Dagon in popular culture

The Semitic god Dagon has appeared in many works of popular culture.

Literature

• Dagon appears in John Milton's epic poems Samson Agonistes and Paradise Lost as one of the deities the Philistines worship.
• Dagon appears in the work of H. P. Lovecraft as a sea monster worshipped as a god; two most notable appearances being in "Dagon" and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". These are probably the locus classicus for most subsequent cultural references. The latter short story formed the foundation for the 2001 film Dagon, although the setting was moved from Massachusetts to Galicia.^[1]
• Dagon is referenced in the novel Dagon (1968) by Fred Chappell, a recasting of a Cthulhu Mythos horror story as a psychologically realistic Southern Gothic.
• Dagon is referenced in Middlemarch by George Eliot on page 196 (1994 Penguin Classics).
• In Malachi Martin's historical novel King of Kings: a Novel of the Life of David.^[2] Dagon is the main deity of the Philistines, orchestrating a great war against the Hebrews and their God, Adonai.
• Dagon is referenced at the beginning of Chapter 10 in Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March.
• Abe Sapien, one of the main characters of the comic book series B.P.R.D. by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, has been referred to as "Son of Dagon".
• The slogan "DAGON SHALL RETURN" is a recurring theme within Simon R. Green's novels, often appearing as graffiti in places such as the Nightside and Haven
• In "The Magician" by Michael Scott, Dagon is portrayed as a man with fish eyes and pale skin, and is an old enemy of Scathach and a friend/chauffeur of Machiavelli.
• Herr Goering's artifact by Anders Fager features a statue of Dagon said to have been obtained from a Lovecraftian undersea cult.
• Dagon is mentioned in G.K. Chesterston's "The Shadow of the Shark" which comprises Chapter III of his book "The Poet and the Lunatics"
• Several books in the Discworld refer back to the late Mr. Hong, who met a horrible fate (the specifics of which are frequently contradicted between tellings) after he established the Three Jolly Luck Take-Away Bar on the former site of a fish-god temple on Dagon Street. These tales are usually an incitement to not repeat his mistake, and steer clear of elder gods.

Games

• Dagon is a demon lord in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game
• In the video game Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Dagon is an underwater boss, depicted as a two-bodied frog/lizard/tadpole amalgamation, that can suck up an entire room filled with water and shoot it as a weapon. The upper lizard-like head is the vulnerable one.
• In the game Lost Magic, the Dagon is the greater form of the Hydra, a nautilus-like monster, only fire-type.
• In the video-game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the main antagonist, the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Change, Revolution, Energy, and Ambition is named Mehrunes Dagon. Mehrunes Dagon also featured in several of the earlier Elder Scrolls games as well as Skyrim.
• In the MMORPG RF Online, Dagon appears as an incredibly powerful Boss. Two others are named Dagan and Dagnu.
• Dagon was featured as a cult god in the game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.
• In the video-game The Witcher, Dagon is a deity that lives on the bottom of a lake. With him follows destruction, and he cannot be killed.
• In the MMORPG RuneScape, Dagannoths are large amphibious beings.
• In Devil May Cry 4, Dagon is a boss character, resembling a giant toad, that is fought by Nero and Dante.
• The main antagonist in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is named Daegon.
• Dagon is the first of Rahab's three forms in The Ocean Hunter, shown as a humanoid walking on all fours
• In the Fantasy Flight Games board game Arkham Horror, Dagon appears as one of the Great Old Ones the players try to prevent from arising. In the "Innsmouth Horror" expansion to Arkham Horror, Father Dagon is one of the two Heralds who act against the players by trying to arouse Cthulhu.
• The video game Culdcept features a card named Dagon, a rare and powerful creature that can be considered a "lord" of blue (Water element) creature cards.
• The Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients (DotA) features an item named Dagon, with useful magic-related stats and a powerful ability that does high magical damage to an opponent.
• The sequel to Defense of the Ancients (Dota 2) also features Dagon with the same stats and ability as the prequel's.

