title: David Luiz

text: On 7 September 2012, David Luiz captained Brazil for the first time, appearing in a 1–0 win against South Africa in São Paulo. He was included in the squad for the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2013, which was hosted in his native Brazil. Alongside teammate Thiago Silva, David Luiz started all matches and helped Brazil win their fourth Confederations Cup title. In the final against Spain, he made an outstanding goal-line clearance from Pedro's shot.


title: David Luiz

text: On 2 June, David Luiz was named in Brazil's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He scored his first international goal in a 1–1 draw against Chile in the round of 16. He subsequently converted the team's first kick in the penalty shootout as they prevailed 3–2. He scored the winning goal from a 35-yard free kick in a 2–1 win against Colombia in the quarter-final, and celebrated the goal by running towards the corner flag and kicking it. In the absence of Thiago Silva due to suspension, David Luiz captained the "Seleção" in their 7–1 defeat to Germany at the semi-final stage of the tournament. Brazil went on to lose the third-place play-off 3–0 against the Netherlands.


title: David Luiz

text: David Luiz was a member of Brazil's squad for the 2015 Copa América in Chile. He partnered Miranda in central defence for the team's first two group matches, before being dropped for Thiago Silva, as Brazil were knocked out by Paraguay in the quarter-finals.


title: David Luiz

text: On 13 November 2015, David Luiz received his first career red card in a 1–1 2018 World Cup qualifying draw with rivals Argentina in Buenos Aires. In 2016, David Luiz and Thiago Silva were among several experienced players who were not chosen for the squad that travelled to the Copa América Centenario in the United States.


title: David Luiz

text: Although primarily a centre back, David Luiz can also be deployed as a defensive midfielder or as a full back, and has drawn praise for his physical strength, work-rate, technique, and range of distribution as a defender, as well as his personality, composure in possession, and confidence on the ball, which enables him to play the ball out from the back or launch an attack with long balls after winning back possession. A powerful striker of the ball from distance, Luiz has also been known to foul players in a reckless manner causing injuries to fellow footballers. Although in the past he has been criticized in the media for his inconsistent defensive performances, and for being reckless in his challenges, as well as prone to errors or lapses in concentration, during the 2016–17 season, he showed notable improvements upon his return to Chelsea, when the club's new manager Antonio Conte decided to deploy him as a ball-playing centre back in a three-man back-line in the team's 3–4–3 formation.


title: David Luiz

text: David Luiz is a devout Evangelical Christian and has named Kaká as his role model. He said, "My faith gives me the belief that I can go out and perform and improve as a player. It gives me strength and inspiration." He later added, "Everything in life belongs to God. Our purpose has already been mapped out." He received baptism in May 2015 in the indoor swimming pool of his Brazil and PSG teammate Maxwell.


title: David Luiz

text: Earlier in his career, David Luiz was likened physically to the Brazilian basketball player Anderson Varejão by fans in his own country, due to their similar hairstyle. In England, he was referred to as "The Simpsons" villain Sideshow Bob by opposition fans, and also in self-reference.


title: David Luiz

text: David Luiz is also a Portuguese citizen, which was acquired during his time at Benfica. Portugal wanted him to represent their national team, but he opted to play for his native Brazil instead.


title: David Luiz

text: In 2018, Luiz and his teammate Willian acquired Babbo, an Italian restaurant located in Mayfair, London.


title: Maika Monroe

text: Maika Monroe (born Dillon Monroe Buckley; May 29, 1993) is an American actress and professional kiteboarder. She had her breakthrough headlining the horror film "It Follows" (2014), which won her several accolades—including an Empire Award nomination. She is recognized for her work in the horror genre, particularly for starring in the thriller "The Guest" (2014), the sci-fi thriller "Tau" (2018), and the psychological thrillers "Greta" (2018) and "Watcher" (2022).


title: Maika Monroe

text: Monroe made her film acting debut with the drama film "At Any Price" (2012). Aside from her work in horror, she has also had roles in the drama film "Labor Day" (2013), the action film "" (2016), the neo-noir coming-of-age film "Hot Summer Nights" (2017), the comedy-drama film "After Everything" (2018) and the black comedy film "Villains" (2019).


title: Maika Monroe

text: Monroe was born Dillon Monroe Buckley on May 29, 1993, in Santa Barbara, California, the daughter of sign language interpreter Dixie and construction worker Jack Buckley. She later changed her first name to Maika, by which she had already been known for most of her life. At the age of 17, Monroe left Santa Barbara and moved to Cabarete in the Dominican Republic to continue training in kiteboarding after spending the previous summer there. She subsequently completed her senior year of high school online.


title: Maika Monroe

text: In April 2012, Monroe signed up for the drama film "Labor Day", an adaptation of the novel of the same name. She played Mandy, a farm girl who romances with a young man and eventually becomes his wife and the mother of his child. In June 2013, she joined the cast of the psychological thriller film "The Guest". In 2014, she starred as Jay in the horror film "It Follows", which became a cult hit. In 2016, she co-starred in the invasion thriller film "The 5th Wave", based on the novel of the same name. Monroe also co-starred in the 2016 movie "", the sequel to "Independence Day" (1996), playing former First Daughter Patricia Whitmore.


The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a 2014 epic high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro, based on the 1937 novel "The Hobbit" by J. R. R. Tolkien. The sequel to 2013's "", it is the final instalment in "The Hobbit" trilogy, acting as a prequel to Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.


title: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

text: The film's story concludes the adventure of Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield's company of dwarves, who take possession of the treasure beneath the Lonely Mountain as various factions clash over it, while Azog the Defiler and his forces make their move.


text: The film stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Stott, Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Billy Connolly, Graham McTavish, James Nesbitt, Stephen Fry, and Ryan Gage. The ensemble cast also features Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, and Orlando Bloom. It was Holm's final film before his death in 2020, as well as Lee's final live-action role, although he would be featured as a voice actor in several films released after his death in 2015.


text: "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" premiered in London on 1 December 2014, and was then released on 11 December in New Zealand and on 17 December in the United States, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $962.2 million worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of 2014. The film received numerous accolades; at the 87th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Sound Editing.


text: Bilbo and the Dwarves watch from the Lonely Mountain as the dragon Smaug sets Laketown ablaze. Bard breaks out of prison, and eventually kills Smaug with the black arrow. Smaug's falling body crushes the Master of Laketown and his cronies, who were escaping on a boat with the town's gold. Bard becomes the new leader of Laketown and guides its people to seek refuge in the ruins of Dale. Thorin, having become possessive of the vast treasure in the mountain, searches obsessively for the Arkenstone, which Bilbo had previously found but kept hidden. Upon hearing that Laketown survivors have fled to Dale, he orders the entrance of the Lonely Mountain sealed off.


text: Meanwhile, Galadriel, Elrond, and Saruman arrive at Dol Guldur and free Gandalf, sending him to safety with Radagast. They battle and defeat the Nazgûl and then face a formless Sauron himself. Galadriel defeats him in a duel of wills and banishes him and his forces to the East. Azog, marching on Erebor with his vast Orc army, sends his son Bolg to Mount Gundabad to summon their second army. Legolas and Tauriel witness the march of Bolg's army, bolstered by Orc berserkers and giant bats.


text: Thranduil and an Elf army arrive in Dale to reclaim a treasure once withheld from them by the Dwarf king Thrór. Bard asks Thorin for the share of gold previously promised to the people of Laketown, but Thorin refuses. Gandalf arrives at Dale to warn Bard and Thranduil of Azog, but Thranduil dismisses him. Bilbo sneaks the Arkenstone out of Erebor and hands it over to Thranduil and Bard, so that they can trade it for the promised treasures and prevent a battle. Thorin angrily refuses the proposal, while Bilbo chides him for letting greed cloud his judgement. Thorin nearly kills Bilbo but is stopped by Gandalf. Thorin's cousin Dáin arrives with his Dwarf army, and a battle of Dwarves against Elves and Men ensues, until Azog's army arrives. The forces of Dáin, Thranduil and Bard, along with Gandalf and Bilbo, immediately band together against the Orcs. A second front is opened when the Orcs attack Dale, forcing Bard to withdraw his forces to defend the city.


text: Inside Erebor, Thorin suffers traumatic hallucinations before regaining his sanity and leading his company to join the battle. He rides with Dwalin, Fíli, and Kíli to kill Azog. Meanwhile, Tauriel and Legolas arrive to warn the Dwarves of Bolg's arrival, and Bilbo volunteers to relay the news to Thorin, using his magic ring to move through the combat unseen. Azog kills Fíli as Bilbo and the other Dwarves are forced to watch. Bolg overpowers Tauriel and then kills Kíli, who had come to her aid. Legolas battles Bolg and eventually kills him. The Great Eagles arrive with Radagast and Beorn, and the Orcs are finally defeated. In the climax, Thorin engages Azog in a duel and kills him, but is fatally wounded in the process. Bilbo makes peace with the dying Thorin, while Tauriel mourns Kili, with Thranduil acknowledging their love. Thranduil advises Legolas to seek out a Dunedain ranger in the north who goes by the name Strider. Thorin is buried with the Arkenstone along with Kili and Fili, and Dáin is crowned king.


text: As Thorin's company settles back into Erebor, and Dale begins to recover with Bard as the leader, Bilbo bids farewell to the company's remaining members and journeys home to the Shire with Gandalf. As the two part ways on the outskirts of the Shire, Gandalf admits his knowledge of Bilbo's ring and warns him of it, although Bilbo assures him that he had lost the ring. Bilbo returns to Bag End to find his belongings being auctioned off because he was presumed dead. He stops the sale and starts tidying up his home, revealing he still possesses the ring. Sixty years later, Bilbo receives a visit from Gandalf on his 111th birthday.


text: Additionally, Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis's daughters made cameo appearances as girls rowing away during Smaug's attack; movement coach Terry Notary and stand-in Jamie Haugh appear as Laketown refugees after the destruction; Conan Stevens, who was to play Bolg, appears as the Keeper of the Dungeons, an Orc captain holding Gandalf hostage and the sons of key second assistant director Guy Campbell, casting director Miranda Rivers, and Weta Workshop founder Richard Taylor appear as Hobbit children during the auction scene.


