The Helpful Hag

Heroes need help.  It's one of the great truths found in stories across all genres and media types.  No one can go through life alone, whether it's ordinary mundane life...or the sort of life that involves an epic quest with armies opposing you.  That help can come in many forms: a sidekick, like Batman and Robin; a raid group taking on a difficult boss in a video game; a group of friends supporting one another, like in Friends; an adorable animal companion.

Fairy tales are full of helpers such as these.  Sometimes it's a talking animal.  In other stories, it's the fairy godmother.  But another archetype appears time and time again: The Helpful Hag.

Rarely named in any stories, the Helpful Hag is most often a little old lady by the side of the road.  I've also referred to her as the Kind Crone, or the Wizened Wise Woman.  She fits into the category of the Donor, an individual who provides the protagonist with aid.  Joseph Campbell recognized the Crone when encountering the first stages of a hero's journey, when they meet with someone who provides them with help of some sort.

There are several fairy tales in which three sons all set out on the same quest.  They each, along the way, encounter an old crone begging on the side of the road.  This woman is described as wizened, ugly, a poor beggar with nothing to offer.  The first two brothers refuse to share their bread with her.  The youngest, considerably kinder than his kin, splits his meal with the hag.

This is where the hag shows her true nature.  Her begging is a test; for those who show her kindness, she provides aid.  Sometimes this is a magical item.  More frequently, her aid comes in the form of advice.

But for those who spurn her request for help...well, let's take a look at one of the more famous fairy tales to see how that turns out.

The opening scene of Disney's Beauty and the Beast shows how the prince spurned the offer of a rose from a wizened old woman.  Irked by his lack of manners, she revealed that it had been a test.  In fact, the old hag was actually a beautiful, powerful enchantress.  For his rudeness, the prince was transformed into a Beast.

So the Helpful Hag is not only a benefactor towards do-gooders in fairy tales - she is also a test, to see if a character is worthy of her help.

There are a lot of myths that could serve as the origin of the Helpful Hag character.  Let us look first at Greek mythology.  Demeter spent some time wandering the earth disguised as a mortal, while she was searching for her missing daughter.  During that time she became a nursemaid for a young boy.  Seeing that the boy and his family were good, she attempted to make the boy immortal.  Unfortunately, this involved holding him in a fire - something his parents didn't take too kindly to when they burst into the room.  Demeter is one example of a Helpful Hag.

Another can be found in the Fates - or the Norns, the Moirai, or any other name you care to call them by.  Appearing in Celtic, Norse, Greek, Roman, and many other mythologies, the Fates are three women.  One is the Maiden; one is the Mother; one is the Crone.

But another example of a Helpful Hag is not actually a wizened old woman at all...but, instead, an old man.  He frequently traveled the earth under the name of High.  While there, he would offer his aid to great heroes on quests.  This man was the Norse god Odin.

Now, Norse mythology has been the basis of inspiration for a number of authors (myself included).  One such author created a character based heavily upon Odin in his mortal disguise - someone who could aid the protagonist, but never be the main character himself.

This is all a very roundabout way to confess that yes, I am comparing Gandalf to a Helpful Hag.

Can you guys think of any story examples of the Kind Crone?  Little old women offering aid abound in stories of all sorts.  One of my absolute favorite examples is from Diana Wynn Jones' Howl's Moving Castle.  Jones recognized the archetype of the Helpful Hag and turned it onto its head.  The main character spends most of the book convinced that she can't be the main character, because she's too old to go off and have adventures - so instead, she must be the helper to everyone else.  What a surprise for her when she discovers the truth!

I'll be back next week!

The Maiden Pure

In today's post, we're going to be talking about sex.  Or, rather, the lack of it.  Well...actually, a little bit of both.  One of the most common archetypes for a female in fairy tales, mythology, and quite a few stories in general is that of the virgin.  Another term for this is the maid/maiden, though this is seen as somewhat archaic in modern vernacular.

A lot of archetypes are pretty heavily gendered.  It's common to see a man be the Prince Charming, but a female Charming makes no appearance in fairy tales.  Likewise, females are frequently laid under sleeping curses, but you'd be hard pressed to find an old story with a man succumbing to such a spell.  The virgin is no exception to this gender rule - within stories, nine times out of ten the archetypical virgin is a female.  There are several reasons for this.  Firstly, a maiden's maidenhood was seen in many cultures as a symbol of purity and innocence.  That's why bridal gowns are white, why Christ was born to a Virgin, and why unicorns are supposed to be attracted to only virgins.

A girl's virginity was (and still is, in some cultures) fiercely guarded until her wedding night, where she was expected to give her innocence to her husband.  On the flip side, a male was expected to have some sort of sexual prowess before his wedding.  Some cultures did not consider a boy a man until he had lain with a woman.  Virginity was something to be praised in women, but in men?  Well, let's just say that the creators of The 40-Year-Old Virgin recognized this archetype and made their male-led film a comedy for a reason.

These stereotypes are alive and well in fairy tales and mythology alike.  Most females in the stories are innocent, delicate creatures.  When they are strong or gifted warriors, they are portrayed as unattainable (more on that in a little bit).  The men, on the other hand, usually tend to embody machismo - another word for hypermasculinity.  (Not every hero falls into the category of the uberman.  Some are less than martially skilled, and instead succeed in their quests thanks to compassion, generosity, wits, and intellect - but this is another archetype.  There's quite a few heroes who fall under this umbrella, but far more who are strong, manly, dragon-slaying types.)  So: All of this to explain why the archetype of today's post is about female characters.

What is the role of the virgin in most fairy tales and myths?  Well, that depends.  There's really three different categories that the maiden falls into.  she can be in need of saving, an innocent figure to be protected at all costs.  She can be unattainable, someone whose goodness and virtue makes her desirable in the eyes of all, but whose vows of chastity keep her from being had.  Lastly, she can be a sacrificial virgin, whose innocence is something to be taken by force.

