Barantaros Variations

From: Guy Hoyle <ghoyle1_at_...>
Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 10:54:31 -0500

On 5/29/00 at 10:16 AM KYER, JEFFREY wrote: [snipped the possible similarities between Barntar and Barantaros]
>
>I would suspect he is not the same person. The myth given in the Hidden
>Gale is very un-Banatarlike. I think that the similarity with names is
>concidental. Of course, you could treat it as a subcult of Banatar, if
>you like, but I don't think it fits very well. I'd say he's a hero cult
>of one of Orlanth's Thunderbrothers. Things don't *have* to be tied
>together. Sometmes, a cake is just a cake.

This is true, and I admit the possibility that my theory has no merit. But there are a couple of other factors that I should have brought up originally:
1) Somebody (Greg? Roderick?) created the name Barantaros with a very real resemblance to an existing deity, Barntar; 2) There are other cases in Glorantha where a similarity in god names indicates a connection of some kind between deities (e.g., Orlanth, Worlath, Orlanatus; Humakt, Humath, Umath); admittedly, those deities are pretty much just cultural variations. But Barantaros' function as "the hidden wind" reminds me that, in Dragon Pass at least, many Orlanthi who were forbidden to worship Orlanth actually hid their worship within the worship of Barntar. Maybe they actually joined Barantaros, and let the confusion between the two deities mask their activities.

I admit that I'm not intimately familiar with the Barantaros myth. Though this theory might be a load of hooey, there are an awful lot of coincidences running around here.

Guy

We Meddle in God's Domain So That You Don't Have To