Chimera (キマイラ Kimaira) is a yōkai made up of multiple animals.
Appearance[]
Chimera is a creature with the body of an ungulate (seemingly a horse or goat), the upper-half of a snake for a tail, the mane and ears of a lion, and the face of a human.
History[]
Video Games[]
- Chimera appears in GeGeGe no Kitarō: Yōkai Yokochō as an A-Rank yōkai.
Legend[]
Illustration of the Chimera
In Greek mythology, the Chimera is a hybrid creature, composed of a lion with a fire-breathing goat head (typically on its back or beside the lion head), and a tail ending with a snake's head. Certain accounts also give the Chimera the wings of a dragon. She is the daughter of Typhon and Echidna, and lived in Lycia. She was used as the servant of Araisodarus, and attacked men and cattle. According to the Iliad, the king of Lycia ordered the hero Bellerophron to slay the Chimera, in which he was successful.
The term "chimera" has come to describe any mythical or fictional creature that has parts taken from various animals, often wildly imaginative or implausible. One example of a chimeric beast is the Nue of Japanese myths. Shigeru Mizuki's design of the Chimera is original, though greatly influenced by the Greek version. Mizuki's illustration of the Sphinx is also based on the Neo-Hittite Chimera from Carchemish.