In modern fantasy fiction, members of a race with both snake and human characteristics (usually having only a human head, or a human torso with a snake tail instead of legs) are often called nagas. This comes from the legendary creatures called nagas in Hindu mythology. For other definitions of fantasy see fantasy (psychology). ... Many fantasy stories and worlds call their main sapient humanoid species races rather than species. ... A legendary creature is a mythical or fantastic creature (often known as fabulous creatures in historical literature). ... The nagas ( snake) are an ancient race of snake-humanoid beings first depicted in ancient Vedic Hindu mythology and oral folklore from at least 5000 B.C.E. Stories involving the Nagas are still very much a part of contemporary cultural traditions in predominantly Hindu (India, Nepal, and the island... Hindu mythology is a term used by modern scholarship for a large body of Indian literature that details the lives and times of legendary personalities, deities and divine incarnations on earth interspersed with often large sections of philosophical and ethical discourse. ...

Modern Nagas

The modern Naga, which is occasionally seen in television, film and other popular culture, has altered greatly from the classical mythological definition. They tend to be pictured as a melding of human and snake as opposed to the afforementionned style of a mermaid of half one creature and half another. The statue of The Little Mermaid, a monument to Hans Christian Andersen, in Copenhagen harbour. ...

In the game Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Nagas are Night Elves that were driven underwater and eventually mutated into snake-like creatures. They reside in their city Nazjatar. Naga also appear in the Final Fantasy Series, Legend of the Five Rings, Dungeons & Dragons, and many other products. A game called Sansara Naga was made for the Game Boy Advance. Deis, also called Bleu, a character from the Breath of Fire series of video role-playing games, is a naga. In the Heroes of Might and Magic series, Nagas are creatures with the upper body of a woman, the lower body and tail of a serpent (in the style of a mermaid), and six arms, the multiple arms perhaps inspired by the stereotype of Hindu deities. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, released by Blizzard Entertainment in 2002, is a real-time strategy computer game and the second sequel to Warcraft. ... Final Fantasy (Japanese: ファイナルファンタジー Fainaru Fantajii) is a popular series of role playing games produced by Square Enix (originally Square Co. ... Legend of the Five Rings (often abbreviated L5R) is a fictional setting created by Alderac Entertainment Group in 1995. ... For other uses, see Dungeons & Dragons (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Logo from the original Breath of Fire video game. ... A role-playing game (RPG, often roleplaying game) is a type of game in which the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories. ... Heroes of Might and Magic II Heroes of Might and Magic (sometimes called simply Heroes or HoMM) is a series of turn-based computer games developed by New World Computing, a division of The 3DO Company. ... The statue of The Little Mermaid, a monument to Hans Christian Andersen, in Copenhagen harbour. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

In the anime Ronin Warriors, it is speculated that Naaza/Sekhmet, Warlord of Venom, may in fact be a part of a family of nagas. DVD cover of Ronin Warriors. ...

In Piers Anthony's Xanth series, a kingdom of nagas lives in caves and fights with goblins. Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born August 6, 1934 in Oxford, England) is a writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. ... Xanth is a fantasy world created by author Piers Anthony for a series of novels. ...

In the PC game Guild Wars Factions, the Naga are also a hostile race who have a deep hatred of humans and Tengu. Guild Wars Factions is a 2006 computer game created by ArenaNet and is the first stand-alone chapter expanding on Prophecies, the original Guild Wars game. ... Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Elephant catching a flying tengu Tengu ) are minor kami or yokai found in Japanese folklore. ...

Nagas have also featured into several "tabletop" games. Nagas the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game as a variety of similar species with widely differing abilities and alignments. Also, in the asian mythology-inspired "Legend of the Five Rings" collectible card game and role-playing game, the Naga appear as a playable race. In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, nagas comprise a variety of similar species of intelligent aberrations with widely differing abilities and alignments. ... For other uses, see Dungeons & Dragons (disambiguation). ... A role-playing game (RPG, often roleplaying game) is a type of game in which the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories. ... In Dungeons & Dragons and some similar role-playing games, alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game. ... Legend of the Five Rings (often abbreviated L5R) is a fictional setting created by Alderac Entertainment Group in 1995. ... Collectible card games (CCGs), also called customizable card games or trading card games, are played using specially designed sets of cards. ... A role-playing game (RPG, often roleplaying game) is a type of game in which the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories. ...

In an episode of the Aladdin (TV series), Princess Jasmine and Aladdin are transformed into Naga-like beings. Aladdin is an animated television series made by Walt Disney Television which aired from 1994 to 1995, based on the original 1992 feature. ... Princess Jasmine(who is pretty fit btw and could be a potential future wifey) is a fictional indian character (yes hirri, she is indian) voiced by [BADGE, WHO IS DA BESTEST] in the Disney film, Aladdin and its two sequels, The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King...

Snapesnogger, a user of www.deviantart.com has a popular series of drawings based of an Alternate Universe she has created on several Naga. Her works can be found here--

http://snapesnogger.deviantart.com/