Where did the entire "single demonic arm" fantasy gimmick start?

Where did the entire "single demonic arm" fantasy gimmick start?

You see this fairly often in Japanese media, but it shows up in Western works and even tabletop RPGs as well.

Off the top of my head, one of D&D 4e's character themes (Misshapen) gives you such an arm, the 4e Dungeon Master's Guide 2 has a sidebar on a Sigilian street urchin with a demon arm, Pathfinder Path of War's fiendbound marauder archetype has this arm, and one of the two human entries in 13th Age's core bestiary has a demon arm.

Do enough people really consider it a power fantasy or a horrific curse to have a single demonic arm?

Other urls found in this thread:

youtu.be/i4HC4amBQJU
youtube.com/watch?v=P99bYXNBAhQ
youtube.com/watch?v=MTGlrcReWrk
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Götz_von_Berlichingen
twitter.com/AnonBabble

It shows up MUCH more in Japanese-inspired works then American ones, especially the type you're talking about where the limb has actual superpowers the rest of the body has not.
The earliest example in Western fantasy that I can find is the comic Claw the Unconqured, in which the Conan-knockoff hero has a deformed, claw-like left hand that otherwise functions exactly like his other arm.
The examples you cited are all from the late 00's, which while some time ago now is well over seven or eight years after anime increasingly became consumed by the American public.

I don't know exactly where the Japanese thing for it comes from, beyond a desire for artists to draw their character's differently.

>Where did the entire "single demonic arm" fantasy gimmick start?

Pirates.
Later picked up and expanded on because it provides and interesting asymmetry.

In the west the weapon is seen as tool of the warrior. In eastern literature it is an extension of his honor, soul or will, in a way an integral part of the warrior. Thus combining depiction warrior and weapon is the next step in this philosophy. Another usage of the motif is piloting giant robots.

My uneducated guess is that the Japanese do it because some kind of Japanese folklore (a lot of anime is full of references to Japanese culture, folklore and history, and a lot of their special weapons are named after Japanese historical artefacts) and the West more or less mindlessly copied it because it's "cool".

Kind of like how in anime loads of characters wear crucifixes even though only a minority of them are actually Christian. A crucifix is just "cool" to them. Or how the Nips think Marie-Antoinette was cool and classy and charming, while in France she's the symbol of a decaying and corrupt monarchy.

Crabs with one giant claw and one regular claw, also Baseball Pictures and their one giant glove.

...

A really cute Sci-Fi take on the thing is Parasite, where the arm is actually a shapeshifting alien

The arm may or may not shift into a giant penis during the manga

Errr.

The English translation uses Parasyte.

... And made the alien a lefty.

Alien hand syndrome

I'd say that Corum predates Claw the Unconquered by a decade.

Partly inspired by Nuada of the Silver Hand, I believe, but with a dark Moorcockian twist.

I can't remember the exact movie, but I believe it was Strangelove that had the hand that tried to murder people.

I'd always assumed it was some kinda chuuni bullshit. Just like characters who have demons sealed into them, or some other kinda unholy power they don't like using.

Dr Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb; 1964

The character was the eponymous Dr Strangelove, a former Nazi scientist and polymath working as an advisor for the US government, whose hand exhibits evidence of being outside his conscious control. It snaps off Nazi salutes, and at one point tries to strangle him in apparent retribution for him trying to stop it from doing a Nazi salute.

Does the Hand of Vecna count? It's not quite an arm, but it's close.

>Baseball Pictures
I'm going to assume that was an awesome autocorrect fail. Because that is awesome.

Can it ever be a fae arm and not a demon arm?

avoiding touch of iron would be quite a challenge

In addition to what a lot of people have already said, where -else- are you going to seal a demon, exactly?

I mean, for one, think about it. The more space a demon takes up, logically, the more powerful it seems. Having a demon locked away in my ring finger or left testicle isn't going to be intimidating, cool, or really much of anything.

So, what does that leave? Can't be the head- it's awkward and implies that the human isn't actually in control or having any struggles containing the demon, so that's no good. Can't really be the body, that's also inconvenient to show off and implies a wicked core.

That leaves arms and legs. Which one are you -really- going to pick? Especially for asymmetry?

