Keanu Reeves’ John Wick has immortalized the term Baba Yaga. But its actual meaning in Russian demands that Reeves sheds his manhood and undergo a sex change operation.
If you’ve been buried under the ground, in the John Wick franchise, the lead role of John Wick is played by Keanu Reeves. In the movie, he is shown as an orphan taken in by the Tarasov Russian Mafia and brought up as an assassin. His ruthlessness as an assassin got him the name Baba Yaga or The Boogeyman in the movie. He is shown as the character that can’t be killed.
Baba Yaga was introduced in the first part of John Wick’s movie. The character Viggo Tarasov talks to his son about John Wick. He tells his son that Wick will kill him as he stole his car and killed his adorable puppy. That’s where John Wick was first compared to Baba Yaga.
The Baba Yaga Reference in Russian
As the movie was based on a Russian theme, the dialogue between the characters came in the Russian language. He compared John Wick to Baba Yaga to demonstrate to his son the power of the force he just angered and how fearful of John he should really be.
It seems like the while writing the script, the screenwriters were confused between two Russian mythological creatures, Babayka, and Baba Yaga.
These two words would sound the same but are two different creatures.
Baba Yaga or Babayka
Babayka is a Russian word for the creature that is referred to as the Boogeyman. The creature is used by adults to frighten their children into good behavior. On the other hand Baba Yaga, also called Baba Jaga, in Russian folklore, is a supernatural being, who looks like a deformed or ferocious-looking woman.
In Russian fairytales, She flies around in a mortar, wields a pestle, and dwells deep in the forest in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs.
Both these words came from an ancient Indo-European root word baba, meaning a forefather, an immortal progenitor.
The root word Baba
All these words come from an ancient Indo-European root word Baba, meaning a forefather, an immortal progenitor. But somehow, in Russian, the word Baba came to denote a woman. Baba or even babka is use when referring to wise and old women.
Babka is a short form for babushka. So it’s clear that John Wick, played by Keanu Reeves, is definitely not an elderly woman!
The Russian Connection
The recent installment of John Wick (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum) shows the theme of Russian folk tales. John orders a book called ‘Russian Folk Tales’ by Aleksandr Afanasyev, published in 1864. Afanasyev was a prominent Russian folklorist who collected Russian tales – including the ones about Baba Yaga!
So there is nothing common between the movie character John Wick and Baba Yaga.
For Wick to be Baba Yaga; Reeves will need a sex change surgery
The famous witch of the East is well-known in Russia. She is usually shown as an ugly old woman and quite unclean. It has long been rumored that she likes to eat children, however, she would not strain at a grown-up stranger in her forest.
If Keanu Reeves wants to become Baba Yaga, which he is called in the John Wick franchise he needs to change his sex. The other way around is by changing the name to Babayka, which is the Russian Boogeyman.
