Nimzo is the source of conflict and final boss of Dragon Quest V.
As is the case with most of the series' villains, Nimzo is mostly referred to and not actually encountered until the very end of the game, though his pawns and powerful influence do well to wreak havoc throughout the game. He resides in the sinister fortress at Mt. Zugzwang, where Madalena is held captive.
Nimzo initially appears to be an elderly, green-skinned demon. He is capable of performing devastating spells and breath attacks in either form and can also call upon Wrecktors and Killing machines to assist him while in his initial form. He also possess an ultimate, grotesque form: a gargantuan bloated, red demon with massive, wrinkled wings, four arms, and a spike-ended tail. It is said that he was once a human long ago, but has since transformed into a monster.
Nimzo's speech in the English DS remake is composed of a font that replaces the English letters used in the rest of the game with Cyrillic letters that resemble them, such as replacing N with И. The overall effect makes Nimzo sound incredibly distinct and alien when compared to other characters and even the narration.
In the original Super Famicom version, Nimzo was given no back story, though most players assumed he was a demon. In the Nintendo DS and PS2 remakes, two monsters, a soldier in La Guardia, and one book revealed he was in fact a human.
A book in Lofty Peak called The Will Of Our Leader revealed he is a deity born of "lowly disciples" implying he was born of poverty. The book also reveals he soon became the monarch of Lofty Peak and was wiser than wisdom itself. Unfortunately he took the Secret of Evolution and turned himself into a monster.
The citizens tried, but failed, to take the evil out of him and "Even now, he waits, where no sun shall ever shine, for the Great one to arrive, the one true hero".
Nimzo is immune to Crack, Ice breath, Woosh, and all status ailments when in this form. Additionally, he has a 20% resistance to Frizz, Sizz, Bang, and fire breath. He periodically summons Killing machines and Wrecktors to assist him, and will regenerate 50 HP per round. Though he has no resistance at all to Zap, it is better to conserve MP for the second part of the battle.
After assuming this form, Nimzo will cast Bounce at the start of battle. He has a tendency cast Kasap on the party, but because he attacks physically at infrequent intervals the players can ignore this. Disruptive Wave will remove the effects anyway, so it's better to concentrate on maximizing damage instead. His elemental resistances no longer apply, but he is still immune to all debilitation magic. Once 2500 damage has been dealt, he will alter his strategy and begin meditating more often. After another 2000 HP has been removed, Nimzo will cease recovery and focus on the offensive. In this state, his melee blows will become Desperate attacks, dealing 500% more damage. If the party's healers are running low on MP, he is vulnerable to Drain Magic in this state.
He is considerably weaker in the SFC original version, but it is important to keep in mind that only three characters could be used in that version, (in contrast with the DS and PS2 remakes' four); also, he seems to Meditate much more frequently now.
Nimzo appears as a Legacy Boss. His speech is written normally in this game (albeit still heavily accented), presumably because the Cyrillic alphabet is absent from this game's character set. His map can be dropped from Psaro the Manslayer at higher levels (and thus can be obtained multiple times).
Grandmaster Nimzo was locked away by the Goddess due to his overwhelming evilness. He eventually achived powers that exceeded those of the divine by devouring the darkness in men's hearts
While Nimzo is frequently alluded to in the film, he does not make an actual appearance. Instead, his role is taken by a virus, appearing as a black humanoid figure with a white mask-like face. The presence of the virus results in a twist ending where Luca is shown as a fan of Dragon Quest V playing a virtual reality remake of the game. The virus was injected into the virtual reality game's code to take Nimzo's role, reminding Luca that once he is defeated, it is time to return to the real world. The virus attempts to further break Luca by telling him that everything in the world does not exist and will cease existing once he is defeated. Luca fights back by telling him that even though he knows that he is a player, he grew up playing both the original Super Famicom and PS2 versions of the game, and that they were his realities that he came to love. Luca's Slime companion Gootrude appears one last time, revealing himself to be an anti-virus program and changing his own code into a sword used to defeat the virus. After the virus is defeated, Luca contemplates that his adventure is almost over, but his allies and enemies will live on in his memories. Despite this different character, the virus is still credited as Nimzo.
Grandmaster Nimzo appeared as a boss in Chapter 7 of the game's 2-year anniversary Dragon Quest V event starting on October 25th, 2021. The following day, a special mega version that can be challenged by multiple players appeared, as well.
Both of Nimzo's forms appear as S-rank members of the ??? family during the limited Dragon Quest V event. His green humanoid form is faced in Chapter 5, Episode 3: The God of Nadiria and his demonic form appears in Chapter 5, Episode 4: The Grandmaster's True Form. Both of them can be faced in their own boss battles. His green humanoid form can be unlocked after defeating him in All-out Battle! Nimzo edition on Very Hard mode. Grandmaster Nimzo appears on his own banner alongside Balhib and he can participate in Slon's Battle Road as a party member.
Dark World Flame Potency +5% / Stats Up / Scorching Hell Column Potency +5% Rare Bounce: Rarely grants a barrier that reflects spells for 3 turns at action start.
Leader Perks
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Lowers enemy Sizz Res by 25% in a 5x5 square around him.
Grandmaster Nimzo is likely derived from Aron Nimzowitsch, a renowned chess writer and (unofficial) grandmaster. Nimzo's underlings are named after chess pieces, and Nimzo himself refers to his overall plan as a game with his underlings being the pawns, so the name was likely given to tie in with these characteristics.
Nizmo is widely regarded as one of the easiest final bosses in the series by fans. Even in remakes, with considerable stat augmentation granted to him, he seems to have more intelligence than raw power and fighting ability.
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Second form Super Famicom art.
Second form modern art.
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Joker model.
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Sofubi Monster merchandise series.
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Appearance in Stars.
Nimzo's first form in Rivals.
Nimzo's first form in Tact.
Grandmaster Nimzo in Tact.
Balhib and Grandmaster Nimzo in Tact.
Chapter 7 of Walk's Dragon Quest V event.
Grandmaster Nimzo in Walk.
