Mythic Hybridity in Fantasy

[herald]

Yes. The legends of golems come to us through Jewish folklore, if they're older than that, there is no conclusive evidence that I know of.

Yea, but the when and the where of the folklore is questionable. Since it's not a centerpoint of the religion it would be hard to pin down. Here is a story that I have heard about.

I doubt that this is the first story about the Golem.

The Myth of the Golem

 

[pensiv]

Yea, but the when and the where of the folklore is questionable. Since it's not a centerpoint of the religion it would be hard to pin down. Here is a story that I have heard about.

I doubt that this is the first story about the Golem.

The Myth of the Golem

Not the first, but the most famous.

Many scholars trace the golem legend in Jewish folklore to Jewish sorcerors attempting to do as G-d did with Adam and animate clay into life. The stories, like the one of Rabbi Loew, are often moral stories illustrating the inherint imperfection of mankind in relation to G-d.

 

[mmadsen]

Why do we use myths and elements from the real world?

For one thing, because they work. The myths and legends that exist in the real world have often been told and retold for centuries, or even millenia. And this means that they must have a powerful hold on the human psyche - for if they hadn't, they would have been forgotten long ago.

Well said, Jürgen. I also like how barsoomcore put it:

People don't remember and pass on stories because they're true, but because they're good stories. Mythic stories.

 

[Agback]

In my opinion, such a meshing of different mythos adds a sense of diversity to a world, but it can also create a disjunction, with no clear core of belief.

I would put this a bitt more strongly than you do. Obvious borrowing adds a sense of obvious artifice, which makes the world hard to suspend disbelief in. And the mish-mash style designers compound this when there is no defensible reason for different people to have different gods.

It all comes down to laziness. Supposing that a world where the gods gave daily proof of their existence and constant feedback on their intentions would have a religious situation anything like this world of obscure and contradictory revelations is simply lame.

Regards,


Agback

 

[Agback]

Urbis[/URL]. Many elements of the setting are pretty wild, so it will help a lot if there are clear analogues to Switzerland, Italy, the Dutch lowlands, Arabia, Africa, Jewish ghettoes, the Industrial Revolution and so on...

You ought not to leave out Australia. No-one else juxtaposes cities with a deserted and blasted hinterland the way we do.

I'll show you around if you need to do some research.

Regards,


Agback

 

[mmadsen]

Supposing that a world where the gods gave daily proof of their existence and constant feedback on their intentions would have a religious situation anything like this world of obscure and contradictory revelations is simply lame.

A bit harsh, but dead on.

 

[Vaxalon]

This is why I'm divorcing magic from religion in my present game.

 

[mmadsen]

I'm sure there are a thousand other examples, but if any of you have read about or played in Talislanta, you'll know that it owes very little to real-world myths. Dark Sun is much the same, as was, in many cases, Spelljammer. Obviously, fantasy stories can be told without tapping humanity's mythic lore, so then what prompts so many of us to keep doing so?

I don't have a strong knowledge of Dark Sun, but it did seem to resonate on an almost Conan-esque level, harking back to ancient civilization (rather than medieval).