A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ABE NO SEIMEI - (Japanese/Historical) A famous historical onmyouji (yin-yang sorcerer/exorcist) from Japan's Heian era (around 1200 AD). Many stories and legends surround Abe no Seimei, and he is currently enshrined in Kyoto, where he lived. His birthname was Haruaki Abe.

ADRAMELECH - (Judeo-Christian) One of the demons of the Old Testament; apparently he was a Samarian god that demanded child sacrifices.

AELLO - (Greek) one of the Harpies, the so-called "hounds of Zeus." Harpies are filthy creatures with the bodies of birds and the heads and torsos of women. Aello means "Stormwind" or "Stormy."

AESHMA - (Persian) One of seven archangels of the Persians, the demon of fury. Adopted later into Hebrew mythology as Asmodeus. Has been recorded in history for at least three thousand years. Said to be a small hairy demon able to make men perform cruel acts.

AFANC - (Celtic) The Afanc is a gigantic monster that lives in Llyn-yr-Afanc (The Afanc Pool) in the River Conwy. He's so strong that when he's in a bad mood, he breaks the banks of the pool, flooding the valley. The Afanc is very partial to beautiful young women, and a brave girl from a nearby village volunteers to coax the monster out of the water so that the people can chain it and drag it to a new home, which turns out to be Llyn Ffynon Las.

AGATHION - (Arabian) A familiar demon which was said to appear only at midday. It took the shape of a man or a beast, or even enclosed itself in a talisman, bottle, or magic ring.

AGENT - (original) The soldiers of SEBEC, who are under the control of Kandori Takahisa.

AGRIPPA - (Historical) Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a medieval German mystic and alchemist. He established a secret society in Paris devoted to astrology, magic, and the Kabbalah. He had legitimate jobs as a soldier, spy, law professor, and doctor, but he was most famous for his writings, especially the three-volume "De occulta philosophiae" (1531), which was about "hidden philosophies" (magic), alchemy, astrology, and the Kabbalah. "De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum" (Of the Uncertainty and Vanity of the Sciences) was an attack on the scientific theory and practices of the time. He got himself in trouble with the Church many times with his lectures on theology, and he even defended a woman accused of witchcraft. He was chased out of Koln, Germany, by the Inquisition for this. After Agrippa's death, some believed that he had not only been an alchemist but a evil magician, or even a vampire.

AH PUCH - (Mayan) Yum Cimil/Ah Puch was the name of the skeletal Death God in Xibalba, the Mayan underworld. He also wears a collar with eyeless sockets, which was the symbol for the underworld. He is also called Hunahau or Hun-hau, and he rules over the ninth and lowest of the underworlds.

AIRGETLAM - (Celtic) 'Airgetlam,' meaning Silver Hand, was originally known as Nuadu, King of the Tuatha de Danaan. His hand was severed in battle, making him unfit to be king. Diancecht and Credne made him a hand from silver, which is how he got his other name.

AIZEN MYOUOU - (Japanese) The Japanese god of love, worshipped by prostitutes, landlords, singers and musicians. Despite his ferocious appearance (he has a third eye vertically placed between his two other eyes and a lion's head in his hair) he is considered to be beneficent to mankind. Go Nanjou. >D

AOI MANTO / AKA MANTO - (Japanese) An urban legend from Japan. He waits in the last stall in the women's bathroom, and people entering the bathroom hear a voice asking them, "Which do you prefer, the red mantle or the blue mantle?" If they pick "red," they are killed by slashing their backs repeatedly with a blade, so that their bloodstained backs make them look like they're wearing a red mantle. If they pick "blue," then they're killed by hanging. Another version of this story has the monster asking them if they'd like to wear a red mantle; if they say yes, they're killed as described before. A third variant of the story has the monster asking if the woman likes red or blue paper. The original story seems to have originated as a monster that snatched children from the streets at dusk and killed them; it probably originated as a tale told by parents to keep kids from playing too late. After WWII, this monster and the monster in the toilet merged to form the Aka Manto. The story of the Aka Manto is probably related to the story of the Kuchisake-Onna (Slit-Mouth Woman). He's known as Aka Manto, Aoi Manto, Aoi Hanten, Aka Kami, and Aoi Kami.

ALASTOR - (Greek) "Alastor" means "avenger". In Greek mythology, Alastor is an avenging demon, associated with blood feuds between families, and the Greek term for an avenging power that visits the sins of the fathers on their children. It is also an evil genius of a house that leads a man to commit crimes and sin. He was originally a mortal, the son of Neleus, king of Pylos. He became a (minor) demon when he and his brothers were slain by Herakles.

ALECTO - (Greek) One of the Furies, vengeful spirits that punish evildoers.

ALICE - (Original) I'd always assumed that this referred to the eight-year-old girl from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland." However, the story I get from the guide is slightly different. In Shin MegaTen, Alice was the name of a girl who died in Roppongi after the "great destruction." The "red earl" and the "black baron," who had put Alice under their protection, brought her back to life with a false life. Alice's wish, actually, had been to have an eternal friend, not eternal life, but the red earl and black baron tried to grant the wrong wish. However, when those two died, her eternal life also disappeared.

