Similarities Between the Goddesses/Oracles and the Shamans from BoF2

[DeletedUser9]

This is a thread I actually meant to make well over a year ago, but I sorta just completely forgot about it and only was reminded of it recently. I was browsing an old Nintendo Power (well, old by today's standards), and saw an ad for the GameBoy Advance re-release of the first two Breath of Fire games. I noticed some artwork on the ad of the characters I would later discover are some of the game's Shamans...

(Be forewarned, the pictures contain scantily-clad ladies. They're not totally indecent, but they are fairly provocative. I don't think it'll bug anyone, but giving the warning nonetheless.)

Breath of Fire II Shamans (GBA version artwork.)

Original artwork of the same characters from the SNES release.

Given the title, you probably know where I'm going with this. The three on the right, which according to Creative Uncut are the ones named Seso, Sana, and Spoo, in a number of ways resemble the Goddesses. First obvious one is the colors, but even the mentalities match up. Blue seems serene and composes, red is a little harsher and more powerful, and green is uh... I dunno, generic? Lol that one doesn't match up as well. They also seem to have just the slightest resemblance to OoX's Oracle versions of the characters, although it's not major.

One thing that's a little striking though is two of the three humanoid depictions of the Goddesses, on statues, one from Twilight Princess and the other in The Wind Waker.

Now I've done a little research into release dates. The traits of Power, Wisdom and Courage were established as early as the first game in the series, for the most part, but the Goddesses themselves didn't really appear until Ocarina of Time, however the Pendants of Virtue from A Link to the Past were the first instance of the colors being associated with the three traits (the Pendants of Power, Wisdom and Courage). A Link to the Past predates Breath of Fire II, but Breath of Fire II does actually predate any instance of the Goddesses or the Oracles (ALttP simply references "the gods".)



I dunno if it really means anything, I just find it interesting. I guess it's conceivable that Breath of Fire borrowed from Zelda's themes in A Link to the Past and then Zelda borrowed from Breath of Fire in later games. It would sorta make some kind of sense since Breath of Fire is a Capcom series... though it seems doubtful they had any relation in the past. I'm skeptical of this though. I think it's more likely they just came up with the similar themes by coincidence, unless maybe they're both based on the same thing. Is there anything in something else with a triad of those three personality types or colors? Seems kinda like a basic trio though, so again, I'm skeptical they were based on anything. The Shamans in Breath of Fire seem to be just upgrades, so they have more in common with the Great Fairies than the Goddesses or Oracles, at least in terms of gameplay application.

Thoughts? What do you think about this? And does anyone who's played Breath of Fire II have any insight to perhaps prove more similarities or debunk anything I've mentioned?

 

[cucco002]

I am not sure, I just wanted to show this artwork, I think is the first artwork of the three Goddess, correct me if I am wrong:

But they were different from some recent versions

 

[DeletedUser9]

That's artwork from A Link to the Past, and yeah I'm familiar with it. Despite this artwork, A Link to the Past never mentions any goddesses, nor does it ever reference three deities. "Three" is only mentioned in regards to the Triforce, not the deities that create it, aside of course from that piece of artwork. Unless I'm not remembering something? Anyway, that's why I'm not seriously considering ALttP to be a game that established the Goddesses, and why I'm saying Breath of Fire II predates the identification of the three Golden Goddesses.

 

[Ganondork]

Well, I think that the coloring of their hair and clothes matching with their personality is a very generic feature. Blue normally means water, which is usually regarded with a serene and calm atmosphere - hence Nayru's calm persona and power over Wisdom. Red is usually fire, which is a harsher element - much like Din and her respective element of Power. To be honest though, I don't really see what green could represent, I guess a go between from blue and red?

Anyway, I don't think that Breath of Fire II really said "Alright, we need three Shamans and it would be awesome if we could base them off of the goddesses of The Legend of Zelda." Although you did say Breath of Fire II was before the introduction of the Goddesses in Ocarina of Time. If anything, Zelda took the idea from Breath of Fire II.

Taking the pendant's coloring into consideration, however, I doubt that it was really enough for them to gain any inspiration to create these three Shamans just from three colored stones. I suppose this technically means Zelda was here first, but the overall idea is very generic.

In terms of appearance, clothing or looks, they are rather different. This is using the Oracles' appearances to use as a model, of course. The Goddesses are more modestly dressed than the Shamans for one, and the Shamans have more of a generic Manga look to them than the Goddesses do.

Naturally, I see how you could see the similarities, but this is merely a coincidence; the design of both the Goddesses and the Shamans are just so generic.

 

[cucco002]

That's artwork from A Link to the Past, and yeah I'm familiar with it. Despite this artwork, A Link to the Past never mentions any goddesses, nor does it ever reference three deities. "Three" is only mentioned in regards to the Triforce, not the deities that create it, aside of course from that piece of artwork. Unless I'm not remembering something? Anyway, that's why I'm not seriously considering ALttP to be a game that established the Goddesses, and why I'm saying Breath of Fire II predates the identification of the three Golden Goddesses.

My bad for showing the japanese manual, instead of the english manual:

It would not be weird than "Gods" is a mistranslation, it happened many times back then, the figures in the artwork may be male or female, but they look more female to me, and it would make more sense

 

[SNOlink]

It seems plausible. Like Ganondork said with Breath of Fire II, it seems unlikely that they based their characters off of three stone colors. It does make sense that Nintendo would make their character designs off of those three, but really we'd have to get word from Nintendo about that.