#Nor the bbeg surprisingly | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dailydemonspotlight · 25 days

Note

Can i request Tarrasque, please.

Tarrasque - Day 31 (Request)

Race: Drake

Alignment: Dark-Chaos

May 2nd, 2024

An entire month?! Jesus H, I'm surprised I've kept this up for so long. Thank you all for tagging along with this silly project of mine as long as you have! Celebrations aside, though, today's demon is a relatively obscure one, appearing mostly just in the earlier games in the series: The great French Dragon, the Tarrasque. Now, most know this monster from the trenches of 5e, wherein it serves commonly as a BBEG of many a campaign, as well as apparently in MTG? I know next to nothing about Magic, so I'll just take Google's word for it. However, in spite of how much it seems tailor-made to simply be a giant boss monster in some random DnD or Pathfinder campaign, this massive beast actually originates from a french fairytale about a badass Christian saint lady who was friends with Jesus Christ. No, I am not joking.

Backing up a smidge, the Tarrasque in the story first appears as a massive dragon ravaging the French city of Tarascon (no doubt where it got its name, though it's vague- either the Tarrasque got its name from Tarascon, or, more popularly, Tarascon got its name from the Tarrasque), though its appearance is anything but- as described in the tale,

"It was fatter than an ox, longer than a horse, with a lion’s face and head, teeth as sharp as swords, a horse’s mane, its back as sharp as an axe, bristling and piercing scales, six feet with bear’s claws, a serpent’s tail, and a shell on either side like a tortoise." The story also describes it as being downright massive, 15 meters tall and 20 meters long.

The story paints a picture of it being more than just a simple animal, though, as past its chimerical appearance, it was also apparently the offspring of the biblical leviathan. Saint Martha, a young woman who traveled to the town with the intent of evangelizing it, eventually was stopped and asked for help in defeating the beast- each time they would try, it would simply deflect each attack without a care in the world before retreating back underwater, only to return the next day to continue wreaking havoc. Martha, being the sister of Mary Magdalene, was deeply religious and connected to the big man upstairs, and thusly she approached the monster with naught but her faith.

Surprisingly, it worked. The Tarrasque fell tame soon after being splashed with holy water and having a cross waved in its face, and Martha grew to become a patron saint of the village. While this heavily Christian tale is the only recollection of the Tarrasque we're aware of, there is still quite a bit to dig into- as some scholars hypothesize, the Tarrasque serves as a metaphor for sin and evil, representing how such things can destroy a community and how, who else, but our man Jeezy-C can help bring back a community from destruction. Overall, while a short and simple tale, the story of the Tarrasque gives way to a surprisingly unique monster, this kaiju-esque hybrid.

Now, in terms of SMT, the design is surprisingly faithful to its original depiction, what with the lion head, turtle shell, six legs, and overall just how weird it is. I've yet to play the Raidou games nor SMT II, so I can't give much of a rundown on how it works in-game, but all-in-all, the Tarrasque is a demon worthy of the spotlight. Thanks for the request!

#shin megami tensei #smt #megaten #persona #daily #ask #request #tarrasque

17 notes · View notes