#digimon lore

[digi-lov]

Digimon & Magical Witches

Bandai V-Pet Crossovers Part 2 (see Part 1 here)

With Tamagotchi's original launch in 1996, then Digital Monsters in 1997, Bandai and Wiz released Magical Witches in 1998!

While Tamagotchi were based on eggs, and Digital Monsters on cages, the Magical Witches v-pet is shaped like a book, cover and all!

Just like the original lines of Tamagotchi and Digimon, Kenji Watanabe was also the designer for the Magical Witches. Besides going through different stages, the Witches were also divided into four different clans each representing a different magical element. Which tribe of Witches you would raise depends on the version of the v-pet you have.

The clans and their respective magic are as follows:

Eneruge, who specialize in fire magic, Earthlin, who specialize in Earth magic, Baluluna, who specialize in wind magic, and Aquary, who specialize in water magic.

As your Witch grows, it can study other elements of magic! They cannot learn their opposite element until Gen 4 (and master it by Gen 5). So a Eneruge Witch has to learn Earthlin and/or Baluluna magic before they can learn Aquary magic.

[images from gotchi-garden]

Unfortunately this franchise never took off, and no further lines were created past the original line up. The toys are now quite the rare find and any online listings are super expensive.

But part of the franchise lives on within the Digimon franchise!

The Land of Witchelny is now portrayed as another dimension, so to speak, another layer to the Digital World we know. According to offcial DigimonWeb profiles, the land is ruled by elders of each clan and three sages that lead a council governing the clans.

Witchelny is split into four blocks for each cardinal direction, each occupied by a clan, and in the center lies Mount Brocken. On the top of Mount Brocken, the clans have established a joint magic school. Those who master magic (advanced programming language) at said magic school, move on to travel to the Digital World we know.

Here is a list of Digimon, who have been confirmed to have come from Witchelny: Wizardmon /X (master of fire and earth magic), FlareWizardmon (master of fire magic), Sorcerymon (master of light and ice magic), Witchmon (master of wind and water magic), Mistymon (master of various magics, of which fire is its forte), MedievalGallantmon (a legendary hero, who protected Witchelny in ancient times) and Wisemon (born in a magic-less region of Witchelny).

Furthermore, Hexeblaumon is a Digimon that came to Witchelny from the Digital World, and mastered ice magic there.

On the Option Card, Absolute Blast, which features HexeBlaumon, you can also see the symbol of Aquary!

Absolute Blast BT5-097 by Shin Sasaki from BT-05 Booster Battle of Omni

Comparing the original Magical Witches evolutionary charts to the what magic we know these Digimon to be proficient in, we can make some possible connections.

Wizardmon being a master of fire and earth magic, and Witchmon being a master of water and wind magic, these original Witches line up with their abilities.

[Wizardmon: Eneruge native master top, Earthlin native master bottom] [Witchmon: Aquary native master top, Baluluna native master bottom]

However with official artwork, such as the one below, portaying fire and water magic as their respective specialties, I believe the top sprites would be more likely.

With Mistymon being proficient in all magic, only the "Soul" type of Witch applies, which is the same in all clans.

I find this stuff super interesting! But wait... doesn't that one face look familiar...?

SATAN?!

If you are interested in Magical Witches, I recommend you check out gotchi-garden! They have a very detailed coverage on these. Also shoutout to @/MagicLad_Ty on twitter who first brought these to my attention!

[teamappare]

On the rare occasion that someone asks me things related to digimon, all I can think is "oh you poor sweet innocent soul you don't know the can of worms you've just unleashed upon yourself I've been hyperfixated on this for about ten years, *if I can't escape my hyperfixation, you can't escape my rambles*

[impillian]

more people should know how wild digimon lore is cause wtf is this

this only covers x digimon btw so this is only a fraction of digimon lore

[atsoraasayoma]

The Digital Record Series is going to be longer than expected.

In the middle of my fifth novel I realized I am going to write a short story that explains what happens to Hikari between the events of the Digidestined giving up the power of the crests (temporarily) and her attending middle school.

So that will be two short novellas, 4 novels and probably a short story epilogue or possibly seventh novel to wrap it up.

Who knew trying to connect Digimon Adventure to 02, Tri, and possibly Kizuna/02 epilogue would be so time consuming and difficult…

…Nevertheless it must be done.

[sirfowlman]

Digimon World lore & a crackpot fan theory about digital humans & Digimon Adventure

Ordinarily, I wouldn't bring up any fan theories or any connections between the World & Adventure; other than they shared some locations, like File Island. Then I found out that, storywise, Digimon World 2 was indeed a sequel to Digimon World 1 (thank you, Wayneisboss) & that DW & Adventure were pulling some ideas from the franchise's early lore but obviously went in different directions.

This fan theory came rushing through my head as I was watched the aforementioned Wayneisboss' review of Digimon World 2. Sorta like this!

You know those abandoned human objects & buildings that were strewn about in the Digital Worlds of DW1 & Digimon Adventure? In Digimon World, these items were confirmed to be abandoned by humans from Earth that were trying to colonise File Island. For one reason or another, a schism broke out between humans & digimon, which resulted in the humans fleeing the island.

