{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4036", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 4036, "subject": "latro's greek and combat competence", "messages": 3, "voices": 3, "first": "2003-06-19T20:16:06+00:00", "last": "2003-06-23T02:31:09+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "maa32", "address": "maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu" }, "date": "2003-06-19T20:16:06+00:00", "subject": "(urth) latro's greek and combat competence", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I don't know if this is worthy of posting, but oh well. If we accept that the \nminor gods of the pantheon can immerse themselves in human flesh for a time, \nLatro's great fighting ability and his facility in speaking Greek are quite \neasily explained. He's always known how to fight - it is his very nature. Of \ncourse the God of war would be up on the latest trends in armed combat - and \nmight even innovate a few himself, or know them anachronistically. And he's \nalways heard the greek words of his worshippers, but never had to write for \nhimself - minor gods only need to speak to followers, not to write for \nthemselves.\n\nThere is one point I want explained before I abandon my \"Latro is Ares\" \ntheory. The high priest of Pleistorus indicates that his god, the god of war, \nhas been missing for some time. Where has he gone? Why is he missing? I \nthink that he's missing because he's been trapped in mortal flesh - divine \nlight ensconced in the guise of a soldier - \"Latro\".\n\nI think we are approaching Latro's abilities from a far too \"realistic\" \nstandpoint - I just don't think these Soldier novels embedded in harsh \nempirical realism, where everything can be explained through historical \ncontiguity and cultural history. I don't think Latro is fully human, so he \nexhibits some qualities which are inexplicable, like the ability to touch \nhuman beings and make them susceptible to the touch of other gods. That seems \na little odd to me, and it seems to indicate that Latro can do that because he \nis both fully god and fully man - sharing both worlds, making divinity real to \nman and men real to the divine. Of course, that could just be my misreading \nof his power.\n\nMarc Aramini" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "James Wynn", "address": "the.wynns at usa.net" }, "date": "2003-06-19T22:15:36+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) latro's greek and combat competence", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Marc theorizes:\n\nIf we accept that the minor gods of the pantheon can immerse themselves in\nhuman flesh for a time, Latro's great fighting ability and his facility in\nspeaking Greek are quite easily explained...he's always heard the greek\nwords of his worshippers, but never had to write for himself - minor gods\nonly need to speak to followers, not to write for themselves.\n\nCrush counters:\nHe's presumably never had to write Latin either. Is this the language of the\ngods? ;-)\nAnd why does translate place names spoken in Greek? Lakodaemonia, Sparta,\nAthens, Thebes, Corinth, Mesopotamia, etc. Surely the names would have been\nfamiliar to Ares. Why does he make the mistake that Sparta has something to\ndo with Rope-makers or that Lakodaemonia is a Silent Country? Why does he\nfeel the *need* to translate place names into Latin and not the names of\npersons. That is what one does in a foreign country (for example, like\ncalling the Yangtze the \"Yellow River\".\n\nJust thinkin'\n\n-- Crush" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Chris", "address": "rasputin_ at hotmail.com" }, "date": "2003-06-23T02:31:09+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) latro's greek and combat competence", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Another: Why does the god of war need wrestling lessons from Heracles?\n\nLatro is meant, I believe, to be a \"hero\" in the full greek sense. If \nanything I think it may weaken the story in a sense to consider him Ares (in \nany sense more than Hector, for example, was Ares on occasion in the Iliad)." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Crush counters:\nHe's presumably never had to write Latin either. Is this the language of \nthe\ngods? ;-)\nAnd why does translate place names spoken in Greek? Lakodaemonia, Sparta,\nAthens, Thebes, Corinth, Mesopotamia, etc. Surely the names would have been\nfamiliar to Ares. Why does he make the mistake that Sparta has something to\ndo with Rope-makers or that Lakodaemonia is a Silent Country? Why does he\nfeel the *need* to translate place names into Latin and not the names of\npersons. That is what one does in a foreign country (for example, like\ncalling the Yangtze the \"Yellow River\"." } ] } ] }