Trollheart

"Heroes never die" - Bryan Josh, Mostly Autumn, 1998.

Even from a very young age, mythology and tales of folklore has been my first love. Once I learned to read (about age seven I think) I devoured all the books I could on Greek, Roman, Celtic, Native American and most especially Norse legends that I could, ranging further and further afield as I explored the vivid and colourful tales of lands long vanished and peoples long passed away. These stories spoke to me as no others did; sure, there were fairy tales and fantasy, and they were great. But these were things that people believed happened. Fanciful, yes. Interpreting natural phenomena as the will or actions of supreme deities, certainly. But they always entertained.

And that's what I've loved about mythology. I'm not one of those who wants to explain or dig into WHY this race believed that, or why the other people worshipped a particular god or pantheon of gods, nor what these gods were meant to represent. I preferred, and prefer, to view them as wonderful tales passed down to us by our forefathers, speaking to us across the ages and reminding us of a time when everything could not be explained, and some things were just seen as being in the hands of all-powerful and inscrutable gods.

Odysseus. Hercules. Thor. Beowulf. Sigurd. Zeus. These are the names that still have meaning for us now, thousands of years since their stories were first written. The battles they fought (real or imagined, or even embellished), the struggles they contended with, the things they saw and the things they did, all have gone to make up part of ourselves, the world we live in today, and even now, in our enlightened twenty-first century, digital online world, there is still room for them, if only in Hollywood blockbuster movies, comics and books. These are names that will never fade from human memory, and deeds that will be spoken of again and again.

So, if you have any interest at all in mythology, or would like to learn about the legends of the past, then this could very well be the place for you.




When I began this journal back almost six years ago now, I really didn’t think it through. I had no idea of any sort of structure for it, no real clue how to organise it and as a result the approach was scattergun at best, confusing at worst. My initial design also meant that each post covered just one figure, giving anyone looking for actual information on, or researching, mythology a long time to wait before they could get any sort of useful data. Of course, it’s highly unlikely that any of you who were actually reading were also researching; chances are, you were all just reading for entertainment. Nevertheless, details were being leaked out a tiny amount at a time, and that must have seemed frustrating. It also doesn’t make people want to keep coming back, if the information is being doled out in dribs and drabs.

So I therefore propose to begin again. Same journal, same pages, but several years on and a lot learned. This time the entries will be larger and more informative, and based upon some sort of loose structure. I’ll begin by going through each pantheon and giving a rough guide to each. Later on I’ll go into far more detail on the various gods, goddesses, heroes and battles, places and stories in each mythology, but I won’t be doing any scholarly analyses of what these gods represented, or how the ancient people who worshipped and sacrificed to them saw them. This will be a journal based exclusively on telling you about these deities as if they actually existed.

As each god, hero or monster is given their own post(s) I’ll link them in the main narrative, the same with battles, epics, stories, lesson and all other aspects of the respective mythologies. Comment as always welcomed.

Let’s begin then with a discussion on what mythology is. Well, put simply I guess, without reference to dictionaries and whatnot, mythology is a system of tales or stories, sometimes sagas of the exploits of people and even creatures who were once thought to exist by the people of the time. They are usually an attempt by those people to understand, without the benefit of science, the natural world. So thunder bangs and lightning flashes, therefore a god is angry. Crops grow plentiful, so a god is happy. Earthquakes, volcanoes, cyclones are all symbols of a god’s wrath and so on. They are also, of course, used by the prevalent religion to explain, reinforce and disseminate the powers, mercy or other qualities of the gods the priests, monks or whoever serve.

At heart though, without going too deeply into the guts of things, they’re interesting and entertaining stories we can read now and laugh at, but quite often they have some sort of a moral, showing the people that by doing this they achieved that, or by resisting this they avoided that; how kindness and forbearance is smiled upon by the gods, and how resistance to them is punished, how if we live the lives the gods ask or demand of us, we will be rewarded, and of course, if we don’t, we had better watch out, because there is usually (though not always, as we will see) a downside; a dark, evil, hopeless place where we can all end up if we don’t follow the paths of righteousness.

