Ahira's Hangar

Deep question, Duchess! I don't have the books handy as I'm at work, so I hope I haven't gotten the stories mixed up, but anyway...

Tamarantha represents knowledge gained purely from study of Kevin's Lore, right? Her story draws a picture of a Creator who in anger cast down his enemy, but in the process of doing so harmed his creation. And so the Creator seeks to help his creation survive against the harm (ie Lord Foul) that he has brought upon it.

One could see in this story some parallel to the story of Kevin: he sought to destroy Lord Foul by invoking the Ritual of Desecration, but in so doing harmed the Land. Yet he also safeguarded his Lore, to help future generations once the Land had recovered from the harm he inflicted.

So, I could say that Tamarantha spoke as someone who had great faith in Kevin's Lore to light the way for the future of the Land. She had dedicated her long life to that lore; her generation operated on the basic assumption that regaining the lore of the Old Lords was the only way - and one could hardly blame them for that, since they had nothing else.

Hope all that isn't totally off-base...

Foamfollower's story of the Creator's lost children parallels the story of the Unhomed Giants, themselves lost wanderers. I think Foamfollower drew the comparison himself in talking to Covenant. So, the story expresses Foamfollower's yearning to return Home. I'm sure there's more to it, but I've forgotten the details of the story. (Unlike Giants, I don't have totall recall...)

The Elohim's story...I think I better go home and re-read it first...

The story of the Wyrm is maybe the most evocative, most poetic. I don't recall who told it, though. Pitchwife? Honninscrave? It was during their encounter with the Nicor, and they explain that the Nicor are the "offspring" of the Wyrm. Well, I have a hard enough time wrapping my head around the concept of the Wyrm and the One Tree, never mind wondering what the myth says about the teller.

Oh, yeah, my favorite is the Wyrm story. It's just so...far out, so cosmic. It's another reason why I love The One Tree. That book opens up so much of that world, of which the Land only seems a small (though significant) part of.

I am still hoping to get a chance to reread all of the chrons before the release of FR in October. If I do get the chance, I will try to type up the various stories (or at least to indicate page numbers) to make it easier to reply to this thread.

In case you haven't seen this yet, perhaps it will be helpful, duchess...

Meanwhile, a big D'OH on my part for typing "Wyrm" when I really meant the Worm (of the World's End). I guess I was thinking of Orson Scott Card's Wyrms.

Ok, now I will comment a bit on these three stories, all from the First Chrons.

1. They all obviously can fit well together - and fit well with the beggar in the ochre robe.

2. They all show the Creator as being both artistic and a perfectionist. The Giant story makes me think of an architect, Tamarantha's story makes me think of a mad scientist/engineer/inventor. The stories make me think of Frank Llloyd Wright, an architectural genius who would tear down his own structures and designs if they did not please him.

3. For whatever reason, I am thinking of Persian Zoastrianism (spelling?) - a duology of light/darkness and good/evil rather than the monotheism of traditional Western religions. Lord Foul seems to have more power against the Creator than the Judao-Christian Satan does against either God the Father or Jesus in Christianity, as an example.

I am very much in agreement with Moonwatcher that the Unhomed stars evoke the Unhomed Giants, and that the story of the Creator from Tamarantha evokes Kevin - power to create and destory, huge acts with unintended consequences, a devotion to tinkering and learning, etc.

Mhoram's story is perhaps most important in that it shows a change in him rather than in the mythology. In Lord Foul's Bane he was a complete agnostic when it came to the Creator. Forty years later, he is a true believer.

I am now rereading the second chrons, and will post those stories as well as I find them. I have never had a complete grip on the Elohim, so I hope someone will help me get a better grip on their Creation lore!