#There are actually so many chimeras in mythology...

[random-cockroach]

Vortex as a vendigo (I don't mean exactly this mythological creature but as something similar to this, just didn't find close one to this)... with a bit of boggart's abilities...

[luvo27]

ok @glitter-stained in a truly inspired move of unparalled genius said MisMag coffee shop au: the Hoopty is the coffee shop so i'm playing with that now!!! here's my take on it:

cute little cafe with dim yellow lights and tables whose tops are painted in muted jewel tones

there's a mural stretching across all the walls and the ceiling of a massive dark dragon/snake thing

little figurines/plushies of strange creatures scattered throughout the cafe, some visitors find them creepy, some find them charming

jammer 's a barista - sam used to work there as well but she doesn't any more because she's pursuing her inexplicable but incredibly successful career of...being famous? no one actually knows what she's doing, but she's doing amazing at it.

sam posts about the coffee shop on social media a lot, but never actually gives any identifying information: this, and these people are hers and hers alone, a lot of her life is lived in the spotlight but this place will stay in her heart

K is a regular, comes in and sets up their laptop and orders as much black coffee as they can stand. it does get to the point where jammer just installs a little tech corner

the tech corner then gets used by so many students who come in

i think the students build a mythology around K: if they touch your laptop you'll get an A on your next exam or something. the students are also scared of them but if they need help then K will do their absolute best

this does result in a busted laptop in an incident that also means the shop has to be closed down for a couple of days.

i think probably the plushies of the creatures were made by K and Jammer: like maybe Jammer was trying to sew a wolf plushie but accidentally put the pieces together wrong and its head got sewn on upside down. K likes to make chimera plushies as a fun creative excercise. sam gives all the little guys names

order kiosk with googly eyes that they affectionately call Tabby

jewel (leep director) is also a regular - this is how jammer starts volunteering there because i do adore jammer working with kids with my entire heart

i think evan wandered in one day to get probably just a black coffee and maybe a discounted smashed pastry or something before he got talking with jammer and then he starts working there too

[mrcompass]

The Cosmic Names of MFB Beys.

In MFB, Beys are named after constellations like Pegasus and Leone and sometimes celestial bodies such as Jade Jupiter. However, there are some cases that do not seem as straightforward, and even some Beys that can find multiple origins for their names. I decided to take a look at them.

Vulcan Horuseus

Horuseus represents Horus, the god of the sky, and as a result, he encompasses both the sun and the moon as his eyes. So, he has a connection to Earth's satellite, the moon and with the sun, our star.

There is also an asteroid named after Horus: 1924 Horus.

The Fusion Wheel also plays a role, as Vulcan references a hypothetical planet closer to the sun than even Mercury.

Hades Kerbecs

Kerbecs actually refers to a constellation, Cerberus, which is now an integral part of the Hercules constellation.

However, like Horuseus, there is also an asteroid named after the three-headed dog: 1865 Cerberus.

Similarly, a moon of Pluto is named after the god’s loyal companion as well—Kerberos.

Mercury Anubius

Anubius is the Bey of the Legendary Blader of Mercury, Yuki, and as such, he represents the planet with his Fusion Wheel of the same name.

Anubis is the god of mummification and guided souls to the afterlife, a task also taken by Hermes, with whom he was associated with. Hermes is considered the Greek equivalent of the Roman Mercury.

Anubis is depicted as a man with a jackal head. This canine form can create a link with constellations such as Canis Minor, and some scholars claim there was a connection between the two for the ancient Egyptians. Some also say that Anubis was connected with Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, which is part of Canis Major. However, some of these claims are more modern interpretations. Regardless, I can see MFB using that interpretation.

Anubis also gave its name to an asteroid (1912 Anubis).

Forbidden Ionis

Ionis is depicted as a heifer and, as such, can be associated with the bull constellation, much like Dark Bull—they even share a similar color scheme.

However, it can also and mainly be associated with Jupiter’s satellite Io, named after one of the god’s mistresses, who was changed into a cow.

Omega Dragonis

Omega Dragonis represents a dragon and, as such, can be associated with the Draco constellation, much like L-Drago.

In addition, the complete name Omega Dragonis can be seen as a pun, since one of the stars in the Draco constellation is named Omega Draconis.

Death Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl represents the Aztec god of the same name, who often took the appearance of a feathered snake, just like in the anime. As a result, it can be associated with the Serpens constellation.

There is also 1915 Quetzálcoatl, an asteroid named after the Aztec god.

But more importantly, in Aztec mythology, Quetzalcoatl is often associated with the morning star, aka Venus.

Diablo Nemesis

As many of you probably know, Nemesis was the name given to a hypothetical star (a red or brown dwarf) once speculated to orbit around the Sun, but it doesn't actually exist.

However, Nemesis does have an asteroid with the same name: 128 Nemesis.

Additional Beys

Here are some Beys that didn’t make it into the anime but seem to have names disconnected from the overall theme:

Divine Chimera

I couldn’t find anything concrete for Chimera, other than an asteroid named 623 Chimaera.

I think the reason why Kakeru’s Bey seems a little far from the classic constellation naming theme is because it was the result of the "CoroCoro Design a Beyblade Contest," with bladers creating their own designs.

Nightmare Rex

There are asteroids named after dinosaurs, notably 9951 Tyrannosaurus.

The name dinosaur ("terrible lizard") and Tyrannosaurus ("tyrant lizard") both derive from the greek word for lizard, meaning that they could represent Lacerta (the lizard constellation). It wouldn’t be the first time that a constellation ends up with a Bey having a different design—like Gill, which represents Carina Keel as the motif but has the spirit of a sea monster instead.

Bakuushin Susanow

Bakuushin Susanow was honestly more complicated. However, it is noteworthy that he is the god of the sea and storms and the brother of Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, and Tsukuyomi, the god of the moon. One day, he went on such a rampage that it caused Amaterasu to hide in a cave until the other gods convinced her to come out. This myth is believed to be a representation of a solar eclipse, with Susanow being the cause. Some modern interpretations suggest that Susanoo represents solar eclipses (in this myth), though this is not a central aspect of his traditional Shinto mythology. Interestingly, Takara Tomy released an all-black version of this Bey called Lunar Eclipse.

There is also an asteroid named after him: 10604 Susanoo.

[gilly-moon]

PERCY JACKSON TV SHOW REVIEW

(SPOILER ALERT! I Did Not Like It)

It has been 16 long years since I first picked up The Lightning Thief, and once again...I am faced with an adaption of one of my favorite books that is so painfully disappointing. And now that the tv show is completely out, it's time to purge the collection of thoughts I compiled on it:

Starting on one of the (few) positives, the cast was incredible. I know for a FACT that they are all wonderfully talented individuals, and I aim all of my gripes with their acting at the directors and writers.

So much telling. So little showing. Stop explaining the plot and the mythology to me. SHOW it to me. Explain later only when necessary.

And yet, some things weren't explained at all! I know, as someone who read the books, what blue food means to Sally and Percy. But the show never explains its significance. To the unknowing watcher, it's just a weird quirk, not a small rebellion between a woman and her kid against the life they're stuck in. It baffles me what the writers chose to over explain versus under explain. There's no clear reason for either behavior, and it permeates the writing in a bad way.

There's also a lot of the kids just being dragged from point A to point B by an outside force, rather than their own actions. They never really felt alone or even in danger on their quest, because gods kept showing up to help them along. I did not like that.

