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I was bumping around on the Fallout Wikia (of all places) when I happened upon an article referring to a cancelled Black Isle Studio project titled "Van Buren" which was to become the third Fallout title before it was scrapped and ultimately replaced with the Fallout 3 we got.
Well, as I was reading about this cancelled project, there were articles pertaining to the locations that were to be present in the game. One of them caught my eye, a town called 'Ouroboros'. Turns out that Ouroburos is a word from the Greek language that was used for a symbol depicting a snake eating it's own tale. Intrigued, I did some research and this is what I found. (Copious wikipedia content coming your way...)
This of course is an overview of the term, it's only when you start reading the specifics that it gets interesting...
Plato's description of the Ouroboros beast has a few characteristics that seem similar to the effects Capcom entitled to the Uroburos virus. Continuing on, we can see more inspiration for the virus that came from ancient history
The Norse Myth involving Jörmungandr, a serpent so large it could encircle the earth, bears a lot of resemblance to what the Uroboros virus was ultimately going to do if Wesker had completed his plans. Another thing that is interesting is the fact that the Serpent in the myth was one of the children of Loki, The Trickster (A deceptive, Wesker like figure) and Angrboða, A female giant responsible for bearing the serpent.
One could make the jump and consider Excella Gionne as the giantess figure (Being in charge of the African branch of Tricell, A global leader in it's field). If one delves into the old myth, the giantess is presented as a woman who will birth monstrous things that will go on to do monstrous deeds.
There is also a hint of Chris (Ragnar Lodbrok) rescuing Jill (Þóra Town-Hart) from the serpent (Wesker, Uroboros virus, etc), but even I realize that one is just way too thin to justify. Moving on to the influence Ouroboros had in alchemy and it's possible influences on the virus...
The first and second underlined paragraphs seem to coincide with Wesker's ultimate goal regarding the Uroboros virus, such as his view of a world filled with worthy humans all genetically superior to those who died from Uroboros virus. A world in which each individual is part of a larger whole ("one is all").
This world would be in balance, quelling the chaos that the inferiority of the human race caused, which seems to coincide with the Yin and Yang symbol from the Taoist belief which represents balance and equality of power. Wesker sought to be the Yang side which symbolized the leading force, shining light and masculine power of the new society. The genetically superior humans left after the Uroboros infection were to become the submissive, supportive Yin of the society, giving Wesker his reason to live (I.e., to be a god among his genetically similar peers) thus completing the Yin Yang balance Ouroboros represents in ancient alchemy.
The third underlined sentence could be a reference to Wesker's motivation to attempt such a thing; attempting to escape the endless cycle of mediocrity and ignorance that disgusted him about the human race as a whole.
All of this could just be me reading too much into this, or maybe the all knowing News bot has beat me to these observations (
), but I felt that I should post them anyway; if for no other reason than to chuckle at my 'conspiracy theory' madness.
Well, as I was reading about this cancelled project, there were articles pertaining to the locations that were to be present in the game. One of them caught my eye, a town called 'Ouroboros'. Turns out that Ouroburos is a word from the Greek language that was used for a symbol depicting a snake eating it's own tale. Intrigued, I did some research and this is what I found. (Copious wikipedia content coming your way...)
The Ouroboros (or Uroborus) is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail.
The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end (compare with phoenix). It can also represent the idea of primordial unity related to something existing in or persisting from the beginning with such force or qualities it cannot be extinguished. The Ouroboros has been important in religious and mythological symbolism, but has also been frequently used in alchemical illustrations, where it symbolizes the circular nature of the alchemist's opus. It is also often associated with Gnosticism, and Hermeticism. Carl Jung interpreted the Ouroboros as having an archetypal significance to the human psyche. The Jungian psychologist Erich Neumann writes of it as a representation of the pre-ego "dawn state", depicting the undifferentiated infancy experience of both mankind and the individual child.
The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end (compare with phoenix). It can also represent the idea of primordial unity related to something existing in or persisting from the beginning with such force or qualities it cannot be extinguished. The Ouroboros has been important in religious and mythological symbolism, but has also been frequently used in alchemical illustrations, where it symbolizes the circular nature of the alchemist's opus. It is also often associated with Gnosticism, and Hermeticism. Carl Jung interpreted the Ouroboros as having an archetypal significance to the human psyche. The Jungian psychologist Erich Neumann writes of it as a representation of the pre-ego "dawn state", depicting the undifferentiated infancy experience of both mankind and the individual child.
Plato described a self-eating, circular being as the first living thing in the universe—an immortal, mythologically constructed beast.
The living being had no need of eyes when there was nothing remaining outside him to be seen; nor of ears when there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs by the help of which he might receive his food or get rid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him....
The living being had no need of eyes when there was nothing remaining outside him to be seen; nor of ears when there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs by the help of which he might receive his food or get rid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him....
In Norse mythology, it appears as the serpent Jörmungandr, one of the three children of Loki and Angrboda, who grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its tail in its teeth. In the legends of Ragnar Lodbrok, such as Ragnarssona þáttr, the Geatish king Herraud gives a small lindworm as a gift to his daughter Þóra Town-Hart after which it grows into a large serpent which encircles the girl's bower and bites itself in the tail. The serpent is slain by Ragnar Lodbrok who marries Þóra. Ragnar later has a son with another woman named Kráka and this son is born with the image of a white snake in one eye. This snake encircled the iris and bit itself in the tail, and the son was named Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye.
One could make the jump and consider Excella Gionne as the giantess figure (Being in charge of the African branch of Tricell, A global leader in it's field). If one delves into the old myth, the giantess is presented as a woman who will birth monstrous things that will go on to do monstrous deeds.
There is also a hint of Chris (Ragnar Lodbrok) rescuing Jill (Þóra Town-Hart) from the serpent (Wesker, Uroboros virus, etc), but even I realize that one is just way too thin to justify. Moving on to the influence Ouroboros had in alchemy and it's possible influences on the virus...
The famous Ouroboros drawing from the early alchemical text The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra dating to 2nd century Alexandria encloses the words hen to pan, "one is the all". Its black and white halves represent the Gnostic duality of existence. As such, the Ouroboros could be interpreted as the Western equivalent of the Taoist Yin-Yang symbol.
The Chrysopoeia Ouroboros of Cleopatra is one of the oldest images of the Ouroboros to be linked with the legendary opus of the Alchemists, the Philosopher’s Stone.
As a symbol of the eternal unity of all things, the cycle of birth and death from which the alchemist sought release and liberation...
The Chrysopoeia Ouroboros of Cleopatra is one of the oldest images of the Ouroboros to be linked with the legendary opus of the Alchemists, the Philosopher’s Stone.
As a symbol of the eternal unity of all things, the cycle of birth and death from which the alchemist sought release and liberation...
This world would be in balance, quelling the chaos that the inferiority of the human race caused, which seems to coincide with the Yin and Yang symbol from the Taoist belief which represents balance and equality of power. Wesker sought to be the Yang side which symbolized the leading force, shining light and masculine power of the new society. The genetically superior humans left after the Uroboros infection were to become the submissive, supportive Yin of the society, giving Wesker his reason to live (I.e., to be a god among his genetically similar peers) thus completing the Yin Yang balance Ouroboros represents in ancient alchemy.
The third underlined sentence could be a reference to Wesker's motivation to attempt such a thing; attempting to escape the endless cycle of mediocrity and ignorance that disgusted him about the human race as a whole.
All of this could just be me reading too much into this, or maybe the all knowing News bot has beat me to these observations (
), but I felt that I should post them anyway; if for no other reason than to chuckle at my 'conspiracy theory' madness.
;
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