What does the name of Maggie "Phantasma" mean? Why did you gave her that name?

Oooohhh that's a good question!

Okay this is going to be a long post.

So first of all when I looked for an alias for her I wanted something that Maggie herself would give herself, which means something that would fit her abilities, personality, interests but also story. I didn't wanted to just give her the name Shadow or Phantom cause none of them were something I thought yes that's it. None of them really fit to the whole spectrum of her. I was also considering to name her Ghost or Echo but they were already taken and for I wanted a name that didn't existed yet in Marvel. Besides that with them I also kinda had the same problem like I had with Shadow and Phantom, it didn'tincluded everything. Then I googled for synonyms and found the words "Phantasma" and "Phatasmagoria.

So here we go: (Btw I kinda just translated the german wiki page of phantasma here cause there's no real english wiki page to it. For Phantasmagoria I took the infos from wikipedia and an article I found while looking this up I linked them down there too)

Phantasma is in short a product of fantasy as a delusive appearance, illusion, ghost, specter or a figment of the imagination in short: Something that is seen or imagined but is not real. The word comes from ancient Greek and means something like: appearance, image, idea/imagination, face or a sign sent by the deity, miracle, dream image with and without a dream, ghost, spirit and can be a also used as synonym for well phantom or ghost. It refers to a mental, inner imagination in the sense of a fantasy or mirage. In the German-speaking world, phantasma refers to a perception-like scenic condition, psychiatrically something like illusion, pseudohallucination and hallucination. The word is considered little used and antiquated. It has a negative function, such as forgetting and repressing things, but can also be viewed from the perspective of self-assertion and rebellion against unworthy circumstances. In French psychiatry, phantasma generally means something like a pictorial scene in which the person concerned realizes a wish or unconscious wish. In this respect it is the same as daydreaming. The term plays an important role in the context of Jacques Lacan's psychoanalysis, where it describes a certain form of imaginary fantasy. The term phantasma has a long tradition, particularly in philosophy, and was already used by Aristotle in the sense of a mental “image”. It roughly corresponds to what we understand today as fantasy or imagination. “Imagination” means the ability to produce mental images, while phantasma refers to the images themselves produced by the imagination. – In ancient times, techniques for better memorization were based on the principle of sensualization (mnemonics). Therefore, memory contents were viewed as memory images (ancient Greek phantasmata, Latin imagines). A form of phantasma is also hallucination, in which the phantasma is not recognized as a phantasma but is confused with an external sensory perception. Lacan uses phantasma to describe the psychological representation of an object or a situation that the subject remembers visually. The phantasma thus belongs to the register of the imaginary. Phantasma is therefore a form of defense. The development of a phantasma is often based on traumatic experiences, which are, however, warded off and reinterpreted in the image presented. Behind the individual phantasmatic image there is ultimately a “fundamental phantasma” on which the identity of the subject and the forms of his desire are based.

"Phantasmagoria" on the other hand is a form of horror theatre that (among other techniques) used one or more magic lanterns to project frightening images. During the show scenes and stories were performed with the use of magic lanterns and rear projections to create dancing shadows and frightening theatrical effects. These lively, interactive events incorporated storytelling, mythology, and theater in a single art form that entertained while providing a space for thinking about the otherworldly-playing with the viewers’ anxieties regarding death and the afterlife. In many shows, the use of spooky decoration, total darkness, (auto-)suggestive verbal presentation, and sound effects were also key elements. The shows started under the guise of actual séances in Germany in the late 18th century and gained popularity through most of Europe (including Britain) throughout the 19th century. The word "phantasmagoria" has also been commonly used to indicate changing successions or combinations of fantastic, bizarre, or imagined imagery.

When I read about all of this I instantly thought this is it! Cause it fits so many of her abilities, her story but also interests of philosophy, psychology and theater. It was also perfect that Phantasma is used as synonym for phantom/ghost/illusion cause in her story that's kinda how she's always described as a ghost an illusion or phantom a horror story but nothing that really exist etc. Another reason was in her story she couldn't remember her life before HADES or who she was for a very long time and she also had lots of traumatic experiences that made her to the person who she is today and kinda "created" her. She also rebelled against unworthy circumstances as she was the one who destroyed HADES and she also works like some sort of defense as she tries to protect everyone from what is left of HADES so no one has to suffer the same fate she had too and in the same moment she tries to repress her memories of HADES and what happened to her there.

So that's why I went with Phantasma, cause it conected so many aspects of her in one name.