|
| Thread: The history behind the creatures |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 · NEXT» |
|
mklthrkngl
Known Hero
|
posted February 12, 2002 08:26 AM |
|
|
The history behind the creatures
Have you ever wondered from what sources the creatures of might and magic have come from?
I have noticed the majority have come from greek mythology.Oddly enough i have always been a huge mythology buff as well as a fan of fantasy literature. Maybe this is one of the reasons i've always found so much enjoyment in the might and magic games.
So if anybody has any questions about where any of the creatures in homm came from in literature or mythology feel free to post your questions here and I as well as many others in TOH will be more than happy to answer the questions.
I will start with one of my fav. creatures in the game
Cyclops- Originally Cyclops were the children of Uranus and Geai the earth mother. They were brothers to the titans, the first group of gods to rule the earth in greek mythology.They also had another group of kin who were less well known but even more monstrouse than they were.These were the many armed and headed giants. When these 2 groups of beings were born Uranus cast them into the depths of the earth for they were indeed terrifying to behold.
The earth mother mourned her children lost in the depths and fomented revolt among her other children, the titans, who were not being very well treated by there father either.Cronus the greatest of the Titans, wielding a sickle made of flint given him by his mother, over powered uranus and neutered him.
Cronus turned out to be no better than his father and also refused to free his imprisonned brethren. At the last it would be Cronus's own children who would cast him low into the very pit he'd originally imprisoned his brethren in. The Cyclops and there many headed siblings would rise up and fight on the side of the new gods. Their talent at smith craft would assure the victory of the children of Cronus.
Ever after they would hold a place of honour on Mt. Olympus and labour along side the lame smithy god Hephestaus(Vulcan). Some of there children would also appear in the tales of Homer's Odysse to bedevil the mane character and his crew.
I hope you enjoyed the story of the cyclops and if you'd wish to know the tale of any of the other creatures in homm I or somebody else will be happy to tell it.
P.S welcome are any other enlightenments about the cyclops or any of the other creatures who's tales will be told in this post.
p.p.s. also any corrections as to creature origins are welcome as are discussion of said origins
|
|
Lith-Maethor
Honorable
Legendary Hero
paid in Coin and Cleavage
|
posted February 12, 2002 08:31 AM |
|
|
just a sidenote:
the Cyclopses were the ones that gave Zeus his thunder
oh, btw: the Cyclops the got blinded by Odysseus, was Polyfemos and he was Poseidon's son
____________
You are suffering from delusions of adequacy.
|
|
mklthrkngl
Known Hero
|
posted February 12, 2002 08:38 AM |
|
|
indeed they did
Very good mention Lith 
They also gave Poseiden his trident and Hades his helm of invisibility.The Goddess Hera was also gifted with a miraculouse girdle.
|
|
destro23
Promising
Famous Hero
Keeper of GrongGrong
|
|
posted February 12, 2002 08:41 AM |
|
|
I have one complaint / question
BEHOLDERS
These creatures as far as I know... which I admit is not extremely far..
Beholders are a multi layered, ectremely intellegent breed of subterrainean tyrants.
The only resource I have to back this up is of course the popular DUngeons and Dragons game.
But here the beholder is a most formidible opponent. With 9-15 eye stalks, depending on age, race of beholder, aage ect... the beholder has death rays, enfeeblement, anti-magic, paralysis, disintegration, and many other attack forms.
Seems in heroes these monstrousities are no where near there historical counter-parts..
lv 20 hack set in the world I am talking about would surely fear these beasts...
But then again.. speaking of the same universe Red Dragons are in every way, shape, and form, superior to blacks. SO maybe this is not one of the sources that was used
----------------------
The Dead Walk!!!
|
|
Lith-Maethor
Honorable
Legendary Hero
paid in Coin and Cleavage
|
|
posted February 12, 2002 08:43 AM |
|
|
as far as I remember
they gave something to each one of the Twelve Gods (at least to those that were alive at the time) but anyway, anybody cares to tell us the story of another creature?
btw: this belongs to the Tavern
____________
You are suffering from delusions of adequacy.
|
|
Mad_Unicorn
Famous Hero
I am a mean person shame on me
|
|
posted February 12, 2002 08:01 PM |
|
|
greek mythology?
