Before the release of "True Goddess Rebirth 5", I carefully reviewed the "Goddess Rebirth" series, the demons in the game come from folklore, mythology and so on from all over the world, and the banshees and female demons are definitely one of the most interesting characters for readers and friends. In addition, before and after the article about the "charm", some players want to talk about other Western banshees, so today we will talk about the well-known snake-haired banshee - Medusa.
Medusa with a wide variety of opinions
I believe that everyone should be familiar with the famous monster of Greek mythology, the serpent-haired banshee Medusa, even if we do not remember the details of her mythology, people will have no more than a coiled head of poisonous snake hair, a pair of petrified eyes and a smell of destruction.
Regarding Medusa, some people say that she is the product of the deep sea god and the fierce siren, some people say that she is the crystallization of the storm giant and the half-human half-snake evil, and in the mainstream theory, she is the descendant of Forkus (the father of the hundred monsters) and the sea demon Keto (the mother of the hundred monsters), and is born a monster. Therefore, her most primitive image is a woman with bat wings and a head snake with hair, and a more detailed description is a large monster with teeth and claws - a head with snake scales, wild boar-like fangs, bronze finger claws, and a pair of golden wings, anyone who sees Medusa's eyes will become a stone statue, and this shape has the effect of exorcising evil spirits, painted on the shield to intimidate the enemy.
Medusa sculpture from the 4th century BC
The word Medusa originally meant "extremely ugly woman," which is completely different from our established impression. In Zhou Zuoren's translated book "Book Library", the description of Gorgon can be said to be quite "fierce".
In castlevania lament of Innocence, Medusa is definitely not good-looking.
According to the Genealogy of the Gods (lines 274-286), Medusa was the daughter of The father of the Hundred Monsters, Phulcus and Kitto, and she and her other two sisters, Steeno and Euryal, were collectively known as Gorgons, and their lineage can be traced back to the first gods Gaia and Pontos, whose brothers and sisters were Siren, Greier, Hesperides, etc., which were famous sea monsters. The black statue of Attica from about 540 BC depicts the extremely "standard" Gorgon Medusa on the pottery.
Medusa was the first boss of the MSX shooter Knightmare developed and released by Konami.
In ancient times, Medusa had many appearances, and the original ugly image slowly changed over time (there is also a theory that Gorgon and Medusa may be independent figures). The Genealogy of the Gods says that Medusa and the sea god once lay on a plain full of flowers, and the banshee's mother, Keto, was also "beautiful-faced". From the perspective of environmental and genetics, Medusa should have a certain attraction.
The first to seriously explore the story of its literary origins was the ancient Roman poet Ovid, who, according to his metamorphoses 4.770, was the only human of the three gorgons, a beautiful maiden who had successfully entered the temple of Athena as a priest.
Aspecta Medusa by the British painter Rossetti
However, Medusa's beauty was coveted by Poseidon, the god of the sea, and her mysterious figure and peerless countenance made him burn with desire, who violated her in Athena's temple. More seriously, Medusa's grievances and pity did not gain Athena's mercy, and Athena, as a symbol of "chastity", was furious at the desecration of the temple, and under her anger, an evil curse was placed on Medusa to make her a terrible monster: bright blond hair turned into a poisonous snake, and any man who looked directly into Medusa's eyes would be petrified into a stone statue.
Speaking of Medusa, it has to be said that in the Castlevania series, Medusa appears in almost all Castlevania games, usually depicted as having a snake tail below the waist (this feature is borrowed from Lamia, another Greek mythological creature), although she has also appeared as the huge floating head mentioned above.
Medusa's appearance in the Castlevania series seems to have been inspired by a specific scene from the 1981 film Clash of the Titans. Her appearance in that film was one of her first portrayals of the now iconic snake-tailed body. Prior to this, most literary works depicted Medusa in the form of a human body. It is also the first time in the film that Medusa is seen fighting with a bow, a feature that is reproduced in some of her incarnations in the game.
Medusa in the film Clash of the Gods (1981)
This setting is reproduced in the game Havoc of the Gods, in which Medusa's hair is made up of countless live snakes, her skin is covered with tiny scales, and her gaze can turn mortals, beasts, and even gods into stone statues.
Medusa was also the main villain in the Myth of Light series, first appearing in Nintendo's 1986 FC game Myth of Light and returning in the Nintendo 3DS game Kid Icarus: Uprising. The game tells that in an era when gods and humans lived together, Angel Island was ruled by Parudina, the goddess of light, and Medusa, the goddess of darkness. Because Medusa treats humans too harshly, Parudina transforms Medusa into an ugly banshee and banishes her to the underworld.
Of course, there are many other versions in addition to this poignant story, which are incompatible with the horror image of Gorgon above, but given the wave of glorification in Classical Greece, it is not difficult to understand. In the Castlevania mobile game "Demon Rhapsody", Medusa did have a good skin, but don't be deceived by her appearance.
