Esoteric Ebb

Featured Welsh Content

In Esoteric Ebb, the elves of Ym speak Welsh. As some of the original inhabitants of the land, the Ym share their language with Fey creatures all over the Coast, including the pinecone-like Vâttar.

One of the Vâttar creatures can be found stuck in a trash bin, saying the following upon interacting with it:

…Rhy farus wyf – malltedig wyf…!

…Cymorth…?

ARWR MEWN HAERN!

This translates to:

…I am too greedy – I am cursed…!

…Help…?

A HERO IN IRON!

When interacting with Vâttar, they will often shout “Shwmae! Anrheg!” Shwmae is a common greeting spoken across Wales, while “Anrheg!” means “A gift!”.

One of the music tracks in the game’s soundtrack is titled “Shwmae, Dyn Metel Rhyfedd!”, which is Welsh for “Shwmae, Weird Metal Man!”.

In a conversation with Wales in Games’ Aaron, Esoteric Ebb‘s developer, Christoffer Bodegård, revealed that he always wanted to include Welsh in the game. Inspired by Tolkien’s use of Finnish and Welsh for his Elvish languages, Christoffer applied this to his game, ensuring Finnish and Welsh were used as languages for elves in Esoteric Ebb.

One of the characters is Prince Meriadoc. This name is of Brittonic origin, equivalent to Meiriadog in Welsh. The legendary Celtic Briton leader Conan Meriadoc has been credited with the founding of Brittany, and major versions of his story appear in the Welsh tale The Dream of Macsen Wledig, and in Welsh historian Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae.

Thank you to Christoffer Bodegård for providing the background information on the Welsh language and references in Esoteric Ebb to Wales in Games.

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