How about "because the worshipper already had doubts, when he heroquested the doubts were confirmed"? That I will buy into, and it makes insight possible. So if the worshipper fears that Humath is the lord of death, then it is a possibility that he might discover. However, given that fear, that worshipper would not go HQing and discover that Humath was the queen of the mermaids. Further, some Humathi could conceivable go into HQing and meet the same old Humath who has always been there, the primal storm god, one of Orlanth's kin, who is unaware that death even exists. Why is this necessary, IMO? Because that's the Humath you would have to incarnate in order to travel the Lightbringers' quest.
HQ is the personal experience of a cultural pattern. It is not a chance to relive history. It is not a chance to time travel.
HQ reveals deeply relevant truth that has been obscured by metaphor. It may reveal irrelevant truths, but it would never reveal something that shattered an entire cultural pattern, unless that pattern were already weakened in the hearts of the culture.
> If that can't happen, then Heroquesting becomes much less interesting
> to me.
I think it can happen. I don't think it must happen. Because if it must happen then what are the Teshnans doing worshipping a manifest lie such as Tolat? Don't they notice in their heroquests that he isn't Tolat, that he calls himself Shargash? Or if they are right and Shargash is the lie, then what are those crazy Alkothans talking about?
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