Leviathan

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This article is about the demon based on the biblical Leviathan. For the boss from Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, see Leviathan (Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner). For the boss from Persona 5, see Shadow Sae.
Leviathan
レヴィアサン
MT2DCW

Artwork from Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II

Artwork from Devil Children White Book

Origin Abrahamic religion
Levantine culture
Race(s) DrakeMajin Tensei
Majin Tensei II: Spiral Nemesis
Majin Tensei: Blind Thinker

KaijuDigital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II
Kyūyaku Megami Tensei

RyuDevil Children Black Book and Red Book
Devil Children White Book
Alignment(s) Dark-LawMajin Tensei II: Spiral Nemesis

EvilDigital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II
Arcana World

Leviathan is a Demon in the Megami Tensei franchise.

Profile

Origin

Leviathan[a] is a sea creature mentioned several times in the Bible, specifically in the books of Psalms, Job, and Isaiah. In Job, Leviathan is mentioned in a series of rhetorical questions from YHWH to Job, and Leviathan is described as having tough skin and breathing fire (Job 41); it is paired with Behemoth. In the Psalms, YHWH is described as having crushed the heads of Leviathan and giving it as food for those in the desert (Psalm 74:14), and as being formed by God to play in the sea (Psalm 104:26). On the other hand, Isaiah prophesies that Leviathan, described as a serpent, will be slain by YHWH on a day when YHWH will punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquities (Isaiah 27:1).

Leviathan has a counterpart in Lotan,[b] a sea creature defeated by Baal Hadad in the Baal Cycle. The names of both come from the Semitic root l-w-y meaning "to turn" or "to twist".[1]

Many have interpreted Leviathan in the Book of Job as a real animal such as the crocodile or the whale.[2] In Modern Israeli Hebrew, the word means "whale".

In the Septuagint translation of the Bible, Leviathan is translated as "dragon",[c] which in Ancient Greek referred to large serpents rather than the modern image of dragons. Scholars have suggested that Satan's depiction as a multi-headed dragon in Revelation draws from the imagery of Leviathan.

Al-Tha'labi in his Lives of the Prophets narrates that, when God created the earth, it was carried by an angel who stood upon a gem on top of an ox, and the ox in turn stood on a green rock, and that green rock was carried on the back of a great fish with the name (ism) Lūtiyah, the nickname (kunya) Balhūt, and the byname (laqab) Bahamūt.[3] Al-Qazwini gives the ox the name Kuyūthā and omits the names Lūtiyah and Balhūt, calling the fish simply Bahamūt. It is usually thought that Lūtiyah and Kuyūthā are derived from the name of Leviathan, and Bahamūt from Behemoth.

Design

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Gameplay

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Compendium

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Compendium Entries
Persona 2: Innocent Sin

A giant oceanic snake. Resembles a crocodile, according to the Book of Job.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

Huge seasnake monster. According to religion, it's a whale.

Devil Children Black Book and Red Book GBC: おそろしいほど　しょくよくがあり　セカイのひかりを　くいつくすと　いわれる　うみのドラゴン
PS: 恐ろしいほど　食よくがあり　世界の光を　食いつくすと　言われる　海のドラゴン
Translation:
Devil Children White Book おそろしいほど　しょくよくがあり　セカイのひかりを　くいつくすと　いわれる　うみのドラゴン
Translation:

Game Appearances

Shin Megami Tensei: Nine

While Leviathan does not physically appear, it is mentioned as the instrument which the Creator plans to use once again to cause another flood, implying that he had previously used it to start the Great Flood.[4]

Persona 5

Main article: Shadow Sae

Leviathan appears in Persona 5 as the Shadow of Sae Niijima.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Languages
Language Name Meaning
English Leviathan
Japanese レヴィアサンDigital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II
Majin Tensei
Majin Tensei II: Spiral Nemesis
 Reviasan		 Leviathan
レヴァイアサンLast Bible III
 Revaiasan		 Leviathan
レビヤタンShinyaku Last Bible II: Hajimari no Fukuin
 Rebiyatan		 Leviathan
レヴィヤタンShinyaku Last Bible III: Mugen no Eiyū
 Reviyatan		 Leviathan
リヴァイアサンShin Megami Tensei: Nine
Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
 Rivaiasan		 Leviathan
リバイアサンDevil Children Black Book and Red Book
Devil Children White Book
 Ribaiasan		 Leviathan

Gallery

Notes

  1. ↑ Hebrew: לִוְיָתָן, romanized Liwyāṯān
  2. ↑ Ugaritic: 𐎍𐎚𐎐, romanized ltn; the traditional vocalization as lôtā̆n- is disputed and lītā̆n- has been suggested, which conforms better with the Hebrew.[1]
  3. ↑ Greek: δράκων, romanized drákōn

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "How to Kill a Dragon in Northwest Semitic: Three Linguistic Observations regarding Ugaritic ltn and Hebrew liwyātān", Aren M. Wilson-Wright and John Huehnergard. Vetus Testamentum, 72(1). Published July 1, 2021 by Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-bja10047
  2. ↑ "Behemoth and Leviathan", Michael V. Fox. Biblica, 93(2), pp. 261-267. Published 2012 by Gregorian Biblical Press. https://doi.org/10.2143/BIB.93.2.3188758
  3. ↑ "The Beginning of the Creation of the Earth and its Properties", ʿArāʾis al-Majālis fi Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyāʾ or "Lives of the Prophets" (2002), Abu Isḥāq Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Thaʿlabī. Published by Brill. pp. 6-10. Translation by William M. Brinner. ISBN-13: 978-90-04-12589-6.
  4. ↑ "美女: 全てが終わったわけではありません / 造物主は　再びリヴァイアサンを使い全てを海の底に沈めるつもりです / ここからは人としての宿命… / かつて神と呼ばれたものとの絆を絶つのです" Shin Megami Tensei: Nine. Developed by Atlus and NexTech. Published by Atlus. Japanese.
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