Weapon: Caladbolg

Caladbolg: Recurring ultimate weapon

Appearances: Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XI

Tidus with the Caladbolg, Final Fantasy X

The Caladbolg is best known as Tidus' Celestial Weapon from Final Fantasy X. And not so fondly remembered for how difficult it was to acquire with the catcher chocobo race. The version of the sword that appears in FFXI is a again a high tier weapon. The Caladbolg grants the use of the 'Torcleaver' skill which actually ties in with the weapon's mythology.

First thing is first, how to actually pronounce the name? The Caladbolg appears mainly in Irish mythology. You can go here to hear the word pronounced. So now onto where this weapon appears in mythology. The Caladbolg belonged to the Irish king Fergus mac Róich. Well Fergus at least started off as a king. He appears in a few tales including the Táin Bó Cúalnge - Cattle Raid of Cooley where his various affairs lead to his undoing. In the Cattle Raid of Cooley Fergus gets caught having sex with Queen Medb. Medb's husband, Ailill, steals the Caladbolg off Fergus replacing it with a wooden dummy. Fergus is then forced to cede in is fight against the mighty hero Cúchulainn. Ailill eventually gives back the sword (probably when he realists his side is loosing). Fergus draws on the magic of the sword to cleave a great gap in his foe's ranks. He reaches the Ulster King, reading the final stroke. But, at the last minute is swayed and instead sends the blow aside, cleaving the tops of the three bald hills of Meath. This is where the skill 'Torcleaver' from FFXI gets it's name. A tor is type of hill.

The Caladbolg is also linked with King Arthur. Through Welsh tales and Geoffrey of Monmouth's the Caladbolg eventually merges into the Excalibur. At first, in the Welsh tales, it is Caledfwlch, a sword not used by Arthur, but one of his Irish knights. In Monmouth's Historia Regnum Britaniae the sword's name shifts to Caliburnus, an early version of the name Excalibur.

References:

Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia. Vol. 1-3, John T Koch (ed), 2006.

Weapon: Nirvana

An Ultimate Staff

Appearances: FFIV, FFX, FFXI, FFXIII, FFXIV



In all the games this staff weapon appears in it is always the best, the pinnacle of staves.

Nirvana is Sanskrit word litterally meaning 'blown out'  or 'extinguished'. Through Bhuddism and Hinduism the term has taken on a meaning closer to 'liberation' or 'salvation'. Broadly speaking both religions regard Nirvana as a final, ultimate state of being  where the soul is freed from the constraints of the mortal world. It is a timeless state rather than an immortal one. The adoption of the 'salvation' connotation for Nirvana probably appeared sometime after the 6th or 5th century BCE. Concepts similar to Nirvana appear in the earlier, per-Bhuddist texts around the first millennium BCE. The term Nirvana became adopted as people sought to 'blow out' the fires of greed, hatred and delusion.

Nirvana appears slightly later in Hinduism than in Bhudism. The term certainly appears in the Nirvana Upanishad dating from the sometime before 300 CE. Though the texts origins could date from as early as 300 BCE (nice date range there...).

Recomended reading:

Nirvana and Other Buddist Felicities, Steven Collins

Rare Game: Dreadguard, Crypt Bunny and Spee

Rare game: Two bunnies and an owl-bear

And we're back after our week hiatus. Sorry about that but now we're back on track with some more rare game from Final Fantasy XII.

Dreadgaurd

This creature is a derivation of another standard enemy, the Mirrorknight. In the in game lore the Mirrorknights were high ranked war beast attributed the rank of knight. The Dreadguard were the elite of the Mirrorknights. More on the Mirrorknights later.


Crypt Bunny

The Crypt Bunny makes its home in the Feywood. A crypt is a vault located under a church which normally contains coffins or relics. The Crypt Bunny has a further link death as, to spawn the bunny one must defeat Tartarus and Cerberus enemies. Both these enemies are either an underworld location or the gatekeepers of the underworld.

Spee

A form of Mu bunny from the Salikawood. This one is most likely onomatopoeic, based on a cuteness sound kinda like 'squeeee!'. Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound of the object it's describing. In English we have words like 'oink', 'roar', 'hiccup' or 'jingle'.

