For context, Im a Native Hawaiian born, raised, and still living in Hawaii and my career is Hawaiian cultural consulting and entertainment.
I grew up playing Terraria and still play it to this day. I have always wondered if the “mana” concept, whether it be the concept as a whole or just the name, was taken from Hawaiian concepts?? (Or any other Polynesian culture for that matter)
Mana in Hawaiian culture is supernatural power and strength. We believe in our culture that everything has mana, whether it’s a human or even a rock, and to never disrespect or degrade the mana of someone or something else.
I’ve always wondered this but never got to asking the question. Does anyone happen to know if there’s any connection?
by Fluffy-Fun-2512
9 Comments
I think that’s the origin of the term, yeah.
I believe “mana” in the sense of magical power reserves in video games or other fantasy media has been around for longer than Terraria. The term did originate from Hawaiian and/or Polynesian culture like you said, but it’s unclear if the developers of Terraria took it directly from that or from other video games that have used “mana” in a similar way.
So, I made I video about this, in a series called Gamer Words, I earn absolutely nothing from the views of this, but it was something I looked up back in the day, here, [The Origin of Mana in Gaming](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heO0a1pD2bo), in short, it’s just a word that many cultures around the world use to describe “natural forces” or something beyond what they were at the time, incapable of explaining. My video was like, 12 years ago and I’ve grown, we’ve, the world has grown since, but the origin still stands.
I believe the origin came from the phrase “mana of God”
Mana is born from humans negative emotions. Each person has some mana. Some individual with good mana pool can learn mana manipulation techniques.
Due to the rarity of mana users, it is not very common to see them except people inside a barrier created by the dryad
Mana users with good control canlearn to open their mana pool to make a sure hit using a barrier called mana domain expansion
Some mana users can summons mana creatures like shikigami and fight for them
Cursed spirits and monsters can be seen/summoned by mana users
I would say its vanishingly unlikely they took the term from Hawaiian culture vs the million other video games that use the term for ‘resource for magic.’
Mana in English comes from Maori mana, yes.
In Terraria it’s taken from wider RPG video game lingo that’s been around since the 90s. In the wider RPG video game lingo, it’s taken from Polynesian cultures
Not a Terraria thing, a English language thing. Yes the word “mana” is a Polynesian loan word (I think it comes from Maori in particular). It entered the English language in the late 19th century