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Screenshots: none Related Characters: none |
Tombs of Amenti Type: Dungeon Appearance: Hard Mode (only) Burial ground of the ancient kings of Amenti. As a result of a magic pact, made during his lifetime, one of the kings has risen from his grave as a powerful undead creature. The soul of this poor, cursed creature must be liberated and laid to rest. The reference the designers are making with this name and place is fairly clear: Amenti and Duat are areas of the Underworld in Egyptian Mythology, so it's only fitting their incarnation in Valkyrie Profile came in the way of a tomb. The dungeon, lying in the wasteland far to the south of Artolia, is very reminiscent of Egyptian design. The place is full of all the goodies one would expect from an ancient tomb - spike traps, booby-trapped chests, treasure, and even a riddle-speaking bust of the Pharoah. (Shame it wasn't really a sphinx, you know? ^^) If you keep an eye on the background you can see the same paiting repeat endlessly on the back wall - all I remember is that it involved a sun disk. The pillars were nice, but not terribly detailed. This stuff matters to an Egypt nut like me, but probably not to anyone else. ^.^ I have a love-hate relationship with this dungeon. It's Egyptian (sort of), but... it's a pain in the ass to finish. Anyway. At the end of this long, irritating dungeon, the mummified form of the dead Pharoah awaits. In the English version of the game, his name is "Akhetamen." You'd think that would be a mistranslation of the name "Akhenaten," but no. In the Material Collection, his name is actually "Tutankhamun." That is a reference I think most people can recognize, so it makes sense they'd use it, and... to be perfectly honest, I am not sure where the translators got their version of the name. However, strangely enough, I think Akhenaten (who, in history, was Tutankhamun's father) would be a more appropriate reference for the situation of this dead king. Tutankhamun is a holy elemental and his character sprite sports a few interesting funerary artifacts; one of the artifacts Valkyrie finds after his death is the "Mask of the Dead King" - a mask the Pharoah of history is famous for. I find it interesting that Ambrosia can also be found in this dungeon, but... I'm just crazy like that. I ramble because, unfortunately, this place does not have much of a history in the game that I'm aware of. Tutankhamun is supposed to have died a thousand years prior to the game after making a deal to give himself eternal life, and he bursts out of his coffin fully intending to revive his beloved country - which, of course, is completely dead. But what killed him, and why? Was he another victim of Hrist's blade, struck down for making such an unholy pact? Was his kingdom one of the casualties of the war with the undead? Did he destroy it himself to make this pact? It's a mystery, and one I'd like to see unraveled. I have my own version for Illusion of Memory, but that is almost surely very, very far off from whatever truth the game designers may tell us. |
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