These kids aren't allowed to be kids. I stg you could make them teens or young adults and the dialogue/their actions would be the same. That's not good.

Why do they always have all of the information!!!?? They immediately know it's Medusa. Echidna introduces herself and they immediately know who she is and that it's a Chimera in her bag. They immediately know what the Lotus casino is. Why? It makes the stakes feel so low, rather than the mad dash scramble in the books that happens a lot when characters have to remember the myths and how to beat a monster mid-fight. And it makes all these scenarios so boring!!!

Also so many of the fight/chase scenes were boring or anticlimactic. The only good ones I can think of were in the first two episodes, and then one with Ares. Someone actually slipped in some good choreo in those few fights, but completely forgot to add it in to....the rest of the show....

There's very little about the show that feels magical. CG is used, obviously, but at times it feels like they should've gone further with it, or used it even more, and they just....didn't. The visuals end up feeling clunky and not very cohesive, with zero whimsy. Hate to make this comparison, but the Harry Potter movies were VERY good at showing the lines between the magical world and the muggle world, and the tension that occurs when the two interact. There is....none of that in the PJO series. Zip. Zero. And the mythological CG that is there is more often than not static or boring.

Break for a positive! I actually really liked that Percy was learning mythology from Mythomagic. The show wasn't really consistent on that point - saying it was his mom instead most of the time - but that was such a fun and clever way to work in the card game and make it plot-relevant. As someone with ADHD, I can confirm I would also learn mythology WAY better if it was for my favorite game.

Ok back to the negatives - Wtf is up with the portrayal of the gods? For one, they're boring to look at. Nothing about their designs makes them feel 'godly' and while that's ok with some gods (Hermes for one, tho I have issues with his weird beige sweat suit look) why is Ares just some regular ass biker dude? Where are the flaming eyes?? And radical skin-leather bike?? He couldn't even have a CUSTOM bike with red bloody paint and boar heads and chain link handles or something???

And the gods are way too fucking nice. Sorry. I don't have an issue with Hermes being nice but. Ares having a heart-to-heart with Grover? When his presence is supposed to stir everyone up into a rage? And Hephaestus sees Annabeth refuse to give up on her friend and just goes 'awww, ok, you and Percy can go, and take my rival's shield back to him too cause I'm just so nice.' Sorry, no. I'm fine with gods being helpful - Hephaestus helps (reluctantly) in the later books. But it was at a price! A favor for a favor! Not a 'get out of jail free' card just because he was moved by normal ass human compassion!!

Hades gets his own bullet point because who the fuck was that. As a child of Hades, I'm offended that this sweet fruity guy just wanders up and goes 'hey, how's it going, wanna snack?' like, that is NOT my dad. My dad had skeleton soldiers filling his halls and a garden of jewels and a voice so loud it rattled the whole Underworld. Whoever that was in the show was a pathetic imitation.

The point of the first series is to work up to Percy throwing it in the gods' faces how awful and neglectful they've been of demigods and specifically their own children. Demanding that they do better. But if they're already showing compassion and 'humanity' in the context of the first book/first season of the tv show....Percy starts running out of ammo against the gods. There's no coherent story progression where Percy spends years seeing the worst of the gods and the best of them at very distinct, important times of his life and his story. It no longer feels like a massive change they have to make in the system, something that deserves a godly favor for Percy to demand of them. Luke no longer feels like his fury at the gods is wholly justified. The whole series begins to crumble because the gods already have a good reason for being how they are, rather than being thoroughly selfish assholes who only dote on demigods when they do something really cool. And the exceptions are presented at intelligent moments that prove to Percy when he most needs it that the gods can be better, they just need a forceful push to get there.

That being said, where was Percy getting the info that the other gods were feeling scared and abused by Zeus? I love the balls on this kid, but like...when did he make these assumptions and why? That whole scene felt really unearned.

Also Olympus was BORING. And EMPTY. And DARK. It looked like we were just back in the Underworld. Which. The Underworld was fucking boring too. Some neat visuals, sure, but put that in some high fantasy show. Not this one.

One last positive before my final point - there were some pretty good jokes scattered around. Not nearly enough, but I did really enjoy the Dionysus introduction and a handful of lines from Percy. Also releasing the animals in Vegas - Grover being like 'oh, you were worried about the humans' got me good.

The final word that kept spinning through my head after finishing episode 8 was: Pathetic. Luke's betrayal was pathetic. No deadly scorpion. No commitment to that period of time in the books we were convinced he really was evil. And Gabe just stumbling on the package with Medusa's head in it? PATHETIC. Percy outright asked his mom if she was being abused in the book, and she took fate into her own hands to statue-ify that bastard. But no. The show was through-and-through just a pathetic, watered-down version of an incredibly fun, emotional, brutal, exciting series of books. I know there was a lot of heart behind this production, but I did not feel it at all. But what else should I have expected from modern Disney?

[the-blossica-fan]

Well, firstly, the name Echidna actually comes from Greek mythology: Echidna, the Mother of Monsters.

Coming up with her concept, I knew I wanted something to do with bright blue highlights contrasting with black, and it all just clicked together in a final burst of deranged sanity before sleep overtook my mind. Yes, she makes monsters. But more than that, she enjoys picking apart bodies of humans, Arcanists, animals and critters alike and then stitching them back together in horrific and unnatural ways, animated by her arcane skill, following her every command. The deer-headed monster was partly inspired by a sketch I made back in school, one that haunted me well after I finished it. I called it the "Patchwork Chimera", which I guess could be what this abomination could be called. It is also one of her earliest creations, and something I think I might get into more later.

How did Echidna join the Manus? She kinda just joined at some point, and nobody really questioned it. She fit in well enough, though her "family" tend to make people keep their distance even if she's on their side. Arcana was more than happy to let her do her thing, even sending some "material" for her to make use of. Dead or alive.

Have you heard about some of the earliest attempts to study the human body? It was so hard for researchers to get a hold of proper materials to study, so many of them had to resort to graverobbing to obtain bodies to dissect in order to study the internals of the body. Echidna's parents were such people, though they weren't above sourcing fresher research materials. Echidna grew up surrounded by the study of anatomy and how the body operates inside and out, watching her parents as they conducted their research, as well as how they obtained some of the better conditioned bodies they studied. Very early on empathy was a foreign concept to her, and her parents, absorbed in their research, were slow to notice her rising interests in experimenting with biology using arcanum.

...Well, at least they'll always be by her side now.

"...monster? ...how rude...monsters deserve love too..."

What's that last sentence, comrade? The one with the parents ☝️😨

I am concerned but in a good way. Is there a good way to be concerned? Now there is!

I like it, I give you thumbs up! 👍

So Acaba may or may not have sent her people that are still alive for her to rip apart and sew together as she wished? Very Arcana like

[ganeshpnf]

To the anon that sent me an ask about asking my thoughts about the tv show, Im so sorry but something happened and I think it got deleted 😭 But dw I would still answer it here-

So this would be a critism post and I want to make it clear that everyone is free to reblog and comment their thoughts freely, while being kind. Critism is valid and its not rude, but any bad comments or hateful remarks to any actor, especially child actors, would be deleted. I dont like blocking so dont make me please!

