I would never think to look it up in Latin for Anima good work.
The soul in Greek mythology was the woman of Eros, so there is a connection.
The only thing that still does not stand is the connection of the Acheron river with the world of the Elves because the world of the Elves is in another universe.
However, if you think that the ouroboros symbolizes 8 and 8 is infinity, then it could be a gate that leads to another universe.
Orion also has 8 women in his harem and the syndikate gave him the number 8
Haha well, I learned both classical Latin and ancient Greek in school so it was more just a dormant realization, and why I said I definitely should have realized it sooner lol. I had realized that Anima meant soul beforehand I think, I just never thought to connect it to Psyche.
I'm also wondering if we know any special meaning to the name Idriel? To me it kind of just looks blandly elvish, and the closest thing I can find is a character named
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in Tolkien's work, but I'm not at all familiar with all that so I don't know how it could fit, if it does at all. According to
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I guess it says "Idril" originally meant "Beloved" and that she had an alternative name "Idhril" that meant "Mortal Maiden" because she married a mortal. I suppose that could fit with the story of Anima, having fallen for a mortal man, or at least someone of an apparently non-elven race who lived centuries compared to her millennia.
The only other thing I can find for Idriel is that it might be some sort of Hebrew construction, based primarily on that -el ending, which means "God" in Hebrew, but I'm not sure what the Idri- part would be, I don't know Hebrew and I'm coming up short trying to find out anything that seems meaningful. It doesn't appear like that vowel pattern would fit with a Hebrew word, the closest thing I can find is Adriel, which is a guy's name, but according to Wikipedia means "flock of God". This does seem less promising than the Elvish, but maybe the -el component meaning God could connect to how Anima was herself seen as a god by some? I mean if we're already connecting her to the mythology of Psyche and whatnot, maybe it could fit, but... I don't think so.
My thought with the doors is that the ouroboros doors we saw in Hyril'ar simply have to be the doors of Acheron, just narratively they effectively have to be the same doors, in my mind. Thinking about it now too, the Hyril'ar name for the temple being "The Temple of the Ten Rivers" does also connect to Acheron, which is itself a river, though I don't know what the other nine would be. In Greek mythology the Acheron serves as the entrance to the underworld, which seems like it would connect nicely with all the soul stuff with Psyche and Anima, and I do think that inside the temple of Acheron is something integral to the Eternum system. It is said that the holder of all ten gems can sit on the throne of Eternum once they enter the Temple of Acheron, after all.
To kind of stop beating around the bush, at this stage I have become fairly convinced that Eternum is in fact a collection of afterlifes, and that the name Eternum and the infinity of the ouroboros and all the soul-y stuff and all the NPCs and Idriel and the MC and our connection to the hero who saved Anima can all be explained through this lens. I'm still trying to work on fitting it all together in my head and working out the kinks, but at this point I feel relatively sure of this foundation.
As some added spice, I also learned earlier today that in the Odyssey, Odysseus (aka Ulysses) goes to the underworld and at one point finds the mythical Orion there. That
definitely has my brain whirring.
,so just added #61a/b and #62
