FF Origins

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Origins of Character Names in Final Fantasy
by Mark Rosa (markrosa@hotmail.com)
I'll start out at the beginning with the FF series' first game...
Final Fantasy
The sword Excalibur of British legend makes its first of several FF-series appearances here when you acquire Adamant (something else that shows up a few times) and give it to the smith. Excalibur was the sword that King Arthur pulled from the stone to prove his worthiness as king. The ideas of knighthood and chivalry date back to Arthur's time.
The Japanese sword Masamune: One explanation is that there was a feudal lord named "Masamune Date" (Date (da-te) is the family name) who ruled Rikuzen (area near Sendai) around the early 1600's. He lost one of his eyes due to sickness in childhood, and he was nicknamed "Dokuganryuu Masamune" (Masamune, the one eyed dragon). Another story says that there was a blacksmith named "Masamune", and his sword was so sharp that you could drive it into the ground in a lake, and leaves that floated by would float around the Masamune due to its holy power. Masamune is written like this in Japanese:
________ ,
| |--------|
|-- ------
| | --------
| | |
-------- / | \
would be the Kanji. (it's hard to write kanji in ASCII!)
Murasame: (This isn't actually in FF1, but I wanted to put it with the Masamune) The characters are "town" (mura) and "rain" (ame). Murasame is used to define a rain that rains in small area. (Sometimes quick rain) Thus, it could mean Murasame can cause "quick blood rain". (And in some stories, Murasame is cursed. Though the leaves floating down the river will avoid the Masamune, they float right into the Murasame and get split in two.)
Another weapon is the Rune Sword - runes were the letters used by Icelanders and other Nordic people over 1000 years ago. They were believed to have magical properties, and supposedly were invented by Odin himself.
Bahamut: He's in all three of the US Final Fantasy games, and FF5 as well. He's supposed to be a great dragon of some kind, possibly the king of the dragons. But in another story, the world is being held up by an angel standing on a ruby mountain. The mountain lies on top of a bull (sometimes called Kujata, who's in FF7) with four thousand of various body parts, which in turn stands on a fish which swims through the darkness. And it turns out that Bahamut is the fish that holds up the world!
Pirates: Some speculation... there are two types of enemies that look like pirates in FF1... one is called "Pirate" (no surprise there) and the other is "Kyzoku"... maybe the latter could be a misspelling of the Japanese word "Kaizoku", which means pirate... has anybody out there played the Japanese FF1 and can tell me that game's names?
Giants (and Frost Giants): Enemies in FF1. The Frost Giants come from Nordic mythology. The father of the Frost Giants was Ymir, and with his cow Audumla he created the Aesir, and Odin (a really familiar name if you like FF) is among them. (I'm skipping a large portion of this story. For more info, check your local library ^_^)
The Cockatricemakes its first appearance here. Supposedly they were deadly winged serpents from biblical times.
The Sphinx makes an appearance in FF1 for the first time. (It's in FFMQ and FFA as well.) It had a lion's body, a woman's head and shoulders, and eagle's wings. It would sit alongside a road and ask travelers that came by a riddle and eat anyone who got it wrong. The riddle: "What animal has four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?" You've probably heard the answer... a human being!
The Four Fiends of FF1 all have mythological names. The idea of four elements (earth, fire, air, and water) making up all matter in the cosmos goes back to the ancient Greeks. But the Fiends' names aren't all Greek. They're more obscure than most, and many game players might miss them. So I've outlined them here...
Kraken: A mythical giant squid, supposedly. I've also heard stories of Kraken being a sea monster. Could be either Scandinavian or Greek in origin. Supposedly a Kraken lies in the Straits of Gibraltar waiting for unlucky ships.
Kary: The Fiend of Fire in FF1, Kary could be an alternate spelling of Kali from Indian myths. Kali demanded human sacrifices of her worshipers and had skin blacker than the night sky. She had three eyes, four arms, and giant tusks coming from her mouth.
Lich: "Lich" is Old English for "corpse" or "dead body". (The German word for "dead body" is "Leiche"; they're related.) Also, a Lich is a kind of undead mage with no soul; a powerful magic user who chose to trade his soul for immortality as an undead.
Tiamat: In Akkadian mythology, Tiamat is the mother of the other gods. She has five heads (blue, red, black, green, and white) In some stories, she is enemy of Bahamut, king of the dragons.
Aegis Shield: You find this in the tower in the middle of the desert. The Aegis was the breastplate of Zeus, and, later, Athena. The word "aegis" means "protection". The Aegis Shield is in FF5j and FF3 as well.
Gaia: The town in the northeast in this game; it can be reached only with the airship. "Gaia" means Earth; she was the earth goddess who married Uranus, god of the heavens. The word is best known from James Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis, which treats the Earth as a self-sustaining organism. In the latest FF vocal CD, the main theme of FF1 is called "Gaia" (and mentions Lovelock in the liner notes!). Also, FF3 features Gaea Gear (an alternate spelling).
The Slab: You need the slab so that Dr. Unne can translate the Lefeinish language. I think the Slab was inspired by the Rosetta Stone, a stone slab found in 1799 by French soldiers near the town of Rashid (known as Rosetta in French). It had a message written in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and demotic (Egyptian cursive writing), and in 1828, Jean Champollion used it to translate the Egyptian language for the first time. Update... three and a half years after writing the preceding entry, I've found that in the original Japanese FF1, that item is indeed called 'rozetta ishi', or the Rosetta Stone. So feel free to omit 'I think' from the preceding paragraph. ^_^
Final Fantasy 3j
The submarine Nautilus comes from Jules Verne's 19th century science fiction novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. And from Square's first 16-bit Final Fantasy game,
Final Fantasy 2
Character Names: Rydia is supposedly named after the legendary country of Lydia (the names are the same in Japanese), which was the richest in the world in its day and the first to use coins as money. They once had a king named Croesus, and he's the one they're talking about in the (seldom-heard) expression "as rich as Croesus".
I'd like to think Cecil was named after former Hanshin Tiger Cecil Fielder (they're pronounced the same way), but this probably can't be proven. There's a person in the Christian Bible named Cain, similar to FF2's Kain.
Rosa's name just means 'rose'. (How could I forget to put this in? :)
Cid's name was probably inspired by the Spanish story "El Cid". The Tale of El Cid was one told by Spanish minstrels and bards called juglares. It was a well known story throughout Spanish cities and towns as it was told in town squares across the land; each bard had a different interpretation for the tale. It is also believed that there was an actual Cid de Castilla who took the kingdom of Valencia from Moorish rule through certain artifacts that were found in Valencia. Some people claim that they found his two mythical swords La Tizona and La Colada which he used to slay actual Moorish kings. The whole story was written down by Miguel de Cervantes and the music score was done by Miklos Rosza. By the way, Cid is Final Fantasy's most-used character. He's in FF2j, FF2US, FF5j, FF3, FF7, and FFT. Wow! ^^
Namingway and the tribe of Humingways probably got their names from twentieth-century American writer Ernest Hemingway.
The Four Fiends in this game are all demons who show up in Dante's Inferno. In the story, Dante and the Roman poet Virgil make a journey through the nine circles of Hell. The book was written around the beginning of the 14th century, and the story takes place on Good Friday, 1300. Three of the Fiends' names are misspelled in the American version...
Milon, or Scarmiglione in FFIVj, is one of the demons in Malebolge, the eighth circle of Hell. His name was probably shortened to 'Milon' because of space limitations.
Rubicant is another demon in Canto XXII. His name means "he who grows red"; appropriate for the Fire Fiend.
Kainazzo, a. k. a. Cagnazzo is another demon from the same circle. It means, roughly, 'the big Kain'. Another coincidental explanation (I thought of this long ago and assumed it to be true ^^;) is the Japanese kanji 'kai' (sea) + 'nazo' (mystery). That's coincidental though.
Valvalis, a. k. a. Barbariccia: (In Japanese, 'b' and 'v' sometimes aren't distinguished, like 'r' and 'l'.) Barbariccia is the leader of the ten demons that Virgil and Dante meet when exploring Hell.
One of Kain's strongest spears was called the Gungnir. This was the name of Odin's spear in Norse mythology. The Gungnir was supposed to have always pointed at the strongest member of an enemy party, but obviously Kain could fight whomever he wished :) In FF5 and FF7, when you call Odin, he sometimes uses this weapon.
The most powerful bow and arrows were called "Artemis"; Artemis is a goddess from Greek myths. She carried a bow and arrow and was also the goddess of fertility. She was the sister of Apollo, and is the subject of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Another type of arrow was Medusa, named for the woman of Greek legend who could turn people to stone by looking at them. She had snakes for hair.
A third bow-arrow combination with a significant name is the Samurai. Originally they were named for Yoichi Nagase, a famous figure in Japanese history. It was probably changed because few Americans know who he is. I'll save the longish story for the FFV section, since that's where the bow has its name preserved intact.
Enemies:
Arachne: She was a woman who weaved things and was turned into a spider by Athena when she lost a bet - thus she's a spider in this game (and thus the English word "arachnid").
Remember Calbrena, Luca's dolls in the Underground? The name is a shortened form of Calcabrina, another of the ten demons from the Inferno.
Hydra was a legendary monster with multiple heads. It was said that if you cut off one head, another would regenerate to take its place.
King-Ryu and Ging-Ryu have names that are a bit misleading... they should really be spelled 'Kin-Ryu' and 'Gin-Ryu'. They mean (and you'll see why if you look at them) 'gold dragon' and 'silver dragon' in Japanese.
Leviathan: The Leviathan was a legendary sea monster, gigantic in size, that would send ships to a watery doom. "Leviathan" is of Hebrew origin.
Naga: A Naga is a long-tailed being from Indian legend (they show up in FF1 also). The HugeNaga from the Sealed Cave is Naga Rajah originally; it means 'King Naga' and comes from Sanskrit.
Ogopogo, the guardian of the Murasame in the lunar core, is supopsedly a sea monster that inhabits a lake in Canada. I don't know the details, though. (The word's a palindrome, too. ^^)
On the moon, you'll find Procyote and Juclyote; these are shortenings of Prokaryote and Eukaryote. These things are extremely simple one-celled life forms from which modern complex beings sprang. Incidentally, if 'Procyote' were the correct spelling (it isn't, since FF4j's katakana make the word clear), it could mean a being from the star Procyon. After Sirius, Procyon is the second brightest star in the sky.
Wyvern: The Wyvern guarded one of the really powerful weapons in the Lunar Subterrane. A Wyvern is a breed of monster; half dragon and half eagle. He's called Dark Bahamut in the import, and shows up on the Lete River in FF3 also.
Miscellaneous:
The Tower of Bab-il: Well, this could be related to the Tower of Babel. Supposedly humans were building a massive temple, so high that it could reach heaven and the humans could then be on a level with God. God then punished the humans by forcing the inhabitants of each level to speak a different language, and thus nothing could be communicated and the tower couldn't be completed. In fact, the words 'babel' and 'bab-il' come from Aramaic. Golbez and the Four Fiends were using the Tower to reach the moon in FF2, which parallels the humans' quest to reach God.