Okay to start, I would be so honest and say I did not find the show successful and I did not like it. I would explain all the reasons, but did it make me feel nostalgia a bit? Yes it did. Did it make me cry at the end? Yes :) I would add pros at the end. But first:

Cgi was really bad, I mean that claiming scene would be a laughing stock in a few years. Chimera? Nope- Medusa's hair also looked better in that movie in 2010. Also they avoided showing Grover's legs so much, also didn't even show us riptide's change...They got 15M per episode and if these are the results, then it is a problem. Background of Percy and Ares's fight- so so greenscreen. I wish Disney can take things seriously.

Lighting was so dark, especially for the lighting thief. Which was such a humor filled book and it was way too colorful. Why make it all so dark and lifeless?

Also humor? Way too low for pjo. "But we are not reading Percy's mind!" Yet, there were so many jokes in the books that could have been add, but they didn't. Yes there are some good jokes (pinecone fate) but to the standart, I expected to laugh way more. Its pjo!

Changes? Well to be honest I am a person who keeps book and show separate, I dont think they are the same at all. So I dont complain about the changes at much. But most of the changes were pointless to me and so many things left unsaid. I wish they didn't make Gabe way too soft. Children's show, yes. But then again, what would you do for later seasons if they cant even show Crusty's dead. Sally's real reason to marry Gabe never get explained, why? 4 pearls, why? Missing deadline? Totally pointless. Not mentioning Riptide's name? Chiron might have say it. Love tunnel? Now its a long one. Rick explained they couldn't do spiders and its hilarious, you gotta do sea monsters man- And instead of a chance to see an actual comedy: live on Olympus and Annabeth losing her shit. We get to see such a early scene of Percabeth drama. Why changing one of the funniest scene in the books to drama? You needed more edits for view or smt? Hephaestus falling over to the speech of friendship was nothing but cringe to me. Moving on, Thalia's acting to Annabeth. Why she is not nice to her and Annabeth had to earn her love. The point was Thalia to remember Jason and taking Annabeth under her wings immediatly bcs of it. Medusa's scene- Instead of us laughing to trio's silly behaviours and falling to her trap like little kids would, we get to hear a monster-hero talk. Yay another speech! Ovid's side of the story also bothered me. Greek mythology, why adding Ovid? Just us to sympatize with Medusa. Lotus Casino scene- We could have watch them have fun and going crazy but noo- they had do add more drama with Hermes. Did not see the point of his appearing either. Why is he there? I wanted to see them being children...And wanted to see the magic of the place!

Now if I move to characters, Percy's I know it all side is just annoying and adds no suspense to the viewers. What's the point if he knows everything already? "But his mom taught him!" But guys, remember, the whole point of pjo was: us to learn with Percy! We were learning the Greek myths with Percy, who is new to the world. They go somewhere and Percy immediatly: "You are Crusty, my mom told stories about you!" 😑 What a relief then! You tell us. Percy's sudden bravery at the end? Dude, he has 5 books for that.

Annabeth turning to a stoic child soldier? Suddenly goody-two shoes? Where are her emotions? Her fears? Her flaws? Her fricking love of architecture? She doesnt need to know everything to be smart girl. She had ADHD, she is 12! Ofc she was supposed to fall in traps. We should have watch her blushing as Luke talks, getting all wet by Percy in the toilet, she was supposed to our little girl. She is not just a badass queen yet, please. Give her personality back. Why she only smiled once at the end of the series? And not having a childhood, not even watched a movie? You guys cant be serious- She grew up in chb! She picked up strawberries, she played games and she watched movies when she was little, remember? She was not in legion... She is one of the most emotional characters, should we remind this to Rick and writers? She cries, she has feeling! Dam she was crying when they left Cerberus! She was a trouble-maker, she stole clothes, remember? Her portrayal was awful...

And about the Gods- Just..."He is trying to make them look awful at the beginning" Then why the hell it was only Athena? Almost turning her to second Zeus- Are you kidding me? You make her suddenly a child killer, when in the books she was nothing like that. Why making her worse, when other gods(Poseidon, Hermes, Hephaestus,Dionysus,Ares,Hades) seem way more human and nicer? You cant tell me he tries to make them worse when they are portrayed like that! No sir- Hephaestus is nice enough to release Percy after a friendship speech. Poseidon is suddenly a perfect dad, he is not sorry that Percy is born. Ares is just a dumb twitter bully, where in the books he was threating them to no end. And fricking Hades?! I am sorry but Hades like that- He should have been scary. But no, he is just a lonely cool guy. I thought he softened after Nico. Cant wait for the development now...

Other than that, one of my most important things: vibe. Sorry...Like I said, it was way too boring for pjo. Even that horrible movies had more vibe! Gimme the vibe!

Pacing? Has a problem and I hope they fix it. Episodes being too short? Also another issue.

Now for the chb, I was hoping to see more activity. Why the camp is not full of noisy kids running around, playing hide and seek like in the books, training wild around the areas, camfire and silly songs? Where are our children screaming and being ADHD demigods? Instead they play chess in the cabin- Please, give more life to chb.

Finally, for the things I liked:

Riptide song!!! That song is my favourite thing in the whole show- Like its soo good.

Seeing Sally's struggle to raise Percy. Also a plus for me. Because I was curious. Also adding Poseidon to the scene was okay. I loved that parts.

Young Percy did awesome and he was such a good actor :)

Percy's dreams were good, I loved seeing them. Congrats! Andd, child accurate cast. It was important. But I wish they hurry so then we wont have it anymore 😭

That was it! Like I said, I find it a bad show, as a fan of 12 years. I waited this for so many years. I was dreaming this. But sorry, bad show is a bad show. At least it did give me some nostalgia and it did make me cry at the end :) I hope they improve because it would suck if they get a cancel before season 5. The bad thing is, I feel they knew we pjo fandom wanted a show for years. And they knew we would eat the crumbs. Its just not fair, you know. They would like it anyway, type. They are not taking it as seriously as they should. With that budget, look at other shows with that budget. I know, its still a kids' show. But I dont think its an excuse for them to upset the fans who waited this long...

Thanks for the ask anon! And like I said, feel free to add your thoughts :)

[hollowed-theory-hall]

You think you’ll ever draw your own interpretations of some of the beasts of the Wizarding World? Like Graphorns, werewolves, boggarts, Hippogriffs, Dementors etc? Since some of the choices in the movies were…odd (I’m looking at you emaciated chihuahua Lupin and Avatar Pandora looking Graphorn?

So, honestly, I'm pretty bad at drawing animals and creatures since I didn't practice it as much as people (though I can work from a reference usually). But, like, if I would, I'd probably approach the design process by basing the creatures off of real animals. I mean, I think the Hippogryphs are gorgeous and I have no complaints because it looks like animals merged together. a lot of mythological beasts are essentially chimeras of different animals ancient people were familiar with. So something that looks like a Hippogryph feels like it could be real because of the familiar aspects of it. I like the Niffler design for the same reason — they feel like a real animal since they are somewhere between a marmot and a platypus. I think they should've taken this approach for most creatures, since they feal like they could belong in the world.

I hate what the movies did to werewolves. It's implied from OotP that werewolves look very similar to regular wolves, just with slight discrepancies:

“ ‘Give five signs that identify the werewolf.’ Excellent question.” [...] “I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes, and the tufted tail,” he said anxiously, “but I couldn’t think what else —”

(OotP, Ch28)

So, I would probably draw them as regular wolves, just larger, with shorter snouts and tails and slightly longer legs that are wider apart. Like, I'll just change some body proportions a bit, but not anything that would be noticeable from a large distance if your not familiar with regular wolves.

