IndieAgora

The Swine seems to represent a number of things, including relentlessness as the boar, the pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment of the luxurious as well as the mundane as the pig, and the forbidden or toxic and worm riddled as the khanseer.

​​​​The swine as a symbol was represented on the imaginary heraldry of the Saracens, as a force of nature coming out of the green dark shadow filled forest or the wild unknown and returning back to it, as well as in modern games such as The Legend of Zelda as the likeness of Ganon, who as Ganondorf represents the Saracen as King of the Arab similitudes, their Muhammed, and the forces of Darkness and Chaos made manifest.

The Swine can be a personal meditative tool and internalized spirit with its various literary and themeatic implications based on associations made by people from its supposed activities and behaviors and whatever factors have led to its associations today.

The pig is generally used as a term for revealing the reality of a person, bluntness and unconcealed "true nature" as opposed to a masked civility, it relates to brutish and plain truth, the underlying in every sense, even to its closeness to the mud or matter.
 "In the abstract, we can say that the Creator makes both light and dark in equal measure. The year is thus divided into two: the dark time when the night is longer than the day, and the light time, when this is reversed.Diarmait hears the hound baying on the last night of the year, and kills the boar on the first day of the new year. The association of boars with Samhain has lasted until recent times, but the boar has been transformed to a sow. Consider thefollowing verse from the vale of the Dee:

A cutty black sowOn every stile,Spinning and cardingEach November-eve.

The parallel between the sow in this verse, and the boar in the story of Diarmait is obvious. In each case, the pig is cropped and black. The stile, with its cross shape has served as an equivalent to crossroads in folk stories. Meeting a cutty black sow on a stile on this night is an earlier version of meeting the devil at the crossroads on the same night.This argument is strengthened by looking at the evidence that the coins provide: On what Van Arsdell gives as the earliest of the Corieltauvian examples, the shaft of the spear that pierces the boar's back passes through a circle. Within the circle, and either side of the spear are two pellets. This gives the effect of a cross within a circle. This interpretation is supported by one of the fractions where, in a simplified design, a cross within a circle (or a wheel of four spokes) appears as the only element above the boar.In the boar type of the Iceni, the Corieltauvi's neighbours to the south, the "spear" intersects with the boar's snout, and is surmounted by a pellet-within-a-circle sun symbol. The overall effect of this is like a Chi-Rho monogram with the left half of the X missing, or being suggested by the shape of the front of the boar's head.An interesting association of a cross with a boar is provided by a coin of the Aulerci Eburovices, here, a wreath, or ear of grain pattern is intersected by a line terminating in a crescent. This pattern is seen on many Celtic coins, and may be most familiar on the Gallo-Belgic gold staters and their British derivatives. On this coin, however, the crescent is surmounted by a boar, its hind legs standing on a second crescent. At the intersection of both crescents and the boar's legs, there is a circle.Nowhere is the association between the cross and the boar more clear than in an unattributed Armorican coin, on this coin, the figure of the boar forms the bar of a cross. We return again to Meleager's spear piercing the boar's back. If the boar is impaled thus, a cross is formed, and each limb is a season.The cross is a universal symbol. Meanings of this symbol contain "fourness": the four seasons; winds; elements, and the cardinal points, and also by extension: the centre; the omphalos; wholeness; continuation; addition, and resurrection. It may have a variety of forms including a plus sign, an "X" or a swastika.Being associated with the boar by its position on these coins, we can say that the cross indicates the portal between this world and the underworld, or the yearly cycles of the sun. From the myths given here, the two meanings are really the same.The lightning and sparks of the Calydonian boar are both archetypical of dark forces. Particularly telling, is the damage that the boar does to the crops. All farmers are familiar with the "killing frost" that destroys the new shoots in the spring, and frost, as well as an early snowfall, heavy rain or hail can do the same to the crops before the harvest. If the boar is here symbolising the "dark" part of the year, unseasonable weather would be a fitting result of his inauspicious arrival.The boar's arrival in the spring and autumn is not entirely unseasonable, but does demand a response. In the spring, the sun warms the cold ground and life begins anew, while in the autumn, the approaching cold triggers the renewal processes of the plants that go to seed or bear fruit. The forces of light and dark are not always separate, but pass their influences back and forth.On some coins of the Coriosolites, and other Armorican tribes, we encounter a boar that has a base line that truncates the lower part of a sun-symbol. The sun symbol in this case is the very common and ancient pellet within a circle. This boar symbol has long been misinterpreted as a military standard. While such objects were undoubtedly carried into battle, we should read them more as totems. They can be viewed as a representation of the point where the sun rises to conquer the darkness. Depending on the context, the Celts could have interpreted this as a sign of the forces of light (themselves) overcoming the forces of darkness (the enemy), or as a symbol of dawn of the day or of the year. In earlier times, this would have been the winter solstice, but the symbology transversed the change of the new year to Samhain."
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West to East

In China the Pig or Boar is associated with The Lunar Month that starts Winter or brings the forces of darkness and death to the land, and also is the last in the Zodiac or the conclusion before the new cycle "The first half of the month is called 立冬 (or inpinyin: Lìdōng). Literally, it means the "start of winter". It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 225° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 240°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 225°. "
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganon
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http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Orcus
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https://books.google.ca/books?id=Zl2UgI ... gs&f=false "
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" 
 Ever since Tolkien, the worlds of fantasy literature and video games have been overrun with tribes of ugly, bellicose humanoids, whose main purpose for existence is to serve as theMooks of the Forces of Evil. Trolls, goblinsand/or hobgoblins (and such) are usually also closely associated with them, or may just be different names for the same thing. The word orc comes from Old English and shares linguistic roots with ogre, borrowed from French. Both terms are related to the LatinOrcus, the name of an Etruscan/Roman god ofThe Underworld which came to denote the place itself (like Greek Hades). Later, Orcus wasglossed as a term for a demon or hell itself. Thus, the Old English word orc, as attested by medieval glossaries - as well as cognates in other languages like French ogre and Italianorco - denoted a kind of demon or monster. However, the only appearance of orc in surviving Old English literature comes fromBeowulf in the form orcnéas, "demon-corpses", sometimes translated as "living dead" - ghouls,perhaps? Orcnéas are said to be evil creatures descended from Cain, together with eotenas(giants), ylfe (elves) and gigantas (giants, again, so eotenas is sometimes translated as ogres ortrolls). [sup]note [/sup] In modern fiction, Orcs come in two general flavors: the original model developed by J. R. R. Tolkien who borrowed the word from Beowulfand used it for his version of goblins, and the model best exemplified (but far from invented) by Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft series, which is a subversion of the former. Often overlaps with Pig Man; the pun on "pork" is linguistically coincidental. Often the "adopting" parent when a child is Raised by Orcs. 
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Tolkienesque or "traditional" orcs:
Top: Orcs from The Lord of the Rings 
Bottom: Orks from Warhammer 40,000 

• Are Always Chaotic Evil. Tolkien's Orcs are of debatable morality; while not "peaceful", their actions are mostly driven by their fear of Sauron or Morgoth.[sup]note [/sup]
• Often have pig-like snouts or upturned noses that resemble pig snouts. (Sometimes taken one step further by actually giving them pig heads, like in early editions of Dungeons and Dragons.) May have tusks. This is likely drawn from the fact that "orc" is Welsh for "pig", and Welsh was the inspiration for Tolkien's Sindarin.
• Are of varying colors; ranging from sallow to gray to red. Green is not unknown, though generally not the vibrant green of "Blizzard" orcs (Dungeons and Dragonsorcs are grayish-green).
• Are most likely to be Faceless Goons/Mooks.
• Are carnivorous or hypercarnivorous, often cannibalistic.
• Are dumb, though this is a case ofFlanderization: Tolkien's Orcs did have superior technology matched or exceeded only by the Numenorians and Dwarves, and possibly the greatest of the Elves.
• Have little or no culture outside of raiding/war parties and worshiping gods of war or the local Evil Overlord.
• Related to the above two points, they tendnot to invent anything, but steal/corrupt things others have made.
• Usually have oppressive, patriarchal societies, with females being treated as property, provided if female orcs are shown or mentioned. In Tolkien, female orcs were never shown or discussed, though it seems they must have existed. It's possible that orcs in this case exhibit no sexual dimorphism, and so males and females could not be distinguished without taking a look under the hood. The film bypassed this by having the Uruk-hai created whole from the earth.
• Are oftentimes made solely as artificial creatures rather than reproducing naturally, thus explaining the aforementioned lack of females. LOTRimplies that Morgoth created them as "a mockery of the Elves".
• Are of variable strength and size, shorter than humans or elves but taller than dwarves.
• May or may not have a British cockney accent (as popularized by LOTR andWarhammer 40,000). "

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... eDifferent
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Pigs and Pig-headedness is also associated with racism, and racists and sexists are often called pigs as well.

