Have you ever asked yourself: Where did the name 'manticore' come from? What does 'cheshire' mean? How do I play Uno on my Xbox? Now you can ask other anons or just talk about your waifu('s origins)! No surprise that most MGE monsters are derivative of other works. That said, the sources can vary greatly from mythology to classic literature to even contemporary fantasy/science fiction. MGE takes a rather narrow lens to monsters with sometimes interesting or complicated origins, which are then filtered through Japanese pop culture (ex. dog kobolds). For anons who want to learn a little more about where (or when) their waifus come from, I made this thread. Any anon can add to this thread with info, book/media recommendations, or requests about a specific monster. >Doesn't everybody already know this stuff? Maybe. But probably not. Besides, it's an excuse to nerd out. I'll start by noting some general trends on sources: >D&D monsters Monsters inspired by oldschool Dungeons and Dragons, or Japanese things that "borrowed" from it like Dragon Quest and Record of Lodoss War. Some of these have clear European/African/Asian mythological origin but a surprising number of them are made up. Lich, mind flayer, gazer, and kobold are all examples. >Mythology monsters (foreign) Mythology monsters, gods, or spirits from around the world, often a pop culture version of them. This is by far the biggest group but also very chaotic as it contains gods and house spirits side-by-side. Anubis, Khepri and Apophis (Egypt); Bunyip (Australia); Wendigo (North America) are examples. >Mythology monsters (Japanese) I separate these because there are a lot more of them and they're also a lot more faithful to the myths. They have home-field advantage. KC writes their names in katakana instead of proper kanji (ushi oni is ウシオニ not 牛鬼). This group includes yuki-onna, kitsune, tengu, and oni. >Literature monsters Creatures more-or-less entirely made up in famous works of literature. Lewis Carroll, H.P. Lovecraft, J.R.R. Tolkein. You've probably heard these names. There's definitely some overlap with the above categories but because they have their own names/symbolism they're easy to identify. Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, Dormouse, and Jabberwock (Alice in Wonderland), Shoggoth (At the Mountains of Madness), Balrog (Lord of the Rings) are examples. >Anthropomorphisms Human-shaped animals/plants! Often moe, some include KC's earliest designs. I don't know who first had the idea of "I'll draw a half-sexy lady, half-bee" but they're a pretty distinct group because they're not any of the above. Includes jinko, giant ant, flow kelp, and mershark. >Undeterminable origin This isn't really a group but I put this here because some designs are so widespread it's hard to say where exactly it comes from. Others seem to be KC's original designs. Some of them may just be a very specific enemy from a JRPG. Who made the first big green ogre? Which one did KC see when he made the profile? Does it even matter? I'd put hellhound, angel, witch, and bicorn here.