References of Mythology and religion in Final Fantasy

[Ashley Schovitz]

I was so shocked the other day when I was reading the Bible and I noticed the passage about the Tower of Babel and that automatically got me thinking about FFIV. I never realized before how much effort and references to mythology that Final Fantasy has. They have things referring to the Bible, Arab mythology, Greek Mythology and a lot of tohers and they're just not in monster use.Are you impressed by it?

[Gabranth]

yeah i found that to be quite interesting. gilgamesh, enkidu, tiamat, fafnir, nekhbet....all these different creatures from different cultures.....they're all incorporated into FF. and there are plenty more

[Yuriev's ghost]

Considering most of the references have either absolutely nothing to do with their namesakes or present parallels that an 8 year old could have come up with, not really.

[Mirage]

They're also known for smurfing up certain parts, like a certain horse.

The only thing that impresses me is that they actually know of some of the lesser known myths and stuff.

[The black mage]

I know what you mean.
But a lot of the time in the english traslation. They spell it wrong.
For example Ifrit = efreet, also ifreet, afrit, afreet.

[Martyr]

Yeah, I always thought it was kind of cool.

But they don't really delve into the mythology. They just name monsters and characters after mythological characters.

But I don't mind researching mythology. I'm happy that Final Fantasy gives me a lead on interesting mythological reading.

Also, it's good to learn the names of "monsters" in general. Final Fantasy is a fountain of knowledge and info on the point of monster types in and out of mythology.

[Bahamut2000X]

Yeah they've always used mythology (though the NES ones had it all retranslated as Nintendo was anal on anything religious in games) but yeah Square smurfs up some of them and just uses the name for others. Like Bahamut, in Arab mythology he's more closer to being depicted as an aquatic being more then any form of a dragon let alone a flying one who's kind of the dragons/summons, but then again that's not so much Squares fault as they just stole Bahamut from D&D and added some niftyness to him.

[Renmiri]

Oh gee, there's tons!
Just a sample

* Ixion' - Greek mythological figure, the mortal Ixion had an eye for the ladies. Unfortunately for him, one of his attempted conquests was Hera, wife of Zeus.The resulting offspring was Centauros, who in turn begat the centaur race.
* Anima - Italian for "soul." In the psychology of Jung, the anima is the powerful feminine "inner self" (the animus being the masculine) which represents a person's deepest driving thoughts. Confronting your anima is not to be undertaken lightly.
* Ragnarok - Ragnarøkr is Scandinavian mythology's "Destruction of the Powers"; the climactic battle between the monsters and the Gods that resulted in the destruction of both sides, as well as the world.
* Yojimbo - Akira Kurosawa's 1961 movie Yojimbo portrays a legendary ronin bodyguard Yojimbo who saves a town from two rival gangs
* Shiva - Although the ice aeon shares the name of Hindu god Shiva, it's similarities to the Hindu myth appear to be in name only. The game's figure Shiva lacks all of the god's defining attributes.
* Valefor - One of the dukes of hell, Valefor is the sixth demon of the Goetia.
* Ifrit - Named after the Arab Jinn of fire Ifrit, which is mentioned, among other places in the Qur'anic passage where King Solomon asks various creatures who can bring the throne of the Queen of Sheba to him fastest. In the passage, Ifrit was outperformed only by prayer.
* Fiends - Several Final Fantasy X fiends are named after mythologicl creatures. Examples: Quimera, Daeva, Behemoth, ...

*Chac - Maya Rain god -rain & lightning

*Maechen - The Fourth Heaven, Machanon or Machen is ruled by Archangel Michael, "Is the site of the heavenly Jerusalem, the holy Temple and its Altar" (Godwin, p. 122). It is said to house the city of Christ and is the native seat of the angels.

[Dr. Acula]

I already knew about the Shiva and Tower of Babel things.
Quezacotl is another god of some sort (although its spelled "Quetzacoatl" I think) and Adrammalech is in the Bible somewhere. I'll have to check up on that.

[Ashley Schovitz]

Yeah, I always thought it was kind of cool.

But they don't really delve into the mythology. They just name monsters and characters after mythological characters.

wELL THEY CAN'T REALLY DO tHART iT wOOULFD mESs UP tHE sTORY!!!
oooH GoSH DONE IRT aGAIN wHaT'S wRIING wIT ME????

[rubah]

Lol caps lock.

I was suitably impressed by the persian mythology present in ffx-2, Azi Dhaka and Angra Maalfdastu.

However, it might've been cooler if they made up names themselves:O or used the ones they did more appropriately. But whatev.

[Lynx]

most of the summons are from mythology. a good amount of the enemies have similar names but different looks. even some come from folklore such as ogopogo in FFIV which is a supposed sea serpent in lake okanagan. not all are just summons and monsters though.

the aegis shield
the ragnarok
excalibur
gungir
and more that im not aware of or dont remember

[Bolivar]

Yeah there is alot, i'd like to see a compiled list of everything. Japan as a region has been a host to multiple religions, and you can see that with the amount of deities used and the type of architecture in the later games.

although it is true most of the time they use the name and nothing more, most obviously in the case of Shiva

[Jebus]

rubah told me to come in here and give the basis for Sephiroth's name.

Anyway, the Sephiroth (the th being pronounced as a t) are the ten spheres or aspects of god one must negotiate according to Kabbalistic tradition in order to get to heaven. As shown in this picture:

[Renmiri]

Wow, that is so cool Jebus!