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Hello everyone. Hope you are doing well.
So... Our current pages for Mythology are simply terrible. They are generally either outdated, simplistic, incomplete or downplayed. They lack proper information, descriptions, in-depth analysis and listed feats. And the Mythology Verse page is equally poor.
This has bothered me for the longest time, and I want to change it.
First of all, if we are going to make proper Mythology profiles, we need to establish some standards and be more analytical of feats / descriptions.
This is really common in myths. Gaea sprung out of Chaos, Phanes was born from the Cosmic Egg, Ymir arose from Ginnungagap, the Creator Kami emerged from the formless darkness that preceded them, Tiamat and Apsu mated and gave birth to the gods, etc. Even Christianity has this, as it describes reality as a "formless and void" Abyss (Tehom), from which God created the world.
Though myths typically use metaphors such as an infinite ocean, an endless darkness, or a bottomless abyss, the intent is usually the same: In the beginning there was nothing, and then a God created everything.
However, the question is: "What is everything?"
A very common argument used to undermine the power of gods is to point out that they were worshipped by ancient people who knew little of science, and the worlds these gods create are small compared to the real universe.
This is a very flawed and generalized argument, but in fairness it does have some basis. Both Greek Mythology and Norse Mythology describe very tiny universes, so their gods should be 4-B tops, right? Well, I don't think so.
People ignore the non-physical side of old creation myths. In Greek Myth, Chaos is the formless primal amalgamation of everything, and Gaia is the first thing to emerge from it. While she represents the Earth, she is also the Source of Life, and is the progenitor of all the Primordials (This is in Hesiod's version). Literal Abstract personifications of Fate, Time, Necessity, Life / Procreation, Space, etc, all come from Gaia (Or her counterpart, Chaos)
There is no reason such a being wouldn't be considered Universal. Hell, at this point, the size of the physical world hardly matters given all the potent conceptual stuff.
So I think that we should at least be more analytical before dismissing a Mythology's power because of a flat Earth.
If we are to improve these pages, we need to establish a pattern.
Personally, I would be quite found of using Renaissance paintings for the Greek Mythology profiles, and Germanic artwork for Norse Mythology, and Ancient Egyptian two-dimensional art for Egyptian Mythology.
However, this is kind of impossible to do with some mythologies, which derive from cultures that really didn't have the custom of illustrating things. Try finding good Classical images for Japanese or Native-American deities, for instance.
In those cases, I am fine with modern artwork, as long as said artwork is at least somewhat authentic to the original depictions. As much as I like Genzoman's artwork, his drawings always look more like comicbook characters based on the gods than the gods themselves.
What isn't valid is reading a "Dictionary of Greek Myth" and thinking you know the full extent of it.
If you wanna make a profile for Achilles, then get your hands on The Iliad. If you want to make a profile for Loki Laufeyjarson, then you better research The Eddas.
Mythology Guidebooks, Dictionaries and Summaries are great and can be of great help, but it's always better to read on the original sources. By my experience, they also often undermine the power of the deities.
HOWEVER, plenty of mythologies have Original Texts that are nearly impossible to find, or have a nigh-incomprehensible language. This is specially true of Egyptian Mythology and the myths of African and Native-American tribes.
In these cases, we have to use secondary sources by Necessity.
I think that Mythology should have a Main Verse Page akin to Nintendo and the Nasuverse, and then Individual Mythologies should have their own Verse Pages.
The reason for this is that it would allow for in-depth Verse pages where the main concepts, themes, ideas and the Cosmology of individual mythologies would be explained.
The current verse page is atrocious, by the way, it barely explains a thing.
This mostly stems from people's familiarity with Mythological deities coming from Modern Adaptations and Retellings, rather than the original sources.
A common idea I see among people is that Mythological Gods are simply ageless beings with Supernatural Power, and that couldn't be farther from the truth.
The Greek Gods, for instance, are not just X-Men Mutants with specific powers, rather they are Personifications of Concepts / Ideas / Emotions. And in many cases, the things they Personify only exist because they exist.
Meanwhile the Norse Gods also have some Conceptual elements to them. Thor's mother is literally the Earth, and he represents Strength, and the existence of Humanity is tied to his own. He's wrestled Old Age herself and endured, and his buddy Loki has fought Fire himself, and another god raced Thought itself. And since Fenrir can destroy anything that exists, he is bound by chains made of things that don't exist.
I could go and on with examples, such as the Shinto Kami who are Incorporeal and vaguely abstract Spirits of Nature, but the gist of the is that Gods shouldn't be viewed as physical beings but rather as symbols / living metaphors.
Mythological stories are generally primarily allegorical and meant to convey something about life or the world (The story of Eros and Psyche for instance is a story about how Joy is created by the union of Mind and Love, and Journey of the West is a giant allegory for how the human Soul reaches Enlightening), and as such the Gods shouldn't be interpreted as purely physical and tangible creatures.
There are a few exceptions however, but this is how it is in the majority of Mythologies I know about.
