Maple Story Facts & References

Hiya! I often do the quest from Maple Story ever since I started this game. However when I was young, most of the time I don't really understand the story and just skipped through. Now that we have grown up and gained more knowledge, I realize there's a lot of reference from our real life and interesting facts. All the skills, quests, monsters, map... and lots of stuff that bring this mushroom game to a higher level.

Therefore, I'm creating this thread to share my studies. Please feel free to point out if there's some mistake. I hope you guys enjoy reading!

Let's start off!

Part 1: Kerning City

Spoiler

Welcome to Kerning City, the town famous for thieves, KPQ, the transit of Singapore/NLC, and sacking noobs. But do you know there's more about it?

Kerning City is based on New York City & Chinatown. With some graffiti wall of sport culture: Yankees Hat and NBA.
The Chinese text "禁城" probably means "紫禁城." The Palace Museum of Beijing.


Also, there's some Chinese NPC with typical Qing Dynasty looks.
"開金" means "unlock."


"退魔" means "exorcism."


"大盜無門" from weapon store means "Great thieves don't come in with a door."


The cabinet inside the pharmacy is called "百子柜." It's often set up in a traditional Chinese herbal shop for storing herbs. There's Chinese text written on it with translation: dragon skull, dragon horn, dragon leg, pork meat, spore, flower, snake leg, tooth, and grass.


The hair salon has an interesting relationship of competing with Henesys Salon, with some Maple Island NPC customers.


"나오라" means "Naola" in Korean pronunciation.


Inside the hospital, if we look at the quest from NPC Jane Doe. We'll know she is actually a patient of Dr. Naora. (She is not Dr. Naora herself!)


In fact, the name "Jane Doe" refers to a corpse with an unknown identity. It's a reasonable use while she is actually dead in the quest storyline. (This is actually a haunted building right in the middle of Kerning City town. )


The NPC Maria (or Rina from Henesys?) did cosmetic surgery here.


"안전제일" means "safety first," fitting for a construction site. (Thanks sparky95 for the translation)



The "L" from L Forest actually means the L-shaped platform map.


According to monster card info, the King Slime was actually regular slime but was transformed by three sisters during some failed experiment.


The three sisters were those KPQ NPCs. Yes they're actually three different people instead of only one.
Both NPC Lakelis and Cloto are inspired by the names from the Moiral in Greek mythology. Lakelis is misspelling of "Lachesis", and Cloto is spelt similarly to "Clotho".

If you do the Dyle quest, you can also find out Dyle has the same situation as King Slime, who was mutated by the three sisters again. They're actually planning to have another PQ to eliminate it. (KPQ 2 when? )



JM has gone mad.
At the end, JM stops it by asking you to hunt down Dyle alone.

Trivial
If you choose the wrong answer during the Dyle quest, JM will reply with some funny dialogue.


"Prima donna" means "female operatic star" or "unpleasant person." But in here, it was referring to lingerie with the same brand name in our world.


Meanwhile both NPC Lisa and Goddess Minerva from Orbis also have the same wearing style.

For more similar thread:
A Thread of Mostly Random Maplestory Stuff by Inugami
Website screenshots of EMS, JMS and KMS during their Close BETA (2006, 2003, 2002) by ssabi
Both of their posts are great quality

 

Part 2: Victoria Island

Spoiler

Obvious and known by many, Lith Harbor is based on Santorini of the Cyclades Islands.


In addition, there's also an island called "Pig Beach" in the Bahamas.


The little green dragon from Henesys Game Park NPC Carey is referred to "Bubble Bobble."


However in future version, the dragon was removed probably due to copyright concern.


Omok are based on board game "五目 (Gomoku)" or "Five in a Row."


GM event "Ola Ola (올라 올라)" means "go up go up" in Korean.


The invisible cat NPC Fanzy of Elinia is referred to "Cheshire Cat" from the movie "Alice in Wonderland."


Yet, the reference was reused again in a future patch "Root Abyss."