In DW2, all of the humans (including our playable character) were revealed to be the descendants of said human survivors that fled File Island. The survivors had went on to settle the Folder Continent & had built Digital City.

Now on to Digimon Adventure. What if something similar happened to their Digital World? What if humans also tried to colonise Adventure's Digital World at some point, but failed? Though unlike their DW counterparts, the majority of them were wiped out, leaving only various man-made objects, autonomous vehicles, empty buildings, & perhaps a few survivors like Gennai, his clones(?)/kin(?) & NotKen McPedo the Mysterious Man, who were digitised at some point.

I think some other Digimon media have featured similar stuff, but I only singled out World & Adventure as they're the most familiar to me. There are also other digital humans similar to Gennai, but their origins are quite varied. From androids, to A.I.s, to digital clones.

Okay, I think that's enough theorizing for one day.

[mat2modblog]

So does this mean every black recolor digimon (Gulus notwithstanding) has black digitron and are thus immune to GRB? What about all the other recolors and pallet swaps like Psychemon, NiseDrimogemon and IceDevimon?

(this was Regulusmon’s profile BTW. Bandai Namco mentioning GRB in Gulus’ Digimon Web profile would be a massive spoiler)

Edit: In case anyone else wants to fail to gaslight me for knowing that Psychemon’s pelt is not only not the only difference, it’s not even the most notable:

Anyone with functioning eyes can tell the difference beyond the pelts. Even the colorblind should be able to tell the difference.

[manga-b]

Digimon lore!

[atsoraasayoma]

Kari kamiya/Hikari Yagami and Gattomon/Tailmon not pictured…

Do You Know This Anime?

[digi-lov]

Digimon & Tamagotchi

Bandai V-Pet Crossovers Part 1 (Part 2)

In 1996 Bandai and WiZ inc. released the original Tamagotchi. To their surprise, the toy proved to be popular among boys as well, despite it being mostly marketed for girls. And in 1997, as a more targeted approach to this demographic, Digital Monsters was born!

A huge virtual pet boom followed and not only did Bandai and Wiz release new versions of Tamagotchi and Digital Monsters, and try multiple v-pets with a variety of styles within the next couple of years, but other companies also tried to bandwagon on the success of these virtual pets!

(Such as Nintendo in 1998 with the Pocket Pikachu-)

While the Tamagotchi was shaped like an egg (jap. tamago) with a crack in its shell where the screen is, the Digital Monster was shaped like a brick cage with bust-open bars! It also featured the ability to connect and battle! Otherwise they both use the same three button layout and similar menu icons. On the Tamagotchi, the toilet icon is portrayed by a duck themed potty, which is also used as the look for the Portable Potty items in many Digimon games.

Now with how closely these two franchises were developed, there's bound to be more that connects the two, right?

One such thing is Tamagotchimoji and Digimoji/DigiCode!

You can see that the two scripts are basically identical, just stylized differently. While Tamagotchimoji got used sparsely until they stopped using it in 2004 (But had a surprising comeback in one social media post on April 10, 2023?!), Digimoji has been used, and still is being used everywhere in the Digimon franchise! There is also a separate set of characters for the Latin Alphabet.

[Tamagotchimoji on the left, Digimoji on the right, respective Hiragana above the character]

Just like we know it from the Digimon Franchise, the Tamagotchi also grow through evolutionary stages along a branching path, depending on how well you take care of them! The original line of Tamagotchi as well as Digimon owe their designs to Kenji Watanabe! Generally all Tamagotchi's names end in "-tchi" or "-chi", similar to how Digimon names end in "-mon".

In these evolution charts, the Tamagotchi and Digimon are arranged by how well they've been taken care of / how good they are, with the top line being the best, and the bottom being the worst.

But that Tamagotchi chart is actually just the international version, which had "Bill" (aka Gaijintchi/Ketotchi) as secret character past the adult stage. Instead the Japanese version featured "Oyajitchi" (jap. oyaji means "old man").

But wait, doesn't that face look familiar...?

According to the Digimon Reference Book, Nanimon's true identity is unknown and it in fact came from another dimension, where it was known under the title OYAJI. In order to survive in the new environment of the Digital World, Nanimon had to go through a lot of training and battling.

Nanimon's name is also a play on its bizarre nature. In Japanese, "nanimon" is a casual abbreviation of "nanimono" which means "what (thing)". So, with intonation indicating a question, "nanimonda" can mean both "What are you?" or "I am Nanimon".

This joke is even included directly in Digimon World when the player encounters Nanimon.

「ん？なにもんだ？！」 "N? Nanimon da?!" “Huh? What are you?!” 「ナニモンだァ！」 "Nanimon da!" “I’m Nanimon!”

Nanimon's nature as an alien to this World is also reflected in his trait in the Card Game being "Invader".

Nanimon BT6-058 by Kenji Watanabe from BT-06 Booster Double Diamond

So yeah, Nanimon is supposed to be Oyajitchi who came from the Tamagotchi World to the Digital World.

Stay tuned for next friday when we talk about another World connected to the Digital World!

