[Glorantha] Ernalda

[Peter Metcalfe]

> > So if free love was the background of the birth of Orlanth's father,
> >then the claim for Orlanth and Ernalda for having the first free
> >marriage doesn't look very strong to me.

>All this myth shows in that the struggle between the Emperor (who may
>or may not be Yelm) and the Storm goes back before Orlanth. At that
>point in myth I'm not even convinced marriage existed

Yet you are certain that the custom of arranged marriage exists in
the myth of Umath and Asrelia (which follows on from the "Birth of
Umath" that I cited) even though the custom of arranged marriage
is nowhere mentioned there?

>and there is certainly nothing to suggest that "the great sky" and
>"the fertile earth" were married.

Intercourse without marriage?  What would the Emperor do?

>An equally plausible view is that the Emperor created marriage in
>response to this and similar acts so that he could regulate them.

Except that it isn't the Emperor who denied the match between Umath
and Asrelia but the Old Gods.

> > >You are monomything here. The original myths of Orlanth and
> > >Ernalda did not involve Yelm.

>You have an alternative reason for Ernalda leaving Yelm's palace to
>marry Orlanth? I know Orlanth would say she followed him because
>she loved him but what was *her* reasoning?

You misunderstand the nature of the objection.  You reason that
since Ernalda left Yelm's Palace and Yelm has arranged marriages,
the issue was arranged marriages.  But arranged marriages do not
appear in the original myth and the issue was the Old Gods preventing
what was meant to be.

In addition to this, I note that the myth of "How Peace was Made"
(KoS p73) has the Guards about to sell Ernalda to Troll Slavers
before her rescue at Orlanth's hands.

> >So the Sartarites (in arranging marriages) are going against
> >the divine pattern established by the King and Queen of their
> >gods?

>They are.

Then I think you misunderstand the nature of the marriage.  The
Sartarites engage in marriage with the custom of Vela the
matchmaker who "brings together those who ought to be together"
(TR p192).  That one's gods and kindred are involved in helping
the couple be together does not mean that marriage goes against
the divine pattern.

Moreover the cohesive power of Vela the matchmaker is
contrasted with the demonic power of Uleria, indicating that
the Heortlings believe that marriage should be more than
just physical attraction.

>We know that the Sartarites arrange marriages, equally we know
>the marriage of Ernalda and Orlanth was not arranged.

We know that the Sartarites have seven different types of
marriage ranging from the Husband and Wife to the Love-Wife
Marriage (KoS p243).  In "How Peace was Made", Ernalda
consents to become Orlanth's love-wife.  How the other
marriage forms were developed is at present not known but I
would be extremely surprised if they were involved the denail
that the marriage was not meant to be.

>That's why I suggest the key distinction is who has the final say.

Having "final say" means very little when your veto has the
potential to completely piss off your kin.

> >While Babeester Gor does avenge, I don't see rescue in her
> >myths. The closest is standing over Ernalda's dead body until
> >the Dawn (ST p202).

>First three sentences of the same paragraph: "Babeester Gor
>killed all her foes with her great axe until at last she faced
>Ovodaka, the Last Guardian, who held the goddesses prisoner.
>Babeester Gor let Ovodaka kill her. She then came back to life
>by drinking her own blood, and killed Ovodaka."

>Looks like a rescue to me.

Except that Babeester then stands over Ernalda's corpse.  So
portraying Babeester as the reviver of Ernalda is wrong.  At best
she retrieved her corpse from a defiler.

>Now why doesn't Ernalda return to her body straight away? My guess
>is that she had something to do in the underworld, and what do we
>find on pg 196 of TR - Ernalda in her aspect of Orventilli making peace
>between Yelm and Orlanth in the underworld.

She didn't have something to do, she couldn't return even if she
wanted to.  She's dead and described in hell as "a sorry and
broken slave" KoS p87

>I'm just trying to link the scraps of Ernaldan myth we have together in
>a way that shows Ernalda as Orlanth's equal rather than his love interest.
>Bearing in mind that the Earth Tribe has its roots in the Green Age there
>must be a lot of Earth myths which have nothing to do with the Storm
>Tribe at all.

Given that the Esrolian culture was formed in the Great Darkness
and formed by rejecting the traditions of the Storm Tribe, their
myths are comparatively late (as late or later than the Vingkotlings).
As a result, I'm not convinced then that Ernaldan myths of Esrolia
can be used in recover the mythology of the original Ernalda.

--Peter Metcalfe