Talisman Sources

By ameritrasher, in Talisman

This thread is to show some of the sources that Talisman cards are based on. In another post Archdruid listed some great sources for 'Lord of the Rings' (Barrow Wight), Norse Mythology (eg Ymir's Glow, Ragnarok), Lovecraft (Rimespawn, Sky Screecher), Magic The Gathering (Planeswalker), Greek Mythology (eg Pegasus, Centaur, Medusa), Oriental Mythology (Eastern Dragon, Yeti), Medieval European folklore (eg Basilisk), Native American folklore (Howl of the Wendigo).

The goblin sapper might be from the old warcraft game. Talismonger is a NPC from shadowrun. The horn of summoning seems like it has roots in some ancient mythology.

If you find any sources please post them here!

A lot of claimed sources from other games, films, books, etc. are only secondary sources. Many of those sources unto themselves took their inspirations from myth, legend, folklore, fables, and even the lighter fairytales. Some of Taliman's card concepts are to common and generic to claim they were inspired by other secondary sources.

For example, the Wendigo has a direct origin from the Algonquin nation and not from generic Native American, though its legend spread through out many tribes. "Wendigo" however is only one pronunciation coming from one Algonquin dialect very specifica to the Canadian territory now know as Quebec. The original more generally used term from the core Algonquin language is "Widjigo." And Talisman's simple mechanics can't truly represent this creature.

I'm not a fan of Wikipedia, since most scholars or ex-scholars scoff at it for good reasons, but surprisingly the entry on it is pretty good as a simplified summary.

The Eastern Dragon from "Eastern" Mythology is far too generic to claim that it was inspired by concepts found elsewhere.... other than through just title and possibly illustration.

The Basilisk is a generic amalgamation specifically from classical Greek cryptozoology and mythological research in the attempt of greek scholars to equate every myth in the world to their own system. And of course later the Romans superceded them in this arrogance. It includes close and far off the mark inclusions from as many as a dozen different cultures from then near East to southern Africa at the time. This includes those known later by alternative terms like Cockatrice (Elizabethan England, 12th c., based on a note by Pliny refering to the Regulus, another name for the Basilisk) and also the rarer little known latter variation the Cockoguile (Late Welsh and Irish, original era unknown but well after the Anglo-Saxon / Old English tongue became prominent).

I guess what I'm saying is that I would hope that game designers do a little more original research than to just parasite off of each other. But with Talisman there's no way to know for sure.