Frequently, more than one of these categories is at play within a story.  A very commonly used narrative involves a virgin being offered as a sacrifice to some sort of monster.  The hero must rescue her (and this rescue usually winds up with her falling in love with him).  This combines both the virgin in need of saving and the sacrificial virgin archetypes.  This combination can be traced back to Greek mythology, where Andromeda was chained to a rock and offered as a sacrifice to a sea monster.  She was rescued by the hero Perseus, who she later went on to marry.

Another frequent narrative combination is the unattainable virgin whose maidenhood is sacrificed by force.  Before we talk about the prevalence of the rape of virgins in Greek mythology, it's worth examining three of the goddesses of that pantheon.  Athena, Hestia, and Artemis were known as the Virgin Goddesses.  Each had taken a vow of virginity, and (despite the efforts of several men and gods) held true to those vows.  As I mentioned before, Athena and Artemis were both portrayed as skilled warriors - and both were unattainable to men.  The followers of Artemis were likewise expected to be unattainable, and took vows of chastity.  The penalties for breaking these vows were steep: They usually cost the lives of these women.

Unfortunately, followers of Artemis were punished for losing their maidenhood even if they were raped.  There are far too many stories of girls being stalked and taken by hunters, only for the girls to be shapeshifted into a bear, or struck down  by the gods in some other way.  There's also a fair number of stories about virgin nymphs being chased by the gods (usually Zeus, though several others were guilty of the same) or satyrs, and choosing to turn themselves into a tree for all eternity rather than lose their virginity.

(Yeah, Greek mythology can be pretty screwed up.)

(Hestia's Roman counterpart, Vespa, required her priestesses to remain virgins throughout their service to her; this was the reason behind their names, the Vestal Virgins.  If a priestess lost her virginity, she was punished by being buried alive.  It was believed that Rome itself could fall if the fire of Rome, tended to by the priestesses, went out - and that the flame could go out if a priestess forsook her vows.)

Fairy tales play upon these themes.  Use of them can be made to imply that a female is a virgin without ever saying as much.  For instance, Rapunzel being kept locked in her tower, jealously guarded and kept away from all men by a witch.  Disney's Jasmine is another example, kept locked inside her palace by the Sultan, naive and innocent to the ways of the world.  This narrative trick sets the girl up as someone to be protected, rescued, or otherwise cherished, and gets the audience rooting for them.  It also makes any man trying to force the poor innocent thing to marry him (*cough*Jafar*cough*) automatically seem villainous.

History and legends have also made use of these themes - in particular, that of vampires.  Modern stories usually overlook the virgin part, but many older vampire tales had the good ol' Count sucking on the neck of a maiden.  The vampires in The Dresden Files find that maidens make the sweetest meals.  Part of this obsession with virginity in one's meals stems from the tale of Elizabeth Bathory, a woman frequently associated with vampire stories due to her preference for bathing in the blood of virgins.  Since doing this involves the murder of something considered innocent and pure, those who bathe in virgin blood are portrayed as some of the most evil around, on par with Cruella de Vil (I'm looking at you, Evelyn Poole).  This is the same reason that Voldemort was considered so evil for killing unicorns to take their blood.

The use of the virgin archetype within modern media has drastically decreased as social standards and expectations have changed.  Modern concepts of romance, increases in female rights, and the free love period all served to make it more acceptable for women to be as sexually free as men.  With these changes came a drastic decrease in the portrayal of the majority of female protagonists being maidens.  That being said, it's still a lot more common to have a female character be a virgin than a male.  This is true in movies, tv shows, and books alike.  However, exceptions do exist.  Take Jon Snow from Game of Thrones.  One of my favorite Dresden Files characters is a macho man, boasting about his experiences with the ladies...at least, until a vampire outs him as a virgin!  Boy, talk about awkward.

However, this also means that this archetype can now be used as a trope much more frequently - by which I mean that it can be played for comedy.  I mentioned The 40-Year-Old Virgin previously, in which the virgin narrative was played for laughs.  A film released in the same year, Her Minor Thing, flipped the trope on its head by having a female and her attempt at losing her virginity be the main plot point.  It can also be used for a plot twist - Buffy and Angel consummating their relationship, and the loss of her virginity leading to the resurgence of Angel's dark side, is a great example of this.

But perhaps my favorite version of the virgin narrative being played as a trope occurred in a movie I watched last night (which, I'll admit, is the reason I'm doing this post today).  Spoiler warning!  In Cast a Deadly Spell, a girl's virginity is fiercely guarded by her father, despite the best efforts of her libido.  It is eventually revealed that it hasn't been fatherly affection guiding his actions; instead, he wants to use her as a virgin sacrifice to usher in the Old Gods and allow all manner of Lovecraftian horrors to devour the world.

The girl is bound, gagged, and offered up to summon the Old Gods.  Luckily for the world, the girl had surrendered her virginity hours earlier to an attractive police officer.  Displeased by the father's attempt to pass the sacrifice off as a maiden, the Old Gods devour him instead and retreat, leaving the world safe.  Talk about flipping the narrative on its head!

What examples can you guys think of in modern stories?

Intro to Common Narratives, Archetypes, and Tropes

There's an old saying - “There are no new stories.” All stories are created using the same building blocks. These blocks are common narratives, archetypes, and tropes, repeated over and over in modern literature, old fairy tales, legends, and myths. They can be put together in different ways to create something new, but the blocks themselves are a tale as old as time. I'm beginning a series of posts exploring some of these various literary tools, as well as their origins in our earliest stories. But first, let's take a closer look at some of them.

Some of these narratives appear in nearly everything. One of the best examples is a conflict between good and evil. Sometimes this can be a literal, massive battle – like Aragorn and his army facing off against Sauron in a last desperate stand. Other times this can be small. Many fables and tales use animals to present a lesson about right versus wrong. Lord of the Rings and Aesop's Fables may seem drastically different, but they rely upon the same narrative: making a choice between what is good/right, and what is evil/wrong. The vast majority of stories, both modern and ancient, rely upon this narrative in one form or another. It has made for some of the most popular stories of this time. The Rebels versus the Empire in Star Wars; the Battle of Hogwarts, where Harry and others fought against Voldemort and the Death Eaters; even zombie stories such as the Walking Dead, where the survivors fight against the dead, and others whose moral code differs from their own.

But that's a big narrative tool, and one that seems a little obvious. So let's take a look at some common archetypes in stories.

One of the most common archetypes in stories is that of the Magical Helper. There's usually two variations on this theme. The first is a human with abilities beyond the ordinary. In fairy tales, this is most often seen in the form of a fairy godmother showing up. In mythology, it can be Zeus revealing himself to his offspring, either directly or through another. I've recently started watching Grimm, and the Hispanic woman who helps Juliette understand the otherworldly side of things could fit into this category (or that of the Wise Woman, which I'll get into in a later post). The magical helper possesses abilities beyond the ordinary, and are more powerful than a regular mortal. They usually don't actually directly aid the protagonist in their quest. They can provide advice, armor/outfits, and maybe even an enchantment or two – but all they do is offer help, not solve things.

(Yes, I did just compare Zeus to a fairy godmother.)

The second type of Magical Helper is an archetype known as a Wise Animal. Ever wondered why every Disney princess has an adorable animal sidekick of some sort? It's not just a cutesy marketing tactic. Fairy tales are chock full of wise animals aiding the heroes. (Sometimes the helper is even a tree, oft times grown from a seed planted atop the grave of a loved one. Pocahontas, anyone?) Horses and birds are the most common, but there have been others.

The fairy tale of the Goose Girl depicts a magical talking horse, who aids his human even after her death. The Norse legend of Sigurd has the hero being helped by a bird. These animals usually only help the protagonists, being drawn to those who are good. They also usually don't speak to anyone other than the hero.

This archetype continues to be used in modern stories. Eragon and his dragon Saphira are one example. Disney movies are another – they tend to add Wise Animals to fairy tales that didn't originally have them. It's usually only the main character who has one. They're definitely cute, but they also serve to help the hero in their quest.

(Rajah and Maximus are my two favorites.  What about you guys?)

Moving along from archetypes, let's take a quick look at common tropes. Have you ever visited the website TV Tropes? They point out common elements used in various stories, ranging from television to graphic novels and more. Tropes can be major plot points or minor ones, but they're only considered a trope when they show up a lot. It's easy to lose yourself reading through the website, and I've always quite enjoyed it. You can look up a certain trope and see every example the article creators could think of in the expandable tabs beneath the description.

Well, certain tropes show up fairly often in fairy tales, myths, and modern stories alike. One common one is the Youngest Son trope. Heroes in a fairy tale tend to be the youngest son. A popular story element is to have the youngest son and his elder brothers set off on the same quest, but have only the youngest be triumphant. This can be seen in tales such as The White Cat. It's an underdog narrative of a sort, in which the individual who would never normally rise to greatness is able to do so. Being the youngest son in a fairy tale usually provides plot armor and weapons of some sort.

However, numbers are also important in this trope. It's good to be the youngest son, but it's better still to be the youngest of three sons. If a character in a story has two older brothers and sets off on an adventure, it's a pretty good bet he'll succeed. Want to really give him a boosted chance? Make him the seventh son. This theme is so popular that it's been made into a movie – The Seventh Son. Want super good odds for the kid? Make him the seventh son of a seventh son, as in the Septimus Heap book series. The more the odds would traditionally have been against the child making any sort of name for themselves, the greater their success shall be. This is an old, old trope, but remains prevalent in various stories. Daughters are almost always ignored in this. I say almost, because of Harry Potter. Ron Weasley was the sixth child of Arthur and Molly. He always wore hand me downs and wasn't expected to do any better than his older brothers, several of whom were quite successful. However, he became best friends with Harry and helped to save the wizarding world. His sister Ginny, the seventh child, arguably did even better – marrying the Chosen One himself, and going on to be quite a successful Quidditch player.

In the coming weeks I plan to take a closer look at several narratives, archetypes, and tropes that appear frequently in stories. From Sleep Like Death curses to Prince Charmings, I've got a lot of fun planned. I'll see you next time!

Tyr: Can I Give You A Hand?

Hallo, reader!

As I mentioned last week, I sprained my hand and have been wearing a brace. I'm right-handed, so not being able to use it has been quite a challenge for me. Around the time the injury occurred, I was watching season three of Game of Thrones...and this happened:

It got me to thinking about heroes who lose hands. It's not an uncommon theme, particularly in fantasy and science fiction. A hero who has talent with a blade loses a hand or an arm, and must overcome the difficulties to continue their quest. You see it with Jaime in Game of Thrones; with Tenel Ka, one of my favorite characters from the Star Wars books, who loses most of one arm; with Luke in Return of the Jedi, at the hands of his father. Lindsey in Angel has a hilariously evil replacement hand. Wormtail in Harry Potter sacrifices his own hand for Voldemort, and is rewarded with a magical one in return. Let us not forget Captain Hook, or his more likeable persona, Killian Jones. Ash in the Evil Dead series replaces his missing digits with a chainsaw (it seems the most logical choice).  The list goes on and on.

But why is this particular appendage so frequently lost? Well, it does make the most sense from a writer's point of view. Losing a foot or a leg would be equally dramatic, but would leave the hero at a severe disadvantage (unless they got an especially good prosthetic, a la John Kennex in Almost Human (or are rocking a peg leg, like Captain Barbossa)). So leg loss does occur, but far less frequently than hands. Loss of fingers is another option; take Captain Davos in Game of Thrones, or Frodo in Lord of the Rings. Still, losing a few fingers is far less dramatic than losing an entire hand. Eyes are another option, and are sometimes lost – for instance, Nick Fury in Marvel, or Odin in Norse mythology.

'tis but a flesh wound!

And it is to Norse mythology that I now turn, because I believe one specific character is part of the reason why losing hands is such a popular fantasy trope.

Enter Tyr, god of valour, courage, and (sadly) oathbreaking. (The more I look into this, the more I realize just how much Jaime Lannister was inspired by Tyr!) He's mostly known as a warrior deity associated with victory.

