Mythology and fiction in NetHack

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The computer game NetHack draws from many mythologies which are not explicitly fictional, as well as works of modern fiction and other computer games.

Contents 1 Arabic 2 Babylonian 3 Caribbean 4 Aztec / Central American 5 Celtic 6 Chinese 7 Greek 8 Egyptian 9 English 10 European 11 Germanic 12 Hindu 13 Japanese 14 Judeo-Christian 15 Norse 16 North American 17 Roman 18 Welsh 19 Fiction 19.1 Dungeons and Dragons 19.2 Tolkien 19.3 Other 20 Reality 21 References

[edit] Arabic

• djinni
• ghoul

[edit] Babylonian

• Marduk, the Creator
• The cave(wo)man pantheon: Anu, Ishtar and Anshar

[edit] Caribbean

• zombie

[edit] Aztec / Central American

• couatl or coatl is the nahuatl name for snakes
• The archeologist pantheon: Quetzalcoatl, Camaxtli and Huhetotl (this last is in fact an alteration for the god's name Huehueteotl)
• xans are named after the mosquito from Popol Vuh

[edit] Celtic

• The knight pantheon: Lugh, Brigit and Manannan mac Lir

[edit] Chinese

• dragon—but see below
• ki-rin
• The monk pantheon: Shan Lai Ching, Chih Sung-tzu and Huan Ti
• yeti

[edit] Greek

• Archon
• centaur
• Cerberus (this monster does not appear in actual game currently)
• Geryon
• erinys
• Medusa
• minotaur
• nymph
• The Cyclops
• The healer pantheon: Athena, Hermes and Poseidon
• The Staff of Aesculapius
• titan
• The statue of Perseus
• Sirius (ranger's pet dog name, referring to Orion's dog)

[edit] Egyptian

• Book of the Dead
• The wizard pantheon: Ptah, Thoth and Anhur

[edit] English

• ettin

[edit] European

Some monsters are taken from myths and folklore whose precise origins are unknown, but which are essentially medieval European.

• bugbear
• chickatrice
• cockatrice
• dragons were known to the Chinese, but dragons as monsters are a European myth
• gargoyle
• giants are present in almost all cultures
• goblin
• gremlin
• imp
• incubus
• kraken
• leocrotta
• leprechaun
• ogre
• succubus
• troll
• unicorn
• vampire
• werewolf

[edit] Germanic

• doppelgänger
• elf
• gnome
• kobold

[edit] Hindu

• naga

[edit] Japanese

• The samurai pantheon: Amaterasu Omikami, Raijin and Susanowo
• The tsurugi of Muramasa
• tengu

[edit] Judeo-Christian

• Angel
• Asmodeus
• Baalzebub
• golem
• Hell (now called Gehennom)
• Moloch
• Three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Death, Famine, and Pestilence (in conversation with Death and in the sourcecode, the role of War is implied to have been assumed by the player)
• The invocation ritual ("Bell, book, and candle") is loosely connected to the Catholic excommunication ceremony [1]

[edit] Norse

• dwarf
• Mjollnir, the artifact war hammer
• The valkyrie class and pantheon: Tyr, Odin and Loki
• Lord Surtur

[edit] North American

• The cryptozoological sasquatch

[edit] Roman

• Demogorgon
• Dispater
• Geryon
• lemure
• manes
• Orcus
• The ranger pantheon: Mercury, Venus and Mars

[edit] Welsh

• Excalibur
• King Arthur
• The Cŵn Annwn

[edit] Fiction

NetHack draws on modern explicitly fictional works, especially Dungeons and Dragons and Tolkien, but also many other fantasy writers, some of which in turn were inspired by ancient myths. The modern sources are

[edit] Dungeons and Dragons

• Aleax
• gelatinous cube
• giant spider
• green slime
• hezrou
• Juiblex, the demon lord
• lich
• lurker above
• marilith
• mimic
• mind flayer
• nalfeshnee
• owlbear
• piercer
• pit fiend
• pyrolisk
• quasit
• rothé
• rust monster
• trapper
• umber hulk
• vrock
• winter wolf
• xorn
• Yeenoghu, the demon lord

[edit] Tolkien

• balrog
• barrow wight
• cram ration
• dwarvish/elven mithril coat
• Elbereth
• hobbit
• lembas wafer
• Mordor orc
• mumak
• Nazgûl
• Olog-hai
• orc
• Orcrist, the artifact weapon
• Sting, the artifact weapon
• The ranger class
• Uruk-hai
• warg

[edit] Other

• The Wizard of Yendor first appeared in NetHack's predecessor, Hack
• Grayswandir, the artifact silver saber, is from Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber
• Snickersnee, the artifact katana, is from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Mikado
• Stormbringer, the artifact runesword, is from the Elric fantasy fiction stories by Michael Moorcock
• Jabberwocks and Vorpal Blade, the artifact sword, are from Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky"
• The barbarian class and pantheon (Mitra, Crom, Set), Pelias, the Heart of Ahriman, and Thoth-Amon are related to Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian novels
• The tourist class, pantheon (Blind Io, The Lady, Offler) and quest (with Twoflower) are based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld
• The rogue class pantheon (Issek of the Jug, Mog, Kos) is from Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories.[2]
• The archeologist class (starting with fedora, leather jacket and bullwhip) is based on Indiana Jones movie character
• The wumpus is from the computer game Hunt the Wumpus
• The crysknife is from Frank Herbert's Dune novel, and the "Long Worms" are based on Dune's sandworms, called Shai-Hulud
• The towel, the graffiti message "We apologize for the inconvenience", the dog-eared spellbook and several hallucination monsters are from Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
• gremlins appear with their unique characteristics as portrayed in the 1984 movie Gremlins
• grid bugs are from the 1982 movie Tron
• The Eyes of the Overworld and sandestins are from Jack Vance's Dying Earth books
• The Magic Mirror of Merlin is from Edmund Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene
• The save and exit message "Be seeing you..." is from The Prisoner
• References to 'Maud' when the player characters lose their memory are inspired by Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Maud"
• The brass lantern, the fortune cookie message "The magic word is XYZZY" and the graffiti message "You won't get it up the steps" are references to Adventure
• The graffiti message "notary sojak" is a reference to Smokey Stover
• The graffiti messages "A.S. ->" and "<- A.S." are references to Journey to the Center of the Earth
• Sometimes spinach can be found in tins. If you eat it, it increases your strength and tells you that "This makes you feel like Popeye!"
• A player who has become invisible can wear a "mummy wrapping" in order to become visible again, a reference to the opening scene of H. G. Wells's The Invisible Man
• When a baby dragon hatches from an egg, it makes a cry of "Gleep!"—a reference to the dragon Gleep from MythAdventures
• The Keystone Kops from early silent films appear as the game's police force
• The 'Sokoban' levels are a tribute to the Japanese computer game of the same name
• The Quantum Mechanic monster may drop a box containing Schrödinger's cat. Whether the cat is alive or dead is not set until the box is opened.
• NetHack's currency, the zorkmid, is from the computer game Zork

[edit] Reality

Some characters and monsters are based on historical reality:

• Ashikaga Takauji
• baluchitherium
• Croesus
• Hippocrates
• killer bee
• Lord Carnarvon
• mastodon
• Oracle of Delphi
• queen bee
• titanothere
• Vlad the Impaler

[edit] References

• A Bibliography of NetHack's Database