Video Games[]
- Cyberswine: Rats. The Garbage Robots deal in garbage disposal which is a job that most people would not want to do.
- Many, many Game Cube games contain references to dolphins. The dolphin motif is a Development Gag to the Game Cube's codename in development: the Dolphin, and its GPU is called "Flipper".
- Olimar's ship in Pikmin is called the Dolphin.
- Super Mario Sunshine takes place on Delfino Island, which itself is shaped like a dolphin. There are also a few fountains with dolphin figures spouting water.
- Bayonetta has a distinct butterfly motif, largely due to her patron demon.
- Squall Leonhart of Final Fantasy VIII has - as indicated by the name - a lion motif, one so omnipresent that he and Rinoa actually have an ingame conversation about it.
- In Squall's case, the lion symbolism is at odds with his apparent personality, and serves as a signal that there's more to him than meets the eye. Although he's spent years cultivating an angsty loner persona, once he starts to confront his issues it becomes increasingly clear that he's actually a natural leader who cares deeply about his friends. Appropriately, one of the songs that plays during the final boss fight is titled "Maybe I'm a Lion."
- In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Cloud has a very strong wolf symbolism going on. Not only is there a wolf head in his shoulder pad but his motorbike is named Fenrir and he's being followed by a shaggy old wolf that mourns in the places he most strongly associates with personal failure. You have three guesses which kind of wolf this is painting him as.
- The wolf works well for Cloud as more than just a 'lone wolf'. When fighting Bahamut Sin, Cloud gets up to Bahamut through the assistance of his friends, working together as a 'pack' to take down their prey.
- Dissidia Final Fantasy continues Squall's lion motif, though as painted by the villains this time. They seem to make a habit of referring to at least a few of the protagonists as though they were animals, such as calling Bartz a mouse, and Zidane a monkey.
- Of course, Zidane being referred to as a monkey is hardly out of the ordinary, given that has a monkey tail and was implied to be an actual monkey-person for most of the game leading up to the big reveal.
- Gabranth in Final Fantasy XII may as well be named "the Stray Dog".
- A loose one with Princess Garnet in Final Fantasy IX as her favorite play is "I Want To Be Your Canary" and even Kuja calls here "Canary". Some scenes also have her around birds.
- Most of the Animal-themed Code names in Metal Gear Solid match their owners in terms of personality, though some (like Mantis) are less obvious than others. Notable for that the Snake isn't automatically "evil".
- Sniper Wolf psychologically fixates on a specific "prey" target (and marks them) and is famous for working alone, never with a spotter, fitting the 'lone wolf' stereotype. In-universe, she was given her name because she is Kurdish.
- Psycho Mantis is terrified of sex, so uses the name of an animal which gets devoured by the female after mating. He's also ridiculously skinny and wears a mask that resembles insect eyes.
- Laughing Octopus came from a village with an octopus fishing trade, and was tortured into killing her own family, under the stress of which she began to imagine the blood was octopus ink. She wears a robotic suit with multiple arms that changes colour to blend in with the environment.
- The Snakes we meet throughout the series are all sneaky natural predators, although in different ways. They are kind of a Legacy Character, so the 'Snake' is perhaps being used in its more mystical sense to represent death and rebirth, or the circle of infinity. The opening credits of Metal Gear Solid 2 likens DNA strands to snakes, which is appropriate considering the Cloning Blues that affects all of the Snakes.
- The Boss is also associated with snakes. She mentions snakes multiple times in her speeches, one slides out of her body after her death, and she gives the player snakeskin camouflage as a reward for defeating her.
- The Fear is spider-themed, fighting with rope traps, and with spider venom as a weapon.
- Mario Power Tennis: Advance Tour included a cat-and-mouse theme in one doubles partnership, with Paula (who was tiny, had a ponytail that could be seen from the front, with a huge, puffy bow over her head and rosy cheeks) and Whisker (taller, slicked-up cat-ear style hairdo and a prominent, muzzle-like nose). Why, exactly, is unclear, unless it was a parody, as they're the best of friends.
