The Argrath problem as posed by KoS is basically that the sources give us several (three or four? I dont have KoS to hand) genealogies for A and at several points seem to distinguish between Argrath of Pavis and Argrath White Bull as if they were different people.
Furthermore one source has Argrath marrying the Feathered Horse Queen twice, while the sources that describe the fall/liberation of Pavis seem to put Argrath in two incompatible roles:
My solution to the problem is supplied by MoB's throwaway line in the Garhound scenario that a previous contest in 1603 had been won by Garrath Sharpsword (Argraths pseudonym in Pavis).
Now almost by definition the winners of a Gloranthan fertility contest SHOULD themselves produce offspring (and probably rather special offsping blessed by Ernalda and her consort-deity at that)and if it did the resulting child would have been born in 1604 or early 1605.
(BTW how long do pregnancies last in Glorantha - 4 seasons would be about
right assuming that Gloranthan days are about 20% longer than earth days so
the birth would be somewhere between Fire season 1604 and Fire/1605).
So assuming that Garrath has a child (highly probable) and that its a son
(50% chance) what would happen to him while Garrath is living in Pavis and
roaming the wastes?
At this point the identity of Garrath's Harvest Queen becomes important.
As Argrath is said to belong to the House of Sartar through his mother Brenna (who IIRC is an illegitimate daughter or grand-daughter of Duke Dorasor) the obvious answer is that the Garhound Harvest Queen in 1603 was Brenna who I would suggest was a member of the Garhound clan on her mothers side and was brought up by her mothers kin in Garhound rather than by her fathers in Pavis.
After Garraths' spell as Constable of Garhound has finished I would see him leaving for Pavis leaving behind a pregnant Brenna in Garhound - however it soon becomes clear that all descendants of Sartar are in deadly danger from Lunar assassins and accordingly when Argrath junior is born he is soon fostered out to a poor Pavic family and given the name Enostar (IMG this would be after Brenna is killed by a Lunar terminator-demon)and grows up in ignorance of his true parentage.
By the time the Cradle appears in 1621 Garrath is a famous Orlanthi hero and his son is about 16 and still unaware of his true identity (I am not even sure Garrath knows about him at this point - it would probably be safer if he didn't).
Accordingly Enostar is left behind by Garrath and instead becomes some sort of minstrel cum psychotherapist learning the dreams of Lunar soldiers and becoming known as Bad Dream Enostar as a result. Eventually however he falls dangerously sick and on recovery becomes a devout Orlanthi and convinced anti-Lunar conspirator.
By 1624/5 Enostar is a ring leader of the Orlanthi resistance and when his father returns as Argrath White Bull (AWB) leading the barbarian horde he is instrumental in persuading the resistance to side with the nomads rather than the Lunars.
With the city fallen father and son are re-united and Enostar learns his true identity and becomes known as Argrath of Pavis (AoP).
The trajectories of the two Argrath's after 1625 are up to you - I would suggest that it is AWB who marries Kallyr and then the FHQ possibly in some sort of weird proxy arrangement (making AWB KoDP from 1626-) while AoP becomes Duke of Pavis and Alda-Chur where he becomes heavily involved in supporting the Fazzurite revolt in Tarsh while AWB and Kallyr spend a lot of time dealing with problems in Kethaela.
In 1629 Kallyr is killed by Harrek and IMG AWB then tries and fails to bring Kallyr back via a LBQ and never returns, leaving AoP as the last surviving heir of Sartar (alternatively AoP and AWB can fall out and AoP kills AWB - rather like Sohrab and Rustam in reverse, or AWB is killed by Harrek or by the Lunars) - in any case by 1630 or so we only need one Argrath and I suggest that the one that's left is AoP.
IMG It is therefore AoP who goes on to marry the FHQ (probably a different one as I suspect that Grazers are not too big on incest), becomes KoDP and goes on to conquer Saird and destroy the Lunar empire.
This solution also explains why Argrath falls out with Mularik as it is AWB who makes Mularik King of Tarsh - probably imposing him over the heads of Fazzurite rebels like Annstad of Dunstop - and that after AWB's death or disappearance Mularik rejects the authority of AoP.
This also fits in well with Nick Brooke's theory that the fall of the Red Moon is really an act of utuma sacrifice as AoP was selected and pre-programmed by the Red Goddess to carry out this role during his years as a Lunar fraterniser (after all who sent all those bad dreams?).
Anyway this strikes me as a relatively simple and elegant solution and if nothing else at least it does obey the principle of Ockham's razor (entities - - or in this case Argrath's - are not be multiplied beyond necessity)....
ROGER
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