Waterwraith: Difference between revisions

A "wraith" is a spirit, or a ghost, and the Waterwraith's name is a portmanteau of "water" and "wraith". In Japan, this creature is called {{j|アメボウズ|Ame Bouzu}}, in which {{j|ボウズ|Bouzu}} translates to "Priest", but the meaning behind {{j|アメ|Ame}} is more mysterious, in that it can either translate to "rain" or "candy". Both of these could refer to the creature's gelatinous body and also the fact that the majority of the treasures in the cave are candies. In addition, the name could be a portmanteau of "amoeba" (written in katakana like "ameba"), an unicellular organism usually found in water, and "umibōzu", which is, in Japanese folklore, a watery creature with a bald head similar to a monk.

 

Its scientific name, ''Amphibio sapiens'', uses the word ''amphibio'', similar to the English word "amphibious", and ''sapiens'', meaning "discerning" or "wise", and which is also part of the species name for the real world human, ''{{w|Homo sapiens|Homo sapiens}}''. This can be construed as both a reference to its humanoid shape, as well as it being essentially "living water". In any case, the scientific name can be translated to "wise water". Finally, this boss' internal name is <code>blackman</code>. The "man" part is naturally because of its human-like frame, and "black" is presumably due to the fact that it can turn purple when attacked by [[Purple Pikmin]] &ndash; during development, Purple Pikmin were given the name "black".

 

Interestingly, the names of the creature's animations inside the game's files refer to it as "Kagebōzu" ({{j|かげボウズ|Kagebōzu}}), which means "Shadow Priest". This indicates that, [[Pikmin 2 prerelease information|during development]], the Waterwraith's Japanese name was meant to be different.