OK, "no one can make you do anything" - but what makes
Orlanthi more than selfish brats with swords, and Orlanthi
freedom something more than anarchy and license, is that
they *choose* to lay aside some, even most of that freedom,
because of loyalties. Loyalty to kin and clan, so that a
good Orlanthi would sacrifice himself and his dreams for
them and theirs. How else, after all, would bloodprice
work unless your kin were prepared to risk their lives to
avenge your death? Loyalty to elders and to ancestors, so
that traditions are revered rather than discarded when they
become inconvenient. Loyalty to gods, not just as part of
an 'I worship you, you look after me' rational deal
(otherwise they would be changing faiths with every
spiritual ebb and flow), but because it is part of their
wider identity.
Orlanth himself, I would say, accepted this by undertaking the Lightbringer Quest. He took responsibility for his actions and put himself into direst peril for the good of the community. To me, Gagarth represents the spirit of "no one can make you do anything" taken to its fullest extreme, without the counter-balancing self-discipline and responsibility Orlanth learned.
Cats are solitary - are Orlanthi? Quite the opposite, they are gregarious, kin- and community-minded. Even the odd lone hunter (a pretty unusual case) is generally out on a hunt for his/her family and then heading back home.
In other words, sorry Henrix, I think Orlanthi *are* pack
animals! And, Mikko, I don't see dogs as naturally
servile, just happiest in a community and prepared to defer
to the pack-leader. One of our dogs is a ten-and-a-half
stone bull mastiff, and "no one can *make* him do anything"
- - instead my wife and I have to show him that we are higher
up the pack hierarchy. Wits and opposable thumbs make our
strength more effective in most circumstances (just like
the elder's experience and tactics make up for the
disparity with the rowdy young warriors' sheer brawn),
while we are also able to provide and look after them (like
the hunter, or the healer). Orlanthi have feral instincts -
but what makes them worthy of Orlanth is their ability to
tame themselves for the good of the community. Jeff, your
(excellent) article in Enclosure does, I think, a good job
of explaining not only why Orlanth and Yinkin get on, but
also how different they became as Orlanth grew but his
half-brother, killed in the Storm Age, did not.
But of course 'national' self-image is a very different thing. The English may like to see themselves a bulldogs or lions, and the Orlanthi, I'm sure, enjoy the parallel with the alynx. I could see it now as a resistance symbol, scrawled on walls, and keeping an alynx as companion or familiar a gesture of defiance to the lunars or Yelmalions. But they are doing themselves a disservice to suggest they are truly "wild, free and careless"!
Ah well, cat- and Orlanthi-fans no doubt alienated all in one post, I think I'd better quit while I'm…not too far behind. Given that the Balazarings - bless 'em - never really did a lot for me, I'm off to read up on the Sairdites (thanks David & Trotsky!)…
Woof,
Mark (Running Dog Revisionist)
PS, to Trotsky (you've no idea how weird typing that feels to a Russian historian!), wholehearted agreement regarding goats - probably my favourite Herbivores With Attitude.
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