Secrets behind characters?

Ok, I'm gonna do more than this in a little while.

I looked up Balrog on wikipedia, and found stuff about Lord of the Rings and stuff. But, I also found this paragraph:

Despite numerous interpretations of the Balrog's appearance, Tolkien himself was never entirely clear as to the exact appearance of the Balrog. It was unclear whether the Balrog had retained the Maia ability to change shape, or what was to be the exact shape of the Balrog encountered by the Fellowship. Specifically, it was never clear how large the Balrog actually was, and whether it was intended as a winged creature or not.

Balrog = large
Blarog = unsure shape
Balrog = sorta winged
Is balrog a reference to this?

More soon...

 

umm.I don't know what you mean by reference,but wasn't the balrog that fire/shadow thing in the mines that gandalf fought?or am i thinking of something else.

 

I don't know what you mean by reference

I mean, like he named it after this thing.

but wasn't the balrog that fire/shadow thing in the mines that gandalf fought?or am i thinking of something else.

I wouldn't know, but I think it was. (wikipedia said something about fire and shadows and stuff.)

 

Gandalf did indeed fight and kill a Balrog in LOTR. It's worth mentioning that the creature itself was nameless; Balrog simply refers to the race of creatures.

I'm not sure if Pixel meant to reference LOTR. Wikipedia also says that Balrog means, in Sindarian, "Demon of Might." Creatures named Balrog or creatures that are very similar to a Balrog aren't uncommon, though.

 

Maybe the Balrog in Cave Story is supposed to be Balrog from Street Fighter II ("Vega" in the US) before he went on a diet!

 

sorry to ressurect something this old, but I'm a huge fan of anime and one of my favorites is FMA (fullmetal alchemist). In the anime there is a group of homunculus (a sort of magical creature) that are all named after the seven deadly sins. One of them is named Sloth, and she bears a resemblance to Misery from Cave Story (the show aired in japan during the same time pixel made the game as well). I don't know if it's a coincidence that the characters name is Misery (sounds similar to the sins) or the appearance or if pixel is just into anime. Here's a pic of sloth

 

sorry to ressurect something this old, but I'm a huge fan of anime and one of my favorites is FMA (fullmetal alchemist). In the anime there is a group of homunculus (a sort of magical creature) that are all named after the seven deadly sins. One of them is named Sloth, and she bears a resemblance to Misery from Cave Story (the show aired in japan during the same time pixel made the game as well).

Actually, Pixel finished Cave Story in 2004, and had started it five years before that. (1999)
Full Metal Alchemist STARTED airing in 2003, so there's not much of an overlap.
Misery probably isn't based on Full Metal Alchemist unless Pixel was a fan of the manga.

 

I can actually see the resemblance but doesn't Misery has some green clothing on with a brown spot on it? If you look in Cave Story, you will actually see that she has coloured clothing on and not black. Just a technicality though

 

Upthorn, I can see what your saying, but pixel stated i think in one of his interviews that he got the most work done towards the last few months. I've read the manga up until now(official engish translations, now reading fan translations), seen all the eps., and saw the movie (im a fanatic )and I just thought how odd the resemblance is. Also, in the manga sloth is a MAN, and he hasn't made his prescence well known yet(in the manga we see a few glimpses of him, im still readin some fan translations up until where the japanese releases are). The reason for this is bones rushed the story, and didnt follow the manga. In the show, she is ed and al's dead mother (kind of). And Django, it is green/black in the game. It might be the shading on her black dress. yes i know im a geek .

 

While I love FMA and all, I really don't see a resemblance. I think it's just wishful thinking ;P

 

While I love FMA and all, I really don't see a resemblance. I think it's just wishful thinking ;P

Either that or I'm crazy . I dunno, just saw a coincidental resmblance between the two I wanted to point out. Did'nt want to cause a big deal or anything like that

 

One thing, though-- Baelrog is also the name of a giant of fire (I think it's fire, someone here a mythology expert?) in Norse mythology. He causes great destruction in... I think it's Ragnarok... Or maybe another myth...

Well, I don't really remember what exactly he does, but he IS a giant in Norse mythology, I'm sure of that. Many fantasy writers (and Tolkein is no exception) draw heavily on ancient mythologies, and the balrog Gandalf fights is a reference to this. "Balrog" is just another anglicization of "Baelrog."

 

Look at these old people who don't post here anymore having conversations without random theories thrown inbetween every serious post.

I actually wanted to bring this topic back for a reason.


Now that we've found out Balrog was based off of a bar of soap what made Pixel give him the name Balrog?

 

The original name was Barurogu, but I don't know what that means. Maybe it's a cognate meaning "Balrog," or maybe it means "Soapman." If Pixel really did mean to name him Balrog, I have no idea why.

 

Hmm, I couldn't find anything on the internet linking Balrog/Baelrog with 'Norse'. The best thing for Balrog I got was LOTR, and for Baelrog the most I got was a brood of Zerg in StarCraft.

It is most likely that Pixel named Balrog after the LOTR version, but as to why he turned out like a toaster/suitcase/bar of soap, I haven't the foggiest.

 

Hmm, I couldn't find anything on the internet linking Balrog/Baelrog with 'Norse'. The best thing for Balrog I got was LOTR, and for Baelrog the most I got was a brood of Zerg in StarCraft.

It is most likely that Pixel named Balrog after the LOTR version, but as to why he turned out like a toaster/suitcase/bar of soap, I haven't the foggiest.

Because toasters make good enemies.

Not quite sure if there's much more than that.

*shrug*

 

The original name was Barurogu, but I don't know what that means. Maybe it's a cognate meaning "Balrog," or maybe it means "Soapman." If Pixel really did mean to name him Balrog, I have no idea why.

Spoiler

My theory behind his name lies with the fact that he sprouts what seem to be demon/bat wings when he takes off with Quote and Curly in the best ending. While Balrog doesnt directly translate to a bat, it's the demon-like concept that made me think that's the reasoning behind the wings, and the name.

 

The original name was Barurogu, but I don't know what that means. Maybe it's a cognate meaning "Balrog," or maybe it means "Soapman." If Pixel really did mean to name him Balrog, I have no idea why.

Yeah it's translated correctly, the name is written in katakana (symbolizing a foreign word) and therefore the kana can be interpreted as the pronounciation of a foreign word. The japanese don't really have a sound for "L" (they don't differentiate between L and R) and same for the "G" (all their consonants must end with a vowel, pretty much). Therefore it's pretty safe to assume it's "Balrog", especially since it was that in the "official" translation.

As to why, I don't really know.

 

Side note: its "norwegian", not "norse".

As for "Barurogu"... Could "Baru" have been intendet to mean "bar", as in "bar of soap"? If we look at Cave Story Beta images, there's tons of mini-balrog enemies on the screenshots... What if they were named something like "barusopo" (bar soap) and the largest variety "soap bar king", bar royal, or "barurogu"?

Then Pixel just didn't change the name after removing the mini-balrogs.