Barntar

From: Julian Lord <julian.lord_at_hol.fr>
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 22:59:02 +0200


Jeff Richard:

> All Orlanthi farmers worship Barntar and know his rites -
> otherwise they can't farm. This by the way is one of the chief reasons
> that Orlanth is not forgotten even in those places that his "cult" has
> largely been abandoned - Barntar, in a very real way is Orlanth. Barntar
> has been interpreted as showing how Orlanth's path (that panoply of mythic
> events associated with Orlanth) applies to the techniques of farming. If
> the chieftains' version of those mythic events view it as Orlanth obtaining
> the right to rule over the Middle Air, then the farmers see it as Barntar
> showing them how these mythic events define agricultural life.

Yes, absolutely, this is Barntar as I see him too. Similar in function, and yet very different in powers to Lodril. And surely, within the Empire, there is conflict between the Lodril peasants and the Barntar ones.

It's here in the muck, that the real fight between the ideologies takes place. Sod all that High Fantasy guff ! It's the women who count, the Earth worshippers. What's best for the babies, and the land? Which man is best for the farm, and the babies? Mucky versions of the LBQ, the HoG, and Orlanth vs. Aroka, among other myths, are the foundation for Lodril/Barntar conflict. Who gets the girl? Who gets the field?

In these lands of ideological conflict, laws of inheritance must revert to ancient matrilineal traditions, no? If not in Law, at least in practice. How else are you going to keep the possessions in something resembling a family, when religious focus isn't hard-set, as it should be?

The strongest defender of Orlanthi culture *isn't* any of those Light Bringer gods, or Argraths or what-have-you. It's the cult of Ernalda, whose sovereignty in her Land, no matter which of the gods is King, is unchallenged..

But Barntar is Orlanth, an Orlanth who has married, got a job and settled down. He calls the Storm to impregnate his field, and keeps his broadsword handy against thieves and evil men. He makes babies with his wife, he cultivates the field, and with his single-minded obstinate hard-headed stuborbnness keeps the Land safe from Evil.

He cares about food in the belly, a roof over the head, about his family, and a warm and welcoming bed. The ancient Orlanthi traditions are the traditions which feed him, and always have done, and always will. His crops need Rain more than Sun. His reaction against the lunars who are driving the rain away can only be that they are Evil.

But when the Rain is gone, who shall feed the babies? Ernalda is courted by the Lodril peasant, and his secret knowledge of the Sun. And the peasant himself is tempted to switch cults and learn the secrets for himself.


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