PART III - MONSTERS
NOTE: There are MAJOR spoilers in this. So if you don't want to ruin the story for yourself, don't read this!
Many of these monsters are in many different games and stories, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you already know many of these. Still, there are possibly some that you have never heard of.
Mandragora: In myth and folklore, Mandragoras, or Mandrakes, are supposedly plants that, because of the slightly humanoid shape of the roots, are little people. When pulled from the ground, they will scream ear-splittingly loud.
Alraune: Alraune is German for Mandrake. NOTE: Both Mandrake and Alraune descriptions get a little too disturbing for me to want to write. So if you’re REALLY interested, you can look, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Manticore: The Manticore has a head of a man, often with horns, the body of a lion, often red, and the tail of a dragon or scorpion, often with poisonous darts. They are often described as having some type of wings.
Chimaera: A Chimaera is a type of small deep-sea fish, closely related to sharks. In Greek mythology, a Chimaera, or Chimera, is a creature that has the head of a lion, often described as having three, all of which could breath fire, the body of a she-goat, and the tail of a dragon or snake. It was the son of Typhon and Echidna, and was killed by the hero Bellerophon with the help of Pegasus, the winged horse.
Lobo: Lobo may refer to the Mexican Wolf, a small, endangered wolf of North America.
Basilisk: A Basilisk is the king of serpents. It can kill with a single glance, as well as spit poison. They have two natural enemies: the weasel and the rooster. The weasel is immune to the death glance, as well as the poison, and the rooster can kill a Basilisk with its crow.
Lamia: In Greek mythology, a Lamia is a female vampire with a snakelike body, which steals little children to drink their blood. The story is that Lamia was once a Princess that fell in love with Zeus. Yet Zues’ wife Hera, transformed Lamia into a monster, and killed her children. Lamia grew jealous of other mothers, so began stealing and devouring their children.
Medusa: In Greek mythology, she was one of the three gorgons. Originally she was a beautiful maiden, but she desecrated Athena’s temple. Athena, outraged, turned medusa’s hair into snakes and cursed her so that her glance would turn things into stone. Medusa was killed by Perseus, who gave the head to Athena, who then put it on the center of her Aegis, which she wore on her breastplate.
Samael: Often referred to as the true name of Satan. Sameael appears in the Book of Enoch, which can also contradict Samael being the true name of Satan, as some translations say that Satan’s true angelic name is Satanail. Samael is also referred to as the “Venom of God”, as well as being sometimes associated with the Angel of Death.
Cockatrice: The Cockatrice is a legendary creature, whose body was as large as a dragon, yet was that of a rooster, with some serpent-like qualities. It is said that it’s gaze will turn anything to stone, much like a medusa. The basilisk and cockatrice share almost identical properties.
Kraaken: In Norwegian folklore, a Kraken (just one letter off) was an enormous sea monster that would attack ships, and feed on the sailors. It is often described as being a squid, with some crab-like qualities.
Iapyx: In Greek mythology, Iapyx was the son of either Daedalus or Lycaon, and was Aeneas’ healer during the Trojan war.
Idun: In Norse mythology, Idun was the Goddess of eternal youth. She was the keeper of golden apples that kept the Gods young.
The - Fugitive, Neglected, Judged: The three monsters you fight when rescuing your party members in Derris-Kharlan. I found that all of these showed what your own characters were, as each character had some sort of problem with their lives, i.e. Genis and Raine being half elves, and Sheena feeling like her failure with Volt was her fault. Then when you fight Mithos’ final form, he is the combined form of all three monsters, showing that he has had to go through everything that your own characters have had to.
Research Sites Used:
http://www.pantheon.org/
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.dictionary.com/
