BAHAMUT AND TIAMAT
Bahamut and Tiamat - two of the most popular Final Fantasy monsters - are both based on Dungeons & Dragons interpretations of monsters from West Asian mythology.
Bahamut -- Dark Bahamut -- Tiamat
Bahamut is a giant fish from pre-Islamic West Asian mythology. He has the same root as Behemoth, but being a giant fish, has seems to have more in common with Behemoth's aquatic counterpart Leviathan. On Bahamut's back is Kujata, a giant bull with a four thousand mouths, nostrils, eyes and feet,
which in turn carries a giant ruby, and on top of the ruby is an angel which carries the world on his shoulders. In D&D Bahamut (now a dragon, rather than a fish) is the god of the metallic (good) dragons.
The dark Bahamut is a simple variation created by Square.
IMAGE: D&D's Bahamut
In Babylonian mythology, Tiamat was the dragonlike goddess of saltwater and the mother of all life. She and her consort Apsu grew to dislike their offspring and planned to kill them, but the god Ea got wind of their plan and killed Apsu. Tiamat created a legion of monsters, but was finally killed by Ea's son Marduk. Marduk then created the world from her body, and humans from the blood of her son Kingu. In D&D, Tiamat is the goddess of the chromatic (evil) dragons. This version of Tiamat, which was the basis for her FF incarnation, has a dark red body and five different-coloured heads.
IMAGES: Babylonian carving of Marduk and Tiamat -- D&D's Tiamat
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