10004


The Muse song "Knights of Cydonia" is awfully similar in title to the anime
series "Knights of Sidonia".

This seems like a very unlikely coincidence as I haven't ever come across the
name Sidonia in a normal context and it seems a made-up name for a location.

Is there more to this seemingly coincidental similarity of names?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-29T19:49:36.113
10003
2020-04-24T03:26:26.427
2015-03-12T23:06:03.490
1908
1530
question
knights-of-sidonia
Does Knights of Sidonia have anything to do with the Muse song by a similar name?


[Cydonia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cydonia_%28region_of_Mars%29) is
actually a region on Mars - the name derives from here and is not actually
made up. Sidonia seems to be an alternative spelling for this.

As for the "knights" bit, the region is best known for the face-shaped
landmarks that were discovered by the Viking Orbitors, It is very likely the
"Knights" refer to these faces, which strike a resemblance to tapestry and
stained glass depictions of medieval knights:

![Mars is watching](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pGwz1.jpg)

![stained-glass medieval knights](https://i.stack.imgur.com/5ESAVm.jpg)

> Some commentators, most notably Richard C. Hoagland, believe the "Face on
> Mars" to be evidence of a long-lost Martian civilization along with other
> features they believe are present, such as apparent pyramids, which they
> argue are part of a ruined city.

The region has been featured in more than these two mediums and in fact has
inspired episodes of the X-Files, Final Fantasy IV, Invader Zim and more.

There doesn't appear to be a connection to the two works apart from the names,
which may have differing spelling to avoid lawyer conflicts, for search engine
& catalogue uniqueness, because of mistranslation, or a variety of other
reasons.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-29T19:49:36.113
10004
2015-07-15T22:31:15.833
2015-07-15T22:31:15.833
1908
1530
10003
answer


One thing to consider is that the original Japanese title is "Sidonia no
Kishi" (シドニアの騎士), which doesn't suggest a connection so clearly.

Nihei's past series have had English titles (Blame!, BioMega), so I think if
he wanted to reference the song he'd use English for the original title. I
think it's just a coincidence that it's so similar to the song's name, once
translated into English.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-12T16:49:47.593
20001
2015-03-12T16:49:47.593
13201
10003
answer


While I do not believe that the reference to the Muse song is apparent, as a
former poster had already stated, it is very likely that the name for the
series is a reference to the sector of Mars rather than the ancient Cretan
city-state by which the sector was named after. Due to the transliteration of
Cydonia in Japanese as シドンイア and then transliterating it back into English as
"Sidonia," the apparent similarities become lost.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-04T21:08:56.290
26404
2015-10-04T21:08:56.290
18332
10003
answer