Who knows where the names of video game characters come from? Most of the time you don't even pay attention, you just process the information for identification and move on with your quest. Well, a fair amount of them actually come from Jewish mysticism, and some of them might surprise you.
The golem is a Jewish legend that Mary Shelley borrowed heavily from to create Frankenstein. Golems are humanoid men created from mud and given the ability to move and act, though not speak. In the Talmud, Adam is created by god as a golem. The best-known example is the Golem of Prague, in which a rabbi constructed one to defend the ghetto he lived in from anti-Semites. Legend has it that the remains of the golem are in the attic of the Old New Synagogue, waiting to be reactivated should he be needed again.
In World of Warcraft, golems are huge, powerful constructs built from a variety of sources, not just mud or dust. Like their mystical inspirations, they aren't known for their intelligence, but are fierce protectors of whatever they have been assigned to guard. They do not require food or air, and can withstand almost any harsh environment. In general they are mindless husks, merely animated tools of a wizard, though there are reports of golems wandering masterless to unknown destinations.
Most people think of Eve as the wife of Adam, but even God took a few tries to get the whole dating thing right. Before Eve was a nameless woman who Adam rejected because he saw God create her...bit by bit. He couldn't deal with knowing about all the mucus and bones and blood in his mate, so God destroyed her, or perhaps she left Eden. Before her was Lilith. The Talmud lists her as Adam's mate, but she desired equal standing, and insisted on being on top during sex. For this God banished her, and she fled Eden to boink Lucifer.
Lilith is a recurring character in the Castlevania series, usually portrayed as a woman with bat wings. This may be a reference to her giving birth to many demonic children in her world sex tour after leaving Adam. In fact, God sent three angels to retrieve Lilith, and threatened to kill 100 of her kids if she didn't come with them. She said she'd rather watch them die than return to Adam. You might want to remember this story when you complain about your spouse.