Beautiful victims, monster-like villains, powerful forces—so many symbols imposed on her—it's not hard to see that these extreme contrasting qualities are the source of her deadly charm; and Medusa's ever-changing image also shows that her mythological story has no universal truth.
Death of Medusa
In the above mythical story about Medusa's tragic tragedy, the focus of the world's myth is on the next thing, and Perseus is the protagonist of the story: Medusa is a terrible monster, the mother of the hero Perseus is threatened, and Perseus can only be ordered to take the head of the monster Medusa. Perseus used a reflective bronze shield to protect himself from petrification and successfully beheaded Medusa.
Perseus killed setes, the sea monster, with the severed head of Medusa, and when he returned, Perseus dedicated his head to the heroic goddess athena, who embedded her head in one of her shields and breastplates, which we can see in many of Athena's sculptures.
Later, historical figures such as Alexander the Great also drew Medusa's snake-haired head on shields or clothes in order to add wings to the tiger when fighting.
A shield engraved with Medusa's head
In 1997, an online game called Tibia was officially launched, a game developed by several students at the University of Regensburg in Germany, and the earliest and longest-running MMORPG game. In this game, there is an item called "Shield of Medusa", which is an excellent shield for players of level 30-50, and in the December 2002 update, this shield has 33 defense points.
The bronze statue of Cellini, created in 1554, shows Perseus triumphantly, standing on Medusa's body and holding aloft the severed head. In fact, the bronze statue was mixed with political power: Cellini was asked to use the heroic story of Perseus to create a bronze statue, and since Perseus was the son of Zeus, he was sent to kill Medusa, and the Medici family, who ruled Florence at the time, hoped to show power.
In Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Medusa, known as the "Twisted Evil Spirit", appears in the game, with the player playing as Alexius/Kassandra killing it after a great battle with it and taking the Apple of Eden that transformed it from a human.
In PS4 Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, there is a collector's edition of the Medusa version, which comes with a hand-made in addition to the game book, physical map, soundtrack and game body, depicting Medusa's head being trampled underfoot, which is similar to the previously described Perseus.
Not only that, but Perseus also collected the blood flowing from Medusa's body because of its miraculous effects. The blood flowing from Medusa's left wing vein is a deadly poison, while the blood flowing from the right wing vein has the effect of reviving the dead, and Athena gives the blood that has the effect of reviving the dead to the god of medicine, Asclepius, so that he can use this blood to make medicine.
In addition to acting as a boss in the game, there are also variations of the character, Medusa, the snake-haired banshee Medusa, a neutral long-range agile hero in the Dota 2 game. Her second skill is to unleash a mysterious snake that jumps between enemies and deals damage. Upon reaching the last target, it returns to Medusa to restore mana to it. Each jump deals more damage and returns the target's maximum mana percentage of the magic, which is much the same as the damage and regeneration effect of the mythical Middle-of-the-Road Tussaud just mentioned.
Medusa in other games
Sexy Parodius is a 1996 side-scrolling shooter arcade game developed by Konami, and one of the bosses in the game is the giant Medusa. She is the boss of the first third stage (Dracula's Castle) and can only be completed after the player failed to collect 300 coins in the previous level.
In 2018's Nintendo Smash Bros. Brawl: Special Edition, Medusa first appeared in the trailer for the Vampire Killer Nintendo Direct. In this crossover combat game, Medusa appears as a marble bust of the original Castlevania. Still, unlike the other Castlevania boss characters who made cameo appearances in this game, she's only part of the background and won't interfere in the fight in any way.
In God of War, as Kratos walks through the ruins of the city, he encounters Aphrodite, who orders him to kill Medusa by beheading, and Kweezer eventually rips her head off her body with his bare hands.
In "God of War 2", the person who is called "Fat Medusa" by netizens is actually Euryale. In the game, the very fat Gorgon is Medusa's sister, and after a fierce battle with the Souls of Sparta, Euryal is beheaded and killed. Her head was then used by Qui-Ye as a weapon against the enemy, just as the gaze of the previous Mesquite Dusha had done for him.
Returning to the "Goddess Rebirth" series mentioned at the beginning, Medusa also appeared in many works and sequels of the series, and even in "True Goddess Rebirth 2", in the form of a mechanical body in the game. At the same time, Medusa in "True Goddess Rebirth 4 Apocalypse" should be the most beautiful one in the series, even more beautiful than herself in "True Goddess Rebirth 4".
From left to right, MT, MT2, SMT2, SMT4, SMT4A
Regarding Medusa, the extreme contrast in her body may be the source of her fatal charm, in a sense, she is a collection of human fear and desire, attracting many fearful and curious eyes, becoming synonymous with fear and love. And with the development of time and aesthetics, Medusa's image in the game seems to have become more and more charming, at least I prefer Medusa as pleasing as it is now, after all, who doesn't love the queen?
What other Medusas in the game do you know?