Marduk in popular culture

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The Mesopotamian deity Marduk is often referenced or depicted in popular culture.

Contents 1 Music 2 Films and television 3 Computer and video games 4 Literature 5 Role-playing games

[edit] Music

• Marduk is the name of a black metal band from Sweden.

[edit] Films and television

• In the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, Marduk is a Goa'uld System Lord who was betrayed by his own priests. He was left trapped in a sarcophagus with a flesh-eating parasite which would continually eat away at his flesh as he was being perpetually revived.
• In the anime movie Metropolis, the Marduk are a quasi-fascist, anti-robot secret police force that plays a key role in the plot of the overall story.
• In the OVA Macross II a race called the Marduk enslaves a large number of Zentraedi (giant cloned warriors) and use them to attack Earth.
• In Neon Genesis Evangelion, the Evangelion pilots are chosen by a mysterious organization called the "Marduk Institute." The Institute is actually a front for SEELE, who are in possession of secret Dead Sea scrolls that fortell the fate of humanity and the end of the world.
• In the episode "Stimutacs" of the cult animated series Sealab 2021, Marduk is mentioned as, "son of Ea, Slayer of Tiamat" and a sun God, living within the smart version of the normally stupid character Stormy Waters, and with Sparks later in the episode telling him to "Eat more pills, pillhead" and ending the episode playing guitar with Sparks on drums, a metal version of the ending theme song.
• In the Real Ghostbusters episode I Am The City, Marduk visits Manhattan, though Tiamat follows when Marduk's visit causes problems, and the two must do battle. The Ghostbusters help, the end result seemingly eliminating both Marduk and Tiamat. Marduk, however, merely changed his form after the battle so as not to attract Tiamat's attention.

[edit] Computer and video games

• In the PC game Nethack, the introductory text refers to 'the book of Marduk, the creator.'
• In the PC game Septerra Core, Marduk is an ancient messiah figure with many parallels to Christ.
• In the PC game Sacrifice, the villanous demon-god who attempts to destroy the game world is named Marduk.
• In Namco's Tekken 4 and Tekken 5, one of the playable characters is named Craig Marduk.
• In the PlayStation 2 game Wild Arms 3, Marduk is a secret boss that possessed a battle tournament host.
• In the PC game Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, the final boss is a winged god known as "Lord Marduk" who crossed over to Earth from the Aetherium and possessed the main character's love interest Sophia Hapgood.
• In the MMORPG Ragnarok Online, Marduk is the name of a monster.
• In the MMORPG World of Warcraft, Marduk Blackpool is the name of an NPC who accompanies Vectus in Scholomance.
• In the SNES Seiken Densetsu 3, Marduk is summoned as a god with four wings and four eyes to damage enemies.
• In the SNES RPG Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story, Marduk is the name of an antagonist, a counterpart to Sailor Jupiter
• In Valheru MUD (Multi-User_Dungeon), Marduk is a dragon-hunter, set on destroying Tiamat, mother of dragons.

[edit] Literature

• In both the Ancient Future trilogy and the Celestial Triad by author Traci Harding, Marduk is a Nephilim, the son of Enki and father of the Chosen Ones. Tracy Harding's Trilogies are based almost entitely on Mesopotamian and Sumerian mythology.

• In the books March Upcountry, March to the Sea, March to the Stars, and We Few books by John Ringo and David Weber, Marduk is the name of a hot jungle world inhabited by 3-metre tall humanoid aliens with four arms. The planet also has many deadly beasts and ship-eating fish. The tech level is in the early gunpowder era, before the Industrial Revolution.

• In the book Servant of the Bones by Anne Rice, Marduk is a character from the protagonist's past in Babylon.

• Marduk is the name of a planet in Keith Laumer's Retief stories and novels.

• Marduk is the name of a planet in H. Beam Piper's 'Terro-Human' future history stories and novels.

• Is mentioned in Victor Pelevin's novel Omon Ra.

[edit] Role-playing games

• Marduk and other gods of the Babylonian and Sumerian pantheons appeared initially in the first edition of Deities & Demigods, an index used in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

• He also appears in the PC game Septera Corre.

• A demon going by the name of Marduk appeared to be the main antagonist behind "The Traveler Saga" in the Living Greyhawk Veluna regional campaign. The series was never completed.