Its obliquely connected to racism in numerous other ways as well ever since Biblical and Pre-Biblical times. For example through association with the Others or Goyim ( The Nations ) and the forbidden as well as the Syrio-Greeks fought against by the Maccabees due to their supposed unholy and defiling swine related sacrifices in the temples. The demon force or forces known as Legion were thrown into Palestinian Swine and rushed off into the sea over a cliff.

The forces of darkness and evil in the sense of the Saracen then the armies of Sauron and the legions of Ganon, as well as the elements of Set against Osiris and Isis have all at times been associated with related themes fluctuating in and out. Dead lands and the goring of fertility aspects or blossoming organic nature for example.
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https://books.google.ca/books?id=PLUcb- ... ss&f=false
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http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/set.html
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" Set was the black boar who swallowed the moon each month, obscuring its light. He was also identified with the hippopotamus, crocodiles, scorpions, turtles, pigs and donkeys - all animals which were considered to be unclean or dangerous. Some fish were considered to be sacred to Set (most notably the Nile carp and the Oxyrynchus) as they had apparently eaten the penis of Osiris after Set had dismembered the dead king. However, he was most often depicted as a "Set animal" or a man with the head of a "Set animal". The Set animal (sometimes known as a"Typhonian animal" because of the Greek identification with Typhon) is a dog or jackal like creature, but it is not clear whether it exactly represented an extinct species, or was a mythological beast uniquely associated with Set himself. "
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http://www.writer2001.com/boars.htm
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" In the story of Venus and Adonis, Adonis is gored in the groin by a boar and he dies from this injury. The grief-stricken Venus decrees that each year the scene of her love's death will be staged anew. While the boar does not die at the same time as Adonis, the cycle of the year is demonstrated by Venus' decree. That Adonis is gored in the groin is significant. The boar's curved tusk is the sickle that Cronos (Father Time) used to castrate his father Uranus. Cronos is banished to the underworld by Zeus for this crime, but he will be born again to repeat the act each year and to this day in the form of the new born baby replacing Father Time and his sickle (now grown into a scythe).Robert Graves points out the parallel of the Druidic custom of the cutting of the sacred mistletoe with a golden sickle to the castration of Uranus by Cronos. The white semen-filled berries of the mistletoe having the obvious connection, and the solar aspect being provided by the colour of the sickle. We also note that the Druid wore white robes for this ceremony, and Father Time is similarly attired.While Father Time returns as the baby, he also returns with his scythe, but now dressed in black, as Death at the end of people's lives. While the sun returns as the same, people do not, and thus we have the human element of Diarmait that cannot be brought back to life, although his spirit, or the solar meaning of the tale will be restored by Aengus at Newgrange.We should also remember that Odysseus bore the scar of a boar's tusk in his leg, and it was from this that he was first recognized upon his return to Ithaca. We will recall that at this time it was revealed that he had 360 boars left in his herd. Each boar thus representing one day of the year (more or less, depending on whether we are using the solar, or lunar year)."
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https://books.google.ca/books?id=8m_iDQ ... ry&f=false
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http://www.khandro.net/animal_swine.htm
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orcus
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" sow (n.) Old English sugu, su "female of the swine," from Proto-Germanic *su- (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German su, GermanSau, Dutch zeug, Old Norse syr), from PIE root *su- (source also of Sanskrit sukarah"wild boar, swine;" Avestan hu "wild boar;" Greek hys "swine;" Latin sus"swine," swinus "pertaining to swine;" Old Church Slavonic svinija "swine;" Lettishsivens "young pig;" Welsh hucc, Irish suig"swine; Old Irish socc "snout, plowshare"), possibly imitative of pig noise, a notion reinforced by the fact that Sanskritsukharah means "maker of (the sound) 'su.' " Related to swine. As a term of abuse for a woman, attested from c. 1500. Sow-bug "hog louse" is from 1750. "

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Hruggek

"
Hruggek (pronounced: /ˈhrʌgɛk/ HRUG-ek[15]) was the chief deity of bugbears, and was the god of ambush, violence, and combat.[3][9][11][14] At one time he was an exarch of the greater god Bane.[4] Other gods worshiped by the bugbears included Grankhul, the god of hunting, senses, and surprise; and Skiggaret, the god of fear.

Prior to relocating to Banehold, Hruggek lived in a large cave in Pandemonium called Hruggekolohk. His home was adorned with the severed heads of his defeated opponents.[14]

Hruggek appeared as a massive, powerful bugbear, 12 ft (3.7 m) tall. He had great fangs and clawed hands and feet, and wielded a 10-foot long morningstar.[14]

Hruggek's priests dressed in black and wore skulls on their heads.[citation needed] Bugbears sacrificed the blood of their enemies to Hruggek.[14]

Shamans of Hruggek could achieve the ability to cast up to 5th level divine spells.[14]

Hruggek was mostly apathetic to other deities, including those within the Goblinoid Pantheon. The only god he appeared to care about in any capacity was the goblin god Khurgorbaeyag, who he had an alliance with. Hruggek would occasionally compliment Khurgorbaeyag's plans and compare them to Maglubiyet's (which he claimed were inferior to the Overseer of All's) in order to sow discord within the Goblinoid Pantheon to secure more resources for his bugbears.[11]

Prior to his assimilation into the Goblinoid Pantheon, Hruggek was the unofficial leader of the Bugbear Pantheon. This pantheon was comprised of himself, Grankhul, Skiggaret, and three other unnamed deities

The Complete Divine sourcebook lists Hruggek's domains as Knowledge, Law, and Magic, which is surely a misprint for a Chaotic Evil deity, but it was not corrected in the errata. The domains listed here are from the Monster Manual 3.5 errata.
"

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgo ... 0318130700

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambush

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/aelcantar- ... ganization

"
Hruggek is the twin god of Grankhul, one of the two racial gods of the Bugbear species. He is the god of hyperviolence, merciless murder and unfair combat, said in Bugbear folklore to have taught the Bugbears how to overcome foes far mightier than themselves so that they might thrive against the giants and dragons of ancient times.

Hruggek, unlike his brother Grankhul, is formally worshipped. Amongst Bugbears, only shamans carry out his rites and ceremonies passed on by oral tradition, but outside of Bugbears he is often worshipped by Minotaurs, Ogres and berserkers of every race, and as such has a wide-spread, if small, cult of loyal followers. Unlike larger war gods like Eremat, Hruggek does not teach about honorable and fair combat, but rather how to win as soundly and unfairly as possible. Ambushes, murder in the night, poisons, dirty tactics and cheap shots. Hruggek teaches that the best fight is the one you don't have to fight at all.

As a result, Hruggek is a widely despised god, his followers shunned by civilized society who see them as little more than marauders and murderers. Among more tribal societies however, his worshippers are not only accepted but often respected, the brutal practicality they display and ability to take down foes far larger or stronger than themselves praised, and many among less civilized races have come to consider Hruggek to be the god of underdogs, a thorn in the side of all those who would seek to tame the wilds.
"

https://1d6chan.miraheze.org/wiki/Hruggek

"
Black morningstar
Aliases Hruggek
Alignment Chaotic Neutral
Divine Rank Celestial Immortal
Pantheon Mystaran (Energy)
Portfolio Bugbears, warfare, fury
Domains Energy, Chaos, Strength, War
Worshippers Bugbears, warriors, berserkers
Favoured Weapon Morningstar

Hruggek is the Chief Deity of Bugbears although only in the sense that he the strongest and most widely worshiped. They do not have a true leader and he doesn't trust the others. He is the god of Ambush tactics, combat and violence.

