David Dunham, writing on Arkat "the Great" noted:
>BTW, Greg has said that both Arkat and Argrath are linguistically
>equivalent, and mean "Liberator." (This doesn't mean it was used as a title
>rather than a personal name...
While I agree that it's perfectly possible that an enormous coincidence allowed two of the greatest human "liberators" in Dragon Pass history to be birth-named "Liberator", it also strikes me that an equally plausible explanantion is that these were earned titles or epithets. This is somewhat more suspect when it comes to Arkat; I suppose that his name could've become imbued with the linguistic meaning "liberator" because of his actions, and that innumerable children were named Arkat or some variant wherever he is remembered fondly.
Nonetheless, IIRC, the origins of both Arkat and Argrath are shrouded in considerable mystery; in Arkat's case aside from rumors that he was the son of Humakt I can recall very little about his birth-origin (and "Humaktsson" is a pretty good candidate for a heroquest-gained epithet), and in Argath's case all I can recall is his own version (both of them) of his lineages -- which are arguably carefully constructed for political reasons and made, as I recall, no mention of his given birth-names. I suppose it might even be possible to heroquest for a lineage or bloodline, particularly as far as a divine figure is concerned. Aside from the Argrath the Thief story (which sounded suspiciously like someone's campaign notes :-)), the earliest mention of Argrath is really as Garrath (Sharpsword). I'd be willing to throw out the suggestion that Garrath could be his real name (and perhaps even an Arkat variant), and he became Argrath by saving the Cradle, etc?
I think it was Peter Metcalfe -- sorry if that's a misidentification -- who had suggested that every hero was in effect also a tyrant; for me, the play of Arkat and Gbaji fits that kind of speculation. Gbaji seems more and more like a title to me, "The Deceiver" (or perhaps even "The Tyrant"), used to label your enemy; for some, Nysalor was Gbaji, while for others Arkat was Gbaji. By extension, I'd be willing to speculate that it might also be possible to say that Nysalor was "an" Arkat to some, and that perhaps the true name of "Arkat" "Humaktsson" has been lost to the world (perhaps when the GLs cut off the heroquest paths to his star?).
On a different note, Simon Phipp noted in the Yelmalio thread:
>Is Orlanth several gods fused, or Yelm? I think not. How
>about Kyger Litor - is she Kyger Litor and Karrg?
In addition to seconding Peter Metcalfe's and Martin Crim's notes on Orlanth and Kyger Litor, I seem to recall considerable Greg-inspired speculation that Yelm was in fact the "fusion" or merging of several different and distinct Dara Happan Sun Gods -- IIRC, Kargzant, Shargash, Buserian, and Morharzarm? - -- who presumably might well continue to have their own personal cults in some areas where the Yelmic merge hasn't become Law.
Just some thoughts.
Mark
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