Trident in popular culture

Last Judgment. In this painting, Jacob de Backer depicts the Devil as often seen in art, namely, wielding a trident as his personal weapon.

Tridents have occurred many times in popular culture.

In companies

Psi, the Greek letter and symbol of Psychology which has a format similar to a trident.

• The all inclusive resort company Club Med uses a trident in its company logo
• Hawker Siddeley Trident was a British jet airliner produced by Hawker Siddley at Hatfield in the 1960s, named after the tri-jet engine configuration
• The Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati uses a trident as its company logo
• The Trident was a popular restaurant in Sausalito, California during the 1960s and 70s; it was owned by the folk group The Kingston Trio and operated by their manager Frank Werber

In media

Anime/Manga

• In the anime and manga series Bleach, the character Kaien Shiba wields a zanpakuto dubbed Nejibana that turns into a trident when in its initial release form
• In InuYasha, Naraku forges a trident from his own bones and gives it to Abi-Hime
• In the anime and manga Katekyo Hitman REBORN!, Mukuro Rokudo and Chrome Dokuro use a trident as their weapon; the mosquitoes of Doctor Shamal also pierce their targets with a trident, earning him the nickname "Trident Shamal" in the underground world of mafia
• In Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, the XXXG-01S2 "Altron" piloted by Chang Wufei uses a beam trident
• In Ronin Warriors, Cye of the Torrent uses a trident capable of firing a high-powered beam of water

Comics

In DC Comics:

• The superhero Aquaman sometimes carries a trident
• The superhero Blue Devil carries a trident

In Marvel Comics:

• The superhero Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner sometimes carries a trident

Film

Trident, Burmese, 18th century

• In Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (film) (1988), the idiot-prince Ruprecht (Steve Martin) insists on holding a trident at the dinner table
• The trident was King Triton's weapon of choice in Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989 film)
• The trident was the weapon of choice of Diana from the ION Television/PAX network's made for TV movie, Mermaids (2003)
• In The Da Vinci Code (2003), there is some discussion about the symbolic use of the trident
• In the movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Brick Tamland uses a trident to kill a rival, later uttering the famous phrase, "There were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident"
• In Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), a trident is present when Percy arrives at his cabin. Also, in the end of his battle with Luke, Percy pins him in the sea with a Trident based Water Construct, saying: "Yeah. I think I am the Son of Poseidon.".
• The trident of Poseidon was the weapon of choice to defeat the Titans in Immortals
• The trident was featured in the Hunger Games as Finnick Odair's weapon.

Gaming

• In Age of Mythology, the objective for the second mission involves getting a Poseidon statue's trident back to Atlantis
• In the popular role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, the trident is available as a weapon
• Jiang Wei, from Dynasty Warriors, uses a trident called "Blink"
• In the game Dynasty Warriors 6, both Taishi Ci and Cao Ren use tridents
• In Final Fantasy VII, the Trident is an equippable weapon obtained by Cid Highwind
• In Final Fantasy XII, the Trident is an equippable weapon imbued with the power of ice
• In Final Fantasy Tactics A2, the Trident is a rare polearm obtainable only by combining items in the Bazaar. It can only be purchased once per combination
• In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, the trident is one of the more powerful spear weapons
• In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Felix and party collects the three pieces of the Trident of Ankhol, which is the only item able to break through Poseidon's impenetrable shield
• The harpoon of Smoke (Mortal Kombat), in Mortal Kombat 3, is a trident
• Hydron, from Red Earth (video game), carries a huge trident as a weapon
• In the MMORPG RuneScape, the Penance Trident is an equippable magical staff the can kill certain opponents in 1 hit
• In Soul Calibur, the edge master weapon of Seung Mina is a trident
• In several games in The Legend of Zelda series, the primary antagonist, Ganon, uses the Trident of Power as his weapon of choice
• In March 1979, Stern Electronics released Trident, a nautical themed game based on the mythological take on the three pointed spear
• In League of Legends, The champion Fizz uses a trident as his weapon.
• In Undertale, King Asgore wields a red trident during battle.

Literature

Poseidon sculpture holding a trident

• In the novels Catching Fire (2009) and Mockingjay (2010) from the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, the fisherman and warrior Finnick Odair specializes in the trident as a weapon.
• In Drowned Wednesday, part of the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, Wednesday's Key is a trident.
• In the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series of novels by Rick Riordan, as in Greek mythology, the trident is a symbol of the Olympian Glory; it appears over a demigod's head when Poseidon claims the individual as his own.

Television

• GokaiSilver from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger fights with a traditional trident, reflecting his image as a mariner
• Triceraranger/Blue Ranger from Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger/Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is armed with a pair of tridents with circular ends that can join together
• In the Masters of the Universe toy line and cartoon series, Spikor, an evil henchman of Skeletor, has an extendable trident in place of his left hand; the three points fire lasers
• In ReBoot, AI AndrAIa uses a trident
• In one of the Bill Brasky sketches on Saturday Night Live, Bill Brasky is said to have killed Wolfman Jack with a trident
• In seaQuest DSV, the logo of the United Earth Oceans Organization is a trident centered over an image of the earth surrounded by a wreath
• In the series The Big Bang Theory, the character Sheldon Cooper thinks that forks with three tines are actually tridents and will not eat with them
• In the cartoon series Ulysses 31, the Tridents were spacecraft used by the Gods of Olympus to attack Ulysses' ship, The Odyssey
• In Warehouse 13, In the Season 2 finale, H.G. Wells wants to use the Minoan Trident to cause a massive volcanic eruption to rid the Earth of humanity so the planet can heal and start over
• In the series Mako: Island of Secrets, the Trident was a powerful artifact that was used by mermen to start a war with mermaids until it was sealed in a cave on Mako. It was designed to counter everything a mermaid did, drain the power of their Moon Rings, and suck the life out of them.

In military

• Trident is the name of the US Navy's Fleet Ballistic Missile program, consisting of Ohio class submarines and Trident II D-5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles; it is so named because of its role in the three-pronged Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP) nuclear war plan, based around sea-launched SLBMs first, followed by land-launched ICBMs, and lastly free-fall nuclear bombs delivered by air from strategic bombers
• Trident also refers to the Royal Navy's nuclear Ballistic Missile system, consisting of Vanguard class submarines and Trident II D-5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The name was chosen for the same reason as the US Trident.

In other uses

A USB Series “A” plug, the most common USB plug with the trident symbol visible.

• The USB logo is a stylized trident. (See photo)
• The trident symbol, stylized to look like the letter M, was the logo for the Seattle Mariners baseball franchise in the 1980s. A variant is currently used by a Mariners minor league affiliate, the Everett AquaSox.

References