text: "The Hobbit" was originally planned as a two-part film, but Jackson confirmed plans for a third film on 30 July 2012, turning his adaptation of "The Hobbit" into a trilogy. According to Jackson, the third film would contain the Battle of the Five Armies and make extensive use of the appendices that Tolkien wrote to expand the story of Middle-earth (published in the back of "The Return of the King"). Jackson also stated that while the third film would largely make use of footage originally shot for the first and second films, it would require additional filming as well. The third film was titled "There and Back Again" in August 2012. In April 2014, Jackson changed the title of the film to "The Battle of the Five Armies" as he thought the new title better suited the situation of the film. He stated that, had he adapted "The Hobbit" as a two-part film, the original title may have felt right for the second part which would have included both Bilbo's arrival in Erebor and departure, but after the decision to adapt the novel as a three-part film, it felt misplaced as Bilbo had already arrived at Erebor in the second part. Shaun Gunner, the chairman of The Tolkien Society, supported the decision: ""The Battle of the Five Armies" much better captures the focus of the film but also more accurately channels the essence of the story."


text: As with all the previous films, Howard Shore composed the score. Conrad Pope (who conducted the orchestra) and James Sizemore orchestrated the music for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and for two Gamelan orchestra, while the London Voices and Tiffin boys’ choir were recorded in AIR Lyndhurst, London. The score featured a few new themes for Dain, Gundabad (featuring a "chorus" of didgeridoos) and the Dwarves' war preparations, but focused more on blending and clashing the themes against one another, eventually bringing the themes to a resolution.


text: Billy Boyd, who played Peregrin Took in "The Lord of the Rings", wrote and recorded the song "The Last Goodbye" for the end credits of the film.


text: A teaser trailer for the film was released on 28 July 2014 attached to "Guardians of the Galaxy", "Into the Storm", and "If I Stay". The second theatrical trailer was released on 6 November 2014 attached to "Interstellar" and "". To promote the film's release, Wellington-based association football club, Wellington Phoenix, wore a special designed jersey to commemorate the opening of "The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies". The custom, film-themed jersey was worn only once, on 13 December 2014. In the film's Japanese release on 13 December, Warner Bros. collaborated with mobile gaming company A-Lim to bring Bilbo, Gandalf, and Legolas into the game "Brave Frontier" at the end of December as Vortex Dungeon units. The campaign only ran until February 2015. Smaug made a guest appearance, animated by WETA and voiced again by Cumberbatch, on the satire show "The Colbert Report" on 12 December 2014 to promote the film.


text: Two video games were developed to coincide with the theatrical release. A tie-in fighting video game "The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies – Fight for Middle Earth" was released simultaneously with the film for Android and iOS platforms to negative reviews from critics and users. An action-adventure video game "" was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 & Xbox One in October 2014 and for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 21 November, nearly a week prior to the world premiere in London, on 1 December. The events of the game take place directly after Sauron fled to Mordor, escaping The White Council, which was shown at the beginning. The game was planned to act as an overlap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings film series.


text: Initially the film was set for a 18 July 2014 release; however, it was later pushed back to 17 December. The world premiere of "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" was held in London at Leicester Square on 1 December 2014. The film opened in cinemas on 11 December 2014 in New Zealand, on 12 December in the United Kingdom and on 17 December in the United States. Warner Bros released the film on 18 December in Greece and 26 December, in Australia. The film was released in China on 23 January 2015. An extended edition of the film had a one-night-only re-release on 13 October 2015, accompanied by a special greeting from Peter Jackson.


text: "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" was released on 6 March 2015 on Digital Release from digital retailers. The DVD and Blu-ray were released on 24 March 2015 in the United States. It topped the home video sales chart in its opening week. An Extended Edition of the film, with 20 minutes of additional footage and original music was released on Digital HD on 20 October and on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on 17 November 2015 in the United States and on 23 November 2015, in the United Kingdom.


text: "The Battle of the Five Armies" was released in Ultra HD Blu-ray on 30 November 2020 in the United Kingdom and on 1 December 2020 in the United States, along with the other films of the trilogy, including both the theatrical and the extended editions of the films.


text: Unlike the theatrical version's PG-13 rating, the Extended Edition was rated R by the MPAA for "some violence", which makes it the only Middle Earth film to have a restricted rating and, one of the few films based on a children's book to have an R rating. It was likewise rated MA15+ by the Australian Classification Board for "strong fantasy violence" and the BBFC granted a 15 certificate for "strong violence", the only Middle Earth film with such ratings.


text: Like its predecessors, "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" became a financial success. It has grossed a total of $255.1 million in the US and Canada and $707.1 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $962.2 million. In its original theatrical release, it grossed over $956 million, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2014 (behind ""). "Deadline Hollywood" calculated its the net profit to be $103.4 million. The film failed to earn $1 billion at the box office, despite various pundits projecting it to reach that milestone. "The Hollywood Reporter" said that "The Battle of the Five Armies" was unlikely to gross $1 billion worldwide due to "plunging exchange rates around the globe" witnessed that year, and that Warner Bros. and MGM ultimately would take in nearly $90 million less than expected due to the rising dollar and plunging foreign currencies. Despite this, "Forbes" declared the trilogy "an unmitigated financial grand-slam for all parties".


text: In the US and Canada, the film is the lowest-grossing of the three films of "The Hobbit" trilogy, and also the lowest-grossing of the six Middle-earth adaptations, but the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2014. It opened on 16 December 2014 across 3,100 theatres and widened to 3,875 the following day. It earned $11.2 million from Tuesday late-night shows, which is the second-highest of 2014, matching the numbers earned by "Guardians of the Galaxy" and both behind "" ($17 million) of which $2.5 million of just over 22% came from IMAX showings. This broke the record for a Middle-Earth adaptation preview previously set by "The Desolation of Smaug" with $8.8 million. It then topped the box office on its opening day (Wednesday, 17 December 2014), earning $24.5 million (including previews), which is the third-highest Middle-Earth adaptation Wednesday opening behind the Wednesday openings of "" ($34.5 million) and "" ($26.2 million). In total, the film earned $57.4 million in its traditional three-day opening and $89.1 million over its five-day course making it the second-biggest five-day opening in "The Hobbit" franchise, beating the $86.1 million opening of "The Desolation of Smaug", but still behind "An Unexpected Journey"'s $100.2 million five-day opening. However, on a three-day basis, the film under-performed expectations and fell short of its predecessors. The film set a December IMAX opening record with $13.4 million (previously held by ""). 3‑D accounted for 49% of the total gross while IMAX generated 15% or $13.4 million over five days, and $7.4 million over three days, and premium large-format screens comprised 8% of the total opening-weekend gross with $7.2 million from 396 theatres. The film passed the $100 million mark on its seventh day (23 December 2014). It became the third film of 2014 to earn $100 million in just under a week following Lionsgate's "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1" ($168.7 million in its opening week) and Disney/Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" ($134.4 million in its first week). It was in first place at the US and Canadian box office for three consecutive weekends despite facing competition from numerous releases each weekend, but was finally overtaken by "Taken 3" in its fourth weekend.


text: The film began its international roll-out a week prior to its wide North American release. It opened on 10 December 2014 in 11 European markets, earning $11.3 million and 11 December 2014 in 17 additional markets, earning $13.7 million, for a two-day total of $26.6 million and topped the charts in each of the territories. Through 14 December 2015, it had an opening weekend total of $122.2 million from 37 countries in 15,395 screens, topping the box office and outperforming the previous two instalments on a local currency and admissions basis. Seventy-one percent of the total gross ($86.7 million) came from 3‑D showings. However, the opening weekend was still lower than the openings of "An Unexpected Journey" ($138 million) and "The Desolation of Smaug" ($135.4 million) — both on a dollar basis. It set a December IMAX opening record with $6.4 million across 160 IMAX screens, previously held by "An Unexpected Journey" with $5.03 million. The film opened to an additional 59 countries in its second weekend and earned $109 million from 19,315 screens still holding the top spot and fell gradually by 13% as a result of facing minor competitions. In its third weekend, the film added a further $89 million, remaining at number one. It was in first place at the box office outside North America for four consecutive and five weekends in total.


text: The film achieved numerous records during its opening weekend. It set an all-time Warner Bros. opening record in Russia ($13.8 million), Argentina ($2.1 million), Sweden, and Finland. It also set a 2014 opening record in Germany ($20.5 million), France ($15.1 million), and Spain ($6.3 million). It also had the best Middle-earth saga opening in the UK ($15.2 million), and Mexico ($6.3 million). In Brazil, the film scored the second-biggest Warner Bros. opening of all time with $6.8 million (behind "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2"). In Australia, the film was released on 26 December 2014 and set an opening-day record with $5.6 million, behind "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2" ($7.092 million), "The Avengers" ($6.0 million), and "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" ($5.9 million). It went on to earn $10.1 million in its opening weekend. The film set an all-time opening record for Warner Bros. in China where it earned $49.8 million in its opening weekend (a record previously held by "Pacific Rim"). IMAX generated $6.8 million of the total gross, which was once the second-highest IMAX three-day gross behind "Transformers: Age of Extinction"s $10 million. Other high openings were recorded in Korea ($10.4 million), Poland ($5.6 million), Italy ($5.6 million), Malaysia ($3 million), and Taiwan ($2.8 million). In total earnings, its largest markets are China ($121.7 million), the UK, Ireland & Malta ($61.3 million), and Australia ($27 million).


text: MTV reported that early reviews for "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" were "generally positive" with critics praising "its energy, shorter running time and satisfying closure". According to IBT, reviews were mostly positive, with critics "praising director Peter Jackson's effort at transforming J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel into an epic adventure film trilogy". According to CBS News, critics said the film "will satisfy fans" but "otherwise, it may be worth waiting until it's available to rent". Oliver Gettel of the "Los Angeles Times" said the critical consensus was that the film is "a flawed but fitting finale to "The Hobbit" trilogy". On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 59% approval rating based on 268 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. Its consensus reads "Though somewhat overwhelmed by its own spectacle, "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" ends Peter Jackson's second Middle-earth trilogy on a reasonably satisfying note". On Metacritic, the film holds an average score of 59 out of 100 based on 46 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore, during the opening weekend, gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, the same score as its predecessor.


text: Scott Foundas of "Variety" said "The result is at once the trilogy's most engrossing episode, its most expeditious (at a comparatively lean 144 minutes) and also its darkest—both visually and in terms of the forces that stir in the hearts of men, dwarves and orcs alike." Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter" said "After six films, 13 years and 1031 minutes of accumulated running time, Peter Jackson has concluded his massively remunerative genuflection at the altar of J.R.R. Tolkien with a film that may be the most purely entertaining of any in the collection." Andrew Pulver of "The Guardian" said "This film is a fitting cap to an extended series that, if nothing else, has transformed Tolkien's place in the wider culture." Chris Tilly from IGN Movies said "There's a little too much padding in the final "Hobbit" flick, and the best sequence is without doubt the film's first. But the central battle is indeed spectacular, and as 'The Age of Orc' approaches, it rounds out this particular story in stirring and emotional fashion." Russell Baillie of "The New Zealand Herald" said "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" is "something less than the supposed 'defining chapter' of Jackson's time in Middle-earth as it's been billed. But action-wise, it certainly goes out with a very pleasing bang."


text: Conversely, Inkoo Kang of TheWrap said "The 144-minute running time showcases Jackson's worst tendencies: eons-long battle scenes, sloppy and abrupt resolutions, portentous romances, off-rhythm comic timing, and, newly in this case, patience-testing fan service." Tim Robey of "The Daily Telegraph" described the film as "a paragraph on steroids" that was "neither very terrible nor remotely unexpected. It's a series of stomping footnotes in search of a climax." The BBC's Nicholas Barber wrote that with "The Hobbit" series, Jackson had succeeded in bridging the gap between "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" and that "The Battle of the Five Armies" was a "colossal technical achievement", but he also criticised the film for not being compelling because of "its repetitive battle scenes and a lack of plot". Nicolas Rapold of "The New York Times" said "Bilbo may fully learn a sense of friendship and duty, and have quite a story to tell, but somewhere along the way, Mr. Jackson loses much of the magic."


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: Rena Marlette Lesnar (' Greek, formerly Mero; born August 8, 1967), better known as Sable, is an American former model, actress, and retired professional wrestler. She is primarily known for her time in WWE. She began working for WWE in 1996. As Sable, she gained considerable popularity. After feuding with Luna Vachon, and Jacqueline, Sable became the second WWF Women's Champion after the title was reinstated into the company. After leaving the company, she filed a $110 million lawsuit against the company, citing allegations of sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: In 2003, she returned to WWE and was put into a feud with Torrie Wilson, and another storyline as Vince McMahon's mistress. In 2004, she left the company to spend more time with her family. Outside wrestling, she is considered to be a sex symbol and has been featured on the cover of "Playboy" three times. In April 1999 issue of the magazine with her on the cover was one of the highest selling issues in "Playboy" history. She has guest starred on several television series, including "Pacific Blue", and appeared in the film "Corky Romano".


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: Rena Greek was born in Jacksonville, Florida. She was active in her youth and was interested in activities such as gymnastics, horseback riding, and softball. After winning her first beauty pageant when she was twelve, she eventually became a model in 1990, working with companies such as L'Oréal, Pepsi, and Guess?.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: She made her World Wrestling Federation debut as Sable at WrestleMania XII in March 1996, escorting Hunter Hearst Helmsley to the ring as he took on the returning Ultimate Warrior. Sable's first major angle involved her then real-life husband, who debuted at WrestleMania XII as "Wildman" Marc Mero. The storyline started when Marc Mero witnessed Sable being mistreated by Helmsley backstage, so Mero attacked Helmsley and took Sable as his manager, and taking on an appearance of a typical cocky biker thug. She remained Mero's manager until his injury in 1997. Between 1997 and the time he returned from his injury in 1998, Sable became popular on her own. In her next storyline, a returning Marc Mero (now known as "Marvelous" Marc Mero) became jealous, refused to let Sable get any of the spotlight, and mistreated her. The duo entered into a feud with Luna Vachon and The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, which climaxed in a match at WrestleMania XIV in March 1998. Sable delivered a superkick to Goldust and executed a ""Sable Bomb"", a release powerbomb, on Luna. She also delivered a TKO and pinned Luna to finish the match, with the crowd chanting Sable's name in the background. At the following pay-per-view event, Unforgiven in April 1998, Sable lost to Luna in an Evening Gown match after being distracted by Marc Mero.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: After Marc's interference at Unforgiven, Sable came to the ring and challenged Marc to a match. Sable then kicked him in the groin and delivered a Sable Bomb to get revenge. Sable eventually broke away from "Marvelous" Marc Mero, who debuted Jacqueline as his new manager, resulting in a storyline feud between the two women. The two met in a bikini contest in July 1998 at Fully Loaded. Sable, only wearing impressions of hands painted on her exposed breasts, won the contest after receiving the most cheers from the audience. The next night on "Raw" however, Vince McMahon disqualified Sable from the previous night's contest since she did not actually wear a bikini, and the trophy was then awarded to Jacqueline. In response, Sable gave McMahon the double finger. At SummerSlam, Sable and her mystery partner, federation newcomer Edge, defeated Marc Mero and Jacqueline in a mixed tag team match.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: Sable and Jacqueline faced off for the newly reinstated WWF Women's Title on the edition of September 21, 1998 of "Raw". Jacqueline claimed the title after Marc Mero interfered. On November 15, 1998, at Survivor Series, she dropped the title to Sable, who won after powerbombing both Marc and Jacqueline during the match. During this time, Rena appeared on an episode of the USA Network show "Pacific Blue". Sable then briefly entered a storyline where she was forced to play a subservient role to Vince and Shane McMahon, but the storyline was cut short.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: In December 1998, as part of a new storyline, Sable was attacked by a masked villainess named Spider Lady, who turned out to be Luna Vachon. Sable defeated Luna in a Strap match at the Royal Rumble after an assist from a planted female Sable fan, WWF newcomer Tori. Tori's debut signified a change in Sable's persona. After the Rumble, Sable was the cover girl for the April 1999 issue of "Playboy", one of the highest selling issues of "Playboy" ever. Surrounding the release of the issue, the Sable character turned heel by "going Hollywood" and having an inflated ego. She debuted a new catchphrase: "This is for all the women who want to be me and all the men who come to see me" and a dance move called "the grind." Rarely defending her title, Sable continually berated her fan Tori, leading to a feud and a match at WrestleMania XV. During the contest, Nicole Bass debuted as Sable's bodyguard and helped her win the match. Sable also feuded with Luna Vachon, who had turned face.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: Sable went on with Bass making Bass do all of her dirty work. Sable continued to hold the championship for almost six months, but on May 10, 1999, Debra won the Women's Championship from Sable in an Evening Gown match. Normally in an Evening Gown match, the winner is the woman who forcibly removes her opponent's dress, which Sable did. As part of the storyline, WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels, however, ruled that the woman who had lost her dress was the winner, making Debra the new Women's Champion. Off-screen, Sable was in a dispute with the WWF, which is why she was stripped of the title on-screen. Sable at this time was also very unpopular backstage, to the extent that Sean Waltman has since admitted to playing a nasty practical joke on her last day with the WWF.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: In June 1999, Sable quit the WWF and filed a $110 million lawsuit against the company, citing allegations of sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions. She claims to have filed the lawsuit after refusing to go topless. During the lawsuit, Vince McMahon counter-sued her over control of the stagename "Sable". Sable reduced the amount she was seeking in damages, and they eventually settled out of court in August 1999. Sable used her real name for her appearance in the September 1999 issue of "Playboy". She was the first woman in history to be given two "Playboy" covers in the same year. After her WWF exit, she made an on-camera appearance as an audience member on World Championship Wrestling's "Monday Nitro" on June 14, 1999.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: During this time, she made appearances on "The Howard Stern Show" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". She also made appearances on television shows such as "Relic Hunter" and "First Wave" and in the films "Corky Romano" as a female bouncer and "Ariana's Quest". She released her autobiography, entitled "Undefeated" in August 2000. She also released a comic book entitled "The 10th Muse" starring herself as a superhero. In May 2001, she was given an advice column on CompuServe. On November 13 and 14, 2001, she appeared as the on-camera "CEO" of the newly formed Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF), but these were her only appearances with the company.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: Rena Mero returned to the WWF, which is now known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on April 3, 2003, episode of "SmackDown!", reprising her role as Sable. Sable continued portraying a villainess and spent several months in a storyline with new "Playboy" covergirl Torrie Wilson. During their angle, the evil Sable followed Wilson down to her matches, talked with her backstage, and on one occasion, she left Wilson in a tag match alone to fend for herself. Sable eventually challenged Wilson to a showdown bikini contest at Judgment Day. After Sable got the bigger applause, Wilson removed her underwear to reveal an even smaller bikini underneath, and Special Guest Referee Tazz declared Wilson the winner. After the match, Wilson went up to Sable and kissed her before exiting the ring. Sable then had an altercation with the guest judge Tazz, dumping water on him on the following edition of "SmackDown!", as a means of gaining revenge for declaring Wilson the winner.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: Sable then feuded with Stephanie McMahon in a storyline in which she was Vince McMahon's mistress. Vince appointed Sable as Stephanie's personal assistant against Stephanie's will, sparking the feud between the duo. During the feud, they competed in several catfights, a food fight, a parking lot brawl in which Sable's bra was ripped off, revealing both her breasts on live television, and a match in which Sable smacked a clipboard over Stephanie's head. At Vengeance, Sable defeated Stephanie after interference by her new ally, A-Train. At SummerSlam, Sable accompanied A-Train in his match against The Undertaker, which he lost. After the match, The Undertaker held Sable so that Stephanie could use a Spear attack on her. After SummerSlam, Vince and Sable focused on getting rid of Stephanie for good, so Vince made an "I Quit" match at No Mercy. During the match, Sable slapped Stephanie and was involved in a scuffle with Linda McMahon.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: Sable briefly became a face again when she appeared on the cover of "Playboy" magazine (March 2004 issue) for the third time in her career. On the cover, she appeared with fellow diva Torrie Wilson, making them the first WWE Divas to pose in "Playboy" together. Surrounding the release of the cover, the duo feuded with "Raw" divas Stacy Keibler and Miss Jackie, even though all four women were faces at the time. The two teams squared off at WrestleMania XX in an Interpromotional Tag Team Evening Gown match, but the divas started the match in their underwear, making it more of a lingerie match. Sable and Wilson were victorious. The change was rumored to have occurred because Sable had suffered damage to her breast implants while weightlifting.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: Following WrestleMania XX, Sable quickly turned heel again and engaged in another short feud with Torrie Wilson. The feud culminated at The Great American Bash, where Sable defeated Wilson despite the referee not noticing that one of Wilson's shoulders were not down. On the edition of July 1 of "SmackDown", Sable was defeated by Wilson in a rematch. Sable's final appearance in WWE was on the August 5, 2004 episode of "SmackDown!" when she, Dawn Marie, and Wilson accompanied Eddie Guerrero to the ring in his lowrider. On August 10, 2004, WWE's official website announced that Sable and WWE had parted ways, this time on good terms. Lesnar claimed that she left the company to spend more time with her family.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: She made her debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling on January 4, 2006, at a NJPW show, along with Brock Lesnar as special guests, and continued to accompany Lesnar until late June 2007. Sable and Lesnar later departed from the company after Lesnar battled WWE in a lawsuit.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: Sable made her video game debut in the WWE game "WWF Attitude", and appears in "WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain" and "WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw". She also appeared in the April 1999, September 1999, and March 2004 issues of "Playboy", the latter with Torrie Wilson.


title: Sable (wrestler)

text: Rena married Wayne W. Richardson in 1987. They had a daughter named Mariah, and remained married until Richardson died in a drunk driving incident in 1991. She met her second husband, professional wrestler and former boxer Marc Mero, in 1993. After marrying Mero in 1994, she broke into the wrestling business through WWE. Before the couple divorced in 2004, Greek began dating professional wrestler Brock Lesnar, to whom she became engaged later that year. Their engagement was called off in early 2005, but they were engaged again in January 2006 and were married on May 6, 2006. They have two sons named Turk (born June 3, 2009) and Duke (born July 21, 2010).


title: Nimrod

text: Nimrod (; ; ; ) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Shinar (Mesopotamia). The Bible states that he was "a mighty hunter before the Lord [and] ... began to be mighty in the earth". Later extra-biblical traditions identified Nimrod as the ruler who commissioned the construction of the Tower of Babel, which led to his reputation as a king who was rebellious against God.


title: Nimrod

text: Nimrod has not been attested in any historic, non-biblical registers, records or king lists, including those of Mesopotamia itself. Historians have failed to match Nimrod with any historically attested figure.


title: Nimrod

text: The first biblical mention of Nimrod is in the Table of Nations. He is described as the son of Cush, grandson of Ham, and great-grandson of Noah; and as "a mighty one in the earth" and "a mighty hunter before the Lord". This is repeated in the First Book of Chronicles 1:10, and the "Land of Nimrod" used as a synonym for Assyria or Mesopotamia, is mentioned in the Book of Micah 5:6:


title: Nimrod

text: Genesis says that the "beginning of his kingdom" ("reshit mamlakhto") were the towns of "Babel, Erech, Akkad and Calneh in the land of Shinar" (Mesopotamia) (Gen 10:10)—understood variously to imply that he either founded these cities, ruled over them, or both. Owing to an ambiguity in the original Hebrew text, it is unclear whether it is he or Ashur who additionally built Nineveh, Resen, Rehoboth-Ir and Calah (both interpretations are reflected in various English versions). Sir Walter Raleigh devoted several pages in his "History of the World" (1614) to reciting past scholarship regarding the question of whether it had been Nimrod or Ashur who built the cities in Assyria.


title: Nimrod

text: In Jewish and Christian tradition, Nimrod is considered the leader of those who built the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar, although the Bible never actually states this. Nimrod's kingdom included the cities of Babel, Erech, Akkad, and perhaps Calneh, in Shinar (Gen 10:10). Flavius Josephus believed that it was likely under his direction that the building of Babel and its tower began; in addition to Josephus, this is also the view found in the Talmud ("Chullin" 89a, "Pesahim" 94b, "Erubin" 53a, "Avodah Zarah" 53b), and later "midrash" such as "Genesis Rabba". Several of these early Judaic sources also assert that the king Amraphel, who wars with Abraham later in Genesis, is none other than Nimrod himself.


title: Nimrod

text: Since Akkad was destroyed and lost with the destruction of its Empire in the period 2200–2154 BCE (long chronology), the stories mentioning Nimrod seem to recall the late Early Bronze Age. The association with Erech (Babylonian Uruk), a city that lost its prime importance around 2,000 BCE as a result of struggles between Isin, Larsa and Elam, also attests the early provenance of the stories of Nimrod. According to some modern-day theorists, their placement in the Bible suggests a Babylonian origin—possibly inserted during the Babylonian captivity.


title: Nimrod

text: Judaic interpreters as early as Philo and Yochanan ben Zakai (1st century AD) interpreted "a mighty hunter "before" the Lord" (Heb.: גבר ציד לפני יהוה, "ḡibbōr-ṣayiḏ lip̄nê Yahweh", lit. "in the face of Yahweh") as signifying ""in opposition to" the Lord"; a similar interpretation is found in Pseudo-Philo, as well as later in Symmachus. Some rabbinic commentators have also connected the name "Nimrod" with a Hebrew word meaning 'rebel'. In Pseudo-Philo (dated c. AD 70), Nimrod is made leader of the Hamites, while Joktan as leader of the Semites, and Fenech as leader of the Japhethites, are also associated with the building of the Tower. Versions of this story are again picked up in later works such as "Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius" (7th century AD).


title: Nimrod

text: The Book of Jubilees mentions the name of "Nebrod" (the Greek form of Nimrod) only as being the father of Azurad, the wife of Eber and mother of Peleg (8:7). This account would thus make Nimrod an ancestor of Abraham, and hence of all Hebrews.


title: Nimrod

text: The Babylonian Talmud (Gittin 56b) attributes Titus's death to an insect that flew into his nose and picked at his brain for seven years in a repetition of another legend referring to the biblical King Nimrod.


title: Nimrod

text: An early Arabic work known as "Kitab al-Magall" or the "Book of Rolls" (part of Clementine literature) states that Nimrod built the towns of Hadāniūn, Ellasar, Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Rūhīn, Atrapatene, Telalān, and others, that he began his reign as king over earth when Reu was 163, and that he reigned for 69 years, building Nisibis, Raha (Edessa) and Harran when Peleg was 50. It further adds that Nimrod "saw in the sky a piece of black cloth and a crown". He called upon Sasan the weaver and commanded him to make him a crown like it, which he set jewels on and wore. He was allegedly the first king to wear a crown. "For this reason people who knew nothing about it, said that a crown came down to him from heaven." Later, the book describes how Nimrod established fire worship and idolatry, then received instruction in divination for three years from Bouniter, the fourth son of Noah.


title: Nimrod

text: In the "Recognitions" (R 4.29), one version of the Clementines, Nimrod is equated with the legendary Assyrian king Ninus, who first appears in the Greek historian Ctesias as the founder of Nineveh. However, in another version, the "Homilies" (H 9:4–6), Nimrod is made to be the same as Zoroaster.


title: Nimrod

text: The Syriac "Cave of Treasures" (c. 350) contains an account of Nimrod very similar to that in the "Kitab al-Magall", except that Nisibis, Edessa and Harran are said to be built by Nimrod when Reu was 50, and that he began his reign as the first king when Reu was 130. In this version, the weaver is called "Sisan", and the fourth son of Noah is called "Yonton".


title: Nimrod

text: Jerome, writing c. 390, explains in "Hebrew Questions on Genesis" that after Nimrod reigned in Babel, "he also reigned in Arach [Erech], that is, in Edissa; and in Achad [Accad], which is now called Nisibis; and in Chalanne [Calneh], which was later called Seleucia after King Seleucus when its name had been changed, and which is now in actual fact called Ctesiphon." However, this traditional identification of the cities built by Nimrod in Genesis is no longer accepted by modern scholars, who consider them to be located in Sumer, not Syria.


title: Nimrod

text: The Ge'ez "Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan" (c. 5th century) also contains a version similar to that in the "Cave of Treasures", but the crown maker is called "Santal", and the name of Noah's fourth son who instructs Nimrod is "Barvin".


title: Nimrod

text: However, Ephrem the Syrian (306–373) relates a contradictory view, that Nimrod was righteous and opposed the builders of the Tower. Similarly, "Targum Pseudo-Jonathan" (date uncertain) mentions a Jewish tradition that Nimrod left Shinar in southern Mesopotamia and fled to Assyria in northern Mesopotamia, because he refused to take part in building the Tower—for which God rewarded him with the four cities in Assyria, to substitute for the ones in Babel.


title: Nimrod

text: "Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer" (c. 833) relates the Jewish traditions that Nimrod inherited the garments of Adam and Eve from his father Cush, and that these made him invincible. Nimrod's party then defeated the Japhethites to assume universal rulership. Later, Esau (grandson of Abraham), ambushed, beheaded, and robbed Nimrod. These stories later reappear in other sources including the 16th century "Sefer haYashar", which adds that Nimrod had a son named "Mardon" who was even more wicked.


title: Nimrod

text: In the "History of the Prophets and Kings" by the 9th century Muslim historian al-Tabari, Nimrod has the tower built in Babil, Allah destroys it, and the language of mankind, formerly Syriac, is then confused into 72 languages. Another Muslim historian of the 13th century, Abu al-Fida, relates the same story, adding that the patriarch Eber (an ancestor of Abraham) was allowed to keep the original tongue, Hebrew in this case, because he would not partake in the building. The 10th-century Muslim historian Masudi recounts a legend making the Nimrod who built the tower to be the son of Mash, the son of Aram, son of Shem, adding that he reigned 500 years over the Nabateans. Later, Masudi lists Nimrod as the first king of Babylon, and states that he dug great canals and reigned 60 years. Still elsewhere, he mentions another king Nimrod, son of Canaan, as the one who introduced astrology and attempted to kill Abraham.


title: Nimrod

text: In Armenian legend, the ancestor of the Armenian people, Hayk, defeated Nimrod (sometimes equated with Bel) in a battle near Lake Van.


title: Nimrod

text: In the Hungarian legend of the Enchanted Stag (more commonly known as the White Stag ["Fehér Szarvas"] or Silver Stag), King Nimród ("Ménrót"), often described as "Nimród the Giant" or "the giant Nimród", descendant of Noah, is the first person referred to as forefather of the Hungarians. He, along with his entire nation, is also the giant responsible for the building of the Tower of Babel—construction of which was supposedly started by him 201 years after the biblical event of the Great Flood. After the catastrophic failure (through God's will) of that most ambitious endeavour and in the midst of the confusion of tongues, Nimród the giant moved to the land of "Evilát", where his wife, "Enéh" gave birth to twin brothers "Hunor" and "Magyar" (aka "Magor"). Father and sons were, all three of them, prodigious hunters, but Nimród especially is the archetypal, consummate, legendary hunter and archer. Hungarian legends held that twin sons of King Nimród, Hunor and Magor were the ancestors of the Huns and the Magyars (Hungarians) respectively, siring their children through the two daughters of King Dul of the Alans, whom they kidnapped after losing track of the silver stag whilst hunting. Both the Huns' and Magyars' historically attested skill with the recurve bow and arrow are attributed to Nimród. (Simon Kézai, personal "court priest" of King Ladislaus the Cuman, in his "Gesta Hungarorum", 1282–1285. This tradition can also be found in over twenty other medieval Hungarian chronicles, as well as a German one, according to Dr Antal Endrey in an article published in 1979). The 16th-century Hungarian prelate Nicolaus Olahus claimed that Attila took for himself the title of "Descendant of the Great Nimrod".


title: Nimrod

text: The hunter god or spirit Nyyrikki, figuring in the Finnish "Kalevala" as a helper of Lemminkäinen, is associated with Nimrod by some researchers and linguists.


title: Nimrod

text: The Nimrod Fortress (Qal'at Namrud in Arabic) on the Golan Heights - actually built during the Crusades by Al-Aziz Uthman, the younger son of Saladin - was anachronistically attributed to Nimrod by later inhabitants of the area.


title: Nimrod

text: There is a very brief mention of Nimrod in the Book of Mormon: "(and the name of the valley was Nimrod, being called after the mighty hunter)".


title: Nimrod

text: In Jewish and Islamic traditions, a confrontation between Nimrod and Abraham is said to have taken place. Some stories bring them both together in a cataclysmic collision, seen as a symbol of the confrontation between Good and Evil, or as a symbol of monotheism against polytheism. Some Jewish traditions say only that the two men met and had a discussion.According to K. van der Toorn and P. W. van der Horst, this tradition is first attested in the writings of Pseudo-Philo. The story is also found in the Talmud, and in rabbinical writings in the Middle Ages.


title: Nimrod

text: In some versions, such as Flavius Josephus, Nimrod is a man who sets his will against that of God. In others, he proclaims himself a god and is worshipped as such by his subjects, sometimes with his consort Semiramis worshipped as a goddess at his side.


title: Nimrod

text: A portent in the stars tells Nimrod and his astrologers of the impending birth of Abraham, who would put an end to idolatry. Nimrod therefore orders the killing of all newborn babies. However, Abraham's mother escapes into the fields and gives birth secretly. At a young age, Abraham recognizes God and starts worshipping him. He confronts Nimrod and tells him face-to-face to cease his idolatry, whereupon Nimrod orders him burned at the stake. In some versions, Nimrod has his subjects gather wood for four whole years, so as to burn Abraham in the biggest bonfire the world had ever seen. Yet when the fire is lit, Abraham walks out unscathed.


title: Nimrod

text: In some versions, Nimrod then challenges Abraham to battle. When Nimrod appears at the head of enormous armies, Abraham produces an army of gnats which destroys Nimrod's army. Some accounts have a gnat or mosquito enter Nimrod's brain and drive him out of his mind (a divine retribution which Jewish tradition also assigned to the Roman Emperor Titus, destroyer of the Temple in Jerusalem).


title: Nimrod

text: In some versions, Nimrod repents and accepts God, offering numerous sacrifices that God rejects (as with Cain). Other versions have Nimrod give to Abraham, as a conciliatory gift, the giant slave Eliezer, whom some accounts describe as Nimrod's own son (the Bible also mentions Eliezer as Abraham's majordomo, though not making any connection between him and Nimrod).


title: Nimrod

text: Still other versions have Nimrod persisting in his rebellion against God, or resuming it. Indeed, Abraham's crucial act of leaving Mesopotamia and settling in Canaan is sometimes interpreted as an escape from Nimrod's revenge. Accounts considered canonical place the building of the Tower many generations before Abraham's birth (as in the Bible, also "Jubilees"); however in others, it is a later rebellion after Nimrod failed in his confrontation with Abraham. In still other versions, Nimrod does not give up after the Tower fails, but goes on to try storming Heaven in person, in a chariot driven by birds.


title: Nimrod

text: The story attributes to Abraham elements from the story of Moses' birth (the cruel king killing innocent babies, with the midwives ordered to kill them) and from the careers of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who emerged unscathed from the fire. Nimrod is thus given attributes of two archetypal cruel and persecuting kings – Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh. Some Jewish traditions also identified him with Cyrus, whose birth according to Herodotus was accompanied by portents, which made his grandfather try to kill him.


title: Nimrod

text: A confrontation is also found in the Quran, between a king, not mentioned by name, and Ibrahim (Arabic for "Abraham"). Some Muslim commentators assign Nimrod as the king. In the quranic narrative Ibrahim has a discussion with the king, the former argues that Allah (God) is the one who gives life and causes death, whereas the unnamed king replies that he gives life and causes death. Ibrahim refutes him by stating that Allah brings the Sun up from the East, and so he asks the king to bring it from the West. The king is then perplexed and angered. The commentaries on this Surah offer a wide variety of embellishments of this narrative, one of which by Ibn Kathir, a 14th-century scholar, adding that Nimrod showed his rule over life and death by killing a prisoner and freeing another.


title: Nimrod

text: Whether or not conceived as having ultimately repented, Nimrod remained in Jewish and Islamic tradition an emblematic evil person, an archetype of an idolater and a tyrannical king. In rabbinical writings up to the present, he is almost invariably referred to as "Nimrod the Evil" ().


title: Nimrod

text: Nimrod is mentioned by name in several places in the Baháʼí scriptures, including the Kitáb-i-Íqán, the primary theological work of the Baháʼí Faith. There it is said that Nimrod "dreamed a dream" which his soothsayers interpreted as signifying the birth of a new star in heaven. A herald is then said to have appeared in the land announcing "the coming of Abraham". Nimrod is also mentioned in one of the earliest writings of the Báb (the herald of the Baháʼí Faith). Citing examples of God's power, he asks: "Has He not, in past days, caused Abraham, in spite of His seeming helplessness, to triumph over the forces of Nimrod?"


title: Nimrod

text: The story of Abraham's confrontation with Nimrod did not remain within the confines of learned writings and religious treatises, but also conspicuously influenced popular culture. A notable example is ""Quando el Rey Nimrod"" ("When King Nimrod"), one of the most well-known folksongs in Ladino (the Judeo-Spanish language), apparently written during the reign of King Alfonso X of Castile. Beginning with the words: "When King Nimrod went out to the fields/ Looked at the heavens and at the stars/He saw a holy light in the Jewish quarter/A sign that Abraham, our father, was about to be born", the song gives a poetic account of the persecutions perpetrated by the cruel Nimrod and the miraculous birth and deeds of the savior Abraham.


title: Nimrod

text: The Quran states, "Have you not considered him who had an argument with Abraham about his Lord, because God had given him the kingdom (i.e. he was prideful)?" Abraham says, "My Lord is He Who gives life and causes death." The king answers, "I give life and cause death". At this point some commentaries add new narratives like Nimrod bringing forth two men, who were sentenced to death previously. He orders the execution of one while freeing the other one. Then Abraham says, "Indeed, God brings up the sun from the east, so bring it up from the west." This causes the king to exile him, and he leaves for the Levant.


title: Nimrod

text: Although Nimrod's name is not specifically stated in the Quran, Islamic scholars hold that the "king" mentioned was him. Two other sections of the Quran narrate Abraham's dialogues with Nimrod and his people, specifically around the verses of Sura al-Anbiya 21:68 and Sura al-Ankabut 29:34, where Abraham was thrown in the fire but emerged unharmed through God's mercy. Other traditional stories also exist around Nimrod, which have resulted in him being referenced as a tyrant in Muslim cultures.


title: Nimrod

text: According to Mujahid ibn Jabr, "Four people gained control over the Earth, east and west, two believers and two disbelievers. The two believers were Solomon (Sulayman in Islamic texts) and Dhul Qarnayn, and the two disbelievers were Nebuchadnezzar II and Nimrod. No one but they gained power over it."


title: Nimrod

text: The following version of the confrontation between Abraham and Nimrod appears in the Midrash Rabba, a major compilation of Jewish Scriptural exegesis. The part in which this appears, the Genesis Rabbah (Chapter 38, 13), is considered to date from the sixth century.


title: Nimrod

text: Historians, Orientalists, Assyriologists and mythographers have long tried to find links between the Nimrod of biblical texts and real historically attested figures in Mesopotamia. No king named Nimrod or with a similar name appears anywhere on any pre-biblical, extra-biblical or historic Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian or Babylonian king list, nor does the name Nimrod appear in any other writings from Mesopotamia itself in any context whatsoever.


title: Nimrod

text: Since the city of Akkad was destroyed and lost with the destruction of its Empire in the period 2200–2154 BC (long chronology), the much later biblical stories mentioning Nimrod seem to recall the late Early Bronze Age. The association with Erech (Sumero-Akkadian Uruk), a city that lost its prime importance around 2000 BC as a result of struggles between Isin, Ur, Larsa and Elam, also attests the early provenance of the stories of Nimrod. Several Mesopotamian ruins were given Nimrod's name by 8th-century AD Muslim Arabs, including the ruins of the Assyrian city of Kalhu (the biblical Calah), which was in reality built by Shalmaneser I (1274–1244 BC)


title: Nimrod

text: The Christian Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea as early as the early 4th century, noting that the Babylonian historian Berossus in the 3rd century BC had stated that the first king after the flood was "Euechoios" of Chaldea (in reality Chaldea was a small state historically not founded until the 9th century BC), identified him with Nimrod. George Syncellus (c. 800) also had access to Berossus, and he too identified the also historically unattested "Euechoios" with the biblical Nimrod.


title: Nimrod

text: More recently, Sumerologists have suggested additionally connecting both this "Euechoios", and the king of Babylon and grandfather of Gilgamos who appears in the oldest copies of Aelian (c. 200 AD) as "Euechoros", with the name of the founder of Uruk known from cuneiform sources as Enmerkar.


title: Nimrod

text: In 1920, J. D. Prince also suggested a possible link between the Lord (Ni) of Marad and Nimrod. He mentioned how Dr. Kraeling was now inclined to connect Nimrod historically with Lugal-Banda, a mythological Sumerian king mentioned in Poebel, "Historical Texts", 1914, whose seat was at the city Marad.


title: Nimrod

text: According to Ronald Hendel the name Nimrod is probably a much later polemical distortion of the Semitic Assyrian god Ninurta, a prominent god in Mesopotamian religion who had cult centers in a number of Assyrian cities such as Kalhu, and also in Babylon, and was a patron god of a number of Assyrian kings. Nimrod's imperial ventures described in Genesis may be based on the conquests of the Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I.


title: Nimrod

text: Julian Jaynes also indicates Tukulti-Ninurta I (a powerful king of the Middle Assyrian Empire) as the inspiration for Nimrod.


title: Nimrod

text: Alexander Hislop, in his tract "The Two Babylons" (1853), identified Nimrod with Ninus (also unattested anywhere in Mesopotamian king lists), who according to Greek mythology was a Mesopotamian king and husband of Queen Semiramis, with a whole host of deities throughout the Mediterranean world, and with the Persian Zoroaster. The identification with Ninus follows that of the "Clementine Recognitions"; the one with Zoroaster, that of the "Clementine Homilies", both works part of Clementine literature. Hislop attributed to Semiramis and Nimrod the invention of polytheism and, with it, goddess worship, and that their incestuous male offering was Tammuz. He also claimed that the Catholic Church was a millennia-old secret conspiracy, founded by Semiramis and Nimrod to propagate the pagan religion of ancient Babylon. Grabbe and others have rejected the book's arguments as based on a flawed understanding of the texts, but variations of them are accepted among some groups of evangelical Protestants.


title: Nimrod

text: There was a historical Assyrian queen Shammuramat in the 9th century BC, in reality the wife of Shamshi-Adad V, whom Assyriologists have identified with Semiramis, while others make her a later namesake of a much earlier (again, historically unattested) Semiramis.


title: Nimrod

text: In David Rohl's theory, Enmerkar, the Sumerian founder of Uruk, was the original inspiration for Nimrod, because the story of "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta" bears a few similarities to the legend of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel, and because the -KAR in Enmerkar means "hunter". Additionally, Enmerkar is said to have had ziggurats built in both Uruk and Eridu, which Rohl postulates was the site of the original Babel.


title: Nimrod

text: Others have attempted to conflate Nimrod with Amraphel, a supposed king in Mesopotamia, but yet again, one who is himself historically unattested.


title: Nimrod

text: George Rawlinson believed Nimrod was Belus, based on the fact Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions bear the names "Bel-". The word "Nibru" in the East Semitic Akkadian language of Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia comes from a root meaning to 'pursue' or to make 'one flee', and as Rawlinson pointed out not only does this closely resemble Nimrod's name but it also perfectly fits the description of Nimrod in Genesis 10:9 as a great hunter. The Belus-Nimrod equation or link is also found in many old works such as Moses of Chorene and the "Book of the Bee". Nibru, in the Sumerian language, was the original name of the city of Nippur.


title: Nimrod

text: More recently, Yigal Levin (2002) suggests that the fictional Nimrod was a recollection of Sargon of Akkad and also of his grandson Naram-Sin, with the name "Nimrod" derived from the latter. He argues that:


title: Nimrod

text: In modern North American English, the term "nimrod" is often used to mean a dimwitted or a stupid person, a usage perhaps first recorded in an 1836 letter from Robert E. Lee to a female friend. Lee describes a "young nimrod from the West", who in declining an appointment to West Point expressed the concern that "I hope my country will not be endangered by my doing so." Although Lee may have been sarcastically referring to the student as a "tyrant or skillful hunter", the modern usage more closely fits his message. Other than the Lee letter, the first recorded use of "nimrod" in this meaning was in 1932.


title: Nimrod

text: The usage is often said to have been popularized by the "Looney Tunes" cartoon character Bugs Bunny sarcastically referring to the hunter Elmer Fudd as "nimrod" to highlight the difference between "mighty hunter" and "poor little Nimrod", i.e. Fudd. However, it is in fact Daffy Duck who refers to Fudd as "my little Nimrod" in the 1948 short "What Makes Daffy Duck", although Bugs Bunny does refer to Yosemite Sam as "the little Nimrod" in the 1951 short "Rabbit Every Monday".


title: Nimrod

text: The nickname 'Nimrod' was used mockingly in 1914 by Robert Tressell in "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists". The sarcastic moniker was used towards the foreman (named Hunter) of a gang of workmen as a play both on his surname and on his supposed religious beliefs and sense of self-importance.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: Behati Prinsloo ( , ; born 16 May 1988) is a Namibian model. In 2008, she became a Pink contract model, and moved on to become a Victoria's Secret Angel in 2009. She walked in ten Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows (2007–2015; 2018), and opened consecutive Victoria's Secret Fashion shows in 2014 and 2015.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: Prinsloo was born in Grootfontein, Namibia, then part of South West Africa. Her father was contracted to work in South Africa before she was born, but when she was three years old her family moved back to Namibia. She is the only child of father Boet Prinsloo, who is a church minister. Her mother, Magda (née Rossouw), runs a bed and breakfast. Her family are Afrikaners and she grew up speaking Afrikaans as her native language, although she was later educated in English. She attended Grootfontein Secondary School and left after Grade 9 to pursue modelling.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: Her modelling career began when she was discovered while vacationing in Cape Town with her grandparents. "We went to the grocery store after church and this guy came up to me and asked if I was a model and wrote his number on a piece of paper...".


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: Prinsloo debuted as a Prada/Miu Miu Exclusive. Soon after, Juergen Teller photographed her for her debut ad campaign, Marc by Marc Jacobs, and she soon was photographed by Mario Testino and Paolo Roversi for "British Vogue" and David Sims for "W Magazine".


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: Prinsloo has walked in fashion shows for Alexander Wang, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Versace, Calvin Klein, Givenchy, Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Jil Sander, Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, Christian Dior, Ralph Lauren, Anna Sui, Michael Kors, and Yves Saint Laurent.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: She has been on the covers of "Vogue Spain", "Vogue Turkey", "Vogue Brasil", "Vogue Mexico", "Vogue Russia", "Vogue Thailand", "Elle France", "Elle Spain", "Elle Italia", "Elle Sweden", "L'Officiel Netherlands", "Marie Claire Greece", "Marie Claire South Africa", "i-D Magazine", "V Magazine", "Russh Magazine", "10 Magazine", "The Edit", "Jalouse", and "So It Goes Magazine".


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: Her ad campaigns include I Love Juicy Couture Fragrance, I Am Juicy Couture Fragrance, Juicy Couture Black Label, Tommy Hilfiger, Alexander Wang 'Do Something', T by Alexander Wang, Marc by Marc Jacobs, H&M, Nina Ricci, The Gap, Aquascutum, M Missoni, Sportmax, DKNY Jeans, Pepe Jeans, Lancaster, Stefanel, Esprit, Lacoste, Desigual, Seafolly, Nine West, and Raw Spirit Fragrance.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: In 2010, Prinsloo designed "Behati Loves Pink" swimsuit capsule collection for Victoria's Secret. In 2014 she designed a line of denim for THVM. Most recently she designed a fashion and accessories collection for Juicy Couture.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: Models.com ranks Prinsloo on their lists of 'The Top Sexiest Models' as well as their list of 'The Money Girls'.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: The night before the 4 December 2012 airing of the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Prinsloo and fellow Victoria's Secret models Jacquelyn Jablonski and Jasmine Tookes guest starred on 3 December "Ha'awe Make Loa" episode of CBS' "Hawaii Five-0" playing themselves.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: In June 2014, Prinsloo made a cameo appearance in a preview of Missy Elliott protégée Sharaya J's "Shut It Down" via a "T by Alexander Wang" campaign. Prinsloo appeared in various music videos such as The Virgins' "Rich Girls" and Maroon 5's "Animals", "Lost", and "Girls Like You".


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: After taking a two-year hiatus from the Victoria's Secret Fashion show, Prinsloo returned to walk in the brand's 2018 show.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: Prinsloo was among the models and celebrities who made appearances modeling lingerie at Rihanna's "Savage x Fenty Vol. 3" fashion show in 2021.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: Prinsloo embarked on a charitable trip following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Partnering with LakayPam, an organization dedicated to helping children in developing nations meet their basic needs, she collected and delivered hundreds of letters of hope from all over the world and helped raise funds. She was accompanied by a cameraman and his friend, and the resulting short film, "Letters to Haiti", debuted 7 December 2011 at Milk Gallery in New York.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: She also supports organizations trying to protect the black rhinoceros, a critically endangered species native to Namibia and other countries in Southern Africa.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: In 2012, Prinsloo began dating American musician Adam Levine of the group Maroon 5; they married in Mexico in 2014. They have two daughters: Dusty Rose (born September 2016) and Gio Grace (born February 2018). As of September 2022, Prinsloo is pregnant with the couple's third child.


title: Behati Prinsloo

text: Prinsloo appeared in the 2018 Maroon 5 video "Girls Like You," along with husband Levine, their daughter Dusty Rose and more than two dozen women celebrities (including Jennifer Lopez, Mary J. Blige, Cardi B, Gal Gadot, Ellen DeGeneres, Tiffany Haddish, Lilly Singh and more).


title: Scottish Premiership

text: The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Premiership was established in July 2013, after the SPFL was formed by a merger of the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League. There are 12 teams in this division, with each team playing 38 matches per season. Sixteen clubs have played in the Scottish Premiership since its creation in the 2013–14 season. Celtic are the current league champions, having won the 2021–22 Scottish Premiership.