Special thanks to: tamagotchi wiki, gotchi-garden and tamatalk for being great resources!

If you're interested in more Tamagotchi stuff, go check out @tamapalace !

[sirfowlman]

Here's an odd note about Neptunemon, he originally had a human-like face like Marsmon and Mercurymon, but for his appearance in Digimon Fusion, he was redesigned slightly with a shark-like maw to appear more monstrous.

It's a coinflip whether the original design or the redesign appears in other Digimon media. It's as inconsistent as Digimon dub names.

Digimon & mythology: the Olympos XII

One of the most underused major groups of Digimon in my opinion is the Olympos XII. As the name suggests, they are based on the twelve Olympian gods of ancient Greece and their Roman successors, the Dii Consentes. While the older lineup of the Olympoans and the Dii Consentes used an equal number of gods and goddesses, the goddess Hestia/Vesta was later replaced by Dionysus/Bacchus as her worship fell out of favor and his became popular. Digimon uses the lineup that includes Dionysis/Bacchus and excludes Hestia/Vesta. The Olympos XII also use the Roman names for the gods, though they take inspiration from both cultures' interpretations, as well as original ideas. In fact, some of the Olympos XII seem deliberately designed to be unlike their mythical counterparts.

The Olympos XII rule their own Digital World called Digital World: Iliad, which is hosted on a different server than the mainstream Digital World ruled by the computer god Yggdrasil. While the two worlds rarely interact, Yggdrasil is keeping its eye on Iliad and it is said that one day the Royal Knights of Yggdrasil's server and the Olympos XII will confront each other. Whether that confrontation will be violent or peaceful remains to be seen. Iliad has its own computer god named Homeros, who is very different from Yggdrasil. While Yggdrasil seeks to rule its Digital World, Homeros believes in absolute freedom and left Iliad in a state of anarchy. The Olympos XII rose up to establish order and justice in defiance of Homeros's anarchy. While some media depicts Homeros as an enemy of the Olympos XII, others imply it has some authority over them.

One thing to note before covering the members of the Olympos XII is that the Greek and Roman myths were not set in stone. Beliefs changed and ideas were absorbed from neighbors. Different groups of people also interpreted the gods differently. For example, the Athenians generally had a negative view of Ares and depicted him as a brutal monster, the but Spartans and Romans had a much more positive view on him. The Greeks and Romans also had a practice called interpatio graeca/interpatio romana where they would absorb the gods of other cultures into their own pantheons, often by claiming that the foreigners' gods were actually the same gods under different names. This was especially common in Rome given how diverse the empire was. An easy way to avoid religious infighting was to declare that everyone is actually worshipping the same gods under different names. Different sects would also worship different aspects of the same god, which were sometimes given their own titles. For example, one group of Romans might worship Jupiter in his aspect as the bringer of storms where another may worship him in his aspect as a leader. This is all to say that the mythologies that the Olympos XII draw from are very diverse and were constantly changing and whatever I say about mythology here can be both supported and refuted by multiple sources, all equally valid.

Warning that some of the Olympos XII members have some of the most explicit "sexymon" designs in the franchise. Some of the art below may be NSFW.

The founder and leader of the Olympos XII is Jupitermon. It founded the Olympos XII to bring justice to the Digital World: Iliad and presides over weather as the god of the sky. It acts as a dispassionate judge who declares acts as being either good or evil, then metes out divine judgement on those declared evil. There is an appeals system to Jupitermon's Judgments which consists of facing Jupitemon in combat. If anyone beats it, then Jupitemon will rescind its judgement. As of yet, nobody has ever succeeded. Jupitermon wields two hammers that produce lightning bolts. While it normally refuses to allow emotion to get in the way of its duties, those who have committed great sins can cause Jupitermon to become overcome with range and trasfrom into Jupitermon Wrath Mode. In this form, it becomes much larger and transforms into a living mass of lightning contained in armor. It trades in its hammers for a greatsword named Keraunós (Greek for lightning) that is crackling with electricity. Jupitermon is based on the Greek Zeus and roman Jupiter. It lacks many of Zeus's more famous traits, such as being impulsive, hedonistic, and willing to sleep with anything that moved regardless of consent. In this is draws more of later Roman depictions of Jupiter (or Iupiter or Jove) whive removed many of the character's more negative traits and made him much more of a paragon and leader figure. The hammers it uses may be a nod to Norse mythology and the thunder god Thor's hammer Mjolnir, but may also reference a judge's gavel. Wrath Mode is based on the general idea of divine wrath, where a god will smite evildoers to those that displease it. There are many stories of Zeus sending down his lightning bolt to smite mortals who have wronged him. Each member of the Olympos XII has a signature animal that is incorporated into its design and Jupitermon's is the owl. Owls are more traditionally associated with Athena than Zeus/Jupiter and are often used to symbolize wisdom. That fits with Jupitermon being a judge over good and evil and most of Athena's wisdom aspects didn't make it into her Digimon counterpart anyway so moving them to Jupitermon makes him a better leader.

