Seven Degrees of Zarkon
...because being a celluloid alien monarch deserves at least one extra degree of separation!
Let's take a moment to draw the baseline: the Voltron series we know and love is based on a more violent anime called Go-Lion. In the 1980's, when anime was imported and "distilled" to make it tolerable by Tipper Gore's cronies, names were often changed as well. Akira became Keith, Sincline became Lotor, Farla became Allura. Vehicle Voltron was based off of Dairugger XV, and the Emperor was Americanized to be Zeppo. To give you the overall sense of most name choices, Zeppo was the name of one of the Marx brothers of comedy. Lotor means raccoon in Latin, and just about every other name seems randomly picked.
The name "Zarkon" has an interesting story in and of itself. After describing all of these things, I hope you too will ponder whether this was intentionally picked for Daibazaal's American clone, a demented (and likely, nerdy) writer's joke, or was just a fluke that only insane people like me notice. Furthermore, I have evidence that suggests the character design of Daibazaal/Zarkon is a blatant example of copyright infringement on the part of TOEI.
. . .
( Sargon I of Akkadia + Zarkon, Lord of the Unknown) * King Charles the Bald's wardrobe = King Zarkon of Planet Doom?
I first came across this lil' tidbit checking the dictionary for the
spelling of Sargasso Sea to settle a bet (which I won). Sargon the
First was the first human being to create an Empire, specifically the
Akkadian Empire. He was a Mesopotamian emperor from 2340-2305 B.C.. His
humble origins are cloaked in legends. Interestingly, he was said to
have been found as an infant floating in a basket down a river, a story
more commonly associated with Moses. He eventually became a cupbearer
for the king of Kish. Eventually, he became the founder and king of the
city of Akkad, and his military might soon encompassed kingdoms like
Sumer. His Empire extended from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. In
one story, he was said that after he conquered one kingdom, he took the
queen and made her a concubine. Towards the end of his life, his empire
was beginning to fray and rebel. In total, he personally ruled for 50
years, an amazing thing, considering that the average life span back
then was 40. The name Sargon has reappeared in history, one a
descendant of Sargon I, but none were as formidable as the original.
Now, it seems like one heck of a coincidence to me that the Voltron
writers came up with an analogous name (Sargon/Zarkon) for a character
that had created his own empire, much to the dismay of just about
everyone else in the Universe, including the Drules. Also, notice the
triangular pattern on Sargon's hat; looks a great deal like the gold
and black triangular border seen on Zarkon's chestplate and robe, no?For more information about Sargon the Great, check out some of these sites. At the very least, you will learn something :
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/worldhistory/sargon.htm
http://i-cias.com/e.o/sargon.htm
. . .
Now that we took a nice detour into Ancient Civilizations, let's make a right turn here and start heading back to Science Fiction. Hmm, what do we have here? It's seems the exact name "Zarkon" has been used for a fictional science fiction character before Voltron! The author was Lin Carter, and this character was a prince. Now, apparently the author ended up writing a novel where this Prince Zarkon meets James Bond 007 (no, I swear I am NOT making this up! see for yourself:
(http://www.007forever.com/books/parodies006.html).This character was featured in a series of novels from 1975-1987. The novels are Nemesis of Evil (1975), Invisible Death (1975), The Volcano Ogre (1977), The Earth-Shaker (1982), and Horror Wears Blue (1987). An excerpt from a teaser page of Invisible Death describes him as the following:
"Now meet Prince Zarkon of Novenia,-the cool, strangely solemn master of many arts, whose life is dedicated wholly to the detection and destruction of high-level crime. His origins, shrouded somewhere in the mists of time, are unknown to even his most trusted cohorts-the men of Omega..."
From what I could discern, Prince Zarkon and his team solve mysteries and murders with a supernatural aura to them, whether it be sorcery or the Grim Reaper. It would appear that this character is a human with "super" powers. Since I have never read the books and Google is swamped with Voltron's Zarkon entries, it may be easier to go the library and read the books. Thus, it is probably most likely that the Voltron writers (or one of them) was reading this series. Since Lin Carter's Zarkon appears a fairly virtuous and noble character helping others, why the name would be given to the villain of the cartoon series would seem strange...UNLESS someone also knew about Sargon. Then, it all comes together...
More about Prince Zarkon: http://omega-9.ioffer.com/i/M0YHLHS01bbx1 & http://occultdetective.tripod.com/zarkon.htm
. . .
Now, everyone can agree that Zarkon/Daibazaal's outfit is not contemporary, even by 1978 terms. Specifically, he comes across as an Assyrian monarch (ahh, the Sargon angle reappears) with the robes and such, and I never gave it more thought than that. However, there is more to this character design than that. I would never have known this were I not researching clothing designs from different periods of history. It was for character designs of a webcomic I tamper with time to time. So imagine my surprise when I find a picture that confirms that the Japanese animators did not have an Assyrian king in mind - they had a Frenchman. King Charles the Bald - and here is the EXACT image they referenced. The image is from a 1940's costume book, but the actual illustration itself may be older.
Now, I don't know how a French person would react to this information, that a drawing of a dead monarch of theirs was used to create a diabolical ruler who enslaved and slaughtered the masses. I am sure that reference pictures are used professionally all the time; they are an invaluable tool. But, I am also sure that such a close translation deserves a source credit in the series somewhere. (If anybody has the Go-Lion credits, this should be featured somewhere. Lemme know if you come across this.)
There you have it, another VIC first: speculation on the name choice for King Zarkon with circumstantial evidence.
. . .
Other Signs of Zarkon:
Apparently, Star Trek fanfiction has a fan that based a homemade CG episode of Star Trek from inspiration from the Voltron episode: "Zarkon is dying," where ol' Z tests Prince Lotor's loyalty by feigning illness. Hah, Zarkon has influenced STAR TREK fanculture. Eat that, Zarkonhaters!There is a game for the Amstrad PC called Zarkon, made by Budgie in 1987. It's a side-scrolling shooter. You pilot a ship and shoot squares that are shooting stuff while meteors fly around and some enemy ships shoot at you. Too bad you can barely discern one from another. It's a horrible game, Zarkon would only use it as a form of torture. The only redeeming thing about it is the budgie logo, since I love birds. It also shows the name Zarkon is going to be reused for some time. Think I'm being too harsh? Check these out:
