List of mythological references

The Kisekiverse is littered with references from numerous mythologies, ranging from Greco-Roman, Celtic, Christian, Gnostic, Norse, and Japanese mythology. This page lists and explains the references made.

It seems as if no reference is made by accident; each reference seems intentional to the story. Thus, reading this page may accidentally spoil plot elements from various entries. It is advised to first be up to date with the games, or to proceed with discretion.

Much of this page is conjecture, for there is no kiseki source that confirms that this is what the Nihon Falcom writers intend. Understand that this is a fairly speculative article, for this page is attempting to explain the relationship between the mythological references made in the games to the actual concepts. The underlying premise is this: the mythology references made in the games as they relate to actual mythology are not coincidences. Instead, they are chosen intentionally by the Falcom writers. This is a sound premise because it has been demonstrated time and time again (as explained in each entry) that the myth reference indeed holds bearing on the events of the games. The evidence is collected by first identifying the mythical reference, understanding firstly the origin of that myth, secondly how that mythical reference is employed in the game, and thirdly the relationship between the two.

Aidios
Aidios as a term derives from the concept of the Theory of Forms from Platonism: εἶδος (eidos), "visible form". This is also the etymology of the English word "idea", which is another acceptable name for Plato's theory, "theory of Ideas". That the Goddess Aidios is referred to a "She" versus a "He" is also not arbitrary. For Aidios is described as the Goddess of Wisdom. Across multiple cultures (such as Greek and Hebrew), wisdom is personified as a woman. This is where σοφία sophía is "wisdom". The Book of Proverbs personifies wisdom as a woman, such as throughout Proverbs 8: "Does not wisdom call, and understanding lift up her voice? On top of heights beside the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand..." (Proverbs 8:1-2). Not just in Christian canon, but also in Catholic canon, wisdom is personified as a "She": “For wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me: for in her is an understanding spirit holy..." (Wisdom of Solomon 7:22). Chapter 24 of the Book of Sirach is a praise of wisdom: "Wisdom sings her own praises, among her own people she proclaims her glory..." (Sirach 24:1).

Ourobouros
The Oroborous symbol is an ancient symbol prominent among many cultures.

Septium
The game developer choice of devising seven elements may not be arbitrary. Seven holds religious meaning cross-culturally.

The Orpheus Final Plan
This reference can mean a few things, all which involve the legendary musician Orpheus.

The first reference the Orpheus Final Plan makes is to Orpheus's mythological death. Orpheus's musicianship it was said could move the animals and the trees and the countryside to tears. It could draw in crowds from far. One such crowd were the Ciconian women, who were followers of the Greek god Dionysus. Dionysus was not only the Greek god of wine, but also of the frenzy, insanity, and of ritual madness. RItual madness refers to working followers into a trans and in that trans finding euphoria in being frantic. These Ciconian women demanded Orpheus to praise Dionysus, which he refused. In response, the women entered into a frenzy and ravaged the setting: "The Maenids first tore apart the innumerable birds, the snakes, the animals still entranced by his voice, and so stole the glory of Orpheus's triumph. Then they turned on the singer with bloody hands..." (Ovid, Metamorphoses 11:20-24). The takeaway with this story is the overwhelming frenzy and the euphoria experienced in the moment (at least for the Maenid women). Dionysus was himself infuriated that his favorite poet was obliterated as such, and punished the Maenid women. They were cursed into mangy trees. Thus, it is conjecture that the Orpheus Final Plan may refer to tearing the world of Zemuria apart.

The second meaning of this name may refer to the Orphic rites, which were an ancient pagan rite of passage. They derived from Orphism, which was the belief in the poems attributed to Orpheus. The most prominent of his poems recounted the birth of Dionysus. Dionysus was killed as an infant by the Titans, torn apart, and then consumed. In retribution, Zeus (for Zeus was Dionysus's father) shot several thunderbolts at the Titans, which turned them into ash. From those ashes, humanity was born. From this creation, humanity has a dual nature: a material nature (body) derived from the remains of the Titans, and a spiritual nature (soul) derived from Dionysus. The Orphic mysteries were a ritual meant to release its followers from the material plane and enter the spiritual plane, where Dionysus and other gods dwell. Those who failed these rites were doomed to an eternity of reincarnation. The Orphic Final Plan of the Society of Orobouros may refer to some cataclysmic event like akin to these Orphic rites. That could mean the tearing apart of the world of Zemuria, and the ushering in of a new era from those ashes.