Here's a very quick shitty edit to illustrate my point (werewolf to the left, regular wolf on the right):

Basically, in my head, werewolves look like large wolfdogs (cross-breeds of wolves and dogs) that some of them don't look quite like wolves or quite like dogs.

In Fantastic Beasts (the book), Graphorns are described as:

Large and greyish purple with a humped back, the Graphorn has two very long, sharp horns, walks on large, four-thumbed feet, and has an extremely aggressive nature. [...] Graphorn hide is even tougher than a dragon’s and repels most spells.

They are also mentioned to be living around mountain trolls, therefore in the mountains. So, If I were designing them, I'd probably base them off of a large mountain animal. Like a takin (which even has the humped back!):

Just make the horns longer and forward-facing, replace the fur with rough-looking greyish-purple skin, and you have a Graphorn. I mean, look at it, it gives such Graphorn vibes.

Basically, if I were designing magical creatures, I'd base them on real animals that actually live in the same environment. That would get the best, most immersive results, I think.

Dementors have a pretty detailed description in the books:

was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Harry’s eyes darted downward, and what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water. . . .

(PoA, Ch5)

So, the movie design is pretty spot on for the description we are given of dementors, so I don't have many complaints there. Especially, since dementors aren't really a beast. They don't need to fit their environment and look natural where they live because they aren't living. they are bred from dispair so it makes sense they look the way they do. They should look messed up and unnatural.

And Boggarts don't really have a form, since they're shapeshifters.

Like, these are some of the concepts I have about some of it. And I might draw them eventually if I feel like it, but for now, I haven't.

[yakuzacanons]

I realize this is not the typical request you get so pls ignore if u don't wanna write it, it's totally fine. :3 I'd like some headcanons for the blorbos as supernatural creatures!

Hi hi hello hello, sorry it took so long to get this one done. I've actually been planning it out since I got it because it's not one I can do easily off the top of my head. I wanted to incorporate as much stuff as I could so it took a while to really lay thoughts down finally. Anyways, here it IS. It includes supernatural and mythological creatures from multiple cultures, btw. Sorry if I missed any particular faves.

Kiryu Kazuma: Dragon

Bit on the nose but our Kiryu can't be anything but a dragon. Powerful to a point of being otherworldly and with a driving fire in his belly, Kiryu is dragon similar to that of Haku from Spirited Away. He is simaltaneously tormented by his spiritual being but also extremely conscious of his abilities and how to use them. Sometimes he fears the sharpness of his own claws and wonders if his powers couldn't be used for something better or at the very least gentler.

Majima Goro: Ouroboros

With his snakeskin jacket, Majima is an ouroboros in walking human form. Known as the snake that holds its own tail in its mouth, Majima is his own best friend and worst enemy. His lifestyle of being on the absolute razor edge has left him holding his own fate in his hands, or in some cases, his mouth. He constantly lives in a state of holding on to his own past or biting it off entirely and becoming someone separate from it.

Saejima Taiga: Werewolf

Equally sensitive as he is strong, a werewolf is the perfect personification of who Saejima is and his internal struggle. He's very much a man who has a love/hate relationship with his supernatural struggle. On one hand, it makes him able to protect those he loves and stand up for what's right. On the other hand, he feels like he's controlled by it more than anything. He often questions if there's more to his life than brutish force.

Akiyama Shun: Centaur

Swift and steadfast like a stallion, all with the charisma and temperment of a human being. Handsome by nature but stands out in his own special way. Although he is prone to living lazily in his own comfort, when push comes to shove, he wouldn't hesitate to race to your side when you need him. Also really good at kicking people really hard.

Tanimura Masayoshi: Moon Rabbit

Small but mighty. Typically found alone despite having connections to other beings or even working under other more powerful creatures. Agile and has a penchant for sweet foods. Many people see him but truly do not know much about him.

Ryuji Goda: Basilisk

Similar to Kiry, Ryuji embodies a powerful snake-like creature. Although Ryuji also has great physical force, his form is slightly more reserved in that respect. If he desired, he could simply destroy another person with so much as a glance, choosing to raise his fists only for fights and people he deems truly worthy.

Nishikiyama Akira: Shachihoko

With the body of a carp and the head of a dragon, Nishiki's tattoo is truly the embodiment of what kind of mythological creature he would be. Always trailing the cusp of greatness, Nishiki finds himself trying to evolve while also struggling to remain true to himself. It's this very struggle that in the end either transforms him entirely into one being or the other or simply tears him apart.

Daigo Dojima: Sphinx

Daigo is a multifaceted person with a complex life, which only makes it fitting that his supernatural form be equally complicated. Part man, part lion, and part eagle, Daigo in his older age is a balance of brute strength, intelligence, and justice. He tries his hardest to embody the best of all these qualities but struggles to find the balance within himself. Sometimes this drive to be the best of everything leads him astray, blinding him from what really matters.

Mine Yoshitaka: Chimera

Our mysterious Mine is not understood by anyone. He's truly an engima, with his form changing varying on the situation he's in and who's nearby. Sometimes Mine doesn't know who he is and loses himself in between these transformations. Ultimately, it's this constant desire to change himself that is the end of him.

Tatsuo Shinada: Tanuki

Playful yet mysterious, Shinada is a shapeshifting tanuki that transforms as he needs to survive. Mostly content to get by day to day, saying and doing what he must to make it to yet another day. Partial to free stuff, snacks, and lying through his teeth to avoid hard work or responsibilities.

Ichiban Kasuga: Phoenix

Wonder-boy Ichiban cannot die. Even at his lowest, he doesn't die, he simply transforms and shines even brighter. Although constantly pushing harder and forward in life does tire him out, he always comes back stronger than ever. Somtimes even he's amazed at what he's capable of when he puts his mind to it.

Yu Nanba: Ratatoskr

Known in Norse mythology as the messenger between the eagles Yggdrasil and the serpent Niohoggr, Nanba's time as a homeless man has caused him to observe all walks of life and made him a silent but observant person. Known more his brains than his brawn, Nanba finds ways to be of importance without necessarily shedding blood, either his own or someone else's.

Koichi Adachi: Minotaur

All brawn no brains, our Adachi. He's got a good heart in there somewhere deep down but the years have made him a little jaded. Fears his only purpose is to hand out ass whoopings and nothing else meaningful. Once he gets really riled up, good luck with that fight. The man can really pummel when he feels like it. Spends most of his alone time just doing his own thing. No one really knows what else he does, honestly.

Tianyou Zhao: Qilin

Known as a symbol of good luck, Zhao floats through life either trying his best to give better fortune to others or just getting extremely lucky himself. He tries to make it appear as though it's easy or that it comes naturally to him, but he does exert quite a bit of effort underneath the surface.

Joon-Gi Han: Selkie

Depending on the situation he's in, he can either put on or remove the skin necessary to preserve his own life. Often feels like a fish out of water, pun intended. Typically alone but people find themselves drawn to him anyways, mostly for his physical beauty. Beneath his desirable outer appearance, he harbors great power.

