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A Misinforming Species of Shin Megami Tensei Myths and Secrets

What more can we say about these books? Barbara Walker’s intention to reclaim mythology for women is thwarted by the need to twist known facts into spurious generalizations and rely on the work of fabricators like Robert Graves. Godwin’s Angels similarly provides “unique” interpretations. Unfortunately, it very much seems like the Woman’s Encyclopedia was one of the primary sources used for Shin Megami Tensei, while Angels shaped Atlus’ perception of angels themselves! These books aren’t great, or even good, but they are important for SMT fans to know.

We already talked about Woman’s Encyclopedia a bunch the past couple weeks but this post compiles everything we know, including some new findings I’ll dive right into. There’s nothing new for Angels but I thought I might as well throw it in there for completeness. This is also my 5,000th Tumblr post! Not bad for someone who mostly answers asks. C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-E arbitrary numbers!

And thanks to: @gabriulio, @greed92-smt, @nulla-senzanome, and @b-reis for actually finding the majority of these! Here’s just a few of the new, I’ll put the rest behind a link.

A FULL SCAN of Woman’s Encyclopedia is here: https://archive.org/details/womansencycloped00walkrich/mode/1up

If more SMT-related tidbits are found, I may update this post!

Baldr described as a Bel!

Pig-headed demon! Note that SMT1 Orcus uses the dragon body of Belial, who is a plot character and probably designed first.

Tiamat as mother goddess. Could this book be Strange Journier?

Much more behind the link, including previous discoveries:

Buddha

[…] Buddha had many other names because he had already lived through many incarnations on earth. Even the Buddha supposed to have appeared in the 5th century B.C. had several names: Gautama, Sakyamuni, Siddhartha the last, again, not a name but a title, “Rich in Yogic Power.” Buddha was miraculously begotten by the Lord of Hosts and born of the Virgin Maya, the same Great Goddess workshipped throughout Asia and having the alternative Near-Eastern names of Maia, Marah, Mari, or Maria.

Hermes

[…] Hermes was a universal Indo-European god. An Enlightened One born of the virgin Maia, he was the same as the Enlightened One (Buddha) born of the same virgin Maya in India. The Mahanirvanatantra said Buddha was the same as Mercury (Hermes), the son of the Moon (Maya).

Maia “Grandmother of Magic,” mother of the Greeks’ Enlightened One, Hermes; the western version of Maya, “Magic,” mother of the Hindus' Enlightened One, Buddha. She personified the powers of transformation and material “appearances,” the same powers attributed to Maya-Kali, who made the universe by her magic. Greek writers called Maia one of the Pleiades, but also understood that she was the Great Goddess of Maytime festivals, of the renewal and rebirth of the dead. She made her son Hermes the Conductor of Souls in the underworld, just as the Hindu Maya made her masculine counterpart Ya-Ma into a Conductor of Souls and Lord of Death.

Maya “Magic,” title of the Virgin Kali as the creatress of earthly appearances, i.e., all things made of matter and perceptible to the senses. She also gave birth to the Enlightened One, Buddha. The same Goddess, called Maia by the Greeks, was the virgin mother of Hermes the Enlightened One, who had as many reincarnations as the Buddha. […] She was more than the Maia who mothered Hermes; she was also Maga the Grandmother-goddess who bore Cu Chulainn’s mother; and the Mandaean Christians’ Almaya, called “Eternity,” or ‘the World,“ or "Beings”; and Maga or Maj the May-maiden in Scandinavia.

https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/630988818849349632/satan-seth-queen-maya-and-maia

Original findings from Gabriulio about connections between Maya and Maia in Persona World profiles.

https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/630998471810351104/walkers-book-has-entries-for-ma-and

This was a huge find. But even if Walker’s book doesn’t really apply to mythological studies, Strange Journey’s original narrative contains it in an intriguing way.

Various profiles mention the “May the Black God exterminate you!” bit. This is also sourced to a Larousse book, which tend to be reliable!

Bits about Anahita from the Mithra section. Possible explanation for her SJR appearance.

Remember when Kali was called Kali Ma in Japanese SJR? It didn’t make the jump to English localization.

Possible explanation for her design and profile.

Mentions Vanadis, while not an unknown name may have influenced that choice for P5R since it’s right up front in her entry.

https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/145233380737/i-might-or-might-not-be-the-only-one-whos-a

Whatever our speculations were at the time, this is definitely where SMT’s Queen Mab comes from.

Here’s where the thing in her profile about the gods returning to her at Ragnarok comes from, plus why Scathach evolves into her! Also possibly her role in Nocturne (boss with Earthquake) and design. Interestingly there is no separate entry for Scathach in the book.

https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/172468730762/dx2-the-heretic

Remember this post, when I said Sleipnir being called the “wood of the gallows” was something lost in translation? Of course I was wrong because it’s from this book.