In the shrine in Shirataki Temple where you fight Ideyoshi/Plague Oni, there's a goat monk named Master Yan Kan Kook. His name is a reference to the cooking TV show "Yan Can Cook", hosted by chef Martin Yan.
Haha yeah, I am waiting for an upcoming quest titled "Are you the Gatekeeper?"
How about the lvl 55 Wintertusk quest help posts that Greyrose et al have been typing up? Surely I am not the only one that noticed that the Su Su Sudrilund quest is homage to Phil Collins and that song "Suh Suh Sudilo". (Or however the lyrics actually spell it.)
It's spelled "Sussudio"...not even sure what, if anything, it means...but absolutely brilliant!
I have another one. In the olden days, it was tradition to send an insulting note on valentine's day. These were called penny dreadfuls, as they only cost a penny. In the commons there is a girl called Penny Dreadful who happens to be dressed in black.
There is also a woman who hosts a late-night show in Massachusetts (the show features many older, mostly forgotten horror movies). She portrays a character named Penny Dreadful. I've met her, she's rather nice, and likes to use the term "hex-cellent".
onother one in marleybone is the professor next to his red phone booth but he is a copy of the doctor from the tv show on bbc america Dr. Who next to the tardis or the blue police box where he travels through space and time. to be more specific of which of the current 11 doctors he is the 10th doctor!
Nigel Gladstone is a recipe vendor in Hyde Park, Marley Bone. He is a reference to William Gladstone, a prime minister of England, who served four terms, the most of any prime minister.
I didn't see that anyone had started one, so I thought it would be fun to compile a list of Azteca Easter Eggs. I didn't pay much attention in the beginning, as I was focused on survival. But later, I found myself looking for hidden jokes:
Spiny Happy People = REM Shiny Happy People, album form the early 1990's This Is the Way the World Ends = TS Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men”, "This is the way the world ends...not with a bang but a whimper." A Fish Called Vonda = A Fish Called Wanda, movie from the mid-80's Friend not Food = Finding Nemo, the scene when Dori takes Nemo's dad to meet the sharks Pretty Teeth Dear= Little Red Riding Hood, "My, what large teeth you have grandmother..." (I'm tentative on this one, though.)
In the Aggraved Avians quest there is a slight correlation to Dr. Seuss "Green Eggs and Ham" (both the piggle and egg are green). Also when you defeat the piggle's thugs, there is a reference to the Eggo commercials of "let go my Eggo". Although the piggle doesn't say those exact words, it is very close.
A few I've found: In Azteca, a Side Quest to toss a Necromantic Amulet into a pool of lava is homage to Lord of the Rings.
Azteca itself is a reference to the Mayans and their calendar (which caused some panic, as it was supposed to have predicted doomsday 4 days ago). The Aztecosaurs are referencing dinosaurs (who were driven to extinction), the Aztecs bear similarity to the Mayans (who made the calendar), the comet is possibly a reference to the fact that Earth was bombarded by meteors and other such objects in the film 2012, which was about, you guessed it, the end of the world on the 21st. On top of it all, the Rank 10 Myth Spell, Celestial Calendar, bears striking similarity to the Mayan Calendar.
The Hungry Dead are reference to the recent Zombie craze (With TV shows such as the Walking Dead, and video games such as ZombiU and [ironically] the Walking Dead).
Mac the Knife in Pitch Black Lake is an interesting one; it has 19th century German origins, and is found in the 3 Penny Opera, and later in the popular jazz of the 1920's. Of course, elder wizards will recognize the name from the famous standard "Mack the Knife", Louis Armstrong, from the late 1950's.
The story is an old one about a slick shyster named Macheath:
Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear,And he shows them pearly whiteJust a jack-knife has Macheath dearAnd he keeps it out of sight.
Fitting for the character I encountered and fought :) Qbb/Iridian
im not sure if anyone already said this, because i dont want to read all like 30 pages, but there is a girl in the commons named penny dreadful, and there is a book named penny dreadful. its certainly true because my friend did his book report on it.
One good one would have to be the Professor in Marleybone in front of Scotland Yard, because that is a reference to the Doctor, for all of you Doctor Who fans out there.
While there are many songs and other references on here, there is one I do not think I've seen posted. I may be incorrect on this one, but there is a quest called "The Sixth School". This quest's title reminds me of the movie title, "The Sixth Sense". The quest tells you to explore the Death School in Nightside. I feel it is connected with the movie because the move was about a boy who could see dead people. I do believe the death theme is related here. ~Shannon Skybreaker
Quilla Blood Sky - "It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel....fine."
From the R.E.M song (and to a degree a play on the end of the Mayan calendar...but really all of Azteca fits that bill).
also,
When you reach the Noble Eagle statue in the Floating mountains, your character remarks how time keeps slipping away. A reference to Steve Miller's Band song, "Fly Like An Eagle."
Cthulu is one of the elder gods, and is supposedly summoned with a spell from the Necronomicon!
I suspect at least one writer with KI is familiar with HP Lovecraft :)
I always wondered if Gretta Darkkettle is really the Wicked Witch of the West.
Don't know if someone already mentioned this, but the Halloween Scavenger Hunt is rife with allusions to ancient Halloween stories. Jack is an ancient trickster from early Scottish, Irish, and Appalachian American folklore, a cycle of stories known as "the Jack Tales". Jack in the Beanstalk is the one most of us have heard, but there are a couple hundred other Jack stories.
@ozzyrocker, Nice analysis of the Greek epics. I must not be the only one well-read in the classics of western literature :) Wonder if the ancient Sumerian stories will wend their ways into the Great Spiral?
So many stories, and the immensity of cyber space in which to explore them.
