The Five Bosses of Godo's Pagoda

[Obsidian Fire]

Applying Anime logic to FF7 works... very well. So them being a theater-themed quirky mini-boss squad... yeah... it fits.

Also... the thing Yuffie is annoyed about is how Wutai is a *tourist* town now and not a military empire. So in a metaphoric way, Wutai as a whole is acting out their own culture on a stage. One of the things Yuffie asks her dad and the rest of the Five Mighty Saints is if they're okay with just being in the tower the entire time when they're really crazy good warriors. And they actually say that yes, they're okay with that.

 

[Makoeyes987]

I'm going to present a couple examples.



This lady here? Her name is Mykale, an enemy from FFV. A cute little witch sitting on a cartoony crescent moon.

But. If you know Roman epic poems or Grecco-Roman occultism, her name should sound familiar. Because she's a witch from Metamorphoses, an epic poem by Ovid. Mycale is one of several mythological Thessalian witches who were believed to be capable of literally bringing the moon down to Earth through their rituals.

So Nomura, in his first big gig at Squaresoft, designed a witch riding the moon on Planet R and named her Mykale. Is this a coincidence or did he actually look up Grecco-Roman mysticism to get inspired for monster designs? Well, let's fast forward.



This is Doomtrain from FFVIII. Pretty straightforward name for a demonic train with a spooky face, yeah?

Except that's not his original name.

His original name is Glasya Labolas. Named after one of the demons of the Ars Goetia from the 17th century Grimoire, The Lesser Key of Solomon. This is why one of the items necessary to unlock and obtain this Guardian Force is called "Solomon's Ring."

Nomura apparently loves mysticism and the occult. Most FF writers and character designers, simply love to play around with historic origins and inspirations. Yeah, they're "just names." But they're names clearly meant to inspire the source material to a degree. It's why they design around them. It's why Sephiroth controls a bunch of poor people with numbers tattooed on their flesh, and Supernova appears after the depiction of an elaborate mathematical equation sequence with a bunch of numeric formulas.

So, no. They clearly have some sort of cultural awareness with the names they decide to pick and choose from. After all, Final Fantasy was designed with Dungeons & Dragons in mind, and D&D has always combined research into art, history, anthropology and mysticism to create new fantastical elements for gaming purposes. Sometimes they subvert the origin and sometimes they play it straight.

 

[Ite]

I'm going to present a couple examples.

View attachment 11350

This lady here? Her name is Mykale, an enemy from FFV. A cute little witch sitting on a cartoony crescent moon.

But. If you know Roman epic poems or Grecco-Roman occultism, her name should sound familiar. Because she's a witch from Metamorphoses, an epic poem by Ovid. Mycale is one of several mythological Thessalian witches who were believed to be capable of literally bringing the moon down to Earth through their rituals.

So Nomura, in his first big gig at Squaresoft, designed a witch riding the moon on Planet R and named her Mykale. Is this a coincidence or did he actually look up Grecco-Roman mysticism to get inspired for monster designs? Well, let's fast forward.

View attachment 11352

This is Doomtrain from FFVIII. Pretty straightforward name for a demonic train with a spooky face, yeah?

Except that's not his original name.

His original name is Glasya Labolas. Named after one of the demons of the Ars Goetia from the 17th century Grimoire, The Lesser Key of Solomon. This is why one of the items necessary to unlock and obtain this Guardian Force is called "Solomon's Ring."

Nomura apparently loves mysticism and the occult. Most FF writers and character designers, simply love to play around with historic origins and inspirations. Yeah, they're "just names." But they're names clearly meant to inspire the source material to a degree. It's why they design around them. It's why Sephiroth controls a bunch of poor people with numbers tattooed on their flesh, and Supernova appears after the depiction of an elaborate mathematical equation sequence with a bunch of numeric formulas.

So, no. They clearly have some sort of cultural awareness with the names they decide to pick and choose from. After all, Final Fantasy was designed with Dungeons & Dragons in mind, and D&D has always combined research into art, history, anthropology and mysticism to create new fantastical elements for gaming purposes. Sometimes they subvert the origin and sometimes they play it straight.

Well said, and I don’t think anyone would dispute you on that point Mako. But what, in your estimation, is the significance of these names? I have a degree in theatre and can’t for the life of me think of any connection that isn’t a stretch.

