CHIMERAS
A well-known monster that gets several variations in the FF games.
Chimera --
Chimera Brain --
Gorgimera --
Mage Chimera --
Sphinkmera
The Chimera is a monster from Greek mythology, and was part goat, part lion and part snake or dragon, although the exact details of its appearence vary. Two of the most popular depictions are a creature with the front half of a lion, the back half of a goat and a snake's tail, or a lion with a goat's head on its back and a snake for a tail. Thomas Bulfinch's book The Age of Fable describes the Chimera thusly: "the fore part of its body was a compound of the lion and the goat, and the hind part a dragon's". FF seems to work on this description, but with a dragon's head thrown into the mix.
IMAGE: Etruscan bronze of the chimera
A monster from Dungeons and Dragons. While the chimera is a combination of a lion, goat and dragon, a gorgimera is a combination of a lion, goat and catoblepas, a mythical bull-like creature that was believed by the Greeks to live in Africa. It was also called a gorgon after its ability to turn creatures to stone, like the Greek gorgon Medusa, hence the gorgimera's name.
IMAGES: Etruscan bronze of the chimera -- A gorgon (catoblepas) from D&D
Two of Square's variations on the chimera. The mage chimera is self explanatory - it's a magical chimera - but the sphinkmera is more obscure. It's presumably a combination of the chimera and the sphinx, in the same way that the gorgimera is a combination of chimera and catoblepas (A.K.A. gorgon), but it's difficult to tell precisely what the sphinx has to do with it from looking at the sprite. I'm also clueless as to the meaning of the chimera brain's name.
IMAGES: Etruscan bronze of the chimera -- Greek statue of the sphinx from circa 570 B.C.
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GORGIMERA
MAGE CHIMERA, SPHINKMERA, CHIMERA BRAIN
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