Toroia "Troia" is the Latin word for the city of Troy. The site of the Trojan War, subject of Homer's Iliad, Troy is the starting point for Ulysses' journeys in the Odyssey.
Chocobos make their first US appearance in this game... they might have gotten their name from a chocolate candy which sold in Japan a few years back (and is still popular). It was called "Chocoballs" and had a picture of a bird on the front. But unfortunately the bird looks nothing like the familiar yellow chocobo that we all know and love... ^_^
In the original Japanese version, there's an item called Soma no Shizuku, or Soma Drop. Soma is a fictional hallucinatory drug used in Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel, Brave New World.
Rydia's call monsters:
Shiva is the god of destruction in Hinduism, and has multiple hands and scary-looking tusks. Shiva is in the other two 16-bit FF games as well.
Asura is also Indian; it was originally spelled "Ashur". Ashur was the chief god of war and empire. He was always spoiling for a fight, was very mischevious, and was constantly getting in trouble with the other gods. Also, is the origin of the Japanese term "shuraba", where everything is so chaotic that you can't tell what's going on ('shura' from Asura, and 'ba' = place). Cyan in FF3 has a sword called "Ashura".
A Jinn is a mythical being who could be summoned to influence mankind (also spelled "djinn"; actually, "djinni" is one and "djinn" is plural).
Indra was the chief of the Vedic gods and controlled rain and thunder. He flew through the sky on his solar chariot.
The Titans were giant beings, encountered by Ulysses on his famous ten-year Odyssey returning home from the Trojan War. More on the Odyssey later.
The weapon names aren't really significant but there is the Zeus Glove, named for the Greek god Zeus (that's in FF1 also). Zeus is the father of many of the other gods and reigned atop Mt. Olympus. There's also Excalibur which I mentioned before...
Final Fantasy Adventure
This game is also known as Seiken Densetsu (Legend of the Holy Sword) and is the prequel to Secret of Mana. This time, we've got some more entries!
Glaive, which is the name of the empire and is French for "sword".
Ammonite - a flat spiral fossilized cephalopod shell (thus all the shells on the Ammonite Coast)
Julius - The last surviving member of the Vandole Empire, Julius wished to use the power of the Mana Tree to revive the Empire. Perhaps this is a reference to Julius Caesar?
Vandole - The name of the old Empire (and also the name of the Emperor in Secret of Mana), it may be a corruption of the word "Vandal," the tribe of Germanic people who overran Gaul, Spain, and northern Africa in the 4th and 5th centuries and sacked Rome in 455. This is where the modern world "vandal" comes from.
Unicorn Water - Water purified by dipping a unicorn's horn (alicorn) into it was believed to have healing properties. Thus the Unicorn potion heals all status changes except Moogle (even though the instruction booklet says it can).
Final Fantasy Legend
Arthur Armor - no doubt a reference to King Arthur
Geta Shoes - Geta are a kind of Japanese sandal.
O-Bake - Japanese for 'ghost'. He's the easiest ghost-like enemy.
Ryu-O - means "dragon king" in Japanese, and that's exactly what he is.
Sei-Ryu - means "holy dragon" (or "blue dragon") in Japanese, but he's actually a villain who banished Ryu-O.
Byak-Ko - means "white tiger" in Japanese.
Actually, the Four Fiends in this game (who also make an appearance as the four elemental Guardians in Wild Arms, and the figures on the Four Gods Set in FFTactics), are ancient Chinese gods. They're in the anime Fushugi Yuugi (spelling?) as well.
Return Appearances: the Aegiz Shield (alternate spelling), Ashura, Hermes Shoes (also in FF5), Kraken, Lich, Tiamat, and Leviathan (all minor enemies).
FF Legend 2
Apollo - God of the sun and also of music (thus Apollon's Harp in FF5)
Isis - Egyptian goddess of fertility; wife and sister of Osiris. (More on er in the Osiris entry.)
Neptune - The name of the undersea volcano, Neptune is the Roman god of the sea.
Sleipnir - Odin's battle steed; in the game, an enemy you fight with Odin. (There are several others who I can't remember, but their names are mythologically significant as well - can anyone else remember? Odin's Crows, or something like that.)
Valhalla - The place in Norse mythology where brave warriors dwelt after death; Odin's realm both in mythology and in the game. (And if you die in the game, Odin revives you.)
Venus - Roman goddess of love and beauty. (Also a minor enemy in FFL3, and the Venus Shield and Venus Key are items in FFMystic Quest.)
Repeat Appearances: Ashura
FF Legend 3
Arthur - The main hero. Three guesses as to who he's named after, and the first two don't count. :)
Anubis - The jackal-headed Egyptian god of death.
Cronos - Since FFL3 is all about time travel, having a guy named Cronos is rather appropriate. You meet him as a child in the Past, an adult in the Present, and an old man in the Future.
Daimyo - A minor enemy, a daimyo is a warlord of ancient Japan.
Echidna - A burrowing nocturnal hedgehog-like mammal (for those who have played the Sonic games, this will be familiar).
Hecate Armor - Hecate was the Greek goddess of the underworld.
Loki - Norse god of mischief.
Masa - The name of the weaponsmith. He turns the cursed sword "Muramas" into the really great wonderful supreme Masamune.
Dr. Pulcer and Dr. Quacer - Perhaps their names refer to "pulsar" and "quasar"? And those terms are abbreviations for 'pulsating' and 'quasi-stellar' objects.
Romulus - One of the legendary founders of Rome, the Romulus in this game actually looks more like Cereberus, the three-headed guardian of the underworld.
Ronin - a masterless samurai.
Osiris, Set and Thoth - Three of the Egyptian gods. Set was the evil brother of Osiris, the legendary god-king of Egypt who brought the people out of barbarism. Since everyone loved Osiris, Set was determined to kill him, and, with the aid of 72 accomplices, devised a plot to do him in. He fashioned a chest of precious wood and promised to give it to whomever fit in it, and (since it was made to fit Osiris) ended up giving it to his brother, whereupon he and his accomplices sealed it shut and threw it into the Nile, leaving Osiris to die. His wife and sister Isis was overwhelmed with despair, but Thoth restored her courage and together they gathered the parts of his body. They restored his body, making him the god of the dead, but were unable to find his penis, which, by remaining at the bottom of the Nile, gave the river its life-giving power. However, Set was avenged by Osiris' son Horus, who defeated him and assumed the throne of Egypt. Set was condemned to carry Osiris' body forever, and Thoth collected the pieces of Horus' eye (which was mutilated in the fight with Set) and restored it. Egyptian scribes, presided over by Thoth, used the Horus-eye to designate fractions in their writing, and the symbol became a good luck talisman.
Sol - means "sun".
Valkyrie - More Norse mythology, the Valkyries are maidens who escorted brave warriors to Valhalla. (And are also the subject of some operas! ^_^)
Repeat Appearances: Ashura, Chaos, Dullahan, Garuda, Hermes Shoes, Kraken, Sei-Ryu, Thanos (alternate spelling).
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
FF Mystic Quest was designed for younger players, so maybe that's why there aren't as many obscure references in this game.
Phoebe: Her name means "moon." She was one of the Titans in Greek mythology.
Tristam: His name means sorrowful. In the Arthurian legends, there is a knight named Tristan or Tristram, the nephew of King Mark (hey, that's me) of Cornwall. Tristan fell in love with Mark's bride to be, Isolde (Iseult) because of a love potion. This legendary romance is the subject of an opera by the great Richard Wagner ("Tristan und Isolde" in German). Also baseball Hall of Famer Tris Speaker's real first name is "Tristram".
Kaeli: Kaeli Kreider was one of the producers at Squaresoft. No myths here. ^_^
Pazuzu's Tower: There was a demon named Pazuzu in Mesopotamian myths.
Libra Crest: Libra comes from Latin and refers to weight. Thus the British pound is symbolized by "L" with a line drawn through it, and the pound weight is abbreviated "lb." The scale is represented in the constellation of Libra.
The Mobius Crest is in the design of a Mobius strip, which is a one-sided object. To make one, take a strip of paper (or anything you like; I suggest paper because it's easy to get a hold of ^^), give one end a half twist, and tape it to the other end. Notice that you can now trace a line around the whole thing without lifting your pencil up... this is because it only has one side! It was discovered about two hundred years ago by the German mathematician August Möbius, and it's the symbol for infinity.
The enemy Stheno was one of the Gorgons of Greek myth. The other two were Medusa (who's rather famous) and Euryale (who isn't). The Gorgons were terrifying dragon-like creatures who could turn people to stone just by looking at them.
Also, some of the towns are named for the "Four Elements" of Greek science. For example, Windia, Fireburg, and Aquaria obviously relate to wind, fire, and water.
The Secret of Mana
Known as FF Gaiden - Seiken Densetsu 2 (FF side story - Legend of Holy Sword) in Japan, this is part of the FF series but doesn't contain as many interesting historical names as in the main games. Most names are puns like "Mushboom", "LA Funk", and "Rabite". But there are a few worth mentioning.
The Mana in the title refers to life force or power, and is Polynesian in origin. There's another word, "manna"; the bread that fell from the sky in the Bible, saving Moses and the Israelites from starvation.
The main characters have names in the Japanese orginal, Seiken Densetsu 2, and they're Randi (the boy), Purim (the girl), and Popoi (the sprite). Purim is a Jewish festival that commemorates the deliverance of the Persian Jews from destruction under Xerxes I, as recorded in the book of Esther. A very important holiday.
Neko, the cat who shows up everywhere to sell you stuff, is just Japanese for "cat".
And here are the eight elemental sprites:
Salamando comes from salamander, a fire lizard which, in Egyptian hieroglyphics, is represented by a human form pinched to death with the cold. It would use the coldness of its body to quench the fire that it lived in. The word derives from Greek "salamandria".
Undine is a water nymph who was created without a soul. By marrying a mortal, she obtained one, and with it all the pains and penalties of the human race. Comes from Latin "unda", meaning wave.
Sylphid: The elemental spirits of air. Only mortals who preserve inviolate chastity can become familiar with sylphs. In the Japanese games, they're called Djin, who are fairies in Arabian mythology. They live in the mountains and can take many forms, including those of humans. Supposedly, they were created from fire two thousand years before Adam.
Gnome is an elemental spirit of Earth. Usually they take a human-like form, only smaller and, some would say, slightly uglier. Gnomes were said to be very wise, and their name comes from Greek "gnoma", meaning "knowledge".
Shade just refers to darkness.
Lumina comes from the Latin for "light"; thus Lumina is the light elemental.
Luna: Comes from the Latin for "moon". That's why you get "Moon Energy", "Lunar Magic", etc. from Luna. It's the root word in English "lunar", "lunatic", etc.
Dryad: A Dryad is a wood nymph; thus SoM's "Dryad" appears as a tree. The word "dryad" comes from the Greek for "oak" or "tree". Dryads are attached to specific trees, and they die when the tree dies. Thus, SoM's Dryad was of the Mana Tree.