Tyr begins the myths as a mighty warrior still in possession of both his hands. Then, everything changes when the giant wolf known as Fenrir attacks. Fenrir, also called the Fenris Wolf, is a giant wolf. He's also one of the children of Loki, along with Jormungandr, the snake who wraps around the world, and Hel, goddess of...well, Hel. Charming bunch, right?

Much like his siblings, Fenrir is known to the gods as a bringer of great evil. He's tied to various prophecies about Ragnarok, the Doom of the Gods. Knowing this, the gods cast Loki's spawn into various prisons. Hel is banished to Hel, Jormungandr devours his tail as he encircles the world...and Fenrir is brought back to the home of the gods.

There, seeing how strong the wolf grows daily, the gods realize that they have to bind him. A mighty link of chains is forged. They approach Fenrir with the fetter, and offer the wolf a challenge. They have heard that he is strong and mighty – is he powerful enough to break through the chains?

Unfortunately, Fenrir inherited his cunning from his father, the Trickster. He knows his own strength, and is confident that he can break the bonds. The wolf allows the gods to bind him, and then effortlessly breaks through his bonds.

The gods were horrified, and more determined than ever to chain Fenrir. The best of their smiths were able to forge a chain twice as strong as the first. Again the gods challenged Fenrir. Again the wolf deemed the chain susceptible to his great strength. And, again...the bonds were shattered.

Their own abilities already at their limits, the gods turned to others for help. A commission was given to the dwarves, who wrought a chain of their own from six ingredients. Yet these bonds were unlike the others – instead of metal, it was made of the lightest silk.

When the gods brought the silken cord before Fenrir, the wolf suspected trickery. He agreed to allow the gods to bind him, but only if one of the gods was offered as collateral. Tyr agreed to place his hand in the mouth of Fenrir. If the gods' challenge was in good faith, then no harm would come to the god. However, if Fenrir was unable to free himself, and if the gods left him bound...well, one of their mightiest warriors would be down a hand.

Tyr agreed to this deal, knowing full well what the outcome would be. The gods bound Fenrir with the silken chains. The wolf shook and pulled, heaved and fought – but he could not break free.

The gods did not help him. In vengeance, he bit off the hand of Tyr. And so Tyr became the god of perjury, among his other titles.

But the story does not end there, dear readers. Norse mythology is full of foreshadowing, and every little thing turns out to have meaning in the end. When Ragnarok arrives, Fenrir shall at last have grown strong enough to escape his bonds. He shall meet Odin on the battlefield – and there, he shall kill him.

And what of Tyr? Though a mighty warrior, the god is weakened by the loss of his hand. He shall fight in Ragnarok, but ultimately fall. The loss of his hand will prove too great of an obstacle for him to overcome.

So what do you guys think? Is Tyr the first in the long line of the handless-hero tradition? Which hero is your favorite?

Until next week!

The Great Flood

Greetings all!

Today's post is actually an old essay of mine from a mythology class.  With a little bit of tweaking, I felt that it fit for this blog's theme.  Without further ado, let's jump into the myth of the great flood!

In many cultures across the world stories are told about a great flood that all but wipes out humanity.  The stories vary depending on the locale, but all of them have much in common, leading one to wonder where these stories originate.  Some common themes include the great flood itself, and the fact that a god normally comes to warn a worthy human of the coming disaster.

In the Bible a great flood is depicted as God's wrath upon the world. Mankind had fallen into evil, and most were corrupt. God, looking down upon them, decided that He had had enough. He warned a man named Noah, one of the few good men left, and told him to build a great Ark that would carry he, his family, and two of every animal on the world - one male and one female. When the flood came Noah was prepared, and he and his family were saved.

A similar story is found in the writings of many Greek scholars, though all have a slightly different take on it. During what is known as the Age of Iron, mankind became so corrupt that Zeus looked down upon them with loathing. He swore to destroy them and called upon a great flood of waters to do so. Ovid and others speak of two humans surviving aboard a raft, but it is Apollodorus who offers an interesting perspective. He claims that the man, Deucalion, was warned by his father Prometheus that the flood was coming. Prometheus bade him build a great ark with which to escape, and Deucalion did so. He and his wife Pyrrha escaped because of this, and were instrumental in the repopulation of the earth.

The Sumerian myth of Ziusudra dates back to the old Babylonian Empire. The tablet it is inscribed upon speaks of a man named Ziusudra.  The god Enki, lord of the sea, warns that a great flood is coming. Ziusudra is told to build a boat to survive the waters. He complies.  Though much of the tablet is lost, it is obvious that he survives from the last part of the tablet, where he may be found prostrating himself before the gods as thanks for his survival.

In Hindu mythology the god Matsya appears to the first man, named Manu, and warns him that a great deluge is coming to destroy the earth. Manu is told to build a great boat to house his family and animals, who will later repopulate the world.  He obeys.

You can see that a powerful god bidding a man to build a boat to save himself and his family is a somewhat common theme against numerous mythologies. The trend continues in many other stories from many different cultures; the Qur'an and the Epic of Gilgamesh are but two of many that exist.

For me, the most interesting part of these stories is the fact that they originate from so many different places. While I am leery to believe that only two people survived to repopulate the earth, the number of cultures that reference the flood leads me to believe that it may have happened. The fact that cultures that had little to no interaction all bear the same myths fascinates me. Did such a disaster truly happen? The evidence of seashells and fishbones scattered beneath what is now solid ground across many countrysides leads me to wonder.

I hope you guys enjoyed this!  And if you're near an area where flooding is expected, please, stay safe.

Posts for the next several weeks are likely to be a bit shorter than usual.  I sprained my hand, and typing is somewhat difficult (and painful) with my thumb immobilized by a brace.  I do apologize for the inconvenience.  I'll do my best to keep my posts interesting, whatever their length!

I'll see you next week!

Hephaestus: Revenge of the Blacksmith

Hello all!

