A question about Grim Fandango

[Recusant]

There's something I've been wondering about, on-and-off, for the past seventeen and a half years (which makes my life sound a lot more uneventful than it actually is). No one could tell me back then, but with the updated re-release and the ensuing decade and change, someone might know.

There's a point in Grim Fandango when Manny, standing before the door to the office of the game's main antagonist, looks at it and says ""Through this dark portal, an innocent man shall pass. And arrive on the other side, innocent still, but colder of heart"". Those additional marks aren't typos; the text appears that way in-game. It is, in fact, the only bit of in-game text that does (I don't know if this is the case in the remake).

Under any other circumstance, that would indicate that this line is quoted from something else- but I haven't been able to find any idea what. Do any of you Escapists have answers?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think he's quoting from an (unspecified) in-universe source rather than a real-life one.

 

[Dalisclock]

I'm not sure. I know there's a bit in Rubacava when Manny is looking at the moon and begins quoting what sounds like a poem. I'm not sure if it's a real poem or something in-universe. GF feels like a much bigger world then what we see and one of my few regrets about it is that we don't get to see more of it. I mean, there's a whole two years where he's crossing an ocean and a continent(?) that happen entirely off-screen and we only see him as he reaches his destination in both cases.