[Glorantha] Gunda

[Jane Williams]

> >What we seem to have is hand-maidens of Odin/Wotan,
> >who inspect the dead warriors and choose the good
> ones
> >(for certain values of "good"), also linked to
> >weaving, the fates, and ravens.
> >
> >The nearest analogue to Odin in Glorantha is
> probablyHumakt, true. 
> 
> I'd go for Orlanth Allfather as the analogue myself
> but the Valkyries do belong to Humakt.

Odin is a complex figure. Both analogues apply,
overall, but in this specific case I think we're
looking at his Humakt side.

> >We can have Valkyries as immortal beings
> >of some sort, serving Humakt. My guess would be
> that
> >they judge each dead warrior's honour and if he
> >passes, take him off to the appropriate place.
> Unless
> >you want major inter-deity arguments, they had
> better
> >stick to judging Humakti. And you don't normally
> see
> >them because they never come onto the mundane
> plane.
> 
> Or they only appear to dying heros as the Norse ones
> do.

yes, I saw it as being both, as a cause and effect
thing.  You get to see her just *after* you die.

> >Gunda's dad must have set an interesting trap to
> >manage to rape one of these ladies. And she dropped
> >her resulting sprog in the mortal world, somehow...
> 
> He was a berserk still standing having killed all
> his opponents
> but dying from his wounds when she appeared. He does
> sound rather more Uroxi than Humatki though.

He's supposed to have been a sorceror. Do they do
berserk?

I wsas thinking more of him murdering a Humakti, then
popping over to the Other Side and waiting for the
Valk to turn up.


> >That spear of Gunda's that we're told takes all the
> >sins of the person killed - what would that have
> done
> >in her mum's hands, used on a dying Humakti? Sounds
> to
> >me like a way for a Valkyrie trying to cheat the
> >selection process.
> 
> Depends what it classifies as a sin. A lot of what
> Humakti do
> would be described as sins by ordinary folk. From a
> Humatki
> viewpoint it might well take the responsility for
> killings
> from the individual. It is thus a reward and a
> coward or liar does not receive it's benefit.

Sounds good.

> Doesn't really fit with the Norse pantheon either.
> Since Odin
> is subject to Fate it doesn't make sense for his
> handmaidens
> to be spinning and weaving the Fates of men. Sounds
> like an amalgamation of mythical figures to me.

And the web site I gave the link to suggests that.
Fine, drop the weaving and the Fates. 



		
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