mythology : insight into inspiration

Tales of Symphonia may have not been directly based in mythology but it was indeed highly influenced by concepts of Norse Mythology. I could probably write an entire book about the influences of Mythology in Tales of Symphonia but I am going to take the time to touch on just a few points.

Yggdrasil

In Norse Mythology, Yggdrasil is the name of the “world tree” and is considered a high and holy place. The tree is large and has huge roots that extend to three different places, two are wells being inside the tree and the other in Heaven. The last root extends to a spring that is the source of the eleven rivers. How does this connect to Tales of Symphonia? First of all, there is the great Kharlan Tree (The old tree) which was thought to be the source of all Mana in the world(s). Mana is the energy and life source of both Sylvarant and Tethe’alla.

Secondly, Yggdrasil is the name of the leader of Cruxis, the organization of superior beings who are bent on purging the worlds. The interesting correlation between the Yggdrasil of Norse Mythology and the Yggdrasil of Tales of Symphonia is that the man also metaphorically touches three worlds: Sylvarant, Tethe’alla, and Derris-Kharlan. In a way, his power is his roots in similarities to the original Yggdrasil.

Towns

In Tales of Symphonia there are towns or realms that are named after certain beings from Norse Mythology. The elves live in the land of “Ymir”, in Norse Mythology Ymir was the founder of frost giants. The other towns include “Heimdall” and “Asgard”. The names of the towns may elude to the characters that live there in their relation (personality wise) to creatures of Mythology. (Granted, the creators could have always just thought they were pretty nifty sounding, fantasy-esque names.)

Races

Tales of Symphonia also borrows Elves and Dwarves, though popular in fantasy genre games, they are creatures that also existed in Norse Mythology. Superior beings could be based off of Norse gods and other deities (also perhaps the Christian Bible were the basis for “angels” and “Seraphim”). The “Desians” are also known as the fallen, perhaps they are the “evil men” who live in Niflhel in Norse Mythology.

There are other mythological references in ToS: Arabian mythology for the names of several spirits, Japanese mythology for the names of legendary weapons, and of course a random selection of other Pagan themes that are common in fantasy genre games. Even though Symphonia might be a melting pot of various mythological selections, it's brought together well to make an interesting and entertaining game.