Hruggek was originally serving under the more important deity Bane, and in 4th edition was listed as living in Banehold. Currently in 5th edition he is independent again, living in Acheron and being worshiped by bugbears. He is the Bugbear god of combat, but in keeping with the bugbears' nature as ambush predators he is not a god of outright war, preferring tricks and ambushes to open battles and campaigns. He really likes cutting people's heads off, and most bugbear worship of Hruggek consists of severing heads and displaying them around their lairs; a ritual important enough that goblinoid armies will use the offer of severed heads to entice the bugbears to work with them... albeit that if the bugbears think a campaign is going poorly, they might decide the heads of the army's leaders make a good enough offering and take them before vanishing off into the night. If Hruggek is particularly pleased with one of the heads offered to him, he might bless it so that it whispers secrets known to the head's previous owner, screams to alert the bugbears of intruders, or something similar.

His relationships with other Deities is unknown, as is much of his history due to being a more obscure deity.

His current symbol is a morningstar, something that has remained the same since his first introduction in 1st edition

In Mystara, Hruggek is the real name of the Immortal Bartziluth, the patron of bugbears.

History
Bartziluth was originally a bugbear from the Broken Lands, where he was renowned for smashing the faces of his enemies with his morningstar. No one actually knows how he reached Immortality, or who sponsored him to the sphere of energy. Since his ascension though, he has been the patron of bugbears everywhere.

Appearance
Bartziluth appears as a huge bugbear, wearing shining leather armor and carrying his signature morningstar. He looks as savage as most bugbears, but his eyes show craftiness and intelligence.

Personality
Bartziluth is always seeking to witness well-fought battles, taking pleasure in watching warriors going berserk in the midst. He has no personal allies, and is enemies with Halav and Atzanteotl, though Atzanteotl refuses to consider him a proper enemy, which frustrates Bartziluth.
"

https://1d6chan.miraheze.org/wiki/Atzanteotl

"
Atzanteotl is a malevolent Immortal, or god, from the Mystara setting of Dungeons & Dragons. An ascended Shadow Elf of the Sphere of Entropy, he is the Patron of Corruption and Treachery, appearing as either a charming yet sinister pale-skinned, sly-smiled elf adventurer dressed in black, or as a black-feathered viper with the head of an elf and a pair of wings, which conceal elven arms. He is detailed in the Known World Gazetteers 10 (Atruaghin Clans) and 13 (Shadow Elves), as well as in the Hollow World corebook, the Hollow World splatbooks Sons of Azca and Nightwail, Wrath of the Immortals, the Savage Coast: Orc's Head splatbook, and in issue #20 of Dungeon Magazine.



Atzanteotl is fascinated by the process of corruption and he especially loves to see how any kind-hearted person can fall into the abyss of Evil and regret thanks to his machinations, only to lose interest in that project immediately after and start looking for new ways to spread evil. His final goal is the complete annihilation of life on the outer world, and especially the destruction of all elves. He is worshipped in the Hollow World (Azcans, Schattenalfen), Known World (Tiger Clan, Shadowlands, Broken Lands, Northern Reaches), Immortal's Arm (Jakar City-states), Savage Coast (Nimmur), Davania (Jungle Coast), and Graakhalia under various guises.
"

https://blog.aulddragon.com/2012/04/hru ... capitator/

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Hruggek the Decapitator
It’s been a while since I had any deities read to post, but I have been steadily working, trying to get all the goblinkin gods done, but I’ve been working on individual sections rather than working on a single god at a time. However, I have gotten some more finished, so now it’s time to put them up and make them available! The first is Hruggek the Decapitator, the head of the bugbear pantheon! One thing I want to do but have not yet done is detail some of the heads he has in his cave in Pandemonium. I’m not sure just what I will do with them, or how powerful they should be. Let me know what you think!


Hruggek (PDF Version)
(The Decapitator, the Master of Ambush)
Intermediate Power of Pandemonium, CE

Portfolio: Violence, combat, opportunism
Aliases: None
Domain Name: Cocytus/Hruggekolohk
Superior: None
Allies: Khurgorbaeyag, Grankhul, Skiggaret
Foes: Bargrivyek, Meriadar
Symbol: Morningstar
Wor. Align.: LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE

Hruggek (HROO-gek or HRUG-ek) the Decapitator is the dominant deity of the bugbear pantheon. He is wily, cunning, and manipulative. Like the dominant gods of the other goblinoid pantheons, the Master of Ambush is a powerful force of physical strength and combat. He delights in savage, individual combat, but unlike his brethren amongst the orcs and goblins, he has no interest in leading armies or military battles. He knows that, while individually powerful, his people are not numerous enough to meet other races in mass battle; thus he focuses on ambush and opportunism to gain the upper hand. His cave in Pandemonium, filled with constant howling winds, is arrayed with the severed heads of heroes of a dozen races or more, many of whom are cursed to eternally moan pleas of mercy and praise to the might of the Decapitator.

While Hruggek is the oldest and most powerful god in the bugbear pantheon, he does not rule it like the heads of the orcish or goblin pantheons rule theirs. He has an understanding with the other members of the pantheon; none of the other members actively work against him, and he leaves them to their own devices. None of the other members are powerful enough to challenge his power on their own, and they are too individualistic to combine their power in an attempt to remove him from power, and Grankhul is the only one who actually holds the ambition of rulership. Hruggek is no fool, however, and keeps a close watch on the other gods, just in case they have a change of heart. While this arrangement does not filter down to the priests, it has maintained the balance of power for centuries. He shares a portion of his power with Skiggaret, as do all the other members of the pantheon, using him as a messenger to the bugbear race.

While a violent and aggressive god, he is not one to hold a grudge; as such, he holds few particular deities or pantheons as racial enemies due to past slights. He is perfectly happy to see any of them cracked on the head and tossed in his cookpot, although he is willing to work with almost any deity if it furthers his goals. The Decapitator cooperates with Khurgorbaeyag in a strategic maneuver to sow dissention amongst the goblin pantheon; he hopes to divide the pantheon and thus weaken their followers, as they compete with bugbears for resources. He constantly inflates Khurgobaeyag’s ego and pride, and compliments the vision and soundness of his plans while deriding Maglubiyet’s own. By the same token, Hruggek holds a deep antipathy for Bargrivyek for the Peacekeeper’s attempts to unify the goblins against outside threats. He takes any opportunity to try and stir Maglubiyet against him. In a similar vein, the Master of Ambush despises Meriadar, whom he sees as a meddler in the lives of bugbears, trying to turn them from their rightful and proper nature to one of peace and weakness. While he doesn’t go out of his way to oppose the Tolerant One’s actions, he does take the opportunity to do so if it presents itself. Finally, since he is not a god of magic or mysticism, many scholars of the divine in Sigil believe he has a secret agreement with a power of wizardry, such as Cegilune, Kalzareinad, or Gullveig, which allows him to curse the heads of defeated foes.

Hruggek does not send an avatar to the Prime Material Plane if he knows another goblinoid deity is watching, with the exception of Khurgorbaeyag, as he does not wish to antagonize any of them. He may send an avatar to aid beleaguered bugbear tribes, but he will not engage in mass battle, only skirmishes. He will also occasionally dispatch an avatar to take the head of a powerful individual of a specific race if he does not already have a head from that race.

Hruggek’s Avatar (Fighter 32, Priest 18, Thief 12)
Hruggek appears as a monstrous, muscle-bound bugbear with great fangs and large, powerful clawed hands and feet. He wears a heavily bloodstained leather vest and little else, preferring mobility over armor. His spells are drawn from spheres of all, combat, creation, divination, guardian, necromantic, protection, summoning, sun, and war (preferring reversed spells where appropriate).

AC −3; MV 12; HP 177; THAC0 −10; #AT 5/2
Dmg 2d8+16 (morningstar +4, +10 Str, +2 spec. bonus in morningstar) or 1d6+30 (javelin of lightning, +10 Str, +20 electrical damage)
MR 30%; SZ L (12 feet tall)
Str 22, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 9, Cha 19
Spells P: 8/8/8/8/6/4/2
Saves PPDM 3; RSW 5; PP 4; BW 4; Sp 6

Special Att/Def: Hruggek fights with Silentstroke, an enormous seven foot long morningstar +4 that he wields with both hands. He also carries 1d4 javelins of lightning, which affect any creature struck as a thunderclap (as for a staff of thunder and lightning; save vs. rod, staves, and wands or be stunned for 1d2 rounds and deafened for an additional 1d2 rounds; those who save are deafened for 1d4 rounds). Once per day, he may speak a power word, stun. In any round in which he does not attack with Silentstroke, Hruggek may cause 2d8 points of shock damage to any single target within 60 feet simply by clenching his fist; no saving throw is allowed to reduce or avoid this damage.

