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Home Page > Mother > Mother_3 : With Magypsy - The Red Blimp

With Magypsy

MOTHER 3 is a game with many layers of meaning, and quite a bit of that regards the Magypsies. First mentioned by Alec as being "neither man nor woman", these mystery mages are important players in the game and there's always a bit of discussion going on about how they dress. The point of this page is to try and list as many of the bits of symbolism and such that relates to the Magypsies. A good amount of the stuff on this page is well-documented, but spread so sparsely between MOTHER 3 discussion boards that it may require a bit of hunting for the uninitiated beginner.

The very first thing that most players notice (at least, Western players) is that the Magypsies resemble males who wear feminine clothing. They behave in a stereotypically feminine fashion, priding themselves on their beauty and daintiness. They are almost a foil to Kumatora in this sense - she is a female who acts and dresses in a masculine way and is ashamed when she has to wear feminine clothes. From what I have seen, most people react favorable to Kumatora - indeed, many girls relate to her. However, most players do not have the same reaction to the Magypsies - they view them as oddities, bizarre in that they have the option to take masculine roles (for they are, after all, neither man nor woman) but instead identifying and living as women. Many players seem to have difficulty referring to the Magypsies as 'she', even though that is their preferred pronoun and it is used in the game. The Magypsies simply transgress our social norms of what is acceptable for different genders and sexes. They are challenge our notion that masculinity is superior and preferable, and they challenge our notion that sex determines our roles.

Ironically, the Magypsy that does conform to Western norms of gender is Locria, taking on a new identity as Fassad. Although he conforms to our norms, he does not conform to Magypsy norms, and so it is very fitting that his name was translated as "Fassad" (facade). Although Fassad commits the more major social transgressions, he looks more 'normal' to most players, showing a juxtaposition between him (accepts our gender roles, but not our morals) and the other Magypsies (reject our gender roles, but accept our morals).

There are additional distinctions between Fassad and the other Magypsies. One of the most noted ones is that the names of the Magypsies are based off of musical modes – the Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian diatonic modes. Shogo Sakai was responsible for this, as shown by an interview with Shigesato Itoi:

Interviewer: There's quite a mysterious ring to the Magypsy names, like Ionia and Phrygia.
Itoi: That was Shogo Sakai's doing. Apparently they're special musical terms.
Interviewer: Is that true for all of the Magypsies?
Itoi: Even Mixolydia.
Interviewer: Really?
Itoi: Think of it as Mr. Sakai's own play on words. Apparently, people who know a lot about music find that naming scheme intriguing.

Locria’s naming here is notable because among the musical modes, the Locrian mode is the odd one out; it is based on the ‘diminished’ scale and sounds very unstable and dissonant when played, which relates to Locria’s character as being the Magypsy that did not fit in and as the one who caused destruction. Aeolia and Ionia, named after the most well-used standard modes, also seem to be the most important Magypsies and we speak to them often. Although each of the modes has its own 'mood', there doesn't seem to be much of a correlation between the mode's feel and each Magypsies' character. A few fans have noticed that the Mixolydian mode, which has been said to give music a 'dreamy' feel, correlates well to Mixolydia, who was first seen by Lucas under the influence of mind-altering mushrooms.

Each Magypsy also has its own color which corresponds to the traditional seven colors of the rainbow, which is also the color of their house. Aeolia is red, Phrigia is orange, Lydia is yellow, Ionia is green, Mixolydia is blue, and Locria is indigo. Once again, Locria’s color is significant because Indigo is considered a spectral color - it is not actually recognized as being a distinct color from blue or purple, but rather is considered a shade of blue. As such, Locria's being indigo is significant in that it does not belong, much as Locria did not belong.

An interesting aversion to this trend is Fassad's love of bananas. Bananas are recognized as being a rather phallic-looking food, as are pickles, Ionia's favorite food. Being that the Magypsies have not been portrayed in a romantic or sexual relationship, we cannot ascertain their sexuality - however, it is interesting to note that Fassad cannot seem to leave behind the Magypsy preference for phallic food items.