Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Other uses of the name "homunculus"

Hideo Yamamoto's manga Homunculus is about a successful, maverick insurance analyst whose world plunged into chaos after he underwent trepanation.
In the video game Shadow of Memories (also known as Shadow of Destiny), Homunculus is the name of an entity that obviously has a great understanding of space and time, and he's helping the main character in the game to escape his death. He is a real homunculus, as his roots are in the age of the alchemists. Very little is known about his past. He also dresses dark, a reflection of his possible intentions. However, as the game progresses, the player will come to learn about both of these.
In the Nintendo DS game Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, a Homonculus is portrayed as an aquatic, human-like creature with a greyish-greenish body and a purple face, and is attached to a pink umbilical cord. It is located in a laboratory-themed area, possibly connecting it to the artificial human theme. It attacks by flailing its arms around violently, and can be destroyed by attacking it after it shows its face. It can also be destroyed if you let it come after you and leave the screen (at this point the cord should break and it should eventually drown.) The power gained from its soul allows the player to throw a little Homonculus (based on the actual origins of the term, possibly) that damages enemies.
In the computer game Diablo II (specifically the expansion pack Lord of Destruction), a Homunculus is a unique shield used by the Necromancer class of characters. It is a shrunken demon head and is the unique version of an "Hierophant Trophy", but no direct information concerning the relation of Homunculus the shield to the literal meaning of Homunculus is given.
In the MMORPG Computer game Lineage II, The Homunculus is a unique mystics sword used commonly by Mages in the game, later in the game, Large, One Eyed monsters High level monsters named Homunculus, and given Monster Ranks.
In The Talons of Weng-Chiang, a 1977 serial from the British television series Doctor Who, the Peking Homunculus is the proper name given to an animated ventriloquist's dummy known as Mr. Sin. The dummy was really an android from the future, with the cerebral cortex of a pig.
In the Sam Keith comic book The Maxx, the small white and blue creatures called Isz (iz in the singular) are referred to as Homunculi by the villain Mr. Gone.
In the film Manhattan, Woody Allen refers to his girlfriend's former lover as a homunculus.
The MMORPG Ragnarok Online has recently adapted to a homunculus system for the Alchemist class in which a pet like homunculus is created using a skill earned through a quest. The homunculus then follows the user around like a pet, but has stats, skills, and will you help you in combat.
The RPG Star Ocean: Till the End of Time has a mechanical ability where the players can create elemental based homunculus which can be worked into weapons to give the weapons that element. The game describes the homunculus as artificial, while the appearance is that of a fairy, giving "living" traits.
In the Visual Novel name Animamundi: Dark Alchemist The character Bruno Glending created an army of Homunculus in secret by claiming they are clones, the main character Georik Zaberisk also creates one using pure water, semen, horse dung, and either his own or another character's blood.
Laurie Schneider Adams, in "A History of Western Art", makes several references to a practice in the Middle Ages of depicting Christ as a homunculus. She states, "This depiction of Christ as a child-man, partly a reference to his miraculous nature, is a convention of Christian art before 1300". It is speculative, but Romanesque artists, often sculptors, may have been translating the infant Jesus in this way out of respect for his Divine nature, as a metaphor for his Divinity. Similarly, though stylistically very different, Michelangelo depicts David, the giant slayer, as a giant. Jekeller 23:07, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
In the video game Lands of Lore III (1999) by Westwood Studios, the main character Copper can acquire a cynistic, wise-cracking, female homunculus named Griselda as a familiar.
Bibliometrics research has uncovered the "bibliohomunculus" within the word patterns of texts.
They Might Be Giants have a song called "Homunculous."
In the video game "Shadow of Destiny", The main character must go back in time to identify his killer and prevent various events from occurring in the future that would lead to his death. Once dead, the main character is brought to the "realm of the homunculus" , The small, faint sounding man, the homunculus, helps the main character by offering advice.
In the Japanese anime/manga series, Fullmetal Alchemist, "Homunculi" are portrayed as the physical forms of the Seven Deadly Sins. They appear to be humans, but their names are labeled after each sin: i.e. Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Envy, Wrath, and Pride. The term "homunculi" might have been applied to them because they were created by alchemy, and their attributes are drastically different. I.e. Gluttony feeds on everything, including people, and Envy has the ability to change into any person he wishes.
San Jose indie/experimental band Xiu Xiu have a song called "Homonculus"
In the 1998 computer game Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire, Homonculi are winged monkey-esque creatures that can be fought in the wilderness.
A Homunculus was formed in Gogo Sentai Boukenger when three Precious were merged in a fourth. This Homunculus, contrary to the idea of a homunculus, is a gorilla-like giant which could fire orange beams out of its mouth.

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