[thewapolls]

OH BOY so there are some wacky shenanigans with the full family tree on this one. To make the poll doable I had to par this down to just those with direct ties to the core monster family in question (so no retroactive or 2nd degree ties included this time)

TATZELWURM, originally butchered by localization as "Tatzelbelm" shares a model with 2 other monsters in WA1: SALAMANDRA and BUBBLE TORTOISE(we'll get to them...) And the real world Tatzelwurm is a mythic creature from the regions around the Swiss Alps said to have the body of a serpent and the head of a cat, said to lurk about mines, hissing and causing poisoning. It's possible they're actually just an explanation for gas leaks.

the WA2 TATZELWURM shares its model with GILA MONSTER, which is the common name of the Heloderma suspectum, a venomous lizard local to the Sonoran desert. Growing up around the Sonoran Desert as a kid I remember being told that if a Gila Monster ever bit you, the only way to get them to let go would be to cut their head off, as they'd stay latched on even after death otherwise. I don't think that was true. And speaking of myths about the Gila Monster, funny enough old settlers used to believe it had poison breath, so it being a recolor of the Tatzelwurm is actually quite appropriate.

in WA3 the TATZELWURM is redesigned from scratch again into a broadheaded and horned drake-like creature and shares this model with JABBERWOCK and MUSHUSSU. JABBERWOCK was originally a recolor of HYDRA in WA1 and misromanized as "JAVAWALK." It is of course the subject of the famous C.S. Lewis poem of the same name, with a notable cameo in Through the Looking-Glass entrenching it in popular culture as part of Alice in Wonderland lore.

MUSHUSSU utilizes a strange model in WA2, shared with JABBERWOCK and FOUNDER LIZARD(localized as "JACK LIZARD" for some reason...) I believe MUSHUSSU is the core member of this family because of how the mythological creature is described: "a scaly animal with hind legs resembling the talons of an eagle, lion-like forelimbs, a long neck and tail, two horns on it's head, a snake-like tongue, and a crest." But it becomes a recolor of Tatzelwurm in WA3. (Funny enough JABBERWOCK and MUSHUSSU share both their WA2 and WA3 models.)

SALAMANDRA is a red (and weirdly fleshtone?) recolor of the original TATZELWURM that branches off in subsequent games. It being the mythic and alchemic Salamander, it is of course strongly associated with the element of fire. Despite some dramatic changes, it does actually loop back around to being a TATZELWURM recolor in Alter Code F.

BASILISK shares SALAMANDRA's model in WA2. It has kind of a complicated family tree itself, that we won't get into here, but notably it shares a model with COCKATRICE and BLACK SABBATH in WA1, and ALLIGATIGER and CHIMERA GEO in WA3.

And in WA3, SALAMANDRA also shares a model with both HYDRA and ZAHHAK. The character model in question seems to originate with HYDRA's redesign for WA2 which features prominently in the disc 2 OP. I assume we all know the mythic Hydra.

But ZAHHAK is perhaps a little more obscure a pull for a JRPG in the 90s. It refers to the villainous figure of Persian mythology, Zahhak The Dragon, aka Zahhak the Snake Shoulder, aka Azi Dahaka. So the idea of "Snake Shoulders" being represented in the HYDRA model's many heads is appropriate. And as it happens in Wild Arms 5 there is a monster AZI DAHAKA which actually comes in like 6 different forms, it's a whole thing... but I can't even find any good screenshots of it anyway.

and finally last and absolutely least in this family tree, BUBBLE TORTOISE, localized as just "Tortoise" is a light blue recolor of the original TATZELWURM that never came back after the first game.

[sergioguymanproust]

Most humans see these reliefs and dismiss them as just tales created to show creatures that served to illustrate mythological legends and nothing more than that. Cryptids that every culture has had from time immemorial ,but most kept on denying till this very day.But here and there we hear reports of similar monstrosities seen alive in caves all over this planet.But here is where it gets really interesting,our dear government in cahoots with military scientists creating,chimeras to use them as biological weapons. Cloning and testing these on people, in National Parks,and officials denying it .But even more disturbing a theory that speaks of these anthropomorphic creatures being created by extraterrestrial here on Earth for millennia to test them and allowing them to survive here .Many of these Garuda cryptids appear also in ancient religious texts of India ,Assyrian and Greek mythology.So,it does surprise me that these extraterrestrial that messed with our DNA to be more precise the Anunnaki also have had their geneticists tweaking other ancient races and brought them here. Folks there’s no doubt in my mind that several races of different civilizations have landed for diverse purposes here millions of years ago ,settled and left when this world was even more violent than now.Well,we even have a possible name for this eagle headed deity , called Nisroch. This fellow is even mentioned in the Bible.Well, there’s nothing to deny that he was an actual extraterrestrial being .Go figure ,there’s so much that has been hidden from us that it is not funny anymore . Our prehistory and history is peppered with with these beings and it is sad that we have been lied about the truth for hundreds of years,well more like thousands of years. Words by Sergio GuymanProust.

Assyrian alabaster relief of an Eagle-Headed Winged Figure from the ancient city of Nimrud, dating back to the 9th century BCE. The Pergamon Museum, Berlin, GERMANY.

Photo by Babylon Chronicle

[tyrantisterror]

A Semi-Spoilery Ramble about Prehistoric Pokemon in the wake of Scarlet/Violet

You know me, I love the “Prehistoric Monster” trope, and Pokemon has played with it since the very start of the franchise.  The prehistoric pokemon are my favorite semi-official category of pokemon, and I love how the franchise has slowly built its own mythologized Monstrous Prehistoric Age over the course of its lifetime.

The newest entry in the game series doesn’t have any traditional prehistoric pokemon - that is, there aren’t any that you resurrect from fossils Jurassic Park style.  However, in Pokemon Scarlet, you encounter paradox pokemon that are explicitly from the prehistoric past, and this is where shit gets REAL intriguing.

See, up till now prehistoric pokemon have only be represented by facsimilies created in the modern era.  The Jurassic Park reference isn’t shallow - just like in Jurassic Park, the pokemon resurrected from fossils aren’t 100% accurate replicas.  Most of them have rock-typing as a result of being brought back from fossils rather than purely biological remains, while the Galarian prehistoric pokemon are horrific chimeras made by a careless scientist who’s doing an even worse job of resurrecting these fossils than normal.  The point is that we’ve never actually seen a true prehistoric pokemon.

...or have we?

Ok, so, Mega Evolution is introduced in the Kalos games, and is revealed in the Hoenn remakes to have been caused by energy released from meteors that landed in prehistoric times.  Why is this important?  Well, Aerodactyl’s mega form is speculated to be closer to what it looked like in prehistoric times than its normal form.  Likewise, the legendary pokemon, Groudon and Kyogre, undergo a process very similar to Mega Evolution, even requiring specific stones to activate it, but the process isn’t called Mega Evolution, but rather Primal Reversion.

This brings us back to Pokemon Scarlet.  Due to literal time travel shenanigans, a bunch of pure prehistoric pokemon are brought to the present, all of them being explicitly more dinosaur-y, or, if we’re really being honest, retrosaur-y, with lizard tails and Godzilla spikes being a common design motiff - even among non-reptiles, like Great Tusk (i.e. prehistoric Donphan), Scream Tail (prehistoric Jigglypuff), and Slither Wing (prehistoric Volcorona).