The Orphic Rites and Orphism would later influence Gnosticism, whose concepts are also heavily prevalent in the Kisekiverse.

The Eternal Recurrence Plan
The 'Eternal Recurrence' concept derives from Nietzschean philosophy. It is the penultimate idea discussed in his The Gay Sciences. It is a thought experiment. This is Aphorism 341, "The Greatest Weight":

"What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!' Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.' If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, 'Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?' would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life?"

And with that aphorism, modern-day existentialism was born (Existentialism would be fleshed out further by Camus in works such as The Life of Sisyphus, but this paragraph was the genesis). The meaning of this paragraph is a rejection of the desire to escape the cycle of rebirth. Rebirth is found in heretical schools of Christianity, such as Gnosticism, but is mostly an Eastern religion concept. Eastern religions, popularized during Nietzsche's days by the work of Schopenhauer, emphasized the desire to escape the cycle of reincarnation. Nietzsche was the first to question the value of escaping that cycle. Why is it necessarily superior than being stuck in it? He thought it as life-denying or anti-life to want to escape living and seek something like Nirvana. Instead, he advised that people should choose living on Earth with all its trappings, glory, happiness, and suffering again and again, and reject any offer of Nirvana.

Thus, naming the Ourobouros's final plan as the Eternal Recurrence plan may relate to Nietzsche's conception.

Grail
Grails are a prominent motif in the Septium Church. A grail (or chalice) is prominent on the Church's logo. This is a clear reference to the Christian legend of the Holy Grail, which according to legend is the grail that Christ used during the Last Supper.

Merkabah Airship
"Merkabah" refers to a blazing heavenly chariot, which itself is taken from the visions of Ezekiel. The etymology derives from Hebrew, "'merkabah/merkavah "thing to ride in, cart"'

Domini Canne
Towards the finale of Trails in the Sky SC, when Father Kevin confronts Alan Weissman and executes him as a heretic, Alan Weissman throws an insult at Father Kevin, calling him a "church dog". This reference refers to the Catholic order of Dominicans. In Italian, the name is pronounced Dominicani, which is a homonym also for Domini Canne. Domini Canne translates to "Church Dog". Coincidentally, the Dominicans were the Catholic order tasked specifically with establishing church dogma. Throughout their history, critics and detractors have given them the unflattering moniker "church dog".

Father Kevin's S-Crafts
Father Kevin's S-Crafts may be references to certain relics prominent in Christian mythology. "Grail Sphere" may be a reference to the Holy Grail, which is a Christian relic.

"Spear of Loa" may refer to the Spear of Longinus, which was the spear that pierced Christ's side while He lay on the cross: "one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out" (John 19:34). In Christian legends, this spear exists, and whoever owns this spear is imbibed with major strength for victory. It, if it does indeed exist, is claimed to be in the possession of the Austrian government (an inheritance from the Hapsburg dynasty).

Spear of Loa may also have a connection to Loa Erebonius, which is a primordial shade of immense power.

Fie Claussell
Time to time she is nicknamed Sylphid, or sylph. A Sylphid is a wind-based spirit from Greek mythology, much like a nymphid is a land-based spirit.

The Enforcers
It is already observed that each enforcer represents an arcana from the Tarot deck.

Arianrhod
She is probably a reference to St Joan of Arc. When she was alive, she was referred to as a saint, Saint Leanne Sandlot. She died as a martyr, a war heroine, and a maiden. Arianrhod says herself she had no children of her own.

Campanella
A possible reference to a real-life "Campanella", who was an alchemist.

Gehenna
Gehenna references the Hebrew vision for the underworld. In rabbinic literature, Gehenna is the destination of the wicked. It is akin to Sheol, which is another Hebrew reference.

Stigma, or "Stigmata"
Father Kevin's stigma is a reference to the stigmata of the Christ, which are the wounds He received while nailed to the Cross. Throughout Catholic mythology, numerous holy men and women since the time of Christ have claimed that the wounds that Christ received had manifested themselves on their bodies.