Most mythologies borrow from each other, and there are common strands to just about every belief. Unless we’re talking about a monotheistic society, there’s a pantheon, or collection or family of gods and goddesses, and they invariably all represent or have charge of something - weather, fertility, war, love, travel, beggars - you name it, there’s usually a god for it. The gods almost always live apart from the people they worship, keeping aloof and lordly, like kings watching over their subjects, and most often high up in the sky, up a mountain, on a cloud, making the rather heavy-handed point that they are, figuratively and literally, above us. Most gods and goddesses are brave, and perform extraordinary feats; some visit the mortals and mix with them, even reproduce with them, giving rise to a small race of demigods.

Most gods are seen as capricious and quick to anger, jealous (either of each other or of some mortal who takes the attention off them) and vengeful. They are, not to put too fine a point on it, not to be ****ed with. They mostly don’t care too much about mortals, seeing them as playthings to amuse themselves with, though if one pays them an insult they’re quick to respond, usually with deadly force, occasionally with a sort of evil malice, an appropriate punishment. Look at Narcissus, or Echo, or… well, we’ll come to all of those in due course. Gods usually demand sacrifices, the best way to be sure that their mortals still worship and acknowledge them, and in return will grant good harvests, plentiful women and a top-rate fibre optic broadband signal. Well, maybe not the last. But they’re seen to respond to prayers, possibly in a way the Christian God usually does not. Maybe he hasn’t got the best broadband line like they do.

Different religions, different mythologies treat their females in various ways. Some have them taking part in the adventures, being sometimes as powerful as the gods, or even more so, while some relegate them to just churning out babies and providing points of dispute that allow gods to go to war with each other. I think the Egyptians and the Babylonians have the most powerful goddesses, but again, we’ll get to that. Some gods are warlike, some are pastoral. Some like to instigate battles and glory in bloodshed, some like to sit among the flowers and read or write poetry. Some mythologies are completely self-contained, not touching the Earth at all, and told as a kind of history of another, far-off place, while some will intermingle with the mortals, though few if any ground their tales in the Earth. I think Native Americans would be a good example of a people who do.

Creation myths tend to follow very similar lines. Usually an ancient race of powerful gods, often the fathers of the gods the people worship, battle against themselves or their children, or their children revolt, the end result almost always being the defeat of the elder gods, who are more often than not used to fashion the world. Fathers tend to eat their children, but these children usually manage to escape this fate, and in mythology, as in cartoons, being dead does not really hamper your career, as you can come back from the dead in many, many way, often without any explanation because, you know, you’re a god.

Some mythologies leave everything to the gods. They fight the battles, they divine the secrets, they set the tone. Others need humans to do the heavy lifting, which is where heroes (sorry ladies; it’s almost always males) come in. These can be connected to gods - their mother having lain with a god, making them a demigod - or just devoted to one, or they can be ordinary mortals without any sort of divine lineage at all. They’re often princes or kings (or destined to be) but they can also be monks, simple farmers, anything at all. So you get the likes of Jason and Perseus in Greek myth, Sigurd and Siegfried in German, and Fionn MacCumhaill and Oisin in Irish, to name but a few. And then of course, these heroes need obstacles to overcome, usually guarded by a beast of some sort, bringing all kinds of monsters and creatures into the mythos.

Mythology can cross over and intermix with fairy tales and folklore: returning to Irish myth, the sidhe are the fairy folk of Irish mythology, and trolls feature in Norwegian myth, as do giants and huge serpents. It’s not much of a stretch to see that the one bleeds into the other, and that fairy tales mostly look back to the beliefs of the people of those times and now couch their figures in softer, less powerful terms, though of course fairies, witches and goblins can all still have a great effect on an unwary mortal. But they’re not worshipped, though they may be still respected, even revered, and nobody sacrifices to them. By the time fairy tales come along, the old gods are dead and have been perhaps somewhat emasculated into elves and fairies and other characters destined to populate children’s literature, and fantasy fiction; something nobody believes in now, if they ever did.

But similarities aside, every mythology has its own brand of interesting tales to tell, brave heroes and gods to introduce, and lessons to teach. Even if we take them (as I do) as nothing more than a collection of fantastic stories to delight and entertain, they’re worth reading and learning about.

So I’d like to kick off then with an article about my all-time favourite mythology, the first one I learned about and took an interest in, and the one I’ll be describing in the next post.

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Trollheart

Ah, change of plans. Again. I started running through a description of the Norse gods and got, well, really bored with it, and if I'm bored, imagine what effect that's going to have on anyone reading! So I played around with a few ideas, and this is what I came up with.