But the one that I want to highlight is Roaring Moon, i.e. Prehistoric Salamence.  See, Salamence also has a Mega Evolution form, and both it and Roaring Moon have enormous wings that connect to form a crescent moon shape.  In many ways, Roaring Moon looks less like a prehistoric Salamence and more like a prehistoric Mega Salamence.

Or, to put it another way: Like Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Salamence is closer to its prehistoric counterpart than normal Salamence is.

And this raises some fun questions.  Is the meteor radiation what made prehistoric pokemon so gnarly?  Was EVERY pokemon permanently mega-evolved in prehistoric times?  Could it even be what made pokemon have super powers unlike those of mundane animals?

Or, given the fact that mega evolution comes from meteors, which are normally the kryptonite of prehistoric monsters, did rise of mega evolution wipe out the prehistoric pokemon, with paradox pokemon like Scream Tail and Roaring Moon being the super-powerful brutes that wiped out the Tyrantrums and Aerodactyls of days past, before the radiation became less prominent and they evolved into their less powerful, more docile modern forms?

And what about Dynamax?  WHAT ABOUT DYNAMAX, GUYS?  Also caused by strange radiation, plus the fact that it kaiju-fies pokemon, with kaiju OFTEN being prehistoric monsters as well - the fact that Gigantomax Charizard looks like a hybrid of both Mega Charizard forms... Where does it fit?

AND!  Dynamax/Gigantomax energy was caused by Eternatus, an otherworldly pokemon that came from the stars and seems VERY similar to the Ultra Beasts, which explicitly come from other universes, while the meteors that created mega evolution seem to have some connection with Deoxys, an explicitly etraterrestrial (and possibly extradimensional) pokemon.

AND! AND! We have Legends Arceus reminding us that there are pokemon evolutions that went extinct much more recently, as well as Legendary pokemon who naturally (well, for a given definition of “naturaly”) warp time and space routinely.

It’s building to something!  There’s some really cool lore developing now about the prehistory of the pokemon setting and I am fucking here for it!  Give me that good Prehistoric Fantasy shit!  Inject it into my veins!

also Violet says the future is all robots, which is cool I guess.

[singular-yike]

Fot the character asks, what do we know about Shion Enraku-Houlen (real legal name at this point, presumably)?

Ah it's been a while since the last one! Admittedly I've been avoiding doing one about Shion myself, since they're honestly a very straightforward character with not much to them.

Even so, there's certainly not nothing to talk about. So, here we go:

An Individual Born from the Aggregate — Shion

Name

First thing I can say, is that their name definitely isn't "Shion Enraku-Houlen" haha, it's simply Shion (シオン). This name is taken from the name of their parent-flower, the Harujion (ハルジオン).

Specifically, it's taken from the jion (ジオン) part. Though since the original word is a combination of haru (ハル) and shion (シオン), the rendaku (連濁) phenomenon which alters the voicing of shi to ji is not observed/reversed, hence Shion.

Origin: Last-minute Addition

Indeed one would quickly notice that Shion, unlike many other Len'en characters, seems rather thematically shallow, at least in terms of inspirations and references.

This is because Shion was never planned to be a major character in the first place, but is instead the logical conclusion of the presence of the Harujion in the story.

It's long been known that Fumikado was meant to be the original stage 6 boss of RMI, but was bumped down to stage 5 to make room for Shion.

While that was all we knew for the longest time, Kanae (JynX's Vtuber persona) revealed new information about the creation of Shion when asked about the creation process of Len'en characters. (Go give it a read, it's fascinating even ignoring the new Shion info.)

Kanae explains that the idea of a being born out of the Harujion had always been a character in his plans for RMI, though he never thought much about them other than being suited for stage 4 or 5.

However, as he actually worked on RMI and fleshed out the story, this "Harujion-spawn" got pushed all the way up to stage 6, and that's when the Shion we know and love started getting developed, as what Kanae describes as an "afterthought character".

Of course, that's not to say that they're a throwaway character that serves no importance to the story. JynX is nothing if not meticulous with the characters, and they earnt a spot alongside two of the protagonists of the series after all.

Rather, I think this story just goes so show that characters who were not originally meant to be that central to the story may still suddenly shoot up to prominence when the situation calls for it.

In any case, because of Shion being an "afterthought character", they're not really based on anything from real-life history or mythology, but is rather by-and-large a JynX-original creation. So, in the following parts, we can examine what this is about!

Shion, the Chimera Soul

The most important thing to note with Shion is their existence as a Chimera Soul, a conglomerate of souls that happened to fused together. This combined with the participation of the Harujion in their creation created this rather unique being.

Chimera Souls

First thing to note, is that Shion is in fact not the only chimera soul in Len'en! When the torrent of souls flooded in during RMI, many of them fused and combined to create tiny chimera souls.

This created these little guys:

They're simply called "ghosts" most of the time, cause fusion or not, that is fundamentally what they are. Souls that remain in the world of the living, hence, ghosts.

The Harujion's Participation

Shion is so unique compared to the little fellas because they're composed of many more souls, and that is thanks to the Harujion's participation in their creation.

Being a youkai flower that feeds on the life force around it grow, it also drew in the souls gathered by Fumikado and co. This allowed for a much higher number of souls to fuse together, thus creating a much more powerful being.

Shion's "Miracle of Flesh"

The Harujion's participation also caused a second anomaly, what I like to call the "miracle of flesh". Chimera souls are, by nature of their composite souls, dead, devoid of live.

Yet, thanks to the Harujion's ability to revive the dead, when Shion was created, half of these souls "came back to life" and formed a physical body, while the other half became the body's "spirit".

Good and Evil, Thrown Out of Balance

When this process was taking place, the good souls formed the body, while the bad souls formed the spirit. This should've lead to a balance, a "good" physical body containing and "evil" soul.

However, due to "the nature of the Mugenri Barrier", a majority of the souls could not firmly judge themselves to be "good". The "evil" souls of the spirit overwhelmed the "good" souls of the body, causing them to leak out into the open.

These are the purple, ghostly appendages that we see all over Shion, the torrent of evil souls that their body could not contain, overflowing into the outside world.

Below: Shion's BPoHC portrait as a playable character.

These souls take on different shapes from appearance to appearance, and all represent the myriad of souls that Shion is made up of, from animal to plant to insect to human.

Examples include the cat ear, bunch of grapes, red spider lily and butterfly wings in their original RMI appearance, and the dog ear and dragonfly wings in their BPoHC playable character appearance.

Soul-related Abilities

Shion has a number of soul-related abilities, unsurprising considering their origin, and chief among these is the ability to "absorb one's spirit and self", self here referring to the sense of self, the ego.

This of course refers to how they literally absorb and eat other souls as a form of sustenance. Additionally, they have the ability to see the colour and smell the scent of others souls, which they use to learn about a person's nature.

Shion's Ethical Dilemma

Shion is another one of those characters that are outwardly cheerful and carefree, yet upon closer inspection quite complex.

They are keenly aware of the fact that they are a composite of many souls, and firmly believes that what their souls say accurately reflects the world.

Due to the Mugenri Barrier making the souls unable to judge themselves as "good", and due to many of their voices claiming that the word is filled with malice, Shion came to firmly believe that both the word and they themself are fundamentally evil.

Because of this, and as demonstrated by their actions, it's fairly clear that Shion's moral compass points towards a rather wicked direction. Yet even so, Shion tries to do good, at least, their idea of good.

