Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Religious Names

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A form of Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Names from religion and mythology. Note that names straight from The Bible have their own article, but names from extra-Biblical Christian tradition are fair game in this page.

See also Demons Or Angels.

Examples of Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Religious Names include:

Abraxas

A name of God from Gnostic theology.

Comic Books

  • Abraxas is an evil cosmic being in Marvel Comics, the antithesis of Eternity.

Film

Literature

  • Abraxas Malfoy and the Abraxan flying-horse breed in Harry Potter.

Web Original


Alastor

A demon of vengeance in Greek myth, and a possessing entity akin to Nemesis in Christian demonology. Spelled "Aleister," may be an allusion to purported black magician Aleister Crowley.

Anime and Manga

Literature

  • Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody from Harry Potter.
  • The Big Bad of the children's book The Castle in the Attic, a sorcerer whose specialty was magic amulets.

Live-Action TV

Tabletop Games

  • In Vampire: The Masquerade, alastors are the Camarilla enforcers charged with hunting down and destroying the Anathema, those vampires who the Camarilla have marked for Final Death.
  • The Executioner of Hell in the Ninth Hell of Nessus in Dungeons & Dragons.

Video Games


Allelujah

Anime and Manga

  • Allelujah Haptism from Gundam00...well, not so much him as his sociopathic split personality Hallelujah.


Dante

Of The Divine Comedy fame (including the Inferno), and thus:

Anime and Manga

Film

Literature

Tabletop Games

Video Games


Faust

And all derivations of it; note that it means "fist" in German.

Anime and Manga

Comic Books

Literature

  • Ellen Faustino from The Supernaturalist
  • The title character of Algernon Charles Swinburne's poem "Faustine". Swinburne liked dominant women.

Music

  • German progressive-rock band Faust, culpable of terrifying deeds such as performing the Cabaret/noise-rock anthem "Why Don't You Eat Carrots".

Theatre

  • Faust from the various versions.

Video Games


Fenrir

Norse Mythology. A giant wolf, son of god Loki, fated to break free from his chains on the coming of Ragnarok and eat Odin. Also known as Fenris, Fenrisúlfr...

Literature

Video Games

  • Fenris Wolfbrother, an orc chieftain in Warcraft II Beyond the Dark Portal.
  • Fenris Isle in World of Warcraft, probably not named after the orc. Home of a dark wizard and his Gnolls (hyena-like humanoids) minions until the Cataclysm expansion pack. Also Fenrus the Devourer, a gigantic wolf worg.
  • Fenris from Dragon Age II.
  • A villain in the Marathon Game Mod Courier 11.


Hades and/or Acheron

The Greek underworld, the god that rules said underworld, and the river one must cross to reach it, respectively.

Literature


Janus

The Roman God of Gates, Doors, etc... Often depicted as having two faces. The doors of his temple were ritually opened when Rome went to war.

Film

  • An example would be Janus from GoldenEye, who was later revealed to be Alec Trevelyan, AKA 006.

Video Games


Jormungandr

The World Serpent of Norse myth.

Literature

MMORPGs

  • Blizzard likes this one: Jormungar are giant ice worms in the Norse-themed Northrend of World of Warcraft.

Video Games

  • In StarCraft, the Jormungand Brood, controlled by the player during the Zerg campaign, and therefore responsible for the invasion of Aiur.
  • A gigantic serpent called Jormungandr serves as an early boss in Magicka.


Lamia

An ancient Greek demon whose description boils down to 'succubus of children.'

Anime and Manga

  • Also see Demon Lord Dante by Go Nagai. Lamia wants to alternatively either screw or eat everyone in the city to have/make food for her zillions of spider babies. (She's a Drider instead of the typical half-snake version fantasy works usually toss up.)

Film

Live-Action TV

  • Madam Lamia, Count Grendel of Gracht's assistant in "The Androids of Tara".
  • Scorpina's Zyuranger counterpart is named Lamia-Scorpion, though when not in her monster form she's called Lami for short.