The "SIXTOPIA" sign from Elinia Platform means "VICTORIA" in Greek letters. However the first letter "S" was incorrect and should be the letter "B" or "V" to pronounce correctly in Greek.


Perion NPCs are referred to American Natives.


The Guild PQ NPC Shawn stated the Sharenian was once a capital city of Victoria Island.


The golem temple, sanctuary from the deep dungeon, or any other old architecture are actually created by them.


According to Stumpy's card info, it mentioned Perion was once a huge forest that may be equal to Elinia from the past.


However, the whole kingdom collapsed after seeking eternal youth by using the Rubian jewel. Which summon the Guild PQ boss Ergoth.


Inside the Guild PQ, the appearance of the "Longinus Spear" is based on the anime "Evangelion".
This spear is also known as the lance that pierced the side of Jesus as he hung on the cross.


Sleepywood NPCs are referred to African natives.


The large head statue in Sleepywood is referred to the stone carved Buddha heads in Bayon Temple. One of the temples in Angkor Wat (a 12th century temple complex in Cambodia).




There's a high similarity of certain monsters between Ragnarok Online (RO) and Maple Story. Considering RO was released during August 2002, and it was one of the most popular online game in Korea. Wizet may have taken reference from it and released Maple Story afterward in the year 2003.


Balrog are based on the same monster in movie "Lord of the Rings."


Snack Bar boss is... well, a street vendor.
"正港黑輪" (before) means "Authentic Oden."
"黑輪王" (after) means "King Oden."
"菜頭" means "radish."


Oden is a Taiwan hot pot dish consisting of several ingredients.


Also in KMS, Snack Bar was firstly introduced as field boss in Taiwan night market content "Xi Men Ding" (西門町)

However, after the world tour content were removed in KMS. Snack Bar was moved to the Sleepywood dungeon and it was added with a new story: a rival of the 24 Hour Mobile Store at Ant Tunnel Park.


*Version history of Snack Bar moved to Dungeon may need to verify.

Trivial

Every storage NPCs from Victoria Island use the same spirit image with slightly amended. Again, they are all different person.

Thanks @ssabi for adding info on Omok, Ola Ola, and Snack Bar boss.
Thanks @dantesanctus for the "VICTORIA" Greek translation.
Thanks @Angkor for the correction of Sleepywood head statue.

 

Your work is really awesome!

 

Realized haven't update this for a month, perhaps I will start working back here once legoman drawing and ISP issue are done/fixed.

 

Part 3: Orbis & El Nath

Spoiler

Welcome to Orbis! The floating sky island full of pigment kitties and annoying pixies.
Orbis is based on Greco-Roman (ancient Greek and Roman) culture.


Upon leaving the Orbis travel platform, the first thing we see are these pillars. This is based on the Temple of Olympian Zeus from Athens, Greece.


NPC Ericsson has the typical apparel from Greece.


In future version, Ericsson may allow player access to the theme dungeon Chryse. Expanding more area with a Greek theme.


Apart from that, the big statue in Orbis PQ is not an ordinary statue. Look at the spear and orb!
This is referred to the goddess "Minerva," AKA the Roman goddess of wisdom.


Same with the Elinia Platform, every sign in Orbis is an English word spelled with Greek letters.
ΠΛΑΤΦΟΡΜ = PLATFORM
ορβισ στατιον = orbis station
ωϵλχομϵ το ορβισ = Welcome to Orbis
XΛΟΥΔ = CLOUD
ΓΥΙΛΔ = GUILD


Speaking of Greek culture, Hankie from Leafre is based on "Pan" the god of the wild. He often plays pastoral music with a pan flute.


Moreover, the statue in the Orbis Weapon Store look exactly same as the Warrior's Power Guard animation.



Orbis Skin Care & Hair Salon has several NPC customers around Maple World.


If we do the Alpha Platoon quest, we'll know all these NPCs are separated around Orbis & El Nath due to an accident.