I always liked how this is demonstrated in their fight against the ??? Team in BPoHC, where the following exchange is had:

Hamee "If I erase you, I think Tsubakura-sama would be at least a little bit sad~." Shion "That's… a really twisted way of expressing love, isn't it." Hamee "Are you interested?" Shion "Shion-chan's quite fond of that way of thinking. Very well, let's fight." Hamee "That's our Shion-chan~! ♪ A cluster of malice! ♪" Shion "I'm not fond of the way you phrased that though…" Hamee "It's fine. Us malicious ones have to get along. ♪" Shion "Shion-chan might be a cluster of malice, but I'm no villain!"

It's a pretty interesting glimpse into their psyche, they relish in what is conventionally considered malicious, since malice is what they are. Yet they are unwilling to actually partake in it, to associate with people who are actively vile, like Hamee.

Admittedly, I have no clear way to reconcile this with Shion showing absolutely no remorse in eating people's souls. So I just have to concede that Shion still has a fundamentally different moral code compared to the average person.

Ending

And that's all I have! Admittedly not as much as one might've hoped, and I didn't touch on every single little thing that there is to examine, like their spell cards.

Often feel like many of us can benefit from taking a step and re-examining Shion's character and their unique existence, as well as what this means to them personally. Hopefully this was a good attempt at that.

Welp, that's the end of the end. Now that I've done this, I'll probably do one for the Harujion itself sometime in the future, so look forward to that~! As usual, I hope you enjoyed~! :)

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

I often consider mythological creatures and what I would like to be most and why.

If you think about it, a Unicorn has a natural sword and can battle if it needed, definitely a powerful consideration.

But mermaids have control over the entire ocean, they could go anywhere, see creatures no human on land has seen before.

A centaur with the body of a horse is strong and fast, but their human body means they can still craft, grab, and build.

A fairy being so small can avoid large predators and hide in tiny areas. They're also very beautiful and who doesn't want to fly?

A chimera literally has two heads and a venomous tail, that certainly sounds fun.

Even after all my years of thinking, I still can't decide which creature is most alluring to be. What do you think? If you could be a mythological creature too, how would you decide and what would you want to be?

I can't speak to why mythical creatures are or aren't appealing, but a few things:

They are almost always fictional. This is especially important if you have been influenced by H. P. Lovecraft, e.g. in Homestuck (although fictional creatures are a big part of Homestuck).

They don't actually control anything. (I mean, you can certainly take this in a magical-realist direction, but this isn't quite what happens in many popular depictions.)

They almost always have powers that don't match the popular conception of them. "A mermaid with the power to control the ocean and see all sorts of new things, and also it's impossible to get in trouble" isn't very compelling at all, but "the ocean will never hold back what she wants" is a lot.

In addition, they tend to have powers that are difficult for human minds to even comprehend. (Consider the "magic is simply the result of physical laws that were not yet discovered" viewpoint in the first place. If you can understand this, consider: imagine it being applied to magical powers.)

So there you go.

[justmilah]

in honor of ur swlkie au, if everyone (ouat chatacters) were supernatural creatures, what do you think they'd be?

Oh gosh! I sadly know a lot less about supernatural creatures than I like, but let's see what I can come up with! I'm trying to more western mythologies just because they're the ones I know the most about. Also if I spent more than a day thinking about these they would probably all change (except for Alice's and Killian's.) and half of them wouldn't be pulled out of my...nose, sorry.

Killian: Selkie. No, wait, hear me out! According to this, 'Male selkies are described as being very handsome in their human form, and having great seductive powers over human women. They typically seek those who are dissatisfied with their lives, such as married women waiting for their fishermen husbands.' And from what I've been able to find, as opposed to being forced into a relationship, they willingly come to a woman seeking them out if they want to.

Regina: I had a thought in my head, but the closest I could come to it in a google search, Onryō, wasn't quite right. (And I don't know enough about Japanese myths to just dive in.) I would think Gorgon for her, very similar with what happened to Medusa. Just cursed because of things that happen to her outside of her control and then using her powers to lash out and destroy at everyone around her even when she doesn't want to. (And then Henry holding up a figurative mirror to her like 'Mom, this is what you're doing, please stop.')

Emma: A Swan Maiden, much for the same reasons why I have Milah as a selkie. (Though very much not my idea and taken from this ask I was sent!)

David: Griffon. Totally. 'Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts, and the eagle the king of the birds, by the Middle Ages, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature.'

Snow: A Sphynx. Mostly the Egyptian take, 'seen as benevolent, though with strength as ferocious as that of the Greek version.'

Belle: A sort of dragon! Not a scary one, but one that likes to horde books and knowledge like the treasures they are. And she'd be a small one, kind of unassuming, and people underestimate her until she breathes the flame of witty words at them. (There is also an argument to be made that she could also be a selkie, but that would mean I have three.)

Rumple: Isn't he already sort of a mythological creature? But I guess a Chimera would work well for him. So many parts melded together in a way that shouldn't work but typically does. And I don't know if actual (mythological) Chimeras are at odds with their separate parts, but he often is.

Alice: A unicorn because she is the purest and the bestest and is frikkin magical and I want to protect her at all costs and also she probably likes to spend her afternoons laying under apple trees with her head on Robin's lap and that is so very unicorny.

Okay so I spent an hour wracking my brain (or...staring dumbly at my screen, your pick) trying to figure out what Henry could be and I just can't do it so I'll have to get back to you on that one ;.;

[mask131]

Magical summer: Excalibur

EXCALIBUR

Category: Arthurian literature and myth

Excalibur. The magical and mythical sword of King Arthur. Everybody knows the legend. Everybody knows the story.

The sword from the stone… Or the sword from the lake? Good question. Did king Arthur took the sword out of a rock? Or was the sword given to him by the Lady of the Lake? Which version do you know? Maybe one, maybe both… but know that both are technically correct. As I said before: the Arthurian myth is a mess.

 Excalibur’s name is not even Excalibur. The sword began its career in Welsh literature, in a time the Arthurian myth was still deeply ingrained in the Celtic mythology (Welsh and Irish) : it was then called “Caldfwlch” or “Klaedvwlch” (it notably appears in “Culhwch and Olwen”, a Welsh text of the 11th or 12th century. At this point the sword is described as king Arthur’s most precious possession, but it isn’t his exclusive possession – in the poem describes above he lets one of his warriors, Llenlleawg (the Irish prototype of Lancelot) borrow it to kill an Irish king named Diwrnach and steal his magical cauldron (it is… a long story). Another Welsh text called “The Dream of Rhonabwy” does not name Artur’s sword but it describes it quite precisely as having two chimeras on the golden hilt: when the sword is unsheathed, the blade looks like fire poured out of the chimera’s mouth, making the sword so dreadful everybody tries to look away from it.

Arthurian literature and myth only really started to become popular with Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Latin work “Historia Regum Britanniaea” (The History of the King of Britain, published in the 12th century). It was a big hit in Europe, and by this time the sword of Arthur was renamed. It got the Latin named “Caliburnus”, which was later simplified as “Caliburn”. In this version of the tale, Caliburn was said to have been forged in the mythical land of Avalon, but so far we don’t know exactly how king Arthur got it.