It has recently been brought to my attention that I have never done a post about Hephaestus. This is an enormous oversight on my part, because Hephaestus is one of my favorite deities. After Hades, Hestia, and Hermes, he's my favorite in the Greek pantheon. (...It appears that all of my favorites begin with the letter H. Interesting.) At any rate, Hephaestus is awesome. So, without further ado: Here's a post about him!

The origins of Hephaestus are somewhat unique among the gods. One of the more popular stories out of Greek mythology is the birth of Athena. She sprang out of Zeus' head, fully formed. As such, Athena was born of only one parent.

Hephaestus' birth is somewhat similar, and in fact stemmed from the creation of Athena.

You may recall that Hera, the wife of Zeus, has never been particularly content with her husband's philandering ways. In fact, she frequently goes out of her way to make the lives of her spouse's various mistresses exceptionally miserable. You can probably guess that she was rather wrathful that Zeus had a child without her.

So Hera did the natural thing – she conceived a child all by herself, and gave birth to him. That'll show Zeus!! – right?

(Yeah, I don't really understand her reasoning either.)

Unfortunately, the child – Hephaestus – was born with a deformity. It is frequently listed as shriveled or curled feet. When Hera saw her son, she was horrified by his deformity. She picked him up and flung him off of Mount Olympus, winning the Mother of the Year award in the process.

Hera rejects her son.

(Can you see why I have serious issues with Hera?)

Hephaestus somehow survived the fall. He was taken in by nymphs and raised. Hephaestus grew to be a very talented craftsman – specifically, blacksmithing.

When Hephaestus grew up, he got his vengeance upon his mother. He forged a special golden throne and had it shipped to Olympus for Hera. When the goddess sat in it, she found herself unable to move!

Though the gods tried everything they could think of, they were unable to free Hera. (I'm sure some of the pantheon were rather amused by her difficult circumstances. Hera was not always the most popular goddess.) Eventually they reached out to Hephaestus, hoping that the god who had built the chair would be able to free her from it. However, the crippled deity refused. In his mind, his mother had received her just comeuppance.

Always.

Hera was only freed when Dionysus, god of wine and partying, got Hephaestus drunk and convinced him to release his mother from her chair-y prison.

Interestingly enough, Hera is not the only deity to be imprisoned in a creation of Hephaestus:

Aphrodite, goddess of love, became the consort/spouse of the blacksmithing god.  It was an interesting mix; she, who was named the most beautiful of all the goddesses by Paris of Troy, married to a god so misshapen that his own mother tried to kill him out of disgust.  The marriage was brought about by Zeus and Hera, and it was not a happy one.  Aphrodite frequently cheated on her husband.  One of her adulterous lovers was none other than Hephaestus' own brother, Ares.

When Hephaestus found out about the affair, he crafted more than just a plan.  He created a chain of magical links, and bound them above Aphrodite's bed.  The next time she and Ares started going at it, the trap was sprung.  The lovers found themselves wrapped in chains, naked and unable to move.  Hephaestus found them shortly thereafter.

(The most PG picture I could find of the affair.  However!)

(Look at his face!  That is one fed-up god.)

Hephaestus dragged them before the rest of the gods.  They were humiliated, and made to pay a fine for their crime.

His disability may have caused him hardship, but Hephaestus rose above it to join the other Olympians in the home of the gods.  Though many viewed him as hideous, his craftsmanship was gorgeous and second to none.

And that, my friends, is Hephaestus.

I hope you enjoyed the post!  It is my last one for the next several weeks.  As a reminder, I am going on temporary hiatus because I'll be out of the country.  I shall return mid-July, ish.  Take care all, and I'll see you upon my return!

Happy Beltane!

Hey guys!

Today we're going to be taking a look at a Gaelic festival called Beltane.  Beltane is an ancient holiday celebrating the coming of summer.  You might be more familiar with the name May Day.  Taking place on May 1st, Beltane falls between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.  Where Samhain marks the beginning of winter and the arrival of the cold spell, Beltane celebrates the start of summer and the arrival of the heat wave.  It's a time for fertility and the hope for renewal.

There are a number of characters involved in the rituals celebrating Beltane.  There's a neutral party called the Blue Men who watch over everything.  They don't take sides, but they defend the other players from outside forces.  The central figure is the May Queen, whose job is to awaken the earth from winter by harnessing the four elements.

The May Queen is guarded by the White Warrior Women, who represent order.  The May Queen is courted by the Winter King and takes him as her consort.  However, the Winter King attempts to overpower the May Queen, aided by the Red Men, who represent chaos.  The Red Men and the White Warrior Women counter one another, and are opponents.

(In behavior, the Red Men are very similar to the satyrs of Greek mythology, or to some of the earlier celebrations of Lupercalia.  They eat, drink, make merry, seduce, bed, and act in excess on the night of Beltane...and they attempt to encourage everyone at the festival to do the same thing.  A friend who has seen the Beltane festival described their behavior to me as "lewdness and lascivious.")

In the conflict which ensues, the Winter King is slain.  The May Queen takes pity on her consort, and brings him back to life...but he is changed.  He becomes the Green Man, a representation of the frozen winter earth being renewed for summer.  The corpse of the Winter King is then thrown onto the Beltane bonfire, and traditional blessings are spoken.

I mentioned that I had a friend attend the Beltane festival.  This festival occurs every year.  In the darkness, bonfires are lit, and an enormous ceremony takes place.  People dress as the May Queen, the Winter King, and all of the other characters.  There are enormous amounts of red and white paint used.  And then...they dance, and they perform the story.  I have never been lucky enough to see it in person, though I hope to one day.

However, my friend is a professional photographer, and she takes pictures of Beltane.  You can see her pictures from last year's celebration here, and this year's here.  (Some of the pictures are not quite safe for work, as a warning.)

I hope you guys enjoyed the look at Beltane!  My words do not do it justice.  I highly recommend checking out pictures or video footage of the celebration; the images are absolutely stunning, and tell a breathtaking story.

See you guys next week!

The Haunted Pavilion

(Pictures to follow later - sorry everyone, I'm swamped with school.)