Jupitermon (left) and Wrath Mode (right)

Jupitermon's partner is Junomon. She is Jupitermon's lover and defender who spends her time defending and eliminating those who would act against him. Because its love for Jupitermon is overflowing, Junomon is very aware of its habits and personality and preferes to spend as much of her time with him as possible. If separated for too long and forced to face an overflowing amount of enemies, Junomon can be taken over by a hidden, evil personality will surface, changing her into Junomon Hysteric Mode. Hysteric Mode is overflowing with jealousy and views everything around it as a threat to Jupitermon. Whenever Hysteric Mode emerges, it will slaughter everything round it until reverting. Curiously, Jupitermon seems to be unaware of the existence of Hysteric Mode and has therefore never judged it as evil. Even when not in Hysteric Mode, there is a hint of the darkness within as the angelic-seeming Junomon is a virus attribute and member of the Nightmare Soldiers field. Junomon is based on Hera/Juno, the wife and sister of Zeus/Jupiter and goddess of marriage and fertility. Junomon's relationship with Jupitermon is almost the inverse of Hera's with Zeus. Hera and Zeus seemed to hate each other and their wedded life was miserable, with Zeus constantly cheating and fathering bastard children and Hera attacking those children because she couldn't take it out on Zeus himself. By contrast, Junomon is so in love with Jupitermon she becomes a yandere. Interestingly, we won't have any official media I'm aware of that shows whether Jupitermon reciprocates her feelings, though him never noticing Hysteric Mode could be interpreted as deliberately turning a blind eye so he doesn't have to judge his love. Hysteric Mode can be seen as representing Hera's fits of anger, though in this case she's lashing out in a misguided desire to protect Jupiter(mon) rather than proxy revenge against him. The Romans' beliefs about Juno were so diverse that adequately cataloging them is a huge headache for scholars of Roman religion and she almost seems to have been multiple distinct goddesses conflated into one. Several Roman depictions did give her and Jupiter a much happier marriage than that of Zeus and Hera. She also took on some war god aspects, which is reflected in Junomon battling those who would oppose Jupitermon. Some scholars have suggested some Hindu influences from the goddess Sarasvati on the Roman Juno and Junomon's weapons are identified as katars, a type of Indian dagger. Junomon's animal is the peacock, which was seen as a sacred animal to both Hera and Juno.

Junomon (left) and Hysteric Mode (right). Can I just say that Hysteric Mode is one of the dumbest looking mode changes in the franchise?

The Olympos XII members that have gotten the most exposure in the franchise are the siblings Apollomon and Dianamon. They are gods of the sun and moon, respectively. Apollomon can unleash the heat of a star, which lets it burn through anything. It is a prideful being with barely-restrained energy that can lead it to going on a rampage or launching itself at a powerful enemy in search of a battle. In contrast, DIanamon is more peaceful, but just as the moon has a light and dark side, Dianamon's nature is two-faced and it is shockingly powerful in a fight. While Apollomon uses fire, Dianamon presides over water and ice. It can weave moonlight into illusions so powerful they can trick an enemy into ripping itself apart. These two are based on the twin gods Apollo and Artemis/Diana. While these two were gods of the sun and moon (in some versions inheriting this position from or contracting it out to the older Helios and Selene), they were also gods of many other things and sometimes the sun and moon aspects were seen as fairly minor duties for them. Digimon chooses to go all-in on the sun and moon motifs and ignore the other elements. This is fitting of the two's evolution lines debuting in the paired games Digimon Story: Sunlight and Moonlight (released in English as Digimon World Dawn and Dusk) which heavily played into the sun/light and moon/darkness motifs. Both gods were often depicted as archers and while neither Digimon uses a bow, they both have attacks where they shoot arrows named after their Greek god inspirations. Apollomon's signature animal is the lion and it looks like a humanoid lion. Lions are often associated with the sun and strength and in alchemy, a lion was used to symbolize the sun. Dianamon's animal is the rabbit, which is easier to see in her pre-evolutions, which are all humanoid rabbits. Japan often associated rabbit with the moon. The dark markings on the lunar surface that are interpreted in the west as a face (the man in the moon) are interpreted in Japan as a rabbit making rice balls or mochi. This rabbit and moon symbolism is found in another major influence for Dianamon: the title character of the mange Sailor Moon. Her name, Usagi, means rabbit and she and Dianamon have similar silhouettes and design features. In addition, one of Dianamon's attacks is named after the children's book Goodnight Moon. When the Digital World: Iliad was visited by an unprecedented crisis, Apollomon and Dianamon merged into GraceNovamon. GraceNovamon holds the power of a galaxy in its body and it is impossible to measure the amount of data that makes it up. GraceNovamon doesn't have any mythological references that I can find.

