Naga in popular culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is a list of appearances made by nagas (a serpent-like race originally from Hindu and Buddhist mythology) in various works of popular fiction. While the mythological nāga are large, multi-headed snakes that can shapeshift into a human or semi-human form, nagas in popular fantasy are often simply hybrid races combining human and serpentine features.
For information on nagas in mythology, please see the main article.
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[edit] Nagas in film, live-action television, and literature
- In Piers Anthony's Xanth series, a kingdom of nagas lives in caves and fights with goblins.
- In the Harry Potter novels, Harry's nemesis Lord Voldemort has a familiar in the form of a huge snake named Nagini (the feminine form of "naga").
- In Jean Rabe's Dhamon Series of the Dragonlance Series Nura Bint-Drax is a naga who works for the Black Dragon Overlord Onysablet.
- In the Dragon's Eye novel from the Dragonology Chronicles Beatrice and Daniel Cooks parents are in the Thar Desert in india investigating a srange illness that has taken hold among the nagas.
- In the fantasy trilogy The Echorium Sequence, nagas were a race of river snakes known as half-creatures.
- In Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the two antagonists are the cobras Nag and his wife Nagaina.
[edit] Nagas in animation and comics
- In the anime Ronin Warriors, it is speculated that the character Sekhmet may in fact be a part of a family of nagas.
- In an episode of the Aladdin (TV series), Princess Jasmine and Aladdin are transformed into naga-like beings.
- Marvel Comics features a super villain known as Naga. This Naga is a sorcerer, a king and a snake man (with green scales covering his skin) who lived and died many centuries ago.
- In the DC Comics terrorist organisation Kobra, high-ranking members are referred to as Nagas.
[edit] Nagas in role-playing, computer and video games
- In the game Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, nagas are night elves that were driven underwater and eventually mutated into snake-like creatures. They reside in their city Nazjatar.
- In the popular MMORPG The World of Warcraft, the naga have begun to appear around the coasts of the world, some even creating settlements on land. They harbor hate for both the Alliance and Horde equally.
- In the online text-based game Achaea, the Naga are a guild, rather than a specific race. They are stealthy and skilled at striking unexpectedly from the shadows. They also have the ability to secrete various venoms, which they inject into their foes by biting them.
- the Breath of Fire series of video role-playing games features a naga character named Deis or Bleu.
- In the Heroes of Might and Magic game series, nagas are creatures with the upper body of a woman, the lower body and tail of a serpent, and six arms.
- In the PC game Guild Wars Factions, the naga are a hostile race who have a deep hatred of humans and tengu.
- The Megami Tensei video games feature a variety of enemy types inspired by mythology, including "naga" and "raja naga" (lord of Nagas), both of which are humanoid from the waist up and serpentine from the waist down and categorized into the Snake clan ("竜王" in Japanese version.)
- Naga appear in the Final Fantasy Series.
- Nagas appear in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.
- In the Asian-mythology-inspired "Legend of the Five Rings" collectible card game and role-playing game, the naga appear as a playable race.
- In the RPG Chrono Trigger for the SNES, an early enemy fought is a female naga, unsurprisingly called Naga-ette.
- Naga is the name of a monster in the Monster Rancher game and TV series. These nagas are depicted as a humanoid serpent with stingers on their tails.
- In the RPG Avernum 3 Nagas are tough monsters fought late in the game.
- In the computer games Moria and Angband.