However, in certain circles, the word Esper is most familiar via the Square Co., Ltd. Super Famicom console role-playing game Final Fantasy VI (originally released as Final Fantasy III in North America), in which beings called "Espers" are essentially demigods who wield Dungeons and Dragons-esque magical abilities, and can be killed to allow these abilities to be transferred to others. Although weak, ubiquitous magical beings exist in Japanese folklore and mythology (kitsune, for example), there are no analogous beings in European myth or the English language; thus, the English translator of the game, Ted Woolsey, picked the closest word he could find, and that word happened to be "Esper."
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