Random Zorak Zoran musings...

From: Andrew Solovay <asolovay_at_...>
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2002 14:07:59 -0700

...and again, my apologies if all this is old territory hereabouts. (I don't have those UW books or TotRTM...)

It ocurred to me that (duh!) it's very mythically appropriate for Zorak Zoran to have fire. To the trolls, Yelm is Death, yes? Yelm comes to Hell = Death comes to the trolls. And trolls are firmly convinced that sunlight causes aging...

So. Zorak Zoran, being the primary Uz death god, would naturally have to have some connection with fire/sky. If this is so... then the sequence of events we know (Humakt got the sword Death, Zorak Zoran swiped the sword (with some help from Eurmal), Zorak Zoran wounds Yelmalio) would *not* be the version the trolls tell.

I submit that to the Uz, Zorak Zoran became a Death god *when* he wounded Yelmalio and stole fire (= Death) from him. Possibly Humakt never enters into it at all, in Trollish understanding... Anyway, it makes sense that the Orlanthi would think Death is something that comes from Darkness (so they have a myth that Humakt and Eurmal find Death in Subere's realm). But surely trolls know better--they know that Darkness is the source and home of *life*, not death. Death comes from the sky.

BTW... who did Zorak Zoran get fire from in the Yelmalio-free versions of the myths? Or is that a stupid question?

--AMS