Pop Culture References of Wizard101: Mirage – Feringhea

Feringhea – Feringhea, ‘the Thuggee chief, King of the stranglers’
The Thuggies – Thuggies, a relgious cult from India
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Feringhea
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/Quest:Say_No_to_Feuds
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee
http://8ate.blogspot.com/2009/08/thug-feringhea-and-kali-fatima.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferengi

The Grey Ghost has reopened Nepeta Mine in the Rubal Wastes. He plans to restart the Qhatnip trade, Feringhea is his manager onsite.

I originally thought that this NPC referenced the Ferengi race from Star Trek as the name Ferengi was coined based on the Persian term Ferenghi, used throughout Asia (compare older Feringhea), meaning “foreigners” or “Europeans”. However, Mike S. (one of W101’s writers) corrected me. This reference is in fact for a Thuggee leader whose name was Feringhea of “Foreigner”

Thuggee are actions and crimes carried out by Thugs, historically, organized gangs of professional robbers and murderers in India. The English word thug traces its roots to the Hindi ठग (ṭhag), which means ‘swindler’ or ‘deceiver’. Related words are the verb thugna (‘to deceive’), from the Sanskrit स्थग (sthaga ‘cunning, sly, fraudulent’) and स्थगति (sthagati, ‘he conceals’). This term, describing the murder and robbery of travelers, was popular in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, especially northern and eastern regions of historical India (present-day northern/eastern India and Bangladesh).

See the Ali Babboon article for more information on Thuggies

Thugs were said to have traveled in groups across the Indian subcontinent, and are said to have operated as gangs of highway robbers, tricking and later strangling their victims. To take advantage of their victims, the thugs would join travelers and gain their confidence, which would allow them to surprise and strangle the travelers with a handkerchief or noose. They would then rob and bury their victims. This led to the thugs being called Phansigar (“using a noose”), a term more commonly used in southern India. During the 1830s, the thugs were targeted for eradication by the Governor-General of India, Lord William Bentinck, and his chief captain, William Henry Sleeman.

As late as 1810, the British had almost no idea about the extend of Thug menace and no major systematic measures were taken against them. But then that same year, some British Indian soldiers failed to return from leave, when an inquiry revealed murder by Thugs, the British woke up to the problems posed by Thugs.

In 1830, a Thagi and Dakaiti Department was set up by Lord Bentink, Governer-General in years 1828-33, with Captain William Sleeman, who in 1920s had discovered pit graves of strangled travelers, as its General Superintendent. It was an effectively run organization given the fact that even at its peak, with operations covering the wide expanse of entire British India and some princely States, it only had 18 officers. The crackdown on Thugs and a study of their secretive cult was initiated.

It’s first success, capture of a infamous Thug known as ‘Feringhea’, ‘the Thuggee chief, King of the stranglers’. He got the odd name ‘Feringhea’, meaning ‘Foreigner’, because his mother gave him birth in flight from their village as it was being burnt down by British forces.

William Sleeman achieved the almost impossible task by imprisoning the families of thugs indefinitely.

Feringhea could not bare to see his family suffer and gave in to Sleeman’s pressure tactic. He was sent to Saugor Jail around 300 Kilometers away from Gwalior, a Jail which was to become the final resting place of many other Thugs and his companions. They all were now talking to protect their families. But Feringhea didn’t talk much. Until. Until Feringhea was told about the hanging of Thug Phoolsa’s brother Jharhu at Jabalpur Jail. Jharhu was Feringhea’s young nephew. Feringhea broke down. As tears rolled down Feringhea’s face, he said to Sleeman, ” You ought not to have hung him; He never strangled or assisted in strangling any man!!”

The Ferengi are a fictional extraterrestrial species in the American science fiction franchise Star Trek. They were devised in 1987 for the series Star Trek: The Next Generation, played a prominent role in the following series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and have made brief appearances in subsequent series such as Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Picard.

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

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

Thuggee images are borrowed from Wikipedia and are in the public domain.

All Star Trek images are borrowed from Trekcore and are copyright Paramount/CBS Studios

Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.