Malia the Archer, Who Shoots at Will?

From: MSmylie_at_aol.com
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 14:56:48 -0400


Hello all, delurking for a moment for a quick comment on the Malia evil/not-evil thread.

Nick Effingham's write-up struck me as being a good example of the way in which Malia might be "rehabilitated" within a cultic context, portraying her as a bound servant to either Yelm or the Red Goddess, or, as someone suggested earlier, even to Orlanth. In fact, that take reminded me of the mention of the drought and famine god Daga in the GoG Prosopaedia, who is described as "imprisoned within a carefully sealed jar kept at Orlanth's bedside. When people sin and forget the gods, the jar is opened or broken and Daga swims out to blight the earth and bring people back to a rememberance of their gods." While I doubt the Orlanthi view Daga as a
"good" god per se, there seems to be some understanding of the purpose of
Orlanth keeping Daga within arm's reach and occasionally loosing his powers upon his own worshippers. IMO there could also be similar room somewhere for a punitive aspect to Malia (Malia of the Fury?) in the service of a pantheon head.

I would also like to point out that in a RW context there could be considered some support for the notion of an "apotropaic" Malia cult which followed the ritual logic of like averting like; Malia as the Mistress of Diseases is also called upon to keep them away, in similar fashion to the cultic role of Apollo, Artemis, and to some extent Heracles, who, while I suspect most of us would think of them as "good" gods, can all be found referred to in what might be called the "bow-bearing god of plague and fire" mode (a term used by Christopher Faraone, in his book "Talismans & Trojan Horses: Guardian Statues in Ancient Greek Myth and Ritual"). Apollo and Heracles can both be found as the seemingly indiscriminate exterminators of both random individuals and entire lineages -- Apollo with flaming arrows, Heracles with poisoned ones (using bow and arrows gifted to him by Apollo) -- and Artemis in both the Illiad and the Odyssey is specifically referred to as the killer of old women, who sends her arrows to end their old age swiftly, but she has also been described as having the power to end any woman's life (Apollo as the killer of men, and Artemis as the killer of women, both with the epithet "Who Shoots At Will"). Faraone notes that there is the considerable temptation to
"interpret" flaming arrows sent by Apollo or Artemis as a representation of
both the fire of sudden, death-bringing pain and the fever of plague, and that this interpretation can be supported by cultic acts and oracular pronouncements, most notably in the setting up of apotropaic statues of Apollo before the gates of a city during a plague in order to end it. Both Apollo and Heracles are further associated with plagues of mice (Faraone notes that one of Apollo's epithets is in fact Apollo Smintheus, "Apollo the Mouse").

Another interesting aspect of Apollo that might have some bearing on Malia is his occasional role as a defender of cities during assault; specifically, there are a number of clear instances of Apollo being called upon to send plagues or pestilences on besieging armies (echoed with other gods throughout Near Eastern mythology, in fact, though of course the direction of influence could be reversed). I would be willing to throw out the suggestion, then, for a cult of Malia which invoked her both as the Mistress of Disease, who keeps disease away when she is properly appeased/propitiated, and also as the Savior, called upon in defensive military situations to send diseases against invading armies; of course, I am unaware of any Gloranthan myths which cite her as doing such, but there might be room in the era of the Red Goddess for Lunar Heroquesting which results in discovering this aspect of Malia. In particular, the wars against the Pentans strike me as being the ideal place for the introduction of this aspect of Malia; what better way to deal with invading nomads than to introduce them to obscure Dara Happan diseases and disease spirits that they are unfamiliar with, echoing an invader's problems with diseases against which they have no natural immunity? Come to think of it, this aspect of Malia bears some resemblance to the cult of Gogorma (hmm; Malia Gor?), which brings Yara Aranis to mind; perhaps the Horse Eater can send disease spirits that attack horses in particular?

Of course, the KoW reverses that aspect of Malia, and summons her to send diseases on armies and cities during _offensive_ military operations, but that's another kettle of fish entirely 8-).

Just a few thoughts. (I liked Andover's pieces on the Wild Healer, btw; We are Legion, indeed.) Later,
Mark


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