Pop Culture References in Wizard101: Empyrea – Water Keeper

Water Keeper – Mario as Poseidon, written by Terry Pratchett and sponsored by Gatorade.
https://wiki.wizard101central.com/wiki/NPC:Water_Keeper
https://waters-end.fandom.com/wiki/Hydro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waterboy

Thank you to Ashley D. for her assistance this one.

Crusher has asked your Wizard to talk to the Water Keeper to bring her some good village water as the Jungle water tastes like stinkbugs and sadness.

“I am The Keeper of the Water, Slaker of Thirsts, Wetter of Whistles, Not Just a Plumber… No matter what anyone says.” – Water Keeper

Water Keeper’s vigil is threatened by the most terrible of vexations, faulty filters. The Raiders have stolen the good ones and he asks you to recover them.

Keeper of the Water, Master Quencher and Curer of all Dry Mouth is pleased with your success.

This was a tough one to nail down. The Water Keeper’s full title is a multi-layered parody blending: Mario (the plumber-hero), Monty Python / Terry Pratchett’s / Douglas Adam’s pompous epithets, Modern commercial slogans for sports drinks, water or mouthwash, and a faint mythological undertone (miracle of water-bringing). Essentially, Water Keeper is “Mario as Poseidon, written by Terry Pratchett and sponsored by Gatorade.”

Ashley D. points out the value of potable water “Hydro” in the movie Waterworld. And I am also reminded of the Adam Sandler film The Waterboy.

Hyrdo can be obtained be in the form of collected rainwater, or seawater which has been distilled or filtered to remove detritus, radiation, and the salt content removed i.e. desalination.

The current list of all the (known) Empyrea 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

Water Keeper image is from Wizard101, and copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment.

Water Keeper homage was assembled by Alien Graphics using the following images: Mario TM and Copyright Nintendo. Poseidon borrowed from the Reddit thread r/WhatWouldYouBuild no attribution given. Terry Pratchett image borrowed from Wikipedia it is copyright Luigi Novi and is shared under the CC BY 3.0 Creative Commons license. And Gatorade copyright PepsiCo.

The Waterboy movie poster is borrowed from Wikipedia and is copyright Touchstone Pictures.

Waterworld still is borrowed from the Waterworld Fandom wiki and is copyright Universal Pictures

Helgar Longplaits image is borrowed from the Warhammer Wiki. Artwork by Anna Ignatieva (c)2011 Games Workshop Ltd / Fantasy Flight games

Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.