Kingdom Hearts 3: Road to Damascus
One of the special features in the too-long anticipated latest installment of the official Disney-Final Fantasy fanfiction, Kingdom Hearts 3, is the ability to upgrade your Keyblade (the sword of the game) using the gems and crystals you find throughout the various Disney Worlds. One such necessary gem is called Damascus, and during the first half of the game it's a difficult gem to find. Why is it on this list of allusions? Have you ever heard of a man named Paul, formerly known as Saul?
St. Paul is one of the most famous evangelists in Christianity, with several of his letters (authentic and attributed) included in most versions of the Christian Bible. The Acts of the Apostles also chronicles his conversion and preaching. Why bring him up here? Well he wasn't always a model of Christian preaching; he actually started persecuting the followers of the Jesus Movement (as this was still a time when the followers of Jesus were figuring out if they were a new religion all together or a branch of Judaism). In Acts 9:1-22 (chapter 9, versus 1-22, if you weren't raised in a Christian household), Saul's conversion to the Jesus Movement, and subsequent rechristening as Paul, is detailed. The Caravaggio painting to the right depicts the most significant moment in this selected reading - the moment of Paul's conversion on the road to pick up official warrants to arrest any followers of Jesus.
Would you like to guess which city he was heading to? I'll give you three chances, and the first two don't count... Right! Damascus! Saul's spiritual conversation with Jesus and his subsequent blinding, leading to his arrival in Damascus and conversion, is commonly referred to as the Road to Damascus.
This moment in Biblical history has been alluded to in various forms of literature, from personal autobiographies to fictional works, and has inspired various forms of art. So why is this term used in an international Japanese game, based on American intellectual property? Well, one reason could be that because the Road to Damascus is an allusion that, at its core, represents change (ideally change in the right way, a way that can make one stronger or wiser); it makes sense to name a gem used in changing your weapon to be better than it was before after this moment which is about one of the most influential religious personal changes in Western history.
Another reason is because of how global our world is, and how international this game is. It's unsurprising that a Christian allusion would make its way into such a game. While we can debate the positive merits of the global spread of Christianity, we can't deny that it presently is one of the most subscribed to religions in the world. Thus, it could be assumed that at least a portion of the global audience which may play this game will understand that this gem is named for an important change. This portion of players will get the allusion (like I did after a few hours of frustration about how scarce this gem is in the game); those who don't won't lose anything game-wise, but those who do get to both understand the reference and ask why is a common Christian reference coming into my game about the battle between light, darkness, and a young man who is the only one who can bring peace to a warring universe and restore those who have disappeared (i.e. - died...ish)... with Donald Duck and Goofy Goof at his side.
(Not mine - original tumblr post here.)
So what do you think about this? Is it just a bunch of hot air? Can you see something similar happening in a text you enjoy reading, watching, or playing? What's the dynamic going on there?