Ali Baboon – Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The Thuggies – Thuggees, a religious cult from India
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/NPC:Ali_Baboon
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Location:The_UnderDen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Baba_and_the_Forty_Thieves
http://www.indyintheclassroom.com/projects/archaeology/temple.asp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Temple_of_Doom
Ali Baboon is the leader of The Thuggies, a gang of thieves in Aggrobah, Mirage. He is directly descended from the kings of the ancient Baboolonian Empire. He and his Fortee Thieves are also known to frequent the hidden Thieves’ Den.
After agreeing to meet with the Sultana he instead steals Istar’s lamp. Your Wizard must chase him down to the Thieves Den to confront Ali Baboon and rescue Istar.
“Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” is a folk tale in Arabic added to the One Thousand and One Nights in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard it from Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab. As one of the most popular Arabian Nights tales, it has been widely retold and performed in many media across the world, especially for children (for whom the more violent aspects of the story are often suppressed).
In the original version, Ali Baba is a poor woodcutter and an honest person who discovers the secret of a thieves’ den, and enters with the magic phrase “open sesame”. The thieves try to kill Ali Baba, but his faithful slave-girl foils their plots. His son marries her, and Ali Baba keeps the secret of the treasure.
Ali Baboon’s gang of thieves are based on a religious cult from India known for strangling and robbing their victims. Known today for their appearance in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The Thuggee cult is where we get our English word “thug”.
The Thuggees are greatly fictionalized in Temple of Doom, but like much of the story, there is truth behind Indy’s adventure. In actuality, the Thuggee were a religious cult and group of bandits who traveled across India killing travelers. The Thuggee were active for several hundred years and as stated in the film, were eventually squashed by the persistent British in the mid 1800’s. The Thuggee were known to join travelers (sometimes for hundreds of miles), gain their confidence over time and then murder them at an opportune moment. Thugs were known to strangle their victims (quiet and not as messy) and then loot the travelers’ possessions.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a 1984 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg from a script by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, based on a story by George Lucas. It is the second installment in the Indiana Jones film series and a prequel to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. The film features Harrison Ford who reprises his role as the title character. Kate Capshaw, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Philip Stone and Ke Huy Quan, in his film debut, star in supporting roles. In the film, after arriving in British India, Indiana Jones is asked by desperate villagers to find a mystical stone and rescue their children from a Thuggee cult practicing child slavery, black magic, and ritual human sacrifice in honor of the goddess Kali.
The current list of all the (known) Mirage references can be found here.
Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references but 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
Ali Baboon image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves image is the cover of an audiobook available on YouTube
Historical Thuggee image is borrowed from http://www.indyintheclassroom.com no copyright info is with the image.
Indiana Jones images are copyright Lucasfilm
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom movie poster is borrowed from the IMP Awards website and is copyright Paramount Pictures
Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.
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