Mythology Monday in Black Ops 7
Yeah I think that's what we're gonna do from here on out lmao.
I wanted to do this post later, but seeing as we’re rolling into January with Map 3 on the horizon, I can’t resist. Did you know Veytharion and Caltheris have internal code names? I know I sure didn’t until a few days ago. And I found the name choices to be really fascinating and I do not think these choices were made on accident.
**I may interchangeably use the Greek and Roman names of these gods just to make things less confusing. Especially with Caltheris as they’re mixing mythology (did y’all not learn from Disney?). Please understand, I do know that while both have their Indo-European roots and were roughly borrowed from each other, Greek and Roman mythology do have their differences. They are not always the same, or even similar. But if Treyarch is going to be mixing the mythology (again, learn from Disney) then I will too. But purely so nobody else is super confused. Got it? Cool.
When I first saw this, I realized exactly what Treyarch was probably trying to do here. Hermes is the god of a couple of things. He is mostly known as the messenger of the gods, primarily the personal messenger to Zeus. But he was also the god of: herds and flocks, travellers and hospitality, roads and trade, thievery and cunning, heralds and diplomacy, language and writing, athletic contests and gymnasiums, astronomy and astrology (Theoi). He also played a part in assisting Perseus in slaying Medusa, and giving Odysseus the potion to protect him from Kirke (Circe).
But I think some people forget his second crucial role in mythology. Hermes was responsible for leading the souls of the dead to the Underworld. This role was appointed to him later, after being send to Haides to try and find Persephone.
Veytharion does act as Hermes during this story. He has been a messenger and guide to Tank and Maya. Though at this point he’s basically guiding souls back to life instead of to death. Butttt this leads me to another theory I have that you’ll see probably next week.
This one, I will admit, has me scratching my head for a couple of reasons. Uranus (or sometimes spelled Ouranos) is Greek mythology, while Neptune (or known by his Greek counterpart Poseidon) is Roman mythology. And as stated above, while you may be able to get away with interchangeable names the myths do have their differences. Uranus was also a protogenos, or primordial god. Meaning he is the personification of something in nature rather than a human like god. Neptune is a human like god who rules over several things much like Hermes (and all of them really).
Why she has two names they use interchangeably is lost on me. Especially since Uranus represents the sky and Neptune is the god of saltwater, while Caltheris is a rock on the desert planet of Mars. And it would seem maybe more fitting (or too on the nose) to call her Ares. The only connection Uranus and Poseidon have to each other in mythology is the Uranus is Poseidon’s grandfather.
It is possible that maybe this is in reference to the Titanomachy? Uranus is the father of Cronus, who castrated his father and devoured his children to prevent himself from being overthrown as King of the Gods. One of those children was Poseidon, along with Hades, Demeter, Hera and Hestia. Zeus was the only one who was safe and later saved his siblings and killing their father. The Roman version goes roughly the same way from what I remember. Honestly? This is completely plausible, but for brevity I’ll explain my Titanomachy and Theogony theory in another post later.
I do think going forward all the Shadowsmith’s will be internally referred to as either a Greek or Roman deity that somehow relates to the narrative. Any gods or goddesses you want to see mentioned in the next map?
