Arkat

From: SimonPhipp_at_aol.com
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 1996 12:35:21 -0400


Mike Cule wrote
>I'm certain that Arkat had a core of passion about *something*.
The difference between Arkat, the Godlearners and "pure" HeroQuestors is that Arkat believed that the ends justified themeans, Godlearners believed that the means themselves were as important as any ends, and "pure" or "moral" Heroquestors belive that the means must be good for the Quest to be successful.

So, the Godlearners would experiment with myths and Quests, because that was where the fun was. They did not care what happened, but "let's change this and see what it does".

Arkat believed that the end (defeating Gbaji) was so important that any means were justified in the fight. So he betrayed his Brithini roots to become a Malkioni Knight, then betrayed those to become a Humakti, then betrayed the Orlanthi to become a troll, then betrayed trolls to become a monster. I can't remember off hand whether he used chaos to fight chaos, but as an illuminate and former member of Nysalor's realm, I would guess that he would not have hesitated to use Chaotic Quests/Abilities/Powers to destroy Gbaji. (Although Arkati talk about abusing the dark side of Illumination, that is just a front - - Arkat was a realist and would use any tool in the fight against chaos - even chaos itself).

Moral HeroQuestors spend so much time making sure that everything is right, that their actions are correct and would not offend their deities and that nothing they do will cause any harm that they lose sight of the aim of HeroQuesting - to change society and the world.

Also, Arkat & Argrath:

This seems to me to be one of those area where somebody is being identified with the original person when they are only an avatar of the original. Clearly, Argrath shows some of Arkat's skills - the ability to meld disparate groups of people into single fighting forces, the ability to HeroQuest effectively, eventually the betrayal of his people (when he destroyed the gods).

However, the idea of Arkat himself coming back to destroy Gbaji (as the Lunar Empire) seems suspect to say the least. I prefer the idea that Argrath needed Arkat's techniques to defeat a more pwoerful force, so he found what Arkat knew and used some of his powers and abilities, not being Arkat, but becoming like Arkat. This is more like being an Avatar.

Personally, I think that Argrath and Arkat are nort the same and that Argrath is not even an avatar of Arkat, but merely used similar techniques and used similar HeroQuests to achieve his aims.

For instance, Orlanth used the same techniques to slay the Blue Dragon and release Heler as Vadrus used to kill Enkoshons and release the Blue Woman, however, nobody says that Orlanth is Vadrus or even an avatar of vadrus. He merely followed Vadrus' HeroQuest and used it against a similar creature.


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