Dagon in popular culture

The Semitic god Dagon has appeared in many works of literature and popular culture.

For eponymous works and other uses of the name Dagon, see Dagon (disambiguation).

Literature
  • Dagon appears in John Milton's epic poems Samson Agonistes and Paradise Lost as one of the deities the Philistines worship.
  • H. P. Lovecraft wrote a short story called "Dagon" that was highly influential on later horror and weird fiction writers
  • In Malachi Martin's historical novel King of Kings: a Novel of the Life of David.[1] Dagon is the main deity of the Philistines, orchestrating a great war against the Hebrews and their God, Adonai.
  • Dagon is the main deity of the Philistines in Harry Turtledove's short story "Occupation Duty".
  • The slogan "DAGON SHALL RETURN" is a recurring theme within Simon R. Green's novels, often appearing as graffiti in places such as the Nightside and Haven
  • In "The Magician" by Michael Scott, Dagon is portrayed as a man with fish eyes and pale skin, and is an old enemy of Scathach and a friend/chauffeur of Machiavelli.
  • Herr Goering's artifact by Anders Fager features a statue of Dagon said to have been obtained from a Lovecraftian undersea cult.
  • Several books in the Discworld refer back to the late Mr. Hong, who met a horrible fate (the specifics of which are frequently contradicted between tellings) after he established the Three Jolly Luck Take-Away Bar on the former site of a fish-god temple on Dagon Street. These tales are usually an incitement to not repeat his mistake, and steer clear of elder gods.
  • Dagon appears in the novel Good Omens, though he does not make a physical appearance as he does in the TV series.

Games
  • In the video game Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Dagon is an underwater boss, depicted as a two-bodied frog/lizard/tadpole amalgamation, that can suck up an entire room filled with water and shoot it as a weapon. The upper lizard-like head is the vulnerable one.
  • In the game Lost Magic, the Dagon is the greater form of the Hydra, a nautilus-like monster, only fire-type.
  • In the video-game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the main antagonist, the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Change, Revolution, Energy, and Ambition is named Mehrunes Dagon. Mehrunes Dagon also featured in several of the other Elder Scrolls games.
  • In the MMORPG RF Online, Dagon appears as an incredibly powerful Boss. Two others are named Dagan and Dagnu.
  • Dagon was featured as a cult god in the game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.
  • In the video game The Witcher, Dagon is a deity that lives at the bottom of the lake.
  • In the MMORPG RuneScape, Dagannoths are large amphibious beings.
  • In Devil May Cry 4, Dagon is a boss character, resembling a giant toad, that is fought by Nero and Dante.
  • Dagon is the first of Rahab's three forms in The Ocean Hunter, shown as a humanoid walking on all fours
  • In the Fantasy Flight Games board game Arkham Horror, Dagon appears as one of the Great Old Ones the players try to prevent from arising. In the "Innsmouth Horror" expansion to Arkham Horror, Father Dagon is one of the two Heralds who act against the players by trying to arouse Cthulhu.
  • The video game Culdcept features a card named Dagon, a rare and powerful creature that can be considered a "lord" of blue (Water element) creature cards.
  • In the game Conan Exiles the player has to face the god Dagon in the dungeon "The Sunken City".
  • In Glory of Deep Skies (a Touhou Project fangame), Dagon appears as a female water and agriculture god named Toyomi Endou. She is the Stage 3A boss.

