John "Arkat" Brown wrote:
>OK everybody, there is a FUNDAMENTAL flaw with Argrath Killing all the gods.
>Argrath completes the Lightbringer's Quest around 1677 (pgs 270-271 KoS). In
>the Lightbringer's Quest, the Orlanthi figure confronts the Devil near the
>end before the journey Home. This is when the events described in Argrath
and
>the Devil would have occurred and there fore this is when the Gods should
>have been killed.
Hmm; dunno about that. It seems to me that the events of "Argrath and the Devil" are supposed to take place at or following the final mutation/transformation of the Lunar Empire, when the "Mask" of the Devil falls away and the evil Chaos rotting the center of the Empire is revealed (yawn) -- i.e., when in Argrath's Saga "every honest means was exhausted, [and] the true Monster Empire showed itself," after the Red Emperor is no longer. I would also point out this passage from "Argrath and the Devil":
"Then did Argrath call together all of his council, and ask them what he should do. They told him that of old, it was the Lightbringers which saved them from this. But Argrath had already done that, and so that was not a choice."
This seems to pretty well imply that Argrath had _already_ performed the Lightbringer's Quest, placing the events of "Argrath and the Devil" after 1677. Either "Argrath and the Devil" is an alternative version of the 'final battle' in which the Seven Dragons tear down the Moon, or it is in fact a 'lost text' describing the battle that happens _after_ the Moon is torn down and the Devil is revealed in her stead.
[Though oddly enough there are also parallels between "Argrath and the Devil" and the Argrath's Saga description of the six-armed goddess of Saird's spider-like conquest of Sheng Seleris; perhaps "Argrath and the Devil" is actually the corruption of a Pentan remembrance of Argrath's defeat of Sheng?]
Regardless, both "Argrath's Saga" and "Argrath and the Devil" end with the same general state of affairs, though "Argrath's Saga" has no specific explanation for it -- i.e., that the relationship between the gods and humanity has been forever altered (and I suppose that's an Orlanthi "forever"). Whether this is because the gods are actually dead (not an unreasonable supposition -- if the gods "exist" in Gloranthan reality, then they can also be killed or done away with), or because something has happened to cut them off from worldly worshippers, the effects are the same.
Just some thoughts,
Mark
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