10 Video Game Characters You Didnt Know Were Based On Historical Figures

10 Video Game Characters You Didn’t Know Were Based On Historical Figures

Some well-known characters were taken from the pages of history and brought to the pixels and polygons of gaming.

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The old saying goes that history is written by the winners. Throughout history, those who claim victory in notable conflicts tend to be depicted in schools and popular culture as heroes while their opponents are besmirched as villains. Of course, the real world is more often than not filled with people who are varying shades of grey rather than just good or evil.

Like all other mediums, the world of gaming has taken many inspirations from these conflicts and the people who played a part in them. The following characters were taken from the pages of history and brought to the pixels and polygons of gaming.

10 The Vampiric Gilles de Rais Takes His Name From A Notorious Serial Killer

Throughout most of his life, Gilles de Rais was renowned as a nobleman and war hero who fought alongside Joan of Arc. However, his legacy was forever stained when he later confessed to the murder of possibly hundreds of children.

In the game Castlevania 64, a vampire who appears to be the Dracula constantly observes the player’s progress and taunts them. Should players slay the beast within the three-day time limit, it’s revealed that the boy Malus is actually the count in disguise. The decoy villain is named Gilles de Rais, taking inspiration from the real-life serial killer of the same name.

9 Sean Devlin Is Inspired By A Professional Racer Turned Saboteur

William Grover-Williams was a highly successful professional race car driver who won the very first Monaco Grand Prix and even the French Grand Prix in 1928 and ’29. However, during the Second World War, Grover-Williams was forced to flee German-occupied France and subsequently joined the Royal Army Service Corps.

Grover-Williams and fellow racer Robert Benoist worked as agents and assembled the Chestnut network in France before he was captured and executed by the Nazis. His exploits inspired the character of Sean Devlin from Raven Software’s sandbox shooter, The Saboteur.

8 Dr. Wily Is Inspired By The Famous Theoretical Physicist

Reoccurring baddie Dr. Albert Wily of the Mega Man games takes his first name, appearance, and vocation from the illustrious German theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. Einstein’s contributions to the modern understanding of quantum mechanics are known all throughout the world.

During the rise of Nazi Germany, his research on relativity was disparaged as “Jewish physics,” and backlash against his work forced him to flee to America. In contrast to the physicist who advocated for civil rights and social reforms, Dr. Wily is a megalomaniac who aims to conquer the world with his machines.

7 A Famous Swordsman And Philosopher Inspired Several Characters, Such As Haohmaru

Famous Japanese swordsman and philosopher Miyamoto Musashi and his exploits have inspired many characters in popular culture, including video games. His skills with the sword are widely known, and he is said to have bested more than 60 challengers in combat.

In the twilight years of his life, he retired from sword fighting and took up teaching philosophy, detailing it in a text known as The Book of Five Rings. Haohmaru is a selectable fighter in every installment of the Samurai Shodown series and is heavily inspired by Musashi.

6 Andrew Ryan’s Downfall Matches Another Powerful Magnate

Andrew Ryan is the founder of the failed underwater utopia known as Rapture. Players were tasked with traversing the dangerous city inhabited by its hostile drugged-out denizens in the 2007 shooter Bioshock. The crux of Ryan’s philosophy came largely from the objectivist teachings of Ayn Rand.

Engineer, media mogul, and philanthropist Howard Hughes also served as an inspiration to the character. Like Ryan, Hughes was a very wealthy and powerful figure who became a recluse in his twilight years. Hughes’ deterioration is often attributed to his worsening OCD and the chronic pain brought from a plane crash that almost took his life.

5 Lady Dimitrescu Is Inspired By An Accused Hungarian Serial Killer

The mutated aristocrat Alcina Dimitrescu from Resident Evil Village takes many cues from the purported Hungarian serial killer Elizabeth Báthory. Said to have been obsessed with eternal youth, the countess was accused of murdering several young girls and bathing in their blood.

However, many historians have claimed the accusations leveled towards Báthory were politically motivated, citing the fact that many of who testified against her did so under torture — which would be considered inadmissible in modern courts of law. Much like the stories told of the Hungarian countess, Dimitrescu kills many who enter her castle and drinks their blood.

4 Pagan Min Takes His Name And Personality From Famous Leaders In History

The antagonistic dictator of Far Cry 4 takes his name from the Burmese King from 1836 to 1853. His reign saw the Second Anglo-Burmese War after two British merchant ships were charged with embezzlement and murder.

Narrative director Mark Thompson says that the villain of Far Cry 4 adopted this name because of his distance from his father and decided to bear the name of the Burmese king who had killed him. Personality-wise, Min takes many cues from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who would constantly bear stolen valor such as phony badges and Liberian general Joshua Milton Blahyi.

3 Violette Summer’s Surname And Vocation Come From A Real Life Agent

Violette Summer is the protagonist of the critically panned stealth action title Velvet Assassin. Summer’s first name and inspiration come from Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushall Szabo — a German actress who turned saboteur during the events of World War II. As a child, she gained a reputation as a tomboy and learned to shoot at a very early age.

She had a brief stint as a Switchboard Operator during the Blitz, but grew tired of the job and enlisted in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. Tragically, like many agents such as William Grover-Williams, Szabo was captured by the Nazis and placed in a concentration camp before being executed.

2 Kras Mazov’s Appearance And Teachings Hail From A Revolutionary Figure

Disco Elysium is an RPG that touches upon many differing ideologies and philosophies. Throughout the game, a character named Kras Mazov plays a pivotal role in the background. He’s the founder of an ideology known as Scientific Communism, which sparked a series of struggles between the Communards and the Moralintern, known as the Antecentennial Revolution.

Kras’ name, appearance, and initials come from the famous philosopher and economist Karl Marx. The author of The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, Marx’s views have been met with a greatly polarizing response from historians and economists alike.

1 Joanna Dark Takes Her Name From The French Pronunciation Of A Famous Warrior

Joanna Dark, the heroine of Rare’s first-person shooter Perfect Dark, is the top agent of a private R&D organization known as the Carrington institute who gets caught in an intergalactic war between two alien forces. She is heavily inspired by a famous warrior known as the Maid of Orléans — Joan of Arc. In fact, Joanna’s name comes from the French pronunciation “Jeanne d’Arc.”

Joan of Arc is widely renowned for her part in the Hundred Years War. At the tender age of 19, Joan was captured by Burgundian troops and placed on trial for heresy before being found guilty and executed.

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/video-game-characters-based-historical-figures/

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