Line #31 Main/MythologyUpgrade


1	Need a totally awesome magical beast to make your show that much more awesome? Why make one up when mythology's done it for you? The Behemoth, the Leviathan, maybe a dragon or two. In works involving the afterlife, you can even expect Cerberus to make an appearance.
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3	But wait... in their original forms, these guys weren't quite awesome enough! We need to give him NEW powers so he presents a real threat to our heroes (or our villains). Behold the power of creative license! Time for a MythologyUpgrade!
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5	Cerberus not cool enough? Let's give him a [[BishonenLine human form!]] Raging dragons not doing it for you? Let's make them [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons superintelligent and magic-resistant!]] Leviathan not dangerous enough in the water? Let's make him [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening fly]]!
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7	Note that the Mythology Upgrade refers specifically to an already established creature of legend who gets entirely new powers, not one that just mysteriously got more powerful. Compare PublicDomainArtifact, SadlyMythtaken. AdaptationalBadass often ensues.
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9	Compare HistoricalBadassUpgrade for historical people version.
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11	----
12	!!Examples:
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14	[[foldercontrol]]
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16	[[folder:General]]
17	* Dragons are perhaps the greatest recipients of this trope. Besides their animal ferocity and often venom or fire breath, most myths didn't give them many additional powers. [[NewerThanTheyThink Modern sources]], however, almost always depict dragons as gigantic beings of incredible physical and magical strength.
18	* It should be noted that in the original myth Bahamut isn't exactly carrying the world, though it is the most common interpretation and perhaps what the original myth intended, the exact words say that it was carrying: "all of god's creation". [[Creator.JorgeLuisBorges Some authors]] have played with this and stated that what it is actually holding is the [[BiggerIsBetter universe]]. This is actually an [[{{Pun}} enormous]] literature upgrade.
19	* Cerberus deserves a special mention in any appearance he makes, since the original creature, depending on which myth you're going by, had snakes growing from his back and was formed by/had skin made of the ''squirming souls of the dead.'' On top of that, its saliva was poisonous and once stopped a Titan from escaping the underworld. Which practically makes many of his appearances a Mythology ''Down''grade.
20	* Arachne is simply a progenitor of all spiders in Myth/ClassicalMythology. If there are monsters with that name in modern works, they are commonly half-spider half-woman beings with human size, if not larger.
21	* Depictions of Gorgons in mythology varied a bit through Greek history. What was consistent was that there were at most three of them, and that two of the sisters were immortal; Medusa was the name of the third who was mortal and killed by Perseus. Medusa had snakes for hair, the other two may or may not have done so, and all could either turn a person to stone by a look or possibly by simply seeing their face. It's not uncommon for works to feature them as an entire species of snake-people, who generally have the power to briefly paralyze or immobilize a single target.
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24	[[folder:Anime]]
25	* An arc of the ''Anime/YuGiOh'' anime gave the Leviathan strange powers related to souls and [[SeriousBusiness children's card games]]. It could apparently make people immortal and/or "awaken the darkness in their hearts", and was said to be responsible for the fall of {{Atlantis}}.
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28	[[folder:Comic Books]]
29	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'':
30	** The Amazons are a [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zagged example]]. In the myths, they are just ordinary warrior women whose fighting prowess was highly spoken of, but were often defeated to show off a male hero's strength and skill. The original Wonder Woman comics by William Marston reimagined the Amazons as a nation of powerful fighters who were trained in SupernaturalMartialArts, as well as being more scientifically and spiritually more advanced than the rest of the world. This got downplayed in PostCrisis comics for a time where the Amazons' technology was made much more primitive than the rest of the planet and their flaws got played up more. Over time, writers have attempted to make the Amazons more in line with their Marston depictions sans BDSM imagery.
31	** The Wonder Woman comics depict Ares as much more cunning and dangerous than his mythological counterpart, often having him as a potential apocalypse bringer rather than the dimwitted, cowardly thug who was often beaten and humiliated.
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34	[[folder:Literature]]
35	* Creator/JRRTolkien's dragons were huge, highly intelligent, possessed magical powers (particularly mind-bending magic), and were quite possibly incarnate minor deities, if evil ones. WordOfGod admitted a certain fondness for this particular creature, so he used them sparingly but when he wanted to go for grand effect.
