Lost in Translation: Celtic Myth and the Persona Series

Authors

• Glenn S. Ritchey III, University of Central FloridaFollow
• Christina Restrepo Nazar, University of Central FloridaFollow
• Teddy Duncan Jr, University of Central FloridaFollow

Streaming Media

Files

Course Code

ENG

Course Number

6801

Faculty/Instructor

Dr. Louise Kane

Faculty/Instructor Email

louise.kane@ucf.edu

About the Author

Glenn S. Ritchey III is a PhD student in Texts & Technology at UCF, where their research examines constraint-based literature and procedural authorship. Glenn's scholarly work explores how communities maintain narrative control in contested spaces—particularly through visual culture in Belfast and Kashmir—while my creative practice builds generative tools that make process visible and accessible. All of Glenn's work is animated by the central question "how do we democratize who gets to make meaning?".

Since 2007, C.R. Nazar has been deeply involved in K–12 education, with a strong focus on advancing equitable and socially just STEM education across a variety of educational settings—including K–12 schools, out-of-school programs, and university-based teacher education programs in Florida, Michigan, and California. C.R. Nazar earned her B.S. and M.Ed. in science education from the University of Central Florida, and her Ph.D. in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education from Michigan State University. In the field of science education, she has published over 10 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, has over 200 citations in her work, and has been recognized with several grants and awards, including the prestigious 2020 AACTE Dissertation of the Year Award. She previously served as an Assistant Professor of K–12 Science Education at California State University, Los Angeles, in the Division of Curriculum and Instruction. Currently, her work centers on the development and integration of Artificial Intelligence resources to support learning in community settings. She aims to create digital and technological tools that foster deeper engagement and enhance STEM and community-based education through innovative, accessible, and equitable approaches that empowers society towards just ends.

Teddy Duncan Jr. works at the intersection of Lacanian psychoanalysis, animal studies, and American literature. He is the author of Interpreting Meat (McFarland, 2024) and has a second book, Zoological Lacan, under contract with Routledge. His freelance writing appears in Document Journal, The Observer, Compact Magazine, and elsewhere.

Abstract, Summary, or Creative Statement

This presentation examines how Celtic mythological figures transform when adapted into the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei video game franchises. Comparing medieval Welsh and Irish source texts with their video game incarnations, this project reveals what cultural, narrative, and political specificity disappears in cross-media translation.

The presentation analyzes three case studies. Arianrhod, from the Welsh Mabinogion's Fourth Branch (c. 11th–13th), responds to violated autonomy through legally grounded refusal; Persona reduces her to “Goddess of England,” erasing both her Welsh origin and maternal resistance. Cú Chulainn, from the Irish “Tochmarc Emire” (c. 8th–9th), develops his heroism through Emer's intellectual partnership and Scáthach's martial mentorship; the games retain his battle frenzy (ríastrad) and spear (Gáe Bolg) while systematically removing the women who made both possible. Lugh, from “The Fate of the Children of Tuireann” (c. 13th–15th), engineers a lethal blood-fine through legal technicality; Persona preserves his solar power and unstoppable spear but strips away his calculated coldness.

Drawing on Walter Benjamin (aura and reproduction), Walter Ong (orality and literacy), Wendy Chun (habitual media), and Deleuze and Guattari (rhizomatic networks), the project documents three systematic erasures: female agency is removed, moral complexity is flattened, and cultural specificity is reassigned. The pattern holds across all three figures: what survives the journey into the franchise is what can be rendered as power; what gets lost is everything that complicates it—determined as much by what a medium can represent as by what a culture chooses to carry forward.

Additional Resources

Interactive Padlet Presentation

Keywords

Celtic mythology; Persona; Cultural translation; Video game adaptation; Irish mythology; Welsh mythology; Media theory; Cross-media narrative; Postcolonial criticism; Digital folklore

Recommended Citation

Ritchey, Glenn S. III; Restrepo Nazar, Christina; and Duncan, Teddy Jr, "Lost in Translation: Celtic Myth and the Persona Series" (2026). High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2026. 88.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hip-2026spring/88