Naga in popular culture

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In modern fantasy fiction, members of a race with both snake and human characteristics (usually having only a human head) are often called nagas. This comes from the legendary creatures called nagas in Hindu mythology.

[edit] Modern Nagas

The modern Naga, which is occasionally seen in television, film and other popular culture, has altered greatly from the classical mythological definition. They tend to be pictured as a melding of human and snake as opposed to the aforementioned style of a mermaid of half one creature and half another.

In the game Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Nagas are Night Elves that were driven underwater and eventually mutated into snake-like creatures. They reside in their city Nazjatar. Naga also appear in the Final Fantasy Series, Legend of the Five Rings, Dungeons & Dragons, and many other products. A game called Sansara Naga was made for the Game Boy Advance. Deis, also called Bleu, a character from the Breath of Fire series of video role-playing games, is a naga. In the Heroes of Might and Magic series, Nagas are creatures with the upper body of a woman, the lower body and tail of a serpent (in the style of a mermaid), and six arms, the multiple arms perhaps inspired by the stereotype of Hindu deities. (Note that this description also matches that of a "Marilith" demon from Dungeons & Dragons.)

In the anime Ronin Warriors, it is speculated that Naaza/Sekhmet, Warlord of Venom, may in fact be a part of a family of nagas.

In Piers Anthony's Xanth series, a kingdom of nagas lives in caves and fights with goblins.

In the PC game Guild Wars Factions, the Naga are also a hostile race who have a deep hatred of humans and Tengu.

Nagas have also featured into several "tabletop" games. Nagas the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game as a variety of similar species with widely differing abilities and alignments. Also, in the asian mythology-inspired "Legend of the Five Rings" collectible card game and role-playing game, the Naga appear as a playable race.

In an episode of the Aladdin (TV series), Princess Jasmine and Aladdin are transformed into Naga-like beings.

There are also several fantasy artists on websites such as Elfwood and deviantART who feature nagas in their artwork.

In the RPG Chrono Trigger for the SNES, an early enemy fought is a Naga, unsurprisingly called Naga-ette.

A Naga is the name of a monster in the Monster Rancher game and TV series. The Nagas are depicted as a humanoid serpent with stingers on their tails.

Marvel Comics features a super villain known as Naga. This Naga is a sorcerer, a king and a snake man (with green scales covering his skin) who lived and died many centuries ago.

In the Harry Potter novels, Harry's nemesis Lord Voldemort has a familiar in the form of a huge snake named Nagini.