Hey guys! I hope you had a great week!

This will be my last post dealing with Chinese mythology for a while. For this post, I wanted to look at one of the stories from Chinese folktales in which not all is as it seems to be. Let's look at the story first, and then I'll talk about it afterward.
 

China is a huge country, and in olden days travelers would have to walk for days or more to get between towns. Because of this, pavilions were built alongside roads – think of them as a sort of motel. Whoever owned the pavilion would provide a meal for a weary traveler, and they could sleep inside it before continuing on their journey the next day. Sounds nice, right?

Unfortunately, there was one pavilion in which no one wanted to sleep. It was...haunted.

Anyone who slept within that pavilion was found dead the next morning, an expression of terrible agony contorting their face. Because of this, travelers sensibly began to avoid the pavilion.

Until one day, when a traveling scholar happened along. He was warned by the couple who managed the pavilion that it was haunted. The tales were told to him, and the scholar was pressed to move on, to find somewhere else to sleep.

Instead of being afraid, the scholar was intrigued. He decided to stay in the pavilion overnight to see if he could solve the mystery. The pavilion's managers tried to talk him out of it, but his mind was made up.

So they brought him food and then hastily retreated back to the safety of their own home. The scholar ate his meal and then settled down with a book. Darkness fell.

Quite a while after night had fallen, the scholar's reading was interrupted by footsteps outside. He could just barely see someone garbed all in black approaching the front of the pavilion. They stopped, and called out a greeting to the master of the pavilion. From inside, a voice returned the greeting. The mysterious guest asked who it was staying inside the pavilion, and the pavilion master responded that it was a scholar...but, unfortunately, he was reading and still awake. The strange guest let out a sigh of disappointment and left.

The scholar, now more cautious than he had been, returned to his book.

Some time later another figure, this one wearing a red hat, approached the pavilion. It too greeted the pavilion master, and inquired as to the man within. Like the first, it let out a sigh of disappointment and left when it heard that the scholar was still awake.

Once the second figure had gone, the scholar crept outside of the pavilion. He approached the front and called out a greeting to the master of the pavilion. Like the others had done, the scholar inquired as to who was “inside” the pavilion, and was told that it was a scholar who was reading and, unfortunately, still awake.

The scholar sighed like the others, but then he changed the dialogue. He asked who the figure in black had been, and the pavilion master replied that it had been the black sow who lived in a house nearby. When asked who the figure in the red hat was, the pavilion master responded that it was the rooster from yet another house. The scholar then asked who the pavilion master himself was, and was told that it was the old scorpion who lived within the pavilion.

The scholar snuck back to his spot in the pavilion, and was very careful to not fall asleep for the remainder of the night.

When the humans who ran the pavilion approached in the morning, they were shocked to find the scholar still alive. Their surprise grew when he asked for a sword, saying that he could solve all of their problems. He had figured out who was haunting the pavilion.

The sword was brought, and the scholar got down to business. He went first to one corner of the pavilion, where the manager's voice had seemed to emanate from. Inside a crack in the wall was a massive, angry scorpion, who was swiftly killed by the scholar. Next he went to two houses in the village. At one he killed a black sow, and at another he butchered a red-crested rooster.

The scholar explained his actions to the villagers, telling them how the demons had identified themselves. From that day on, the pavilion was no longer haunted. No more travelers died there, and it was once again a safe haven for those on the road.

And that's the story!

There are a lot of tales in Chinese mythology in which humans (or demons) are not what they seem to be – but rather are animals in disguise. We've already talked about the Heavenly Maidens, who can take the form of a crane or of a human. Unlike some other stories, these women are wed by men who know exactly what they are. There are stories of beautiful girls who are wooed and married, only for their husbands to later find out that they're foxes in disguise. Though the foxes often love their mortal husbands, these tales often end in tragedy. Then there are stories where a creature – a massive snake, for instance – takes human form and seduces a mortal to achieve her own ends.

I hope you guys enjoyed this look at Chinese mythology! I know I did. I'll see you next week!

The Monkey King: Journey to the West

Hey guys! Today I'm going to be wrapping up my series of posts about the Monkey King.

When we last saw Sun Wukong, things were looking pretty rocky for the Monkey King (pun fully intended). He had angered the heavenly host so much that they had gone to war with him. Unfortunately, the monkey proved to be a competent adversary, and was able to handily defeat the armies of heaven. At this point the Jade Emperor called upon a higher power, begging the Buddha to come and stop the Monkey King. When Sun Wukong failed to best the challenge of Buddha, he was imprisoned under a mountain for five hundred years.

Today's post is going to focus on what happened when those five hundred years were up. Unfortunately, it'll be a very brief overview. The entire adventure embarked upon by Sun Wukong can be read in the book Journey to the West, and is much too long for me to cover in a day (or even in a few posts). The entire history of the Monkey King I've discussed so far is basically just the prologue to the story. Still, I'll do my best to provide a rundown here so as to provide some closure to the story of the Monkey King.

 

Five hundred years after Sun Wukong was imprisoned, it was decided that the holy sutras of Buddhism needed to be retrieved from India and brought to China. Guanyin, the bodhisattva of mercy, chose a monk by the name of Xuanxang to make the pilgrimage to the west. (Xuangxang was actually a historical monk who did set out on a pilgrimage to India, and returned to China with holy teachings.)

 

However, Guanyin knew that the journey would be dangerous. Many demons and monsters would seek to stop Xuanxang from completing his task. To this end, she also found several noble guardians to ally with the monk. One of these guardians was the Monkey King.

It is telling that it is Guanyin who chooses the traveling companions, because she represents mercy. The whole story focuses upon compassion, mercy, and redemption. Each individual chosen to aid Xuanxang is flawed.

As my other posts about him showed, Sun Wukong was wild, rebellious, and possessed of both ego and temper. He had been imprisoned for these flaws by the Buddha himself.

Zhu Bajie was another of the companions, and he was both lazy and gluttonous. He had flirted with a major goddess, and been banished for his insatiable lust.