- Travis Touchdown, main character of No More Heroes has a number of tiger motifs- his Dark Side Mode meter is a pixellated tiger walking across the screen, a number of his clothing options have tiger designs, his motorcycle is named the "Schpeltiger", his ultimate sword has a 'Tiger' kanji on its hilt, and one of his final wrestling moves is the Tiger Suplex.
- Sagat from Street Fighter is the embodiment of this trope.
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- Ibuki is easily the most obvious example with Tanuki. She owns one as a pet, often has tanuki accessories and when the IV fighters got the wild animal set she is dressed as a... Tanuki. The last one is notable as others with similar motifs such as Abel wasn't dressed as a dog and Cammy wasn't dressed as a cat.
- The UDON comics take the tanuki association further than the games, her phone has a tanuki themed accessory in her comic, her bento box lunch at school literally has her food in the shape of a tanuki and she even gets rescued by tanuki at one point.
- Ibuki is easily the most obvious example with Tanuki. She owns one as a pet, often has tanuki accessories and when the IV fighters got the wild animal set she is dressed as a... Tanuki. The last one is notable as others with similar motifs such as Abel wasn't dressed as a dog and Cammy wasn't dressed as a cat.
- While it's not very overt, Hakumen of Blaz Blue apparently has a canine motif. His emblem is the ever-popular nine-tailed fox spirit, and his stage quote is "The wolf knows what the ill heart thinks." Catgirl Taokaka has the obvious theme, and then there's the playable Blob Monster Arakune, whose body is filled with decay...and insects. For bonus points, everyone except the Intentional Engrish for Funny announcer pronounces his name as "Arachnae" in the English dub.
- Hazama makes his snake motif really obvious when his drive is Ouroboros, he shoots snakes, he's responsible for creating the black beast which resemble the Orochi, a hydra like demon, he openly defies a god-like entity like the snaky devil, he wields a paired of knives which in some martial arts circle it is referred as the "Fang of the Snake", and it folds out with a curved blades just like the snake's fangs. Even a few characters compare him to a snake.
- A strange case, but Ragna is often compared to an "underdog". Hazama calls him an "adorable little puppy of a man", and Platinum compares him to a stray dog.
- There's also Makoto, who's Animal Motif is glaringly obvious.
- Assassin's Creed uses eagles for Desmond Miles' ancestors as well as their names (Altair is Arabic for "The Flying One" and Ezio is derived from aestos, which is Greek for "eagle"). There's also the genetic "Eagle Vision" that allows Desmond and his ancestors to spot out their targets and better analyze their surroundings.
- One of the developer's logs available online also mentions that the signature hood and cloak were designed to create the silhouette of a bird of prey during dramatic leaps.
- There's also the shape of the robes and hood: the tip of the hood resembles an eagle's head, and the below the waist the robes separate to resemble feathers.
- The final level of Assassin's Creed Revelations finally just says "to hell with subtlety" - Ezio goes parasailing behind a charging carriage, and dispatches mooks by dive-bombing them and slicing their necks with his twin blades.
- In Bioshock 2, Big Bad Sofia Lamb's cult uses the Butterfly to represent rebirth due to their belief in sacrificing the individual for the good of the group.
- It has other meanings behind it as well. The Adam-producing slug is seen as Rapture's current state (the caterpillar), with the butterfly being the Utopia that Rapture is destined to become through Lamb's cult.
- Some characters from .hack are associated with animals. For example, Atoli[1] from G.U., who also happens to love small birds.
- Many Touhou characters are animal youkai of various sorts, and dress in ways that evoke their original species, in addition to having odd features or Unusual Ears. Less animalistic youkai and humans sometimes have motifs, too, either evident in canon or bestowed by the fandom.
- Fujiwara no Mokou is associated with the phoenix because of her immortality and her fire powers.
