Origins of Monsters - Skeith .hack//

Dot Hack has some pretty generic monsters. There's none that I can recall stand out, with the exception of the 'mascot' tamagotchi like pet the Puchigusos. However the bosses  have some of the best designs for monsters I've seen in a game. They are surreal, almost like they should be sculptures instead of videogame designs.  Skeith is one of the first Phases of the Cursed Wave you encounter in .hack//infection. He is named after one of the phases in the poem, The Epitaph of Twilight, which much of the MMORPG in .hack//, the World was based on. In real life, it was apparently a poem written by one of the game creators before the game.

Skeith is basically a giant stone golem with a red wand. In the Japanese version his wand was a Celtic Cross. No doubt censored because of the 'crucifixion' like scenes with Aura, a Christ like figure. Japan always has a way of romanticizing the crucifixion or other areas of Christian mythology.

Skeith is most likely based on the Skeith Stone. It is a relic located near a farm track near Rennyhill Farm in Kilrenny, a village in Fife, Scotland. It contains 8 leaf or eye shapes that form a Chi Rho cross. Chi and Rho being the letters to spell christ in Scotland. It is probably from around the 7th century.

Skeith gets his name, stone appearance, eye indentations and celtic cross from the Skeith Stone. The ring around his head probably represents the ring around the 8 eyes on the Skeith Stone. Skeith also has what appears to be a Yin Yang in the middle of his eyes. T

What's interesting about this is that it contains the symbols and themes used for most of the  'Phases', or bosses from the first anime and videogames. The stone contains are 8 patterns which could resemble eyes. There are 8 phases in .hack// that have similar patterns. The updated appearance of the Phases in .hack//GU also have an eye motif.  The eye in the games is supposed to represent Morganna Mode Gonne, an AI responsible for giving birth to the Ultimate AI, Aura. It represents Morganna's omnipotence since she oversees the MMORPG, the World.

I'm curious of the concept of 8 phases were actually created for the game, or if they were inspired by the design of the 8 eyes of Skeith Stone? But it's pretty much anyone's guess.

In the .hack//G.U. Skeith makes another apperance as an 'Avatar.' A being summonsed by a user who has a connection to the phases from the previous games. Skeith loses much of his Skeith Stone motif for a more generic Grim Reaper or Death. It's an obvious choice since his title was always 'The Terror of Death. Although Skeith's proportions don't change much and the eye motif is still present. Personally I prefer his original appearance since I think Grim Reaper has been overdone in popular culture. A giant stone monster was much more of a surreal shock. The surreal nature GU's Skeith makes it hard for me to give it too much flak though. The Cyberconnect2 logo in the red orb on his scythe is a nice touch though. 

The number 8 appears appears again in Skeith's 3rd form.

Remnants of Skeith's design appear in the most recent additions to the .hack// universe, the OVA .hack//Quantum and the movie .hack//beyond the World. 'Sophia' is an anti-virus program that hunts down malfunction's present in the World. Her visor and colourscheme seem to be directly inspired by Skeith. The 3 things behind her back gives me the impression that it is supposed to represent a stone monument, although this might be grasping at straws. In .hack//Quantum she appears to have a 'Grim Reaper' or Death type of role in an area comparable to hell and causes players to fall into comas, something the original Skeith was responsible for. She also appears to 'Data Drain' viruses, similar to all incarnations of Skeith. 

I hope that whatever is next for the .hack// universe, it includes Skeith in some way. Not much is known about Sophia yet, and there isn't much news about a new .hack// game so I'm at least holding out some hope we will know more about Skeith's spiritual successor. .hack// always had such great monster designs in the Phases and those seem to be missing for most of the new series now. 

Here's a PDF with a lot of information on the Skeith Stone.

Dot Hack's Alice in Wonderland monsters

Dot Hack is a massive franchise that essentially  revolves around the MMORPG, 'The World' and the people who are effected by it and the people who try to discover the mysteries behind it. There are strange events, such as children who have fallen into comas or become trapped in the 'The World. ' It's a bit metafictional as you play characters who play the videogame. The setting it explicitly in a videogame gives a nice spin on the cliche fantasy setting. It's inspired by everything from classic RPGs, classic operas, fantasy, poets, and William Butler Yeats, braveheart, and Alice in Wonderland. The series has varios different RPGs and videogames, anime and manga and other media associated with it. I think they were trying to emulate the feel of an opera, or an epic poem.

Apparently .hack// was originally conceived as a game called Phantom Thief, which did not include any of the videogame or MMORPG aspects. It was also heavily inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Some of the Alice in Wonderland inspirations have still made it through to the finished games. 

Aura, the perfect AI who lives within the World. The similarities between Alice are pretty obvious. It's also worth noting that she's dressed in white, and characters literally chase her not unlike a certain rabbit.

 Mia or Macha, a Chesire Cat. She lacks iconic grin. She also bears some similarities to  the white rabbit. It's almost as if they combined the white rabbit and chesire cat and gave it a fantasy twist. 

Why is this related to a blog about giant monsters? Well in .hack//GU certain characteres can summon 'Avatars' of the bosses from the previous .hack// games. The avatars are essentially a stylized version of Eldritch Abominations. Which means there's a giant Chesire Cat Eldritch Abomination type of monster, and I absolute love its design. I mean just look at this thing. 

The level of surrealness in this design almost feels like more of an acid trip than Alice in Wonderland, which is certainly saying something. It appears to be a vaguely humanoid with the lower torso of a giant rose, the face of a cat, and what appears to be a wedding viel of purple energy and trible tattoos. The giant rose, and two coloured mask tie in together the first to designs of Macha very well. Eyes are everywhere in the details. 

In .hack//Quantum a character named Hermit appears as a very cute version of Mia from the first games. He lacks the rabbit ears, but he is too adorable so it doesn't matter. He also has the ability to make things literally disappear with a touch, which brings back some of his Chesire Cat like origin. Although I can't decide if that was intentional or not.