The Master of Ambush is immune to fear and magical weapons of less than +2 enchantment. Hruggek may, rarely, carry one of his many severed heads from Pandemonium for an encounter with a specific race. The exact nature of the heads he has are unknown, but he is suspected of having at least one from every major demihuman and humanoid race. All heads have two or three specific powers that only affect that race; such powers may be any auditory spell such as taunt or one of the power words, a power projected from the eyes, similar to eyes of charming or a basilisk’s gaze, or spells such as domination or suggestion. All such powers only affect the same race as the severed head.

Other Manifestations
The Decapitator watches over his race closely, but does not often manifest or send omens to his priests and followers. When he does, his omens usually take gruesome forms, the most common being guttural utterances from corpses and severed heads. These utterances are short directives and warnings, depending on the situation at hand. More rarely he will send bloody and violent dreams of combat and battle to his priests with messages heard in the warcries and death screams of the warriors. He may also manifest as a black cloud that envelops his followers. If his worshippers have pleased him or are performing a task he approves of, they will be affected as if by an aid spell and a haste spell. The effect lasts 6 turns (or until cancelled by other spells). If his followers have displeased him or are taking actions he disapproves of, they will be affected as if by a cloudkill spell and a slow spell (assuming they survive). In either case, the black cloud lifts immediately after affecting the creatures. Any being caught in the cloud that does not worship Hruggek is affected as if by a stinking cloud spell and a curse spell. Occasionally, if a lone, devout priest is surrounded by foes, Hruggek will manifest as a volley of spikes, similar to the spikespray spell, that strike at the enemies. Finally, and most rarely of all, the Master of Ambush will manifest as a bolt of lightning, as the spell lightning bolt, striking at a single specific foe of a devout follower.

The Decapitator is served primarily by exiled tanar’ri, particularly of the lesser variety, as well as abrians, albino wyrms, bears, black dragons, caterwauls, earth weirds, great cats, howlers, incarnates of anger, manticores, meazels, quasits, shadowhounds, wolves of all sorts, and yeth hounds. Hruggek demonstrates his favor through the discovery of severed heads and isolated skulls of humanoid races, as well as red stones and gems such as carnelians, garnets, rubies, and sardonyx. The discovery of severed bugbear heads and skulls and blackish-green stones such as black jade, obsidian, and olivine is a sign of his displeasure.

The Church
Clergy: Clerics, specialty priests, shamans, witch doctors
Clergy’s Align.: CN, NE, CE
Turn Undead: C: No, SP: No, Sha: No, WD: No
Cmnd. Undead: C: Yes, SP: No, Sha: No, WD: No

All clerics (including multiclassed fighter/clerics and cleric/thieves), specialty priests, shamans, and witch doctors of Hruggek receive religion (bugbear) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Like most goblinoids, priests in bugbear society tend to be politically powerful. They are quite often tribal leaders and chieftains, at an even higher rate than is the norm in the societies of goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, and kobolds. They lead their tribes in skirmishing against other races, although all-out war is avoided, due to the bugbears’ generally smaller numbers. They do not have rigid castes or hierarchies, with strength as the main determinant of positions of power relative to each other. Lesser priests are quick to take advantage of perceived weakness, and powerful priests must be ever-vigilant of their juniors. They must also keep an eye on the priests of the extended bugbear pantheon, especially given the sneakiness of Grankhul’s priests, ensuring that they respect Hruggek’s authority and leadership within the tribe. Priests are careful not to let their rivalries endanger their tribe however, and the tribe’s well-being is always a priest’s foremost concern. The followers of the Decapitator are willing to ally themselves with a wide range of outside powers in order to secure power and territory for their tribes; in particular, they have a relationship of cautious cooperation with the followers of Khurgorbaeyag. They advise their tribes to work with orcs, kobolds, humans, gnolls, or any other race, so long as there is benefit to the tribe; although these other races need to watch their backs around the opportunistic bugbears, who are quick to break any alliances if situations turn sour.

Temples dedicated to the Master of Ambush are generally uncommon. They are usually only found within the warrens of large bugbear communities; most smaller tribes make do with more simplistic shrines. When bugbears build temples, they usually utilize slave labor from the more proficient miner races, such as goblins or dwarves. Temples tend to be long with a multitude of alcoves and niches along the side walls, where trophies and heads taken from enemies and captives are placed. At the far end of the entrance is a simple stone block stained dark red from the blood of sacrifices. Black cloth is commonly draped on the walls, and black and grey paint is used in copious amounts to make the temple feel dark and depressing. Favored trophies are by far the heads of fallen enemies, in emulation of their lord, the Decapitator. The priests try to arrange them to prominently display one of every race they’ve defeated around the altar, with the heads of powerful enemies displayed near the entrance to the temple and along the walls. Shrines follow these plans to a high degree, but on a much smaller scale.

Novices serving the Decapitator are known as the Unsharpened, while full priests are known as Claws of the Decapitator. Individual priests have their own titles based on personal achievements. Specialty priests are known as headtakers. The clergy of Hruggek is almost exclusively comprised of bugbears (95%), although a small number of goblins (3%) and hobgoblins (2%) eschew their racial pantheon in favor of the Master of Ambush. Despite being fairly independently minded, bugbears are just as prejudiced against females as other goblinoid races, thus the clergy is overwhelmingly male (97%). Hruggek’s clergy includes shamans (28%), specialty priests (20%), clerics (18%), witch doctors (18%), fighter/clerics (10%), and cleric/thieves (6%).

Dogma: Be opportunistic. Use stealth and wiles to gain victory over your enemies. Avoid mass combat, but when you battle, show no mercy. Work with whoever is necessary to further the interests of your tribe or bugbears as a whole, but do not hesitate to take advantage of their weaknesses. Hold no grudges, for that limits your options.

Day-to-Day Activities: Hruggek’s priests are primarily concerned with the advancement of their tribes’ interests, as well as the interests of the bugbear race as a whole. They use their positions as leaders and advisors to direct the tribe’s activities. Priests frequently command skirmishing and raiding parties, making swift and stealthy attacks on other nearby races and tribes. They delight in brutal combat, although they try to ensure victory by not attacking groups that show the potential of being more powerful. They also maintain vigilance over the priests of other bugbear gods, to ensure the interests of the Decapitator remain paramount within the tribe.

Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: The only regular ceremony observed universally by followers of the Master of Ambush is the Taking. During this monthly ceremony, held on the eve of the full moon, priests emulate their deity by ritually beheading a prisoner in order to send Hruggek a tribute of blood. Any sentient creature available to the priests is likely to be sacrificed, although there is greater prestige in offering up a more powerful or rare individual. If a creature is particularly unique, there is a small chance the Decapitator will notice and impart a blessing upon the tribe.

Major Centers of Worship: As bugbears have little interest in temple construction, there are no major temples known to exist. Rumors have persisted for years that there is a large hidden temple dedicated to Hruggek in the Pomarj on Oerth, but this has never been verified.

Affiliated Orders: Generally, the priesthood of the Decapitator is not organized enough to create any martial orders. There are the occasional bandit group dominated by particularly charismatic or intelligent priests, but these are not truly religious orders, and they tend to be fairly short-lived. There is at least one pirate group in the Grinder of Greyspace believed to be led by a group of priests of Hruggek; little is known about them since they rarely leave anyone alive when taking other ships. Lasting somewhat longer are the rarer still mercenary bands led by priests of the Master of Ambush; however, they are well known for switching sides even more readily than typical mercenaries.

Priestly Vestments: Hruggek’s priesthood typically garbs themselves in black robes when performing religious rites. Such robes frequently include dark red, grey, or white belts and fringes, and they wear a bleached skull as a helmet. Skulls from sentient creatures are always preferred, with a more powerful creature’s skull granting greater status. Occasionally, designs and decorations are painted on the skull using black, dark red or grey paint. The holy symbol used by the clergy is either a morning star or a skull or mummified head of an enemy the priest has personally slain.

Adventuring Garb: When adventuring, priests wear the standard clothing and armor of their tribe. If they wish to particularly intimidate their enemies, they will wear a skull helmet (often the same one used for ceremonies, although more utilitarian ones are also favored) and black armor, with a severed head or two tied to their belt.

