Discuss your favourite myths and legends. Talk about myths used as inspiration for other media, like comics or manga or anime, and how various interpretation of myths are different from each other. Any myth is fine, Japanese, Persian, Native American, Greek, Roman, Norse, or what have you. You can't make your own myth and post it here though


Since AV1 used a bit of the Persian myth, I think I should start this club with a bit of info on the daevas and Ahriman (and some of the druids).

There are indeed 7 daevas serving Ahriman, or Angra Mainyu. Ahriman is what Christians call Satan or the devil. These 7 daevas are almost like the 7 deadly sins, as each daeva represent some sort of a bad behaviour. Opposing them are Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spentas, the good force.

The 7 daevas are Nanghaithya, Zarich, Tawrich, Indra, Saurva, Aesma, and Aka Manah. Where is Agas? Agas is not one of the daevas. SHE is in fact one of the Drugs, the 7 girl demons ranking under the daevas. The daevas are supposed to be all male, by the way.

Of the AV druids, only 2 uses the name of the Amesha Spentas, Armaiti and Vohu Manah.

Now for some reason there is a confusion about the gender of the daevas. Some people think that a few of the daevas were female while others insist that they are all male. One of the daevas believed to be a girl is Nanghaithya

I always assumed the daevas were male with a 1(?) female. never could remember the names though. The one with the dress looking thing I assumed was a female unless it was doing a lars/dameon impression aka mage with a robe on.

As for myths: I love myths. Though if I wrote about every single one I knew I'd end up with a very long and tedious essay.

Any particular myth you wanna discuss?

My favorite book that deals with mythology is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. He presents the idea that the gods from the old world have been brought over by immigrants to the new world (America) but as time goes by they are forgotten and replaced by new gods, like money, technology, and media among others. It's blends a wide range of mythology that I can't remember right not but I think it's a great book.

One part that remember right now is that Anubis, the Egyptian god that protected the dead and brought them to the afterlife, worked as a mortician in funeral home. I thought it was hilarious.

@mizzou: lol, anubis? as a mortician? Oh that's gold XD
What about seth? the crocodile dude?

One of my fav series is the Journey to the West about Monkey King, Tang Priest, Pig, and Sand man.

One of the top myth series ever

@Mizzou
LOL I'm going to have to look into that book. It sounds both hilarious and very interesting.

I enjoy learning about myths but never actually went out of my way to learn a whole lot about them ^^ Still, admittedly, most of my knowledge of myths surrounds Greek mythology. I know a bit about Japanese mythology, as well, since I took a course that related to it a lot. Norse mythology always sounded interesting but I never did get around to learning more about it other than what I read of Wagner's Ring cycle o_o;;

@ KTC: In the game Indra is a girl. In the original myth, it is said that all 7 are male. but some sources say Indra, Zarich and Nanghaithya are female so I can't be too sure. Myth can be confusing like this..

Here's one Greek myth that I have a special connection with (my last name ):

Argus

The basic gist of the story was that Argus, a giant with many eyes that never slept, was commissioned by Hera to guard Io from Zeus (who, we all know, tried to copulate with everything that moved). Zeus had Hermes enchant Argus into sleep and kill him.
For his sacrifice, Hera honored Argus by putting his eyes on the tail of the peacock.

J.R.R Tolkien based some of the characters and places on norse mythology. For example Tolkien's concept of the Valar the beings who maintain everything in Middle Earth.

I like Greek and Indian mythology. Well, especially Indian because it greatly influence Javanese mythology which I ethnoculturally pretty close to. But I can't remember all the names

@sneg (sorry your name is so long): Hindu and Javanese? Ah.. the likes of Mahabharata. True, there is a whole hoarde of gods and important people that it's hard to remember them all.. Are you Indian or Javanese?


I'm a fan of myths and fantasy so I know a little of this and that, but my favourite so far is Greek myth. I don't know why, but I do.

