That's a great way of looking at it, thanks. That could tie in with Hrestol's message of "God as Man", questing to participate in Malkion's expulsion, exodus, sacrifice/death, period in the underworld, and ascension to Solace.
A few more questions:
- What was the sequence of Malkion's revelations to Hrestol? He had a vision to pursue knighthood and then undertook the initiation, but where does Joy fit in? Did this occur during his knighthood initiation or was it separate? The former might make sense: successfully merging the castes helped purify Hrestol, enabling him to be the first mortal to reach Joy (analogous to Danmalastan during the pre-caste Second Action).
- Does Malkion (and possibly the saints) have more "free will" to interact with the inner world than the theistic gods? The latter can't reveal unknown facets to their worshippers unless the mortals explore for themselves (there's an example in a seminar transcript where Ernalda couldn't out of the blue say, "I can give you hunting magic, you know.") Is Malkion more active in his ability to communicate with (and send blessings to aid) the Malkioni?
As an example, was Malkion a passive entity responding to Hrestol's prayers for help against the Pendali threat, or was he able to intelligently react to (and possibly shape) events?
>
> On 10/25/2010 9:14 AM, Scott wrote:
>
> > I assume this is the Court[s] of Silence in the underworld (where the
> > dead are judged, etc.); if so, why here for Hrestol becoming a
> > knight?
>
> I assume it was because the rune of knighthood as originally described
> is a death rune (although Arcane Lore changes it to a truth rune).
>
> If you want a plausible explanation why Hrestol has to go to the
> Underworld to heroquest, he's possibly following in the footsteps of
> Malkion who sacrificed himself in the Chaos Age to save the world.
> Hrestol is sacrificing some of his life to bring him closer to God.
>
> --Peter Metcalfe