Specialty Priests (Headtakers)
Requirements: Strength 15, Wisdom 9
Prime Req.: Strength, Wisdom
Alignment: CE
Weapons: Battle axe, club, hand axe, flail, javelin, mace, morningstar, polearms, quarterstaff, spear
Armor: Any
Major Spheres: All, combat, guardian, protection, summoning, sun (reversed only)
Minor Spheres: Creation, divination, war
Magical Items: Same as fighters or clerics
Req. Profs: Morningstar
Bonus Profs: Wild-fighting

Headtakers must be bugbears.
Headtakers are not allowed to multiclass.
Headtakers may select nonweapon proficiencies from the warrior group without penalty.
Headtakers can cast compel (as the 3rd-level priest spell) twice per day.
At 4th level, headtakers can cast enlarge (as the 1st-level wizard spell) upon themselves once per day.
At 7th level, headtakers can make three melee attacks every two rounds.
At 7th level, headtakers can cast hold person (as the 3rd-level priest spell) once per day.
At 10th level, headtakers can cast undetectable ambush (as the reverse of the 3rd-level priest spell detect ambush) once per day.
At 13th level, headtakers can make two melee attacks per round.
At 15th level, headtakers can cast right of might (as the 5th-level priest spell) once per day.
Hruggekan Spells
In addition to the spells listed below, priests of the Decapitator can cast the 3rd-level priest spells compel (note that the stricture for Torm’s priests using the spell to immobilize foes does not apply to priests of Hruggek), detailed in Faiths and Avatars in the entry for Torm, and detect ambush (although they favor the reverse), detailed in Powers and Pantheons in the entry for Anhur, and the 5th-level priest spells rage, detailed in Faiths and Avatars in the entry for Malar, and right of might, detailed in Powers and Pantheons in the entry for Gilgeam.

2nd Level
Morningstar of Hruggek (Pr 2; Evocation)
Sphere: Combat
Range: 0
Components: V, S, M
Duration: 5 rds.
Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: Special
Saving Throw: Special

This spell conjures up a short-lived shadowy morningstar in the caster’s hand that strikes with a +3 attack bonus, deals 2d8 points damage at a strike, and forces any creature struck to make a saving throw vs. paralysis or be stunned and unable to move or take any actions for one round. The morningstar vanishes if it leaves the possession of the caster and cannot be wielded by any other being.

The morningstar has a reach of 7 feet and must be wielded with two hands despite being almost weightless. It appears as a black, spike-headed, one-piece rod surrounded by dim, flickering, shadows.

The material component of this spell is an iron or steel nail, sliver, or fragment as well as a bone shard from a creature killed by the priest with a morningstar.

3rd Level
Glyph of Warding: Hruggek’s Noose (Pr 3; Abjuration, Evocation)
Sphere: Guardian
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M
Duration: Until discharged
Casting Time: Special
Area of Effect: Special
Saving Throw: Special

A glyph of warding is a powerful inscription magically drawn to prevent unauthorized or hostile creatures from passing, entering, or opening. The glyph of warding: Hruggek’s noose is favored by priests of the Decapitator. No other priesthoods are known to use it. The conditions, limitations, and material components for casting a glyph of warding: Hruggek’s noose are the same as for a normal glyph of warding.

When triggered, Hruggek’s noose causes a thin line of force to tighten about the neck of the creature that triggered it, causing 5d4 points of strangling damage; a successful save vs. spell will halve the damage. Unless magically healed, the glyph leaves a thin red scar encircling the neck of any target that took damage from it. Anyone slain by the glyph is decapitated.

4th Level
Spikespray (Pr 4; Conjuration)
Sphere: Combat
Range: 10 yds.
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 rd.
Casting Time: 3
Area of Effect: 2 spikes/level
Saving Throw: None

By means of this spell, a priest can conjure up a number of metal barbs or spikes, similar to those found on the head of a morning star, to spring with enough force to serve as missiles from his or her hand or from a designated space within 10 yards of himself or herself. The spikes fly up to 120 yards within the round of casting and strike as many targets as the priest wishes within the limits of the number of spikes able to be conjured. The priest may direct the spikes in any combination at any living or nonliving (a scroll, lantern, or wineskin) targets that she or he can see. The priest can conjure a maximum of two spikes per experience level.

The spikes strike only if a successful attack roll is made for each target. The attack roll is made as though the spikes were directly wielded by the priest and at a +4 attack bonus in addition to any other applicable bonuses the priest might have; no range penalties apply. The spikes inflict 1d2 points of damage each.

The missiles of a spikespray twist and turn in flight to follow moving targets and avoid obstructions, and are fast enough to catch most birds on the wing. Spikespray works underwater, but the priest has only normal attack rolls, and the range is reduced to 90 yards.
"

He's coming! And for that, I love him!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haltija

"
The word is possibly derived from the Proto-Norse *halđiaz or *halđia- ("hold", compare to Old Swedish samhälde "society"; uphälde "livelihood")—although this is not the only possible etymology. It can also be derived from the Finnish verb hallita, which means "to rule", "to command", "to master".[4] In Swedish, a similar creature is called rå (from råda "to rule").[5] Lauri Harvilahti suggested a Baltic origin: žaltys means a "grass snake", which was considered a household spirit.[6]

The word is also used in modern Finnish to mean, depending on the context, holder, occupant, lord, master, owner-occupier, occupier, possessor, bearer, or owner.[7] In Estonian mythology a similar being is called haldjas;[8] a holder or administrator is haldaja.[9] Similar words exist in other Baltic Finnic languages as well: Izhorian haltias, haltiaine, haltē, halteine; Karelian haltie; Ludic haĺgī. In Votic, altia, altiaz, altē̮, halt́śiaina means a "malevolent ghost".[4]

Haltija is sometimes written as haltia. Nowadays, this more old-fashioned spelling often refers to the elves in Tolkien's books or other fantasy literature. There has been controversy over the correct spelling of the word over the 20th and 21st centuries, but the Institute for the Languages of Finland supported haltija as the primary word until 2013, when it stated the two ways of spelling to be equal for the "fairytale creature".[10][11]
"

"
Collectively, haltijas can be called väki ("power", "magic power", "folk"). For instance, there is metsänväki, the "(magic) power of the forest" in the older sense, which has gained the meaning of "forest folk".[20] In this context, the word väki can refer to them as a folk, their magical powers, or usually both at the same time.

The complicated word väki was defined by Kaarle Krohn first and foremost as haltija-like beings in 1914. In 1916, Uno Harva brought forth the now common view of väki as an impersonal supernatural force. Later research has connected the word väki to mana, even treating them as equivalents. Anna-Leena Siikala and Matti Sarmela used the term to explain the change in Finnish folk religion as people shifted from hunter-gathering and to farming communities: hunter-gatherers' shaman communicated with the souls of the dead, while the agrarian tietäjä handled impersonal väki. Laura Stark wrote that väki as a concept is much more narrow than mana, while Tenka Issakainen argued the opposite: väki is not a special magic power, but any kind of power in general, not necessarily supernatural. Mythological väki can also differ: tulenväki (väki of fire) is in fire itself, but kallionväki (väki of rock) tends to only use rock as a conduit, not originating from it.[21]
"

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/aelcantar- ... ganization

"
Grankhul is the twin god of Hruggek, one of the two racial gods of the Bugbear species. He is the god of stealth and ambush, said in bugbear folklore to have been the one to teach the Bugbears the stealth they needed to survive in a hostile world dominated by dragons and giants in ages past.

Grankhul has no formal church, cult or structured religion at all. He has almost no priests outside of bugbear shamans who maintain his rites and ceremonies as part of their oral culture. Instead he tends to be venerated by rugged individualists, trappers, hunters, explorers and bandits who live out in the wilds and need to depend on their wits, silent feet and brutally swift ambushes to get by.

Most people have likely never even heard of Grankhul as it is one of a thousand lesser gods known throughout the world, and the few who do know of him tend to regard his worshippers with suspicion if not outright hostility due to their reputation as bandits and marauders.

Grankhul lacks a holy symbol, instead represented by a pair of unblinking bugbear eyes in the dark.
"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4ki

"
The word väki is polysemic with two interrelated meanings: a) strength or power, and b) a troop. In modern Finnish, väki means a crowd of people or inhabitants of a home or location. The word could also be translated to mean folk or people.[8] The word väki also has a meaning of "strength, power",[9] although in modern usage it mainly occurs as a modifier as in väkiviina "strong liquor". The term refers to both physical and magical power. The term väki is also used for a haltija[10] or a group of them. This article discusses the meaning "magical or supernatural power".

