Sunday 27 August 2017

Gods On Battlefields In Ys And The Emberverse

A vision of Mithras carrying a blazing sword and a shield with the Cross of Light inspires the Ysans and scatters the Franks.
-copied from here.

When Rudi Mackenzie draws the Sword, it is:

"...as if he were a God himself, something that commanded sky and sea and the flicker of the lightning and strode laughing through the storm."
-SM Stirling, The Given Sacrifice (New York, 2014), Chapter Thirteen, p. 252.

Rudi sounds like the vision of Mithras. A squire thinks that Rudi is:

"Like some pagan God of war come to life." (Chapter Three, p. 66)

And, somewhere in the text that I can't find right now, I think that he is compared to Lugh Longspear.

Addendum:

"'Some say he's Lugh come again, the Sun Lord's self returned in His joy and wrath and splendor.'" (Chapter Seven, p. 160)

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And that magic sword of King Artos still makes me uneasy. It still seems too much a deus ex machina. From an artistic POV, if the Sword had been less powerful or even made occasional mistakes, I would be less dissatisfied.

Sean