Side character: Bhakti

Appearance: Final Fantasy XIII

Bhakti, the cute robot from Final Fantasy XIII

Bhakti is a small robot AI friend of Vanille, one of the party members from Final Fantasy XIII. He is found among the ruins of the character's home town where the party can opt to find the parts needed to fix the little trooper. Bhakti had been waiting for Vanille for countless years, never wavering in devotion to his mistress. This is behavior is sadly fitting for Bahkti as his name is a Sanskrit word literally meaning 'attachment' or 'devotion to'. In Bhuddism it also has the context of devotion or spiritual love to a personal god.


This was originally going to be a longer article on a different topic but I couldn't resist the cute little robot when I saw his name crop up in one of the other articles I was researching. So next week's weapon slot will have something somewhat related to Bhakti.

Rare Game: Wary Wolf, Kaiser Wolf & Lindbur Wolf

Appearences: Rare game from Final Fantasy XII

Today is something of a short entry. All three of the rare game wolves have fairly lite entries.

The Kaiser Wolf

Wary Wolf: 

An easy one. This wolf has a 7% spawn chance in its home region of the Mosphoren Highwaste making its appearance somewhat uncommon. Thus it's a wary wolf that stays away from people.


Kaiser Wolf:

Most people will be familiar with the term 'kaiser' being the German word for Emperor. The word ultimately comes from the historical figure of Julius Caesar. Variations on Caesar appear in quite a few European languages including Russian and Greek. Even though his name has become synonymous with 'Emperor', Julius Caesar was never actually and Emperor of Rome. True Caesar had near full control of Rome's governing body, the Senate, but his title was 'dictator perpetuo', 'dictator in perpetuity'. It was his adoptive son, Augustus (formally Octavian), who first assumed the title of Imperator.

Lindbur Wolf: 

I got stumped on this one. I haven't been able to find anything conclusive for this one. The name feels very familiar. It bears a passing resemblance to 'lindworm', a type of serpentine dragon with two legs, but I do not feel that is a very strong link. Perhaps it is simply a constructed name.

The Lindbur Wolf

Weapon: Partisan

Partisan: Recurring low to mid level spear class weapon.

Appearances:  FFV, FFVI, FFVII, FFIX, FFXI, FFXII, FFXIII

Freya's Partisan from FFIX

The partisan or partizan is a pole-arm weapon used from the middle ages up until the Napoleonic wars in the early 1800s. Partisans normally have a double 'axe head' protrusion at the base of the main blade use for hooking and parrying foes. These weapons normally had a 1.8-2 metre shaft but there are examples with shafts up to two metres in length. This is a bit shorter than other pole arms of the time such as pikes which could clock in at nearly 4 metres. Today the partisan is used as a ceremonial weapon. Supposedly this weapon dropped out of favour due to being less effective than other weapons and thus became more ceremonial. This video might prove otherwise and should demonstrate how scary any sort of pole-arm can be. The ceremonial aspect of partisans is referenced in the item descriptions for the weapon in Final Fantasys V, VI and IX.

Partisan from 1655

Rare Game: Greeden, Bull Croc and Gavial

Three rather wolly crocodiles

Appearance:  Final Fantasy XII

This week happens to see the three different crocodile like rare game.

Greeden, the rather woolly croc.

Greeden:

This name is possibly a corruption of the word 'greed'. The Japanese name for this monster is グリード (gurido) which works as a transliteration for 'greed'. Other than that, not too much else to add.

The Bull Croc with jaws agape.

Bull Croc:

Another one that's pretty straight forward. Bull is the term used for male crocodiles and alligators. Females are called sows. The in-game explanation for the name is that this creature is aggressive like a bull.

The Gavial appears a bit more subdued here

Gavial: 

At last, a name with a bit of background. The Gavial, also known as the Gharial- gavialis gangeticus, is species of crocodillian native to areas of the India through to Burma. Unfortunately, mostly due to habitat loss, the gavial is now listed as critically endangered.

These crocodillians prefer river habitats where they live on fish. The characteristic long slender snout of these creatures is full of small slender teeth adapted to this diet.

The name 'gharial' itself stems from the Hindi word 'ghara' meaning 'pot'. Adult gavial have a bulbous protrusion at the end of their snouts.

An actual gharial sun-basking at San Diego Zoo.