Re: Multiple Initiation

From: Jeff Richard <richaje_at_...>
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 03:25:19 -0000

> >Quite. "Loyal daughter" is one of her titles. You go around
beating
> >up her dad, she objects. Though it has to be said that the
situation
> >with the Red Woman in Saird is rather odd...
>
> And Holay. One explanation is that in those places Vinga is not
> the daughter of Orlanth but some other deity. Or perhaps she's
> loyal to her mother rather than her father. Major Heroquests
> can do this sort of thing.

The Red Woman is the guardian of Saird. Maybe she's seen as a daughter of Orlanth or Vingkot (or of Beren and Redalyda) or maybe she's a daughter of Reladiva. She's loyal to Saird - not to Orlanth and the Storm Tribe (although she's not necessarily hostile).

> That's what Orlanth believes and a lot of Ernaldans do as well
> but I don't think the goddess who's the wife of Orlanth is
> separate from the one who's wife of any of the other gods.
> That separation is done by her worshippers who mostly can't
> cope with a goddess being monogamously married to several gods.
> The Esrolians are probably closest to the truth when they
> discard the monogamously bit. But her husbands seem to believe
> they're the only husband. Did I mention that I think Ernalda
> is an extremely devious schemer?

I caution folk against making the same mistake about sentimentalizing the behavior of gods as Xenophanes of Colophon. At times Orlanth is a destructive and violent bastard, at times Ernalda is cold-heartedly ruthless. Although some aspects of the gods show us how to be better men and women, other aspects of the same gods display "all sorts of things that are matters of reproach and censure among men: theft, adultery, and mutual deception."

Jeff