The king in the Gold City is named "Mammon"... supposedly Mammon represents greed and lust for riches, which is certainly appropriate for the gold city in SoM... Mammon sometimes is represented as a tree. Incidentally, on "The Simpsons", Monty Burns' mansion is at the corner of "Mammon" (which we just mentioned) and "Croesus" streets (the rich king of Lydia; see Rydia's FF2 entry) - 1001 Mammon Lane, I think :).
The Pure Land: In Buddhist mythology, the Pure Land was a heaven-like place. Supposedly all the beings live in harmony there; just the opposite of this game in which you're attacked by fearsome monsters.
Mandala, one of the towns, is a kind of Buddhist tapestry. Also, there's a peak called Puncak Mandala (height: 4760 m) in the Moake mountains.
Karon: This should actually be spelled "Charon" (pronounced "karon"). In Greek legend, the dead travel down the river Styx on their way to Hades, the underworld. Ulysses passed by here during the Odyssey. The name of the boatman is Charon; thus he's the ferryman in the game, to the Moon Palace where you get Luna (see below). Hades is also known as Pluto, thus when it was discovered that the outermost planet Pluto had a moon, it was given the appropriate name Charon.
Thanatos: Thanatos is the Greek word for "death". So it makes sense that Thanatos wanted to inhabit the bodies of the living. And the Greek personification of death was "Thantos" (only one 'a').
Jabberwocky: A poem by Lewis Carroll. Famous for the words that Carroll decided to invent while writing it, like "brillig" and "mimsy" :) The dragon in this poem was called the Jabberwock.
Kilroy: Kilroy may or may not be a real person. Around the time of the First World War, a soldier in the U.S. Army went around writing 'Kilroy was here!' in all kinds of weird places, just to prove that he could get there first. (The army had a reputation for being first in everything). So SoM's Kilroy might have been named for him; I can't think of anybody else named Kilroy...
Boreal Face: This might be related to Boreas, the son of Titans Astraeus and Eos. (Same for Borras in FF3.) "Boreal" also can be used to mean "northern".
Garuda Buster (L. 8 Bow): The Garuda Bow is probably named for Garuda, the bird that Vishnu rode on in Hindu legend. Garuda is the king of all birds and supposedly can carry several gods without impediment. Garuda represents good, and can sense evil in its vicinity.
Valkyrian (L. 8 Javelin): The Valkyries were Odin's messengers (Odin again?). Wagner's famous music piece, "Ride of the Valkyries", is about them coming down the mountain. It's heard in "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (The Ring of the Nibelung), which includes Siegfried from FF3. More on him in the FF3 section.
Griffin Claw: A griffin was a beast, half eagle and half lion. Both these animals had large claws.
Claymore: A Scottish sword. Supopsedly it's the one wielded by the Highlander. Also, there's a team in the World League of American Football called the Scottish Claymores.
Chakra Hand: A "chakra" is any one of the seven psychic centers of the body representing passion, pleasure, majesty, love, purity, inner sight, and thought. They occur wherever twelve lines of force in the body meet. Derives from ancient Eastern philosophy.
Daedalus Lance (L. 8 Spear): Daedalus was an expert craftsman and architect who built the labyrinth of Greek legend. After he finished, King Minos locked him in a tower with his son Icarus. They then tried to build wings and escape, but that part failed... As for the Labyrinth, King Minos put the Minotaur (a horrible monster) in there to kill wanderers, and when Theseus was imprisoned, Ariadne helped him to get out... but that's another story.
... which we'll get to shortly, because the Minotaur appears in...
Final Fantasy 5
This game was never released in the US, but it's certainly as interesting and fun as other Square games! If you've got FF5 and are looking for an English translation, look here. <http://www.rpgamer.com/>. ^_^ There are plenty of historical names here, though not nearly as many as in the more recent FF3. I highly recommend this game, though you really need to read kana (Japanese phonetic characters) at least, and hopefully some kanji, if you want to make any progress. The mythological names have their usual wide range of origins. A lot of names are repeated in FF4, 5, and 6.
Characters:
Gilgamesh: He was a legendary hero in Mesopotamian culture. In the library of Nineveh, there exist 12 slabs on which are written the exploits of Gilgamesh. The real Gilgamesh ruled Uruk in the 3d millennium BC, and later his tale was embellished to the point where Gilgamesh was a hero of legendary magnitude. Supposedly he was rather harsh as king, and so the god Anu created a wild man named Enkidu to stop him. However, Enkidu became the companion and servant of Gilgamesh after the two men had a test of their strength. There are many stories about the two of them; in one, they travel to defeat the forest guardian Humbaba (a. k. a. Huwawa); in another, Gilgamesh rejects a marriage propposal from Ishtar, the love goddess. Later Enkidu dies and Gilgamesh learns the location of a plant that granted eternal youth from Utnaphistim, survivor of the great flood. But a serpent steals it and Gilgamesh dies. The epic ends with the spirit of Enkidu promising to recover the objects that Ishtar gave to Gilgamesh. In FF5, Gilgamesh has a partner named Enkidou; surely this is the Enkidu from legend. Also, you can steal Genji equipment from Gilgamesh, so try to get this if you can.
The Dark Mage Exdeath: This name just means "exceeding death". In the game, Exdeath is trying to obtain the power of "mu" ("void") so that he can rule the world.
Enemies:
Archaeo Eibis (Arukeo Eibisu): The boss of the Lonka ruins. The study of ancient ruins is "archaeology", and an ibis is a kind of bird. There's also "Sea Ibis" and "Tot Eibisu" which could either mean "Death Ibis" ('Tod' (rhymes with boat) is German for 'death') or "Toth Ibis" (as in the Egyptian god who kept balance in the world). Also "Jura Eibis" may be related to the Jurassic period in history, which is in turn named for the Jura mountains in Switzerland.
Byblos (Biburosu): You meet him in the Ancient Library. Makes sense since his name is derived from the Greek for "book". The French, German, and Russian words for "library" (and perhaps several others) are all cognates, related to the Greek. FF5's Ancient Library is patterned after the one in Alexandria, and the two most famous books there were "Byblos" and "Almagest".
Catoblepas: A catoblepas is supposedly a being who lives in the forests and can turn enemies to stone merely by glancing at them. Well, this is just what he does in FF5. His attack is called "Akuma no Hitomi" which means "Devil's Eye".
Farfarello, who shows up in the forest part of the Cleft of Dimension, is another demon from Dante's Inferno. Some of the others are the Four Fiends in FF2.
The Furies: In FF5 you meet the Furies in the Castle of Dimension. The Furies were old crones sent by the gods to punish people. Supposedly, they carried whips with thorns on them.
Gargoyles: Stone statues that are frequently seen near entrances to buildings. They guard the entrances to the places where the slabs are located. Some old European castles would have gargoyles above the door to ward off evil spirits. Goyles and Red Goyles are in FF1 also.
Halicarnassus: One of the bosses of the Cleft of Dimension. The name probably comes from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, which was built in what is now Turkey around 350 BC. It was built for Carian king Mausolus; thus the English word "mausoleum". Incidentally, this is another Wonder of the Ancient World.
Mammon: A tree in the Great Forest of Muah. Mammon was a tree that represented greed; it's also the name of the rich king in SoM. (see SoM section)
Mind Flayer: One of the last enemies you meet. He attacks with "Mind Blast", which sucks out your brain. I'm not sure which mythology he's from, but supposedly Mind Flayer is one of those truly evil beings who has no soul. Also known as "illithid".
The Minotaur: At the top of the Fork Tower, on the "fighting-only" side, you fight Minotauros, a. k. a. Minotaur. He was placed into the Labyrinth of Greek legend in order to stop travellers from escaping.
Necrophobia: This just means "fear of death". (not 'fear of the night' as I had before) You fight him in order to open up the last save point before the final battle.
Wingraptor: You fight him at the top of the Wind Shrine (Kaze no Shinden) just before getting the crystal chips; it's rather early on in the game. A raptor is a bird of prey, and there's a dinosaur called "velociraptor". "Raptor" was hardly a household word until Michael Crichton popularized them in his book _Jurassic Park_ a few years ago.
Ziggurat Gigas: You fight him in the tower while trying to break the barrier around Exdeath's castle. A ziggurat is a kind of tower; it's also from Mesopotamian culture. I believe that they were built by followers of Zoroaster.
Some more heavenly bodies from the solar system... Phobos means "fear" and is guarding one of the slabs underground. It's also one of the moons of Mars. Along with Phobos appears Triton, who's king of the seas and one of Neptune's moons, as is Nereid.
Some weapons...
The Gungnir: In FF2 (US), when you called Odin, either he would destroy the enemies completely or nothing would happen. But in FF5, Odin has two different attack styles. One is "Zantetsuken" (Iron Cutting Sword) which slices everyone up and the other is Gungnir, which only damages one enemy. Gungnir is the name of Odin's spear. Supposedly, the Gungnir always pointed at the strongest member of the opposition but I'm not sure if this holds true in FF5. Does anybody know?
Trident: A spear for the Dragoon. It's a large three-pronged fork wielded by the sea god Poseidon.
Sasuke's Katana: Sasuke is a legendary ninja's name, Sarutobi Sasuke.
Orichalcon: *Could* be related to "orichalcum", the legendary alloy of Atlantis which was said to have special properties. In FF5, Orihalcon is a knife; it's in Seiken Densetsu 3 too.
Main Gauche: This is French for "left hand". It's a knife with some defense ability. But, since all the characters in FF5 are ambidextrous, you can equip it in either hand.
Thor's Hammer: Also known as "Mjolnir", Thor's Hammer could instantly kill any giant (they were the enemies of the gods, with whom they battle at Ragnarok) and never missed. Thor could throw it at the enemies and it would return to him, as it does in FF5. Also I've heard that a lightning bolt is emitted from Mjolnir as it is thrown... this would explain the "LIT2" magic cast by it in FF1.
Hermes' Shoes: Hermes comes from Greek mythology and wore magical winged sandals which allowed him to fly. Hermes was also the god of thieves and gamblers and could teleport and make himself invisible as well as fly.
Yoichi's Bow: OK, for this one, let's pass the mike to FF5 grand master Tat Nakao... [Tat: Maybe it was the name of the person who shot the arrow at the battle of Genpei. I think it was in "Ougi no Mato". Mato = Target, and Ougi = fan. The simple story was that Genji was fighting against Heike at Seto Naikai (the Inland Sea), and Heike was on the sea and Genji was on the shore (maybe it was the other way around). Since the sun began to fall, the one on the sea thought to have entertainment. They let one woman with one pole aboard the small boat (and this pole had Ougi (fan) at the tip). She rowed the boat near the shore and asked someone on the shore to shoot the fan. And I think Yoichi was nominated to do so, and he did it. I *THINK* this person was Yoichi, but I'm not sure.... It was 8th grade that I learned this in school. (And I wasn't good at Kokugo)]
Some Egyptian stuff: In the game, there's a Pyramid just like the ones that the ancient Egyptians built for their dead pharaohs. Also there's a city named "Karnak" which is near the Ancient Library. In Egypt, there was a real city named Karnak, and it might have been near the city of Alexandria, home of the Great Library of Alexandria.
