Grim Guardianess

The Grim Guardianess is the Emblem Heartless of Mother Gothel, that is found in Kingdom Hearts III. It is the final boss of the Kingdom of Corona.

Kingdom Hearts III
When Mother Gothel succumbs to darkness as she dies, Marluxia transforms her remains into a Heartless for Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy to destroy, determining that her lingering presence would threaten the real Organization XIII's plans for Rapunzel. The trio fight and vanquish the Heartless outside Rapunzel's tower.

Design
The Grim Guardianess is a tree-like Heartless. Its face is brown and wooden, with yellow eyes and a jagged mouth, while its bottom resembles a stump with scales and green markings. The Heartless insignia is present on its forehead. It is surrounded by a "mane" of green leaves, and four arms emerge from the hair, each also green and tipped with black fingers with purple fingertips.

The Grim Guardianess's name reflects Mother Gothel's grim personality and her protectiveness of the magical flower and its successor, Rapunzel. "Grim" also refers the Brothers Grimm, a pair of German academics who collected and catalogued various European folk tales including "Rapunzel." Its Japanese name, "Mad Mother," refers to her anger and status as Rapunzel's surrogate mother.

Attacks

 * Grim Guardianess
 * Scratch (引っかき): The Grim Guardianess attacks the party with its arms.
 * Pollen (花粉): The Grim Guardianess rears back and slams its head on the ground, damaging the party if they're too close and kicking up pollen that inflicts the Sneeze status ailment.
 * Rush (突進): The Grim Guardianess sprouts propellers on its wrists and dives at the party.
 * Dark Bird (ダークバード): The Grim Guardianess spawns several birds from its mouth and sends them at the party.
 * Call Bomb (コールボム): Used whenever it's coiled around the tower. After trapping the party in a wooden cage, the Grim Guardianess will bombard the area with cherry bombs.


 * Flower Post
 * Ivy Restraint (ツタ拘束): The flower post will restrain members of the party with a vine if they wander too close.
 * Pull Attack (引きこみ攻撃): If all three members of the party are restrained, they will be trapped inside the flowers and the Grim Guardianess will rip the flowers out of the ground and throw them to the ground, dealing heavy damage.

Strategy
The Grim Guardianess, while not a difficult boss to face, can be tricky. The Heartless has a few attacks at its disposal. It will begin the battle by spawning dark sparrows from its mouth and sending them at Sora. At close range, it will swipe at the party with its four arms. It can also spawn propellers on its wrists and charge at Sora, as well as pound the ground with its head, kicking up pollen that inflicts the Sneeze status ailment. For offense, the Hyper Hammer and Drill Punch formchanges are good choices for their high damage. Likewise, the Double Arrowguns and Magic Launcher formchanges are good choices to fight at a distance thanks to their homing capabilities.

After taking enough damage, the Grim Guardianess will emit a bright flash from its eyes, using it as a distraction while it climbs to the top of the tower and wall the party in with a cage of vines. From there, it will begin raining down cherry bombs on the area. Sora must look for gaps in the cages to escape and make his way to the Grim Guardianess, avoiding the bombardment, and must knock it from the tower to end the attack. At lower health, The Grim Guardianess gains a new attack. It will spawn several flowers that will trap members of the party with a vine if they wander too close. If a party member is trapped, Sora must destroy the flower to free them. If all three members are restrained, they will be trapped inside the flowers and the Grim Guardianess will rip the flowers out of the ground and throw them to the ground, dealing heavy damage.

Eventually, the Grim Guardianess will coil itself around the tower once more and bombard the area again. Sora must knock it from the tower once more. So long as Sora avoids the Heartless' attacks and heals when necessary, the Grim Guardianess will fall in due time.