If a väki caused disease, it would be called vihat (in plural). In modern Finnish, viha has the meaning "hate", but the original meaning was "poison".
Kallion Väki: Väki of the cliffs, this väki was used in court cases.[11] Considered to be the most difficult väki to control and only old men handled it.[7]
Kalman Väki: Kalman väki is the väki of death. It is believed that this väki is inside corpses, graveyards, and other things connected with burials. It is believed people can get infected by this väki if they eat soil that contains it, not performing rituals for the dead properly, or disrespecting the dead.[11]
Löylyn Väki: Väki of the sauna said to infect people with diseases.[11]
Maan Väki: This väki resided in the ground. It differs depending on the type of ground and was used for various reasons.[11]
Metsän Väki: This väki was for the forest or animals.[11] It was believed väki from forests could invade the human body and cause disease.[12]
Tulen Väki: This väki resided in fire. It had the power to both infect and heal. It is also considered the most powerful väki.[11]
Veden Väki: Väki that resides in bodies of water like lakes, bonds, or wells.[11]
Vitun väki: Väki emanated by females and particularly female genitalia.[13] It was believed that it could corrupt objects that belong to the men's remit. For example, if a woman jumped over a fishing net, it was believed that the net would lose its ability to catch fish. There are many examples of spell poems against vitun vihat (harmful magical influence of the female genitalia) in the Finnish-Karelian sphere.[14] Nevertheless, it was also viewed positively in some contexts: performing anasyrma (Finnish: harakointi) on hunting implements was believe to enhance their power.
"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiet%C3%A4j%C3%A4

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cofgod

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdal%C3%A6gon

"
The original name Wærgon is derived from Old Ossetic *wærg "wolf" (see Warg).
"

"
The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey states that Tolkien's spelling "warg" is a cross of Old Norse vargr and Old English wearh. He notes that the words embody a shift in meaning from "wolf" to "outlaw": vargr carries both meanings, while wearh means "outcast" or "outlaw", but has lost the sense of "wolf".[3] In Old Norse, vargr is derived from the Proto-Germanic root reconstructed as *wargaz, ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root reconstructed as *werg̑ʰ- "destroy". Vargr (compare modern Swedish varg "wolf") arose as a non-taboo name for úlfr, the normal Old Norse term for "wolf".[4] Shippey adds that there is also an Old English verb, awyrgan, meaning both "to condemn [an outcast]" and "to strangle [an outcast to death]"; he adds that a possible further sense is "to worry [a sheep], to bite to death".[5] He writes that

Tolkien's word 'Warg' clearly splits the difference between Old Norse and Old English pronunciations, and his concept of them – wolves, but not just wolves, intelligent and malevolent wolves – combines the two ancient opinions.[5]
"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlepsh

"
Tlepsh, as the smith of the semi-divine Narts, is a figure comparable to (among others) Hephaestos in Greek mythology, Vulcan in Roman mythology and Wayland and the Sons of Ivaldi in Germanic mythology. In many cycles he is portrayed as being close with Satanaya.[2]

Colarusso (2002) finds remarkable similarities between Tlepsh and the Scandinavian deity Odin to be revealed in the tale "Tlepsh and Lady Tree" (number 17 in his anthology of Nart sagas), which tells how Tlepsh, goaded by Satanaya, sets off in quest of knowledge and not only encounters a sentient, female axis mundi, recalling the world-tree Yggdrasil, but actually begets upon her a child - the Milky Way.

A further parallel to a tale from Germanic mythology is apparent in Colarusso's tale 21, "Tlepsh's Gold Cellar" as, in an episode attributed to the historic king Guntram of Burgundy (recorded in Grimm's Teutonic Mythology),[3] the wandering soul of a hero who has fallen asleep, manifested as a small creeping creature, and aided by the hero's servant, discovers a treasure, before returning once more to his body to reanimate it, thus awakening him from his slumbers. The hero believes himself to have been on a long journey, crossing an iron bridge to reach a treasure cave, when in fact his tiny, 'soul-creature' has travelled but a short distance, crossing and re-crossing - in the Germanic version the flat of a sword laid over a little stream and in the Circassian a short length of iron laid over a water butt or quenching-bath - to reach and return from a little hole or crevice.

This folk-tale motif of an externalised soul taking the form of a small creeping animal (fly / grub / worm / snake) bears out Colarusso's perception of a similarity between Tlepsh and Odin when compared with an episode from the tale of Odin's theft of the mead of poetry, in which the god shape-shifts into the form of a snake, in order to creep though a narrow aperture to reach the chamber in the heart of the mountain Hnitbjörg, which houses the precious liquor. To this series of parallels can also be added the motif of the sword-bridge (compare Chinvat Bridge and As-Sirāt) leading to the water-girt otherworld realm of Goirre (scribal error for 'Voirre' - 'glass') in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, Knight of the Cart, an early Arthurian romance rooted in Celtic mythology.[4][5]

The other two tales concerning Tlepsh included in Colarusso's anthology have a more overt connection with the Nart leader's mastery of smithcraft, for in one he fashions the first sickle and in the other a razor-sharp sword.

It is noteworthy that in "How They Made Tlepsh Fashion the First Sickle" Tlepsh does not actually invent/design the tool in question. He does, however, know which female supernatural being the other Narts need to consult in order to find out how to design it, namely the old wife of the harvest god T'haghalig (compare the Cailleach, reaping[6] and sovereignty[7] goddess of the goidelic-speaking Celts). In yet a further remove, T'haghalig's wife does not know how to design the sickle herself, but knows that it is Lady Isp, the mother of the Nart hero Pataraz (Ossetian Batradz / Batraz) who will be able to do so - which does indeed prove to be the case. Lady Isp, a clever, frog-like little water-sprite (compare The Frog Princess) inadvertently reveals that 'Like a rooster's tail you should bend it, like a baby snake's tooth you should sharpen it...' and, using this description, Tlepsh is able to forge the wondrous new tool, giving it an edge that never grows dull no matter how often it is used.

In the tale "How Nart Tlepsh Killed Bearded Yamina with the Avenging Sword" Tlepsh has become too old to wield a weapon but demonstrates instead his formidable magical skills by fashioning what is essentially a lethal jack-in-the-box, containing 'a sword that could move under its own power'. The 'Bearded Yamina' of the title is the personification of the disease cholera, who/which has killed Tlepsh's son. When at dusk, as instructed by Tlepsh's messenger, Yamina takes the mysterious closed chest he has been sent as a present to a private room in his house and opens it, 'the sword, which had lain at the bottom, rose of its own, sliced through Bearded Yamina, and so killed him'.

Despite the brevity of this blackly comic little tale, it nonetheless manages to cast further light on Tlepsh's shamanic credentials, namely his mastery of fire and metal (in forging the sword), his ability to confront the demons of disease and his innate proto-theatricality (a shaman being, for his or her pre-scientific society, technician, doctor and entertainer, rolled into one).[8]

The curious self-propelled (and seemingly sentient) sword forged by Tlepsh to exact his terrible revenge is furthermore reminiscent of similar weapons featuring in Celtic mythology and the Arthurian romances which draw upon it - e.g. the self-moving sword present in the Arthurian motif of the Bed Perilous, as used, for example, in the early romance Le Chevalier à l'épée[9] (See also Magic sword).
"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_sword

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugbear

"
Its name is derived from the Middle English word "bugge" (a frightening thing), or perhaps the Old Welsh word bwg (evil spirit or goblin),[2] or Old Scots bogill (goblin), and cognates most probably English "bogeyman" and "bugaboo".

In medieval England, the bugbear was depicted as a creepy bear that lurked in the woods to scare children. It was described in this manner in The Buggbears,[2] an adaptation, with additions, from Antonio Francesco Grazzini’s La Spiritata (‘The Possessed [Woman]’, 1561).[3]

In a modern context, the term bugbear may also mean pet peeve.[4]
"

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Bugbear

https://shamsgrog.blogspot.com/2008/07/ ... r.html?m=1

"
What's a Bugbear?
OD&D provides very little if any descriptive pieces on the Monsters contained therein. I learned what these Monsters looked like from the illustrations in the Monster Manual, so I never got to experience the mystery and creative potential of OD&D. After AD&D 1e assumed the D&D Crown, we all learned what the Monsters looked like. The game was becoming standardized, as was our imagination.