title: Scottish Premiership

text: Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned league champion. If the points, goal difference, goals scored, and head-to-head results between teams are equal, a play-off game held at a neutral venue shall be played to determine the final placings. The play-off will only occur when the position of the teams affects the outcome of the title, European qualification, relegation, or second stage group allocation and shall not occur otherwise.


title: Scottish Premiership

text: The top flight of Scottish football has contained 12 clubs since the 2000–01 season, the longest period without change in the history of the Scottish football league system. During this period the Scottish Premier League, and now the Scottish Premiership, has operated a "split" format. This is used to prevent the need for a 44-game schedule, based on playing each other four times. That format was used in the Scottish Premier Division in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, but it is now too high a number of games in a league season.


title: Scottish Premiership

text: A season, which runs from August until May, is divided into two phases. During the first phase, each club plays three games against every other team, either once at home and twice away or vice versa. After this first phase of matches, by which time all clubs have played 33 games, the league splits into two halves - a 'top six' section and a 'bottom six' section. Each club plays a further five matches, one against each of the other five teams in their own section. Points achieved during the first phase of 33 matches are carried forward to the second phase, but the teams compete only within their own sections during the second phase. After the first phase is completed, clubs cannot move out of their own half in the league, even if they achieve more or fewer points than a higher or lower ranked team, respectively.


title: Scottish Premiership

text: At the beginning of each season, the SPFL 'predicts' the likely positions of each club in order to produce a fixture schedule that ensures the best possible chance of all clubs playing each other twice at home and twice away. This is known as the league seeding and is based on clubs' performance in the previous season. If the clubs do not finish in the half where they are predicted to finish, then anomalies can be created in the fixture list. Clubs sometimes play another three times at home and once away (or vice versa), or a club can end up playing 20 home (or away) games in a season.


title: Scottish Premiership

text: The bottom placed Premiership club at the end of the season is relegated, and swaps places with the winner of the Scottish Championship, provided that the winner satisfies Premiership entry criteria. With the creation of the SPFL, promotion and relegation play-offs involving the top flight were introduced for the first time in seventeen years. The Premiership club in eleventh place plays the Championship play-off winners over two legs, with the winner earning the right to play in the Scottish Premiership the following season. This enables two clubs to be relegated from the Premiership each season, with two being promoted. Prior to the creation of the Scottish Premiership, only a single club could be relegated each season - with only the second tier champions being promoted. The Scottish Football League had used play-offs amongst its three divisions since 2007.


title: Scottish Premiership

text: UEFA grants European places to the Scottish Football Association, determined by Scotland's position in the UEFA country coefficient rankings. The Scottish Football Association in turn allocates a number of these European places to final Scottish Premiership positions. At the end of the 2020–21 season, Scotland was ranked 11th in Europe – granting them two teams in the UEFA Champions League, one team in the UEFA Europa League, and two teams in the UEFA Europa Conference League.


title: Scottish Premiership

text: For the 2021–22 season, the Scottish Premiership winners (Celtic) gained qualification to the Champions League group stage, whilst the second placed team (Rangers) entered at the third qualifying round. The third placed team (Heart of Midlothian) entered the Europa League in the playoff round, while the fourth (Dundee United) and fifth (Motherwell) placed teams entered the Europa Conference League in the third and second qualifying rounds respectively.


title: Scottish Premiership

text: Scotland's place in the Europa League is awarded to the winners of the Scottish Cup. Should the winners of that competition have already qualified for European competition, then the fifth placed team also enters the Europa Conference League second qualifying round, while third placed team (unless they are cup winners themselves) are promoted from Europa Conference League to the Europa League third qualifying round.


title: Scottish Premiership

text: The 2017 'Global Sports Salaries Survey' report found a large variation between the wages offered by teams in the Scottish Premiership, with champions Celtic paying an average annual salary of £735,040, per player, whilst traditional rivals Rangers could only pay £329,600 and league runners-up Aberdeen offered £136,382. The lowest salary offered by any of the twelve member clubs was Hamilton's £41,488 – 17 times less than Celtic, whose wages were close to the sum of the other eleven clubs combined.


title: Scottish Premiership

text: The report stated that this disparity was the third-greatest from the 18 leagues surveyed, and that the Scottish Premiership offered the third-lowest salaries of those leagues; by contrast, Celtic's opponents in the Champions League that year paid average wages of £6.5m (Paris Saint-Germain) and £5.2m (Bayern Munich), seven times higher than the Scottish club.


title: Scottish Premiership

text: As of 2022, Scotland's top-flight league championship has been won 55 times by Rangers, 52 times by Celtic. Nine other clubs have won the remaining 19 championships, with three clubs tied for third place with 4 apiece. The last time the championship was won by a club other than Rangers or Celtic was in 1984–85, by Aberdeen.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a 2022 American computer-animated adventure film that is a direct/stand-alone sequel to "Puss in Boots" (2011), a spin-off of the "Shrek" franchise and the sixth installment thereof. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures, Antonio Banderas reprises his role as the titular character. It is directed by Joel Crawford and co-directed by Januel Mercado from a screenplay by Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow, based on a story by Swerdlow and the first film's writer Tom Wheeler, with additional screenplay material provided by Etan Cohen. The voice cast also includes Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney, Wagner Moura, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Anthony Mendez. The film continues Puss in Boots's (Banderas) journey as he sets to find the mystical Last Wish and restore the eight of his nine lives that he lost while escaping new enemies (Pugh, Mulaney, and Moura) who plan to hunt him down, with the help of his friends (Hayek and Guillén).


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: Plans for a sequel to "Puss in Boots" began in November 2012, when Guillermo del Toro shared to take the titular character on an adventure to a "very exotic locale". He also stated a couple of drafts for the screenplay were completed. Work on a sequel was announced in April 2014, according to Banderas. The film's title was announced as "Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives & 40 Thieves" in June 2014. In November 2018, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri was confirmed as an executive producer. It was announced that the film would be helmed by Bob Persichetti, the head of story of the first film and one of the three directors of Sony Pictures Animation's "" (2018), in February 2019. Crawford was later announced as the new director in March 2021, along with Mercado, who was the head of story on the first film. The majority of the new cast members, along with the returning cast, were announced in March 2022. As with DreamWorks' previous film "The Bad Guys" (2022), the inspiration for the film's animation style came from "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse", giving it a visual style that resembles storybook illustrations. Rather than utilize the more realistic style introduced in "Shrek" (2001), the team focused more on a painterly style design, to make the film look like a fairy-tale world by using new technology.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on December 21, 2022. The film received generally positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 80th Golden Globe Awards.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: After the events of the first film and sometime after "Shrek Forever After", Puss in Boots becomes a legend after defeating a giant monster but is accidentally killed by a bell. Waking up, he discovers that he only has one life left after burning through his previous eight lives. Puss initially brushes it off, but when he loses a fight with a wolf he believes to be a bounty hunter, he decides to hang up his cape and become a domesticated pet cat for Mama Luna.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: After time passes, he meets a dog disguised as a cat, but their conversation is cut short when Goldilocks and the Three Bears Crime Family show up to find him. However, after they find his "grave", they inadvertently reveal a Wishing Star to Puss, who decides to find it and get his lives back.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: He finds out that the map is being held by "Big" Jack Horner, who wants to use the Wishing Star to have all the magic in the world for himself. While trying to steal the map, he unexpectedly reunites with Kitty Softpaws, who wants the map for herself and still mad at Puss for what happened at Santa Colomba. They, along with Perrito, who Puss names the dog, manage to escape Goldi and Jack and head to the Dark Forest, where the Wishing Star is.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: They find out that the path is different for everyone who wields the map. Puss and Kitty have terrifying paths, but Perrito has an easy one, so they let him hold the map. When he gets rid of a stick, Perrito follows it, leading to him being captured by Jack. Puss and Kitty manage to save him, but Puss starts having hallucinations of the wolf and runs away, leading to them losing the map to Goldi.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: Puss reveals what happened to Perrito and admits to leaving Kitty at the altar at the Church of Santa Colomba, which he has regretted ever since. Kitty overhears their conversation, and tells him she never came to the altar either, feeling like she could never compete with someone who loves himself more than her. They manage to find the map in the cabin of the Bears and steal it back. However, Perrito is captured once again. Kitty goes to save him while Puss is trapped in the Cave of Lost Souls. While there, Puss encounters the wolf again, and the wolf reveals he is actually straight-up "Death" itself, who witness Puss’ past lives and plans to kill him now to make it fair. Puss runs away, even after he spots Kitty and Perrito. Meanwhile, Goldi reveals that she wishes for a real family. While the bears are heartbroken, they still agree to help if it's what she really wants.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: Finally reaching the star, Puss is about to make his wish but is stopped by Kitty, who calls him out for his selfishness. He reveals that death is coming for him. However, they are interrupted by Goldi and Jack, who attack them. While Jack is thrown into his never-ending nanny bag by Kitty, Goldi saves Baby when he is almost thrown off the star.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: Puss encounters Death again, but this time chooses to fight him willingly. Death, disappointed, decides to spare him after seeing that Puss has changed and no longer fears him, but warns that they will meet again. Puss and Kitty reconcile and start a new relationship. Jack re-emerges from his bag, having eaten a cookie that makes him grow big. He tries to make his wish but is stopped by Kitty and Puss, who, along with Goldi, decide to rip up the map as they already have what they all wanted. This causes the star to crumble and blast back into space, killing Jack in the process. Puss, Kitty, and Goldi go their separate ways, while Perrito accepts his name.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: Later, Puss, Kitty, and Perrito steal a ship for new adventures and head to Far Far Away to reunite with "some old friends".


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: Shrek and Donkey have a non-speaking appearance in a brief flashback, as does Imelda from the first "Puss in Boots".