Greek myth is basically the most well known myth, I think. I really hate slander on the myth. I don't like it when people make a mess of it, especially concerning Hades/Pluto since he's my fave Greek deity. I HATE it when people portray him as a bad guy who wants to rule the world and Disney's Hercules is the WORST of all slanders I've ever encountered. I know it's old, but it still ANNOYS ME.

What the hell with the gods looking and acting like crapstatic pansies? Why are they all so weak that the so-called "titans" could easily overthrow them and they had to go "OMG! It's Hercules! We're saved!" GAH!!!! Hercules is a demigod, and his mom is NOT Hera. In fact, Hera HATES him. She's the one who gave him all sorts of trouble time and time again. I know Hades is an excuse for an enemy because God forbid a Disney movie not having a "baddie", but heck HERA is the baddie. Just because Hades rules Underworld doesn't mean he's EVIL. What the heck is with the Fates too? That's not the Fates, that's the Graea, or the Gray sisters!!!!

Hercules ended up living in Mount Olympus, NOT going back to Earth coz he's in luuurve with some chick. NO! He didn't get trained by a retarded satyr, he was trained by a CENTAUR. Chiron, no less, who is a very well-respected centaur. Augh! There is so many things wrong about this movie that I could rant on and on for hours. I wish whoever made the script for this piece of crap gets hit by a thunderbolt, drowned in a Tsunami, chased down by Cerberus, and thrown into Tartarus for crating such atrocity.

My favourite Greek myth adaptation is this Korean anime series called Olympus Guardians. Even though they took some artistic liberties in story and character, as well as adding the very anime-styled goofy twists, they stayed true to the original stories. Though since they didn't make the series in chronological order, there is a muddle in the timeline sometimes, but it's not so bad that it destroys everything.

It's really funny, but I don't know where you guys can check it out.. I mean, it's kinda hard to find anywhere. I can tell ya some stuff about it though. Theseus, the hero who conquered the Minotaur of the labyrinth was a klutz who has completely no sense of direction.. Get the irony? Ah, there is a mistake with the Pantheon (12 important gods). The Twelfth deity in here is Hades while the correct deity is Dionysus, but I don't care. Why should such a doofus drunkard god be so important?

@Arggie
Interesting story! I guess it's doubly interesting for you because it's part of your name? xD

Still, if I were Argus, I don't know if I'd feel so honoured if my eyes were placed on the butt-end of some bird, LOL xD If I wanted to be honoured by the gods, I'd want to have my own constellation in the night sky!

@daeva: umm, dude. it's disney. Look how they wrecked mulan, hunchback of notre dame, pocahantas, etc. Nothing like the original stories. lol

@aeternus: haha, you bring up a good point: you're the butt eyes!

It really gets me because I love the myth. I hate all the other slander Disney did, but not as much as the ones I particularly care about Hahaha. I honestly want to know what would happen if Disney handled TWILIGHT.

@daeva: I doubt even they would touch that one. Remember alien baby in book 3? >_<!

btw, why is hades your favorite greek god? O.o? He doesn't do much myth wise so I wonder what's so interesting about him.

I mean, the only god that has even less stories than him is Hestia.

KTC: Shame. It's the only story I would gladly see Disney butcher About Hades, I confuse myself most of the time, and this is one of such times. I honestly don't know why. Maybe I don't actually like him, I just get defensive about terrible slanders. I mean, the poor guy always had to be the bad guy every time anywhere at all. In Disney, in this particular Justice League episode, in some random Hercules live action I watched with my friend, etc. Give him a break... >.<

That, or maybe because I have a knack of liking dark, sombre, creepy looking characters.

This has to be the coolest club here. xD

Well, I LOVE myths. Only Greeks tho, Roman myths are acceptable, but I hate Norse. Prolly something to do with the pronounciations of 2 or more consonants sticking together in a word. >_< But I admire the Norse gods non-carefree attitude.


My favourite is Medusa, followed by Hermes. Cuz Medusa has awesome hair and Hermes has cool shoes. xD


I'm not a fan of Hades since there aren't much stories about him but I liked the story of the kidnapping of Persephone.


