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:

________      ,
   |      |--------|
   |--      ------
 | |       --------
 | |          |
--------   /  |  \   

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.)

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

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.

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.

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:

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.

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 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.

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:

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