Here at The Plot Thickens, my effort is always to shed light on the under-appreciated or unnoticed narrative elements in quality games. Sometimes more than others, that presents a real challenge to do so without spoiling the awesome narrative for folks who have yet to experience it. So, this month, instead of detailing the dramatic events and hilarious dialogue in Kid Icarus Uprising, we'll be looking at some of the Greek myths
behind the game, as well as the setup from the NES title. As for the Game Boy game, "Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters," that will be ignored as, unfortunately, the events are largely considered non-canonical - it was not even released in Japan until 2012 on the 3DS. Now, to the skies!!
I believe in you, Pit.As the title implies, the plot of the Kid Icarus series is more than the usual shallow excuse for shooting at things. Rather, the series is a full reimagining of certain myths from the ancient Greek. Though there is no "Icarus" character in the games, the “kid Icarus” refers to our young, winged, protagonist, Pit. In the Greek myths, Icarus’ father was the skilled craftsman, Daedalus, who built wings for himself and Icarus to fly over the sea and escape from Crete. It's a tale many are familiar with: the wings were built from wax and feathers. If they flew too close to the water, the feathers would get wet and too heavy to fly. If they flew too close to the sun, the wax would melt, the wings would burn up, and more watery graves ensue. The moral here is the value of moderation.
In the video games, Pit is an angel whose wings are incapable of flight. To my knowledge, though there are many small hints, the problem with Pit's wings has never been completely revealed. My hypothesis is that they are simply too small. The fact that his wings appear larger when granted the "power of flight" supports my theory. If he uses this power for more than five minutes his wings will burn up - sound familiar?
Doesn't her shield* look... empty?Speaking of the "power of flight," this is a gift bestowed upon Pit by the goddess he works for, Palutena. The name Palutena is based on "Pallas Athena," the Greek goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Athena is also said to be a companion of heroes and the goddess of heroic endeavors. In the video games, Palutena’s title and actions loosely encompass all these traits – simply, “the goddess of light,” and the guiding force behind Pit's "heroic endeavors."
The games also feature varying degrees of remix on a few other big-time mythological Greek characters. Poseidon is still doing his thing as "god of the sea." Thanatos returns as "god of the dead," a slight variation on his mythological origin as "the personification of death." Video game Hades and Greek-myth Hades both rule the underworld. And Pandora returns from the first game as the "goddess of calamity," a vague connection to the famous results of "Pandora's Box." However, the real focus from the NES game through the rising curtain on the 3DS title is ... Medusa!
*gulp*More than any other character in the Kid Icarus fiction, the events surrounding Medusa parallel her original mythological roots. In a late Greek myth, Medusa was considered a beautiful, mortal, priestess in Athena's temple. As a priestess, Medusa upheld her vow of chastity. However, Poseidon ruined that vow and raped Medusa right in the temple. Upon discovering the desecration of her temple, Athena changed Medusa's form to match that of her sister Gorgons as punishment. Medusa's hair turned to snakes, her body underwent a gruesome transformation, and any mortal who met her gaze would be turned to stone. Medusa was a thorn in the sides of many until she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. Perseus used the stone-transforming gaze of her severed head as a weapon until it was affixed it to Athena's *shield.
Meanwhile, in the video games, where the part of Athena is essentially played by Palutena, Medusa co-ruled the four "worlds" (Underworld, Overworld, Skyworld, and the Palace in the Sky) alongside Palutena. While Palutena loved and cared for humanity, Medusa grew to despise it and bring about its ruin. As punishment for her crimes, Palutena changed Medusa's form to a cyclopic, snake-haired monster and banished her to the Underworld. This set Medusa on the path of vengeance which plays out during the events of the NES game. This backstory is also illustrated by one of the anime shorts that accompanied the launch of Kid Icarus Uprising. As for disembodied noggins, Medusa is known to "lose her head" in Uprising and, even truer to its mythological roots, players can use a severed Medusa head to turn opponents to stone in multiplayer battles.
So, there you have it, the mythological parallels behind some of Kid Icarus' most pivotal plot points. But, I couldn't talk about the Kid Icarus Uprising narrative and not make at least some acknowledgment to the outstanding writing. As someone who has extensively studied mass media production, I've always been taught that comedy is the most difficult to write. Sure, everyone thinks they are funny and everyone thinks you can just toss a few burp and fart jokes on the script and call a day. Not true. And while there have certainly been clever, humorous video games, how many of them relied most on their
writing? Only a small handful. But, in my opinion, Uprising has set the bar higher than ever. It would be a crime to spoil the game's dialogue here. So, instead, I'll just quote a few reviews to make my point...
“Uprising is a genuinely funny, wonderfully written game. Constantly self-aware and never afraid to break the fourth wall, the script delivers cheesy lines with a knowing wink, and frequently a sarcastic follow-up. … It's rare to find a game that's consistently laugh-out-loud funny, but here Kid Icarus doesn't miss a beat, warping Greek mythology for comic effect as well as throwing in a host of Nintendo references, all of which would be a shame to ruin beforehand.” – Gamespot
“My favorite part of the game is the completely insane and crazy story. … It’s kind of dumb, but it’s some of the wittiest game dialogue I’ve been privy to, including meta references to Dr. Mario, Nintendogs, and the economy.” - Nintendo World Report
“Pit and company [are] continually entertaining us with witty banter, thanks to a great script.” – GamesRadar
The four "worlds" are actually traversed logically in the NES game.
If you haven't played Kid Icarus or Kid Icarus Uprising yet, do yourself a favor and dive in to the rich fiction behind both games. The first one may not use dialogue or cut-scenes to paint its picture, but the mythological ties are there and how many games actually have levels with sensible, logical progression to them?! Considering its era, that alone was like a plot device!
See you next time, angel face.
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but yea, I would think his inclusion in the game has something to do with having such a connection to Medusa/Athena in the myths.
