As my only source of info on headhunting is Moorcock, and I know he adopted this from some Celtic practices, I had envisioned the power of heads to be similar to that in the Corum chronicles. Take the head of your foe, treat it in lime with certain magical rituals, and it becomes a weapon with magical power to harm the family of the victim. Probably one-use, and does not involve the binding of the victim's soul into the head.
However, given the Thanatari use of captured heads for storing the knowledge of the victim, I think the Mimir's head example is probably more accurate. Perhaps you can take the victim's head, cast a magical ritual, and interrogate it for an hour or so before the victim's ghost flees. The Than practice would then have arisen from experiments to try to lengthen the amount of time you had to question the head.
Actually, I could see both methods being used, in different lands. The weapon aspect seems appropriate for Ralian Orlanthi, and the knowledge-taking one for Heortlings.
Stephen Martin
ilium_at_juno.com
- -----------------------------------------------The Book of Drastic Resolutions
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