreheads.

In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, the Grim Reaper's skin, skirt, and the garment around its neck all turn white. Its horns, crest, gauntlets, and the cloth around its waist becomes blue. Its pendulum is also recolored in various shades of blue. Its cursed state has a predominantly yellow body with red and black clothing.

The Grim Reaper's name refers to the, the Western personification of death. This is further referenced by its appearance, which is reminiscent of the Aztec god of death,.

Strategy
In its normal form, the Grim Reaper is quite weak. Its only two attacks are swinging its scythe and teleporting to avoid damage. Under the Aztec curse, however, its power grows. Similarly to the Undead Pirates, the Grim Reaper reacts negatively to Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder attacks, and will temporarily stop attacking when struck by one.

The Grim Reaper is first fought on the Black Pearl. This is a simple fight, as it doesn't attack much and by now Sora should be at a high level. It occasionally warps elsewhere after taking damage. Simply use a combo attack, followed by a Drive form and the battle will end without much difficulty.

The second battle is harder, as when 881 or less coins are in the chest, the Grim Reaper can absorb the cursed Aztec Gold and become invincible. Be forewarned, that the Grim Reaper has a tendency of constantly taking the coins for its own.

Use the Reaction Commands Hinder and Loot Launch to stop it, and Return to return the treasure to the chest—each command will restore as many coins as Sora has collected. Making use of the Draw ability is also recommended (Follow the Wind, Draw Ring, etc.) to increase the range for collecting the medallions. To nullify its magic, it is best to use Thunder or Fire, which can set the Grim Reaper ablaze. To keep it still, it is best to use Blizzard and it also requires less MP. It is a good idea to have Donald and Jack Sparrow in the party. Jack's bombs can also ignite the Grim Reaper and can cause it to run wildly, dropping gold wherever it goes. Donald's magic can also cause the Grim Reaper to drop gold. Be sure to equip Donald with the MP Rage ability, so any damage he takes from the Grim Reaper's attacks cause him to regain MP.

When reduced to 70% HP, it absorbs approximately 210 coins from the chest. When reduced to 30% HP, it absorbs all remaining coins from the chest and uses its Dance of the Dead attack.

When all of the gold is returned to the chest the Grim Reaper will be vulnerable. It stomps around the field before delivering one strike to the ground and reverting to normal size. At this point, it'll be a little longer to nullify its invincibility as Sora needs to strip it of all the coins. To do this, just use magic attacks. If Sora runs out of MP, begin using physical attacks on the Grim Reaper to cause it to drop MP orbs.