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Originally Posted by mensaguy
Uh, Thor, the god of thunder?
I get the meaning/relation/joke. But.....I'd really like to know the why one would be so enamored by a deity or their story to take a screen name like that. What is the why behind it?
Has to be the Ramayana, becasue (damn... )it has such cultural spin -offs. Then of course the Epic of Gilgamesh. Homer sorta misses as not really being religious. So maybe the stories about Krishna.
Has to be the Ramayana, becasue (damn... )it has such cultural spin -offs. Then of course the Epic of Gilgamesh. Homer sorta misses as not really being religious. So maybe the stories about Krishna.
Homer's tales are full of gods and goddesses taking part in the action. As are the spinoffs of Aeschylus and Virgil. It is interesting that the Troy movie deliberately undoes all supernatural references.
Location: Sitting on a bar stool. Guinness in hand.
4,428 posts, read 6,506,556 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dorado0359
Nature.
A bit vague. But ok. Why is your favorite "being"? Do you have any stories/mythologies about nature? Ie...like some north American native americans have? Or perhaps some like the green man?
Homer's tales are full of gods and goddesses taking part in the action. As are the spinoffs of Aeschylus and Virgil. It is interesting that the Troy movie deliberately undoes all supernatural references.
Yes. I suppose the Ramayana is more like the Trojan tales, but I think where they separate in my mind is that the action needs gods, Rakshyas gods and miracles to progress. As Troy was able to do, you can pretty much do without them. I that way I suppose I put the story of the Argonauts or Heracles more in the Ramayana/Mahabharata side than the Beowulf/Arthurian legend side. Legend, not religious myth.
Yes. I suppose the Ramayana is more like the Trojan tales, but I think where they separate in my mind is that the action needs gods, Rakshyas gods and miracles to progress. As Troy was able to do, you can pretty much do without them. I that way I suppose I put the story of the Argonauts or Heracles more in the Ramayana/Mahabharata side than the Beowulf/Arthurian legend side. Legend, not religious myth.
But I still have a soft spot for Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans (Harryhausen version please). Or the almost forgotten Kirk Douglas Ulysses. Or Xena Warrior Princess.
But more seriously I enjoy Greek mythology because of the strongly human element. Much of it is about men (and women) overcoming adversity and righting wrongs against truly epic backgrounds. It is the intermingling of everyday human values an timeless themes. In that sense the Arthurian legends fall into the same category, IMO anyway. I do not mean the movies with the single exception of Excalibur. I mean the stories in Once and Future King or Le Morte d'Arthur. I see Beowulf (story not movie) the same way.
It is not about whether gods etc. are involved. It is about touching the timeless that is also the very human.
But I still have a soft spot for Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans (Harryhausen version please). Or the almost forgotten Kirk Douglas Ulysses. Or Xena Warrior Princess.
But more seriously I enjoy Greek mythology because of the strongly human element. Much of it is about men (and women) overcoming adversity and righting wrongs against truly epic backgrounds. It is the intermingling of everyday human values an timeless themes. In that sense the Arthurian legends fall into the same category, IMO anyway. I do not mean the movies with the single exception of Excalibur. I mean the stories in Once and Future King or Le Morte d'Arthur. I see Beowulf (story not movie) the same way.
It is not about whether gods etc. are involved. It is about touching the timeless that is also the very human.
Yes. The reason for myth and storytelling. In that respect, the Oddesey, the Ramayana, the Arthurian legends and the Middle earth series all draw on the same need or source and the reasons why we need myth and stories and why they so often use the same memes is as interesting as the search for thought and belief in the human brain.
That said, the degree of emphasis on the human side of the story or on the divine or miraculous divides religious myth amounting to Holy Books (and the Ramayana is pretty much on the borderline there, but gets pushed to the myth side because Rama and Sita became objects of worship) and the human myth that almost attains the status of sacred literature, and Homer or (for me) LOR attains that.
Ok. Well what is it about Thor and/or his stories that makes him your favorite? Basically.....why Thor?
Fair question and sorry for the delayed response.
For starters, I've always been fascinated with lightning and thunder. It's just beautiful and amazing! But Thor is particularly interesting because, unlike other lightning gods, he was always a force for good. The thunder sounds you hear during a lightning storm are Thor battling frost giants, the Norse equivalent to demons. He was by far the most active of the Norse gods battling creatures of evil. In fact, at one point when his hammer Mjolner was stolen, the Aesir (Norse Gods) were terrified that the frost giants would overrun them.
At one point, Thor went fishing and actually caught Jörmungandr (the Midguard Serpent that whose tail was wrapped around the entire world.) Jörmungandr would be your ultimate ultimate sea monster and one of the two most terrifying evil monsters in Norse myth, the Fenris Wolf being the other one. Upon pulling Jörmungandr's head above the water, Thor immediately raised back his hammer to kill it. Unfortunately, his fishing companion cut the line before the blow was struck and Jörmungandr got away.
To me, Thor seems to be a corrupted form of Jehovah. He is a benevolent god who is tirelessly fighting against evil. His hammer is a prototype of the Christian cross as well.
Yes. The reason for myth and storytelling. In that respect, the Oddesey, the Ramayana, the Arthurian legends and the Middle earth series all draw on the same need or source and the reasons why we need myth and stories and why they so often use the same memes is as interesting as the search for thought and belief in the human brain.
That said, the degree of emphasis on the human side of the story or on the divine or miraculous divides religious myth amounting to Holy Books (and the Ramayana is pretty much on the borderline there, but gets pushed to the myth side because Rama and Sita became objects of worship) and the human myth that almost attains the status of sacred literature, and Homer or (for me) LOR attains that.
BTW I read LOTR in hard cover in the library before anyone ever heard of it, then again in the revised Ballantine Books version in the mid-1960s and several times more in a single volume leather bound and boxed collector's edition from the early 1970s on. I have the complete boxed 12 disc Extended Edition of the movies. (And I have no problem with the changes in the movies, except the too awkward death of Saruman. Oh and yes, I am in the extended credits.)
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)it has such cultural spin -offs. Then of course the Epic of Gilgamesh. Homer sorta misses as not really being religious. So maybe the stories about Krishna.
