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Something I learned regarding Uroboros...

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  • Something I learned regarding Uroboros...

    I was bumping around on the Fallout Wikia (of all places) when I happened upon an article referring to a cancelled Black Isle Studio project titled "Van Buren" which was to become the third Fallout title before it was scrapped and ultimately replaced with the Fallout 3 we got.

    Well, as I was reading about this cancelled project, there were articles pertaining to the locations that were to be present in the game. One of them caught my eye, a town called 'Ouroboros'. Turns out that Ouroburos is a word from the Greek language that was used for a symbol depicting a snake eating it's own tale. Intrigued, I did some research and this is what I found. (Copious wikipedia content coming your way...)


    The Ouroboros (or Uroborus) is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail.

    The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end (compare with phoenix). It can also represent the idea of primordial unity related to something existing in or persisting from the beginning with such force or qualities it cannot be extinguished. The Ouroboros has been important in religious and mythological symbolism, but has also been frequently used in alchemical illustrations, where it symbolizes the circular nature of the alchemist's opus. It is also often associated with Gnosticism, and Hermeticism. Carl Jung interpreted the Ouroboros as having an archetypal significance to the human psyche. The Jungian psychologist Erich Neumann writes of it as a representation of the pre-ego "dawn state", depicting the undifferentiated infancy experience of both mankind and the individual child.
    This of course is an overview of the term, it's only when you start reading the specifics that it gets interesting...

    Plato described a self-eating, circular being as the first living thing in the universe—an immortal, mythologically constructed beast.

    The living being had no need of eyes when there was nothing remaining outside him to be seen; nor of ears when there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs by the help of which he might receive his food or get rid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him....
    Plato's description of the Ouroboros beast has a few characteristics that seem similar to the effects Capcom entitled to the Uroburos virus. Continuing on, we can see more inspiration for the virus that came from ancient history

    In Norse mythology, it appears as the serpent Jörmungandr, one of the three children of Loki and Angrboda, who grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its tail in its teeth. In the legends of Ragnar Lodbrok, such as Ragnarssona þáttr, the Geatish king Herraud gives a small lindworm as a gift to his daughter Þóra Town-Hart after which it grows into a large serpent which encircles the girl's bower and bites itself in the tail. The serpent is slain by Ragnar Lodbrok who marries Þóra. Ragnar later has a son with another woman named Kráka and this son is born with the image of a white snake in one eye. This snake encircled the iris and bit itself in the tail, and the son was named Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye.
    The Norse Myth involving Jörmungandr, a serpent so large it could encircle the earth, bears a lot of resemblance to what the Uroboros virus was ultimately going to do if Wesker had completed his plans. Another thing that is interesting is the fact that the Serpent in the myth was one of the children of Loki, The Trickster (A deceptive, Wesker like figure) and Angrboða, A female giant responsible for bearing the serpent.

    One could make the jump and consider Excella Gionne as the giantess figure (Being in charge of the African branch of Tricell, A global leader in it's field). If one delves into the old myth, the giantess is presented as a woman who will birth monstrous things that will go on to do monstrous deeds.

    There is also a hint of Chris (Ragnar Lodbrok) rescuing Jill (Þóra Town-Hart) from the serpent (Wesker, Uroboros virus, etc), but even I realize that one is just way too thin to justify. Moving on to the influence Ouroboros had in alchemy and it's possible influences on the virus...


    The famous Ouroboros drawing from the early alchemical text The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra dating to 2nd century Alexandria encloses the words hen to pan, "one is the all". Its black and white halves represent the Gnostic duality of existence. As such, the Ouroboros could be interpreted as the Western equivalent of the Taoist Yin-Yang symbol.

    The Chrysopoeia Ouroboros of Cleopatra is one of the oldest images of the Ouroboros to be linked with the legendary opus of the Alchemists, the Philosopher’s Stone.

    As a symbol of the eternal unity of all things, the cycle of birth and death from which the alchemist sought release and liberation...
    The first and second underlined paragraphs seem to coincide with Wesker's ultimate goal regarding the Uroboros virus, such as his view of a world filled with worthy humans all genetically superior to those who died from Uroboros virus. A world in which each individual is part of a larger whole ("one is all").

    This world would be in balance, quelling the chaos that the inferiority of the human race caused, which seems to coincide with the Yin and Yang symbol from the Taoist belief which represents balance and equality of power. Wesker sought to be the Yang side which symbolized the leading force, shining light and masculine power of the new society. The genetically superior humans left after the Uroboros infection were to become the submissive, supportive Yin of the society, giving Wesker his reason to live (I.e., to be a god among his genetically similar peers) thus completing the Yin Yang balance Ouroboros represents in ancient alchemy.