Sekhmet shows up in the Pyramid. She's a lion-headed goddess sent by Ra to punish mankind for its sins. Part of the triad that includes Bast (cat goddess) and Ra (the rather important sun god).
Other stuff:
Almagest: The name of Neo-Exdeath's special attack in the final battle. About a thousand years ago, Ptolemy wrote a book about astronomy, and when it was translated into Arabic, they called it the Almagest ('al' is Arabic 'the', and 'magest' comes from Greek; the whole thing means 'the greatest'). But it was hardly the greatest, since it put Earth at the center of the solar system :) In fact, the original edition was located in the Great Library of Alexandria, just like FF5's Ancient Library.
The castle of Tycoon: Lenna's home. A tycoon is someone with a lot of money. In fact, the English word "tycoon" comes from the Japanese "taikun" (meaning prince), but in Japanese, that word isn't spelled the same way as FF5's "Tycoon".
Adamant from FF1 is in this game as well. In fact Adamant is a regular word; it's a synonym for "extremely hard". (that is, hard like a diamond, not "difficult".)
Moogles made their first appearance in FF3j (where, strangely enough, they spoke Jaanese normally), and in this game they begin saying their famous "Kupo!" ^_^; In Japanese, they're called "Moguri", and that comes from a combination of the Japanese words "mogura" (mole) and "koumori" (bat). And doesn't Mog look like a mole with little bat wings? :)
If you use the Chemist and mix items, certain combinations lead to Samson Power, which, as you may be able to guess, gives the recipient great strength. It's named for the biblical character who was legendary for his muscle power. Samson, like Edgar and the Nordic gods in FF3, is the subject of an opera -- Samson et Dalila, written in 1869 by Camille Saint-Saens.
Some stuff from FF5 that I'm not sure of: Twin Tania and Karlabos... can anyone identify these??
Final Fantasy 3
There are so many in this game. Most of the espers, many of the items, and a few of the enemies have historical/mythological names. It seems that in FF3 the Square geniuses went out of their way to impress us with mythological references. First, some enemies:
Actaneon is probably a variant spelling of "actinia", a kind of sea anemone. It comes from the Greek for "ray".
Apokryphos is on the Floating Continent. Its name comes from Greek for "hidden". This is the origin of the English word "apocryphal", which means "almost certainly fictional".
Aquila is Spanish for 'eagle'. Also, Lobo is Spanish for 'wolf'.
Cephaler comes from the same root as 'cephalopod' and is the class of octopi and squids.
Dark Side: Shows up in the mines of Narshe. Maybe this has something to do with "the Force" in the Star Wars movies; Darth Vader is on the Dark Side.
Dullahan: The "boss" of Daryl's Tomb. Dullahan is from Irish mythology, and is a headless spirit that wanders around Ireland, holding his head under his arm and driving a black coach drawn by headless horses! He knocks on people's doors, and hurls a bucket of blood in their faces! As you can probably guess, a visit from Dullahan is considered to be a portent of death.
Eland shows up not only on the Veldt in FF3, but on the "real" veld in Africa. It's a big antelope with horns.
Fortis (in Kefka's tower) comes from Latin and means strength or power.
Garm: In Nordic myths, Garm is a dog who is killed by Tyr at Ragnarok.
Hidon: Now this name is interesting! It's the same in both the Japanese and American games, but has two completely diferent meanings. In the English version, Gungho says something about "as his name implies," referring to the word 'hide' embeded in 'Hidon'. In the Japanese version, however, 'Hidon' brings to mind the word 'hidoi', which means 'terrible' or 'scary'. A nice coincidence!
Humpty, in the Figaro cave, probably comes from the poem, "Humpty Dumpty". ^_-
Intangir's name probably comes from 'intangible'... he's pretty hard to hit!
Io: A baddie in this game; also the name of Jupiter's volcanic moon. Jupiter's four lovers included Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede - they're immortalized as Jupiter's four largest moons. It should be pronounced "EE-oh", but you also hear "EYE-oh".
Lethal Weapon: I don't know... maybe named for the movie starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover? :)
Lunaris: Shows up on the gravel-like land near Albrook in the World of Ruin. Means, approximately, "from the moon".
Nastidon is just a combination of "nasty" and "mastodon".
Osteosaur, who's in Daryl's tomb, comes from Greek for "bone lizard".
Over Mind: You meet them in the Phantom Forest. The name was probably inspired by Arthur C. Clarke's novel _Childhood's End_, in which there's a great being that transcends physical bodies. Eventually the human race is absorbed by the Overmind, and becomes one with it.
Pandora: Shows up inside Cyan's soul. In Greek mythology, Pandora was the one who opened the box which released all the evils inside it out into the world. (Yet one good thing remained: hope.) Remember in FF3 when you first meet Banon and he tells a story like this? He mistakenly says that a man opens the box.
Phunbaba: He is probably the very same 'Humbaba' from the Gilgamesh story (in the FF5 section). They're spelled the same way in Japanese; probably the translators had never heard of Humbaba and so they arbitrarily picked the spelling 'Phunbaba'. And no, I don't know if the Humbaba of legend attacked with 'Baba Breath' ^_^
Primordite means "ancient", like the English word "primordial".
Prometheus: Though he's a rather insignificant enemy in FF3, he was pretty important in Greek mythology. Supposedly Prometheus created humans, and then stole fire from Mount Olympus in order to save them from freezing. But Zeus didn't like this and Prometheus was imprisoned. Later, though, Hercules frees him. Also if you've played CT, this name might be familiar!
Scullion, in Kefka's Tower, is an Old English word which refers to a maid or servant who washes dishes and things. A nice word for one of Kefka's minions, but "real" scullions don't have lasers and missiles, now do they?
Telstar: You fight Telstar in the imperial camp. Telstar was the name of the satellite which broadcast programs across the entire world beginning in 1961.
Templar: The Knights Templar came into existence in 1119, and their symbol was a crown, with two crossed swords behind it. They were dedicated to the protection of those in the crusades. Their order was destroyed when King Philip the Fair had the Grand Master at the time executed for refusing to disclose the location of the Templar's treasuries and the identities of his members.
Tomb Thumb: Not really mythological, but the name comes from "General" Tom Thumb, who was only about three feet tall. He joined P. T. Barnum's exhibition in 1842 and went on tour in the U. S. and Europe from 1844 to 1847. The "Tomb" part is of course a pun.
Whelk: A whelk is an extremely large sea snail. It can grow to a size of 16 inches.
These next few are in the Japanese FF6...
Satan (in the cave that leads to Figaro in World of Ruin): The Devil himself! But actually, Satan is a rather minor enemy in FF6j.
Al-Jabr (in Cayenne's dream): The English word 'algebra' is derived from this word. It's the first word in the title "Al-jabr w'al muqabalah" (did I spell that right?) which means roughly "taking away and restoring"; referring to algebraic operations... so maybe al-Jabr would refer to 'taking away', meaning that he takes your life away... I'm not sure, though.
Aspidochelon is called Aspik in FF3. But that ruins the name, since it comes from Greek "aspidion" (a small round shield) and "chelon" (hard shell).
Vareole comes from "variola", which means smallpox.
Epiornis, aka Aepyornis, is a gigantic ostrich-like bird found in a fossil state in Madagascar.
Goeteia is Greek for "witchcraft".
Sapotender, which gives you a bunch of Magic Points and GP, is a combination of Japanese "sapoten" (cactus) and "pretender". In the US, it's Cactrot, which would come from cactus and...??
Brachioreidos comes from Greek "brachys" (short) and "oura" (tail). It's a crab-like creature, and our crabs are in the class Brachyoura.
Invisible is a bad guy in Gogo's cave who (of all things) turns himself invisible. Since this would be too obvious in English, they changed his name to Covert.
The Dream Stooges are named Soño, Sueño, and Reve. All three of these refer to sleeping and dreaming in Spanish and French.
Plus a few more that sound sort of laughable in English, like "Highway", "Death Penalty" (I think he's "Allo Ver" in FF3), "Virginity", and "Innocent". :)
Miscellaneous...
The Veldt: A grassy plain with a few shrubs, usually found in Africa, is called a veld or veldt. It's derived from the Dutch for 'field', and came into English by way of Afrikaans. For example, former president Roosevelt's name means 'rose-field'.
Lagomorph: All of the non-winning combinations in Setzer's "Slot" result in "Lagomorph"; a rabbit then runs onto the screen and gives the characters some HP. Well, Lagomorphia is an order in biology which contains rabbits. So it's just a fancy name for "rabbit". Incidentally, in FF6j Lagomorph is called "Mysidian Rabbit", like the city in FF2.
Main Characters:
Locke Cole: Could be named after John Locke, a philospher whose beliefs were instrumental in shaping America's early history. There's also the obvious pun on the word "lock" - you need him to unlock the doors in Narshe - and in that vein, there's a company named "Cole" that produces keys!
Setzer: OK, here's some more speculation. "Setzer" by itself means "typesetter" (hardly a meaningful name). But the German expression used when betting on numbers or horses is "setzen"! For example, "10 Mark auf Nummer 23 setzen" means "bet 10 Marks on number 23". So "Setzer" could imply "the one who puts down the money -> "gambler"; though I've never heard the word "Setzer" used to mean "gambler". Anyway, it's still nice-sounding even if it's a coincidence. It's my single favorite character name in the entire FF series.
Terra: Her name means "earth". Could have something to do with her being the link between the Earth and the Esper world...? But also, there was a building named "Terra Firm" located just outside the Square offices in Washington... maybe Ted Woolsey looked out the window and thought, "Hmmm....?
Daryl - Her name means "well-loved." Appropriate for her relationship with Setzer. Here are some more of the main characters' name etymologies, thanks to Kate Malloy (so she's the "I" in the next few entries).
Edgar Figaro - His name is of Teutonic origin. I've seen it defined as either "wealthy gentleman" (he is a king) or "fortunate spear" (the spear is his best weapon) There is also an opera called "Edgar," so he's got a double operatic name. The famous opera "The Marriage of Figaro" features music by Mozart.
Sabin - His name is of Italian origin. It comes from the Sabine tribe. According to legend, the Roman settlers kidnapped all of the Sabine women. (That part has nothing to do with Sabin.) The name is more common in Europe in the feminine form, Sabine. His middle name, Rene, means "reborn" and is also more common in the feminine form. Also there was a biologist named Sabin, who was responsible for curing a muscle virus. And Sabin's muscles look pretty tough, right?
Celes Chere - Celes's last name is French and means "dear." Her first name could be related to "celestial", or heavenly, which would be in contrast to Terra's "earth".
Gau - Back in the times of the Romans, France was known as Gaul. There were tribes of wild men living in the north. They might have been called Gaus, or Gauls.
Gogo - In the play "Waiting for Godot," there is a character named Estragon, nicknamed Gogo.