Left to right: Apollomon, Dianamon, and GraceNovamon

Volcanusmon is the Olympos XII member with the most influence on Digimon outside of its group. This is because it is the god of smithing and has created many of the Digital World's most famous weapons, all of which it names after Spanish words for food for some reason. Examples include Beelzebumon's Berenjena shotguns, Astamon's Oro Salmón tommygun, and Sparrowmon's Zanahoria pistols. Given that Astamon is a villain and Beelzebumon is one of the Seven Great Demon Lords, it's clear that Volcanusmon doesn't care about the morality of its client, just whether or not the client is impressive enough to deserve a special weapon and has the power to master its use. Volcanusmon works in silence, using all eight of its arms in harmony to create true artworks. It is not very good at fighting and prefers to work behind the scenes. Volcanusmon is based on the god Hephaestus/Vulcan. This is one of the gods that changed more in the transition between Greece and Rome as Hephaestus is specifically the god of smiths and craftsmen while Vulcan is more generally the god of fire, with smithing being just one of his roles. Since the fire god role was given to Apollomon, Volcanusmon leans heavily into the smith role. Another trait of Hephaestus that didn't carry over to many depictions of Vulcan is that he was disabled, having a bad leg due to (depending on which version of the story is told) either being born that way or being thrown off of Mount Olympus after birth. Volcanusmon's legs leem to be fine, but it does have bandages over its face and one eye, is using a breathing device, and is weak in battle, all of whcih hearken back to Hephaestus's disability. Volcanus or Vulcanus is sometimes used as an alternate name for Vulcan. The name Vulcan may descend from a god worshipped on the island of Crete named Velchanos. Volcanusmon's animal is the octopus, which appears to be an original idea rather than having any mythological basis.

The members of the Olympos XII have a varying relations to their mythological inspirations. Some are very strongly based on a god while in other, it is much more loose. The latter category is where Mercurymon comes in. Mercurymon is the fastest of all Digimon, so quick it cannot be seen with the naked eye. It also hates staying still and constantly travels the world. Mercurymon is also a shaman who can summon spirits from another world. Mercurymon is based on Hermes/Mercury, who was the god of a lot of things but was most famously the messenger of the gods. To aid in this duty, he wore winged sandals that allowed him to move at incredible speeds. That is literally the only thing that was brought over into Mercurymon. Well one attack description says Mercurymon has the Kerykeion, which is another word for the god's famous Caduceus staff, but that's the only place I could find it referenced. There's not even art of Mercurymon using it. Mercurymon also has some references to the Aztecs with its design and knife being named Aztec. Hermes/Mercury was sometimes associated with shamanism and divination, but Mercurymon's shaman aspects seem more Aztec. Mercurymon's English name is interesting. There was already a Digimon whose English name was rendered as Mercurymon (based on the metal) that debuted before Mercurymon. The dubbers experimented with Mercuremon or Mercurimon as new names, but somehow settled on Merukimon, which is complete gibberish. Mercurymon's animal is the wolf.

Another Olympos XII member who subscribes to the same "dude in an animal suit" school of design as Mercurymon is Marsmon. Known throughout the Digital World as a god of war, Marsmon is a master of every form of combat and will use underhanded methods in battle. While it has a variety of hidden weapons on its person, its preferred method of combat is wrestling. So focused on victory is it that it will cheat in battle if it is losing. Marsmon was the first member of the Olympos XII to debut and its reference book entry established the existence of the group. Marsmon is based on Ares/Mars, the god of war. He is one of the gods that has had the widest variety of depictions. Many of the Greek sources we have, which are mostly from an Athenian viewpoint, depict Ares as embodying all the worst aspects of warfare: brutality, savagery, fear, and pain. By contrast, the Roman view of Mars was more positive and he was revered as aone of the most important and beloved gods. This is partly due to him now embodying all aspects of war rather than just the worst parts and also due to him being merged with agricultural gods. In addition, he was said to be the father of Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome, making him the ancestor of Roman people. This can kind of be seen with Marsmon, who is a vaccine-attribute, which are usually seen as more heroic. Marsmon preferring wrestling is a reference to ancient Greek wrestling or Pále, a popular sport and the first sport added to the Olympics that wasn't a race. Marsmon's animal is the panther.

Probably my favorite member of the Olympos XII is Ceresmon. It is a god of nature that takes the shape of a colossal bird-shaped island with a forest on its back that flies through the air. The forest is called the Karpos Hulē (Greek for fruit forest) and grows the sweetest and most nutritious fruits in the world. Ceresmon is a gentle being who will allow injured and weak Digimon to live in its forest and feed on its fruits to grow strong. However, it will not tolerate those who disrespect nature and will bring down on them all the power a flying island can give. The island body of Ceresmon is more of a vehicle that the true Ceresmon uses. The true form, the humanoid on the bird's head, is Ceresmon Medium. Medium can detach from the bird and move around on its own, but it is weak on its own and will only do so around those it trusts. It's worth noting that Digimon Survive treats Ceresmon Medium as an independent Digimon no weaker than any other of its level. Ceresmon is based on Demeter/Ceres, goddess of nature and agriculture. She was seen as a motherly figure and a patron of the common folk, which fits with Ceresmon aiding common Digimon. The most famous myth involving the goddess, that of her daughter being taken to the underworld for half of the year, is not represented in Digimon. Ceresmon's animal is the bird.

Ceresmon (left) and Medium (right). Sidenote, Ceresmon is one of the few cases where I think the reference book art is better than the New Century art.

