![]() He is male, and is almost a direct match to Boogeyman. Russians have their own boogeyman often called Babay or Booka who does not sport that much attention in the fairy tales. She is indeed used by many parents to frighten kids into proper behavior. Baba Yaga is a magic wielding hag, a witch from Russian/slavic fairytales, typically an antagonist to the main character, who however is not depicted as 100% evil and tends to assist the protagonist after being pressed. Russians never called Boogeyman Baba Yaga. That fits John, but you lose all the subtlety and texture that the baba Yaga comparison has. He's not a person, he has no depth or personality. The boogieman exists to scare children witless. The "boogieman" frankly is less descriptive of him than Baba Yaga. How many times have people done something that should have killed him and he just gets back up and keeps going?) ![]() She's died in any number of stories only to come back to life later in the tale in a different form. John pretty much has magical powers compared to everyone else in the movie.) He's got some good qualities.)īaba Yaga is a witch and her magic is both baffling and tremendously powerful. He's generally a bad guy, but he's not always evil and he doesn't kick puppies. (John is terrifying to pretty much everyone, even the people he's nice to. Any sane person would stop here.")Īs far as her function in her own tales goes, she's always a terrifying figure, and while she's frequently the villain or antagonist, she isn't always evil. Viggo knows he's screwed basically from the very beginning of the film and yet there are a number of points where you can practically hear him thinking "it's enough now, he'll stop here. (John might follow the rules, but he consistently does NOT act the way they think he should. (You could try to fit her in based on superficial appearances, but her function in her myths doesn't have a good correlation to anyone.) She's got the power to walk around with gods and play on their level, but she isn't one of them at all. More importantly, she hasn't got a parallel in greek mythology. (I won't be going into that because it's not relevant to the point).īaba Yaga, however is a character from slavic mythology. Who you decide to label with what title might be up for debate, but we're dealing with metaphorical deities of the criminal underworld here. Enough that you can draw some rough parallels between some of the major players and Greek deities. ![]() There are a decent number of greek mythology references in the first film. I'm going to keep my focus on the first film because that's where they made the call to use the term. While these interpretations are much more faithful to the real Baba Yaga, the fact is that, today, John Wick is practically synonymous with the name.Setting aside the female aspect, baba yaga is actually a pretty good label for John if you step back and look at his function in the story on a symbolic level. Baba Yaga's influence can even be traced back to the seminal Dragon Ball saga, particularly through Master Roshi's sister Fortuneteller Baba Saga, who is loosely based on the mythic witch. Meanwhile, in the 2019 Hellboyreboot, the main antagonist is an extremely horrifying version of Baba Yaga that is much closer to the Russian myth - a twisted spirit that commands ancient magics and manipulates others for her own malevolent ends. Another version of Baba Yaga also exists in The Witcher video games. Not only did Voleth Meir's hut have basilisk legs – similar to Baba Yaga's chicken-legged house - the incantation to get into Voleth Meir's hut is also the same as the one for finding Baba Yaga's. For instance, Baba Yaga is the primary inspiration for The Witcher's Deathless Mother, also known as Voleth Meir. Though John Wick might be the most famous character associated with Baba Yaga, she has long lingered in the zeitgeist. Baba Yaga has been mythologized as living in this world and the next, appearing anywhere at will without warning - just like John. ![]() She surrounds her home with the human remains of her victims. Similar to the Brothers Grimm tale of the witch in Hansel And Gretel (1812), Baba Yaga lures children into her home to devour them. In Russian folklore, she is a witch who lives in a disheveled home that stands on chicken legs. That said, considering John Wick's kill count, the Baba Yaga is not that different from the modern-day assassin. ![]() Baba Yaga’s roots and origins in Russian folklore create an even deeper meaning to John Wick, which makes it surprising that the franchise was not as attentive to this detail to strengthen the story.īaba Yaga is not the "Russian boogeyman" at all, she is a different being altogether. The John Wick franchise is actually wrong about Baba Yaga being the "Russian boogeyman." This has been a source of confusion for people who are familiar with the name, as well as fans who dedicate time to understanding a beloved character’s backstory. ![]()
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