AMANO MAIHIME - (Original) Amano Maihime was a princess in Sumaru City. She and one of her samurai retainers, Suou Tatsunoshin, battled the evil Sumaru Kiyotada. Maihime was killed by a spear while trying to protect Suou, and he destroyed Kiyotada. Suou ordered his ninja master, Kuroda Junnosuke, to set fire to the castle and leave, while Suou himself stayed inside with Maihime's body and perished in the flames. She supposedly lived in the Era of Warring States (the feudal period), judging from her clothing and the backstory for Sumaru Kiyotada. She is supposedly an ancestress of Amano Maya.

AMATSU MIKABOSHI - (Japanese) The Japanese god of evil. His name means "August Star of Heaven".

AME-NO-UZUME - (Japanese) A rain goddess of Japan. When Amaterasu, the sun goddess, had hidden herself away in a cave and refused to come out, Ame-no-Uzume did a dance for all the gods and goddesses (several (rather questionable) sources suggested that it was a strip tease). The commotion outside nterested Amaterasu, who opened her cave a little to see what was going on; then the other gods and brought her out of the "Ame-no-Iwato" cave.

AMUN RA - (Egyptian) the falcon-headed god of the sun, Amun Ra rode a golden sun boat from east to west every day. When the sun set, Amun Ra was attacked the serpent Apep, who tried to swallow the sun. The god of storms, Set, stood at the prow of the boat and killed Apep each night, and each new dawn meant that Ra had won once again.

AMURDAD - (Zoroastrian) The name literally means 'immortality', and Amurdad is the god presiding over the Earth who gives his name of the seventh day of the month and the fifth month according to the Zoroastrian religious calendar.

ANATOMY - (Original) An original MegaTen monster, 'anatomy' is simply an animated high school anatomy dummy.

ANGEL - (Judeo-Christian) A celestial being, angels were the servants and messengers of God (angelus means 'messenger' in Greek). Although the stereotypical image of an angel is of a man with wings, different types of angels had different forms, some rather bizarre.

ANKOU - (Celtic/French) A spirit of death in Celtic mythology, originating in Brittany. (You may notice that the Ankou demon yells "C'est bon!" when he attacks. :D) He is usually a skeleton or very old man dressed in black, carrying a long scythe with the blade positioned backwards, so that the sharp edge faces outwards. The Ankou is different each year; the last person to die in a parish each year acts as the Ankou for that parish next year. The Ankou rides a horse-drawn cart to carry all its bodies, and has skeleton attendants to open the doors for the houses he needs to enter.

ANRA MAINYU - (Zoroastrian) Anra Mainyu is the original name of Ahriman, the Zoroastrian god of supreme evil and lies. He's the twin brother of Ahura Mazda, the god of good, and he has armies of demons. When Zurvan wanted children, he prayed for a son. When he began to doubt that his prayers would ever be answered, Ahura Mazda and Ahriman appeared as a reward for both his piety and his doubts. Zurvan had previously stated that his firstborn child would rule the earth, so Ahriman caused himself to be born first. Zurvan had to honor his promise, but he put a time limit - Ahriman would only reign for 9000 years, after which Ahura Mazda would depose him. Ahriman predates Lucifer and other fallen angels in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

ANUBIS - (Egyptian) The jackal-headed god that presided over burials and graveyards. Anubis served the role of the psychopomp, the guide of the dead, similar to Hermes in Greek mythology. Anubis also appears in full jackal form.

APAOSHA - (Zoroastrian) Apaosha was the demon of drought, who appeared in the form of a black horse.

APEP - (Egyptian) The giant serpent of darkness, Apep, tried to swallow the sun disc every night as it passed through his territory in the darkness under the world. The god of desert winds, Set, would stand at the prow of the boat and would fight with him to let the sun rise again.

APOLLO - (Greek) The Greek god of the sun, light, and music, the son of Zeus and Leto. He stood for all that was civilized and controlled in the Greek pantheon. He was born, along with his twin sister Artemis, on the island of Delos. When he was adult, he went to the mountain oracle of Delphi, where the Sybil was being guarded by the monsterous Python. He slew the Python and established himself as the god of Delphi, renaming the oracle "the Pythia" in honor of the Python. The oracle of Delphi was extremely influential; many famous Greek heroes consulted it to find out the will of the gods. Although Apollo is "the god of the sun," he did not drive the sun chariot; that was reserved for the titan Helios, just as the moon chariot was driven by the titan Selene, not his sister Artemis. His instrument of choice was the lyre that he got from his half-brother Hermes, and his weapon was a golden bow with arrows that brought plague and fiery, painful death. Apollo is an interesting god; on one hand, he seems to be the ideal Greek civilized man, and on the other hand, he is associated with death and destruction and violence and the occult in certain contexts. Some people have suggested that Apollo was originally a Middle-Eastern god of plague that got adopted by the Greeks; witness Apollo's plague-bearing arrows in the Trojan War.

