Mythology Upgrade: Difference between revisions

* [[Shin Megami Tensei]] and all its incarnations. Go to www.megamitensei.wikia.com see it in action with various incarnations of demons and mythological figures.

* Dragons are perhaps the greatest recipients of this trope. Look up old paintings of dragons and they're often smaller than the hero's horse. Besides their fire breath and animal ferocity, most myths didn't give them many additional powers. [[Newer Than They Think|Modern sources]], however, almost always depict dragons as gigantic beings of incredible physical and magical strength. ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' is one of the worst offenders. See [[Our Dragons Are Different]] for the various permutations.

** Dragons were always ''described'' as huge; those paintings that show them as smaller than the knights slaying them are using symbolism to show that the heroic and chivalric knight is ultimately more powerful than the monster.

** And the magic powers and wisdom come from the Asian dragons that are essentially minor gods or elemental powers.

** It should also be noted that Cerberus originally only had one head, not the three he is famous for having. That didn't come until the Romans got to him (making this an [[Older Than They Think]] trope in and of itself). He was also often portrayed as an average sized dog, rather than the gigantic monstrous beast many relate him to. This is of course assuming that Hades is an average sized man, which is difficult to tell with gods...

* ''Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic'' -- The animated short had cerberus, who was already pretty frightening as a three headed fire breathing dog, reinvisioned as a giant colon like monster with many mouths and residing as a guardian in the third circle of Hell, Gluttony. The gluttonous souls swallowed by cerberus are forever denied the pleasures they overindulged in while alive. Cerberus's stomach is also the realm that Dante had to cross to enter the next circle of Hell.

* [[Scion]] upgrade various mythology beings with modern elements. Example including Centaur as half-human and half-Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Scylla has machine replace its monster heads and Surtr's main fortress in Muspelheim can transform into [[Humongous Mecha]].

* White Wolf also generally did this with their ''[[Werewolf]]'' game lines. It's not enough that they're shapeshifting killing machines -- to fit roughly in with the themes of works such as ''The Howling'' and ''Wolfen'', werewolves also have ties to nature that give them access to the [[Spirit World]] and a special relationship with its denizens. Whether this relationship is "stalwart defenders" or "border police" depends on the gameline.