The cute part is several of these NPCs appear randomly at certain places because they're related to quests. These little details really make me feel the game is so lively and more interesting. (They also went travel to Nautilus? )


Zakum is based on "Zaqqum," which means a tree that "springs out of the bottom of Hell" in the Islamic Quran.


This means the actual origin of Zakum is the tree in the background. Intimate with evil face on it.


All these make sense when there are Islamic NPCs guarding the entrance.
(Wizet is reusing the NPCs spirit by recolor again. )


Furthermore, the Zakum statue is referred to Mayan culture.
The body statue is referred to the "Merida Monument."


The bottom altar is the "Chac Mask."


The Zakum Helmet is the "Tlaloc Mask."


One of the Zakum's skills is referred to "Eye of Horus" from ancient Egypt.


This skill is referred to "Solomon King Seal." It represents the signet ring in medieval Jewish tradition.

Alongside this, the 4th job instructor will tell us the story of Zakum during advancement progress.

From the story above, we know the Zakum statue is built by nearby citizens. However the town was destroyed by Zakum afterward.


When we look back to the El Nath town and Dead Mine, the ornament around is the "Star of David," the representative symbol of Jewishness.

Thanks @dantesanctus for the Greek translation on "CLOUD".
Thanks @SmokeThatSauce for the Greek naming/culture correction.

 

Free bump. Good job!! How can you be such a careful observer and knowledgable man!

 

Thank you!

I have high interest on studying historic of various nation. This strengthened my knowledge on cultural stuff.
Also I love to travel around the world inside the game when getting bored. While turning on the BGM jumping around everywhere and enjoying the vibes, I realized there's many things looks so familiar from my studies. Which inspired me to this series.

 

Nice! I also love to travel around maple world, but I don't have enough history and geographical knowledge to support me to do this work.
I benefit a lot from reading your post and even get inspiration for my maplestory novel.

 

This says 안전제일 which means "Safety first" in Korean, fitting to a construction site.

 

What a nice post, I learned new things a lot D
I really appreciate your meticulous research.

and I sent some supplementary information pertaining to what you have posted via forums message, please check it!

 

Part 4: Aqua Road, Omega Sector, and Ludibrium

Spoiler

Aqua Road

The position of Aqua Road on the world map is wrong.
According to the direction from both whales. Aqua Road should be located between El Nath and Ludibrium.


NPC Hughes is based on the character "Dr. Brown" in the movie "Back to the Future."


NPC Robinson is based on the novel "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe.


NPC Tae Gong is based on the same character "太公望" of the 16th-century Chinese novel "The Investiture of the Gods (封神演義)."


Area boss Seruf has a very cute animation. It was secretly bald under the shell.

Omega Sector

Obviously, Meso Ranger is based on the TV show "Power Ranger."


Agent M and Agent Falcon (from Haunted House) are based on the movie "Men in Black."


The alien drawing around Boswell Field looks like a hill figure. Which corresponds to the hill figure's alternate name "chalk figure."

Ludibrium

Ludibrium means "plaything" in Latin. Matching the Ludibrium with a toy theme.


The advertisement outside Ludi Plastic Surgery refers to Rinz from Orbis, and Geanie from Ludi.
It's super rude while Geanie is just standing nearby the shop.


NPC Everton in Ludi Plastic Surgery is based on "Prince Charming" from the movie "Shrek."


NPC Ghosthunter Bob in deep Ludi is based on the movie "Ghostbusters."


The rectangular box of Rombot's head looks like a Sony PlayStation 2.

Remember the fearsome Alishar that we first time went through LPQ last stage?

When we look back now, it's actually wearing a chastity belt.
Now I'm not even sure the key it drops is for sealing dimension crack or unlocking the belt...?
Oh you kinky Alishar

When everyone is daily hunting the ultimate Ludibrium boss, Papulatus. Just for EXP, SBs, NX, Energizer, and etc...
Do you know it has an interesting storyline?