ARACHNE - (Greek) Arachne was a vilage girl who was exceptionally talented at weaving tapestries. She grew so vain that she boasted that she was more skilled than the goddess Athena herself. Athena, who was (amongst many other things) the goddess of weaving, came down to earth and challenged Arachne to a match, where they both wove a tapestry depicting the deeds of the gods. Athena's tapestry depicted all the glorious, heroic deeds of the gods, such as slaying monsters. Arachne's tapestry was as beautiful, but she depicted the gods at their worst - chasing human women, lying, cheating, fighting with each other. Angered by the blasphemy, Athena tore Arachne's tapestry to shreds, and Arachne went and hung herself. When Athena saw the girl hanging from the rope, she felt a little sorry for her, and touched her with a spindle, turning the poor girl into the first spider, so that it could keep weaving its entire life.

ARCHANGEL - (Judeo-Christian) Either an extremely important angel, or merely a specific rank of angel, depending on whom you ask. According to most sources, there are at least seven archangels who rule over the rest of the Host. Pseudo-Dionysis lists Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Chamuel, Jophiel, and Zadkiel, but Raguel, Remiel, Sariel, and Raziel are also mentioned. Anyways, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel are almost always on the master list.

ARES - (Greek) The Greek god of senseless battle and violence. Ares, unlike the Roman Mars, was not respected or liked by people - he was a coward and hated pain, and was always causing battles to rage out of hand or start without provocation. His attendants in battle were Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror), as well as Eris (Discord), Plague, Death, and Famine. He would fight until he got slightly injured, and then he would scream so horribly that it would terrify all the warriors, and run back to Olympus to get his wounds tended. He and his sister Athena, the goddess of well-ordered battle, did NOT get along well. But, strangely enough, the goddess of Love, Aphrodite, found him attractive enough to have several affairs with him, producing the goddess Harmonia. Ares is, of course, associated with the planet Mars, and the red star in Scorpio, Antares, is also named after him, sort of - Antares = Anti-Ares = the rival (in brilliance and color) of Ares (Mars). Ares was also associated with dogs and crows - battlefield scavengers - and it was the dragon of Ares that Cadmus had to slay to found the city of Thebes.

ARIANRHOD - (Celtic) The Celtic goddess of the full moon, tides, and time.

ARMAITI - (Zoroastrian) Armaiti essentially means "serenity," and is one of the emanations of the god of good, Ahura Mazda.

ARROGANCE - (Original) The personification of the Cardinal Sin "Pride."

ARTEMIS - (Greek) The twin sister of Apollo, and the Olympian goddess of the moon. (She left the actual moon duties to the titan Selene, much as Apollo let the titan Helios drive the sun chariot.) Artemis was also the virgin goddess of the hunt, and spent her time running about in the forest with her dogs and her attendant nymphs. Her weapon was a silver bow with arrows that caused a cool, painless death. Artemis, like most other Greek gods, could be cruel and vengeful and irrational. When Queen Niobe of Thebes boasted that her fourteen children made her as worthy of worship as Artemis' mother Leto, who only had two children, Apollo and Artemis went and killed all fourteen children in front of Niobe's eyes, just to teach her a lesson. At another time, the hunter Acetaeon accidentally stumbled upon the pool where Artemis was bathing, and saw her naked. Furious, Artemis splashed Acataeon with water, transforming him into a stag so that the man's own hunting hounds tore him to pieces. The Greek gods really aren't very nice...Artemis is also popularly known as the triple-goddess: Artemis, the maiden, Diana, the adult woman, and Hecate, the hag. Hecate is a dark goddess of the underworld, who has to be invoked with blood sacrifices - but she is also an aspect of Artemis, it seems.

ARTHUR - (Arthurian) Y'all know about King Arthur, the Once and Future King of Britain. So I'll just give this a pass.

ASTERIA - (Greek) A nymph or Amazon that turned herself into a quail to avoid being raped by Zeus, the king of the gods. (BTW, the material card for Asteria shows a quail - a reference to this myth - and is called the Orthyx card, because Orthyx is the Latin species name for the American partridge.)

AZAZEL - (Judeo-Christian) Azazel was a desert demon worshipped by early Semitic tribes. He rules over a group of demons called the goat-demons. Every year, these tribes would symbolically put all their sins into a goat and send it out into the desert as a sacrifice for the goat-demons, hence the term "scapegoat." Azazel was also one of the Watchers, angels sent to earth to observe mankind but who ended up teaching them "forbidden things." Azazel taught men the art of warcraft and weaponmaking, as well as teaching women how to use cosmetics. >_> <_< Anyways, now he's regarded as an important demon that will munch on the wicked at the Resurrection. Something for us all to look forward to, eh?

AZI DAHAKA - (Zoroastrian) Dahaka is a three-headed, six-eyed storm demon that was defeated by the warrior god Faridoon and imprisoned on the mountain Demavand. Dahaka is supposed to escape in the future, but it will be destroyed in a river of fire at the end of the world. Dahaka personifies Lies.

AZRAEL - (Islamic) The angel of death in the Islamic tradition (also known as Izrail.) He writes a person's name in his giant book when they are born, and erases it when they die, so his pen is forever in motion.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z