Persephone is Demeter and Zeus' daughter. One day, she was out 'painting' the flowers. When she was done, she went home but on her way, she noticed a bush she never saw before so she decided to take a look at it. After pulling out the bush (because she thinks it's fugly), a loud, earthquake-ish sound seemed to come out of the hole. The sound became louder and louder then a mighty chariot jumped out of the hole and a slender arm grab Persephone.


Since Persephone still hasn't come back, Demeter became worried and went to search for her. She asked the birds, and they said someone took her near the bush. When she went there, she only found Persephone's painting pot. Demeter cried bitterly. There a boy who happened to saw her but he only laughed at her. Demeter turned him into a lizard, but before he begins his new life, a hawk grab him and took him away.


Demeter went to look for Zeus and asked him to tell his brother (Hades) to give their daughter back. Zeus was busy polishing his new silver thunderbolt and told her,
"Calm down Demeter. I'm sure Hades will treat her right."
Demeter, knowing that Hades has bribed Zeus said,
"Fine. If Persephone is not with me, then I shall not grow crops, until she has returned to me."

Sooner and later, Zeus noticed that the human population has decreased so he called Hermes to summon Demeter. Zeus said that Persephone can come back only if she hadn't eaten anything, and even, he, cannot disobey this rule.


Meanwhile, while Persephone was in his kingdom, secretly, she enjoyed it there. Hades would give her special seeds that can grow without sunlight. Secretly, she enjoyed how the God of Death is trying to woo her and shower her with gifts. Secretly, she liked the frown of the majestic king when she throws tantrum at his efforts. And still, Hades would tempt her with delicious food but she'd just held her nose high and ignore the smell.


Persephone was given a special garden and she has a garderner (the boy who Demeter turned into a lizard.) When Persephone was taking a walk into the garden, he saw the boy eating pomegranate. The boy saw her and said,
"Shh. No one's here. Here, you can eat these." Persephone hesitated at first but since she's VERY hungry, she grab and ate six pomegranate seeds.


Hermes has arrived and come to pick up Persephone.
"Haven't eaten anything, have you? No? Good! Then off we go!"
When Persephone turned her head around, she saw Hades saw the pomegranate seeds on the gardener's hand and immediately know what happened. He went to Olympus and talked to Zeus. Zeus said,
"I am sorry Demeter, but Persephone has eaten 6 pomegranate seeds, therefore, she shall stay in the underworld for six months. Even I cannot break the old rules."
Demeter replied,
"If that is how it is, then so be it. But if Persephone will go to the Underworld, then earth shall suffer along with her. Plants and crops shall not grow, and winter shall fill the land, until she comes back shall spring comes."

And that's why we have four seasons.

@daeva-agas. Hahaha, your question is very interesting and I think it'll take a long time to explain my ethnocultural identity. I'm an Indonesian, but NOT Javanese. Javanese is only one amongst more than 300 ethnics in Indonesia (FYI: my real name is, of course, not Snegurochka. It's my blog name ). I have culturally mixed blood ) But I'm pretty close to Javanese mythology. I watched Mahabarata and Ramayana when I was little, so when I found out that Indian myth greatly influence Javanese myth, it's not so difficult to memorize the events (not the name, though)

@sneg: Ooh.. I'm Indonesian too, btw, Javanese but I've been exposed to foreign culture too much that I practically almost forgot the Javanese culture..

@Ivana: whoa, what a long post about the whole Seasons myth. Honestly though, I don't know if I mentioned it in a post above, but I saw a post/article claiming that the whole fiasco is not kidnapping but a willing marriage in the original myth. The story became kidnapping because of the Roman influence and the rise of patriarchy.

That being said, I'm not telling you you're wrong. Myths, after all, change in time. Be it from society change, or misinterpretation, or cultural change.

@daeva: oo, interesting perspective on the myth. Can ya post a link to it? I would love to check it out.

But yeah, myths of a tendency to hop around and get changed with every retelling. I think I've read about 3 different endings for Mulan alone and many endings for various greek myths.

@daeva

Oh really? Well that's the version I read in a book that I bought... But anyways, yeah myths tend to change, I even read 3 different versions of Medusa's story.