Sha Wujing had been exiled for angering the Jade Emperor by breaking a precious object, and reincarnated as a man-eating demon. He wore the skulls of a group of holy men he murdered.

The last companion was Yulong, the son of a mighty dragon king. Yulong had destroyed his father's pearl (a symbol of longevity and wisdom among the dragons) in a fit of anger, and had been sentenced to death for his crime. He spent most of Journey to the West transformed into a horse to aid the others.

(A very unlikely group of heroes, to be sure. I'm reminded of the DC/CW tv show Legends of Tomorrow: “We are a team of outcasts and misfits. So please, don't call us heroes. We're legends.”)

 

 

In an epic journey spanning dozens of chapters, Xuanxang and his companions set out for India. They were constantly set upon by monsters and demons, who sought to kill the monk and devour his flesh. Each time Xuanxang's co-travelers managed to save the monk. Their journey took over a decade, but after much fighting (and some bickering betwixt one another), the group arrived at the temple in India and claimed the sutras. They then returned to China, delivering the sutras into the hands of the temple.

Each of the individuals were rewarded for their efforts. Yulong became a naga, a magical being who was a combination of dragon and man. Zhu Bajie was granted the status of altar cleanser, meaning that he got to eat all of the scraps of food left at altars – a wonderful holy position for someone with such a great love of eating. Sha Wujing achieved nirvana, attaining a position similar to that of a saint in Catholicism.

But the greatest rewards were for both Xuanxang and Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong's impetuousness had been tamed, and he had given his life into service to a higher power. The monk and the Monkey King were both given the gift of enlightenment, and were raised to the positions of Buddha. Ironically, this meant that the monkey finally achieved his goal – he was given a rank equal to that of anyone in heaven.
 

And so ends the tale of the Monkey King.

 

I hope you guys enjoyed it!

 

 

(Overwatch did a series of skins based on Journey to the West for their Lunar Festival event.  They also did an animated comic, which can no longer be found on their website.  However, some wonderful person uploaded it to YouTube, so you can watch it here.  It's adorable.)

I'll see you guys next week!

The Monkey King: The Edge of the Earth

When we left off last week, the Monkey King's actions had become too much for the Jade Emperor and his court. The gods had attempted to stop Sun Wukong, but he had handily bested their armies and escaped. Unable to do anything through their own actions, the gods appealed to the mightiest being of all...Buddha.

(Religion in ancient China is very similar to that of Rome, or Japan, or any number of non-Judeo-Christian countries. New gods were often brought to the country through trade routes. Rather than getting rid of the old gods, they were shuffled around to make room for the new religion's joining them. When Buddhism arrived in China, the old gods remained – but Buddha was added to many of the stories as the supreme power.)
 

When he heard the dilemma of the gods, Buddha set out to help. He approached the Monkey King and offered him a bet. Buddha challenged Sun Wukong, saying that the Monkey King couldn't stand in the palm of his hand and leap off of it. The Monkey King laughed and took up the challenge.

 

He leapt into the palm of Buddha. He sprang into the air, somersaulting as he did so. It was a truly impressive leap – Sun Wukong traveled thousands of miles in one bound. When he finally landed the Monkey King found himself standing next to five massive pillars rising from the mists. It looked like the edge of the earth, with nothing visible beyond the pillars. That showed Buddha! The Monkey King had traveled so far he'd nearly jumped off of the world!

 

Sun Wukong signed his name upon one of the pillars, to prove he had been there.

Then he jumped back the way he had came, once again soaring for thousands of miles. When he landed, he was back in the Buddha's palm.  But when the Monkey King declared that he had won the bet, Buddha only laughed at him.

The mighty Buddha declared that Sun Wukong had never even left his hand. He told the monkey to look closer at his fingers. When the Monkey King did so, he discovered writing on one of them – the same marks the Monkey King had made upon the “pillar”!  It had been the Buddha's finger all along!

Having lost the bet, Sun Wukong was imprisoned beneath a mountain for five hundred years. The Buddha had solved the Jade Emperor's problem.
 

We'll talk about what happened to the Monkey King after his 500 year sentence was complete next week. See you then!

The Monkey King: An Immortal Nuisance

Hello all, and happy spring!

When I left off last week, the Monkey King, a hero of Chinese mythology, was making mischief. Sun Wukong had defeated many immortals in combat. In addition, he had traveled to the underworld and crossed out the name of every monkey from the register of the dead, giving hell no claim over him. Reports were reaching the Jade Emperor of the Monkey King's exploits, and something had to be done...
 

In point of fact, the Monkey King had already been causing an enormous headache for the Jade Emperor. When the emissaries from the underworld approached the chief deity to complain about Sun Wukong's latest exploits, it was the straw which broke the camel's back. The Jade Emperor sent out a summons for the Monkey King, asking him to come to heaven and appear before the Jade Emperor himself.

Sun Wukong leapt upon the opportunity to enter heaven. Once there, he was thrilled to be offered a position among the gods by the Jade Emperor himself! The Monkey King was gifted the title of “Keeper of the Heavenly Stables”, and asked to look after the heaven's horses. He took his responsibility very seriously (or, at least, as seriously as the Monkey King took anything).

 

 

However, the title was a sham. In truth, the Jade Emperor merely wished to keep the Monkey King in heaven where he was close at hand, and easier to keep an eye on. Though Sun Wukong imagined himself the equal of the gods with his new, fancy title, he was little more than a glorified stable boy.
 

Eventually, the Monkey King realized that his title counted for nothing. Enraged, he stormed into the Jade Emperor's court. Sun Wukong declared that he would no longer be the Keeper of the Heavenly Stables. Instead, he wanted a new title, one that made him the equal of the gods. The Monkey King declared himself the “Great Sage, Equal of Heaven”. When the Monkey King defeated several of heaven's greatest warriors in combat, the gods were forced to recognize his new title.

Still, the Jade Emperor tried to keep the Monkey King uninvolved with heavenly affairs. He tasked him with guarding the gardens in which grow the peaches of immortality.

