Mythology in videogames

I remember we covering this topic for a bit in the old forum. It was on a Fatal Frame thread I believe.

I was saying how Castlevania is one of the series that do that, which was back in the day what Dark Souls, Demon Souls, and Bloodborne are now. Those I definitely like and will keep on liking. I also mentioned how the Japanese really have it down when it comes to those adventure themed religious related mythological games.

To which Cervantes said something along the lines of how it’s especially fun when Japanese creators deal with Christianism, as it looks like a very alien religion to them, that the scary elements of it that we are used to, are explored by them in a very terrifying way, as they may see them as strange and scary.

I agree with that. It comes down to the in-depth research they do of the religion. Because they are outsiders they don’t have restrictions in addressing the most exotic aspects of it, particularly those of mythological / legendary nature.

Which is interesting because these aspects of religion are not imaginary or fantasy, they do exist in real life, except that their function is of abstract and theological character, as opposed of the concrete functionality the games portray them with.

Items like crucifixes, camandulas, rosaries, escapularios, red-beaded bracelets, holy water, medallions, potions, metals, stones, voodoo objects, antidotes, etc. are widely accepted in religious societies.

At the same time the beasts and mystic figures, with specific roles, like cerberus, cadejos, gargoyles, incubus, succubus, goblins, gorgons, ogres, morpheus, legions, molochs, ghouls, demons, ghosts, horsemen, etc. are also widely accepted through out Judeo based religions.

We can say the same thing about the mighty messengers or kingdom of heaven's military, known generally as angels, having each their own hierarchies and ranks, like is the case of dominions, principalities, archangels, saints, seraphims, powers, cherubims, thrones, angels, virtues, authorities, strongholds, lordships, etc. also extremely accepted as dogma and sacred creed.

Anything alchemy is also related since it all existed because of the religion institution established as royalty and their expansion crusades, with their orders of templers, and anything related to the powers of sacerdotal priesthood, witchery, magic, wizardry, pagan rites, etc..

I mean it can go deep, so they are definitely not short of material to work with. I would also put games like God Of War in this category since they are also working with the same kind of elements, but with different origins, Greek in this case. Which is why is OK for westerners to approach it, since there is not taboo behind it.

There are also Nordic mythologies like those of Odin, Asgard, Midgard, Ginnungagap, Helheim, Vanaheim, Ljusalfheim, Muspelheim, Vanaheim, Jotunheim, Schwarzalbenheim, Nifelheim, etc.

Each with their own deities as Thor Of Phecda, Alberich of Megrez, Siegfried of Dubhe, Fenrir of Alioth, Hagen of Merak, Bud of Alcor, Mime of Benetnasch, Zid of Mizar, etc., all the Ursa Major ones at least.

And that’s already entering in cosmology, astrology, etc., but there is also Hinduism, Buddhism, the myths of the Toltecs, the Aztecs, the Mayans, the Incas, the Egyptians, the Quiches, the Sumerians, the Araucanians, etc.. Things that made successful franchises like Tomb Raider and Uncharted.

spidershinobi mentioned that cherubims aren’t exactly accepted, but rather skipped, and saints can be a troublesome subject, since we never saw anyone admit a saint is just a god. He asked why do Christians systematically skip demons? that why do they consider themselves monotheists? and how did a bunch of goddesses simply managed to remain with us even with church authorities speaking against them?

To answer his question I would say that to me at least it is a matter of rank and hierarchy, saints ain’t at the top, they are inter-mediators, on a different level working on the side. Comparing it to a modern concept it would be like how in a guerrilla war, saints would not be part of the contra troops, they would act more like free acting mercenaries because they respond to favors not orders, while angels are definitely the military.

Godhead is at the top and that’s why even with a trinity legislation, the three powers are functioning in a monotheist matter, and even then the concept of multiple gods is still valid, however my guess is that the other actual gods should not concern us since Earth was appointed to one creator who works for his father and according to the myth, with the blow of life itself (the holy spirit), to manage it.

That doesn’t mean other gods do not coexist within that race that is of similar image to that one in Earth, in fact they are so similar that they can even procreate with the humans, hence the giants, the heroes, the nephilim, etc. (as seen on Genesis 6:4 right before the deluge or water baptism when they could no longer interfere again in Yahweh’s new world, hence the rainbows, which is why they remain anonymous), all found repeatedly through out ancient archives. After all “their kingdom” is not from this world, it is of heaven.

Archangels aren’t higher in rank than saints because saints are not in the ranks, but archangels are closer to God in the sense that they lead armies as seen on John’s apocalypse, with Miguel, Gabriel, Rafael, Uriel, etc. (Samael’s “brothers in arms”). [Saints on the other hand act on their own because they are humans who achieved a higher perspective before dying (dying being judgement day, the thief of the night, etc.).

Royal family members can also join the ranks even if they are by blood above in hierarchy. In an Earth context that’s like saying prince William of England decides to enlist in the British army to fight in Afghanistan.

That was the case of Samael, son of Elohim and brother of Emmanuel, who was the closest to Elohim because of his position as family member (son) and also server, but was soon dismissed, turning him into a falling angel, Lucifer they said (the morning beauty after night falls), who I believe also worked his way up in the ranks, which means he was a cherubim and a seraphim at some point, which gave him respectively different names at each level he was, such as Luzbel. He was so high in power that his position gave him enough influence to have a third of their population (not ours) to follow him instead of following Emmanuel.

