I have always known that the koopas and their royal family has been directly inspired from the "kappa"- some kind of japanese demons who live in lakes and rivers and look like a mixture between turtles and human childrens. Also the name "kappa" sounds a little like "koopa".
No doubt here...untill when I discovered some informations relating toanother type of folklore monster, but it comes from French mithology.
It's called Terrasque.
It is a kind of dragon-turtle with 6 strong legs and a shell with bone spikes on it; it has a long tale of scales, who had a kind of " peak of spear" at the end. Moreover, it has a lion face and it can breath fire!
All these characteristics (eccept the 6 legs) makes really remind of the king of koopas: Bowser! Spiny shell, Lion face, long and spiny tale...They really correspond.
Then I just wanted to show you this impressioning correspondence!XD
Terrasque:
8bit Bowser
They kinda look like "relatives"! Xp
So Bowser is really inspired from the Japanese mithological traditions or is he inspired from the French one? Is this just coincidence?
The legend of Terrasque (taken from the Italian wikipedia)
The legend sais that this monster was born in Galazia, the home of Onachus -a terryifing creature which could burn everything which touches its skin-. Terrasque was born from the union between Onachus and another monster called Leviatano, in fact.
Terrasque could reach the lands of Provence, where it destroied everything and killed almost all its inhabitants. Only Saint Mary could defeat the Terrasque: it resized at every "Ave Maria" it was told. When it became enough little, and so harmless like a lizard, Marta of Betania took it in the village of Nerluc where the citizien killed the creature. After that time, Nerluc took the name of Tarascon, which symbol was the figure of the Terrasque.
This is what the Englis wikipedia sais about the Terrasque:Legend has it that the creature inhabited the area of Nerluc in Provence, France, and devastated the landscape far and wide. The Tarasque was a sort of dragon with six short legs like a bear's, an ox-like body covered with a turtle shell, and a scaly tail that ended in a scorpion's sting. It had a lion's head.
The Tarasque was said to have come from Galatia which was the home of the legendary Onachus, a scaly, bison-like beast which burned everything it touched. Some speculate that the story of the Onachus may be related to either that of the Unicorn or the Phoenix. The Tarasque was the offspring of the Onachus and the Leviathan of biblical account; basically—though disputably—a giant sea serpent.
The king of Nerluc had attacked the Tarasque with knights and catapults to no avail. But Saint Martha found the beast and charmed it with hymns and prayers, and led back the tamed Tarasque to the city. The people, terrified by the monster, attacked it when it drew nigh. The monster offered no resistance and died there. Martha then preached to the people and converted many of them to Christianity. Sorry for what they had done to the tamed monster, the newly-Christianized townspeople changed the town's name to Tarascon.
The story of the Tarasque is also very similar to the story of Beauty and the Beast and King Kong. The monster is beguiled and weakened by a woman and then killed when brought back to civilization. A similar idea is found in the myths of Enkidu and the unicorn: both are calmed by sending them a woman.>
The story of the Tarasque is also very similar to the story of Beauty and the Beast and King KongAh!! Dejavou.... =3
