Gods began as fears, I think. Life-threatening forces like ice and fire were personified so that they could be placated and, in Norse myths, the interaction between extreme heat and cold generated the earliest life, both giants and gods.
Later, it became possible to laugh at the gods. In one of the Greek comedies, Herakles has left an unpaid hotel bill in Hades. When someone tries to get Dionysus to settle the bill, the god, from the stage, appeals for help to the priest of Dionysus sitting in the audience. Somewhere in Terry Pratchett's Discworld, we are told that it is embarrassing to know that you are a god of a world that only exists because every probability curve has a lowest point.
The Lords of Xibalba are fearsome but:
"As deities went, these were some real lowbrows." (p. 176)
They are easily tricked: fake a rejuvenating death and resurrection routine, then accede to their request for the same treatment... Resurrection can be faked because weres are able to recover quickly from what would otherwise be mortal wounds. This was demonstrated in Operation Chaos when Steve, as a werewolf, survived jumping off the Temple.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I was also amused to remember how, in THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS, Holger Danske worried about how he would pay the bill to the landlord of the inn he stayed at in Tarnberg! And of how relieved he was when Sir Carahue picked up the tab.
And that gruesome means of escape chosen by Steven Matuchek in OPERATION CHAOS would not have worked if the Johannine priests had found him before he had recovered enough to move.
Ad astra! Sean
Is it called a Temple or a Cathedral?
Kaor, Paul!
It was more a TEMPLE, but the Johannines insisted on calling it a "cathedral," to reinforce their claim to being Christians. But, as we know, they were neo-gnostics duped or seduced by the Adversary.
Ad astra! Sean
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