Cyan Garamonde - "Monde" means "world" in French; I've no clue about the "Gara" part. (It could be "train station" in French??) Also there was a famous typesetter named Garamonde. The font named for him is used in Apple's manuals. (that has nothing to do with Cyan, of course :)
Elayne - Elaine was the "Lily Maiden" of Arthurian legend. She was related to several important people (Lancelot, I think, was one) and when she died, she was sent out to sea in a funeral barge. In fact, she is the mother of Galahad in T. H. White's "The Once and Future King".
Owain - Uwain was one of Arthur's knights and a king in the English legends. He was Gawain's brother and he ruled the kingdom for a time.
Billy: In FF6j, Baram (from Shadow's dreams) is called Billy. Since he's a train robber, maybe his name was inspired by Billy the Kid, famous outlaw from the American Old West? Also Shadow's real name is Clyde, like one half of the famous pair of outlaws "Bonnie and Clyde". Also, in Bret Harte's story The Outcasts of Poker Flat, there was a thief named Billy Setzer (!) who gets kicked out of town.
Vicks and Wedge, the two soldiers from the Empire, are characters in the famous 1977 George Lucas film "Star Wars". They're pilots for the rebel alliance. But in actuality, Vicks should be Biggs... supposedly copyright infringement prevented Biggs from keeping his name. ^^;
Siegfried ('ziek-friet): Named for the hero of the legendary German tale of the Ring of the Nibelung. (This was the story upon which Richard Wagner based his opera, which contains many famous music pieces including "The Ride of the Valkyries". Trust me, you've heard some of these before.) Incidentally, Siegfried literally means "victory" (Sieg) and "peace" (Friede).
Here's a short summary of Siegfried's story:
The god Wotan (aka the very familiar Odin) wanted to reclaim the Ring of the Nibelung and tried to use the hero Siegfried to do it. Siegfried's body was invulnerable except for his shoulder blades, and he could talk to animals. He was born and raised in a forest and proved his heroism by killing Fafner, the evil dragon. The sword he used was made by a dwarf named Regin, and the idea that dwarves make the best weapons (which frequently pops up in these games) came from this mythology. But he ends up getting killed and his beloved Brunnhilde kills herself in the end. (That's in one version of the story; in another, he and Brunnhilde survive Ragnarok and repopulate the world.)
Here are the origins of all 28 Espers (including Yura, who doesn't really count ^^)... Esper itself is a made-up word, but it might be related to "hope" (from French; 'a hope' is 'un espoir') or someone who has extra-sensory perception (an ESP-er)...
Alexander: Might have been named either for the Russian czar of the 1800s or the Macedonian conqueror of the 4th century BC.
Bahamut: Bahamut's either the mythical King of the Dragons or a fish that holds up the world. See the "Bahamut" entry in FF1 for the whole story.
Bismark: Could be named for the Prussian ruler of the late 1800s, Otto von Bismarck. There was a battleship named for him which was sunk in 1941; this could be the inspiration for the effect of the Bismarck esper, "Sea Song".
Carbunkl: A carbuncle is a dark red gem resembling a garnet. In an Arthurian legend, a knight was on a quest to retrieve three things, and one was a carbuncle belonging to a princess. A carbuncle is different from a ruby, so FF5 and FF6j's "Ruby Light" (name of Carbuncle's attack) is technically incorrect.
Fenrir: Also known as the Fenris Wolf. In Nordic mythology, the dwarves gave the gods a magical rope which they used to chain Fenrir up in Asgard. Being the child of Loki, the Fenris Wolf was unchained at Ragnarok to do battle with the gods. This is where Odin meets his doom; Fenrir eats him.
Golem: Jewish mythology tells us that a golem is a creature made out of mud and brought to life when a riteous person inscribes a certain word on it. They are destroyed by rubbing out one of the letters, making the word "fire" which dries mud and makes the golem fall apart.
Ifrit: Originally spelled "Efreet". Efreeti are fire djinns from the elemental plane of fire who lived in the City of Brass.
Jihad (Crusader in FF3US) - In the original FF6 this esper was called Jihad. Jihad means sort of like "crusade", thus the English name "Crusader". Sometimed "Jihad" is translated as "holy war". The reason the name was changed for the US version is probably that some Americans think of the group Islamic Jihad when they hear the name. But in reality, Jihad doesn't imply anything evil.
Kirin: Kirin is a province in northeasten China, and also the name of a city in that province, a city on the Sungari River. This isn't to be confused with the Japanese "kirin" (which means giraffe). Also there's a being called a "qilin" in Chinese myths. It's an imaginary creature that is part horse and part dragon. The male is called "Ki", and the female is called "Rin". It is capable of flying, and sparks of lightning shoot out from its hooves. Kirin live for 1000 years and are considered good luck. Supposedly Genghis Khan was planning to invade India when his scouts happened upon a green talking qilin; the qilin convinced Khan to end his war plans. A famous legend surrounding K'i-lin was that one came to a woman named Yen Chen-tsai and gave her a jade tablet. On this tablet was a prophecy that she would become the mother of a "throneless king." Yen Chen-tsai would have a son, Confucius, who never ruled China, but accomplished quite a lot. Actually, a "kirin" is different from a "quilin" and a "k'i-lin"; it's a messenger from the gods, a small being about the size of a dog, but is has a mane of fire.
Maduin: Originally spelled "Mael Duin." (but "Madin" in FF6j) Mael Duin is a major hero of Irish Mythology. Son of Ailill, he was raised by nuns after his father was killed by raiders. When told his father's story, Mael Duin sets out with sixteen warriors to avenge his death, and his subsquesent voyages have been called the "Irish Odyssey."
Odin: The number-one Norse god, the god of thunder, war, wisdom, and honor. One of the three sons of Borr, he was the most noble and is the father of some of the other Norse gods. Thus he can slice up just about anybody as a callable monster in FF2 and as an Esper in FF3. He also makes an appearance in FF5 as a call monster and has "Gungnir" in addition to his usual slash attack. (See the Odin entry in the FF5 section.)
Palidor: Might refer to a paladin; a knight like Cecil from FF2. It's called "Ke-tsuhari-" in FF6j... what the heck is that!? "Kate's Hurry", maybe?? Someone help me on this one ^_^
Phantom: A phantom is a spirit or illusion. So it makes sense that Phantom turns your party invisible.
Phoenix: The esper in FF3 that Locke searches for in order to bring his beloved Rachel back to life. The "Phoenix" was supposedly a legendary bird that rose from the ashes of death every 500 years. Thus the Phoenix esper is related to the resurrection of dead characters.
Raiden: "Raiden" can mean "thunder" (rai, as in 'kaminari') and "Lightning" (den, 'electricity') in Japanese, but in FF6j it's "Raijin". Raijin is the god of thunder. But... Raijin can also mean "fast-moving thunder", and that's how it's spelled in the FF series. (I didn't think this name was *that* complicated...)
Ragnarok: "Ragnarok" refers to the end of the world in Nordic myths. It's like the day of reckoning in which all are judged for their actions. The gods knew that someday they would have to battle their nemeses, the giants. Odin and many of the gods are killed (Odin is eaten by Fenrir) and a new world rises from the old world's ashes. In fact, in one version of the story it's Siegfried and Brunnhilde who repopulate the world.
Here's how to pronounce "Ragnarök" in original Swedish, thanks to Zimeon Lundstrom.
Oh my, difficult. Let me see... Swedish is rather like German I'd say, but the German sounds are more hard. First of all, the Swedish "r" might be difficult to pronounce, and I don't think i can describe it here without the sound itself, so go for the english "r" for the time. The first "a" is like the "u" in english "hung". The next "g" is an "ng" sound, as in "hung". The next "na" is just like it's spelled, the "a" sound is the same as the first "a". The "o" with two dots is a tricky one. It's a bit like "ea" in "heard", but don't curl your tongue, just let it lie still. And form your mouth a litte more round. Hmmm... this is impossible. The last "k" anyway, is just a normal "k". So it would come out as "rungnareark", to come as close as possible without creating sounds that don't exist in English... In fact, there should be two dots on the "o" in Ragnarök.
Ramuh: Could be Rama, the hero of an epic Indian poem, the Ramayana. He is handsome, brave, and a model individual. After many trials and tribulations, he becomes king, and it is revealed that Rama is actually the god Vishnu in human form.
Seraphim: Comes from the Latin for "angels" - makes sense since the Seraphim esper heals you when you use it. The graphic on the screen when you use Seraphim makes even more sense.
Shiva: Shiva is a god from Indian myths which had multiple heads and arms. Shiva was called "The Destroyer" and had lots of powerful weapons. But in the mythology, Shiva has many other powers besides the Ice attribute in Final Fantasy. A member of the triad that includes Vishnu and Brahma.
Shoat: A shoat is a young hog weighing between 100 and 180 pounds. I don't know what this has to do with the game though. But in FF6j, Shoat is Catoblepas. Look under "Catoblepas" in the FF5 section.
Siren: Well, here's another Odyssey influence. When Ulysses and his men sail past the Sirens, their beautiful singing voices tempt the men to their doom (thus the musical notes that float across the screen). Ulysses escapes the deadly Sirens by inserting beeswax in his men's ears so they can keep rowing and not hear the Sirens. He lashes himself to the mast of his ship so he won't be able to leave the ship.
Starlet (Lakshmi): In FF6j, this Esper is called Lakshmi (Rakushumi). Lakshmi is the goddess of good and bad fortune in Indian mythology. She sat on a giant floating lotus watching people. When she looked at you with one eye, it meant that you would have good luck, and the other eye meant bad luck.
Stray: Probably refers to a stray cat, since the effect is called "Cat Rain" and confuses the enemies (causing them to go astray, I suppose). In the Japanese FF6, he's called "Cait Sith" (pronounced something like "kett shih"; a figure from Welsh or Irish myth), and is a main character in FF7!
Terrato: In FF6j he's Midgarsorm, also known as the Midgard Serpent. (Yet another alias is Iormungandr, also spelled Jormungand.) It is an offspring of Loki along with Fenrir. Living beneath the ocean, it encircles the Earth and remains there, waiting for the final battle, Ragnarok, where it will help destroy the gods. Supposedly the only weapon capable of hurting Iormungandr is Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.
Tritoch: He's called Valigarmanda in FF6j. Could be related to Vali, the Norse god of eternal light and also the world's greatest archer. But otherwise I'm unsure... also, he teaches you Fire 3, Bolt 3, and Ice 3, which would explain the "tri-" part.
Unicorn: A unicorn is a mythical one-horned horse-like animal. Unicorns are said to be good luck. The "Heal Horn" in FF3 is a reference to a unicorn's single horn. (The Kirin is a kind of unicorn, by the way.)
Yura: Just a nickname for "Yuri", a popular Russian male name. I think that Yura is the only named Esper that you can't acquire; since he doesn't die in the game.
ZoneSeek: I don't know how the name relates to the effects, but Zone Seek teaches you Rasp and Shell, and casts Shell on your party in battle. Maybe the Shell refers to seeking a "safe zone"...?
Some other characters...