After a few stalled efforts, I’ve decided to approach this in the way that hopefully will provide a decent update each post and also allow anyone reading to have the best chance of seeing something they may be interested in. So rather than focusing on one figure per post, this is my new plan.

Each post (I should say each update, as they may take more than one post) will contain one major and one minor figure from both Greek and Norse mythology, as I both believe them to be the most popular and important mythologies, and happen to like them both best. Then there will be a record of an event, from any mythology, like a battle, quest, discovery, wedding, whatever, or possibly focusing on an item - magic ring, sword, helmet, something lost, regained, manufactured, stolen etc. Then a story from a mythology of my choice other than Greek or Norse, and finally something from the “grab bag”: a totally random story from a totally random mythology.

Oh, and to ensure nobody thinks my own personal bias has gone anywhere, and to prove it’s alive and well and as active as ever, I’ll ensure each update contains a story from the mythology of my own heritage, Celtic. Not necessarily always Irish, but if not then Scottish or Welsh. That’s a fair bit to read, and will hopefully cover a lot of ground each update.

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Thelonious Monkey

Excellent thread idea TH

All this stuff was first brought to my attention with the Thor movies. I've followed the MCU since day one, but I don't really know enough about Norse mythology. I will be following, as this stuff is certainly interesting.

Trollheart

Glad someone's enjoying it. I'll be veering from mythology to mythology, with say Norse then maybe British then Japanese then Native American and so on, but will eventually try to link each entry with others that refer to it, so that anyone interested in a particular mythos can easily find what they're looking for.

Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see first, as I have all this pre-written; used to be on my old website.

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Trollheart

Pantheon: Greek
Class: Hero
Lineage: Mortal/Nymph
Alignment: Good
Linked with: Hercules, Hector, Paris, The Argonauts, Menelaus

Son of Peleus, a mortal, and Thetis, a sea nymph, Achilles' mother was given a choice by the gods as to how his life should be: short but glorious, or long but obscure. Fearing for her son's safety, Thetis chose the latter, and to this end bargained with the gods to protect her son from harm. This they granted, by advising the nymph to immerse the child in the waters of the Styx, the dark river which was said to flow into the very underworld, Hades itself, which would immunise him from all harm. This Achilles' mother
did, but having to hold on to her son by the ankle, that he would not be dragged away by the current, she was unable to ensure that every part of his body would receive the protection of the gods, and indeed this was to prove the death of Achilles. In Greek, as in other myths, the devil is quite often indeed in the details.

The River Styx, dark river of Greek myth across which the boatman of the dead, Charon, was said to ferry the spirits of the recently-deceased into the kingdom of Hades and the afterlife.

Fearing further for the boy's safety, Thetis disguised Achilles as a girl, and sent him to the court of King Lykomedes, on the island of Skyros.There he was brought up as a girl, among the king's daughters, falling in love with one of them, Deidamia, who bore him a son, Neoptolemos, who later fought in the war against Troy.

However, another Greek hero, Odysseus, was sent to Skyros, his mission to locate Achilles and enlist him in the coming Trojan War. Gaining admittance to the court of King Lykomedes under a false pretext, Odysseus recognised Achilles, and ordered a magnificent suit of armour to be brought before the boy. Seeing the breathtaking splendour of the suit, Achilles' head was turned, and he yielded to the call to arms that Odysseus sounded on his battle-horn. The boy offered his services to the war, and was
enlisted.

On the way to Troy, the Greek party mistakenly landed in Mysia, which was ruled by Telephos, a son of Hercules. Telephos fought the invasion of his country, and in the battle was wounded by Achilles' spear. Now Achilles had studied healing and medicine under the Centaur Cheiron, and this knowledge had stood him in good stead when he had had to heal a wound that his friend Patroklos suffered. Telephos found that his wound would not heal, and on consulting an oracle, was advised that it would only be healed by he who had caused it.

With the Greek fleet beached at Aulis, Telephos made his way there, where he presented himself to King Agamemnon, in disguise. He then abducted Agamemnon's infant son, Orestes, and threatened to kill the child if his wound were not seen to. Thereupon Odysseus scraped some of the rust from the spear of Achilles, applied it to the wound, which then healed. Delighted with the results, Telephos offered to lead the Greeks to Troy, which was in fulfillment of another oracle.

The famous Trojan Horse being pulled into the city by its inhabitants, little knowing their doom was upon them.