We were using illustrations to imagine what Orcs, Gnolls and Kobolds looked like. These images have ingrained themselves into my own understanding of what said Monsters look like. D&D as a whole has defined not only images through illustration, but also actual terms. I'm ashamed to admit that until recently, I actually thought that a Troglodyte was an evil subterranean Lizardman. I'm sure there are other examples and assumptions I've made which can be attributed to a one Mr. Gygax of Lake Geneva, WI (R.I.P.)

As I've mentioned before, in converting to OD&D I often find myself striving to engage in what I call 'AD&D Disassociation', the exercise of reimagining what these Monsters not only look like, but also tailoring them and perhaps tinkering a bit with their traits and abilities.

I've often wondered what it was like to play OD&D back before the Monster Manual filled in our imaginations for us. For example, imagine playing D&D when the following two illustrations by Greg Bell were your point of reference. These are found near the end of Supplement I, Greyhawk.


Of particular interest to me is the Bugbear drawing. It has been said that this was a miscommunication between Gary and Greg; and in fact when relating what he imagined the Bugbear looked like, Gary meant a big roundish head when he said "A head like a pumpkin...", and not an actual pumpkin. Nevertheless, the illustration stayed as originally drawn, with a big pumpkin-headed Monster.

So for about three years, every D&D player was battling pumpkin-headed Bugbears. That is, until the Monster Manual was published and set everyone straight.

But what about the Monsters with no illustrations provided for the referee to reference? Surely Orcs weren't pig-snouted, and Kobolds weren't little scaly dog-things.

I've received inspiration in my AD&D Disassociation efforts from Jeff Rients and Driver aka Scott, among others. Originally from Jeff, and recently from Scott (in particular from Scott in my own retooling of the Solstice Elves).

Solstice includes greedy, evil Gnomes and Frankenstein Monster Ogres, as well as Kobolds as player characters, and Goblins as beings spawned in pools from the very essence of Chaos in the Deep Down Underworld.

So, while I enjoy being creative and trying to remove the Monster Manual images that have been with me for decades, I have decided to tip my hat to Greg Bell's misunderstanding and include pumpkin-headed Bugbears in Solstice.

The seeds contained in their pumpkin-heads can be gathered and planted in order to grow more Bugbears. Thanks Greg Bell, your little mistake has helped me further disassociate myself from those AD&D images.

~Sham, Quixotic Referee

*post script update* I'd like to quote James Maliszewski here, who made this comment over on Scott's Blog:

I once asked Gary about the pumpkin-headed bugbear. He explained that it was the result of a misunderstanding on the part of Greg Bell, the artist. Bell didn't know what a bugbear should look like, so Gary said, "Big furry guys with these heads shaped with a pumpkin or football." Bell took it literally and thus was born the guy in the illo at the back of Supplement I.
I knew I wasn't making that up! I'm sure I heard about this from James in the past, but there ya go.
"

https://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-4 ... faces.html

https://www.zbrushcentral.com/uploads/d ... be547.jpeg

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https% ... 87ba0c9ac2

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https% ... 37310d4220

https://www.sfaf.org/collections/beta/a ... shization/

https://musebyclios.com/musings/stop-fe ... t-of-view/

"
Stop Fetishizing the Strong Point of View
If creativity means thinking of something we've never thought of before, why are we all so certain about everything?
by Jonny Gadd
October 26, 2022
10:00 am
5 min read
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Photo of a bull's-eye on a dartboard
We have created an industry obsessed with strong points of view, sustained by a power structure that rewards the most confident, most assertive, and loudest voices. Those who don’t constantly and readily supply a stream of strong points of view are viewed as weaker employees.

Of course, it’s essential to have a strong, confident point of view. Show up to a pitch, a job interview, or a conference stage without one and you won’t get very far. Junior employees are encouraged to speak up and represent their point of view. If they fail to do that in the moment, the moment is gone. If you have too many missed moments, people will think you’re not engaged, you’re not smart enough, or not making your presence felt.

Being voiceless is not an option if you want to get ahead. Ours is an industry of confident assertions, that rewards the confidently assertive.

And yet, creativity requires uncertainty.

Creativity is about making connections between things that others don’t readily see. It’s thinking something that’s never been thought of before. How can certainty deliver that? Uncertainty is the sign that you’re creating something never seen before. The more you live in uncertainty, the more extraordinary the idea can be. Uncertainty is where the magic happens.

If you want to talk about your creative output with confident assertion, great, but don’t pretend there wasn’t a whole lot of uncertainty to get you there. Having a strong point of view at the end is essential, but to have one all the way through the process is to close yourself off to potential. How can you be empathetic to the views of others if you’re already so convinced your view is the right one? How can you be open minded when you’ve already made up your mind? And yet our industry worships those who talk like they invented the world.

Right now our culture values bold opinions over nuance, complexity and doubt. At the start of the pandemic, politicians and the public craved instant certainty from science. The world fell in love with the 95 percent Covid vaccine effectiveness data point. We became uncomfortable with scientific voices that ran counter to the mainstream public health messaging.

Yet, embracing uncertainty is what makes for good science. Creating hypotheses and encouraging peers to debate and poke holes in early thinking is one of the strengths of science and how it ultimately keeps moving forward.

We need to balance the pressure for certainty with the benefits of embracing uncertainty. There’s a time and a place for a strong, assertive point of view, but we can’t allow that mindset to dominate everything we do. We have to allow room for not having a point of view, for doubt and for diverse voices.

Here are five things we can do to help that happen:

Don’t let those with a strong point of view suck up all the air.
Those employees and candidates with strong points of views are often favored by traditional leaders, because that’s how they were rewarded growing up in this industry. Seek out those who are comfortable with uncertainty—those who always end up in a good place, but take their time to get there. Be wary of the presentation of tight, simple narratives masquerading as a process. That’s rarely how the best ideas are generated.

Once you have a point of view, park it. Develop others.
Create moments in the process where early strong points of views can be aired and parked. You can always come back to them later. Force yourself to develop multiple points of view that have nothing to do with each other. There are many creative ways to solve the same problem. There are many ways to define the problem. Don’t let a strong point of view get in the way of a stronger point of view.

Explore the opposite.
Sit with the opposite point of view for a while and don’t judge it. Believe that the opposite could be valid, then make a case for it. Question your most firmly held assumptions. Remember that the point is to think about something that’s never been thought of before. You won’t get there with the same thoughts you’ve always had.

Discomfort is the place where the greatest growth happens.
A state of discomfort is where we and our ideas grow. Letting ideas emerge out of chaos over time might feel uncomfortable in a world where we all like to feel in control, but it’s how some of the best ideas happen. We should cultivate a comfort with that.

Let go of the strength of the point of view.
We think our point of view is real and important. We become attached to it. It becomes part of our identity. But it’s nothing more than an ephemeral thought. A point of view is just a point of view. Question why you’re hanging onto it with such strength. Soften your attachment to it and see what happens.
"



https://www.modernintimacy.com/fetish-v ... ifference/

https://www.theamericanconservative.com ... -weakness/



https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transf ... evolution/

https://tomtommag.com/2018/03/wax-idols ... tic-zines/

https://swaay.com/empowered-women-fetis ... patriarchy

https://www.doctornerdlove.com/do-i-hav ... -a-fetish/

https://archive.thetab.com/us/columbia/ ... rsity-3694

https://oll.libertyfund.org/publication ... ng-consent

https://theworld.org/stories/2016/07/30 ... imir-putin



"
How little girls are fetishized
I saw a video recently of a waitress talking about how she gets more tips from men when she's wearing pigtails. The comments were filled with either waitresses attesting to that or other women talking about how their husbands/boyfriends really like when they wear pigtails and how they get more compliments when wearing them. This intrigued me, seeing as pigtails are usually associated with little girls, so I looked around and wanna talk about some things.

Since school uniforms are sexualised, a ton of women talk about how they got hit on more not only when they were minors, but when wearing school uniform. Why does the term "sexy SCHOOLGIRL outfit" exist? I myself had my adult neighbour hit on me and insist I give him my number even though I was in my school uniform.

I found that A LOT of porn has titles that involve terms like "barely legal", "student", "teen", "teenager", "after school", and "high school". Some times it would be genuinely difficult to tell whether or not the woman involved in the video was older than 18(she probably is, but they purposely use her youthful looks to get people off), yet those videos got hundreds of thousands to millions of views.

Labiaplasties are one of the fastest growing cosmetic surgeries. Labia are supposed to sag with age, as are most parts of the body, but men expect women to have the vagina of a 9 Yr old. They expect it to be pink and for the folds to be small when that's only possible via cosmetic procedures for most adult women, hence the popularity of labiaplasties.

