Pop Culture References of Wizard101: Aquila – Charon

Charon – Charon the Ferryman of Hades
https://www.wizard101central.com/wiki/NPC:Charon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon
https://youtu.be/pwEMfLjxq8M
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx_(band)

Charon is the ferryman whose boat is used to cross the river Styx. Charon directs the way to the Garden of Statues.

In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon is a psychopomp, the ferryman of Hades, the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the worlds of the living and the dead. Archaeology confirms that, in some burials, low-value coins were placed in, on, or near the mouth of the deceased, or next to the cremation urn containing their ashes. This has been taken to confirm that at least some aspects of Charon’s mytheme are reflected in some Greek and Roman funeral practices, or else the coins function as a viaticum for the soul’s journey. In Virgil’s epic poem, Aeneid, the dead who could not pay the fee, and those who had received no funeral rites, had to wander the near shores of the Styx for one hundred years before they were allowed to cross the river.

Charon, the largest moon of the dwarf planet Pluto (the Roman name for Hades), is named after him.

The 1982 Chris de Burgh song “Don’t Pay the Ferryman” is an allusion to Charon. The 70s-80s rock group Styx is named for Charon’s river.

The current list of all the (known) Aquila references are located here.

Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references, I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.

Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages

Charon image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment.

Gustave Doré’s illustration to Dante’s Inferno. Plate X: Canto III (1857) is borrowed from Wikipedia and is in the public domain.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief image is (c)2010 20th Century Fox

The moon Charon image was taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. It is borrowed from Wikipedia and is in the public domain.

Styx photo taken by Ralph Aversen is borrowed from Wikipedia and is shared under the Creative Commons license CC BY 2.0

Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.