The Evil Emperor Gestahl (gesh-'tahl): Well, this name sounds a bit like "gestohlen" or "stahl", both of which mean "stole" in German. (For grammar experts, "gestohlen" is in perfect tense. "Stahl" the noun means steel.) In the original FF6j his name was "Gastra" - but they changed it in FF3.
Kefka: Well, his name vaguely resembles that of German author Franz Kafka. One of his works is entitled "Metamorphosis", and that's the effect of the Ragnarok esper - "Metamorph". That doesn't have anything to do with Kefka though.
El Nino (el 'ni-nyo): One of Mog's dances (literally 'the boy' in Spanish; the second n should have a ~ tilde on it). But it also refers to a kind of current which creates tropical storms, which makes a lot of sense since it's part of the Water Rondo.
The Lete River, also spelled "Lethe", is the river of oblivion in Greek mythology. It's said that anyone who drinks from its waters will forget their past.
Names that are most probably coincidences:
Gau = German "district".
Doma means "homes" in Russian (accent on the "ma") which would be nice for a city, but Doma's a castle. However, Doma (accent on "do") is Latin for house, so this may be more relevant.
Cyan is just a fancy word for light blue. (Though in FF6 he's called "Cayenne" - a kind of pepper!)
Names of real people: Aside from Bismarck and Alexander mentioned earlier, there's the great Italian writer Dante Alighieri, author of the Inferno, the Purgatorio, and Paradiso, who appears as a bad guy (his demonsof hell played major parts in FF2US); there's also a baddie named "Schiller" - looks like the name of the great German philosopher. Leonardo da Vinci is immortalized here in the name of Relm's brush. And of course Larry, Curley, and Moe, the Three Stooges, are in this game. (What am I doing? Mentioning the Stooges in the same breath as mythological heroes...?)
And some equipment: (Most of these are thanks to Andrew Vestal.)
Atma Weapon: "Atman" is the Hindu word for the soul or eternal essence. Since the strength of the weapon is determined by your vitality, or essence, the name makes sense.
Cherub Down: A cherub is a winged celestial being in the second order of angels. Cherub Down, which makes you float, would be feathers from a cherub's wings. Cherubim are often seen together with seraphim, like the esper.
Coin Toss: Lets you throw coins, obviously. But originally it was named "Heiji no Jitte" (Heiji's Cross) in FF6j. Heiji was a fictional character who threw coins at his enemies, like Setzer.
Genji Equipment: In the 11th century, Murasaki Shikibu wrote the Tale of Genji. (Remember Tat's story of the Seto Naikai battle in the Yoichi's Bow entry, FF5 section?) The Genji clan was famous for its battles with the Heike, another samurai clan. In 1185, the Genji won a decisive battle with the Heike and almost eradicated them completely.
Graedus: Could be derived from the Latin "gladius" which means "sword". Incidentally, 'gladius' is the root word in 'gladiator'.
Kotetsu: A Japanese sword that is shorter than a Katana but is longer than a Wakizashi. Its shorter length gives it more defensive abilities than the Katana. It is sometimes called Naga-Wakizashi, which means "long Wakizashi".
Minerva Armor: The Roman name for Athena, the Greek goddess of war and wisdom.
Mithril equipment: A metal of legendary strength. The name comes from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. There's also the Roman soldiers' god "Mithras"; a name which was believed to be divine by the Gnostics. In Greek numerology, the word has the value of 365... a value shared by 'Agion Onoma' (Holy Name); thus its significance.
Tao Robe: Taoism is an Eastern philosophy based on the teachings of Lao-Tzu in the 6th century B.C. In FF6j, it's called "Doushi no Robe".
Zephyr Cape Zephyr was the gentle West Wind. The word "zephyr" can also mean a gentle wind or breeze.
Chrono Trigger
Not part of the Final Fantasy series, but very much in the Squaresoft tradition. Not as many mythological things as FF3, but of course there are many noteworthy items. Some items, like the Valkyrie and Kali Blade have origins that are listed with other games.
Chrono: Means "time". Cronos was the leader of the Greek Titans. "Chrono" is part of many time-related words like "chronology", "chronometer", "chronicle", etc.
Lucca could be named for the Italian city which flourished in the 15th century. It's the root word in many light-related terms in European languages, like "lucent".
Ayla: In the book series "Clan of the Cave Bear" by Jean M. Auel, there's a character named Ayla. She's from the prehistoric past, but is semi-intelligent, just like CT's Ayla.
Kino: ('ki no) German for 'cinema', or stressed another way ("kinou"), Japanese for 'yesterday' - undoubtedly coincidence! Also, the main character in John Steinbeck's "The Pearl" is named Kino.
Magus: Comes from Latin and means someone who uses magic. Incidentally, Magus is immortalized in FF2 and 3 as well. At the top of the Tower of Zot in FF2 you meet the "Magus 3", and FF3 has Strago Magus (who lives in Thamasa, the town of magic) and the Magus Rod.
Janus: Magus' real name, from 12000 BC. The first month is named for Janus, who was the Roman god of gates and doors. Janus was a two-faced god; one face saw the past and the other saw the future. Appropriate for Magus, who saw both in his extensive time travels.
Prometheus: Robo's real name. Though Robo is a robot, created by humans, he's named for the Greek god who stole fire to create humans. There's an enemy in FF3 named "Prometheus" also.
Atropos is one of the three Fates in Greek mythology. Atropos means "inflexible" and she severs the thread of life... which isn't really appropriate for the robot in CT, but...
In Norstein Bekkler's lab, you meet Wedge, Vicks, and Piette. Wedge and Vicks, who also show up in FF3, are rebel pilots in the movie "Star Wars". And one of Darth Vader's assistants is named "Admiral Piette". (Vicks should be Biggs, though.)
Cyrus: In the 6th century BC, Cyrus the Great unified the Persians and the Medes, and went on to conquer all of Babylon. Maybe the CT character is named for him.
Melchior, Belthasar, and Gaspar: These are the names of the three wise men in the Bible. Originally their names (in CT) were Bosh, Hash, and Gash; they're nonsense words and don't have any meaning.
Here are some decidedly non-mythological names:Ozzie comes from Ozzy Osborne, Slash is from Guns 'N Roses, and Flea is from Red Hot Chili Peppers. At least I think I've got them right this time... ^_^
Remember in 12000 BC when the Nu writes, "The Mystery of Life, Vol. 841, Ch. 26. All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu. This is the truth! This is my belief! ...at least for now," in a book? This is the actual origin of the word! In Greek lore, Nu is the primeval fluid with which the world was created.
Terrasaur (one of the dinosaurs): This name is actually a pun. "Terrasaur" looks like it would mean "earth lizard", but there are also dinosaurs named "Gigasaur" and "Megasaur". So it's actually "tera" meaning "1 trillion." Many dinosaurs, both real and imagined, appear in Square games. Some real ones are: Tyrannosaurus Rex (FF1, 5j, 3), Brontosaurus and Ceritops (should be Triceratops) (FF3), Black Tyrano, Mesosaur, and Pterodactyl (CT); some fictional dinosaurs are Wingraptor (FF5j), Gigasaur, and Megasaur from CT.
Pahoehoe (pa-ho-ay-ho-ay): This is a kind of soupy lava which flows from volcanoes. Thus it has a volcano-like form.
The Mammon Machine: "Mammon" refers to the god of greed and avarice. Appropriate for Queen Zeal. (not Schala; thanks for correcting me, everybody! ^_^) Mammon appears as a tree in FF5 and as a person's name in SoM. (see those games' entries too)
Giga Gaia: This time, I think Giga has its original meaning of "gigantic" (rather than '1 billion'). Gaia means earth, so the whole name means "Great Earth".
Barghest is a frightful goblin that portends misfortune. I'm not sure which mythology it's from, though.
There's a skeleton'like enemy named Macabre; this comes from the French word for death. You may know it from Camille Saint-Saens' famous 1875 musical piece, 'Danse Macabre', in which Death plays his violin in a graveyard at midnight; eventually dawn comes and he is chased away.
Meso Mail: Probably refers to the Mesozoic Era, which ended about 65 million years before the present time. Before that was the Paleozoic; this era is the Cenozoic.
Town of Medina: In A. D. 622, Mohammed moved from Mecca to Medina; this is known as the Hegira. The Islamic calendar begins with this pilgrimage; in that calendar, this year is 1418.
Kajal, spelled Kajar in the American CT, was a real city in the Middle East. I'm not sure if it still exists.
Some historical stuff... I don't think that the date 65 million BC was chosen arbitrarily. A while ago it was shown by Luis Alvarez that a meteoric impact in the Yucatan peninsula around that time may have been what triggered the global climate changes which caused the dinosaurs to become extinct and indirectly paved the way for mankind to rule the earth much later. And in CT, Lavos arrives in a meteor at exactly that time! Of course, it was artistic license on the producers' part to have human beings alive at that time. And having them speak semi-intelligible English...
12000 B. C. is supposedly when Atlantis sank, which ties in perfectly with the sinking of the kingdom of Zeal. There are several theories about where Atlantis once was; one of them puts the great civilization on the island of Thera.
Also, the "Day of Lavos" comes in 1999... and in the 15th century, Michel de Nostredame, also known as Nostradamus, predicts the end of the world to be in July of 1999. He wrote a quatrain that began "In the year 1999 and 7 months... Mars shall reign at will." [Mars is the war god in Roman mythology.]
Bahamut Lagoon
Bahamut Lagoon is another of the untranslated Square games. Though still an RPG, Bahamut diverges sharply from the FF series. It's a strategy RPG and you don't have the freedom of movement and non-linearity that you have in FF games. The plot, though, is just as intense as in any game -- BL is possibly the most emotional of them all -- and Square does a fine job with character development, especially considering that there are thirty (!) of them. And, of course, there are interesting names!
Don Juan, one of the main characters, appears in numerous Spanish stories and operas as a seducer of women. He's true to form in this game. ^_^
Anastasia and Ekaterina come from the Russian royal family; they were deposed (and killed) during the 1917 revolution.
Frunze might be named for the city in Russia, and Toulouse is a city in France.
There's a character whose name can be read either as the French word Reve, which means 'dream', or the German Löwe (Lowe with o-umlaut), which means 'lion'.
Melodia's name means 'melody' , of course, in Russian and perhaps several other languages. There's a Russian music publishing company with this name, and Clockwork Orange fans may recognize it as the name of Alex's favorite music shop.
One of the Petit Devils is named Wagahai, which is an archaic-sounding Japanese word for 'I'.
Taicho and Gunsou aren't really personal names, but military ranks. Roughly equivanlent to calling someone 'Sergeant' or 'Captain'. Their home, Mahal means 'great' and may have been inspired by the famous Taj Mahal in India.
Some of the enemies' names come from German (I'll assume that if you can read this document, you can understand the over 90% that are English ^^;)... some make sense, some don't...
Jubel-Bund = 'joy group'.
Jubel-Blitz = 'joy lightning'.
Lanze Ritter, a boss, means 'Lance Knight'.
