Re: Humakt in risen from the dead shock

From: Graham Robinson <graham_at_...>
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 07:22:30 +0100


> 1) how did Humakt get there? we know that Orlanth buckles on his
> sword called Humakt before setting off on the LBQ - so was he carried
> in? on the other hand, Humakti myth is that the big H helps Orlanth
> head west with a well aimed blow, not that he was carried.

Just because Humakt is carried into the underworld by Orlanth does not stop him from staying behind and also of already being in the underworld. Gods can be manifest in more than one place at once, especially before linear time has begun, as the Orlanthi believe.

> 2) the implication is that Humakt is dead - he's bent and rusty. who
> offed him? come to think of it, are there any myths of Humakt's
> great anti-chaos crusades during the darkness?

Nobody offed him - see below.

I'm not aware of any written myths of Humakt slaying chaos - at least not comparable to those of Urox - but his followers would doubtless know some.

> 3) if he was dead, then he must have been resurrected along with
> eveyone else during the compromise. so where does he get off on
> stopping his followers returning from the dead? he doesn't strike me
> as being a hypocritical kind of god.

Humakt is Death. Humakt is Lord of the Underworld. He starts in the Underworld, and he causes people to cross over from this world to the next. It is his very nature to be, at least partly, in the Underworld. Thus, for him, leaving the Underworld is not resurrection, since part of him will always remain.

> 4) if flamal was dead, that means that the force of the grower had
> left the world. if yelm was dead, it means that the sun and order
> had left the world. but Humakt? surely death was the one thing the
> world still had going for it? if Humakt was dead, what happened to
> death?

Even Death dies. The Great Darkness is very scary. There are things then which not only kill you, but cause you to cease to be. You do not travel to Orlanth's Hall and feast until reborn. Death is not necessarily that scary to those who have actual contact with their ancestors, but Chaos is. I'd view the rusty blade as less an indication of Humakt being dead, and more of his power being tainted as he loses power to the pre-dark.

Cheers,
Graham

--
Graham Robinson
graham_at_...

Albion Software Engineering Ltd.

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