Guy Hoyle wrote :
>The myth about this appears in KING OF SARTAR. Basically, Thed comes to
>Orlanth seeking justice because she has been raped. Orlanth promises her
>justice, and Thed reveals that her rapist is Orlanth's kinsman Ragnaglar.
>The Broo are Thed's revenge for the horror that Ragnaglar inflicted upon her
>(i.e., Orlanth's wife and daughters will have to fear what happened to
>Thed). She did not invite the rape, but she inflicts it upon the womenfolk
>of those who raped her. It ain't the blame-it-on-the-victim game at all.
>
Except this is a myth told from the male perspective. It seems unlikely that a woman would punish MEN by making WOMEN go through the same suffering she did.
Two alternative myths spring to mind :
1.
Ragnaglar was more completely insane than previously thought, and
wished to inflict further suffering on his victim. Thus, he forced her to
inflict rape on other women, using the threat of further abusing her to
gain control.
2.
The rape left Thed pregenant, and her children were the broo. Being
conceived in such a manner damaged their mythic position. Thed naturally
protects and cares for her children, forgiving them their little foibles.
She becomes not so much "goddess of rape" as "goddess who protects
rapists".
Graham
Tact, noun:
The unsaid part of what you are thinking.
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