In the Mabinogion, Pwyll takes Arawn's place as Lord of the Otherworld and does
the
God a great service. In return, Arawn agrees to grant Pwyll any wish that is
within his power.
Pwyll asks the Death God to make him immortal. Arawn states that he can only
agree never
to come for Pwyll (never let him die) but he can't prevent Pwyll from aging.
Pwyll alters his wish
then VERY SIGNIFICANTLY "Take me when my skills begin to fail, but not to long
before".
This to me has always been one of the greatest insights into a less civilized
world. When is death
preferable to life? In Pwyll's society it is when a warrior-prince notices a
loss of skills. When
he is no longer physically in his prime. Pretty young by modern standards.
In this light I would argue that in an Orlanthi myth, when Orlanth gained
superiority in skill over
Umath, Umath had grown "old & weak". This would not necessarily have anything
to do with
chronological age at all. It would simply be a way for Orlanth's followers to
justify that Umath's
"time" was past. The "old & weak" need be no more literal than most mythic
name calling.
Just another way to look at it. I can't claim that either interpretation is
better or truer. I do feel
that taking the literal reading as the sole truth is missing the point of any
myth.
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