36	* Both played straight and averted in ''Literature/HarryPotter''. For example, a Cerberus-esque dog makes an appearance as a giant, three-headed guardian closely resembling its original myth, but the boggart gets quite a significant power increase from its minor mischief origin.
37	* Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries (''Literature/{{Percy Jackson\|AndTheOlympians}}'', ''[[Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus Heroes of Olympus]]'', ''[[Literature/TheTrialsOfApollo Trials of Apollo]]'') give literally ''every'' monster from Myth/ClassicalMythology an upgrade in the form of ResurrectiveImmortality. When a monster dies, it goes to [[{{Hell}} Tartarus]] to regenerate. Percy and his friends often kill the same monster several times over the course of the series.
38	** Objects get this, too. In the myths, the Golden Fleece is basically a MacGuffin, with no special powers on its own (aside from, y'know, being gold that grew from an animal). Here, it magically enhances nature and is used to protect the camp. The Labyrinth is an EldritchLocation instead of a normal maze, and the string Ariadne gave Theseus was a special invention of Daedalus' to get out.
39	* ''Literature/TheLostYearsOfMerlin'' and its SequelSeries has the strange example of Rhita Gawr, the BigBad. He's depicted as the Celtic WarGod and, given his appearance, [[HijackedByJesus a vague Lucifer analogue]]. He's actually a rather obscure villain from Myth/ArthurianLegend, a giant whom Arthur either killed or possibly just beat up.
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42	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
43	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is at the forefront of this trope, with the most obvious example being its treatment of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]] (it ''is'' in the name after all). Elevating them from being just very dangerous animals in medieval legend to anything between [[PersonOfMassDestruction some of the most powerful beings in the world]] and, in the case of the strongest dragons, [[DraconicAbomination monsters beyond even gods]].
44	* ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'' upgrades various mythological beings with modern elements. Examples include Centaurs as half-human and half-Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Scylla having machine replacements for its monster heads, and Surtr's main fortress in Muspelheim being able to transform into a HumongousMecha.
45	* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' has many, many examples, but one familiar to even casual players of the game would be dragons. Dragons in ''Rifts'' have PsychicPowers, VoluntaryShapeshifting, and {{Teleportation}} as standard abilities, on top of the normal breath weapon and flying abilities. They're also intelligent at birth due to GeneticMemory. Oh, and hatchlings are available as player characters.
46	* Creator/WhiteWolf 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 SpiritWorld and a special relationship with its denizens. Whether this relationship is "[[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse stalwart defenders]]" or "[[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken border police]]" depends on the gameline.
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49	[[folder:Video Games]]
50	* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'':
51	** Recurring boss Legion has gone from a group of demons who possessed a man and a herd of pigs, to a massive, flying sphere of zombies with a tentacled monster at the center that [[EnergyWeapon shoots lasers]].
52	** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon'' features the sun god Adrammelech as a giant, eyeball controlling, ooze gagging goat thing that [[ThatOneBoss pissed off players]].
53	* In ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'', Alastor is a sword found impaled into a statue of the Judge of Death. In demonology, Alastor is the name given to the supreme arbiter of the court of Hell, or alternately, Hell's chief Executioner. Furthermore, Alastor is a Greek term for "avenger", notably both a title given to Zeus and the name of a man executed by Zeus, which would explain the lightning attacks in the game.
54	* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' makes heavy use of this trope:
55	** The legendary [[Literature/TheBible Leviathan]] (a sea-monster) here is an enormous flying creature with a demonic immune system, which Dante has to fight through to kill the creature from the inside out.
56	** [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Cerberus]] (the Underworld's guard dog) still guards the gateway to hell, but now has some wicked ice powers (which may be a homage to the coldness of hell in Dante's ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'').
57	** Other examples include Literature/{{Beowulf}} as a [[LightIsNotGood light]]-flinging demon and [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Geryon]] having time-control powers.
58	* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' has a number of examples, some of the most notable being:
59	** {{Excalibur}} is revealed to not simply be a CoolSword, but a sword that (given the criteria to release its [[PowerLimiter thirteen seals]] are met) has the power to [[DefeatingTheUndefeatable single-handedly defeat an entity that had previously destroyed the Olympian Gods]]. [[SwordBeam It also shoots lasers]].
60	** Myth/PaulBunyan has had [[GenderBender her]] power augmented via [[CompositeCharacter the fusion of several mythical gods and giants to her soul]].