The Seventy-Seven Devils
The reference for 77 devils is not yet found; however, "seven" itself holds mythological meaning referring to completeness and perfection. For example, in the Abrahamic religions, the Earth was formed over seven days.

In the New Testament, there is the story of Peter asking the Christ for advice on forgiveness: "'then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?' 'Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven [times]'" (Matthew 18:21-22) (NASB). Interestingly, in other translations of this verse, 'seventy times seventy times' is rendered as 'seventy-seven times'. The takeaway is that this big number indicates completeness, such as an inexhaustible amount of forgiveness to one's peers. Thus, seventy seven devils means a lot of devils that can cause destruction if let loose upon Zemuria.

More related to the seventy seven devils, in the Revelation of St. John, seven seals are opened revealing seven judgements (Revelation 5:1). Seven again here signifies absolute destruction (not a half-baked weeny destruction).

Pillar of Salt, or the North Ambrian Disaster
The North Ambrian Disaster, where half the province was consumed by a pillar of salt that seemed to come from the heavens, is a reference to the legend of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. This legend is found in the Abrahamic religions, specifically found in the book of Genesis, chapter 19. These two mythical cities were so sinful and turned away from their God that God smote them with "fire and brimstone". Only one family of mortals was spared. This was the family of Lot. The angels escorted the family out of the city, but warned them to never look back (or turn around). However, Lot's wife did turn around, and her punishment was being turned into a pillar of salt.

Anima Mundi
Anima Mundi is latin for "World Soul", the belief that there is an intrinsic connection between all living things on the planet, which relates to our world in much the same way as the soul is connected to the human body. This fits Anima Mundi, seeing as it claims to be Phantasma's very essence, and controls all illusions within it.

D∴G cult
The inspiration for this cult derives from Gnosticism, which is the most famous heretical sect of early Christianity. G clearly stands for 'gnosis'. This is confirmed. D may refer to 'Deus'. But this much is not yet clear.

This is a brief synopsis of what Gnosticism means, for Gnostic concepts are prevalent throughout the whole Kisekiverse. Gnosticism was prominent for the first few centuries of early Christianity from around 100 AD to 325 AD. During this time, Christianity was not organized. There were a mass of gospels attributed to famous apostles which were read and discussed by Christians. Fundamental questions on what Christianity was, who Christ was, which gospels were important or not, and which practices were important were not answered concretely until the Council of Nicaea, 325 AD. That meant that prior to making scripture and practices canonical, early Christianity was a wellspring of diverse religious practices and beliefs. One prominent Christian movement was Gnostic Christianity. It preached a distinct view of Christianity, which was in contrast with the majority of other early Christian sects.

Mainstream Christian sects believed that salvation was through belief in the death and resurrection of the Christ, and that salvation was open to all who believed. St. Paul stressed this throughout in his epistles: "But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him" (Romans 5:8-9). Again, further in "He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf" (2 Corinthians 5:15). And the most famous passage about this theme is found in John 3:16.

Gnostic Christians believed instead that salvation is possible through knowledge of the self, which required immense contemplation. Christ provided His disciples the tools for gnosis of the self through very difficult passages. They rejected that salvation was through Christ's death alone. Rather, they believed that obtaining knowledge of the self, and understanding the true origin of one's soul, which was presumably from a much higher domain than the earthly material form, would lead to salvation. Gnostic Christians believed that Christ gave them special "advanced" teachings that could lead to salvation. These are penned down in the Gospels according to Thomas, and to many other apostles not considered canonical today. Thus, salvation is found through contemplating passages such as "And [Christ] said, 'whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death' (Thomas 1)", or "Jesus said, 'those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed, When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will rule over all'" (Thomas 2).

Gnostic Christians rejected following the God of the Old Testament, calling that God an inferior being who was subject to passion and rage. This parallels the D∴G Cult's rejection of Aidios. Joachim Guenther's manifesto called Her an inferior being compared to the one true god figure that he and his cult followers worshiped.