Some gods have grand purposes and some just want to have fun. That's where Bacchusmon comes in. It is the self-proclaimed foremost drinker of the Digital World and spends its entire time partying or preparing to party. It can brew any kind of alcohol within its body, but its favorite is made from the fruits of Ceresmon's forest. Because of this, Ceresmon and Bacchusmon are on good terms with each other. While jovial and generous, there is a dark side to Bacchusmon as it can generate all manner of horrific poisons in its body. It can also reconfigure the data of enemy Digimon to turn them into drinks, which it will then consume. Rumors say that human hackers are studying the data of Bacchusmon's poisons to develop chemical weapons. Some media gives Bacchusmon a mode change called Crapulence Mode, but most treat Crapulence mode as the normal Bacchusmon and give it no mode change. Bacchusmon is based on Dionysus/Bacchus, the god of wine, indulgence, and parties. He was a latecomer to the Greek myths, but eventually his following became so popular that writers and theologians replaced Hestia with him on the twelve Olympians. Bacchus was never considered that major in Rome, where Hestia/Vesta remained on their version of the twelve Olympians, the Dii Consentes. In fact, the festivals in his honor, Bacchanalias, were eventually banned due to them subverting the social order of Rome, though they of course continued to happen in secret. A really interesting thing that happened with Bacchus is becoming the subject of multiple mystery cults. The mystery cults are a really interesting and really complicated topic I do not know nearly enough to give a comprehensive overview of. To overly simplify, mystery cults were a trend in the Roman world of taking a god from a previous, often polytheist faith, and worshipping them as personal savior deities who could grant salvation (often salvation from death) to followers through fellowship, communion, and baptism. What made them mystery religions is that the general public and new initiates would be given false stories filled with metaphor and parable. Only as one advanced within the religion would they be considered wise enough to learn the true teachings. Because of this secrecy, we don't know the true teachings of a lot of the mystery religions, even if their public stories are well-documented. Bacchusmon's animal is the snake.

Minervamon is one of the most combat-focused of the Olympos XII. Despite having the physique of a young girl, she has incredible strength and can easily wave around her sword, Olympia, one-handed despite it being as large as her. Minervamon is a childish Digimon that prefers to spend its time playing and having fun (often through fighting things) and can throw temper tantrums if it gets mad. When Minervamon matures, she becomes Mervamon. This is sometimes treated as an evolution, but the two are the same level. Mervamon is much more mature and calm than Minervamon. SHe seeks elegance and sensuality at all times, even in battle, where she moves with the grace of a dancer even while hacking down enemies with her gigantic sword Olympia Kai. Because she is more mature, Mervamon is much more intelligent than Minervamon and is a brilliant strategist. She also no longer throws temper tantrums when mad. One one arm, Mervamon bears a snake named Medullia that can move and fight on its own. Minervamon is based on Athena/Minerva and being or at least starting as a hyperactive child with no attention span was a deliberate subversion of her mythological counterpart's role as the goddess of wisdom. The Greek Athena was also seen as a war goddess, representing the civilized aspects of warfare as opposed to Ares representing brutal warfare. Minerva lost many of the war aspects and became more focused on wisdom, though she still was associated with victory and strategy and was usually depicted holding a spear. I find it interesting that the transition to Roman mythology stripped Athena of her war aspects while the transition to Digimon stripped her of her wisdom aspects. Mervamon regains some of the wisdom aspects by being calmer and smarter. Another subversion of the original myths that Digimon uses is Mervamon being focused on sensuality (and being one of the more notorious sexymon) while the original Goddess swore to remain forever a maiden. Mervamon's name comes from Menvra, the Etruscan version of Athena that developed into Minerva. Minervamon's animal is the snake. Minerva was more famously associated with owls, but snakes were used as a motif as well.

Minervamon (left) and Mervamon (right)

While the Olympos XII rule the Digital World: Iliad, there is only one who commands the seas. This is Neptunemon, the absolute lord of all aquatic Digimon on Iliad. It resides in a castle built at the bottom of the ocean, so deep that only Digimon whose body can withstand the crushing pressure can travel there. Neptunemon is blindingly fast and can command powerful storms and tidal waves to crush its enemies. Neptunemon is based on Poseidon/Neptune, god of the sea. He was one of the most important gods to the greeks and retained a similar level of importance to the Romans, who expanded his domain to include fresh water. Like the gods, Netunemon wields a trident as a weapon. Tridens were used for spearfishing, hence their association with the water. Poseidon also dwelled in a palace underwater. Poseidon and Neptune were associated with horses, a trait that did not carry over to Digimon. While the gods were not generally depicted as mermen, Poseidon's son Triton was a merman with two fish tails. Neptunemon's animal is a fish.

