Oh yeah, the story he's from keeps getting modern adaptations, so I definitely know it~~ It has a couple of versions, though (´⊂_｀人)
In some of them, he was Yashagorō, the former comrade of a ninja called Jiraiya who had "toad magic". Jiraiya married a lady called Tsunade who had "slug magic", and it was said they'd do great things together. But Yashagorō went rogue when he was offered "snake magic", changed his name to Orochimaru, and tried to do the whole capture the princess thing with a woman he was obsessed with. Jiraiya and Tsunade came to stop him, so he tried to kill them, and though the fight kept going in a circle - it's like scissors-paper-rock, each of their magics was good against one and weak against the other - the heroes eventually won and lived happily ever after!!
And there's another version where Orochimaru is possessed from the start by a snake spirit who's trying to take over Japan, so he machinates himself into getting adopted by a big feudal lord, gets him to off all his other kids, and tries to kill off Jiraiya and Tsunade as kids too while he's getting rid of their clans. But someone saves them, they train in their respective magics, they fight the big snake, they lose, they find the legendary sword that's supposed to give them the advantage over him, they win and they exorcise the snake spirit and everyone including Orochimaru lives happily ever after in that version.
Could I ask why you're asking after this one (｡・ω・｡)? I won't poke if it's something personal, though
[It's a popular story, but not really a general monster one, which is why he's a bit puzzled.]
[ Momo has provided him an incredible amount of detail to consider. Twenty minutes pass as Stiles digests the information thoughtfully. This has definitely jogged his memory. Or, at least, the repeated motif of snakes has. It seems like the myth is probably the same between their versions of Earth. ]
The name came up recently. I vaguely remembered researching it before – there was a stint where I was looking into Japanese myths and legends, so I must have read about it then.
[ It’s as much as he’ll share on the subject. ]
Are snakes, toads, and slugs actually natural enemies or something? It seems like a weird combination of animals.
[Even the little bit of detail helps - Momo wonders, with the number of people here from Earth myths and history, if it's not another similar case of that coming up.]
I mean, snakes eat both of them and toads eat slugs...but snake, toad and slug is the oldest hand game we have in Japan We got hand games from China and then the West got them from us as scissors-paper-rock~~ I think the slug part was a mistranslation of centipede though? In which case whoops (Ｔ▽Ｔ)
We call it rock-paper-scissors, actually. At least, I’ve always heard it in that order. Anyway, I didn’t know any of that. “Snake-toad-slug” huh?
[ Interesting. Probably totally unrelated to what he saw in the mirror, but fascinating nonetheless. Nothing piques his interest more than useless trivia. Honestly. ]
So, it seems like the Orochimaru dude is almost always a villain, right?
Really? I have heard that version, but I think I've heard other orders too... (・・？) Might be a European thing
[He definitely works in Europe more often than America where places that use those names for the game are concerned.]
Anyway, yeah, the main difference is usually whether he's a villain because he willingly took the snake's power or because he was possessed against his own choosing. So there's the food for thought bit, I guess~~
[ Food for thought indeed. Stiles takes two points away from this conversation: Orochimaru is associated with snakes and often cast in an antagonistic role. For all he knows, neither could apply to the world he’s trying to compare the myth to. It’s useful information, either way. ]
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"Orochimaru." I kinda remember reading about it back home, but none of the details stuck. Are you familiar with that one?
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It has a couple of versions, though (´⊂_｀人)
In some of them, he was Yashagorō, the former comrade of a ninja called Jiraiya who had "toad magic". Jiraiya married a lady called Tsunade who had "slug magic", and it was said they'd do great things together. But Yashagorō went rogue when he was offered "snake magic", changed his name to Orochimaru, and tried to do the whole capture the princess thing with a woman he was obsessed with. Jiraiya and Tsunade came to stop him, so he tried to kill them, and though the fight kept going in a circle - it's like scissors-paper-rock, each of their magics was good against one and weak against the other - the heroes eventually won and lived happily ever after!!
And there's another version where Orochimaru is possessed from the start by a snake spirit who's trying to take over Japan, so he machinates himself into getting adopted by a big feudal lord, gets him to off all his other kids, and tries to kill off Jiraiya and Tsunade as kids too while he's getting rid of their clans. But someone saves them, they train in their respective magics, they fight the big snake, they lose, they find the legendary sword that's supposed to give them the advantage over him, they win and they exorcise the snake spirit and everyone including Orochimaru lives happily ever after in that version.
Could I ask why you're asking after this one (｡・ω・｡)? I won't poke if it's something personal, though
[It's a popular story, but not really a general monster one, which is why he's a bit puzzled.]
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The name came up recently. I vaguely remembered researching it before – there was a stint where I was looking into Japanese myths and legends, so I must have read about it then.
[ It’s as much as he’ll share on the subject. ]
Are snakes, toads, and slugs actually natural enemies or something? It seems like a weird combination of animals.
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I mean, snakes eat both of them and toads eat slugs...but snake, toad and slug is the oldest hand game we have in Japan
We got hand games from China and then the West got them from us as scissors-paper-rock~~
I think the slug part was a mistranslation of centipede though? In which case whoops (Ｔ▽Ｔ)
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[ Interesting. Probably totally unrelated to what he saw in the mirror, but fascinating nonetheless. Nothing piques his interest more than useless trivia. Honestly. ]
So, it seems like the Orochimaru dude is almost always a villain, right?
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Might be a European thing
[He definitely works in Europe more often than America where places that use those names for the game are concerned.]
Anyway, yeah, the main difference is usually whether he's a villain because he willingly took the snake's power or because he was possessed against his own choosing. So there's the food for thought bit, I guess~~
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Thanks, Momo. I owe you one.
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I'm glad I could help! ˚✧₊⁎( ˘ω˘ )⁎⁺˳✧༚
[But also he operates on cycles of favours a lot back home, so he'll totally take being owed one.]
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[ Take it and use it, Momo. You've earned it. ]