The arm's really just the best choice if you're going for a visual representation of sealed demons attached to an otherwise human host.

>where -else- are you going to seal a demon, exactly?

Anus.

I'm a fan of an eye myself.

But the arm does lead in nicely to the back if you want to get any kind of wing mode going on.

A toenail clipping.

>I'm a fan of an eye myself.

Summon up the power of the God Hand!
(God Hand!)

>Having a demon locked away in my ring finger or left testicle
I've read that porn.

Dragon kick your ass into the milky way!
(Milky way!)

Damn good porn, too. With a good story that goes beyond excuse plot.

Don't act like you don't like the ball buster!
(Ball buster!)

D&D 3.5 also let you have a demonic/draconic/warforged/aberrant/whatever arm through grafts.

Am I misremembering?

Yes, and there is an entire PrC dedicated to grafts.

You know, I think it would be cool to have a demon or something bound into your leg(s) so you can have awesome kicking skills

Wasn't that part of the plot of Shaolin Soccer?

...

Oretama, yes?

Keijo is surprisingly fun.
Fan of the eye, personally though I do also like the arm. In the simplest sense, I'd say arm for blaster caster and eye for a more save or suck character. Getting a big ole demon in the eye generally gives far less immediate powers.

What the fuck man?

Source/examples?

Look man, weird shit lie ahead. Tread no further.

> THIS UNENDING POWER SURGES THROUGH MY PITCHERS HAND
> SHATTERING SPACE, SHATTERING TIME
> ROCKET FORTH, AND SPIN TOWARDS DESTINY
> SUPAH
> TORUNADO
> PITCHA
> youtu.be/i4HC4amBQJU

Eyes also have the "window to the soul" angle, so while a demon arm is scary, a demon eye implies something "else" going on (even if it's not). Also the slightly more "subtle" options than "MY ARM IS NOW SUPER DEMONIC!"

The only Western media where I remember there being a possessed/demonic arm was Evil Dead, where Ash is forced to cut off and kill his hand because it keeps trying to kill him.

Unless it pops out and starts slapping against people.

> Knifeeyeattack.jpg

>Demonic eye that can be removed and turns into a demonic flail weapon.

Sounds awesome to me.

There's also the Renegade Mastermaker for robot arms.

>tfw you remember how you used to claim to have a demonic left arm in middle school.
THANKS A LOT Veeky Forums I TRIED TO BURY MY AUTISITIC ADOLESCENSE FOR A REASON!

Yhat wasn't Autistic.


That was tryhard young scrub.

Don't worry, because you still have that Soul of an Eldritch mutated Dragon sealed in your kidneys, right? You didn't let yours escape, did you?

Funny you mention that, because often times those giant robots are piloted with his honor, soul, and will.
Not to sound weebish, but it is a great philosophy; it takes basis from ways of life and thinking that have existed for thousands of years, and applies it in new and interesting ways.

>Fucking DM can't keep his fetishes out of our games

>In eastern literature it is an extension of his honor, soul or will, in a way an integral part of the warrior.

In one part of Asia anyway.
This may come as a shock to you, but there actually were no samurai at all in China or any other part of mainland Asia, and the Hagakure wasn't a particularly big seller there either.

Funny enough, I could use more art of characters with demon-arms like that. Any have more?

Another example is Princess Mononoke, and one guy in Puyo Puyo has a single demonic arm.

Only one I have.

Here's one.

>Where did the entire "single demonic arm" fantasy gimmick start?

Evil Death. Some people probably also read a lot into the bible quote about one hand being unaware of the other hand's actions.

I find it funny that a phrase which means "Do not seek fame by being charitable" was twisted into "You have no fucking clue what's going on"

Nobody really cares about China, dear.

From the same book "Make people who disagree with you commit a crime so that you can sue them" was turned into: "tolerate everybody's opinions"

...

The USA cares enough to dispute claims China already rightfully had 200 years before the US was founded.

>Sealing a demon in your liver
>It takes revenge by never letting you get drunk again

youtube.com/watch?v=P99bYXNBAhQ

Is that some Ikusa Megami shit I see?

>It shows up MUCH more in Japanese-inspired works then American ones, especially the type you're talking about where the limb has actual superpowers the rest of the body has not.