Heroes is a mix of norse and greek mythology or atleast thats what i noticed. I thought it was the titans that gave zeus his thunder or atleast he discovered it while battling them. Odin gave the titans or imbued them with the strength to conquer the greek gods.
Norse, Greek and christian mythology also said that dragons were the last to recieve the power of gaea and that they kept the ballance of power between the opposing gods.
Elves and Unicorns were the warriors of gaea while dendriods were the spirits of the trees set upon the land to protect the forests by gaea.
Unicorns were also thought of the protectors of gaea. Dwarves were part of gaea but led astray by greed.
Genies and Efreeti are both genies while one grants wishes when freed from his/her confinement the other brings great destruction till it can be contained again.
Hell hounds and ceberi were the denzions of hell basically they served as guards to the gates of hell and in the retrieval of damned souls. I dunno where pit lords come from. Demons served the devils in ways to currupt the human world.
Dragon flies came from a mix of blood between a hunter fly(biggest fly around in norse mythology) and a dragon. I thought they breathed fire tho oh well. Hydras were the king of the dragons and oversaw the world. Only the mighty hercules was said to destroy one.
Castle towns are christian mythology, Rampart/Stronghold are from naturist and norse mythology. Dungeon comes from greek and norse. Fortress is a mix of them all. Inferno towns are from christian mythology. Necros are from all as well.
In fantasy games it all comes down to who reads what that determines the attributes of the creatures
|
|
tewilligar
Famous Hero
Just another willigar
|
|
posted February 12, 2002 09:08 PM |
|
|
origins
as i can see a lot of the creatures come from d&d like destro mentioned.
____________
ZZZZzzzzZZZZzzzz
|
|
Mocara
Famous Hero
what?
|
|
posted February 13, 2002 01:53 AM |
|
|
"Originally Cyclops were the children of your anus"
Is that why they only have one eye?
-Mocara
____________
|
|
gravdragon
Known Hero
Barbarian
|
|
posted February 13, 2002 11:52 PM |
|
|
Lol mocara!
I thougth elves was Tolkiens invention?
And by the way, Inferno has one very important creature from the greek mythology, the cerberus.
____________
L´ombre fatal - The shadow of death
|
|
thecastrated
Famous Hero
|
posted February 14, 2002 02:58 AM |
|
|
You can find gogs and magogs in revelation of the bible.
From what it seems, not many people here are christians eh?
____________
|
|
Camelnor
Famous Hero
Also known as Blue Camel
|
|
posted February 14, 2002 04:03 AM |
|
|
actually, you may be surprised to learn that...
Gog and magog WERE revealed in the bible but... they were not evil fireball throwing demons... They were REGIONS of hell... lol
____________
My Site
|
|
thecastrated
Famous Hero
|
|
posted February 14, 2002 04:09 AM |
|
|
No..a verse in revelation said somethign like: ..and gogs and magogs were summoned from the 4 corners of the earth. serous.
____________
|
|
mklthrkngl
Known Hero
|
|
posted February 15, 2002 11:17 AM |
|
|
next creature
i noticed some interest in the origins of the Beholders/Evil eyes.
the only references to an evil eye i was able to drag out of mythology and literature were concerning curses in witchcraft and the king of the Fomor in ancient celtic mythology.
in witch craft a common curse was to cast the evil eye upon somebody thus insuring nothing but misfortune for the victim.
in Irish mythology there was a twisted and evil race known as the Formor. They were ruled by a most dreadfull king named Balor of the Evil Eye. Aparently this Balor had an eyelid or a hood over his face that he could lift by either pulling a cord or pushing on a lever on the side of his head.The gaze of the one eye underneath would strike dead any it fell upon.This,as opposed to the gaze of a medusa or Gorgon, did not require that the victim be looking at the eye to inflict death.
The Formor ruled Ireland until the future leader of the Sidhe, Lugh, destroyed Balor with a magic spear.Another version is that he turned Balors own gaze upon himself with a reflecting magic sheild.
on another note, the Sidhe of celtic mythology are one of the main roots for our modern concepts of the elves. The other main source being Norse mythology.The tails of the wee folk, fair folk, and many other forms appear in almost all religious and mythologic writings through out the world.
|
|
mklthrkngl
Known Hero
|
|
posted February 15, 2002 11:31 AM |
|
|
btw
BTW: this post belongs right where I posted it
This post involves discussing the creatures and characters that make up homm. The game that TOH was invented for.
