Legion (demon) in popular culture

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"My name is Legion" is a quotation from the Gospel according to Mark and refers to a story in which Jesus meets a man possessed by demons, and who, when asked what his name is, responds:

"My name is Legion, for we are many."

The quotation has been referenced and alluded to many times throughout history in popular culture.

Contents 1 In books 2 In video games 3 In television 4 In music 5 In film 6 On the Internet 7 In comics 8 In history 9 Notes

[edit] In books

• My Name is Legion is a 1976 compilation of three stories by Roger Zelazny.

• My Name is Legion is a 1999 crime novel by Sheila Martin Berry.

• My Name is Legion is a 2004 novel by A. N. Wilson.

• O Meu Nome É Legião ("My Name is Legion" in Portuguese) is a 2007 novel by António Lobo Antunes.

• Legion, whose name is Andre Linoge (an anagram of Legion), is the villain in Stephen King's story Storm of the Century
• Randall Flagg, the villain in Stephen King's The Stand, refers to himself as Legion and has a trace memory of being kicked into a herd of pigs by Jesus.

• "We are Myria LeJean" is used to introduce this character in Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time. She is a manifestation of an auditor, a being which will be destroyed if it shows any sign of individuality. "Myria" is easily associated with "myriad", and "LeJean" with "legion", alluding to this bible passage.

• Legion makes a brief appearance in Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, a novel by Christopher Moore : after Joshua takes Legion out of a large, insane man with broken teeth and frothing and sends it into a herd of pigs. The man decides to spread the good news to his village. Then the pigs run into the water and drown which causes the villagers to be angry with them shouting stuff such as, "WHO DROWNED OUR PIGS!" and "THEY DROWNED OUR PIGS THOSE FUCKERS!" Were then Joshua, Biff, and the rest of the holy crew left.

[edit] In video games

• Legion is the main antagonist to Acclaim's Shadow Man. Their role in the game was trying to harness the power of the dark souls and bring about the Apocalypse or The End of All Things. They were stopped by Michael LeRoi (a.k.a. Shadow Man) and in the end, died a horrible fate.
• In the video game series Castlevania, Legion is a recurring boss. It is usually presented as a round orb or manifestation of countless naked bodies.
• In Mass Effect, if the character asks Sovereign how many Reapers exist, he replies, "We are Legion."
• In the video game Manhunt 2, a gang named The Legion, sometimes say "Our Name is Legion, for we are many", this can also be heard in the beginning of one of the trailers for the game.
• In the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 introduction movie Kain states : "But each of us is so much more than we once were. Do you not feel with all your soul how we have become like gods? And as such, are we not indivisible? As long as a single one of us stands, we are legion..."
• In the Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars expansion pack, Kane's Wrath, the player plays the role of an AI called LEGION who, in the third act of game is ordered to command army of cyborgs. Kane states : "You are Legion"

[edit] In television

• In the series finale of Angel, a television series and spin off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marcus Hamilton (Adam Baldwin) uses the quote, "We Are Legion. We are Forever." to describe himself just before being defeated by Angel.

• In American horror television series Millennium in the episode "The Judge", a serial killer employs delinquents and ex-convicts to brutally murder, and carry out his "justice". When arrested and interviewed by former FBI Agent Frank Black, he follows Frank's question of "What should I call you?" with "My name is Legion".

• "My name is Legion, for we are many" is also quoted by one of the demons of the Seven Deadly Sins in the American action-drama Supernatural.

• Legion appears in the British Television series Red Dwarf in the episode "Legion". He is a being composed of many separate minds like the biblical text and also uses the biblical quote "My Name is Legion for we are many".

• The title of the episode "Legion" from the animated series Gargoyles is an allusion to the Biblical quotation. The episode features a cyborg possessed by multiple spirits of dead Gargoyles.

• In a Saturday Night Live sketch titled "Duluth Live", Will Forte's character says, "Oh, Thunderbird Spirit! I see old glory over on the horizon! I see the tattered standard of an invading army and their numbers are Legion!"

[edit] In music

• "My Name is Legion" is a song by Electric Hellfire Club from the album "Witness The Millennium". There is a line stating, "My name is Legion: for I'm many".
• In a Black Sabbath song called "I" appears a line, "I am Legion, strength in numbers a lie, the number is one"
• The Demons & Wizards song "Crimson King" contains the line, "I am Legion." This song is actually about Stephen King's Dark Tower where Randall Flagg is one of the villains.
• Legion is the name of a song by Theatre of Hate
• Legion is also the name of a song by Gothic Metal band Saviour Machine
• Drum & Bass Musician Breakage released a song entitled 'The 9th Hand' on Planet Mu in 2006 which contained the sample, "My name is Legion, for we are many."
• Legion is the name of a song by the band Winds of Plague.
• "Mi nombre es Legión" ("My name is Legion", in Spanish) is a song by Spanish band Siniestro Total, written for the soundtrack of El día de la bestia (The Day of The Beast), a movie by director Álex de la Iglesia. Its opening line says "My name is Legion/for we are many, we are multitude".

[edit] In film

• Legion is mentioned in the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose

• Legion has a more substantial presence in the indie horror film 5ive Girls.

• "My name is Leeeeeeeeeeegion, for we are many," is quoted by Blackheart, the lead antagonist from the 2007 movie "Ghost Rider", after merging with one thousand souls of the damned.

• In the 1996 Daiei film, "Gamera 2: Advent of Legion", the titular monster Gamera battles an insectoid monster dubbed "Legion" by the Japanese military, due to the fact that the creature 'commands' an immense army of smaller creatures which appear to be smaller versions of itself. A Japanese soldier also quotes the biblical scripture in Mark to which the name is a reference.

• In a Stephen King film, "Storm of the Century," the antagonist had identified himself as Legion, with his original name being Andre Linoge (an anagram of Legion).

[edit] On the Internet

• "We are Legion" is one of the various mottos used frequently by the Internet-based group Anonymous and popularized through Project Chanology, their protest against the Church of Scientology.^[1][2][3]
• The infamous TheGreatHatsby bot has been known to call itself legion:

"FangedSalmon (12:22:08 AM): We are legion. The time of our return is coming. Our numbers will darken the sky of every world. You cannot escape your doom."

[edit] In comics

• Legion is the name of Xavier's son in X-men. He's a mutant suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder (now called Dissociative Identity Disorder), with each personality possessing a different power, thus being "one and many".

[edit] In history

• "Our name is Legion, and we are Many" is from Daniel Defoe's "Legion's Memorial," delivered to the British House of Commons on May 14, 1701, in which Defoe defends the right to petition, claiming to represent 200,000 petitioners.^[4]

[edit] Notes