    The third underlined sentence could be a reference to Wesker's motivation to attempt such a thing; attempting to escape the endless cycle of mediocrity and ignorance that disgusted him about the human race as a whole.





    All of this could just be me reading too much into this, or maybe the all knowing News bot has beat me to these observations (), but I felt that I should post them anyway; if for no other reason than to chuckle at my 'conspiracy theory' madness.
    Last edited by AsteroidBlues; 06-03-2012, 03:32 AM.
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  • #2
    Interesting...
    Las Plagas...Uroboros...I wonder what will be the new "ancient deadly parasite" of Resident Evil.

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    • #3
      More like parasprite.
      Click image for larger version

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      • #4
        The original parasprite.
        Click image for larger version

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        • #5
          You know AsteroidBlues - probably a bit off-topic but, the mythology and alchemy pieces in regard to it are also used within Demento. To the point of it also being used as a part of a large puzzle section too. I've always found mythology and the like being used in games in general.
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          • #6
            Capcom likes to use Western mythology in quite a few releases, you can see little bits of it throughout games like RE and Devil May Cry.

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            • #7
              I thought the Ouroboros symbol was well known but then again I knew of it from Red Dwarf series 7, some 15 years ago. It made RE5 even more amusing to my friends and I because Lister refers to it as "Our Rob or Ross" and it relates to the revelation that Lister is his own father. His sperm is used to fertilise the egg of his dead ex-girlfriend from a parallel dimension (where she's still alive) and using time travel they leave him under a pool table in a pub in Liverpool to create a time-loop wherein the human race will be ever lasting, they wrote "Ourob oros" on the box they left him in. The symbol appears on a supply crate that contained Ouroboros batteries that were ever-lasting . . . . so yeah.

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              • #8
                Yeah, the plot of BH5 is derived heavily from the actual Ouroboros in mythology. Likewise, Revelations is derived from the Divine Comedy.
                PROJECT Umbrella - The BIOHAZARD/RESIDENT EVIL Compendium

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Rancid Cheese View Post
                  I thought the Ouroboros symbol was well known but then again I knew of it from Red Dwarf series 7, some 15 years ago. It made RE5 even more amusing to my friends and I because Lister refers to it as "Our Rob or Ross" and it relates to the revelation that Lister is his own father. His sperm is used to fertilise the egg of his dead ex-girlfriend from a parallel dimension (where she's still alive) and using time travel they leave him under a pool table in a pub in Liverpool to create a time-loop wherein the human race will be ever lasting, they wrote "Ourob oros" on the box they left him in. The symbol appears on a supply crate that contained Ouroboros batteries that were ever-lasting . . . . so yeah.

                  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros_(Red_Dwarf)
                  Exactly what I was going to post! I love Red Dearf, it's also how I came to learn of ouroboros.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by News Bot View Post
                    Yeah, the plot of BH5 is derived heavily from the actual Ouroboros in mythology. Likewise, Revelations is derived from the Divine Comedy.
                    Hmmm, I wonder what 6's plot is based on?

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Enetirnel View Post
                      You know AsteroidBlues - probably a bit off-topic but, the mythology and alchemy pieces in regard to it are also used within Demento. To the point of it also being used as a part of a large puzzle section too. I've always found mythology and the like being used in games in general.
                      It also may interest you that the Paracelsus Sword is also linked to alchemy. Or just the name 'Paracelsus'.

                      Paracelsus described the creation of the physical universe and the processes that maintained the life of the body in essentially alchemical terms. All of nature stemmed from an initial separation of light from dark, earth from water, and so on, and the body operated by means of an "inner alchemist," called the archeus, which separated that which was pure and helpful to the maintenance of life from that which was not.

                      And also this,

                      "Nature," Paracelsus adds, "brings nothing to light which is completed in itself, rather, human beings have to do the completing. This completing is called alchemy." Both types of alchemy involved looking for a powerful agent capable of perfecting or healing.

                      I don't know if there was any link at the time but it is possible that Capcom may have been planning on going down the alchemy road with RE4 considering it has to do with the elixir of life. It's interesting they even used the name Paracelsus to begin with.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Reston View Post
                        It also may interest you that the Paracelsus Sword is also linked to alchemy. Or just the name 'Paracelsus'.

                        Paracelsus described the creation of the physical universe and the processes that maintained the life of the body in essentially alchemical terms. All of nature stemmed from an initial separation of light from dark, earth from water, and so on, and the body operated by means of an "inner alchemist," called the archeus, which separated that which was pure and helpful to the maintenance of life from that which was not.

                        And also this,

                        "Nature," Paracelsus adds, "brings nothing to light which is completed in itself, rather, human beings have to do the completing. This completing is called alchemy." Both types of alchemy involved looking for a powerful agent capable of perfecting or healing.

