From: Loren Miller (loren@wharton.upenn.edu)
Date: Wed 13 Nov 1996 - 17:51:53 EET
David Weihe <weihe@gsidanet.danet.com> comments:
> So, since nothing new ever happens *last* year, last year is now part
> of GodTime? And since new things were happening back in the days when
> Yelm and Orlanth were competing in various ways, that was chronos time?
> At least in those days?
A hearty sarcastic yes to all those questions! Of course those
questions are silly, but it seems pretty clear from your further
commentary that you did understand what I wrote. Anyway, the point is
that linear time is purely a measuring device, because the only
"time" that actually exists is the very instant in which you are
existing, right now. Ooops, there it went. Here's another one.
Anyway, my theory about the reason that the myths include references
to time within them, aside from the timely references in the analysis
of them, is that the wheels of mythic time are created through mass
belief, tradition, ritual, and ceremony, including heroquests. What
begins as belief becomes tradition, is marked as ritual, and every
time period it reinforces the wheel.
The first Orlanth was a hill barbarian whose wild deeds, and those of
his brothers, astounded his neighbors, both friend and foe. He carved
out a kingdom in the windy hills by means of brutal conquest.
Generations later, as the ice age advanced, one of his descendants,
Orlanth VI, travelled in the lowlands looking for a land which he
could claim and conquer. In his travels he met an Emperor, called
Yelm XXII, who enslaved Orlanth VI's followers and threw Orlanth VI
into the gladiatorial ring. Orlanth VI did not dance or orate as
prettily as his foe, but he cut his foe in twain with his sword after
taking a sore wound from his enemy's arrows. Orlanth VI won his other
bouts, and after escaping from slavery made his way to the emperor's
chambers, where he slew the emperor and his entourage, and set the
palace on fire. Escaping from the conflagration, he freed his
followers and fled to the hills, only to return the following fall in
full force and conquer the lowlanders who still had no emperor. He
built himself a smaller palace on the grounds of the emperor's old
palace, and quested far and wide for suitable replacements for the
imperial regalia, which had all been destroyed by fire. The new
empire of Orlanth VI was unstable, and after he died, his successor
Elmal, the only surviving child of the emperor's bloodline, was
attacked and driven out by rebellious nobles who had hired trolls to
help them regain their empire. In exile in the hills, Elmal
strengthened and fortified Orlanth's kingdom in the hills. After
seven years the people asked Elmal to come back and become their
emperor. He abdicated his kingdom, crowned Orlanth VI's daughter
Vinga as Orlanth VII and assumed the imperial mantle as Yelm XXIII.
And so did Orlanth reestablish Yelm on the throne of Dara Happa.
> OTOH, this seems to go against published HQ rule attempts, which do
> differentiate between the effects of changes "made" while questing
> in 1 ST vs questing two "years" "before" that.
Hey. The Dara Happans never believed in that stuff anyway. They knew
the sun was different in the old days than it is now. "See that in
the sky? The sun? It isn't the *real* sun. It's the *new* sun. YOU
can't tell it from the real sun, but I can with my secret knowledge."
But they don't think time is different. Of course the Orlanthi know
that time is different and the sun is the same, and they would say
something like this: "You know that which makes us age? Time? It
isn't *real* time like the gods knew. It's the *new* kind of time.
YOU can't tell it from real time, but I can with my secret
knowledge."
And we're supposed to believe the Orlanthi are objectively right?
- --
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller <http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren>
Life at the water's edge is the real life for men and women, and penguins
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