The Irish Crow Of War Flies Over

Better buckle up! Names, books, and deities fly around as we take a look at how Celtic mythology is adapted in the Korean-Japanese game Mabinogi.

What happens when a South Korean-Japanese game company interprets and uses elements from Celtic culture and presents them to a worldwide audience in its online game? It’s always interesting to see what happens when a game company from one culture uses the stories and mythology from another culture for its games, as the outcome can vary significantly. Luckily for Nexon, the creators of the anime-style MMO-RPG Mabinogi, the game is a big success. The game launched in Korea in 2004 and later spread to other parts of the world, amassing over 20 million registered users and over $600 million in revenue (as of 2021). While Mabinogi is played across multiple servers and regions, it appears to be the most popular in Asia. For those curious about the game, players can immerse themselves in a mystical land called Erinn, where they can live adventurously and go on quests, or choose a simpler lifestyle. Nexon states on their website that the game is “filled with fashion, fantasy and unique lifestyle systems built for ultimate self-expression.”

Who is this Black-Winged Goddess?

Let’s start this blog off by looking at the title of the game: Mabinogi. The title is reminiscent of the Welsh Mabinogion, which is a collection of eleven Medieval prose tales about Welsh mythology. The tales were collected from two separate manuscripts: the White Book of Rhydderch or Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch (c. 1350) and the Red Book of Hergest or Llyfr Coch Hergest (c. 1382-1410). If you think the titles look weird, well….that’s the Welsh language for ya! (Side note: the Welsh language is actually really cool and you should definitely look into it!) The tales are presumably much older than these two manuscripts, but as they were most likely transmitted orally, we can’t actually confirm how old they truly are. Nonetheless, it seems the game, or at least its title, has roots in Celtic history and mythology, which means Nexon is off to a great start!

Multiple characters, creatures, and names from Celtic stories appear throughout the game (although sometimes spelt or interpreted differently). There is, however, one specific character from the game that particularly stood out to me: Morrighan. This character, who is the first of the Badhbh Catha Goddesses (NPCs), has sleek black hair, giant black wings, and wears a white dress with motifs on it that are supposed to look Celtic in nature. The game lore states that she is the goddess of war, vengeance, and crows. The other Badhbh Catha Goddesses are made up of her two sisters: Macha and Neamhain.

Morrighan or Morrígan?

Morrighan is clearly supposed to reflect the Morrígan from Irish mythology. The first stories in which the Morrígan appears as an individual are the stories of the Ulster Cycle. I discussed this collection of tales in an earlier blog about the game Tír Na Nòg. She also appears in the Mythological Cycle and Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland/ The Book of Invasions, (c. 10th or 11th century)). The cycle and book are one of the most important mythological references we have from Irish culture.

It would be foolish not to pay special attention to these manuscripts when you’re making a game that is infused with Celtic mythology, which is why it’s so nice to see that the developers of Mabinogi really took this source material to heart. As I will explain below, they really did their best to link the game character to the mythological deity.

To continue, the Morrígan from mythology is associated with war, fate, and foretelling doom for those who are about to die. This was directly translated into the game character, who is also the goddess of war. Additionally, one of the forms the Morrígan takes is the shape of a crow. The game developers clearly drew inspiration from the crow aspect for their character, tying it not only to her personality (since Morrighan is associated with crows in the game) but also reinforcing the connection visually by giving her design large black wings. 

Building on this, the developers intentionally chose the name “Badhbh Catha Goddesses” for Morrighan and her sisters in the game. It is not simply a meaningless conglomeration of letters which they thought looked Irish. But actually, the modern Irish word for crow is, you guessed it: Badhbh. In Irish mythology, the Badhbh is a war goddess in the shape of a crow, and is therefore sometimes also called “Badhbh Catha” (“battle crow”). As you can understand, the Morrígan and the Badhbh Catha are closely intertwined, which is why it makes sense that the developers chose this clever way to include another bit of Morrígan lore.

Everything Good Comes In Threes

Another interesting thing is that the game presents Morrighan as one part of a triple goddess unit, with her sisters taking up the other two spaces. There is a reason for this. In Irish mythology, the Morrígan is often portrayed as part of a trio, though this is somewhat inconsistent. The group of Irish goddesses, sometimes referred to as the Morrígna, is said to include Badb, Macha, and the Morrígan herself. (I encourage you to look deeper into the Morrígna, but know that it gets VERY confusing.) 

But let’s clear things up a bit, shall we? I know that I have been throwing around a lot of names in this blog, for which I do apologise, so here is a little summary of the triple goddess motif: in Irish mythology, we have the Morrígan, Macha, and Badb, but in the game Mabinogi, we have Morrighan, Macha, and Neamhain.

So wait… what happened to Badb? And where did Neamhain come from? Well, turns out that in Irish mythology, one of the sisters is sometimes replaced with Nemain. And since the Irish goddess Badb looks very similar to the title the goddesses have in the game (Badhbh Catha Goddesses), it makes sense that the game developers chose to go with Neamhain as one of the sisters instead.

I won’t keep you held up any longer. With all the names and switches between the Korean-Japanese game and the mythology it is based on, the blog is quite the intense read. But, hopefully, you’ve enjoyed learning about the game lore just as much as I have. It is truly beautiful to see how much attention Nexon has paid to the source material and how much they’ve interwoven the game with Celtic mythology, although it may not always be apparent on the surface when you’re playing the game. The developers have definitely taken some creative liberties, but that is something that is to be expected. In the end, they created a fun and successful game that introduced all 20 million of its users to the stories of the Celts, and they seem to be enjoying it!

Amy Snoeren is an intern of the VALUE Foundation and a Language and Culture Studies (BA) student at Utrecht University. During her time at Utrecht, she’s followed a multitude of subjects, such as Ancient Greek and Roman culture, as well as Celtic languages and culture. She hopes to follow this up with a masters in Public History, with a focus on video games and film & TV. She mostly enjoys action-adventure games and horror games with great storytelling, but also enjoys simple, silly games with friends. If you would like to contact her, you can message her via LinkedIn.