                        I don't know if there was any link at the time but it is possible that Capcom may have been planning on going down the alchemy road with RE4 considering it has to do with the elixir of life. It's interesting they even used the name Paracelsus to begin with.
                        There are actually references to this, there's also some obscure pieces that would take some digging to find in regard to Demento - such as that they used the Kabbalah/Tree of Life, references to the Porta Alchemica, though the Caduceus of Hermes was also used and even is noted that it's the incorrect symbol - it's actually supposed to be the Rod of Asclepius which is associated with medicine but it's a rather common mistake, the symbol for Ouroboros was based on Theodoros Pelecanos drawing with some slight changes though onto other things as I had gone over it before...

                        Actually, there is another tidbit pre-dating the caduceus (which was used incorrectly and was corrected to the rod of Asclepius for medicine) whereas the caduceus was Hermes' staff and/or a symbol of Mercury and/or of the messenger.

                        With the Hydra Chamber in Demento, and the overall themes it would actually suggest that they're representing the Mesopotamian deity Ningishzida (the name translates to Lord of the good tree OR lord who makes the trees grow right) - who is a deity of the underworld but also a patron of medicine and essentially nature. He appears as two serpents (sometimes dragons) entwined with occasional "guardians", and is also seen as a symbol of fertility.

                        On Riccardo's outfit, they are entwined whereas on Daniella's - they are not (they are, however joined with the rod separating them).

                        Combined with the inclusion of Ouroboros, one could generally work out the themes of the game in it's design undertones of the methods used in their Alchemy work, with them collectively combined in the Castle it would show that with the original Lord's wish to live forever, the Alchemist taking over with wanting to retain knowledge and thus causing a cycle that revolved around "creating people right" as a demented change from Ningishzida.

                        Essentially, the difference would be that Riccardo is one of the patrons of medicine within the castle whereas Daniella is a creation and therefore a "guardian" to accompany the patrons between the symbol's modifications which is also suggested more by the somewhat leafy pattern across Daniella's back.

                        As for the symbol having wings, that could be put down that Ningishzida can be seen to be on-par and/or the equal to Quetzalcoatl being the Winged Serpent deity.

                        With the staff being there, and specifically being of wood and clearly to be seen as an ancient piece - it would suggest that it was to "kill the bad trees" that had happened over time and trigger the end of one of the main areas of research, that it could in-fact follow the other idea of Ningishzida being depicted as an old man and be assumed that the staff was one of the initial creations or inspirations to the cycle in order to cut down the demented variations.

                        The main reason I said Ningishzida, is that the name can also translate to "Lord of the manufact of life" - in other words essentially an Alchemist when combined with the Pile of Journals file that suggests that the original Lord of "Belli Castle" was not of that family and that were most likely used as test subjects until the alchemist was brought in and the name was then brought in (as an example, a clan may inherit the name IF they are the best of generation - which could be the case in "Aureolus").

                        [Pile of Journals]

                        "February 8th, 1784

                        I have decided to summon that renowned master alchemist to the castle.
                        There is talk that the count has used a technique known as the "dry method" to obtain
                        eternal life. Some may consider it sacrilege, but with the lord's thankless cooperation, I will base my
                        research off any findings obtained through their generous sacrifices.

                        November 16th, 1822

                        Eternal life obtained through the power of the dry method seems to carry no side effects.
                        As it stands, the Lord is showing no effects of aging. Even though his skin is cracked,
                        his flesh rotten, and his entrails liquefied, it appears that death will not be visiting him
                        any time soon. However,
                        I will carry on with my research... After all,
                        in my case, time actually is on my side.

                        May 2nd, 1898

                        The eternal life brought forth from the power of the dry method is not bound by time nor
                        spiritual energies.
                        However, it is not enough to fully realize my dreams.
                        Any research beyond this point will be meaningless without the sacred Azoth.

                        December 29th, 1944

                        My interest toward my dry method research is waning.
                        But I shall write its formula, as well as the results of my research here.
                        A group of followers and I have calmed the 4 flames which symbolize the basic elements.

                        Thusly, the alchemic chain has been ruptured and the spirit has been eternally freed
                        from the body."

                        With them predating it, and the research continuing over such long spans of time and knowledge being carried along with Riccardo's claims to be the "Great Alchemist" whereas Ugo fled from it due to them realizing that Fiona would inherit the Azoth (which is also brought up in both the opening song Endless・・・DEMENTO and the closing/credit song Endless Zero).

                        Hopefully this makes sense... ;

                        So, bit of off-topic ramble about mythology and some alchemy references in Demento there. Oh, and that the entire game revolves around Azoth (a universal term for an elixir of life), immortality and the like.
                        Last edited by Enetirnel; 06-05-2012, 04:06 AM.
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