Cyberpunk 2077: Allegories from Greek Mythology (SPOILER WARNING)

[Draymar23]

To start this off, I have just finished Cyberpunk 2077 and absolutely loved it. Yes there were some technical issues and the game was a bit too short for my liking but lets just appreciate how well done this game was made. Anyways being somebody who is very much in love with Greek mythology and well versed I definitely saw some definite allegories from that in the characters, factions and world. With cyberpunk as a genre using symbolism, themes and allegories from philosophical themes, religions and mythologies I thought I would explore this further

But lets get started (note: I am going by the Sun ending SPOILERS BEWARE)


V- GREEK HERO (Photo below is of my V)

V's story is definitely that of the Greek Hero. V has a massive impact on the people and of Night City just like those of ancient Greece with a demigod status gained from the Relic. Through this realization of destiny V goes on her Heroes journey being assisted by the supporting characters and legends of Night City. This becomes even more pronounced in the Sun ending when you attack Arasaka Tower with the aid of Rogue and Johnny. Also like all Greek Heroes, V will die eventually no matter what ending, a tragic fate with almost all Greek Heroes


JOHNNY SILVERHAND: DIONYSUS/ZEUS

johnny Silverhand, like Dionysus, is a hedonist, a patron of the arts and a total wild child. Johnnys crusade in the 2020s is similar to Dionysus' War in India for the fact that despite being the artistic God of Theatre, Dionysus like Johnny was also a warrior. Also in Greek mythology Dionysus was torn apart by the Titans which is very reminiscent of when Johnny's body was destroyed via Soulkiller. Another thing to note is that in Dionysian rituals, as the God of Wine, his followers would drink wine and enter a state of ecstasy and ritual madness where Dionysus would possess the body of devotee. Are you guys seeing the similarity. On a smaller note in the Arasaka Tower attack, Johnny defeating Adam Smasher is reminiscent of Zeus victory over Typhon. Also Johnny's infidelity towards Rogue is similar to to Zeus' infidelity towards Hera. Zeus also is the god who has set all Greek Heroes on their journey, just like Silverhand does with V


ROGUE: HERA/ATHENA

Rogue in my opinion is a combination of two goddesses. On one hand just like Hera is the Queen of the Gods, Rogue is named the Queen of The Afterlife, also she bears the same jealousy and resentment of infidelity towards Johnny that Hera bared for Zeus. On the other hand Rogue like Athena Goddess of War is an exceptional military strategist with wisdom beyond her years acting as a direct contrast to Adam Smashers equivalent of Ares


ADAM SMASHER: ARES/TYPHON

Adam Smasher is very very similar to Ares in the sense, he is a bloodthirsty, psychotic killer but without the brains of Athena's, Rogue. Also unlike Ares, Adam Smasher, like Typhon is a literal physical monster, the pure embodiment of terror and chaos. Keeping in mind his defeat by Zeus and we have a real parallel


ALT CUNNINGHAM: PERSEPHONE

As we all know from the lore and playing the game Alt is kidnapped by Arasaka and put through Soulkiller. This is very similar to two myths regarding Persephone. Hades abducts Persephone to make her Queen of the Underworld and in another myth Zeus kills her when she looks upon his true form which in turn leads to the Orphic rebirth of Dionysus. This all combines together into the story and Johnny's journey into the Net to ask for Alts aid is an allegory for Dionysus' descent into the Underworld to rescue Persephone

ARASAKA: TITANS

Strong, powerful, evil, immovable, these are all traits associated with the titans. Uranus the grandfather of Zeus personifies the sky just like Saburo Arasaka the man at the top represents rulership from the highest point of Night City. Saburo Arasaka's death at the hands of Yorinobu Arasaka is reminiscent of Cronus killing Uranus, his own father. The Titans, tear apart Dionysus, Arasaka uses Soulkiller on Johnny Silverhand. The Titans create Typhon, Arasaka creates Adam Smasher and Johnny fights them all with the aid of Rogue just like Athena did with Zeus during the Titanomachy, the war against the Titans. Lastly Arasaka Tower is the place where their Corpo employees work from just like Tartaros is where the Titans abide. Both are places of eternal suffering


AFTERLIFE: MOUNT OLYMPUS

Mount Olympus was the home of gods and heroes, The Afterlife is the home of Night City legends. Run by Rogue, who is basically Hera Queen of the Gods and we have a match especially if V takes Rogues place in running the Afterlife. No more to say here


If anyone has picked up on anything else in the game taken from Greek mythology feel free to add to it as this is all I got atm.




Well done CDPR on a great game that will become a masterpiece when all bugfixes are implemented in future patches

 

[Guest 4406876]

Nice adaptation. It's one of the things that appear evident from Mythology that Gods represent sins and virtues of humans and nature elements. As such they can be applied to almost everything and every situation because they are , let's say, universal in concept since they represent such intimate and primordial features.

I'm not sure they are exactly recreated in CP77 with will of doing so, but some lines in the story might suggest it.

I'd also mention Chronos and his spawn Aether that , even if not directly tied to characters, they are extremely present.
Chronos fo obvious reasons.
Aether can be adapted by the difference that "low level people live in" compared to "high class people" and this adapts pretty well to any cyberpunk society that develops vertically on a wealth level.

I don't really see Chaos being present in its pure Greek idea.

 

[Draymar23]

Nice adaptation. It's one of the things that appear evident from Mythology that Gods represent sins and virtues of humans and nature elements. As such they can be applied to almost everything and every situation because they are , let's say, universal in concept since they represent such intimate and primordial features.

I'm not sure they are exactly recreated in CP77 with will of doing so, but some lines in the story might suggest it.

I'd also mention Chronos and his spawn Aether that , even if not directly tied to characters, they are extremely present.
Chronos fo obvious reasons.
Aether can be adapted by the difference that "low level people live in" compared to "high class people" and this adapts pretty well to any cyberpunk society that develops vertically on a wealth level.

I don't really see Chaos being present in its pure Greek idea.

If you were to look at the philososphy behind Jungian psychology it is very influenced by Greek mythology. To Jung, Chaos was the void that made up the unconscious which is where the Shadow Self lives, the darkest most sinister parts within the human mind. To become the Hero one must slay the dragon and have the conscious self achieve victory over the unconscious self or the Shadow. If you look at Johnnys arc, he overcomes his Shadow Self and becomes more sympathetic. Arasaka, by Jungian analysis would be consumed by the Shadow and chaos. Now Aether was seen to be the light within the darkness of chaos. Aether was also seen as the upper atmosphere where the gods breathed. So if Arasaka is consumed by darkness, then where in Night City does Aether dwell if Aether is the light? Maybe, despite not having massive towers and all the riches of Arasaka, people like Johnny, Rogue and Alt are the Aether and since they represent the voiceless, the downtrodden and the weak, maybe the people are the true rulers of Night City because unlike corpos they face the Shadow head on more willingly. Really lends itself to the concept of "we the people" but of course Jungian psychology in regards to chaos is more of an extension of Greek mythological concepts, might be a misinterpretation on his part