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In another thread, the question came up of what roles the various Powers might take on in stories that haven't been brought up yet.... This is for speculation on that.
I'll start with the ones I remember we have encountered in the books, and their names.... I figure stuff that would fit here might include correspondences I haven't spotted, "filling in" characters in different religious, mythological, and/or folkloric settings, maybe even in some fiction.
It might be useful to remember the passage in A Wizard Abroad about how where the Powers got done with their business and moved on the stories tend to run to a Creator with various assistants, where they hung around longer the stories run to pantheons, and then in some places like Ireland they still haven't left. (I suppose that leads to... er... a lot of stories about happening to run into supernatural beings by accident? I'm not at all sure how to put that. :/)
Okay. The list.
The One, Life, Iau Hauhai, the Fire at the Heart, the Heart, and as far as I can tell the central figure of, as stated, any system with a supreme Creator-God and many assistants. (Has been explicitly associated with Christianity and with Native American religions.) The ultimate creator; I think also referred to in High Wizardry as the Source and "That in Which" the other Powers move. Would obviously be Eru/Iluvatar in Tolkien.
The Whisperer, the Silent One, Hrauh -- We're introduced to this Power as a Power in the feline wizard novels, and I get the impression there that She wrote the Bright Book, even though in SYW it's suggested that it just is and wasn't written. Possibly she is it, to some degree. Apparently is the Power who communicates with wizards who don't have a physical copy of the Manual; thus also the Knowledge and the Silence, possibly. I'm not entirely sure about that.
The Old Tom, Urrua, the Trickster, son and lover of Iau, the Afterthought, Her gift to Herself, the Devourer of Young -- I don't think we explicitly meet this one anywhere except the cat novels so far, but I could easily be wrong. He sounds like he might be another somewhat ambivalent figure, but doesn't appear to have a role going against the other Powers, at least for the cats. I would guess he gets slotted into some of the various Trickster-roles elsewhere? Anansi the spider, maybe...? Coyote? Don't know. Can obviously be destructive, but I suppose they all can.
Irh -- Mentioned in the feline wizard novels. Parts of his anatomy are used as an exclamation. No idea of equivalents.
Morrigan -- One of the Powers that can go either way, the spirit of Ireland if I'm remembering right -- Associated with death, war, and peace. A smith. Got very attached to Ireland and for a while gave up much of her power to be allowed to stay.
And of course the ones we seem to see the most of....
The Winged Defender, the One's Champion, Peach, Aaurh, Michael, Prometheus (only she never had to steal the fire, think that was malicious gossip from her brother?) Thor, Athene (busy little bee in Greece, wasn't she?), Lugh the All-Crafted. Also present in Ronan.
The Lone Power or Lone One, Eldest (another time-based weirdness -- the cats address It as Eldest despite the Lone One being third-born as their story seems to go...), Fairest and Fallen, the Beautiful One, Lightbringer (Lucifer, I take it), Star of the Morning, associated with Satan, a cat identifies Mephistopheles with the Lone One in Faust, Balor, sa'Rraah (I misspelled that, didn't I?), the Devastatrix, Mistress of the Unmastered Fire, Unmastered Fire, mistress of the tenth life. Somewhat perplexingly, the glossary describes sa'Rraah as "the feline ambivalent Power, roughly analogous to the Lone Power," but within the story she gets called the Lone Power and sa'Rraah pretty interchangeably.
The Defender's twin, at least sometimes. Um... would be Melkor/Morgoth in Tolkien. I can't match up any of the other Valar without a copy of the Silmarillion.
So... we have the Defender claiming roles in at least a couple of systems where nobody else seems to have an explicit one yet.... Anybody want to fill in? Or come up with something else entirely? Or have I scared you all off by babbling?
I'll start with the ones I remember we have encountered in the books, and their names.... I figure stuff that would fit here might include correspondences I haven't spotted, "filling in" characters in different religious, mythological, and/or folkloric settings, maybe even in some fiction.
It might be useful to remember the passage in A Wizard Abroad about how where the Powers got done with their business and moved on the stories tend to run to a Creator with various assistants, where they hung around longer the stories run to pantheons, and then in some places like Ireland they still haven't left. (I suppose that leads to... er... a lot of stories about happening to run into supernatural beings by accident? I'm not at all sure how to put that. :/)
Okay. The list.
The One, Life, Iau Hauhai, the Fire at the Heart, the Heart, and as far as I can tell the central figure of, as stated, any system with a supreme Creator-God and many assistants. (Has been explicitly associated with Christianity and with Native American religions.) The ultimate creator; I think also referred to in High Wizardry as the Source and "That in Which" the other Powers move. Would obviously be Eru/Iluvatar in Tolkien.
The Whisperer, the Silent One, Hrauh -- We're introduced to this Power as a Power in the feline wizard novels, and I get the impression there that She wrote the Bright Book, even though in SYW it's suggested that it just is and wasn't written. Possibly she is it, to some degree. Apparently is the Power who communicates with wizards who don't have a physical copy of the Manual; thus also the Knowledge and the Silence, possibly. I'm not entirely sure about that.
The Old Tom, Urrua, the Trickster, son and lover of Iau, the Afterthought, Her gift to Herself, the Devourer of Young -- I don't think we explicitly meet this one anywhere except the cat novels so far, but I could easily be wrong. He sounds like he might be another somewhat ambivalent figure, but doesn't appear to have a role going against the other Powers, at least for the cats. I would guess he gets slotted into some of the various Trickster-roles elsewhere? Anansi the spider, maybe...? Coyote? Don't know. Can obviously be destructive, but I suppose they all can.
Irh -- Mentioned in the feline wizard novels. Parts of his anatomy are used as an exclamation. No idea of equivalents.
Morrigan -- One of the Powers that can go either way, the spirit of Ireland if I'm remembering right -- Associated with death, war, and peace. A smith. Got very attached to Ireland and for a while gave up much of her power to be allowed to stay.
And of course the ones we seem to see the most of....
The Winged Defender, the One's Champion, Peach, Aaurh, Michael, Prometheus (only she never had to steal the fire, think that was malicious gossip from her brother?
) Thor, Athene (busy little bee in Greece, wasn't she?), Lugh the All-Crafted. Also present in Ronan. The Lone Power or Lone One, Eldest (another time-based weirdness -- the cats address It as Eldest despite the Lone One being third-born as their story seems to go...), Fairest and Fallen, the Beautiful One, Lightbringer (Lucifer, I take it), Star of the Morning, associated with Satan, a cat identifies Mephistopheles with the Lone One in Faust, Balor, sa'Rraah (I misspelled that, didn't I?), the Devastatrix, Mistress of the Unmastered Fire, Unmastered Fire, mistress of the tenth life. Somewhat perplexingly, the glossary describes sa'Rraah as "the feline ambivalent Power, roughly analogous to the Lone Power," but within the story she gets called the Lone Power and sa'Rraah pretty interchangeably.
The Defender's twin, at least sometimes. Um... would be Melkor/Morgoth in Tolkien. I can't match up any of the other Valar without a copy of the Silmarillion.
So... we have the Defender claiming roles in at least a couple of systems where nobody else seems to have an explicit one yet.... Anybody want to fill in? Or come up with something else entirely? Or have I scared you all off by babbling?
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