[Journ]

wow cool to know that theses things werent just made up for Final Fantasy

[Tigerhawk]

There is also some stuuf about Mithra at http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/mithra.html pretty interesting stuff :sly

[Zdenka]

Amemet is also spelled Ammet sometimes, and I think a lot of that original post was taken from pantheon.org, where you can do a search feature to find about any myths you are interested in ^^;

[AznKnight]

AnnisarrTheNMHunter :
There should be Amikiri its some legendary fish i think?

amikiri

The strange and amazing Amikiri are a race of mainly aquatic beings who can nonetheless transform and exist on land; it has even been put forth that they may sometimes swim in the air as if it were water. They gained their name from their tendency to cut through nets, especially fishing nets, extended into the water where they swim. Whether due to overfishing or the annoyance of nets where they want to swim, amikiri tend to resent the presence of nets of any kind underwater and will slice them to pieces with their sharp claws.

They are, however, not inclined to directly attack humans and are generally quite peaceful creatures, even if their appearance is bizarre. The most common description of amikiri gives them the claws of a lobster, a snake's tail, and a head similar to that of a seagull. Some sources list amikiri as small as domestic animals such as a housecat or a dog, but others maintain that amikiri are as large as humans, although it is more frequently that they are only as large as small humans, such as children.

Amikiri almost entirely live underwater and rarely if ever are seen outside of it. However, much like other waterfaring beings, they may transform themselves into humanoids for a brief time while on land. Naturally they do not enjoy being on land for too long a time and will not tolerate being separated from water for very long.

These mysterious beings of the water are rarely-seen but always quite a wonder when they are spotted. They can be wonderful friends, as long as a respect for nature and especially their beloved waters lies within your heart.

[-Mila-]

genbu suzaku seriyuu and byakko are the japanses names of those gods,the chinese names are different although I can't reamber them off the top of my head. Kirin also exists in Chinese mythology, but his name is spelt Qilin iirc.

[Tasuki]

Genbu, suzaku, seiryu and byakko are also in a few animes. Fushigi Yuugi and Yu Yu Hakusho to name a few. What you can read in this thread about them goes more with Fushigi Yuugi, while Yu Yu Hakusho's version of them portrays them as demons. Of course their physical and magical attributes are the same. ^^

[Dimian]

Very interesing read! Nice job! Lol i shouted out in my english class (was half asleep) "Im having trouble camping him" or something like that after the teacher mentioned Argus. Yes, i have no life.

[Malleus]

Very cool, stuff! Thanks for the effort taken putting this together!

[Kaliden]

very nice, im glad this game is actually based on myths and legends, shows that SE arent just lazy people who threw somethin together

[Sparklemotion]

Great post. (b'.')b

Just like Midgardsomr, Cerberus is also obviously a server name from mythology as well. In Greek mythology, the three-headed dog that guarded the gate to Hades, blah blah, you know.


Also, don't forget about Golem. In early Judaism, they were homonculii created by holy men out of mud, much in the same way that God created Adam. Except that Golems are crude and flawed since they are created by man. The most famous story of the golem being of a Rabbi in 16th Century Prague, who created a golem to defend the city's Jews from persecutors.

Actually, when you think about it, the description fits the Cardians better than the actual Golems in this game.

Golem is also mentioned in the Bible somewhere.

I looked at the Wikipedia entry for Sahagin. They are based on an actual myth, but what's great is that they credit Final Fantasy for the modern spelling of the word.

Alkyoneus, Enkelados, and Pallas were three of the Gigantes in Greek Mythology, along with Klytias, Echion, and Athos. When Cronus castrated Uranus, the blood that sprang forth berthed these giants. Later, the Gigantes led an attack on Mr. Olympus but were defeated. Enkelados was buried under Mt. Etna. The volcanic activity of Mt. Etna is said to be the breathing of the trapped Gigante.

[Lathia]

Something I've been reading up on recently is relic weapons, just out of curiosity. Seems there are many FF traditions and references hooked up in these weapons, or other cultural/mythological references, so I just wanted to make a quick list. Just going to be listing the type, the name of the final form, and the name of the additional WS it grants. The names were taken from the English version of Mysterytour, some of it may be mistranslated but I'm too lazy to look elsewhere.

Hand-to-hand/knuckles --- Spharai --- "Final Heaven"

Spharai is apparently an old Latin word referring to spiked leather hand wraps worn in gladiatorial style combat. Can't remember any particular FF references there. Final Heaven was Tifa's ultimate limit break in FF7.

Dagger --- Mandau --- "Mercy Stroke"

I wasn't able to find any real information on the name Mandau, but it appears to be a name for a type of sword and not an individual/famous sword as in Excalibur. I don't remember any previous occurences of Mercy Stroke in FF games.

