The journal belongs to a mysterious “Dr Rydrum” I assume he is some kind of professor or adventurer. I think he sent me this journal to follow his trail. So I did. I believe Rydrum is searching for the Leviathan. Surely it’s just a myth, but… when I researched further, I found it everywhere. I followed his lead and started with some common mythology.
Leviathan - a sea monster that features quite prominently in many ancient texts. In Sumerian drawings it is seen fighting against the God Ninurta of the ancient civilisation Lagash; and Leviathan is shown to have seven heads. It features not only in Sumerian scripts, but in others too. Canaanite, Babylonian (interestingly the battle is known as that of Marduk vs Tiamat) and in he also shows up in Egyptian lore.
The Leviathan features heavily in the Bible (as hinted at by Rydrum's journal), perhaps in here more than any other place I searched. In Isaiah 27:1 he is called the "wriggling serpent" that will be killed at the end of time. And even the word ‘Leviathan’ is Hebrew for ‘twisted’ or ‘coiled’.
Of course, Leviathan is a big part of Final Fantasy too. He is a summon that shows up in many of the games. Rydrum was specifically looking at the appearance of Leviathan in the games. His research starts with Final Fantasy XII.
Originally Posted by Dr Rydrum
The Dawn Shard is of course central to the plot of the game, as it is what Ashe seeks to prove her lineage, as it was her ancestor Dynast King Raithwall who owned it. It is stolen by Judge Ghis aboard the Leviathan. The ship is eventually sunk in an explosion caused by a reaction of a nethicite fragment inside the Dawn Shard.
He links the Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes's work to the ruler of Final Fantasy VIII's Balamb Garden, NORG. I have another page of his journal here...
As a summon, Leviathan is based on the element of Water, and his attack is 'Tidal Wave' or'Tsunami'. In Final Fantasy VIII, Leviathan is acquired during the second disc of the game when Squall and his party return to Balamb Garden to find the place in total chaos! Students are fighting against each other - either siding with the Garden Faculty or with Cid.
It turns out that a giant Shumi Master known as NORG helped Headmaster Cid to fund the cost of creating Balamb Garden. To cover the running costs, it was NORG's idea to hire out the SeeD as mercenaries. As Rydrum has written, it does resemble the Leviathan system thought up by Hobbes.
Leviathan is drawn from NORG in this battle, and he brings with him some great abilities for the party such as Auto-Potion and Recover. In terms of usefulness in battle - he is perhaps one of the most useful! Especially when trying to attain the very powerful and hard-to-take-down Jumbo Cactaur!
He's given me some information about Leviathan in Final Fantasy VII too.
Originally Posted by Dr Rydrum
I looked into the links between Wutai and Leviathan some more. I found that in Wutai they have a 'Fountain of Leviathan' which can be discovered in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. The people of Wutai see Leviathan as some kind of Guardian or God, and it explains why its' scales can be found in the caves, and why Yuffie's Oritsuru bares resemblance to it. The Leviathan Materia is also only available after Yuffie has defeated Godo in Wutai.
He isn't always a summon though. In Final Fantasy II he appears as a boss - a sea serpent who swallows people whole. He is the guardian of the Seaway to the Tower of Mysidia. The party travels through his insides after being swallowed by him, they are split up but find a new party member, Ricard Highwind, to join them. Ricard helps them find their way back to the mouth of the Leviathan where they escape and continue to the tower.
He also happens to play a major role in Final Fantasy IV. Titled "The Lord of all Waters" he is also the King of the Eidolons and rules over the summoned monsters with Queen Asura. He takes Rydia of Mist and brings her to the Feymarch in order to train her. He does this because he knows that she is one of the last remaining summoners. The party can later enter the Feymarch to battle him, and earn him as a summon.
Rydia considers Leviathan and Asura to be her family, and even refers to them as her parents after she grew up with them in the Feymarch.
I don't even know if he is alive, or if it was Rydrum who sent me the journal. This whole thing makes me nervous and I'm not sure what to do.
UPDATE: I have had more contact with Rydrum. Over the space of a week I received two more packages; the first contained what looked to be a broken piece of diamond shard. It was completely cold to the touch, and even when I opened the package, a cold mist blew from inside…
The second was a larger package. It contained a helmet. Not just any helmet, I’m certain the helmet belonged to Odin. Inside there was a note with some numbers written on it. I think they’re coordinates – they lead to a Church to the west. I understand now, I have to find Dr Rydrum and find out just what he’s up to.
To be continued...
Now as usual we have a little an interview with a member of our forum: and who better to ask about Leviathan than “The Summoner of Leviathan” himself!
What makes Leviathan such a powerful Summon?
Originally Posted by The Summoner of Leviathan
Originally Posted by The Summoner of Leviathan
Originally Posted by The Summoner of Leviathan
vBulletin Message