Chimera

Overview

The Chimera are a monstrous creature of Greek legend being the offspring of Typhon, the final son of Gaia, and Echidna the mother of all monsters. It is often found as an enemy in many games, and many Greek epics. Its powers include the ability to breathe fire, and envenom its enemies. The morphology of the Chimera is that of a lion, with a goat head, and a serpent tail but there are many retellings of how the Chimera is structured.

Subsets

The term "chimera" when relating to video games is mainly used to describe a creature which embodies features of multiple different animals. Below are a few instances of the different types of chimera in games and a few of the games in which they appear.

Traditional: The chimeras in the God of War series are the traditional mix of lion, snake and goat. These chimera also appear in games such as Dragon's Dogma, Clash of the Titans, and Nostalgia.

Dragon: The Chimaeras in the Warcraft universe are two-headed dragon-like creatures and shoot corrosive bile from their mouths instead of fire.

Other: Numerous other variations on chimera have appeared in games over the years. The Final Fantasy series, for example, has consistently featured chimeras, but each entry in the long running series features a different spin on the beast. The chimera from FF IX, in particular, looked more puppet than mythological beast. Other games, such as the Resistance franchise, refer to enemies as chimera despite the lack of similarity between them and their mythological basis. In this case, the term chimera refers more to a race of creatures than to one specific creature. See the alternate chimera page for a disambiguation on the term.