In hindsight, this was not the wisest choice.

I don't know how many of you have fruit trees growing near you. I have a citrus tree in my backyard. When it blooms in the spring, as it's doing now, it smells absolutely divine. Almost as good as the flower blossoms are the ripe fruits sitting in the hot summer air. It's a tantalizing smell which makes me crave citrus. Most fresh fruits are the same: lemons, cherries...peaches.

You see where this is going?

The Monkey King was on duty guarding the gardens one day when the smell overwhelmed him. He couldn't resist; he just had to sink his teeth into a juicy peach. And why stop with just one? By the time Sun Wukong was beginning to feel sated, most of the ripe fruits had been devoured.

Unfortunately, this was about the time when a group of heavenly maidens appeared to harvest the fruits.

Great timing, right?

The women were infuriated that the stupid monkey had eaten the peaches of immortality. As they ranted at him, they unintentionally let slip that the peaches were needed for a fancy banquet taking place later that afternoon. All of the high-ranking gods had been invited...but the Monkey King had not received an invitation.

He wasn't too pleased about that. In fact, he was furious.

Sun Wukong incapacitated the heavenly maidens and immediately set out for the banquet. He arrived before the other guests and found all of the food laid out. The Monkey King set to work.

He ate the peaches of immortality. He swallowed the pills of longevity. He drank the Emperor's wine. The Monkey King worked his way up and down the banquet table, sampling anything and everything – whatever he felt like.

When the Jade Emperor saw the mess that Sun Wukong had made of the banquet, his patience was at an end. He commanded the armies of heaven to subdue the Monkey King. Though he was perfectly capable of defeating several opponents at once, Sun Wukong was hopelessly outnumbered.

But the Monkey King had some tricks up his sleeves (fur?). He plucked a hair from his tail, blew on it, and whispered a word. The hair immediately transformed into a copy of the monkey. He repeated this trick with a whole handful of hairs, and soon Sun Wukong himself was standing back, watching the armies of heaven fight his copies.

The battle went on for some time, but eventually a great Bodhisattva (the title for a prestigious follower of Buddha, one who has achieved enlightenment but has chosen to remain on earth rather than enter nirvana, in order to help guide others to enlightenment) was able to render him unconscious.

The Jade Emperor demanded that the Monkey King be killed, but that was impossible. Born from stone, his skin had already been tough. Between all of the peaches he had eaten and the pills of longevity he had consumed, Sun Wukong was pretty much invincible.

One of the gods suggested that Sun Wukong be locked in a cage and slowly burned. Fire would still be an effective tool against the monkey, and his ashes could be used to recreate the pills of longevity for the gods to consume. This plan was agreed to. However, Sun Wukong woke up partway through the process and escaped the cage. Thoroughly fed up with heaven, he made his escape.

By now the Jade Emperor was filled with wrath at the mere thought of the Monkey King. Something had to be done to stop him! However, his own forces had scarcely been enough to knock Sun Wukong unconscious the first time. In order to stop the monkey, he would need help from a force even more powerful...

To be continued! I'll see you guys next week.

 

The Monkey King: From Birth to "Death"

Hey guys! Today I'm going to begin a series of posts about the Monkey King. The Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong, is one of the most beloved characters from Chinese mythology. His tale blends elements of classical mythology, Taoism, and Buddhism, along with a roaring good time and a fantastic sense of humor. The Monkey King is the Trickster of Chinese mythology, though he has more in common with the (usually) benevolent Hermes of the Greek mythos than he does with the nefarious Loki from the Norse myths. The full story of Sun Wukong can be found in the story Journey to the West, but I'll highlight some of his exploits for the next several weeks.

Shall we begin the story of the monkey?

Long ago, on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, there stood a great stone. The stone had rested on that mountain since the formation of the earth. One day, however, the stone changed: it grew a womb. Months later the stone cracked, revealing an egg inside. From this egg hatched a monkey – or, rather, a Monkey.

The Monkey wandered the mountain and eventually found a group of wild monkeys. They had many adventures, including one in which the Monkey found the tribe a home in a cave behind a waterfall. For this, he was named their king.

As time passed, the Monkey King grew skilled in the martial arts. He acquired a magical golden staff, which was able to grow or shrink to whatever size he desired. When not using it in combat, the Monkey King would shrink his staff to the size of a needle and tuck it behind his ear.

The Monkey King fought many demons and monsters, triumphing over them all. Eventually, however, a fight came which no mortal can triumph over. The forces of Hell came to claim the Monkey King, for the time had come for his death.

Of course, the Monkey King refused to go quietly. They had to drag him to Hell, and the Monkey King protested all the while. When they were within the underworld he grabbed the small needle which lay behind his ear, transforming it once more into his mighty staff. The Monkey King fought the forces of the underworld and triumphed, giving them a sound thrashing.

When his foes lay groaning at his feet, the Monkey King did the unexpected: he charged further into Hell. Your average person would want to escape the underworld, right? Well, not the Monkey King. He knew that his name was in the register of the dead. If he escaped, it would be only a matter of time before they came for him again. Besides, the Monkey King cared deeply about his tribe of monkeys. He didn't want death to claim them either.
 

So Sun Wukong charged into the courts of Hell and demanded to see the judges of the dead. They cowered before him as he ordered them to produce the register of the dead. Seeing his name within it, along with the names of all of the monkeys, the Monkey King flew into a rage. He seized a bottle of ink and a brush. All of the names were crossed out with broad strokes of the brush.

His work complete, the Monkey King stormed out of the underworld. He awoke back in his home with the other monkeys, who insisted that their king had been dreaming. But Sun Wukong knew the truth, and rested easily knowing that death no longer held sway over any of the monkeys.

But all was not well, for word had reached the Jade Emperor of the impertinent Monkey King. Complaints had already been trickling in for some time, for Sun Wukong had picked fights with many an immortal being. When the emissaries from the underworld came to the Jade Emperor to complain, he knew that something had to be done about the Monkey...

I'll end there for today, and I'll see you guys next week!