Religious references in Radiant.

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Dylan1CC
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Religious references in Radiant.

Post by Dylan1CC »

It's common knowledge RS has quite a few biblical references. Besides the "Be attitude" (refers to the sermon the mount) 'advice' you get before the boss battles, not to mention the story itself: The end encounter's audio track which doubles as both a message to Treasure fans/demanding retailers but revealing the orb's intent: punishing mankind for being violent, ruining the environment, ect. (very commom theme in Japanese entertainment)

Then the male and female pilot are cloned by the "creator" robot so earth gets another chance, sci-fi "Adam and Eve"? Also, possibly "Merry" refers to Mary? Or am I just reaching too much on that one and Merry probably just refers to the common name for the cocker spaniel breed? :P

Just some things I've been musing over while picking up the game again. But whatever, the best (non biblical) reference for me in Radiant is Gallop's R-9 tribute.
Last edited by Dylan1CC on Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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FIL
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Post by FIL »

You might be reading into it a little bit too much.
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antron
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Post by antron »

Dude, whatever you do, don't watch Neon Genesis Evangelion.
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The Coop
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Post by The Coop »

There are certainly one or two undeniable homages to parts of the Bible. Most notably, the game's ending, and Adam and Eve starting off as the only people in a "garden", or world of nothing but Nature. But yeah, I think you're trying too hard to find Biblical references beyond that.
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Post by Dylan1CC »

^^^

Agreed. I just can't help looking for symbolism/references in entertainment (and yeah, Evangelion was a doozy for plot interpretation/vagueness, never finished it)
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Re: Religious references in Radiant.

Post by BulletMagnet »

Dylan1CC wrote:Then the male and female pilot are cloned by the "creator" robot so earth gets another chance, sci-fi "Adam and Eve"?
That one seems rather obvious, especially seeing as the "Creator" robot is the one that saves their DNA and clones 'em...at the same time, though, I got the sense of a "time moves in a circle" theme here as well, since the robot says that what he's done has happened many times before (hinted at near the beginning, when it's reported that the robot found near the stone-like has the same ID number as the one working with the pilots). Before conking out, he says he hopes that at some point in the process people will realize their mistake before it happens and not have to go through the process of destruction and rebirth all over again...more akin to Buddhism or something along those lines, methinks.
Also, possibly "Merry" refers to Mary?
That one seems like a bit of a stretch, heh heh.
Dude, whatever you do, don't watch Neon Genesis Evangelion.
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Dylan1CC
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Re: Religious references in Radiant.

Post by Dylan1CC »

BulletMagnet wrote:
Dylan1CC wrote:Then the male and female pilot are cloned by the "creator" robot so earth gets another chance, sci-fi "Adam and Eve"?
That one seems rather obvious, especially seeing as the "Creator" robot is the one that saves their DNA and clones 'em...at the same time, though, I got the sense of a "time moves in a circle" theme here as well, since the robot says that what he's done has happened many times before (hinted at near the beginning, when it's reported that the robot found near the stone-like has the same ID number as the one working with the pilots). Before conking out, he says he hopes that at some point in the process people will realize their mistake before it happens and not have to go through the process of destruction and rebirth all over again...more akin to Buddhism or something along those lines, methinks.
Either that or they really dug that episode of Next Generation where the Enterprise gets stuck in a dimensional loop and keeps self destructing until Picard finally figures out how to break the cycle. :P
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Post by P_HAT »

antron wrote:Dude, whatever you do, don't watch Neon Genesis Evangelion.
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orange
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Post by orange »

P_HAT wrote:
antron wrote:Dude, whatever you do, don't watch Neon Genesis Evangelion.
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Post by pieslice »

Wikipedia suggests that "The Stone-Like" is a mistranslation of "The Immovable One".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immovable_One
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Post by Nuke »

orange wrote:
P_HAT wrote:
antron wrote:Dude, whatever you do, don't watch Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Just as with Evengelion (which I love as well), the bible references are skin deep, only thrown in there because "they look/sound cool".
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Post by Nuke »

pieslice wrote:Wikipedia suggests that "The Stone-Like" is a mistranslation of "The Immovable One".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immovable_One
Or an old translation/lifted from a non-English translation. I seem to recall my local Bible to refer to the Immovable one as the stone-like, as it makes perfect sense and sounds better in my language.
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Post by antron »

Nuke wrote:
orange wrote:
P_HAT wrote:
Just as with Evengelion (which I love as well), the bible references are skin deep, only thrown in there because "they look/sound cool".
I don't know. I think they built the whole plot around the Old Testament line about Angels and Men breeding and making giants that roamed the land. In the research that I did about it I learned that scholars had argues for years about the meaning of the word 'giants' in this context, and most concluded that it was not literal. And then the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, which contained the same verse except they say '500 Ft Giants'. F'n hilarious.

Sorry about hijacking the topic.
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Post by Nuke »

antron wrote:
Nuke wrote:
orange wrote:
Just as with Evengelion (which I love as well), the bible references are skin deep, only thrown in there because "they look/sound cool".
I don't know. I think they built the whole plot around the Old Testament line about Angels and Men breeding and making giants that roamed the land. In the research that I did about it I learned that scholars had argues for years about the meaning of the word 'giants' in this context, and most concluded that it was not literal. And then the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, which contained the same verse except they say '500 Ft Giants'. F'n hilarious.

Sorry about hijacking the topic.
Well, I never said that the biblical concepts they throw in it were irrelevant or unfitting, it's just that the real depth of the show is not in them as they are there to both throw you off track and confuse you, and to just make it look more "unique an cool" (an actual quote from it's makers).
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Post by spadgy »

So it's just religious theme then?

Christ, if it's religious propaganda I'll have to scratch my copy up and Frizbee it out the window. Religious themes on the other hand is fine...thats just an aesthetic...
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