Durbaddath

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_quicksilver.net.nz>
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 12:20:31 +1200


Andrew Larsen

>Me> There might be more to his beheading in Dara Happa but it
> > has no importance to the cult elsewhere.

>I have to disagree with the notion that who beheaded him isn't
>important. At their heart, myths are stories, and myths that lack
>good stories aren't very good myths. Additionally, by ignoring
>the details about who beheaded him, there are probably important
>ideas being left out. Take the birth of Athena from Zeus' head, for
>example.

But then again take the myth of the Three Kings from the Orient. They are widely told but who they are, where they came from and what gifts they brought has no larger significance on the life of the person they are honoring.

> So in our myth here, Durbadath's changing heads suggests changing
>identities or mindsets,

But the old mindset was lost and unimportant in terms of the new mindset. That is why I invoked the parallel of the regiment. The new mindset is not going to have a grudge against the person who beheaded him.

>The myth in Anaxial's Roster links his new loyalty to his conflict
>with the emperors. GRAY links his loyalty to his new head, so
>getting a new head is probably connected to his conflict with the
>emperors.

No, it's not because they are _different_ myths. One is a myth told by Durbaddath cultists while the other is a Dara Happan view. Combining the two to yeild a third perspective is a erroneous shortcut that the God-Learners engaged in - the two originals are mythically true but the third synthetic myth is not.

>By the way, when did Durbadath acquire an extra 'd'?

Durbaddath is the original spelling.

--Peter Metcalfe


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