Sword --- Excalibur --- "Knights of the Round"

Excalibur comes from Arthurian legend and is of course a long-standing FF tradition. Knights of the Round is the final summon from FF7.

Greatsword --- Ragnarok --- "Scourge"

Ragnarok is from Norse mythology, I think it's the name of the final battle of the gods and the underworld (essentially armageddon/doomsday). Scourge is probably just some random word they pulled out of nowhere, I don't remember any particular references.

Axe --- Gutter --- "Onslaught"

Once again, possibly just random words pulled from nowhere, I can't immediately recall any previous FFs to use them.

Greataxe --- Bravura --- "Metatron Torment"

Couldn't find any weapon-related info on Bravura, everything seems to point me to some type of music, which I doubt is related. But as far as that music goes, apparently the word "bravura" is Italian and has the same roots as "bravery" in English. Metatron is apparently an archangel.

Scythe --- Apocalypse --- "Catastrophe"

Apocalypse is a weapon name used in FF a lot. Catastrophe is the name of Barret's final limit break in FF7.

Polearm/spear --- Gungnir --- "Geirskogul"

Gungnir is the name of Odin's spear in Norse mythology. Geirskogul is also related to Norse mythology, apparently the name of a Valkyrie.

Katana --- Kikoku --- "Blade: Metsu"

All I can say for sure is that Kikoku is "demon something" and is probably related to Japanese folklore/mythology that I have no idea about. All the katana weapon skills are Blade: (something) in FFXI, and Metsu means something along the lines of "destroy"...noodalls may be able to give a better translation, but it should give you a rough idea.

Great Katana --- Amenomurakumo --- "Tachi: Kaiten"

"Ame no murakumo" is again somehow related to a Japanese legend I'm not familiar with, but there are references to it all over the place. Means something like "amassing rainclouds", I think it may have been the name of a sword...? As for Tachi: Kaiten, along the same lines as katana WS all the great katana skills are Tachi: (something), I think Tachi just means big sword, kaiten means something like revolution. So apparently it's "spinning a big sword", no wonder they didn't bother translating it.

Club --- Mjollnir --- "Randgrith"

Mjollnir is the name of Thor's hammer in Norse mythology, and is again a fairly long-standing FF tradition. Randgrith is another Valkyrie.

Staff --- Thyrus --- "Gate of Tartarus"

Thyrus is a staff from Greek legend, used by Dionysus, I can say that much. All my searching just turned up something about Games Workshop's Warhammer, which is obviously unhelpful. Tartarus is also Greek, apparently a plane of existence between Earth and Hell, commonly associated with punishment for sinners.

Bow --- Yoichinoyumi --- "Namas Arrow"

Yoichi no yumi (Yoichi's Bow) has appeared in FF before (FF5 is one), but I don't know anything about the legend this is from (possibly related to Yoichi in Hokkaido?). Namas I have no clue whatsoever about.

Gun --- Ferdinand --- "Corronach"

Possibly related to Ferdinand Magellan? No idea....and Corronach searching turned up nothing helpful either. Coronach instead came up with something interesting, a song lamenting the dead (ie. an elegy), which could be it.

nb. As far as I know, Guns and Crossbows in FFXI both use the Marksmanship skill, and thus have the same weapon skills....so there is only one relic weapon between the two of them.

Instruments --- Gjallarhorn --- n/a

I can't quite work out if Gjallarhorn is a type of instrument or a type of music, but it's quite obviously Norse (or perhaps more recent but still in that culture).



Anyway, that's all I could be bothered finding out for now. Maybe I'll look a little deeper into the mythology stuff later (and try something that isn't just random internet searches) but I dunno if anyone besides me is interested.

As for the other FF references, if you can point out any occurences of these names that I missed, please contribute.


p.s I by no means take credit for this, thank you Dal, hope you don't get mad

[Sparklemotion]

As far as weapons go, there are a lot of mythical references there too. Excalibur and Ragnarok are obvious examples.

The Caladbolg, Tidus' ultimate weapon from Final Fantasy X, is part of Irish folklore. It was said that the blade cut the tops of mountains.

The Longinus was the original name for Kimahri's ultimate weapon before it was changed for the American version. Not sure how it ended up in European/Australian/other versions of the game. Obviously a reference to the Bible, Longinus was a Roman soldier who pierced Jesus in the side with his spear. Kimahri's weapon is also a spear. The spear itself (called the Lance of Longinus or the Lance of Destiny) gained mythical status as a symbol of power for being able to pierce the divine. Legend has it that whoever possesses the lance has the power to rule the world, but if lost, the owner would meet certain death. Even Hitler himself owned the lance for a few years.