- Goddess Suwako Moriya has an association with frogs. After defeating Suwako and taking over her shrine and worshippers, Kanako Yasaka adopted snakes as her symbol. Their shared shrine maiden Sanae Kochiya has a frog hairclip and a white snake in her hair.
- Neko Miko Reimu, ai shiteru!
- Sakuya Izayoi is frequently associated with dogs by fandom, because of her ferocity and loyalty to her master.
- And in the PC-98 exclusive Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream, Kana Anaberal has an association with birds, evident in her spellcard Soul Bird... and lampshaded by Kotohime, who asks in her victory quote if Kana is a birdkeeper.
- Most of the AI lords in Stronghold have animal nicknames with personalities to match.
- The noble chicken is a recurring motif in Fable III, representing a spirit that is unfortunately frequently taken advantaged of, yet yearns for freedom.
- Many of the chapters in the Rule of Rose involve animal motifs, such as 'The Bird of Happiness' and 'The Goat Sisters'. Even ones that don't often have an animal associated with them; 'Rag Princess' has pigs, for example. All these animals manifest as pseudo-humanoid enemies during the game, and seem to be inspired by animals kept in the orphanage.
- Advance Wars: Days of Ruin/Dark Conflict has the 12th Independent Legion, which uses a wolf as their symbol. In the US version their unit is nicknamed "Brenner's Wolves" after their leader, and Brenner's Leitmotif in the EU version (where he is called O'Brian) is named "Indomitable Wolf". Like a wolf pack, the Legion is very loyal to one another and work much like The Drifter, wandering from place to place as they're needed.
- Philemon of Persona is really big on Butterfly of Death and Rebirth, to the point Word of God says he's all the butterflies seen in the third and fourth games.
- Deliberately invoked by the faculty of Iris Academy in Magical Diary. All students are sorted into one of six houses based on their gender and personality traits. Horses, Butterflies and Snakes for girls. Wolves, Falcons and Toads for boys.
- In Mother 3, Porky Minch takes his unfortunate name and Fat Bastard status and has the audacity to turn it into an animal motif, theming his entire empire and the Pigmask Army after pigs.
- Ganondorf from the Zelda series has always had a pig/boar motif. He transforms into a boar-like creature called "Ganon" at some point in a lot of the games he appears in.
- Also, in The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past, people who enter the Dark Realm without the Moon Pearl transform into something reflecting their soul. When first entering, Link is transformed into a pink bunny to reflect his innocence. In The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, Link transforms into a wolf when in the Twilight Realm. Throughout the game there are references to Link in his human form having "the eyes of a beast".
- Split ships in the X Universe series are named for terrestrial predators, mainly reptiles (e.g. Python, Mamba). Boron ships are named for aquatic organisms (Octopus, Shark). Teladi ships are named for birds (Harrier, Phoenix).
- In EV Nova, the Federation fighters are the Viper (interceptor) and Anaconda (fighter-bomber). The Aurorans use the Firebird and Phoenix (overlap with Mythical Motifs). The Polaris name most of their ships after animals.
- The Four Great Knights of Gwyn in Dark Souls each have their own unique animal theme.
- The Boss is represented by a shark in Saints Row: The Third, seen with a gun, tattoos and other imagery. Both are known for violence and never stop until they achieve their objective, most often involving killing.
- Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia has a wolf motif, with his name literally meaning "little wolf", many of his artes having "wolf" in their names, and some of his artes like Lone Wolf Charge projecting a wolf-shaped battle aura.
- To a lesser degree, Tison has a snake motif, having some artes that are named after snakes, projecting snake-shaped battle auras, and also looking somewhat snake-like with his fangs and golden eyes.
- Rumble Roses has several
- Becky and Mistress going from their alignment change adapt rabbit themes with Becky being known as the "Rumble Bunny" and being acrobatic while Mistress adopts bunny visuals on her main outfit. Sebastian due to his association with Mistress also has them loosely.
- Aigle is associated with sheep in many ways, she uses sheep as analogies her SS costume is sheep themed and her SS intro actually has her chasing one to the ring.
