George


 * Not to be confused with George Montague, a character in EarthBound.

George Halloway was Ninten's great-grandfather. In 1906, he and his wife Maria mysteriously disappeared for two years. When he returned, nobody knew where he had been, but he began obsessively studying PSI. In a diary, he wrote many things, and left clues that Ninten eventually must use to stop Giygas. He died prior to the events of EarthBound Beginnings.

During captivity, he and Maria raised Giygas as if he was their son. While Maria did most of the caring, George stole important information about PSI from the aliens, quickly escaping back to Earth when the Aliens discovered what had happened. George also built Eve to protect Ninten when the time would come. When Ninten finally gets to the peak of Mt. Itoi, after examining a gravestone with the XX mark, George's spirit teaches him the final melody, and tells Ninten to sing them all to Queen Mary. For clarity, the player cannot name a character George.

Background
Prior to being a writer, George's parents died while he was still at a young age. By time he graduated High School, George had worked as a letter-boy for a huge newspaper corporation. This later proved to not be enough for George, and soon he moved to try at becoming a News Reporter. However, with a lack of college education and little experience, no company would hire him, and he instead founded his own business, mainly due to his curiosity. During this new career, one of his biggest stories involved the exposure of dark secrets of the US president, which caused George to enter an argument with the Newspaper's editor, and subsequently quit following this incident.

Now in search of a new job, he moved in to the rural town of Podunk, after seeing a "help wanted" sign for The Mother's Day Times. This was also where he met Maria, his future wife, who was painting a picture of carnations when George greeted her. Not long after, he was hired as editor-in-chief of the Mother's Day Times, with his first project being a detailed history of Podunk until that point. Maria, who George met earlier, became the art designer for Mother's Day Times, using one of her carnations as an illustration for the novel. The novel received critical acclaim from the People of Podunk, with many townsfolk remarking that one could "laugh and cry" at the same time. This project was also what brought George and Maria close, and only a few years later, they were married. During their married life, Maria, who had gained an interest in singing and playing the piano, would hold a mini-concert with George and his kids as the audience.

Role
As George gained more and more popularity, he gained word of a cloud appearing over Mt. Itoi, with people disappearing there before returning with no memory of what happened. This made George curious, and he immediately began to investigate this strange phenomenon. However, once his report was to be published, he too was abducted with Maria. There, he was ordered by a group of aliens to raise Giygas, one of their younger aliens, so that he had a concept of love to harness PSI. While Maria cared for Giygas, George studied the aspects of PSI before escaping back to Earth. However, he was unable to rescue Maria in the process. Grieved over what had happened, George isolated himself in his house, intensely studying PSI. Little did he know, however, that the aliens were plotting to reclaim these studies. At some point during this time, he created Eve.

When Ninten reaches Mt. Itoi, George's grave can be seen at the mountain's summit, bestowing the final melody when Ninten touches it. George's ghost appears before Ninten, asking him to sing the complete melody to Queen Mary.