Music

• On the album The Chthonic Chronicles by the "British Cosmic War Metal" band Bal-Sagoth, there is reference to Dagon in the sixth track, "Shackled To The Trilithon Of Kutulu".
• In The Showdown's album A Chorus of Obliteration, the sixth track is named "Dagon Undone - The Reckoning"; it speaks of Israel's fight against Dagon and the Philistines who worshiped him.
• The 9th track on Therion's album Sirius B is titled "Call of Dagon".
• Dagon is the name of the lead guitarist and lead vocalist for the black metal band Inquisition, originally from Colombia but now residing in Washington.
• American Egyptian-themed technical death metal band Nile has a song titled "4th Arra of Dagon" on their sixth album Those Whom the Gods Detest (2009).
• The song "Dagon" released by Galician punk band Shit Pony in 2010. Inspired by The Shadow Over Innsmouth, it speaks about girl's desire to have sex with "a sea-monster called Dagon".
• Orion Rigel Dommisse's song "Alice and Sarah" features Dagon as a theremin player.
• The song The Lake by King Diamond references a girl praying to Dagon.
• The Dagons is the name of an underground goth alternative band that appeared as early as 1999 with their album Other Ending.

Movies and Television

• The movie Dagon is adapted from two H.P. Lovecraft stories about Dagon, primarily The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
• In the movie Blade: Trinity, Hannibal King asserts that Dracula was once known as Dagon.
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Order of Dagon were the protectors of the Key. The Dagon Sphere was an orb that weakened the god Glory.
• In the Pinky & The Brain episode "A Little off the Top", a Philistine soldier declares Samson to be his prisoner and "will be made to serve Dagon, our giant papier-mâché weasel god."
• In the anime series The Big O, the robot in episode 7 is named Dagon and went by the nickname "Sea Titan". Dagon was easily destroyed by Big O's Sudden Impact.
• In the anime series Demonbane, Dagon was an old evil god brought back to life using the R'lyeh Text, it was easily destroyed by Demonbane but not without a long battle.
• In the Japanese series Mahou Sentai Magiranger, the ruthless leader of the Hades Gods (and he who seeks to finish the Divine Punishment to make sure that N Ma would return to his former power) is named Hades Wise God Dagon.
• In the film The Evil Dead, Dagan is one of the five Kandarian demons, and apparently their leader. He is manifested into physical form at the end of Evil Dead II and sent back through time, where he later combines with Ash's dark side to become Evil Ash in Army of Darkness, and is destroyed by Ash at the end.
• The demon of note in the film Devil's Harvest starring Brian Blessed is referred to as Dagan.
• In the animated series Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, a cult named "The Flame-keeper's Circle" worship and await the return of a squid-like alien 'knowledge-bringer' named "Dagon". Unbeknownst to the cult, he is actually an extra-dimensional demonic entity who tried to invade this dimension. He was banished during the Middle Ages back to his dimension when the immortal knight Sir George defeated him by cutting out his heart with a powerful sword, given to him by an alien. Dagon was a main antagonist of the season.
• The god Dagon was worshipped in one of the old Conan movies, there he was called "Dagoth"
• In Digimon Adventure Zero Two, there's a Ultimate Digimon called Dragomon(In original Japanese language, his name is Dagomon, a reference to the same Dagon)

Comics

• In Number 868 of the webcomic Questionable Content, Faye abandons a game of Battleship with Pintsize. Pintsize responds by shouting that the admiral has surrendered, and that all survivors of the "Faye Flotilla are sacrificed to Dagon!"
• In the comic book Team Titans, written by Marv Wolfman and starting September 1992, one member of the Team Titans superhero group is a vampire described as "a" (as opposed to "the") Dagon. He is named Nightrider, but often just called Dagon as well.
• In Alex Ross' Project Superpowers series, Dagon appears in present-day California and terrorizes the locals in order to draw out the hero Samson and test his faith in the Judeo-Christian God.
• In the BPRD comics, the merman-like character Abe Sapien is often referred to as 'son of Dagon'.

References