More thoughts on 7 storms and 7 winds

From: Chris Lemens <chrislemens_at_...>
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 19:00:35 -0700 (PDT)


I thought though what I had posted about a month ago about 7 storms and 7 winds. I came to slightly different conclusions, which I posted to Wiki at: www.eparsnip.f2s.com/phpwiki/index.php?Seven%20Storms It is also below for discussion:

Note again John's quote of TR 241 and the explanation on TR 128 that Storms and Winds are frequently confused (implying that they are different things).

I think that Orlanth has seven storms: Daylanus, Hedkoranth, Helamakt, Ohorlanth, Vingkot, and Yavor all take the Storm affinity from Orlanth's Thunderous aspect, plus Vinga, whose Defender Storm subcult is the only ST subsult that has the Storm affinity other than Valind (see below). These are all "parts" or "children" of Orlanth. All of them are fighters.

There are also seven primal winds -- Orlanth, Valind
(as heir to Vadrus), Urox, Humakt, Brastalos, and
Kolat are six of them. None of these are parts or children of Orlanth. All are siblings. Orlanth's missing sibling is Ragnaglar, who won't be showing up
(on Orlanth's side anyway), though he could be the
evil wind or the dead wind or something. So, I think that Broyan figures out how to fill the gap.

I can come up with all sorts of theories: Yinkin is his other brother; Heler is an adopted brother; Ernalda is "another way wind" (TR 122); Doburdan
("dead air") or his Thunder Addi is Ragnaglar; Eurmal
is the bound wind; etc. Broyan might not need to decide -- he could just call the "other wind". I once tended towards Ernalda being the 7th wind. Now, I think it is Doburdan, who is the ghost of Ragnaglar -- the dead wind that the empire of chaos brought back.

In terms of the cardinal directions, I'd put Orlanth above, Brastalos in the middle, Valind in the North, Urox in the East, Humakt in the West (where Arkat come from), and Kolat in the South (where the Hendreik wilderness used to be). I'd put the other one below
(in the underworld, so Doburdan could be Ragnaglar's
ghost, though the Heortlings might not know who Doburdan is yet).

In any case, the myth at TR 27 describing the storms that Orlanth put at six directions never resonated for me. My reasons are: (1) it mixes brothers, children, and foreigners and (2) since Orlanth is Ohorlanth, his whole is in one place while a part of him is elsewhere. However, I think it is just confusion over names, which TR 128 notes; the names in TR 27 are not important. I still like the identification of the officers and the corresondence to Kallyr's companions on KoS 135.



Chris Lemens                          

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