Berge Kamerad = 'mountain comrade'.
Siegfried is the name of a cannon. (A cannon!? ^^;)
There's an boss named 'Iks-tset', which is the German pronunciation for the letters XZ.
Karl Gustav, former king of Sweden, shows up here too.
And there are others...
This game's magic includes Armageddon, meaning the apocalypse, and Halley Gazer, a comet-like burst of energy... this refers to the famous Halley's Comet, named for Edmund Halley. He was the first person to determine the period of this, arguably the world's most famous comet. It appears roughly every 75.9 years; the last appearance was in 1985-86 and the next will be in 2061.
Weapons: Pax Kahna, which is derived from Latin and means 'Kahna Peace'. It was probably inspired by the long peaceful period in Roman history; 'Pax Romana'. Though it's anyone's guess why they'd name a weapon for this; after all, weapons are for war.
Kügelblitz is German for 'ball lightning'.
Cassandra is the name of a woman from classical Greek times who was supposedly given the ability to se the future. She decided to use her gift to warn people of the disasters that were to befall them, but no one believed her and thus the tragedies were never averted.
The Dreadnought, a sword in this game, comes from the name of a British battleship developed around the turn of the century. England figured that its new technology would give it an advantage over rivals France and Germany, but unfortunately for them, Germany was able to not only make its own Dreadnought but make them in greater numbers, thus negating England's new-found power.
Armor: Maximilian was once archduke of Austria. Another man of the same name was emperor of Mexico, 1832-1867.
Sleipnir is Odin's steed.
The Mach Vest could be named for Ernst Mach, a scientist who worked with sound waves. The 'Mach ratings' used for comparing speeds of airplanes to that of sound, as in Mach 1 = 330 m/s in air, are named for him.
Imperator comes from the Latin for 'leader'.
Many of the dragons' names are repeated from other games... they're Valitra, Leviathan, Garuda, Jormungand (an alternate name for FF6's Midgardsorm), Hyperion, Bahamut, and Alexander.. The dragons live in Altair, which is the name of a star. That word comes from Arabic, as do many astronomical terms; the Arabs kept learning and science alive during Europe's Dark Ages.
The airship (well, it's more like a flying fortress) is called Fahrenheit, like the scientist who invented the temperature scale that bears his name. One of the enemy ships is called Trafalgar, which was the site of a famous British naval battle.
Seiken Densetsu 3
Most of the stuff in this game has already appeared elsewhere. But there are some new things...
There was a weapon named Siegmund; Siegmund was the father of Siegfried. Also Fenrir, the Valkyries, and many other things from that saga appear in one form or another in SD3. And items from past games such as Mjolnir (Thor's hammer), Orichalcon, and a few others.
One of Riesz's high level magics is called Marduk. Marduk is the creator of the world in Mesopotamian myths.
Also, in this game, there are seven weekdays and each one is related to one of the elemental sprites. Most of them hinge on a knowledge of Japanese, so I've summarized everything here:
NameElementWeekdayDay's Meaning (in Japanese)LunaMoonMondayMoonSalamandoFireTuesdayFireUndineWaterWednesdayWaterDryadTreeThursdayTreeDjin/SylphidWindFridayGoldGnomeEarthSaturdayEarthMana Celebration---SundaySun
Final Fantasy 7
Main Characters:
Cait Sith (pronounced, roughly, 'kett shih') is Irish. It means 'fairy cat' in Gaelic. Supposedly, it's a kind of spirit that brings good luck. Of course, they don't normally ride around on moogles. ^^;
Sephiroth has a great origin! It's Hebrew for 'numbers' and is directly related to Arabic 'sifra', French 'chiffre', German 'Ziffer', and English 'cipher'. (Sanskrit 'shunya' meaning 'void', originally.) In Hebrew (among other alphabets), each letter has a numerical value, and the art of adding the letters in a word or phrase to get a certain value is called 'gematria'. In Hebrew, the word Sephiroth has the value of 756; in Greek, 894. Can anyone find any significance in these numbers? I was hoping to relate them to the safe combination in the Shinra Mansion, but they don't seem to work. ^^; Here are the ten important Sephiroth:
1 - Kether, the Crown
2 - Chokmah, Wisdom
3 - Binah, Understanding
4 - Geduldah, Greatness
5 - Geburah, Strength
6 - Tiphemeth, Beauty
7 - Netzach, Firmness and Victory
8 - Hod, Splendor
9 - Yesod, Foundation
10 - Malkuth, the Kingdom
(There are variations on these; this list is from 777 and the Cabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley.)
The final enemy, Safer Sephiroth, should probably be Sepher Sephiroth, which means 'the book of numbers' in Hebrew. (I'm not sure if the Bible book has that exact name in Hebrew, though.) It isn't exactly obvious where whoever named him was going with this, but maybe it has something to do with all the little numbered black clones that are skulking around in Nibelheim. One of his attacks is Pale Horse, which probably refers to 'Death on a Pale Horse', a 1905 (?) painting by Ryder.
Some of the lyrics in Sephiroth's final theme, 'One Winged Angel', come from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. "Estuans interius, ira vehementi" (track 12 on most CDs), "Veni, veni, venias; ne me mori facias" (track 21), and "Gloriosa... generosa..." (24) all show up verbatim during the Sephiroth battle! The rhythm is entirely different -- both pieces have a playful sound in Orff's composition as opposed to the intensity of FFVII's final battle -- but those lines, and perhaps several others, are the same. There are many other vocal arrangements of FF themes that appear on separate CDs (sold in Japan only) which I won't go into here, because there's already a fine web page devoted to them. Go to Nora Stevens' Opera House <http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nstevens/fflyrics.html> for more info.
Wedge and Biggs of Star Wars return in this game as well.
Shinra goon Heidegger shares a name with an early 20th-century German philosopher, Martin Heidegger. Coincidence, probably. Also, Reno is a city in Nevada and Miss Scarlet is a character in Clue, the board game and film starring Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, and others.
The Ancients' original name, Cetra, could come from the Latin 'cetera', meaning 'others'... the Cetra were the 'other' race of people who originally populated the Earth.
The main city is named Midgar, just like Midgard in Norse mythology. It means 'earth'. Cloud's hometown is Nibelheim, which is the frozen hell. Another town is Costa del Sol, which means 'sun coast'.
Another place is the Zango Valley, in the north. In the original Japanese version, this was called 'sango' which simply means 'coral'.
Call Monsters include:
Knights of the Round. This refers to King Arthur's twelve Knights of the Round Table. Two of them were Uwain and Lancelot.
Kujata is from the Bahamut legend. He's the bull with numerous body parts that sits beneath the mountain, supporting the world.
Hades, as you probably know, is another word for hell, or the underworld.
Enemies: There really aren't too many... at least not from mythology... but there are these few:
The Russian authors Gorky and Chekhov make appearances in the pagoda in Wutai. They don't speak Russian, but their Japanese is kind of weird. ^^;
You'll find Diablo in the frog forest late in the game; its name means 'devil'.
And in a bizarre and purely coincidental mistranslation, "Allemagne" (which really should be "Ahriman") is the French word for Germany.
The crashed Shinra plane, Gelnika, is probably a misspelling of Guernica, the title of a painting by Picasso (I think). It's a depiction of the Spanish Civil War. (I'm trying to remember that painting from my art history class a year and a half ago... ^_^; Does anyone know more about this?)
Most of the weapons have already appeared... but new ones include:
Winchester, a type of gun. Vincent uses it.
Longinus is one of Cid's spears; changed to the utterly colorless 'Spirit Lance' in the American version. It was the weapon that pierced Christ's side after they took him down from the cross, and also the name of the Roman centurion who used it. Supposedly, the holder of this weapon would be granted immortality, and it has also been said that Hitler was looking for this during World War II. It's also the name of a Greek philosopher, but that's probably a coincidence. (It's in Bahamut Lagoon as well.)
There are many Japanese characters that remain in the English version, some of which are...
Cloud's Cross-Slash forms the shape of the kanji 'kyou', which means 'bad luck'. 'Ikari' ('anger') on the chests of the Skeeskees in Cosmo Canyon, 'Shanghai Tei' in Rocket Town, 'Kamedouraku' on the Turtle's Paradise building in Wutai. 'Kamedouraku' does indeed mean Turtle's Paradise, but ubless you can read that, you might not know that that's indeeed the place that posts flyers all over the world! Also in Wutai: Kanji 'Hi' and 'buki' ('fire' and 'weapons') above the weapon shop Katakana 'materia' on the Wutai materia shop sign, In Godo's house: 'Tsurugi' ('sword') on the floor in the shining room, 'kokoro' ('heart') on the wall in the room where you sleep, 'Shinobu' ('endurance', 'stealth'; also the 'nin' in 'ninja') on the purple rug in Yuffie's house, 'Ikkaku senkin' (idiomatic for 'strike it rich') in the room under the bell near the pagoda, This is Greek, sort of... when getting on the Ropeway, there's a sign that spells out the English words 'Amusement Park' in Greek letters.
(In case you're thinking, 'How are Americans supposed to figure all that stuff out!?" ... keep in mind that the ludicrous number of English signs were all there in the original version. I guess Japanese players had to have English dictionaries close at hand!
In Dio's Show Room at the Gold Saucer, there are some useless and apparently meaningless artifacts on display. Two of them, though, could be significant. One is the D-Type Equipment, which also shows up in the anime Evangelion, and another is Klein's Pot. It's called Klein no Tsubo in Japanese, which does literally mean Klein's Pot, but could be referring to the Klein Bottle, which is a three-dimensional analogue of the Mobius Strip (see FFMQ's entry for how to make one). It's just the kind of fanciful object that would show up in a showroom like Dio's, don't you think?
Lastly, the Party Hensei System (PHS) item shares initials with the Personal Handiphone System, an kind of cellular phone in Japan. Thus the cell-phone beep when you call your teammates. Japanese FFVII players will get the joke right away, but it's too obscure over in the U. S. ^_^;
FF Tactics
Alma's name comes from Hebrew and means 'young woman'.
Beowulf, one of your companions, has the same name as the hero from the ancient Anglo-Saxon legend. In the story, Beowulf kills Grendel, a monster who's been preying on the people.
Wiglaf, called Wiegraf in the English version, is one of Beowulf's 'thanes', or warriors, in the Beowulf saga.
The execution site where Ramza and Gafgarion duel is called Golgoralda... this may have come from Golgotha, the 'killing field' where Christ was crucified.
Some items: The perfumes that can be worn by female characters have French names. Sortilege means 'magic', Cherche means 'search for', and Chantage means 'blackmail.'
Two of the knives are named Iga and Kouga. These are the names of two ninja clans from Japan. Another knife, Platina Messer, just means platinum knife in German.
The Gokuu Rod is named for Son Gokuu, the hero of an ancient Chinese tale. I don't know the plot of this story, but Son Gokuu is also the name of one of the main characters in the popular manga and anime series 'Dragon Ball' by Akira Toriyama.
The Perseus Bow is named for the archer in Greek mythology.
