#@_@

So, it's kinda hard not to notice that Raf is surrounded by birds and winged beings imagery - which is rather unexpected for a fish in human skin.

A non - exhaustive list made on the spot:

Artsy Birb

the crying statue on the cover for the "Long Lost Treasures" World Underneath story chapter

the statue he repairs in the Ivory Nightfall illustration

the "one winged angel" effect in the cutscene of "Fires of Devotion" as the Sanctarch

his conflictual interactions with birds (it seems they're often competing for food)

last but not least: his seagull choir

If this was just a matter of a random statue or two it could be chalked up to just aesthetics. But the constant repetition makes me think there might be something more to it.

There's also the fact that they chose Artsy Birb to represent Raphayel - he's on par with Xavier's Galaxy Kid, Sylus' crow, Zayne's snowman and Caleb's apple. The choice seems obvious for the other guys, it's only baffling in Rafayel's case. Why would the devs give Raf a random cutesy mascotte when everything else is studied in the finest details? This is not a half-assed game, and it was expecially true back when the game was first launched.

Also, why can he communicate with seagulls and other birds?

We know he can easily understand fish and other seacreatures and that they understand him - as one would expect from the sea god. But birds? It's unclear whether Raf and birds understand each other to the same level as Raf and fish, but I think it's obvious there something going on there - you don't train a seagull choir just by bribing them with food after all. Keep in mind we never see him interacting with other animals like he does with birds - there was no real communication with the cat on Hat Island for example.

TLTR: it seems the game has been dropping hints from the very beginning that Raf might not be just a fish. He probably was a bird at some point.

These are all in-game hints. But I think there are also some interesting points to consider if we look at the possible materials the devs drew inspiration from.

1. Sirens in Ancient Greece were (almost) birbs

The choice to link Rafayel and birds is not as strange as it might seem at first - sirens were depicted as half-humans, half-birds in early on. We first meet them in Omer's Odyssey, but their physical appearance was left to the imagination.

In early Ancient Greek art they were consistently represented as half - human, half-bird - initially as human-headed birds and later with human upper bodies and bird legs, with or without wings.

Also, sirens were musical beings, not just for their mesmerizing voice - they were often shown playing a variety of musical instruments

Wikipedia also informs me that "Originally, sirens were shown as male or female, but the male siren disappeared from art around the fifth century BC"

Sirens started to be depicted as mermaids during the Classical period; Romans followed this new trend and during the Middle Ages, sirens physical appearance as half-human half-fish was cemented.

How much of this is Infold taking into account? I don't know, but it seems evident the writers did their research in western myths and literature, and this whole Greek Mythology thing ties in nicely with Rafayel and his interest in painting + his association with western classical art (Greek, Roman, Italian).

Fun fact not related directly to Raf but reinforcing the relationship with Classical Art and Italy: there's a bird in the Mediterranean Sea, the Scopoli's shearwater, whose call is disturbingly human-like. From what I understand, they sing mostly at night and they sound like a wailing baby. There has been some (minor) speculation that early sirens myths were inspired by them. After all, their home is on islands near Sicily - and wouldn't you know? Scylla and Charybdis, the two monsters Odysseus survives right after the sirens, live in the Strait of Messina, between Sicily and Italy. They live exactly where the Odissey's sirens would have been.

TLTR: sirens were half-human, half-bird creatures before they became the mermaid-like creatures we all know. Also male sirens were a thing once. They've always been associated with music

2. Rafayel as in the painter Raffaello or as in the archangel Raphael? Maybe both?

Another interesting thing to notice is the choice of his western name.

As I said before, I truly believe nothing was left to chance in this game, especially at the beginning, so the devs probably spent quite some time and energy to find names that would fit the guys in all languages (a post I made about Raf's Chinese and Japanese names here)

The first thing we might associate with the name "Rafayel" might be Raffaello Sanzio, the famous Renaissance Italian painter. Raffaello's career as a painter was (relatively) short, but painting in Europe was never the same once he made a name for himself - everyone wanted to paint like him, and then later great painters like Caravaggio made a point of *not* painting like him. In short, he influenced European painting for years to come.

Raffaello's work followed the Platonic aesthetic principle of Beauty - and honestly, there's so much to unpack here it would warrant its own post but.

Raffaello sees Ancient Greece as a model (so... an ancient civilization long gone. Like Lemuria)

Plato thinks beauty is super important because it's through beauty that our soul remembers its divine origin - beauty is guide and motivation in the soul's journey to reach the truth™️ (Raf and Lemurian sure see the world differently than humans. Is this because they can see through some kind of illusion or not? We can't say atm but it's something to keep in mind I think. Also we know Raf is quite opinionated when it comes to aesthetics - he makes fairly important choices based on how things look)

In Raffaello's art, beauty reigns supreme - his paintings are famous for their delicate colors, their harmonious compositions, the graceful movements of their characters. (Raf's paintings are also quite famous for their beauty and again - beauty is always a factor in his choices)

Raffaello can also be considered one of the founders of western archeology as he dedicated a lot of effort in the study and retrieval of roman art (which he did with very strict procedures and criteria).

Archeology plays an important role in Raf's storyline: the search for Lemuria's ruins by ever, his efforts to protect it, Lemurans struggle to preserve their culture and traditions and to protect what's left of their homeland + their dream to be able to revive it.

Not to mention Rafayel is often involved in conservation and restoration work (the statue in ivory nightfall, the paintings in Destined Dawntide...)

What about Archangel Raphael then?

I must confess I'm not particularly well- versed in Bible lore. Here's what I found about him.

His name means "God has healed" or "God is the healer" and he's one of the angels that lives in God's presence.

He appears in the Old Testament in the Orthodox and Catholic Bible and in Jewish Midrash (critical explanations of the Bible).

He's consistently associated with healing and guiding. He often heals people from blindness. In at least one episode he acts as a guide while disguised as a normal human and only reveals himself at the end of the journey (Book of Tobias).

He's also often identified as the unnamed angel who periodically stirred the (healing waters) of the pool of Bethesda in the New Testament (John).

TLTR: Raffaello seems like a good choice for inspiration for Raf's name - they are both very famous painters who are very opinionated about aesthetics and what can be considered beautiful; also archeology is very important to both of them

The Archangel Raphael also has some parallels with our Raf - Rafayel is a guide of sorts for his people, and there's definitively something going on with blindness, though in this case it's him who needs healing. Also association with water.

So - sirens were originally depicted with wings and Raphael, one possible inspiration for Rafayel's western name, is an angel. Angels are traditionally depicted with wings. It seems Rafayel's inspirations support the idea that, at some point, Rafayel did have wings.

Why doesn't he have them now? Why is Lemuria associated with the sea and not the sky? What changed? What happened?

What does it all mean for Rafayel's narrative?

I'll give my own two cents in the next post - this one is already long enough as it is.

My one cent for the moment: one super interesting point I noticed - sirens, Raffaello with the platonic idea of beauty, Raphael - one thing they all have in common is the connection with illusion, things not being what they seem on the surface.