Gnostic Christians believed in a dualistic world of spirit and matter. This derives heavily from Platonism. The world of matter was corrupt, impermanent, and caught in a whirl of passions. The world of spirit was akin to the world of ideas, where true knowledge existed. The world of matter distracted a person from obtaining knowledge of the world of spirit

An important point about heresy in nascent Christianity. Heresy today refers to evil teachings; however, the etymology of heresy derives from the Greek word αἵρεσις (haíresis, “choice, system of principles”). It meant "school of thought". Thus, it is true that there were many contrasting heresies in nascent Christianity, because there were many contrasting schools of thought. There was no one set or preeminent school of Christian thought. These heretical schools were not eradicated. There were no violent schisms between heretical Christian movements. Instead, contrasting schools criticized, debated, critiqued, or recruited each others' members. Passages criticizing other sects are found in the works of Irenaus and Origen. Thus, there is nothing evil about Gnosticism that makes it heretical in a modern sense. It is heretical in that this school of Christianity is very foreign to modern Christianity (in a small resurgence of popularity, there are only a handful of Gnostic churches throughout the USA). Gnostic Christianity died out because it lost wide appeal; the other major sects had broader appeal for more converts.

Gnosis
Gnosis is a concept from Gnosticism, which was a sect of early Christianity. "Gnosis" derives from Greek, which means "knowledge". The famous Greek dictum, "know thyself", ( γνῶθι σεαυτόν, "gnothi seauton") derives from this word. Obtaining gnosis would free one's soul from the material plane.

Historically, gnosis was a concept, and not a pill. There was no alchemical pill in Gnosticism that led to salvation.

Pleroma Grass
Pleroma grass is a reference to Pleroma, which is a Gnostic concept that translates from Greek into "fullness", or "at-one-ness", or "completeness". The word literally means "fullness", from the verb plēróō (πληρόω, "to fill"), from plḗrēs (πλήρης, "full"). This is the etymology of plurality, which means the whole of a group or quantity. Pleroma also is featured heavily in alchemy, for it can be represented in alchemical diagrams. In a pleroma diagram, a monad is encompassed in a dyad, and that is encompassed in a triad, a quaternary, a pentad, and a hexad, and finally a dodecad. Essentially, this is a point encompassed by a triangle inside a square, inside a pentagram, inside a hexagram (or two triangles), inside a dodecagram. This image represents completeness, for everything conceivable is represented by some shape. Contemplation of this form will release one's mind from the material plane and into the spiritual plane.

Demiourgos
The term demiurge derives from the Latinized form of the Greek term dēmiourgos, δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker". In Gnosticism, the demiurge creates the physical universe and the physical aspect of humanity. In Trails to Azure, KeA is called a demiurge. This is because her role as the Azure Demiourgos is to answer everyone's wishes and fulfill their desires. She manifests people's wishes into reality.

This game saga makes references to Norse, Celtic, and Greek mythology.

Erebonia
This is a reference to the Greek god of darkness, "Erebus". Erebus is described in Hesiod's "Theogony", which is the earliest written account of the birth of the Greek gods. Erebus is said to be the child of Chaos. He was one of the five primordial gods from creation. From his Theogony: "From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night (Nyx); but of Night were born Aether and Day (Hemera), whom she conceived and bore from union in love with Erebus" (Theogony 116-124).

Thors Military Academy
Thor's Military Academy derives from Thor, the Norse god of war and thunder.

Heimdallr
Heimdallr was the sentinel guardsman of Valhalla, the palace of the gods.

Operation Jormungandr
The Jormungandr is the massive serpent said to envelop the entire world. The motif of a sea serpent encircling the entire globe is common across cultures. In Hebrew mythology, the serpent is called the Leviathan, which is also so massive that it keeps the oceans in tact from draining off the sides of the world.

Likening Erebonia's military invasion of Zemuria to the mythological world-devouring serpent is brilliant. This evokes the image of a strangle-hold on the world, as if Erebonia's forces are coiling tightly against their prey.

Spriggan
A spriggan is a Celtic forest spirit, a troublesome willow-the-wisp.

Marduk Total Security Company
The Marduk Company is named after the Babylonian god of war.

Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil is the world tree from Norse mythology.