Tabletop Games

Video Games

  • Also Lamia Loveless from Super Robot Wars. An android and efficient spy who will sneak into your team, get really friendly with your teammates, while leaking information to her higher ups so at one point, she will be able to bring your group down in one swift move, and she has no concern in anything except her mission, her life included. Played straight in SRW Advance, when playing Axel's scenario, whereas she never did develop her conscience and stays as a cold blooded android.
  • Lamia/Ramia Village in Ys II.


Nergal

A Babylonian deity, a fiery god of war and destruction. Identified with the planet Mars.

Anime and Manga

Tabletop Games

  • Nurgle, the oldest of the four Gods of Chaos in Warhammer 40,000, the God of Death and Decay, whose specialty is spreading nasty disease.

Video Games

Western Animation

Real Life

  • Nergal, frontman/lyricist of the Polish death-metal band Behemoth. Somewhat fitting, since their lyrics play with theosophy a lot.


Odin

Norse Mythology. Usually referred to as 'the Allfather', 'Old One-eye' or 'the Ferryman', as He's rather scary and naming Him directly might bring you unwanted attention.


Pandora

Not evil by intention, but released evil upon the world.

Anime and Manga

  • Gives its name to the research organization PANDORA in Darker than Black, which like Nergal in Nadesico is ostensibly good - apparently no one in either cast studied mythology.
  • Pandora is the name of a stage magician turned Rare Hunter in the Battle City arc of Yu-Gi-Oh!.[2]

Film

  • Pandora is also the world inhabited by the Na'vi in Avatar. Not evil itself, but a foreshadowing that it won't remain undisturbed. Also fits the Greco-Roman theme naming of planets.[3]

Literature

  • Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles have a vampire named Pandora, though she's not particularly evil.

Live-Action TV

Video Games

Shiva

Hindu god of destruction.

Anime and Manga

Comic Books

Fan Works

Tabletop Games

  • The Shiva Squadron from the Feng Shui supplement Glimpse of the Abyss are a Demon Slaying Amazon Brigade with eight arms much like their namesake (they're even called "shivas"). They're also not too keen on anyone who associates with demons, even if the demon in question has joined the forces of good (like quite a few Supernatural Creature PCs).

Video Games

Tantalus

A figure from ancient Greek legend better known for his Ironic Hell punishment than for what he did to earn it.

Comic Books

Literature

Video Games


Others

Multiple

  • Oda Nobunaga is often referred to as "Dairokuten Maou" literally "Devil King of the Sixth Heaven" in various franchises he appears in (a nickname he apparently chose for himself in Real Life). This is roughly the Buddhist equivalent of Satan.
  • Beast Wars's Megatron uses this as an invoked trope, in an attempt to be the figure from the series' equivalent of The Bible, "The Covenant of Primus". The Transformers Wiki put it best: "What distinguishes Megatron from the countless others who share [his] goal is his chutzpah. This is a guy who named himself after his faith's equivalent of the Antichrist."
  • Titan. If you are in a super heroes work, and you hear the name, or title, Titan, why the hell are you still around to hear it? From Dark Horse (Superman expy goes insane and decides he should rule), to Marvel (last stop in a journal belonging to a guy found floating in the air, dead, making like the human torch), to Dreamworks (a manufactured Ascended Fanboy with the nom de guerre of Titan decides he'd much rather use his powers for crime and the easy life) to any of a number of works, if something is named Titan, get the fuck away from it.
  • The Great Khali, a professional wrestler. Named after Kali, the Hindu goddess of empowerment.
  • Anything with "Reaper" in its name. The Reaper Attack Drone in real life, the Reapers in Mass Effect 3, the giant cockroaches in Resident Evil 5, etc.

Back to, not away from, Names to Run Away From Really Fast

  1. Though stay far FAR away from the dub, it is undoubtedly a convention for the worst voice actors ever. It's even worse than "legendary" titles like M.D. Geist and Ogenki Clinic.
  2. Named Arkana in the dub version.
  3. According to the "Manual", Pandora is a moon in the Alpha Centauri system orbiting the planet Polyphemus.