nerobombs:

 Square Enix is pretty good about using a variety of sources behind their monsters, names, and locations whenever such things aren’t original.

In Final Fantasy XIV, adventurers explore the ruined legacy of the city of Mhach in the 24-man duties of the Void Ark, the Weeping City of Mhach, and the newly announced Dun Scaith.

The names of major bosses and lore figures in the Mhach storyline are derived from Irish mythology, but there’s really a fairly wide variety in the sources, with some really weird pronunciations as Gaelic languages tend to have really unintuitive pronunciations, and the “true” pronunciation varies wildly between language and pronunciation.

Below are the mythological sources behind some of the names and figures.

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Lore Figures

Cait Sith: Common pronunciations: “ket-shee” or “kot-shee”
A Cat Sith (or Cait Sidhe, depending on language) is a kind of fairy creature in Celtic and Scottish mythology that resembles a large black cat with a white spot on its chest. Scottish folklore says that the Cait Sith is capable of stealing the souls of the recently deceased before they can pass on to the afterlife.

Cessair: Pronounced “seh-SARE”
Cessair is a female character in an Irish collection of poems known as “Lebor Gabála Érenn” who is claimed to have been the leader of the first inhabitants of Ireland before the Biblical Flood.

Scathach: Pronounced “SKA-hahk”, though the “ch” sound is quite breathy, similar to how the “ch” in “loch” is pronounced.
Scathach, whose name means “Shadowy”, is a Scottish warrior woman who trains the Irish hero Cu Chulainn in the arts of combat. She lives in the castle of Dun Scaith, whose name means “Fortress of Shadows”.

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Bosses

Cetus
“Cetus” is an Ancient Greek word used to denote any large fish, whale, or sea monster. In Greek mythology, Poseidon sent the sea monster Cetus to devour Andromeda, but it was slain by the hero Perseus.

Irminsul
An Irminsul was a sacred tree trunk used in Germanic paganism by the Saxons. Its true function is unknown, but the name and concept are possibly derived from Yggdrasil of Norse mythology.

Cu Chulainn: Common pronunciations: “koo hoo-len”, “koo hullan”, “koo KULL-en”, “koo koo-LAIN”, or “that guy with the name”
Cu Chulainn, whose name means “Culann’s Hound”, is an Irish hero who appears in the Ulster cycle of Irish Mythology. A fierce warrior, he wielded the spear

Gáe Bulg and

single-handedly

 defended the kingdom of Ulster from the armies of Queen Medb.

Echidna
Echidna, whose name literally means “She-Viper”, is a monster in Greek Mythology who was half-woman and half-snake. She is said to be the mate of the monster Typhon and the mother of many other famous monsters such as Cerberus (who guards the gates of Hades) and the Lernean Hydra (who would later be slain by Heracles as part of his twelve labours).

In the Void Ark, Echidna splits into three parts that include the snakes Dexter and Sinister. Sinister is the Greek word for “left-handed”, while Dexter is Greek for “right-handed”, and is the root of the word “dexterity”.

Forgall
A character in the Ulster Cycle of Irish Mythology, Forgall is the father of the beauty Emer with whom Cu Chulainn fell in love. Forgall repeatedly condemned the relationship between Emer and Cu Chulainn, and Cu Chulainn eventually stormed Forgall’s castle and abducted Emer.

Ozma
Not a mythology figure, but an infamous superboss from Final Fantasy IX. His strategies include “Complete Bullshit” and “How Was I Supposed To Know How To Counter That”.

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Places

Dun Scaith: Common pronunciation: “dun-SKAWHK”, similar to the aspirated “ch” in Scathach and the “ch” in “loch”.
Newly announced! In Irish Mythology, Dun Scaith (”Fortress of Shadows” was the home of Scathach and where Cu Chulainn received his training. It’s also a real ruined castle on the island of Skye off the northwest coast of Scotland.

Following the trend of constantly dying in “The Void Argh” and “The Wiping City of Mhach”, “Done-ski” would be an acceptable renaming of it.

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Want more trivia? Check out more pages!

Weapon Name Trivia

Monster Names Trivia Part 1

Done-ski… that made me laugh far too much.