Deus Excellion
| Origin: | Latin/Tolkien |
|---|---|
| Japanese: | |
| Appears In: | Sen no Kiseki III-IV |
Origin
Deus is Latin for 'God'. Excellion is an invented word that has appeared repeatedly in anime in various guises, beginning with an arcade game called Exerion, then prominently appearing in Studio GAINAX's Top wo Nerae Gunbuster and Fushigi no Umi no Nadia as the names of ships before also appearing in the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha multimedia franchise as an upgrade to the title character's weapon, Raising Heart Excellion. The earliest source for this particular combination of katakana that I've found is actually a Japanese translation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion, predating the first native Japanese mention by two years. In the Silmarillion's translation, it is used to translate the name of Ecthelion of the Fountain, an elf famed for both his musical talent and his skills as a warrior.
Appearances
- Deus Excellion is the proper term for the seven Divine Knights of Erebonia. While the Knights first appear in Sen no Kiseki, they are only referred to as the Deus Excellion starting in the third game.
Trivia
- The romanization 'Excellion' is taken from the Sen no Kiseki IV Original Soundtrack which confirms Falcom's intended reading.
- One of Tolkien's three proposed etymologies for Ecthelion is 'Spear-Point'. In its appearance in Nanoha, the 'Excellion Mode' resembles a spearhead.