Hashmallum - pretty interesting

[Lord Chainsaw]

I finally got a volunteer job at the local library. Well they have me align book spines with the shelves (pretty strange someone with OCD is bothered by doing something as obsessive as this)

It can be rather boring, and to top it off I got to do the non-fiction section. I go straight to the religious section, cause that's probably the only type of non-fiction I find interesting. Who am I kidding, this job is boring and I'm not getting paid, so I skim through some of the books they got there on the shelf. I spot my favorite topic: angels.

They've got some interesting information on the celestial hierarchy in those books. For anyone who doesn't know what the celestial hierarchy is, it is basically nine orders of angels that revolve around God. Kind of like the planets in our solar system, we've got nine different ranks of angels in orbit around the omni-deity himself. They are divided into different ranks, the closest to God being the most important.

The ranks of the angels in the Celestial Hierarchy are:

1) Seraphim
2) Cherubim (kind of strange, as I always thought cherubs were the lowest class of angels)
3) Thrones (my favorite)

4) Dominions (pay attention to this one)
5) Virtues
6) Powers

7) Principalities
8) Archangels (strange, I figured the archangels would be the mightiest of God's angels. I am lead to believe that Michael and Gabriel are actually classified as Seraphim)
9) Angels

I've always thought it would be incredibly cool if a video game incorporated the Celestial Hierarchy into a group of bosses. For a while I've been thinking it would be downright awesome. Just think of it, fighting nine consecutive bosses each named after a different order. Well, little did I know a game had already done that, just not in that exact way.

I was flipping through the book on angels when I came across the 4th order, the Dominions. Apparently, the Dominions are lead by an angel named Hashmallim. What's even weirder is that the Dominions are often times referred to as Regulators. Hashmallim the Regulator... Hmmm....

Why is his name Hashmalum? They've cut out an l and given him a u. Is it a simple mistranslation, or did Square not want to go with a direct allusion? I've known Final Fantasy Tactics to have many religious references, and I wouldn't be surprised to find more out there.

I haven't been able to associate the Angel Hashmallim with a tiger of any sorts, but I also wouldn't be surprised if that were true. If you want more information on Hashmallim, you can google it, it is rather interesting.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Very interesting. Very interesting indeed. Final Fantasy has other religious references, I remember a thread a ways back where people were talking about how Bahamut and Behemoth were derived from religious myth.

[BG-57]

Xenogears incorperated four of the celestial hierarchy as well, although the names got mangled in translation:

Dominia (Dominions)
Kelvina (Cherubim)
Seraphita (Seraphim)
Tolone (Throne)

Also there's a boss named Metatron (the Voice of God for all you 'Dogma' fans). The game is rife with more angelic references than 'Evangelion'.

[Lord Chainsaw]

I can't believe I didn't catch that when I played Xenogears. I see them now.

The weird thing is the names, if that's what you mean by mangled in translation. Seraphita should have been the name of the leader, not Dominia since the Seraphim are the first order of angels.

I remember Metatron as well. I'm not sure exactly who he happens to be religiously. I've heard that he is the King of Angels, but I've also heard that Michael is the King of Angels so I don't really know what is what. Metatron also made an appearance in Star Ocean: The Second Story as one of God's Ten Wise Men. His name was changed to Berle in the US version, which I think was an incredibly stupid move (although I do admit Indalecio and Cyril sound better than Gabriel and Lucifer)

Another religious boss I've come across in Tactics is the boss named Adramelk. I think this guy is supposed to be Adramalech, the Sumerian Chancellor of Hell. I've read up on this guy, and he is supposed to take the form of a chicken or a goat. On an unrelated note, he also says trout in a T rated game...hehehe.

[BG-57]

The weird thing is the names, if that's what you mean by mangled in translation. Seraphita should have been the name of the leader, not Dominia since the Seraphim are the first order of angels.

What I meants by 'mangled' was the difficulty in accurately translating names. Japanese has some sounds that can be translated in one of several ways in English (R and L, B and V for example). Take 'Cherubim'. The closest they could render that in Japanese phonetics was 'Ke-Ru-Bi-Na'. But the English translator (knowing nothing about the original name) had four ways to interpret those syllables:

1) 'Ke-Ru-Bi-Na'

2) 'Ke-Lu-Bi-Na'

3) 'Ke-Ru-Vi-Na'

4) 'Ke-Lu-Vi-Na'

The translator went with 4), which was the wrong choice. Not that I blame the translator. The fault lies with Square not providing a list of where the names of people, places and monsters came from.

And I doubt the game designers cared much about the hierarchy of angels. But I think it would be better if they simply had traded names. I can't picture a ditz like Seraphita leading anything.

[Edgar]

You should see Xenogears. It has tons of Bible references, that why US did not wanna import this game. Seraphim and Dominions seemed to be changed to Seraphita and Domonia.

They have the Babel Tower too.

And the reference to shepards and his herd (LAMBS, remember?)

EDIT: doh BG-57 beat me to it.

[BG-57]

I found a hymn that incorporates the celestial heirarchy. Check it out:

Ye watchers and ye holy ones
Bright seraphs, cherubim and thrones
Raise the glad strain
Allelulia
Cry out dominions, princedoms, powers
Virtures, archangels, angels' choirs
Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia

O higher than the cherubim
More glorious than the seraphim
Lead their praises
Allelulia
Thou bearer of the eternal Word
More gracious, magnify the Lord
Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia

Respond, ye souls in endless rest
Ye patriarchs and prophets blessed
Allelulia, Allelulia
Ye holy twelves, ye matyrs strong
All saints triumphant, raise the song
Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia

O friends, in gladness let us sing
Supernal anthems echoing
Allelulia, Allelulia
To God the Father, God the Son
And God in Spirit, Three in One
Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia, Allelulia