Emmanuel's plan was to create a world of free will with the sole purpose that those whose habitat’s is in it could learn to love. His plan made priority of the need of pain, suffering, death and sacrifice as necessary elements for love to exist thanks to the emotions and feelings produced by empathy.

While Samael opposed saying that pain and suffering are something that he does not wishes to inflict on the new planet’s emerging race because according to him that can’t possibly be love, instead he proposed a world of joy and pleasure, and that through joy and pleasure the connection can still be achieved between its people.

Elohim liked Emmanuel’s plan better, not because the concept had more sound, but because Emmanuel offered that at some point he would manifest himself in this new world and go through all the pain, suffering, sacrifice, and even death that he proposed, just to prove his plan was the right one, and that if he was able to go through all of it, even death, he would gain the right to claim the people by remaining loyal to his word. Samael apparently tried to give him temptation into stopping proceeding with his plan, but failed as he went through with it all and resurrected on the third day. He came back to his kingdom ascending to the skies on a cloud and promised to come back, but considering the light years distance between galaxies, who knows when.

In a way the core narrative is basically the same as Abel’s lamb versus Cain’s offering story all over again.

That's the historic Christian myth in a nutshell, that was later transformed in different ways through paganism and protestant philosophy. The strange thing is that the same exact story has been found in many different cultures and traditions around the world, with different names for Emmanuel such as Quetzalcoatl, Kukulcan, Gukumatz, Odin, Osiris, etc.. So there is no just one version. The most popular being the Orthodox and Roman Catholic (Universal as it is translated) version.

This stuff is so rich and has so much juice we can only hope they keep exploring it.

Angels are badass, they are basically Super Saiyans. The amount of power they have is easily noticeable just by looking at the explosions of light they emit when they take off. Also the "Ki" around them looks really cool.

They spot some in Israel a few years ago, and one actually descended on top of Solomon's Temple, it was easy to spot for people because it is a no flight zone, so we have some cool footage of that. It was really cool because many people were able to film the event at the same time, so we have many different takes from different angles and distances. The take off looks badass in all of them, I wish I could fly like that.







Videos 1-5 are legit, they came out around the same time. I didn't post video 5, only 1-4, but it is there on the Internet somewhere.

They changed the audio in some, but the originals have the audio and visuals in the right sink. The Israeli weather station photos are also good.

Video 6, the saucer one, I did not included it here either because it is definitely fake. They did that one later on to discredit 1-5. Plus the Assassin's Creed references are just plain dumb.

I would say it is the coolest angel sighting record in modern history. There are others I also consider legit but they are not as impressive. The big majority that are fake are the ones that give a bad rep to the real ones.

I'm surprised you guys haven't mentioned what many consider to be the best mythological game ever.

Sadly I could never get into it because I hate 3D Zelda games.

The other one I also think is worth talking about is El Shaddai: Ascention of the Metatron. Here is CGR Undertow's review of it:

Sorry spidershinobi, as a fan of short comments it often becomes too short. Greek is represented in many games like God of War, Tomb Raider, Smite.

Also found this page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mythology-based_video_games

Moreso than mythological inspiration, I tend to be fascinated with architectural and landscape design as I am a big fan of 3D Adventure games. For instance, as I play Dragon Quest VII on my 3DS (Hooray!), I feel enamored by the grand halls of the castle, the overgrowth on the forested ruins, and the orientation of villages around seafaring. If I may generalize, it's as though the game borrow from several eras and concepts possibly including the art of Romanticism, the labyrinthian ruins associated with ancient civilizations and Truxton the trading system of coastal populations all prior to modernization. These characteristics invoke a sense of the fantastic and exploration but remain grounded in a world and environment familiar to most of us through textbooks and documentaries yet allow us to embark on these wondrous adventures.

I'm not going to pick a favorite era but I will say that 3D action / adventure is the genre that most consistently hits home for me in terms of architectural achievement (starring home run hitters like Dragon Quest, The Legend of Zelda and Banjo Tooie).

spidershinobi You bring an interesting point about dogma not backed up by scripture. Because in ancient cultures the oral tradition was always the priority way of passing information from generation to generation, whether it was about dragons or modernly saints.

I understand it is not the most reliable way to do such an important task because it is easy to change the details for the most part each time it gets communicated.

However I would say the sacred nature of that tradition made them take special care for that not to happen to the extend they could. Often resourcing on the stars, which ultimately is where they claim many of these figures came from in the first place.

We saw this not only with spiritual and religious subjects but also with other kinds of historic myths and legends in general.

The highly praised Iliad an Oddissey epics by Homer were original passed through many generations using the oral tradition until there was a point that people had the chance to record them in writing.

The question is that if in the ideal scenario where nor the oral tradition nor the tradition in wringing could get corrupted because interpretation or language, which one can we say is more important? I don't know if we can justify weighting one over the other.

Except of course that in a not ideal scenario which is what we have, one is more likely to remain more loyal than the other. Which is why currently there is a more significant affection to what is in writting.

I also find fascinating that the tale of the gods I narrated in my previous comment has been found in many cultures through different names and characters much more earlier than when the Roman empire became a thing.

The Catholic Church was indeed founded with the intention to get a hold of something more powerful than the empire itself, controlling that may had been the last attempt to keep the empire relevant even centuries after its destruction.

However we cannot deny by looking at records of other cultures through out the world that the very thing they got a hold of for that purpose is in nature more ancient and cultural diversified than the Roman empire itself.