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Cerberus, the guardian of the underworld
from Greek
mythology, is a popular icon in modern language, literature,
film, games and art.
Books
The cult comic book
Cerebus was named for
this Greek and Roman mythical figure; the different spelling wasn't
intentional -- the original author accidentally left out the second
' r ' in a simple case of bad spelling.
Language
In
Spanish, cancerbero (from Canis Cerberus, "dog
Cerberus") is a Latinate form for gatekeeper, even for a
footballgoalkeeper.
In Finnish, a strict, angry doorman of a
restaurant or nightclub (who is likely not to let you in for some
reason) is sometimes jokingly called "Kerberos". Also, there is
similar usage of word "Cerber" in Polish.
Games
Some
aspects of video games, particularly of the RPG genre, are based on
mythology. Cerberus is no exception.
*In
Monolith's Blood, Cerberus was the third act's boss, most likely
this is an allusion to Divine Comedy, in which Cerberus resides in
the third layer of Hell.
*In Final Fantasy
VIII, one of the Guardian Forces was a three headed dog
called Cerberus.
*In God of War, the player faces several
Cerberus as part of Poseidon's challenge, in order to obtain
Pandora's
Box. Also, most Cerberus' the player faces start out as a pup,
and, if left alive long enough, they grow up to their full size and
become harder to kill.
*In the PlayStation 2 game, Devil May Cry 3,
Cerberus is one of the early bosses Dante
will face; he appears in Mission 3 and is encased in ice.
*In the
Wing Commander game series, the TCS Cerberus was a
Hades-class Quick Strike Cruiser' - the
player's base of operations in the final installment of the
series.
*Cerberus is a Heavy Assault Ship of the Caldari Faction
in the EVE
OnlineMMORPG.
*Atlus' RPG franchise Shin Megami
Tensei frequently features Cerberus as a helpful and
powerful monster who helps the player in the earliest parts of the
game, greatly overpowering any enemy he faces at the
time. Cerberus is also in
Shin Megami Tensei III:
Nocturne, although he plays no special role in that
game.
*In Atlus' PS2 RPG Digital Devil Saga, one of the
Tribe Leader's Atma (Demon)
form is an abstract, mechanical-looking three-headed dog named
Cerberus.
*In
Mega Man
Zero 3, there is a boss called Tretista
Kelverian. He is a Cerberus android (or
the more fitting term "Reploid"), with his center head positioned normally
on his body and the other 2 heads are each his shoulder
pads.The 2 heads can separate from
Kelverian and become separate canine units of their own.
*In
Rygar, one of the creatures
Rygar is able to summon using the Diskarmor is the dog
Cerberus.
* In Kingdom Hearts
II Cerberus is a boss that you fight with Auron in the Underworld section of
Olympus Coliseum and an optional boss in the Cerberus
Cup. In the Cup you have 3 minutes to
defeat 9 rounds of normal enemies and him.
*In Age of Mythology: The
Titans, Cerberus was a titan that had been freed and set
loose in Egypt. It was defeated by the
Egyptian stone Guardian.
*In Quest for Glory V: Dragon
Fire, Cerberus guards the gate of Hades, and must be bribed or
defeated before the hero can enter the Underworld.
*In
Manhunt The final gang of the game
are called The Cerberus
*In the Heroes of Might and Magic PC
game series, there are trainable army units in the Inferno faction
called cerberi (plural of cerberus).
*In the Xbox 360 game Chromehounds, Cerberus
is the name given to a legendary team of three elite mercenaries,
who pilot black HOUNDs.
*Final Fantasy XII: The dirge of
Cerberus. Cerberus is the name of
Vincent's tri-barreled gun.
*Kerberos, the
guardian of the seal, is one of the main characters in the popular
Japanese anime Cardcaptor Sakura.
In his true form, he looks more like a lion and he
doesn't have 3 heads.
*Kerberos is in the mangaDevil
& Devil where it was the dog that Devil Sword had
tamed.
*Kerberos is also the name of the core unit of the
paramilitary "Capitol Police Organization" in Jin-Roh.
*In the anime series
and PlayStation 2 game Gungrave, the Cerberus are a set of three
guns, individually referred to as the left, right, and center
head. The right and left head are used by
Grave and the center head is
used by Fangoram.
*Cerberus was one of the many monsters seen in the 1997
Disney film Hercules.
The Cerberus which appears as a boss in both
Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II is the same
one from this movie.
*In
an
episode of The Simpsons the staff of
"Itchy & Scratchy"
created a new dog character named "Poochie". At
one point the producers are describing the new character to the
writers, one producer says, "He's the original dog from hell" to
which a writer responds, "You mean Cerberus?".
*In
The
Venture Bros. episode, Escape to the House of
Mummies Part II, Dr. Orpheus approaches the throne of his
master. Sitting on the throne however, is
Cerberus, which Orpheus strikes with a fireball.Cerberus complains to Orpheus about the attack,
revealing that it is actually Orpheus's teacher in animal form
(initially, and incorrectly, described as Argos).They begin a
long discussion about Orpheus' lack of friends, the master sorcerer
berates Orpheus about his failed marriage, and licks his own crotch
with another of his heads (and discusses the pleasures thereof)
amongst other things.
*In the 1992 Film Highway to Hell
Cerberus guards the entrance to Hell City, and only allows people
that are dead to pass through
Cerberus is mentioned in
Sylvia Plath's
poem Fever 103°.
Cerberus is also in Final Fantasy XI:
The Treasures of Aht Urghan. It is
the guardian of Halvung guarding the gates to the capital City, The
Astral Plains.
In chapter 52 of the manga series Fullmetal
Alchemist, a dog-like chimaera with 3 heads is one of the
guardians that Mei Chang and Scar battle against.
In
Matrix
Revolutions, the elevator entrance to the S&M club named
Hell, appropriately run by a man married to Persephone, are a triplet of
guards with identical appearance ('three heads') and the general
disposition of guard dogs, an likely reference to
Cerberus.
Kerberos guards the way to the Dungeon Dimension in
Tdome ][ Rise of the Freejacks.
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