Another final farewell that is not recognized as such at the time - Tharasmund goes hunting:
"Hounds bayed, horse whinnied, hoofs thudded, horns lowed. At the edge of sight, where the road swung around a shaw, he turned about to wave at [Erlieva].
"She saw him again at eventide, but then he was a reddened lich." (p. 427)
Coincidence: I have just reread Mike Carey's graphic adaptation of Neil Gaiman's prose novel, Neverwhere (based on Gaiman's TV series of the same title). The character called "Hunter," armed with a magic spear, hunts the Beast in London Below. Both die. Tharasmund and his men track a mighty wild boar, referred to in the text as "the beast." (p. 427) It has silver bristles and "...tusks like curved dagger blades." (ibid.) Attacking on sight, it kills Tharasmund and is killed by his men. Was this brute a demon or bewitched or a sending? Maybe. However, the narrative is historical sf, not historical fantasy.
Neverwhere deploys the familiar mythical settings of Atlantis and Heaven which also feature in Poul Anderson's works. All writers inherit the same sources but use them differently.
1 comment:
"Ripped up by the boar" was a trope in ancient Norse and Celtic mythology both -- and, IIRC, Slavic.
It was how you disposed of a character when you couldn't figure out any other way to get rid of them... 8-).
It was useful because it was in fact fairly common. Hunting European boar with spears -is- deadly dangerous.
They're clever, they're mean, and they can weigh up to 600 lbs and stand up to 48 inches at the shoulder.
And they charge at 25-30 mph.
That means the something the size of a bear coming at you very very fast, with great big tusks and massive shoulders and neck and head designed to 'rip things up'.
When they're really angry they'll try to push themselves up the shaft of a spear so they can take you with them.
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