 To have some origin story, we will have to wait for the Arthurian craze to hit France. As the romance and tales of Arthur, Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table swept old France, the sword went by many names, such as Caliborc or Escalibor, before finally finding its last name, “Excalibur” (for example in Chrétien de Troyes famous Arthurian tales, at the end of the 12th century, Excalibur didn’t exist as the sword – at one point borrowed by Gawain – is called “Escalibor” and said to be the finest sword ever made, able to slice through iron as if it was wood).

The story of the legendary “sword in the stone” comes actually from a French text called “Merlin”, written by Robert de Boron. Now, the story goes as such: Arthur obtained the British stone by going in a churchyard on Christmas Eve and pulling a sword from an anvil sitting on top of a stone – as Merlin himself explains, only a true heir of Uther Pendragon (the previous king) or someone appointed by God as the next ruler of England could have performed such a feat. The “Merlin” of Boron became part of a larger cycle of Old French Arthurian tales, gathered together in an ensemble called the “Vulgate cycle”, which as a whole heavily expanded the myth of the sword from the stone – who is left unnamed in Boron’s works, but becomes in other tales of the Vulgate Excalibur. We notably see the context of the “sword in the stone” explained: young Arthur had been adopted by Sir Ector and believed himself to be Ector’s son, ignoring his true father was Uther Pendragon. He acted as the squire of Sir Kay, and the challenge of the sword in the stone was set up to know the next ruler of the throne after Uther’s death. Many nobles tried to pull the sword, including Sir Kay, but all failed – yet teenage Arthur managed to do it without any effort, at first by accident, and then was asked to do it again publicly: thus Arthur was revealed as Uther’s true heir. The Vulgate cycle also adds what happened to Excalibur at the end of Arthur’s reign, in a text called “Mort Artu”: on the brink of death, King Arthur asks Griflet (a knight of the round table) to throw Excalibur into the enchanted lake where the Lady of the Lake dwells. Griflet tries and fail two times, because he deems the sword to be such a great artifact he can’t resolve himself to throw it away – but finally he agrees to his king’s final wish, and a hand comes out of the lake (supposed to be the Lady’s hand), catching the sword and taking it deep in the waters.  As mentioned before, in Chrétien de Troyes’s works, Arthur allows one member of the Round Table to borrow his sword: Gawain, who is actually not only Arthur’s best knight but also the king’s nephew. Gawain using Excalibur as his own is also attested by the “Lancelot” text of the Vulgate.

Now, following the Vulgate cycle, a second “series” or “ensemble” of French text was formed : it was called the Post-Vulgate cycle, due to being made after the Vulgate was done, but unlike what the name implies, it is not a sequel of the first cycle. Rather it is a series of text that either offer to “expand” on the previous told story, or that completely rewrite the Vulgate. For example the Post-Vulgate includes Boron’s “Merlin” in its chronology and logic, but it reinterprets it completely, and as a result we have a Post-Vulgate Excalibur slightly different from the Vulgate Excalibur. In the Post-Vulgate texts, the Sword in the Stone and Excalibur are not the same sword. The Sword in the Stone, left unnamed, was broken by Arthur during a battle with the king named Pellinore. It happened quite early in Arthur’s reign, and on the advice of Merlin himself, Arthur went to the Lady of the Lake to obtain a new sword: she offered him Excalibur in exchange for a later boon (which she later invokes in a different story by asking for the head of a knight named Balin).

 Now that the French part of the Arthurian myth is done, we can jump to Malory’s famous “Le Morte d’Arthur”, the iconic work which became a classical piece of literature in England and brought the Arthurian world back into the British isles in the 15th century (aka, as the Middle-Ages came to a close). Malory’s version of Excalibur became the most well-known and famous in England. In this version, Malory sticks with the idea that Excalibur was given to King Arthur by the Lady of the Lake, while the sword of the stone is much different. Malory also took back the whole “thrown in the lake after Arthur’s death” story, though he replaces Griflet with another knight of the Round Table, Bedivere. Malory also popularized more details that were present in a form of another beforehand, such as the idea that the blade of Excalibur has sentences engraved on each of its side (“Take me up” on one side, “Cast me away” on another), or that when Arthur first used it in battle, during a conflict against those that claimed he had no right to the throne, the blade shined so bright it blinded the king’s enemies. Malory’s text also heavily popularized another detail concerning Excalibur: the importance of its scabbard. For you see, in later Arthurian texts (including Malory’s works but also the Post-Vulgate), the scabbard of Excalibur possesses magical powers: when someone wears it, their wound never bleeds (which prevents hemorrhagic death). The scabbard notably plays a heavy role in Malory’s story. Basically at one point Morgan le Fay managed to make a copy of Excalibur, a fake sword she equipped her lover Accolon with in hope of dethroning Arthur – but in the duel that ensued, Arthur killed Accolon with the real Excalibur. Morgan, in revenge for her lover’s death, steals the magical scabbard, before throwing it into a lake. This breaks Arthur’s magical protection, and it condemns him to death during his final battle. (Merlin had already warned earlier Arthur that him favoring the sword over the sheath was a very bad idea, as in truth the sheath was much more important).

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A fun fact about Malory's text - at one point in the story, before Arthur obtains Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, Merlin calls the sword Arthur has "Excalibur" and describes it as obtained through a "miracle". It does lead to several interpretations: is it a mistake by Malory who got confused in his chronology? Does it mean the sword from the stone (aka the "miracle") was also named Excalibur, which means there would be two of them? It is quite interesting to note that an Arthurian poem that predates Malory's text (but was retroactively named "The Alliterative Morte Arthur") describes King Arthur as owning two different swords. Excalibur is his "war sword", that he uses for battle : he notably used it to kill his own treacherous son, Mordred. But Arthur also owns a "peace sword", called Clarent, which is a ceremonial sword used for things such as knighting - but it is also this sword that would be Arthur's doom, as Mordred stole it to battle his father, and it is the sword he uses to mortally wound him. Many modern interpretations used the named "Clarent" to designate the Sword in the Stone (when it is differentiated from the Excalibur-sword in the Lake), even though in the original text nothing says that Clarent is either the sword of the stone or the one of the lake.

[manyworldsmw]

Botera

(BO-TAIR-uh) Botera is a planet packed with many different biomes and kingdoms, ranging from windswept fields to high mountains with peaks covered in ice and snow. A perfect place. At least according to those who inhabit it. Botera is home to creatures from mythology, minus Gods, and creatures from folklore. Any mythical creature you can think of can live here. Unicorns, Dragons, Fairies, Gnomes, etc. So, this planet’s inhabitants sound pretty nice, right?

Oh no. Boterans are known for being crueler than their enemies on Dreas, for any creature that doesn’t belong is instantly sent off the planet or punished for even taking a step on the land here. Many Boterans believe themselves to be better than others, whether those others are their own kind, or other species.

Of course, not all Boterans are like this! Some are actually quite nice and loving towards others! It’s just that their King seems to encourage this behavior.

Botera, and it’s two blue moons.

Botera is ruled over by a King, who is known as King Evern. King Evern is a Dragon Chimera, sporting three heads and a snake tail.

Just like his people, Evern is also not the nicest person, and has a seething hatred towards the Dreasans, as him and his people have been at war with them for many years. Neermoor, Lord of the Dreasans, has tried many times to make peace, but Evern has refused.

Maybe someday it’ll stop. Maybe… there will be peace.