It seems to me that the initiation myth is entirely allegorical. The "bad uncles" are not really relatives at all, at least not in the human sense of kinship. They are part of an older order of gods, against whom Umath unsuccessfully rebelled and Orlanth successfully rebelled. Our puny human brains, when we return from the Gods' World, must analogize the older order with an older generation to make it comprehnsible. The myth of the pits is one battle that is part of the cycle of rebellion stories. I'd suggest that the events of the myth happen because of the chaining of Umath. The older order of gods are victorious, and part of their follow-through is to cast the children of the enemy into the pits. Unexpectedly, most of them overcome to some degree and escape. In all cases, their personalities were more formed afterwards than before.
(Another interesting potential tangent: a relationship between these pits and the "pits of hell"--maybe they are the same thing, or one followed from the other.)
Anyway, it's another take on the subject. If it was obvious, please return to your regularly scheduled genealogies.
Powered by hypermail