This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
thatother1dude: I think the bird wasn't actually a phoenix but is often portrayed in modern popular culture.
Looney Toons: Re:
Rogue 7: I was going to ask the same thing about the Twilight Princess spirits, seeing as they're a goat, eagle, snake/alligator and monkey/squirrel.
X Shouldve Died: Took out the warhammer mention. Didn't make a hell of a lot of sense.
Looney Toons: Chopped
- Ultima VIII: Pagan had four elemental gods, each governing a specific branch of magic: Lithos (necromancy), Stratos (theurgy), Hydros (tempestry) and Pyros (sorcery). They were all quite evil, too, except for Stratos, who was arguably benevolent.
because this appears to be added by someone who can count to four, but can't read, and thus doesn't realize that this trope is about a specific set of four gods from Japanese mythology.
- Er, Chinese, at least according to the top of the page.
Looney Toons: Removed
- The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess has four guardian spirits, but that don't seem to fit any pre-existing pattern. Stag of the Forest, Squirrel of the Adjacent Forest, Eagle of the Mountain, and Water Serpent of the Lake.
- Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 both feature four primal gods. Unfortunately, they're hardly nature spirits, and really {{not very nice: Cosmic Horror}}.
because (once again, everybody sing in chorus) this trope is about four specific gods from Asian mythology, not any random group of four gods you happen to find splatted into a game or book.
Four as a magical number is not limited to Chinese. Particularly in the case of Bujold's Chalion books, it might be worth mentioning that modern Neo-Paganism believes that some Western cultures ascribed traits to the four cardinal points on the compass that correspond nicely with the four-plus-one Gods of the Faux Iberia that Chalion exists in.
Looney Toons: Zernik, thank you for restoring the entry. My home connection's been a little wonky recently, and obviously it bit the page in half that time.
Looney Toons: Removed
- In a partial subversion of this, there are five gods in Lois Mc Master Bujold's Chalion books: the Father of Winter, Daughter of Spring, Mother of Summon, Son of Autumn and the Bastard of the Unseason. However following this pattern, the Roknari worship only the first four.
because — everybody sing along now — this is not about any grouping of four gods, but of four very specific gods from Asian mythology.
Aoede: If it was originally from Chinese mythology, why are the names given in Japanese to the exclusion of Chinese?
