schafpudel:

In Mother 3, quite a few things are named after dragons.

The most obvious examples include the English word “dragon,“ which is represented in the original Japanese version as ドラゴン (doragon). In the fan translation, all of these references to dragons are intact and obvious.

The Dark Dragon (闇のドラゴン)(yami no doragon), a massive creature of incredible power sleeping under the Nowhere Islands. Awaking it, and potentially recreating or destroying the world, is a major focus of the game’s plot  from Chapter 7 onwards.

Dragos (ドラゴ)(dorago), a friendly species of theropod dinosaur, resembling tyrannosaurs with green scales and pale chest markings. They live in the mountains on the northern end of the main island.

Ancient Dragonflies (
ドラゴンむし)(doragon mushi), fire-breathing insects with serpentine bodies and eared, crocodilian heads. They live in the swamps of Tanetane Island.

Dragon Power (ドラゴンパワー)(doragon
pawā), a currency introduced to the nowhere islands by the Pigmasks and their ruler.

However, there are two other, more subtle dragon-related names in Mother 3. These usually go unnoticed because they involve sneaking native Japanese terms for dragons into western or pseudo-western names. When they are noticed, there’s some debate among fans as to whether or not they’re even intended to be dragon references.

Tazmily Village (タツマイリむら)(tatsumairi mura)

is typically written that way in roman letters by both Japanese and Western official sources, so that’s clearly the intended pronunciation and spelling. But it’s interesting that its kana spelling starts with tatsu, isnt it? Fan translators once considered translating the town name as “Dragonstep Village,“ before they learned of the town’s official romanization.

And then there’s the game’s protagonist: a traumatized, sensitive young man; The only person with the power to pull out the rapier-like “needles“ that keep the chthonic dragon in its slumber.

(Hmm…isn’t this just the myth of a dragonslayer, played in reverse? Stab the sword in to slay the dragon; pull the needle out to revive it.)

In the Japanese version of the game, the pronunciation of the name Lucas (リュカ)(ryuka) is based on the
French pronunciation, where the ‘s’ is silent. This is because Lucas and
Claus are named after the twins in
Agota Kristof’s novel The Notebook, which was written in French, and translated into Japanese directly from the French version. So, there’s a literary allusion and an anagram.

However,
リュ (ryu) is also the katakana spelling for the spoken
pronunciation of 竜, the kanji for “dragon.” Another possible pun in Lucas’ name, visual instead of spoken: the katakana カ (ka) has a strong visual resemblance to the 力, the kanji for “power.“

If both these things are intentional, and not merely a coincidence… then Lucas’ name has a hidden meaning, one already translated for us English-speakers by the Pigmask’s bizarrely-named money.

“Dragon Power.“