Raidercast 4: Monster Manual vol. 1 - The Tomb Raider Podcast

[@thatnorskchick2]

Yes! This was really interesting, I would definitely like to see Sacha return. Also, yeah, all these underwater levels and no mermaids...imagine having to harpoon your way through an underwater temple full of mermaid guards with nothing but a lamp! I didn't even know about Nessie being in the bonus levels. I've only played Unfinished Business. I'm gonna have to get my hands on those as well! I'll just be here...waiting...

[@zackaryabbotts5972]

Such an interesting Podcast with Sacha Coward, loving this content on your channel, the wealth of knowledge on these real world myths was so refreshing. Oh and i believe the misnamed TR level was "City of Khamoon"

[@damiandorhoff719]

the skinless centaurs remind me of the Nuckelavee a malignant creature from the orkney islands

[@Potkanka]

That was really cool! And there are so many monsters in TR, so there's a lot of material for many future episodes! Haha poor Nessie, though imagine if Lara had to seemingly randomly fight an elephant in that level... it'd be hilarious and a great easter egg too! Btw the (probably) real Nessie is just 2D, but she's not a part of the background, she swims slowly on the horizon and you gotta position yourself in a certain way to see her at all (and catch her when she's actually there). I loved all the background info on all the monsters, the mythologies, the centaurs in different cultures were really cool, also I'd definitely love to hear more about mermaids and it *is* a shame that the closest we got is the Sea Hag. Though, let's be honest, she's perfect for the kind of level she's in. About the, uh, anklebiters of Ireland, I thought maybe it would have been interesting to mention that they ate the Hag (carnivorous fairies? Would it be close to the vampires?) and maybe more importantly that they're repelled by iron, I'd have loved to hear the expert's reaction to that because that seems like an important mythology thing? I think? I mean I'm quite sure I've heard it elsewhere not just in TR. Also the etymology - very cool. I love etymology too and I'm sure I'm not the only one, so please stuff as much etymology into yout podcasts as you wish. :D I'm looking forward to the future podcasts! Sorry I won't correct the level I'm not sure which it was so I'd have to look it up which I guess would be cheating :D

[@Raidercast]

Potkanka Glad you enjoyed it! And I really should’ve played the level before talking about the Nessie stuff, but I have since and know what you mean. Also, for everything else you mentioned.. keep an eye out for episode 7 😉🤫

[@lionocyborg6030]

For the bit about the fae, I think the best story with a realistic fairy in it has to be Neil Gaimen's Coraline. In that book, the titular girl is living in what is Neil's old family home (which the movie version calls the Pink Palace Apartments) and there's this little door in the drawing room that connects her apartment with an empty one next door, separated by a brick wall. This gets replaced by a passageway to a mirror world where Coraline's rather dismissive and neglectful family (less so in the film) are replaced by idealised "Other" versions, except they all have black buttons instead of eyes. Her Other Mother offers her the chance to stay, Mafia style, on condition that she must let her sew buttons into Coraline's own eyes. Coraline takes the obvious answer but the Other Mother, soon revealed to be a fae called The Beldam (think a slightly lighter version of Pennywise from IT) isn't having any of it. She soon finds the ghosts of the Beldam's previous victims and that the Other world is just a diorama floating in Null Space, crafted specifically to lure Coraline in. The dead children before her accepted the Beldam's offer but eventually she grew bored of them, locked them away in a cupboard and it's implied they either starved to death or she ate them. The child ghosts come from completely different eras and one of them is actually a fairy herself, albeit a sprite or butterfly based one, implying that the Beldam also practices cannibalism. Coraline has to find and free the other victims souls, which Discount Pennywise is using as foundations in her little web, which is soon revealed to have been scourged together from various odds and ends, such as the Other versions of eccentric former porn actresses in the real world degrading into a nightmarish cocoon containing _something_ that resembles the Other former actresses as stillborn Siamese twins, the Other Mr Bobin (a mouse circus trainer in the real world) being made of rats, and the Other Father being made from a shoggoth the Beldam locked in the cellar. The corridor to the Other world itself is actually a much older, more eldritch entity than the Other Mother...and it starts waking up as soon as Coraline leaves for the final time. The idea is that the Beldam really does seem to care about the kids she takes in, but her view of family is very alien, coming off more as a child playing with their toys and putting them in the toy chest when they're done. She's also just as malicious as the fae were depicted as well, going so far as to kidnap Coraline's parents to force her to stay and going back on a deal she and Coraline made for their safe return (by technically never actually shaking on it).

[@michaellennon13]

19:50 talking about Alexander the Great maybe? 22:18 the original Greek terminology is quite different. It's based on a myth where a mortal man got punished and turned into horse. On top of that, he's madly in love with Hera. Zeus (her husband) became jealous and created a Hera figure out of fog. He sent the figure to the horse, and upon their mating they transformed to centaur. Now the word in Greek is Κένταυρος. Κεντ- stands for κεντώ (entangle/create) and -αυρος stands for αύρα (aura/fog/mist/ or sometimes ghost).

[@lionocyborg6030]

Regarding the bit about how TR3 Gold's Loch Ness monster breathes fire, when I first saw the show in 2006 I wonder if Core Design or the Eidos branch in charge of TR3 Lost Artefact were fans of The Raccoons: in the episode Monster Mania, Bert and Melissa see a plesiosaur or sea serpent like Nessie swimming in Evergreen Lake in a very similar pose to the semi 2D Nessie prop you see in the game's loch. The forest population goes crazy, naming the reptile Eve (pronounced e-vee) and naturally, Canadian aardvark copy of Dr Eggman Cyril Sneer decides to capitalise on it as much as possible. It's ambiguous if I recall right if Eve was just a mech built by Cyril or if she was real and Cyril just made a robotic copy. Either way, both Eve in The Raccoons and Nessie in the Lost Artefact are dinosaur shaped submarines that breath fire and look very similar. The main point of both of them is to see inside the mechs and reveal their true nature: Lara gets attacked by castle guards piloting the Nessie mech so she swims around it, enters through a diving hatch under the left flipper and kills the pilots. In the Raccoons, Bert's attempts to show Eve close up result in him seeing inside the mech through a porthole before causing it to crash on the shore, exposing the hoax to everyone else. The difference between the two is that Lara sees the real Nessie right next door to the fake one, having a mud bath in a quicksand marsh. This one doesn't attack her and only playfully makes sparks from her mouth when she splashes about in the mud. Here's a link to the episode in question: www.wcostream.com/the-raccoons-season-3-episode-5-monster-mania

[@Geckokidthepaladin]

This is so good! I really enjoyed it :D Also the production was great, loved all the visual stuff you added to the podcast!

[@mutatorbeam8368]

20:20 Would these mermaids be fleshless Atlantean biomechanoids like the centaurs of TR1, the divers/eels/barracudas of TR2, or the piranhas in TR3? ;-) This is quality content for this Lara fan!

[@damiandorhoff719]

I know that half Human half Snake Creatures and half Human half scorpion Creatures exist

[@owenjolley351]

32:17 oh god not those annoying little bastards.