Greg's Law of Many Contradictions

From: Julian Lord <julian.lord_at_wanadoo.fr>
Date: Sun, 01 Oct 2000 18:01:13 +0200


Carl Fink :

> > > The idea that it doesn't have to obey Aristotle's Law of Contradictions
> > > is just *weird* to me.
> >
> > Literature need obey no such law.
>
> From your point of view, Glorantha is literature. From a Gloranthan
> character's viewpoint, you can't say that.

Correct ! However, a Gloranthan character is nevertheless part of a cosmos which *isn't* governed by a set of deterministic laws, but by Greg's (and our) aestheticism.

So we're back where we started aren't we? Gloranthan characters have limited POVs that are coherent and that *they* believe to be truthful ones ; even though they've never met Greg Stafford and are therefore blissfully unaware of such important cosmic laws as 'The Law of Gregging' and 'The Law of Many Naff Retcons' and 'The Law of Many Suns'.

The "laws" of Glorantha do not, then, resemble the laws of mathematics ; indeed they *cannot* resemble them.

Related questions ; does Gregging have to obey Aristotle's Law of Contradictions ? Does Greg ? Is there room for a naff retcon or two in the crystalline order of a Newtonian Glorantha ?

> Anyway, I *do* want non-contradictory literature.

It's unlikely that such literature will ever be published by Issaries Inc.

> Literature that changes the name and nature of a major character
> like the Sun depending on, say, who's talking to him, had *better*
> have a good explanation.

Thankfully, it is a literature that contains many, many explanations ...

I think that you expect Glorantha to have the same excruciatingly detailed continuity as the Marvel Universe : no such luck.

Julian Lord


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