The Digital World is a harsh place where the law of the jungle reigns and violence is a way of life. Into this world came Venusmon, who desires nothing more than peace. Venusmon rules over love and is filled with compassion. It is a pacifist that refuses to fight. All of its attacks deal no damage, instead pacifying the enemy. Wherever Venusmon goes, flowers bloom and the land is restored to beauty. Because of her looks and powerful glamour, Venusmon constantly has to deal with other Digimon swooning over her. This makes her uncomfortable and she wears a blindfold to reduce the effect of this power. Because she can't tell if a Digimon really likes her or is just enamored by her, Venusmon is rather lonely. Her only true friends are the two animals she travels with, a dove named Olive and a scallop named Hotan, who both talk to her without reservation. Venusmon is based Aphrodite/Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, desire, and sex. Venusmon is another case of Digimon deliberately subverting the traits of the god. Aphrodite was a promiscuous, vain, jealous, and proud goddess who seduced damn near everything while Venusmon is uncomfortable with all the attention she gets and tries to reduce it. The Roman Venus did have some association with peace as she can turn hearts from vice to virtue. Her friends being a dive and a scallop is because both doves and seashells were often used as symbols of Aphrodite. A common example of Aphrodite imagery has her rising form the sea, fully grown, supported by a giant scallop shell. Weirdly enough, Mercury, the god who is famous for having winged sandals doesn't get them on his Digimon counterpart, but Venusmon does for some reason. Venusmon's animal is a dove.

That is all the members of the Olympos XII, but because this monster of a post isn't long enough already, there are two more Digimon to go over. They aren't members, but they are tied to the Olympos XII's lore. The first is Plutomon. Plutomon shares Jupitermon's desire to punish evil, but its methods are so brutal and cruel that the dispassionate and neutral Jupitermon was disgusted and refused to allow it to join the Olympos XII. Plutomon rules the Dark Area of Iliad, the graveyard of deleted data where evil Digimon are consigned when they die. When not in the Dark Area, Plutomon patrols the world looking for villainous Digimon and attacking them. Its armor is covered with mouths that gnaw on sinners and it can summon a gigantic mouth that consigns those it swallows to the Dark Area. Even good Digimon, who Plutomon will not target, fear it due to its cruelty. Plutomon is based on Hades/Pluto, the god of the dead and ruler of the underworld. Hades/Pluto is often notorious for being depicted as evil in later adaptations, a trait that resulted from Christian writers using him as a satan figure, something Greek mythology lacks. While Hades was never viewed as a god of evil, he was feared and was never a popular god. His worship was often viewed more as appeasement than an act of devotion. Plutomon kind of draws from the devil in that he rules over the Digital World's hell (or Tartarus in this case) and torments evildoers. Unlike the devil, Plutomon does want to do good despite his methods. Think of him as the Punisher to Jupitermon's Superman. I don't know if this was intentional, but Plutomon's mouths chewing on evildoers reminds me of Satan's depiction in Dante's Divine Comedy, where his three mouth endlessly chew on the worst traitors in history. Its worth noting that Plutomon's usual pre-evolution, Cerberumon, is based on Hades's three-headed dog Pluto and guards the entrance to the Dark Area.

The final relevent Digimon is Titamon. Titamon is the enemy of the Olympos XII, born from the hatred of all the Digimon ever defeated by the Olympos XII in their battles for supremacy over Iliad. It now lives for nothing more than to slay the Olympos XII and will stop at nothing to kill them. Chambers on its arms hold the skulls of all those it has killed and it can call on their power to raise an army of phantom warriors fueled by hate. Titamon is based on the Titans, the generation of gods who lived before the Olympians. Eventually, the Olympians overthrew the Titans in a war called the Titanomachy. The majority of Titans were imprisoned, but a few who sided with the Olympians or stayed neutral were allowed to remain free. The Titans are often depicted as giants, but there's no real texutal evidence for them being bigger than the Olympians. Their siblings, the cyclopes and hecatoncheires, were giants and that''s where the idea may have come from. Titamon is indeed, gigantic. Titamon being able to summon an army from bones comes from the Spartoi, an army of warriors who sprung from the teeth of a dragon that were sown in the ground like seeds. Titamon also has some Japanese origins, with the names of its attacks and sword being Japanese. It was originally designed as an evolution for Ogremon intended to fill the role of Bacchusmon and to draw from the evil, alcoholic oni Shuten-Douji. the finished design was judged to be too evil for one of the Olympos XII and it was repurposed into an enemy of the group.

[kosmicpowers]

I love series about catching/fighting/befriending little creatures. All of them. One of the best types of media dare I say.

Oh it's so easy to win me over.... get me a mildly interesting concept to base some little freaks around and I'm in.

[arekayic]

grumbo week day six au / alternate smp

digimon au :D

mini lore drop: this is them reuniting after months in the digital world, but uh oh! mumbo seems to be on the bad guys’ side!

[kaleidoru]

Yaya's (they/it) tatzelwurm form, Tat (she/her) (which is also why Sam has one) still makes me Emotional

Tat with Cassiel (he/him) ......... who is ALSO Yaya... I did say Yaya fractured and kind of had like... Physical Alters... Tat knows this and Cassiel does not....... never speak to them or their physical alters again (both of these pics are from 2021 and are kind of Spoilery)

and then as a refresher that's everyone's current looks (except Cassiel who is just Agnus Dei / Lamb on the left there but Bigger)

[seventeenlovesthree]

I was contemplating how to answer this properly, but unfortunately, when it comes to the Homeostasis lore and its various appearances in different Digimon media, I would actually suggest to ask @jamesthedigidestined for a detailed summary. He genuinely tried to explain it to me, referring back to the V-Pet games to understand the whole deal with Ygdrassil, which was also being brought up in Tri, then Digimon World... I would say, a somewhat solid overview on it can be found here, but it's obviously not as detailed.