 

[Makoeyes987]

I'd imagine it's an exercise in creativity. An effort to inject a fun and unique amount of personality through a nod to mythology/history/etc and give flourish to their character/creature/setting designs. Basically, to just make them stand out just a little bit more.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I don't doubt SE has a great big book called World Mythology or some suchlike that they regularly consult in their quest for names. It's consistent with their practice right from the start. Video game people have always tended to be mythology fans anyway, so I'm sure they brought their probably encyclopedic knowledge into the job.

Sometimes the names they choose align with the nature of the monster, like Leviathan being a water monster/water summon/water god, or Kujata being a bull, and sometimes they don't, like Shiva. With Shiva, they seem to have based the character's design on an association with an English sort-of homonym, "shiver". There's no obvious connection with the Hindu god Shiva. As for Bahamut, he comes originally from Hebrew mythology and is a giant fish or whale, not a dragon. But I guess fish and dragons both have scales.

 

[ForceStealer]

There's no obvious connection with the Hindu god Shiva.

There is the blue skin

As for Bahamut, he comes originally from Hebrew mythology and is a giant fish or whale, not a dragon. But I guess fish and dragons both have scales.

Dragon-Bahamut was almost certainly just taken from Dungeons & Dragons, which had already created the King of the Dragons version in the '70s. But I'm not sure what led Gygax to make that particular leap.

 

[Clement Rage]

Do the names have anything in common beyond theater? Do the writers have a common theme or something?

The point of Godot is that it has no point, which is either a very clever troll of anyone trying to mine significance from this or a happy coincidence.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I do rather like the idea of Godo's name having no point... A clever troll, as you say.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Applying Anime logic to FF7 works... very well. So them being a theater-themed quirky mini-boss squad... yeah... it fits.

Also... the thing Yuffie is annoyed about is how Wutai is a *tourist* town now and not a military empire. So in a metaphoric way, Wutai as a whole is acting out their own culture on a stage. One of the things Yuffie asks her dad and the rest of the Five Mighty Saints is if they're okay with just being in the tower the entire time when they're really crazy good warriors. And they actually say that yes, they're okay with that.

I like this explanation.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

This is my favorite Yuffie moment in probably the entire Compilation... I always found it interesting that the other Five Gods of Wutai are there for this moment and their reaction isn't getting mad at Godo for how the situation turned out... but instead to sympathize with him and even wonder *why* Godo says it's *his* fault Wutai turned out how it did. Given how Godo an the Five Gods all seem to be on the same page... you kinda wonder if it wasn't just Godo who decided that Wutai should take the route it did... but all five of them...

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Yuffie
Then what 'bout the rest of you? You have all that power...
Are you satisfied being cooped up in this tower?

Godo
Yuffie...!

Yuffie
You too, dad...! Just because you lost the war!
And turning Wutai into a place like this!

Chekhov
...What do you want to say?

Yuffie
You turned Wutai into a cheesy resort town peddling to tourists...
How dare you!? Da-chao Statue and Leviathan are ashamed!!

Godo
...

Shake
She IS a kid.

Yuffie
Wh, what did you say...!?

Godo
Yuffie!!
Forgive me... It's all my fault...

Gorky
What are you saying, Lord Godo!

Godo
Losing the war... turning Wutai into this. It was all my fault...

Chekhov
Lord Godo!

Godo
Silence!!
Yuffie......
I am the same now as I was before when I wanted the war.
But, after I lost the war, I began to think...
Is strength, only for defeating the enemy?
...or just something to show-off to others...?
Might begets might.
That's the same way as the Shinra...

Yuffie
......

Godo
I knew you were looking for Materia for the good of Wutai.
But, the reason I hide my strength now, is also for the good of Wutai...
And now, I realize both are necessary...
Strength without determination means nothing. And determination without strength is equally useless...!

Staniv
Lord Godo...

Godo
You there, please take Yuffie with you!
I perceive that you all have both determination and strength!

 

[Clement Rage]

I do rather like the idea of Godo's name having no point... A clever troll, as you say.

"Five people on an internet forum in twenty years are going to love this!"

 

[Mobius Stripper]

"Five people on an internet forum in twenty years are going to love this!"

I want to see the Venn diagram of gamers and theater nerds.