Music

Film and television
  • In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Order of Dagon were the protectors of the Key. The Dagon Sphere was an orb that weakened the god Glory.
  • In the anime series The Big O, the robot in episode 7 is named Dagon and went by the nickname "Sea Titan". Dagon was easily destroyed by Big O's Sudden Impact.
  • In the anime series Demonbane, Dagon was an old evil god brought back to life using the R'lyeh Text, it was easily destroyed by Demonbane but not without a long battle.
  • In the Japanese series Mahou Sentai Magiranger, the ruthless leader of the Hades Gods (and he who seeks to finish the Divine Punishment to make sure that N Ma would return to his former power) is named Hades Wise God Dagon.
  • In the film The Evil Dead, Dagan is one of the five Kandarian demons, and apparently their leader. He is manifested into physical form at the end of Evil Dead II and sent back through time, where he later combines with Ash's dark side to become Evil Ash in Army of Darkness, and is destroyed by Ash at the end.
  • The demon of note in the film Devil's Harvest starring Brian Blessed is referred to as Dagan.
  • In the film Blade Trinity, Dracula/Drake's backstory is detailed to Blade. He was born around the 5th or 4th millennium BCE in the "cradle of civilization" of ancient Sumer, Mesopotamia. He was worshipped by the Babylonians as the Vampire God "Dagon", the progenitor of the vampire race.
  • In the animated series Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, a cult named "The Flame-keeper's Circle" worship and await the return of a squid-like alien 'knowledge-bringer' named "Dagon". Unbeknownst to the cult, he is actually an extra-dimensional demonic entity who tried to invade this dimension. He was banished during the Middle Ages back to his dimension when the immortal knight Sir George defeated him by cutting out his heart with a powerful sword, given to him by an alien. Dagon was a main antagonist of the season.
  • In Digimon Adventure Zero Two, there is an Ultimate Digimon called Dragomon (In original Japanese language, his name is Dagomon, a reference to the same Dagon)
  • In the Supernatural season 12 episode "Stuck in the Middle (With You)", Dagon was referred to as a "Prince/Princess of Hell," along with Azazel, Ramiel and Asmodeus. Before being killed by the Winchesters, Ramiel notes that Dagon has an interest in Lucifer's child. Dagon becomes a recurring villain in season 12 before being killed by the angel Castiel and the Nephilim son of Lucifer in "The Future".
  • In Guillermo del Toro's 2017 film The Shape of Water several allusions are made to Samson, Delilah, and Samson tearing down the temple of the Philistines (the Temple of Dagon). In the film Colonel Strickland likens himself to Samson having his power taken away from him by a facility cleaner named Zelda Delilah, and tells her about Samson pulling down the two columns of the temple as he rips off two of his own fingers. The image of the creature in the film may be likened to the "fish-man" interpretation of Dagon.
  • In Arcana Studio's 2017 animated feature Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom, Dagon is featured as the ruler of the Undersea Kingdom (Y’ha-nthlei). [3]
  • In Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, the film shows the king of Nineveh listening to Jonah's message and repenting along with the rest of the city after finding out that Jonah was in the belly of a whale, whom is referred to as the deified "great fish" the Ninevites worship. In a behind the scenes featurette on Big Idea Productions' analysis of the Biblical story of Jonah, Phil Vischer explained that they based this on Assyrian worship of Dagon as a fish god, so as to explain the Ninevites' repentance as understanding that Dagon as the "great fish" was subordinate to God.[4]
  • In Good Omens, Dagon is a demon played by Elizabeth Berrington (voiced by Nicholas Parsons).[5]

Comics
  • In Alex Ross' Project Superpowers series, Dagon appears in present-day California and terrorizes the locals in order to draw out the hero Samson and test his faith in the Judeo-Christian God.
  • In the BPRD comics, the merman-like character Abe Sapien is often referred to as 'son of Dagon'.
  • In Godzilla: Aftershock, a creature the same species as Godzilla is believed by the ancient Phoenicians to be Dagon.

Paleontology


References
  1. Martin, Malachi, King of Kings: a Novel of the Life of David, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1980 ISBN 0-671-24707-7
  2. "Those Whom The Gods Detest by NILE - info and shop at Nuclear Blast - Nuclear Blast". www.nuclearblast.de.
  3. Howard Lovecraft & the Undersea Kingdom, retrieved 2018-09-17
  4. VeggieTales - Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie - Jonah and the Bible, retrieved 2020-11-01
  5. Good Omens (TV Mini-Series 2019) - IMDb, retrieved 2021-01-10
  6. https://videnskab.dk/naturvidenskab/soenderjysk-oldtidshval-skal-hedde-mojn
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