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The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Topic started by: Ridureyu on April 07, 2011, 12:20:44 AM

Title: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: Ridureyu on April 07, 2011, 12:20:44 AM
Hey, y'all.  Long-time lurker (since 1998!!!!), first-time poster.

So, you know the Agunea?  Well, taken from Romanian wikipedia:

"Agunea este zeul focului terestru în mitologia slavă. Este cel mai mic dintre fiii lui Svarog și reprezintă puterea zeilor de a-i purifica pe oameni și a-i proteja de forțele necurate. Rolul său de a intermedia între lumea oamenilor și cea a divinităților explică focurile rituale și obiceiul incinerării morților. Spre deosebire de alți zei slavi care iarna "hibernează" (datorită faptului că fenomenele naturale patronate de ei nu se manifestă), Agunea este prezent pe Pământ și în anotimpul rece."


Or in summary:  Agunea was the youngest son of Svarog, a Slavi fire deity often equated with Hephaestus.  His role was to provide purification and protection from heaven, which I gues sin Castlevania was interpreted as "lightning spam."

Just updated that to the castlevania wiki, and if my attempt at translation/;interpretation is wrong and somebody here knows Romana, please chime in!
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: Ahasverus on April 07, 2011, 01:05:00 AM
I don't remember, where dooes it appear? O.o
Still very interesting, CV lore is very rich, it has mythologies of almost the whole world within
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: Odile Kuronuma on April 07, 2011, 01:08:52 AM
I don't remember, where dooes it appear? O.o
Still very interesting, CV lore is very rich, it has mythologies of almost the whole world within
SOTN maybe? Anyway thanks for the info about the origin of the name :).
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: Ridureyu on April 07, 2011, 01:14:25 AM
Symphony of the Night.  it's the lightning thingamabobber subweapon that's like "wtf is this?" but then you kill the Succubus with it.
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: darkwzrd4 on April 07, 2011, 02:34:33 AM
Symphony of the Night.  it's the lightning thingamabobber subweapon that's like "wtf is this?" but then you kill the Succubus with it.
I was one of the most useful sub-weapons.  It's long range and could do a lot of damage.
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: Ridureyu on April 07, 2011, 03:05:31 AM
It was pretty much the only useful one after you'd levelled up a bit, since their damage didn't scale well, and the cross used too many hearts.
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: Munchy on April 07, 2011, 06:13:02 AM
Huh. This is pretty cool as I thought Aguni was just a random mistranslation of Agni.
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: Sindra on April 07, 2011, 10:17:18 PM
Huh. This is pretty cool as I thought Aguni was just a random mistranslation of Agni.

Agunea, not Aguni. Again, yeah regionalization!

Agunea is the sub-weapon. Aguni is the fire demon boss from DoS that's supposed to refer to Agni, a Hindu god of fire.

Good find, though.
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: thernz on April 07, 2011, 11:29:46 PM
Considering the similarities what with the purification and fire, it wouldn't surprise me if the Slavic Agunea and Hindu Agni were derived from an older deity though.
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: Ridureyu on April 08, 2011, 12:36:29 AM
Hard to tell.  They both have vastly different cultural roots. A gunea is immensely obscure, enough that I could only find an entry in Romani.  His father, Svarog, is often compared to Hephaestus, though.
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: Puwexil on April 08, 2011, 07:46:26 PM
It's worth a mention that Svarog features in Lament of Innocence in the form of the Svarog Statue relic, which enables Leon to create a trail of fire in the wake of his footsteps. Neat to know the connection between the two.
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: Ridureyu on April 08, 2011, 08:12:50 PM
Trying to forge a llink between Agni and Agunea is like attempting to do the same with the Norse Ymir and Pan'Ku in Chinese mythology - both are giants whose dead bodies constructed the heavens and the earth, but they don't seem to be linked beyond that generic thematic element.
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: thernz on April 08, 2011, 08:36:57 PM
slavic mythology is a branch of proto-indo-european religion like hinduism so it might be closer than you think! just was kinda throwing it out though. dont really care if he is or not.

in any case, chinese traditional religion has its own roots. too cool for that stuff.
Title: Re: Agunea in Slavic Mythology!
Post by: Harrycombs on April 09, 2011, 06:20:11 PM
Trying to forge a llink between Agni and Agunea is like attempting to do the same with the Norse Ymir and Pan'Ku in Chinese mythology - both are giants whose dead bodies constructed the heavens and the earth, but they don't seem to be linked beyond that generic thematic element.

You know, the European languages and the Dravidian languages are actually from the same common ancestor. It wouldn't be surprising since the languages had a common ancestor that there would be an earlier version of this deity as well.