Achilles then went on to distinguish himself in the long and hard-fought Trojan War, leading the Greeks to the brink of victory, and fulfilling the fate laid out for him by the gods, his mother's choice of which he had himself superseded, once having given in to the call of the warrior, there in Lykomedes' court.

In the course of the Trojan War, Achilles gained great fame and respect, killing the Hero of Troy, Hector, as well as the Amazon Pentheselia, before finally being killed himself by Paris, instigator of the Trojan War by his stealing of the beautiful Helen from her husband Menalaus. Achilles fell when the spear of Paris punctured his heel, the only part of him not protected by the gods, and leading to the later phrase "achilles heel".

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Trollheart

Pantheon: Hindu
Class: God
Level: Top Tier
Alignment: Evil
Lineage: Divine
Linked with: Kali, Brahma, Vishnu

The most violent and dangerous of the Hindu gods, Shiva was known as the Destroyer. He had four arms, four faces and three eyes. The third eye, in the center of his forehead, was lethally destructive. Shiva wore the skin of a tiger and a snake twined around his neck, trophies of the very animals he had defeated when they had been sent against him by jealous Rishis.

Commanded by Indra to inflame the Destroyer with love for the goddess Parvati, Kama fired an arrow at the god, who, shaken from his meditation, lashed out and destroyed Kama.

As Bhairava, Shiva haunts cemeteries and places of cremation, wearing serpents round his head and skulls for a necklace, attended by a host of demons and imps. In general representation, Shiva is shown as standing on one leg, standing upon a tiny figure, a dwarf
which signifies human ignorance. In one of his four hands the god holds a drum, the second offers his blessing, the third contains a tongue of fire, while the fourth hand points downwards to the uplifted foot.

One of the tales relating to Shiva speaks of his allowing the Ganges, which the sage Bhagiratha had induced to fall from heaven, to save the world from drought, to flow over his head, taking the brunt of its awesome force. Another, less complimentary myth speaks of his coming upon a sacrifice to Brahma, to which the gods had omitted to invite him. Enraged, Shiva went on a rampage, injuring many of the gods and Rishis.

Shiva's vehicle is Nandi, a milk-white bull who is the protector of all four-legged creatures.

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YorkeDaddy

I'm actually taking a class on Classical Mythology right now, so this journal is rather relevant to what I've been reading about for the past couple months. Maybe this thread can help me study :o

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Trollheart

Mythos: Christian
Class: God
Level: Top tier (son of God)
Alignment: Good
Linked with: Holy Spirit, Virgin Mary, Apostles, Saint Joseph

In Christian belief, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, one third of the Blessed Trinity which comprises himself, his Father, and the Holy Spirit. Sent to Earth to atone for the awful sins of mankind, Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, to mortal parents by virginal birth, known to Christians as 'the Immaculate Conception'. His mother on Earth was Mary, his father
Joseph. Mary was elevated to the status of Queen of Heaven after Jesus' death, while Joseph was made a saint.

Jesus preached for thirty years on the Earth, explaining to the large and ever-expanding following he attracted the mysteries of his kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, and how people could attain that wonderful place, simply by treating each other better. He gathered to him twelve acolytes, or Apostles, whom he later sent out into the world on their own, to cast out demons and bring the true word of God to the masses.

Jesus himself performed many miracles while on the Earth, among them the changing of water into wine at a wedding feast in Canaan, the healing of the blind, the crippled and the lame, the curing of lepers, and even the resurrection from the dead of his friend, Lazarus.

But all of this attracted the attention of the occupying Roman forces, who finally decided that they had to step in when the crowds proclaimed Jesus as their king. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, one of his Apostles, Jesus was taken before the high priests of the Jews, tried before Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, and sentenced to be crucified on the cross.

However, according to Christian myth, the Saviour rose from the dead after three days, and was seen to walk the Earth for some time, visiting again his Apostles, before being finally accepted back into Heaven, into which he ascended in glorious triumph, the sin of man expiated, his job on Earth accomplished. He is said to sit there since, at the right hand of his Father. The cross on which he died is still revered by Christians as a symbol of great power and reverence.

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Trollheart

Absolutely. I've a massive store of information and knowledge of most myths, so if there's anything you want to ask me, or anything you would like to see featured here, just shout.

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YorkeDaddy

Well just about 100% of the class is on Greek mythology so any entries about that will be great information. However dont worry about that, I think it's extremely cool how you're covering all these different cultures, so keep rolling with that. Great journal so far

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