If you are a Buccaneer, who is doing the Time Leap prequest. You will meet the past Papulatus himself, who hasn't invaded Ludi yet. He's busy inventing the time machine. Which will eventually distort Ludi. It was actually the giant clock machine during the first phase fight.


From the dialogue, we know that Papulatus is curious about what he did in the future and hoping to meet you.
However, until the next time you both meet, you will probably become enemies to each other again.

Papulatus photo credit: TaNmAn150

 

Aha, as a chinese, I don't know Tae Gong is from 封神演义。

 

Tae Gong means 太公望, It's alternate name of 姜子牙

 

xD I understand. Tae Gong is 姜太公. There is a chinese saying which goes like ''姜太公钓鱼，愿者上钩".

 

Just a quick correction in regards to "Sixtopia"

In both russian and greek, the "p" is pronounced with the english "r" sound, and the pi or upside down u makes the "p" sound!
Π π pi, πι [p] p as in English top[18][11]
Ρ ρ rho, ρώ [r] trilled r as in Italian or Spanish[18][11][13]


TLR It wasn't spelled incorrectly ingame, just Russian and Greek are confusing in the sense that the letter "p" makes the sound "R" as in letteR

 

Just came across this thread, such a good piece you have there! I really enjoy reading all the lores and possible references the game might cover. Really appreciate all your effort and time poured in for these, keep up the GOOD WORK!

 

Thanks for the correction
Now I understand the Greek/Russian "P" is pronounce as "R" when translating to English, is that right?
How about the "Six" from "Sixtopia"? Do you know is there any basis to support the actual mean "Victoria"?

Also any idea what does this text mean?

 

That one there says "Cloud"

Since the "x" is apparently a "k" sound in greek, that means "Sixtopia" reads "?iktoria" Am wondering if that isn't actually an S but another letter that looks similar to make the B/V sound as in "Victoria"

 

Part 5: Nihal Desert

Spoiler

Nihal means "joyous" or "successful" in Arabic.
It's sarcastic while Ariant has a huge disparity between emperor and civilian. And everyone from Magatia is hating each other between two parties.


The whole Ariant town is based on an Arabic theme.


The Blue Genie is based on Islamic mythology "Jinn," or Disney's Aladdin. RIP copyright.


The palace NPCs are based on the historic figure "Scheherazade," also well known as the storyteller of "One Thousand and One Nights."


"Open Sesame" is a reference from "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves."


NPC Le Petit Price is referred from French novel "The Little Prince."


The Sand Rat is based on the game 'Whack-a-Mole.' Which is why it drops a hammer upon being defeated.


Pyramid PQ (SoonTM) from the Egyptian pyramid

Moving forward to Magatia, the alchemist town. Who even comes here? Also my favorite town in lore-wise.

The tall building in Magatia is referred to Gothic church with stained glass.


The Homunculus family represents the creation of a miniature, fully formed human. It's popularized in sixteenth-century alchemic traditions.


It was also widely known as "Dwarf in the Flask" in the anime "Fullmetal Alchemist."


Chimera is referred to hybrid creature of Greek mythology.
In here, it was a hybrid of Humo, Scarf Pleadm, and Neo Huroid.


The last word from Chimera refers to a classical element of ancient Greece.


Novel "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare


Weird material they are collecting.


If we read the storyline quest in Magatia, the NPC will tell us some interesting facts about Magic Rocks.


The Magic Rock is actually used as source power for transportation in Maple World.


As the storyline goes deeper, we'll discover a secret tunnel lab under the basement of Magatia.


This experimental lab is actually built by Black Mage himself.


In the end, we'll discovered every studies from Magatia are based on fundamental studies of the Black Mage.


This means majority of the skills and energy resource in Maple World are created by this guy.
Now we shall declare ourselves as loyal servants of Black Mage.

Trivial

Poverty in Maple World

 

Great work!
I love the time and effort people put into things like this.
I would just add that for the Orbis one, I would change some of them to "Greco-Roman" or possibly just Greek to building architectures, as a large part of their culture including Greek mythology was simply adapted (see: swapped name wise).