The last chapters of the Digimon Adventure novels are my personal go-to source.

Also, to go on a little tangent here, since you posted Hikari being possessed by Homeostasis there - as if I personally needed another reason to compare Digimon to Sailor Moon (or Evangelion on that matter), but I still cannot believe that Homeostasis' shape in the Xros Wars manga is basically the same as the Star Seeds in Sailor Moon Stars/Cosmos, which also has the whole butterfly theme and the "Light of Hope"...

My personal take-away from Tri is also that Homeostasis needs its messengers (and/or "minions", if you want to refer to the Chosen Children there as such) to perform reboots. It always needs an outside source to initiate (like Ordinemon in Tri, but all the Gennais and Ukkomon had similar functions as well).

Digimon Lore Question

I need to do some deep-digging on Homeostasis and specifically its ability to perform reboots for one of my fics. I figured I'd start with the Digimon Adventure novels (as Homeostasis is mentioned there), but there's a huge backlog of tri. material to dig through to get more specific info. What's the best place to go after the novels?

@seventeenlovesthree @shihalyfie (also if anyone knows more Digimon meta masters so I'm not just tagging the same two people all the time, that would be cool).

[alphagodith]

wizard thoughts

thinking about the very real possibility that the black part on the head of wizardmon's staff is meant to be a digital screen. i always assumed it was a hole, like something had burst out of it, but there's that one reference book doodle where wiz is staring intently at it... and the badge that DEFINITELY made it a screen... and the tamagotchi it was based on do have that little cracked/exploded marking AROUND the screen.... and witchelny magic is always described as an advanced PROGRAMMING language, so digital wizard having digital staff is not really strange at all.

also the more i think about it the more i think the original design of wizardmon was a normal organic flesh/blood one with ONLY a stitched mouth and none anywhere else, and the cloth anime version was just a bad (in the sense that it wasn't accurate, i actually HIGHLY prefer it) interpretation, similar to weregarurumon losing his tail and plesiomon gaining a random black forehead marking. also, watanabe gave a LOT of digimon (see meramon, brachiomon, babamon, etc) stitched mouths just for the aesthetic and THEY are clearly not plush-like, after all, nor is wizardmon a puppet or undead type as one would naturally infer if he WERE 'covered' in stitches as other fans like to project for some reason.

[lo-shouldve-been-an-email]

So remember my post about ranking different Thanatos across media?well I’m doing it again.(just with Hermes this time.

Also spoilers.

Percy Jackson(I know this is movie Hermes but I couldn’t find a good illustration of book Hermes.):

8/10

Better than the other gods in this series,at least he stuck with Luke until the whole May thing.also he does genuinely seem to care about Luke.so he gets better rating than I would give the others.

Lore Olympus:

7/10

He doesn’t get much screen time but I wholeheartedly think he’s the second best character in this entire comic(you should be able to guess who’s my favorite)

So yeah,he’s pretty dope.(unlike other characters in this comic *cough cough* hades)

Hades:

10/10

I can’t even describe how much I love him.

When I think of Hermes this is the characterization I think of because it’s just so good.

Like,speedy?here,have +30% speed.trickster and liar?hmm,I wonder where Persephone is,also what Hermes is doing.merchant?well,just ask his associate!(also side hustle)

Also,he has some really good boons like side hustle,rush delivery,the automatic god meter one,plus dash,and side hustle.

And the lambent plume is really good.

Another thing,I just got the prophecy where he bets you to beat up Charon twice in a row and he really just said “hey so I made a bet with my boyfriend that you could kick his ass could you,like,go do that?”

Osp:

9/10

Cool lil guy.

He’s fast and mischievous and a little shit in more ways than one and I love him for that.

Also his design is cool.

Digimon:

7/10

Does this guy count?Only in name.

But anyways,I’m just gonna take this time and tell you to go watch Digimon savers(sub,I wouldn’t say the dub is terrible persay but it just takes away at a lot of nuance that I liked in the Japanese version)

If you like series where the main character saves the day with the power of friendship and this orange/yellow dinosaur they found(and a healthy dose of kicking ass)you WILL like this series.

But,going back on track I like him.doesn’t feel like a Hermes but still cool.

The thing with rating Digimon like this is that they tend to vary between games/anime,my main example being alphamon in world ds vs cyber sleuth(both of which you should play btw).

But thankfully he only appears in savers and I like him a decent bit there if only *spoilers*

Punderworld:

8/10

Okay,you might be wondering:Moxe,why is punderworld here if it wasn’t in the Thanatos post?

First of all,I forgot about him,sorry.

Second of all,literally the only thing to note about him was the torch thing which I found pretty cool.

So back to Hermes,I really like him.

His interactions with Alecto were fun.

I don’t really have much else to say.