- When Aigle turns into Great Khan she often talks about goats. Her SS outfit is also goat themed.
- Evil Rose has a cat theme but loses it once she moves on to be Noble Rose who trades the cat for a rose motif.
- Not animal related but still worth mentioning the Lady-X line is associated with Metal Gears from the series from the same name. Subsistance is even nicknamed "The Metal Gear".
- Pro Wrestling for the NES has Giant Panther and Great Puma. Puma even wears an appropriate mask.
- The Walking Dead:
- Kenny Jr. is nicknamed "Duck" after the phrase "water off a duck's back" since he's so hyper that any potentially hurtful remark has no apparent effect on him. His energetic and playful nature is also reminiscent of ducks, as Kenny alludes to when he first meets Lee. However, this starts eroding by episode 3, as Kenny tells Lee that Duck may be developing PTSD from the traumas he faced during the outbreak.
- Clementine has a horse motif in season 4. Her biker jacket is horse themed, with a horse skull patch on the back and badge reading "Silver Stallion" on her left sleeve. In episode 2, her nightmare features a black horse. This is driven home in episode 4, in a flashback. Clem was riding a horse when she was at the McCaroll Ranch, which was killed by one of the inhabitants. She also often attacks by kicking and has her leg cut off in an abandoned horse stable. Leg injuries are commonly associated with horses, because they're often a death sentence to them. Clem manages to pull through, but she's still disabled and will need to rely more on her new family from then on.
- The high-ranking Reapers in The World Ends With You, each have an (animal) Noise form that vaguely shadows their personality.
- Higashizawa: Ovis Cantus, the Ram - brutal power head-on, but blindly following orders (what is a ram but a male sheep, after all?).
- Minamimoto: Leo Cantus, the Lion - vicious claws backed by an unending drive to rule.
- Konishi: Tigrus Cantus, the Tiger - a sadistic fiend who toys with her victions on the end of her claws.
- Kitaniji: Anguis Cantus, the Snake - hidden in plain sight, coiling around his victims who don't see until too late that they're caught. After stealing Joshua's power, he becomes Draco Cantus, the Dragon, pure, desperate power.
- Hanekoma: Panthera Cantus, the Panther - a quiet hunter, much stronger than he appears.
Visual Novels[]
- Fate/stay night has Saber aka Arturia, the gender flipped version of King Arthur is often given a lion motif. Rider gets both horses for her ability to summon Pegasus and snakes as befits her real identity of Medusa.
- Don't forget Fujimura Taiga! Or actually, do, because she really doesn't like being compared to a tiger. One would think that she would stop wearing the yellow striped shirt and take the tiger strap off her shinai if that were the case, but... well, logic has never been her strong point.
- Tsukihime compared Arcueid to a cat a few times with her mood swings, occasionally impish nature and impulsive behavior. And Neko-Arc in the hints corner. Kagetsu Tohya took that and ran with it. Neko-Arc everywhere, a leopard booby trap in her underwear drawer (Yes, really) that eats Shiki, Arcueid in a catsuit, normal Arcueid with cat ears... Len also has a cat theme, but that really doesn't count considering what she is.
- In Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Beatrice is most frequently associated with golden butterflies (appearing early on a cloud of them), signifying the questionable nature of reality as presented in the series. Bernkastel, the self-entitled "cruelest Witch in the world", has a cat's tail. In what may have been a partial Cultural Cross-Reference, Battler is a few times compared to a Phoenix (for his determination).
- Kazuko in Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai is heavily associated with dogs. She is frequently depicted with dog ears, and occasionally a tail. She's trained to respond to a whistle and will run to the person who blows it whether she wants to or not. Most notably, though, she has two nicknames referencing dogs, Wanko (used by everyone) and Inu (used by Chris). On a lesser note, Mayucchi comes up with an animal motif for everyone.
- ↑ "atori"/brambling
- Back to Animal Motifs