If people can post endless drivel about rules, open vrs. closed maps, nightmares about homm and the like, i can post something that might spark a conversation about something other than wether rules are good or bad.
I am quite familiar with what is supposed to and not supposed to be posted on this board.
P.S. If i want to post something in the tavern i will. Thank you very much!
|
|
madman
Tavern Dweller
|
|
posted June 26, 2007 11:32 AM |
|
|
By Vergilius, harpys were creatures of Hades, underground. They had to punish criminals. Greek poets also mentioned them as punishers of sinful people. The harpys were remorseless, but fair.
Herakleitos says: "Although the sun doesn't ever deviate from its course the harpys, servants of justice, are still more consistent than he sun"
The harpys usually appear as triple: Tisiphone, Megaira and Alekto.
P.S I translated it from estonian so there might be some serious mistakes or the names wrongly typed
It was from a book of ancient mythology aka Greek mythology.
____________
|
|
Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
Qapla'
|
|
posted June 26, 2007 11:41 AM |
|
|
The minotaurs and their dwelling,the labirynth,are from Greek mythology,although the legend says that there was only 1 minotaur who killed [ ate to be exact ] people that got lost in his labyrinth.
The medusas are also from Greek mythology.they say there was a bautiful woman called Medusa with beautiful hair etc etc.But a jealous Goddess turned her into a monster that had snakes instead of hair and anyone who looked in her eyes was turned into stone.I'm not sure,but I think the monsters known as Gorgons were Medusa's sisters who also got turned into monsters.But I still don't know what's with the Wyverns,Gnolls and especially Nagas.
|
|
Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
|
|
posted June 26, 2007 03:51 PM |
|
|
A wyvern is a known lesser dragon with no firebreath and a barbed tail while the nagas are supposed to be semi-divine creatures depicted as a mix between a human and a serpent. They had mind powers(illusion I think) and were often guarding treasures. Not sure about the gnolls.
____________
H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
|
|
mklthrkngl
Known Hero
|
|
posted June 29, 2007 02:10 AM |
|
|
i think the knolls are borrowed
either they are borrowed from D&D or they completely made up by homm. but i'm sure i remeber knolls from D&D. also the minotaur was indeed only 1, he was the cursed child of king Mino's of crete. he was entraped in a labyrynth beneath knossos. the reason for this was that as he grew he becameever stronger and uncontrollable. then when his tatses turned to human flesh they placed him in the labirynth to keep the general populace safe from his hunger. but seeing as he was the kings son and all Mino's wouldn't have him killed. But as he would only eat human flesh minos used the power of his navy to compell the mainland greek kings to send sacrifices of young 9 virgins and 9 youths to be eaten by the minotaur. these kingdoms would use a lottery to decide who would be taken. I think it was the king of Athens who 's son theseus volunteered to go to crete and be one of the sacrices, with the help of minos's own daughter Ariadne he slew the minotaur.
____________
OK!! So i cann't spell well! So shoot me!!
|
|
mklthrkngl
Known Hero
|
posted June 29, 2007 02:11 AM |
|
|
old post
hmmm, this post hasn't been seen for a while. i forgot that i'd ever started it
____________
OK!! So i cann't spell well! So shoot me!!
|
|
morgan_le_fey
Famous Hero
|
|
posted June 30, 2007 06:54 AM |
|
|
the minotaur was in a labyrinth and in order to keep this village from being destroyed they had to toss some people in for the minotaur to kill and eat now and then. theseus was sent to be tossed in when he met a fair young girl and she asked him if he was afraid to die. he said oh no..i can take the minotaur easy...but theres one thing that worrys me..i dont know how ill get back out of the maze. she told him she had that part figured out...she would take a clew of yarn in with her and if she managed to escape follow the yarn back out.
somehow she actually believed theseus had a chance to kill the things so she gave him the yarn. he said he loved her and promised to marry her after he finished of the minotaur. well he killed the thing...got back out by retracing the trail left by the clew of yarn and left the girl high and dry.
theseus was a tarnished hero you might say.
morgan_le_fey
____________
|
|
|
|