I also just realized that Gilgamesh was left off the original list, too. He was both an actual living king, and a mythical god-like figure. More on his stuff here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh

[pathwriter]

Lathia :
Gun --- Ferdinand --- "Corronach"

Possibly related to Ferdinand Magellan? No idea....and Corronach searching turned up nothing helpful either. Coronach instead came up with something interesting, a song lamenting the dead (ie. an elegy), which could be it.

There was a type of German tank, a further development on the Panzer, nicknamed the "Ferdinand." I can't find any data as to why, though.

[Leathlord]

Here's an add to your post:

Icarus Wing: Man-made wings that charge your tactical points.
Daedulus Wing: Ibid

Daedulus was the father of Icarus and had inventive genius from Athena. King Mino's imprisoned Daedulus and his son after the Labrynth of the Minotaur failed and Thesius lived cause Daedulus did this because the daughter of Minos loved him. Therefore Minos threw him and his son in the Labrynth. The only way out was the sky so Daedulus made man made wings out of feathers and wax for him and the son and they flew out of the Labrynth. However Icarus flew too close to the sun and the wax melted so he fell to the sea and died.

[Drizzy]

Here is some info about Mithras^^
Mithra mainly related to the Persian Protetor Gods.
http://www.crystalinks.com/mithra.html

[Ignignot]

I found some, thanks Wikipedia. ^^

Count Bifrons: In demonology, Bifrons was a demon, Earl of Hell, with six legions of demons under his command. He teaches sciences and arts, the virtues of the gems and woods, herbs, and changes corpses from their original grave into other places, sometimes putting magic lights on the graves that seem candles. He appears as a monster, but then changes his shape into that of a man.

Domovoys and Dvorovoi: House spirits in slavic mythology

Nue: A nue is a legendary creature found in Japanese folklore. It has the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the legs of a tiger, and a snake instead of a tail. A nue can also transform into a black cloud and fly around.

Nue are bringers of misfortune and illness. One legend tells of the Emperor of Japan becoming sick after a nue took up residence atop his palace in the summer of 1153. After the emperor's guards killed the creature, the emperor recovered.

Nue are also a type of nocturnal blackbirds native to Japan. They, too, are thought to bring bad luck.

More Random things:

The Skulls: All of the Skulls have names from Christanity's Seven Deadly Sins. Pride, Gluttony, Lust, Sloth, Envy, Greed, Wrath

The Cardians: The cardians come from the symbols of both:

Playing cards: Spade, Heart, Club, Diamond
&
Tarot cards: Cup, Coin, Baton, Sword

[Leapra]

centurio - a centurion, the commanding officer in charge of an individual centuria; the centurion was assisted by his subordinate officers: the signifer, the optio, and the tesserarius; in the Roman legions, centurions had different grades of rank that determine which century within the cohort the centurion would command; see the chart below, for example.

Century First Cohort Other Cohorts
1st primus pilus pilus prior
2nd princeps pilus posterior
3rd hastatus princeps prior
4th princeps posterior princeps posterior
5th hastatus posterior hastatus prior
6th . hastatus posterior

triarius Literally, third liner, this was a heavily-armed legionary infantry soldier and stood in the third line of battle. An experienced soldier, who used the same weapons as the hastati and principes, but instead of a pilum, he had a long spear. The names of some of their officers would include: - triarius ordo - the centurion of the triarii or pili. - triarius prior - the senior centurion of a manipulus of the triarii.

Keremet (KARE-e-met): The keremet are mortals brought into the Dreaming at the moment of their death. No longer mortal, and not quite wraith, the keremet go about their enigmatic purposes with emotionless detachment. They frequently travel to the Shadowlands, and are able to see and communicate with the spirits of the deceased. They did not take part in the Tessarakonta, and may walk the Silver Paths. They feel no pain or pleasure, need not eat or breathe and are immune to disease. There is a special oath, the Pact of Dagda, which can cause the keremet to lose some of their powers if it is broken. The keremet are emotionally dead creatures, and cannot really muse Glamour from mortals, and have additional problems relating to anyone socially. The keremet look fully alive only in their Dioniae Aria, looking quite unhealthy in Araminae and corpselike in Apolliae Arias.

Serpopard Ishtar
The serpopard had a feline body, a very long neck and the head of a leopard. It alone was thought to attack other animals. At times when this animal was depicted in pairs, there necks were intertwined (but not always).

Ishtar- Babylonian and Assyrian goddess of love and fertility and war; counterpart to the Phoenician Astarte

[*Korenaga*]

Umm sry OP, you phail.

This is FFXI, and half that stuff doesnt even go along with the FFXI story either.

You should be researching stuff from past FF games other then RL Myth.

[Gyden]

interesting hah

[Reolen]

Hehehe interesting thread. Well just wanted to add to it.


Leviathan: is also the title of a book written sometime during the Renaissance
(I can’t remember who or exactly when it was written learned this freshman year so been a while)

Wyvern: a winged reptilian legendary creature similar to a cockatrice.