There's a sword named Save the Queen (Meriadole has it); this is a line from the British song 'God Save the Queen.' I don't think there's an actual sword with this name, though. Another possiblilty (see below) is that it's another reference to what is surely the producers' favorite band.
Armor: The Caesar Plate probably refers to the family that ruled Rome around the time of the birth of Christ.
This game has a nod to Lucasfilm just like FF3, CT, and FF7... this time Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones (well, Luke and Indy) demonstrate battle techniques in the Tutorial! Other movie references include two directors who show up as either enemies or mercenary-shop allies, Robert Zemeckis of Back to the Future fame, and Terry Gilliam, from 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen' and 'Brazil' (Hey, I liked those. ^_^).
Another subtle nod is hidden in Chapter 4's title, Somebody to Love, which came from a song by the band Queen. (The Japanese chapter title, 'Ai ni subete o', means something like 'all for love'.) Other Queen references are the title of the game Ogre Battle, its subtitle March of the Black Queen, and Tactics Ogre subtitle 'Let Us Cling Together'. All are Queen songs.
Aside from Golgoranda, the place names are fictional. But for some reason, the Deep Dungeon levels have English words for names even in the import version. Two of them look like they're actually other words spelled backward -- Nogias and Mlapan. In fact, in the Japanese FFT Daizen strategy guide, Mlapan is alphabetized as if it were 'napalm' instead. Still, I've no idea what these names have to do with the game (Vietnam War references? Valkyries could even refer to that war if you consider that Wagner's music was played in the movie Aocalypse Now...). Incidentally, the Deep Dungeon itself comes from a previous Square game of the same name. It was one of their first releases back in the 1980s, before Final Fantasy even existed.
Miscellaneous
Another thing Square likes to do is use variant spellings in their games. For example, you've probably noticed the Lunar Subterrane in FF2, Fenix Down, Gaea Gear, and Ziegfried in FF3, the Valkerye sword in CT, among others. "Crono" is an alternate spelling too, but it's probably used because the names in CT can only have up to 5 letters. "Ziegfried" might be because in English it's a better phonetic approximation to the real pronunciation.
And one last thing: German composer Richard Wagner's name has popped up here and there (Siegfried, Odin, Tristam, etc.) and it's worth mentioning that Square's wonderful habit of using music to advance the plot of the story or giving each main character his or her own theme dates back to Wagner's operas. He invented the "Leitmotiv" (pronounced like English "light motif") which is sort of like what Square does with their game music. For example, the Valkyries had a theme which was played when they were the central characters just like, say, Shadow's theme is heard when there's a plot twist involving him. Anyhow Square uses the Leitmotiv rather effectively.
Further reading... There are lots of books which contain either info directly related to FF stuff, or tangential things that you might be interested in. This list here isn't in any particular order, and is by no means complete! ^^;
The Book of Imaginary Beings, by Jorge Luis Borges. As the title implies, it's got lots of info about the mythological beasts that Square designers love so much. Clan of the Cave Bear (and its sequels) by Jean M. Auel. Set in the Ice Age, they feature Ayla of Chrono Trigger. The Once and Future King by T. H. White, has some Arthurian legends which pop up in FF games from time to time. Der Ring des Nibelungen, or The Ring of the Nibelung, is the long saga which contains Siegfried, Odin, Ragnarok, and numerous other people and places without which the Square series just wouldn't be the same! The Inferno by Dante. A journey through Hell; our heroes meet up with FF2's Fiends, among other baddies. Bulfinch's Mythology is a great reference book on world mythology. From One To Zero, by Georges Ifrah, has a lot of information on gematria (see the Sephiroth entry) and numbers in general. Also, it's the source for the Osiris-Set story in the FF Legend section.
Notes to contributors: I tried to stay as close as possible to your exact words as I could in this file. I only paraphrased a little bit so that everything sort of reads in the same voice (mine). So I may have edited things just a bit, but not enough to change anything substantially, I hope.
Credits (in chronological order; wow, there are a lot! Thanks!):
Tatsushi Nakao (tatsushi.nakao@colorado.edu) for giving me the space on Illucia, supplying lots of general information, telling me about the Masamune and Murasame, lots of FF5 info including the story of Yoichi's Bow, and a whole bunch of other stuff!
Zimeon Lundstrom for Ragnarok info, pronunciation, and some Nordic mythology.
Anthony Michael Zayas for info on the Phoenix esper
Khan (andy_lo@morris.lakeside.sea.wa.us) for info on Shiva
Hector Squiabro (ac187@virgin.usvi.net) for info on Fenrir
Kurt Stoyle (kurt@iccu.ipswichcity.qld.gov.au) for Bismarck info
Chaim Gingold (gingol1@wvnvaxa.wvnet.edu) for Leviathan info
Laughin' Boy (mdorsey@bbs.sd68.nanaimo.bc.ca) for Ragnarok info
Carla A. White (glse65a@prodigy.com) for info on Arachne
Kate Malloy (kmallo1@gl.umbc.edu) for a whole bunch of name etymologies, Arthurian legends, half a zillion FF Legend series things, some FF3 stuff, almost all the French-derived words in this list, and a correction of the Masamune - Murasame story
Andrew Thompson (andrew@thompson.cais.com) for a lot of Secret of Mana stuff, Magus, Templar, some more Greek myths including a correction of the Odyssey story, and a whole big mess of other things
Nora Stevens (nstevens@umich.edu) for the Veldt (in Afrikaans), lots of info on the SoM elementals, FF5 stuff including Sekhmet, Greek and Latin FF6 names, the lovely pink backgrounds that sometimes grace this page, and plenty of helpful comments in general
Jeff Zitur (anchor@mcn.net) for some FF1 names
Doug Reed (ccdomis@tricom.net), Billy J. Bissette (bjbiset@eos.ncsu.edu), Jerry Russell (slo-made@ac.net), Franz Keller X (franz@ucla.edu), and Marcelo X (marcelox@earthlink.net) for Bahamut info (king of the dragons)
Arthur Ching (chiarth@ee.mcgill.ca) for the other explanation of Bahamut (the big fish)
Eric Loiselle ( ? ) for the story of Sabin the biologist and the Polyomelite virus
Sarita Appavu (sva1@cornell.edu) and Brandon Carper (dcarper@cobweb.net) for 'Chakra' info
Kenshin (eyoshida@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca) for Cayenne info
Minako Takahashi ( ? ) for several things, including Ashura (and 'shuraba'), Kirin, and Masamune
Mark Schmidt (MS2340@cnsvax.albany.edu) for Lagomorph
Kevin A. Kanda (kevin.a.kanda@dartmouth.edu) for some Fiends in FF1, Chakra, Garuda, and a few others
Bob Hansen (megadiesel@mhv.net) for some dinosaurs, the name "Cole", and a few other things
Sarah Tilson (wtropic@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu) for Bahamut (the fish version), and some CT stuff including Pahoehoe, Melchior, Belthasar, and Gaspar
Olaf (olaf@earth.execpc.com) for Claymore info, Kraken, and a few others
Daniel Anzulovic (dannisan@mindspring.com) for extra info on Elaine and the Magi
"Sabrewulf" Fauci (s10jlf1@corn.cso.niu.edu) for Vishnu and a few others
Sayuri Moroto (sayuri@eden.rutgers.edu) for Pure Land info
Todd (crocken@mastnet.net) for extra info on Bismark (the ship)
Evan Pollino (ppollino@ghgcorp.com) and Jan Siren (sirenj@iu.net) for some FF3 stuff
Mike Masse (massemr@iserv.net) for extra Masamune and Murasame info
Kian Maleki (lordjim@ix.netcom.com) and Mogakupo@aol.com for some CT stuff
Randy Robinson (rand@rmi.net) for the "ESP" explanation of 'Esper' and CT info
Ryan Kaylor (praetorius@msn.com) for fixing 'Necrophobia'
Ben Elgin (benjamin_elgin@hmc.edu) for Toth Eibis (the Egyptian version) and others
104142.2552@compuserve.com for Kino as a character in "The Pearl"
JMS Troll (jmstroll@aol.com) for some Sekhmet and CT info
Claud (ctai@flash.net) for Terra Firm info
The Mage (mage@alaska.net) for D&D related Bahamut and Kraken info
Demi (demi@frognet.net), among others, for correcting the thing about Queen Zeal
John "The Secret of" Manna [sorry John; couldn't resist ^_^] (jmanna@monmouth.com) and Tim Kearey (kearey@ctv.es) for lots of SoM info, including Purim
David Barton (bat571@kendaco.telebyte.com) and Jeff Thyren for the "celestial" origin of Celes
Will Sirota (wts2@cornell.edu) for Dullahan info
Simon Oh (oboe@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu) for Swallow and Rainbow
Erik Connors (esc112@psu.edu) for Mithril and Sahagin
Masashi Ito (masashi.ito-1@tc.umn.edu) for a wealth of info including Moogle and Chocobo
Jeremy Baker (bahamut@mb.sympatico.ca) and Dave Choe (dave.choe@utoronto.ca) for Ogopogo
Jake Taylor (taylor@ntcnet.com) for some CT and SoM info
Maruka (akeeno@ix.netcom.com) for "Lucca" info
Elliott (elliott@js-net.com) for Atlas, Tapir, and some miscellaneous FF3 stuff
Staci Trekles (andella@hotmail.com) for extra Sekhmet info
Eric Krieger (erickei@usa.net) for a bunch of extra FF3 stuff, and extra stuff on Glaive
Margretta Meyer (mmentosm@aol.com) for Mithras info
Antony Hernandez (sabra@cats.ucsc.edu), Craig Grabarczyk (grabarcz@up.net), Karl Martin (rhienphoenix@geocities.com), Pat Maher (maher1@ix.netcom.com), Kevin G. Roberts (AAAK97@snet.net), and Jennifer Schumacher (fenixdragn@aol.com) for Wedge and Biggs in Star Wars
Alethia Cyrus (zaniidor@hotmail.com) for extra Hydra and Shade info
Adam (arussell@guinan.mps.org) for more Kirin info
Eli Waggoner (runeesper@aol.com) for Arthurian myths
Fritz Fraundorf (erggibbon@aol.com for Atlantis and Queen info
Alejandro Ferrer (ale@caribe.net) for fixing the Cid story
Mike Holmes (Michael.E.Holmes@dartmouth.edu) for Inferno info
Noah Sproat (sproatne@utah-inter.net) for extra info on Cait Sith
Chris Boyer (AnimKnight@aol.com) for help with the Templars
Katryn (fpmj@interoz.com) for 'Kefka's Theater'
The Acid Lover (cham@trib.infi.net) for fixing Flea and Slash
Jean Desjardins (9652012@collegebdeb.qc.ca) for fixing my French
Jeff Temple (temple@lightspeed.net) for Atropos info
Matt Hanyok (hanyok@nih.gov) for Longinus info
Joe Lee, aka Fractal Dragon (jsl22@cornell.edu) for the Evangelion reference
Douglas Michael Zwick (vzwick@sos.net) for the Kafka-Metamorphosis connection