Pop Culture References of Wizard101: Mirage – Ali Cassim

Ali Cassim, one of Ali Baboon’s Thuggie goons – Cassim, Ali Baba’s brother from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Ali_Cassim
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Quest:Shock_the_Monkey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Baba_and_the_Forty_Thieves

Once the Sultana discovers Ali Baboon is behind recent activities she sends your wizard and Ozzy to raid Ali Baboon’s place at The Roost. Ali Cassim, one of Ali Baboons Thuggies, is the boss of the second fight you encounter there.

“Well now, isn’t this a treat? A Wizard with a bounty on his head, and a talking skull with a gemstone for an eye. I’m going to be rich! Haha!” – Ali Cassim

“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).

Ali Baba and his older brother, Cassim are the sons of a merchant. After their father’s death, the greedy Cassim marries a wealthy woman and becomes well-to-do, building on their father’s business. Ali Baba marries a poor woman and settles into the trade of a woodcutter.

One day, Ali Baba is at work collecting and cutting firewood in the forest, when he happens to overhear a group of 40 thieves visiting their stored treasure. Their treasure is in a cave, the mouth of which is sealed by a huge rock. It opens on the magic words “open sesame” and seals itself on the words “close sesame”. When the thieves are gone, Ali Baba enters the cave himself and takes a single bag of gold coins home.

Ali Baba and his wife borrow his sister-in-law’s scales to weigh their new wealth. Unbeknownst to them, Cassim’s wife puts a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali Baba is using them for, as she is curious to know what kind of grain her impoverished brother-in-law needs to measure. To her shock, she finds a gold coin sticking to the scales and tells her husband. Under pressure from his brother, Ali Baba is forced to reveal the secret of the cave. Cassim goes to the cave, taking a donkey with him to take as much treasure as possible. He enters the cave with the magic words. However, in his greed and excitement over the treasure, he forgets the words to get out again and ends up trapped. The thieves find him there and kill him. When his brother does not come back, Ali Baba goes to the cave to look for him, and finds the body quartered and with each piece displayed just inside the cave’s entrance, as a warning to anyone else who might try to enter.

See the Ali Baboon article for more information on the Thuggee cult.

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 Cassim image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment

Cassim image is borrowed from Wikipedia. It is in the public domain.

Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.