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: In November 2012, executive producer Guillermo del Toro shared director Chris Miller's intentions to take the titular character on an adventure to a "very exotic locale." He also said a couple of drafts for the screenplay were completed. In April 2014, voice actor Antonio Banderas said work on the sequel had begun. On June 12, 2014, the movie was titled "Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives & 40 Thieves". In March 2015, Banderas said the script was under restructuring. He also hinted at the possibility of Shrek appearing in the film.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: By November 2018, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri had been brought on board as an executive producer of both "Shrek 5" and "Puss in Boots 2". In February 2019, it was reported Bob Persichetti was set to direct the film while Latifa Ouaou, producer of the first film, would oversee the development of the sequel with Meledandri; Persichetti and Ouaou previously worked on the first film as head of story and producer, respectively. On August 19, 2020, DreamWorks trademarked "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" as the new title of the sequel, which was approved in December. In March 2021, Joel Crawford replaced Persichetti as director, having previously helmed DreamWorks' "" (2020), with producer Mark Swift, editor James Ryan, and screenwriter Paul Fisher returning as collaborators along with Januel Mercado serving as the film's co-director. Along with Salma Hayek reprising her voice role, new cast members were announced in March 2022, including Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Samson Kayo, John Mulaney, Wagner Moura, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Anthony Mendez.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: Like DreamWorks' previous film "The Bad Guys" (2022), inspiration for the design of the film came from Sony Pictures Animation's "" (2018), to make the film look more like storybook illustrations, from an idea suggested by production designer Nate Wragg. In February 2019, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" director Bob Persichetti was set to helm "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish", before he was replaced by Crawford in March 2021. Using new technology, the team at DreamWorks focused more on a painterly style design, to make the film look like a fairy-tale world, different than what it was in "Shrek" (2001) from their defunct studio Pacific Data Images.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: On June 29, 2022, it was reported that "Despicable Me" and "Minions" composer Heitor Pereira was in the process of recording the score, replacing Henry Jackman from the first film. Additionally, three original songs were made for the film by Karol G, Daniel Oviedo, Heitor Pereira, Paul Fisher, Dan Navarro, and Gaby Moreno. Karol G performs "La Vida es Una", co-written by herself and Daniel Oviedo and released on December 8, 2022 while Heitor Pereira co-wrote two songs titled "Fearless Hero", performed by Antonio Banderas and co-written by Dan Navarro and Paul Fisher, and "Por Que Te Vas", co-written with and performed by Gaby Moreno. The soundtrack was released on December 16, 2022 by Back Lot Music, in addition to cover of The Doors' "This Is The End" performed by Dan Navarro. Music from "Shrek 2" was used in the film from Harry Gregson-Williams by the tracks Obliged to Help and The End / Happily Ever After.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" is set to be theatrically released on December 21, 2022. It was originally scheduled to be released on November 2, 2018, and later on December 21, 2018, before it was removed from the release schedule altogether in January 2015 due to corporate restructuring and DreamWorks Animation's new policy to release just two films a year. Upon the project's resurrection in March 2021, it was given a release date of September 23, 2022, but in April 2022, the release was moved to its current December 21 date, taking over the release of Illumination's "The Super Mario Bros. Movie". A one-day public screening occurred on November 26, 2022, in select theaters.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: The first thirty minutes of the film were shown at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 14, 2022. Critics noted the darker tone of the movie when compared to its predecessor and director Joel Crawford agreed with them, mentioning that Puss' "fear of death is the engine that drives the movie".


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: The film also debuted a new animated logo opening for DreamWorks Animation, showcasing characters from "The Bad Guys", "How to Train Your Dragon", "Kung Fu Panda", "The Boss Baby", "Trolls", and "Shrek" with a remastered rendition of the 2010 fanfare composed by Harry Gregson-Williams mixed with several notes from the 2019 fanfare composed by John Powell, produced by Suzanne Buirgy from "Abominable" and Kendall Cronkhite from "Trolls" served as the production designer. It will also be the first overall "Shrek" film to be fully distributed by Universal Pictures, as well as the first film since their acquisition of DreamWorks in 2016, as the first two "Shrek" films were distributed internally by Universal's then-owner MCA Inc., albeit still under DreamWorks Pictures.


title: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

text: Peter Debruge, of "Variety", gave the film a positive review, saying the film was "DWA's best film since the "How to Train Your Dragon" trilogy." Emma Stefansky, of "IndieWire", also gave a positive review, enjoying the fact that the film "has no qualms about testing the expectations of its young audience while delivering a freewheeling tale about appreciating the nine lives we already have." Frank Scheck, of "The Hollywood Reporter", gave the film a mixed review, writing "darker in tone but still extremely funny, the film, like so many of its animated brethren, falters when resorting to the frenetic action sequences seemingly designed for tykes' short attention spans." William Bibbiani, of "TheWrap", also gave a mixed review, summarizing that "there are comic moments that land, and action set pieces that pop, but the overwhelming sensation here is a meditation on the inevitability of death".


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: Unlike the previous installments in the Pokémon franchise, "Scarlet" and "Violet" take place in an open world, similar to . The games take place in the Paldea region, based off of the Iberian Peninsula. There are three separate stories the player can take. "Scarlet" and "Violet" introduce 103 new Pokémon, alongside 4 new regional forms, and the which allows a Pokémon to transform into its exclusive Tera Type. The games also maintain features from previous modern Pokémon games, including large open areas and Pokémon appearing in the overworld.


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: "Scarlet" and "Violet" received mixed reviews from critics. The games were praised for their open world formula and story, while their graphics and technical problems at launch received criticism. The games sold over 10 million copies in their first three days, making them Nintendo's biggest launch of all time.


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: "Pokémon Scarlet" and "Violet" largely follow the same basic gameplay structure of previous "Pokémon" games, where players obtain creatures known as Pokémon, primarily through catching and trading and use them to explore the world and battle other Pokémon trainers.


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: "Scarlet" and "Violet" have open worlds, which include both urban areas and open wilderness without borders between the two, unlike previous installments in the Pokémon series. In addition to this, progression through the games are up to the players, with three routes available to choose from, and objectives within routes can be done in any order.


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: The games introduce three new starter Pokémon, Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly; and two new legendary Pokémon, Koraidon and Miraidon. To assist in travel, Koraidon or Miraidon can be used to traverse the environment. A mechanic called "Let's Go" will allow the player to send out a Pokémon to roam the overworld and automatically battle wild Pokémon. In addition, co-op play with up to three other players is included.


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: "Scarlet" and "Violet" introduce the Terastal phenomenon, which gives Pokémon a crystalline appearance, as well as changing a Pokémon's type to match that Pokémon's "Tera Type", as well as unlocking special moves such as Tera Blast, which, when used by a Terastallized Pokémon, becomes a move of the same type as the Pokémon’s Tera Type.


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: "Pokémon Scarlet" and "Violet" are set in the Paldea region of the "Pokémon" universe, which appears to be loosely based off of the Iberian Peninsula. The region features diverse landscapes including lakes, wastelands, and mountain ranges. A large crater, named the Great Crater of Paldea, lies in the center of the region, formed by a meteorite strike centuries before the events of the game. Inside of the Crater is an area named Area Zero, where the Terastalization phenomenon was first discovered.


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: In "Scarlet" and "Violet", the player attends either the Naranja or Uva Academy. The academy has an annual "Treasure Hunt", in which students are encouraged to seek something they treasure by exploring the region. After encountering either the legendary Pokémon Koraidon or Miraidon, who joins and assists the player despite having lost its ability to battle, the player is encouraged to participate in three stories: "Victory Road", "Starfall Street", and "Path of Legends".


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: In "Victory Road", Nemona—the Champion-ranked trainer that rivals the player, frequently battling them throughout their journey—asks that they complete all eight of the Paldea region's Pokémon Gyms. After they defeat the leaders of each Gym, they can reach Champion rank by defeating the region's Elite Four and Top Champion Geeta. After becoming Champion rank, Nemona challenges the player to a final battle.


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: "Starfall Street" begins after the player helps the shy schoolgirl Penny stand up against Team Star, a group responsible for academy bullying, when Cassiopeia—the founder of Team Star and a secret identity of Penny—enlists them into "Operation Starfall", which aims to force Team Star to disband by defeating all five of its squad bosses, stripping them of their authority within the group. They are assisted by academy director Clavell, who is aiming to discover Team Star's origins while disguised as a student named Clive, and Penny, who wants to monitor the player in-person in addition to guiding them as Cassiopeia. They learn that Team Star was founded to counter bullying rather than cause it, and them confronting their bullies two years prior caused the bullies to drop out and several academy staff members to resign. After defeating all squad bosses, Penny meets the player in the schoolyard to reveal her identity and challenge them to a battle. After her defeat, Clavell removes his disguise and offers peace with Team Star, though he subjects its members to community service as punishment for several violations.


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: Arven, aiming to locate the five legendary Herba Mystica, asks the player to join them in the "Path of Legends" story. To obtain each Herba Mystica, the player and Arven must team up to defeat a "Titan Pokémon"—a large Pokémon powered up by the Herba Mystica. Arven wishes to use the Herba Mystica to restore the health of his pet Mabosstiff, who was injured by a Pokémon in Area Zero—the workplace of his parent, either Professor Sada or Turo. After defeating all five Titans and restoring the health of Mabosstiff and regaining Koraidon/Miraidon's lost powers, Arven and the player are called by the professor to go to Area Zero with either the Scarlet or Violet Book. However, Arven decides that they must recruit further allies before journeying to Area Zero.


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: After choosing Nemona and Penny for assistance, Arven and the player set out towards the Zero Lab, professor's laboratory in Area Zero. Inside, they encounter Paradox Pokémon—biological relatives of extant Pokémon from either the ancient past or far future. After reaching the laboratory, the professor reveals themselves to be an AI substitute of the true professor, who was killed in a laboratory incident some time ago. The AI reveals that the original professor created a time machine to retrieve Paradox Pokémon, and that the AI is to maintain it at all costs. The AI urges the player to shut down the time machine, though is forced by the machine to battle the player. After initially being defeated, the AI leaves the player with no option except for their Koraidon or Miraidon to defeat the AI's own. This causes the time machine to fail, and the AI travels to the alternate time to prevent its recreation in the present, though apologizes to Arven for the professor neglecting him as a child before departing. Returning to the academy, Nemona, Clavell, and Geeta organize a Pokémon battling tournament between faculty and students. After evaluating all previous Gyms, the player emerges victorious in the tournament.


title: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

text: "Pokémon Scarlet" and "Violet" started development in late 2019, around the time that "Pokémon Sword" and "Shield" released. Toby Fox assisted in composing some of the music featured in the games.