u/ZackeryDaley

in the anime movie Paprika, the centerpiece is the parade of dreams, a massive unstoppable procession where household objects, mythic figures, advertisements, frogs playing trumpets, and historical icons march together in utter nonsesnse.

During the dream sequences, Characters speak in continous strings of sound alike puns, advertising slogans, and nursery rhymes that sound like japanese until you try to translate the literal meaning. The dialogue doesnt make sense on a linear narrative level, instead it operates via phrenetic wordplay and free assocaition, exactly like joyces portmanteau words.

Finnegans wake takes place in the mind of a sleeper whose subconcious bleeds into the collective history of mankind. in Paprika, a device allows the dreams to spill out of individual minds. merging the subconcouis states of dozens of people until the dream world physically consumes the real world.

While animes like Angels Egg capture the christian themes and viconian cycle, paprika captures the wakes actual execution.

Paprika is also where the movie inception came from

angels egg is something i found researching the surrounding myths and motifs of dark souls and later elden ring, it is the dark souls of anime movies lol. now the more i find out about eternal recurrence and finnegans wake im like, that reminds me of angels egg. It has little to no dialogue.

Both talk about cosmic eggs (ab avo)

Both deal in viconian cycles.

Both deal in the eternal flood and primordial fall

Both feel like a collective conscience or a dying dream.

Characters behave like archetypes not people

Both open and end in loops, use dream logic, and are about broken covenants in a post deluge age .

both have objects at the center, elusive artifacts that promise to contain answers, that dont. The letter in the wake vs the egg in angels egg

when i first saw angels egg i was like wtf is this about, same with elden ring, same with finnegans wake. now i get it lol

expanding on my take since people were having a hard time with my comparisons. the theme of eternal recurrence aside, here are some direct comparisons that may help.

Elden Ring Character = finnegans wake character = irish mythological character.

The Broken Rulers:

*Queen Marika the Eternal = Anna Livia Plurabelle (ALP) = Danu (The Divine Mother tied to the land/order)
* Radagon of the Golden Order = Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker (HCE) = The Dagda (The flawed, structural Patriarch)
* Godfrey, First Elden Lord = Tim Finnegan = Finn MacCool (The legendary giant/warrior who falls and returns)

The Twin Brothers (Order vs. Chaos):

 *Morgott, the Omen King = Shaun the Postman = Lugh Law-Giver (The dutiful son protecting the status quo)
* Mohg, Lord of Blood = Shem the Penman = Midir (The outcast twin operating in the deep underground)
* Sir Gideon Ofnir = Professor Jones (Jaun) = Ogma (The know-it-all scholar hoarding information/language)
* The Dung Eater = Glugg / Mercius = Crom Cruach (The bottom-tier defiler who spreads a generational curse)

The Divine Daughters & Maidens:

 *Ranni the Witch = Issy (as Isolde) = Étaín (The rebellious daughter shedding her physical form for autonomy)
* Melina = The Rainbow Girls = Áine (The ethereal, fire-linked guide who sacrifices herself)
* Malenia, Blade of Miquella = Nuvoletta = Macha (The undefeated female warrior who brings a destructive storm/rot)

The Catalysts of Destiny:

*Miquella the Kind = Tristram (Tristan) = Aengus Óg (The perpetually young youth with irresistible, tragic charisma)
* Godwyn the Golden = The Beloved Dead Son = Cian (The golden child whose murder triggers the collapse of the era)
* Rennala, Queen of the Moon = Kate the Clean (The Widow) = The Cailleach (The faded matriarch clinging to a relic in her isolation)
* Maliketh, the Black Blade = Buckley the Soldier = Cú Chulainn (The loyal beast-warrior holding the weapon of total destruction)

Cosmic Forces & Foes

* The Fire Giant = The Russian General = Balor of the Evil Eye (The ancient, massive giant with a destructive central eye)
* Praetor Rykard = The Serpent / Tempter = The Olliphéist (The noble who turns into a giant snake to consume the gods)
* Astel, Naturalborn of the Void = The Thunderword = Crom Dubh (The alien, star-born blast that levels civilization from above)

The Observers & Travelers

* The Two Fingers = The Two Washerwomen = The Badb / Nemain (The twin entities signaling/interpreting cosmic omens)
* Enia the Finger Reader = Maggy (The Letter-Finder) = Bébinn (The ancient crone decoding the garbled texts of fate)
* The Tarnished = The Cad / The Inquirer = Oisín (The exiled traveler returning to question a ruined landscape)
* Miriel, Pastor of Vows (Turtle) = The Four Old Men = The Four Masters (The slow, neutral chronicler keeping track of history)
* Blaidd the Half-Wolf = The Hound of HCE = Failinis (The fiercely loyal beast-companion bound to a royal master)
* Patches the Untethered = Hosty the Busker = The Púca (The ultimate trickster kicking you into a ditch for survival)
* Goldmask = The Twelve Citizens (Jury) = The Druids of Tara (The silent purists calculating the absolute law of the cosmos)
* Fia, Deathbed Companion = ALP's Last Monologue = The Morrígan (The comforting entity of the end who embraces the fallen)

I am finding Finnegans Wake and Elden ring Share quite a bit of motif and myth sharing. they seem to be base on the same irish/celtic myths, have a similiar story structure. On paper, a weird 1939 modernist novel and a 2022 dark fantasy RPG shouldn't have much overlap. But Finnegans Wake and Elden Ring are actually built on the exact same foundation. They're both notoriously dense and refuse to hand-hold, forcing you to act like an archaeologist just to piece together their shattered lore. Finnegans Wake is known as one of the most difficult books ever and I haven't read it fully. From what i understand its heavily influenced joseph cambell who studied it immensley and i have read his works and many irish myths. Does anyone else notice this relationship or does this make any sense?