So... Our current pages for Mythology are simply terrible. They are generally either outdated, simplistic, incomplete or downplayed. They lack proper information, descriptions, in-depth analysis and listed feats. And the Mythology Verse page is equally poor.
This has bothered me for the longest time, and I want to change it.
First of all, if we are going to make proper Mythology profiles, we need to establish some standards and be more analytical of feats / descriptions.
- 1) Old Cosmology vs Modern Cosmology?
This is really common in myths. Gaea sprung out of Chaos, Phanes was born from the Cosmic Egg, Ymir arose from Ginnungagap, the Creator Kami emerged from the formless darkness that preceded them, Tiamat and Apsu mated and gave birth to the gods, etc. Even Christianity has this, as it describes reality as a "formless and void" Abyss (Tehom), from which God created the world.
Though myths typically use metaphors such as an infinite ocean, an endless darkness, or a bottomless abyss, the intent is usually the same: In the beginning there was nothing, and then a God created everything.
However, the question is: "What is everything?"
A very common argument used to undermine the power of gods is to point out that they were worshipped by ancient people who knew little of science, and the worlds these gods create are small compared to the real universe.
This is a very flawed and generalized argument, but in fairness it does have some basis. Both Greek Mythology and Norse Mythology describe very tiny universes, so their gods should be 4-B tops, right? Well, I don't think so.
People ignore the non-physical side of old creation myths. In Greek Myth, Chaos is the formless primal amalgamation of everything, and Gaia is the first thing to emerge from it. While she represents the Earth, she is also the Source of Life, and is the progenitor of all the Primordials (This is in Hesiod's version). Literal Abstract personifications of Fate, Time, Necessity, Life / Procreation, Space, etc, all come from Gaia (Or her counterpart, Chaos)
There is no reason such a being wouldn't be considered Universal. Hell, at this point, the size of the physical world hardly matters given all the potent conceptual stuff.
So I think that we should at least be more analytical before dismissing a Mythology's power because of a flat Earth.
- 2) Classical Artwork vs Modern Artwork?
If we are to improve these pages, we need to establish a pattern.
Personally, I would be quite found of using Renaissance paintings for the Greek Mythology profiles, and Germanic artwork for Norse Mythology, and Ancient Egyptian two-dimensional art for Egyptian Mythology.
However, this is kind of impossible to do with some mythologies, which derive from cultures that really didn't have the custom of illustrating things. Try finding good Classical images for Japanese or Native-American deities, for instance.
In those cases, I am fine with modern artwork, as long as said artwork is at least somewhat authentic to the original depictions. As much as I like Genzoman's artwork, his drawings always look more like comicbook characters based on the gods than the gods themselves.
- 3) Original Sources vs Modern Retellings?
What isn't valid is reading a "Dictionary of Greek Myth" and thinking you know the full extent of it.
If you wanna make a profile for Achilles, then get your hands on The Iliad. If you want to make a profile for Loki Laufeyjarson, then you better research The Eddas.
Mythology Guidebooks, Dictionaries and Summaries are great and can be of great help, but it's always better to read on the original sources. By my experience, they also often undermine the power of the deities.
HOWEVER, plenty of mythologies have Original Texts that are nearly impossible to find, or have a nigh-incomprehensible language. This is specially true of Egyptian Mythology and the myths of African and Native-American tribes.
In these cases, we have to use secondary sources by Necessity.
- 4) Multiple Verse Pages?
I think that Mythology should have a Main Verse Page akin to Nintendo and the Nasuverse, and then Individual Mythologies should have their own Verse Pages.
The reason for this is that it would allow for in-depth Verse pages where the main concepts, themes, ideas and the Cosmology of individual mythologies would be explained.
The current verse page is atrocious, by the way, it barely explains a thing.
- 5) The True Nature of Gods?
This mostly stems from people's familiarity with Mythological deities coming from Modern Adaptations and Retellings, rather than the original sources.
A common idea I see among people is that Mythological Gods are simply ageless beings with Supernatural Power, and that couldn't be farther from the truth.
The Greek Gods, for instance, are not just X-Men Mutants with specific powers, rather they are Personifications of Concepts / Ideas / Emotions. And in many cases, the things they Personify only exist because they exist.
Meanwhile the Norse Gods also have some Conceptual elements to them. Thor's mother is literally the Earth, and he represents Strength, and the existence of Humanity is tied to his own. He's wrestled Old Age herself and endured, and his buddy Loki has fought Fire himself, and another god raced Thought itself. And since Fenrir can destroy anything that exists, he is bound by chains made of things that don't exist.
I could go and on with examples, such as the Shinto Kami who are Incorporeal and vaguely abstract Spirits of Nature, but the gist of the is that Gods shouldn't be viewed as physical beings but rather as symbols / living metaphors.
Mythological stories are generally primarily allegorical and meant to convey something about life or the world (The story of Eros and Psyche for instance is a story about how Joy is created by the union of Mind and Love, and Journey of the West is a giant allegory for how the human Soul reaches Enlightening), and as such the Gods shouldn't be interpreted as purely physical and tangible creatures.
There are a few exceptions however, but this is how it is in the majority of Mythologies I know about.
