>
> We could play this game for years but I doubt we'd ever find the
truth! :)
Frr sure. The ideological structures are what I'm most interested in, and they are least are fairly plain: mythic universalists for the most part: Campbell, Eliade, Jung. A goodly dash of neopaganism, and yes, Greg's own indiosyncratic but unitary vision.
The rest is difficult, and yes, is largely a parlour game, unless Greg confirms or denies. Especially since concepts grow and mutate over time, gaining or losing power. And we all forget stuff, or misremember, or create new memories. And universalising/matching gods from widely different cultures is a game I certainly don't want to encourage. :)
>
> >
> > Orlanth - Wotan/Thor/Indra.
>
> Er, I'm not sure. Orlanth reminds me far more of one of the Baals,
Canaanite
> Storm Gods.
Baal or his brother Yahweh, sons of El? That's interesting. However, Biblical Canaanite imagery doesn't feature large in Greg's mythic storehouse, And the earliest levels of Glorantha seem explicitly indebted to Greek and Norse myth. Orlanth/Ernalda/Humakt/Ulerian all have clear Olympian counterparts. The Storm tribe has a very Norse/Germanic feel, and the fact that tORL is a common alternative name for Thor kind of seals it for me.
And the Orlanth/Heler myth is straight Indra and the drought dragon from the Rg Veda. Aryan/Indo-European mythic syncretisms were still in popular circulation in the sixties.
> >
> > Runes - C19 Volkisch romantic reinvention of Germanic myth.
>
> Not sure again. Runes as building blocks of Creation? Sounds like
ancient
> concept of Logos or creative power of words expressed through runes:
runes
> could also be seen as analagous to Scientific Laws in our reality.
>
I was thinking explicitly of runes as we first saw them: a sources of magical power, of spells, and as building blocks of reality. Its a stretch for me to try to fit unitary Logos into the rune concept, especially in its Neoplatonic formulations. Runes as we experienced them in Runequest are straight out of the Volkisch mythic romanticism of von List and others. Yes, the Dark Age Scandanavians used runes, but their magical elaboration is almost exclusively a late C19 creation.
> Yep. I occasionally think of McKenna's machine elves as well.
Wow, great source of ideas! McKenna seems a little to trippy for
Glorantha, and I know the elves manifested in his first DMT trip
(guilty glance towards bookshelf), which I would guess to be too late
to be a direct source. Powerful image though - Mostali on acid!!)
Mostali are one of the few gloranthan entities Greg has written about
from a personal perspective (basically, how he hates them) and that
article seems to confirm the European folklore roots. Then of course,
he set to work on them ...
>
>
> >
> > Red Goddess - Neopaganism? Christ myth?
> >
> Er, Hinduism? Buddhism? I have no idea but I think looking at monistic
> mystical experience areas of religion may be more useful.
Hinduism. You're right. I remember now, a conversation with Greg during an art gallery darshan with Natarajah. And the descent of Innanna of course, the West's oldest story.
> Looks very solid to me John, but I think Greg Stafford drew from al
over
> the place, and combined sources until they are almost unrecognisable.
Yes. Agreed absolutely. I'm interested in clear, early influences only. Once Greg sets to work, they become to a greater or lesser degree distinctly Gloranthan.
And you never mentioned Arkat! Arkat just makes me think
> of an Arhat in Buddhism, but taht is just me. I don't know much
about him.
See my second post. :) People have often commented on the ARkat/ARgrath/ARthur identification, but Arkat the Arhat makes sense to me as well, at least as an initial inspiration.
> And Nysalor? Baldur?
In part, sure.
And Arachne Solara as Changing Woman.
The name Shargash pops up in Gilgamesh along with with scorpion folk.
Harek as Conan? Any other pulp stuff?
Cheers
John
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