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but Victarion Greyjoy in aSoIaF basically gets one of these.

Folks getting one hand cursed to rot away was an element in celtic legends, I think.

One of their legendary kings had somebody craft a replacement hand for the one he lost, so that his pretty stat wouldn't drop below what is required for kingship. Apparently the hand was so fancy that he became the prettiest and the goddess who owns all of Ireland made him her husbando and king of Ireland forever.

Pffft, please.

My Childhood Chuunibyou gimmick was that I thought I was a regeneration of The Doctor.

Celtic myth.

Look up "Nuada of the Silver Arm" why don't you.

I uh.... hi everyone, I'm user and I did the L from death note thing as a kid. I've been clean for eight years, but some of the newer anime that's out has me on the edge or relapsing.

Hello user.

Ah, Hello user. Perhaps you could assist me with a little mystery case?

Here, have some music to help you relax.

youtube.com/watch?v=MTGlrcReWrk

We've got sweets available.

I was just on my way over to the tubes to listen to this band.

Then I saw this. Nice.

Not demonic, but:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Götz_von_Berlichingen

There are many types of monsters in this world. Monsters who will not show themselves, and who cause trouble. Monsters who abduct children. Monsters who devour dreams. Monsters who suck blood. And monsters who always tell lies. Lying monsters are a real nuisance, they are much more cunning than other monsters. They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of the human heart. They eat even though they've never experienced hunger. They study even though they have no interested in academics. They seek friendship even though they do not know how to love. If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it. Because in truth, I am that monster.


... where are my shoes?
Why do I have all 25 episodes of the series out again?
Light damn it.

...

...

I reckon L's theme was a missed opportunity. If you're going to make a piece that's obviously based on Tubular Bells, then you might as well use more than just the first part of it.

>L's theme is based on Tubular Bells
How did I not realize this until now!?

...

Because you're unobservant

>There are people ITT who didn't believe they had magic powers when they were chuunis

...

Yes, senpai.

I'm able to run my hand along a wall and tell where its solid cement and where its hollow. I can also identify various woods and metals by touch. This is especially useful at work as I work with a lot of wood and a lot of it has dark stains making it unidentifiable at a glance.

I have the superpower of perceiving density with a glancing touch.

Wait kids actually do that shit outside of Nippon?

I FEEL THE CRINGE OVERTAKING ME,

IT IS A GOOD PAIN!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

No man, that's just being a teeny-weeny weebling.

Autism is when you spend hundreds of dollars on books so you can study to become a real motherfucking wizard, with like, salt and fire and shit.

Magic? Not probable, but when all other possibilities are eliminated than what remains no matter how unlikely must be the truth. Honestly though, that's kind of the boring answer. Who needs boring abilities like that when you could have superior perception and a rival?

It seems like nobody has addressed the most important question: If you jack off with your demonic arm is it technically still masturbation, or is it the demonic spirit giving you a handy?

Hey guys, what's going on in this thread?

>Wait kids actually do that shit outside of Nippon?

Kids will be kids. Some of them grow up to believe in conspiracy theories.

Hi Siegfried. You're a little late to the party here, aren't you?

Siegfried is dead!

Only the Azure Nightmare remains!

There is... no going back.

B-but you posted SC2 Nightmare, senpai...

The spoiler is a quote from him.

...I think, It's been like a decade since I played that. Which is a pity, arguably best game in the series.

>Source/examples?
Captain fucking Hook you dumbass.

It was a good game, but honestly I preferred 3. Good story mode, and I actually enjoyed Chronicles of the Sword.

You mean Soul Calibur 3, right?

He said arguably. Either way, wrong board for this conversation.

Regarding gameplay, 3rd was a lowpoint of the series. Everything else was top notch.

Although, 2 probably also had the best character designs, or at least the ones I like the most.

>Regarding gameplay, 3rd was a lowpoint of the series.
I'd honestly say 4 was. I can't remember what it was, but something about 4's gameplay really rubbed me the wrong way to the point where I just went back to playing 3 when I felt like playing a Soul Calibur since I didn't own 1 or 2 at the time.

>Input lag
>Online lag
>shit online system anyway
>costumes affect stats

On the other hand, 3 had dick-tier AI that was either goldfish simple or would constantly guard impact you.