61	** The [[Myth/ArthurianLegend Sir Gawain]] of Tam Lin, [[spoiler:real name [[CanisMajor Barghest]]]], goes from being a mere [[spoiler: [[{{Hellhound}} large black dog]] associated with death]] to a straight up [[spoiler:ApocalypseMaiden destined to destroy Britain]].
62	** [[Literature/JourneyToTheWest Xuanzang Sanzang]], despite being summoned as a [[SquishyWizard Caster-class Servant]], fights using a combination of [[AllMonksKnowKungFu martial arts]] and her follower's weapons, including [[TelescopingStaff Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang]], which has ''itself'' been subject to this trope. Her [[LimitBreak Noble Phantasm]] ends with her [[MegatonPunch punching her foe through a ''mountain]].
63	* Several of the enemies and almost all of the summons in the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' franchise are creatures or characters taken from mythology and given new powers.
64	** Bahamut, who makes an appearance in almost every game, is the King and/or God of all dragons. In his ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' incarnation, he (while not necessarily being more powerful than the mythological Bahamut) has a giant ring on his back which charges with energy to unleash his [[LimitBreak Overdrive,]] which is basically a [[EnergyWeapon giant blue laser.]]
65	** Leviathan in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' does fly.
66	** Adrammelech, a sun god, [[RuleOfCool for some reason]] has electric powers and looks like a dragon.
67	** [[Myth/IrishMythology Cu Chulainn]], Ixion, and many other figures bear [[InNameOnly almost no resemblance to their mythological counterparts]].
68	** Odin keeps showing up as the instant-death summon, and is [[UselessUsefulSpell infamous for his unreliability]].
69	** [[Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh Gilgamesh]] is all over the place in the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series. In his original myth, he is the king of Uruk, and essentially the strongest man ever. In the ''Final Fantasy'' series as a whole, he has eight arms and wanders across various dimensions looking for rare swords. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', he's a general in Ex-Death's army, and once took out an entire army by himself. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', he's an Esper (though only in the remakes). In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', he's a replacement for the Guardian Force Odin, and can even one-shot certain bosses for you. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', he's [[spoiler:Alleyway Jack, the pickpocket/treasure hunter that teaches you to play cards]]. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', he's a formidable opponent who keeps getting stronger. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', he's one of the DLC arena bosses, and seems to be quite weak at first... until he ditches the assault rifles and rocket launchers, picks up his swords, and powers up to the point of effectively invincible over the course of the fight [[spoiler:unless you can kill him from 4.5 million hp in one stagger]].
70	** Gilgamesh's companion Enkidu was affected, too. He's some kind of demonic buddy to the Gilgamesh Esper in the GBA remake of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', and in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' he's... a dog. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has him as a green chicken.
71	* This isn't a ''VideoGame/NetHack''-only feature but the lore change of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa Gorgon Medusa]] is probably the most famous mythological ''downgrade'' of any mythological monster. Originally, Perseus faced the Gorgon by looking at her reflection in his mirrored shield and cutting her head off. Over time, a more pacifist approach was adopted that Medusa could stone herself by looking at her own reflection.
72	* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' and all its incarnations, with various demons and mythological figures.
73	* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'' includes a few specific cases of artistic license here and there, the most notable of which is the game's first boss. The Eye of [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu]] is given the ability to fly around, summon other, smaller flying eyeballs, and halfway into the fight gains ''[[EyeScream teeth]]'' where the iris used to be. Other instances include Harpies, who can fling sharpened feathers, Nymphs, who are incredibly durable and strong for how early they can appear, and, [[CursedWithAwesome if the buffs you get when you transform into one are anything to go by,]] Werewolves.
74	* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' has most of its characters taken from Japanese mythology. [[MoeAnthropomorphism They all look like little girls]] and are each capable of [[BulletHell Curtain Fire]], an ability notably absent in their source material.
75	* Many of the monsters from ''VideoGame/WillRock'' have extra powers: the Minotaurs can [[AsteroidsMonster split in two lesser ones]] when slain, the Harpies shoot fireballs, Cyclops have goat legs and can eat and spit hot stone pellets and Orthuses can spit fire and acid from their heads.
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78	[[folder:Western Animation]]
79	* ''WesternAnimation/DantesInferno: 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.
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Context Main / MythologyUpgrade