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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7604706" data-attributes="member: 58172">I dont Gygax is ‘ignorant’ about history.I think he intentionally mixes history up, to reinvent a fictional fantastical version of history.For example, the Monster Manual. The ‘Cloud Giant’ is actually the same giant in the ‘Jack and the Bean Stalk’ tale. But rather than present it via mythological accuracy, Gygax intentionally mashes it up, even with a picture portraying East Asia imagery.The British folkbelief book, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, inspired many of his ideas. Consider the ‘Drow’, an invention by Gygax. In the book, the drow are a Scottish fairy, a subterranean land spirit, small in size, and working metals. (Ultimately, the Scottish name drow derives etymologically from Old Norse trǫll.) But rather than as is, Gygax intentionally remixes it with an Old Norse text relating to the ‘Dark Alfar’, and misreads this text as if to mean ‘black’ skin. The white hair is his own personal flourish, to make a more fantastical creature. Lolth comes from a romp thru a Jewish midrash relating to Lilith. An obscure Scandinavian folkbelief says Lilith (the first wife of Adam who left Adam and remained immortal) gave birth to all the trǫll, thus explaining the trǫll within a biblical context. Gygax reinvents Lilith as a demonic mother of his drow, who are now a kind of ‘elves’.And so on. Gygax willfully romps thru the folkbeliefs across any and every spiritual tradition of any and every ethnicity.Ok, Gygax might have been ignorant about medieval weapons and armors (‘longsword’, ‘ring mail’, etcetera), but he also didnt care.In my view, I wish Gygax would avoid using reallife names when presenting fictional inventions. If the creature is fiction, the name should be too, I feel. To avoid misrepresentation and to avoid ‘appropriating’ other cultures.In the case of modifying the name Lilith to ‘Lolth’, Gygax does good. He clearly shows Lolth does not represent the midrash about Lilith, even tho she inspired her.To find creative inspiration in anything and everything, is what artists do. Fictional names for fictional creatures would solve any nagging issues.</blockquote>

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