The origin of a certain class name

[Dragoncat]

Soo we know the myrmidon class, right? Fast sword users that do lots of critical hits. But where did the name come from? I did some research recently. Posted my findings in the site content board and they got ignored...maybe it's because I just linked to a source and people cba to click on it.

It comes from Greek mythology, meaning "ant people". Sounds weird until you know the story. There was a Greek city state that was being ravaged by a plague. The king there prayed, begging the gods to save his people. Zeus answered, saying that there would be as many people in that city state as ants on his sacred oak tree. The people that came from that were called myrmidons, they were fierce warriors and loyal to their leaders. Later on in history, like middle ages, the word myrmidon meant hired warrior/ruffian or someone who follows orders without questioning.

Makes some sense, even if the part about hired warrior fits the mercenary class better. If it were me though I'd probably name the class something more well known like samurai, but it works.

Thoughts?

[electricwolf]

If it were me though I'd probably name the class something more well known like samurai, but it works.

If you think of the current class line up and add in samurai, does it really fit it?

That and the designers really like european history:

Macedon = Macedonia

Ogma = character from Irish and Scottish mythology

Minerva = roman goddess

Ymir = norse mythological being

Ilia = either a place in Romania or Greece

Lycia = ancient region of Anatolia (also has 'Lycian League' on the page)

Sacae = a tribe of Scythians

Ostia = port of Rome

Laus = ancient city in Italy

Samurai would be a large departure from games which are predominantly influenced by european history.

[Knight]

I remember that in the movie Troy, Achilles' warriors are called myrmidons.

They don't really seem like samurai to me, they wield katanas, but they don't wear samurai armour (except in Awakening), which is odd. Myrmidons are usually mercenary or lone wolf type characters, while samurai were organized men who had honour, loyalty and nobility like knights. They are similar to ronin in ways, but that usually means they were loyal to a master once. They seem like an invention of IS to me, you can see the influence of ronin samurai and of European mercenaries, but they aren't exclusively one or the other.

Basically they're ronin with the class and behaviour of Mediterranean mercenaries.

Edited September 5, 2014 by Knight

[Dragoncat]

Interesting tidbits. Yeah, I failed to think about the mainly european medieval thing FE has going. I just couldn't think of a better name for a sword class, ninja wouldnt work either, thieves and assassins pretty much have that covered.

Funny how a series from Japan uses mainly western things. Zelda kinda does it too. There are some eastern influences in Zelda though.

Edited September 5, 2014 by Dragoncat

[RJWalker]

Samurai actually didn't use swords that much. It was all about archery for them.

[Dragoncat]

Samurai actually didn't use swords that much. It was all about archery for them.

Source? I find that surprising.

[Knight]

Samurai actually didn't use swords that much. It was all about archery for them.

I'd imagine in large scale battles they'd use bow and sword but may only need the bow, but as a personal weapon, they'd probably just use their sword.

[Dragoncat]

I'd imagine in large scale battles they'd use bow and sword but may only need the bow, but as a personal weapon, they'd probably just use their sword.

This.

EDIT - Wow I didn't realize just agreeing counted as spam. So, uh...yeah. I feel that this makes sense.

Edited September 5, 2014 by Dragoncat

[Integrity]

myrmidudes are sellswordsy in the games too though, cf. joshua and guy and probably some others but i'm hungry and not thinking. it's not a bad name and it's pretty cool.

[Ϲharlie]

Funny how a series from Japan uses mainly western things. Zelda kinda does it too. There are some eastern influences in Zelda though.

Not really. Many JRPG's borrow heavily from western sources. It's likely because many of the early JRPG's were influenced by western tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons.

[Dragoncat]

Not really. Many JRPG's borrow heavily from western sources. It's likely because many of the early JRPG's were influenced by western tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons.

That's interesting!

Either that or they don't think their own mythology is cool enough xD

[EricaofRenais]

Cool and it makes sense because the FE series takes a lot from European history and mythology, like in Awakening where they have the two dragons fighting each other forever is like the red and the white dragons of Welsh mythology and there are many other examples if you look for them as well. The game I had the most fun studying about was the tales of Symphony games because I was reading Norse myths at the time I started playing them and it was cool seeing all the Norse myths in a video game.

[RJWalker]

All JRPGs today take inspiration from Dragon Quest which itself takes inspiration from the Wizardry series and the Ultima series which in turn are computer game versions of DnD (mostly). And DnD owes itself to Tolkein (as does the entire modern day fantasy genre).

This excellent video by Clan of the Gray Wolf explains it all.

[bottlegnomes]

The thing about that that always seemed screwy to me was that, from what I'd read, myrmidons kept the proportional strength of ants, so they were super strong for people. Obviously this isn't what myrmidons in the game were like. But meh, that's a pretty minor thing.

[Dragoncat]

like in Awakening where they have the two dragons fighting each other forever is like the red and the white dragons of Welsh mythology

I never thought about that. In the Welsh myth, the dragons were each from a different country, and the king predicted that since the one from his country won, he would defeat the other in war, which ended up happening. Kinda like Awakening...where you have two countries that each worship a different dragon, and those countries go to war. Only I don't think the Welsh myth had one dragon bloodthirsty/evil/want to destroy mankind and the other a protector of mankind. Also, the dragons in the myth were imprisoned under a castle until a magician let them out to fight each other. This might have something to do with why Plegia castle is built on top of Grima's skull...and why the leader of the Grimleal, Validar, is a magic user.