A lot of men genuinely believe women shouldn't have hair on their bodies apart from on their heads. Even though the only people who don't have hair on their bodies are ppl with medical issues and CHILDREN. I've talked to a man who genuinely said to me that women weren't meant to have hair on their bodies and that it was a result of women becoming more "testosterone-filled"

Being attracted to things associated with children, mostly young girls, is a bit too normalised for my liking.
"

https://www.backdropmagazine.com/voices ... g-lesbians

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_fetishism

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_(gay_culture)

https://www.grindr.com/blog/bear-gay

https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D1Vx ... ure=shared



https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegass ... to-racism/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taboo

"
A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.[1][2] Such prohibitions are present in virtually all societies.[1] Taboos may be prohibited explicitly, for example within a legal system or religion, or implicitly, for example by social norms or conventions followed by a particular culture or organization.
"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrosanctity

"
Sacrosanctity (Latin: sacrosanctitas, lit. 'sacred sanctity') or inviolability is the declaration of physical inviolability of a place (particularly temples and city walls), a sacred object, or a person. Under Roman law, this was established through sacred law (lex sacrata), which had religious connotations. Festus explained that: “Sacred laws are laws which have the sanction that anyone who broke them becomes accursed to one of the gods, together with his family and property”.[1] In some cases the law may have been applied to protect temples from being defiled.[2] It could also be applied to protect a person who was declared sacrosanct (inviolable). Those who harmed a sacrosanct person became sacer (accursed) through the declaration sacer esto! ("Let him be accursed"). The offender was considered as having harmed the gods or a god, as well as the sacrosanct person and therefore accursed to the gods or a god. This meant that the offender became forfeit to the god(s) and on his death he was surrendered to the god(s) in question.[3] The implication was that anyone who killed him was considered as performing a sacred duty and enjoyed impunity.[4]
"

Weird to see Forgotten Realms coming up:

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Sacrosanct

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle ... asculinity

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_sexuality

https://www.wovetherapy.com/blog/racial-fetishization

Racism and Sexism includes positive seeming versions too, anything people "desire" for themselves, from others, of others.

https://aninjusticemag.com/the-fetishiz ... 7730d54f7e

https://sexualhealthalliance.com/nympho ... ualization

https://westerngazette.ca/features/deco ... 138ef.html



https://www.treatmyocd.com/what-is-ocd/ ... xperts-say

https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-get-rid ... e-fetishes

I don't, as far as I'm aware, have any fetishes, and "having one" serms to be something being promoted to the point of pressuring people to have one, find one, or make up one, lie even, just to get access to certain interactions with people who might also not really have one.

https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2024/06 ... 9.html?m=1

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki ... r_pantheon



https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki ... d_pantheon

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki ... n_pantheon

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Orc_pantheon

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questio ... lkien-orcs

"
trahan94
OP
•
5y ago
Balrog to the Orcs of Moria: Then who is your lord?

Moria Orcs: We don't have a lord!

Balrog: What?!

Moria Orcs: I told you! We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune! We're taking turns to act as a sort of executive-officer-for-the-week

Balrog: I am your new king!

Orcs: Well I didn't vote for you!
"



"
I love, love, love this passage. It’s one of only a few times we overhear two orcs just talking - not arguing or fighting, like in the Uruk-hai chapter, but really just talking. This is near the end of The Two Towers just before Sam learns that Frodo has survived the sting of Shelob. Shagrat and Gorbag are swapping news and rumors they’ve heard from above, and it occurred to me that their conversation wouldn’t sound so out of place if you heard it in the breakroom at work:

Gorbag complains that management doesn’t tell them anything, and Shagrat is afraid they’ll be ratted on. Office politics, am I right?

Then he laments that the new supervisors are favorites of the boss, and so there’s no use complaining anyway.

Both try to make the case that they have it worse than the other guy - “it’s no game serving down in the city” and “try being up here with Shelob for company”.

Lacking good information, they speculate whether things are going well in the war at all, and Gorbag is mindful enough to understand that management will say it’s going well regardless. “‘It’s going well, they say.’ ‘They would,’ grunted Gorbag.”

And most strikingly to me, Gorbag wistfully envisions what he would do if there was no war, and even suggests that he and Shagrat shirk their duty and “set up somewhere on our own with a few trusty lads, somewhere there’s good loot nice and handy, and no big bosses.” This is so cool to me because it suggests that these orcs aren’t true believers. I mean, sure, they are definitely cruel and hate the Free Peoples, but it’s clear they also hate being slaves to Sauron. Literally all Gorbag wants to do is retire to a little bungalow with some loot and drink some good grog with his best lads. Isn’t that the dream for anyone who hates their 9-5 job?

And finally, when were the “old times” that Shagrat reminisces about? Could he be talking about before Sauron moved back into Mordor? But that would have been 75 years previous? How old do orcs even live?

Padafranz
•
5y ago
When I've read this passage I was like "awww, I'd like to have Gorbag and Shagrat as friends"

After less than two hours all their trusty lads are dead on the ground and Shagrat is stomping Gorbag to a mush

track me


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[deleted]
•
5y ago
That honestly got me so sad, man. I was actually hoping they could survive Sauron's fall to go wreak havoc together somewhere else
"

https://tolkienmedievalandmodern.blogsp ... t.html?m=1

"
Orc-language and why it is corrupt
In class, we asked the question: Why does Tolkien say the Orc-language is a “perversion” of speech? In what way is Orc-language different from all other languages? One answer given was that the purpose of language is to communicate and Orc-languages are not mutually intelligible--that is, one Orc-tribe can’t understand the speech of another Orc-tribe (unless they use the Common Speech), so their languages are not successfully communicative. This, however, crumbles under further investigation, because the states of being successfully communicative and being mutually intelligible with other languages are completely different. Nowhere (so far as I have seen) does Tolkien say that languages are superior that are mutually intelligible. The hobbits do not understand elf-speech, yet this is neither a judgment on them nor on the language itself. This would be a little silly, really: to say that a language is not communicative because other languages exist. This would mean that no language in the world is communicative. So the differences between Orc-dialects cannot account for why Orc-language is a “perversion.”
Another answer posed was that Orc-speech does not change, and language-change is essential to the growth of a healthy language. This seems possible, although I don’t remember anything about this from the readings or from the Lord of the Rings. However, the ancient secret speech of the dwarves doesn’t change, either, but that speech isn’t evil. It seems to me unlikely that Tolkien finds unchanging--dead--languages inherently evil or perverted. In fact, he expresses (in the Letters, I believe) the pure joy of learning a dead language (which I can speak to myself, as a dabbler in Latin, ancient Greek, and ancient Egyptian). Dead languages by nature do not change, yet Tolkien finds them beautiful and joyous. One could argue that dead languages are OK while they’re dead, but speaking a language without allowing it to grow somehow makes the language abhorrent. To that, I would reply that what is abhorrent here is not the result that the language doesn’t change, but the cause.
Why can’t Orcs change and grow their language? The answer, I think, is that they are incapable of sub-creation. Orcs are themselves unnatural and evil, and this bleeds into their speech. All the languages of various peoples reflect their values and histories: the ent-language is slow, just as the ents are slow; elf-song sounds like rushing water, as the elves are tied to and obsessed with the sea; the speech of Rohan is formal and heroic, just as they value old-fashioned formality and heroism; the speech of the hobbits seems to them sort of country-bumpkinly, just as they are. Language and race/people bleed into each other in Tolkien’s world, and I argue that the people are responsible for the nature of the language, not the other way around. People alter their languages to fit them. The Tree of Tongues implies this. Tolkien was a philologist, and it was important to him that his world reflected our primary world, so he applied the same linguistic rules there as apply here. When daughter languages branch off from mother languages, this is simply because the daughter-language speakers alter the mother language--they start speaking a little differently. As time goes on, the daughter languages often diverge more and more, changing because of the people. I don’t think any real linguist--Tolkien included--would claim that a mother language splits on its own without speakers altering it. A language has no will of its own when it has no speakers! The speakers reflect their nature onto the language, changing it to fit them (often unintentionally). So, Orc-language reflects the nature and values of the Orcs. Growth and sub-creation are not values that they hold, so Orc-language can never grow, but that stagnation is not why their language is evil. The language is evil simply because Orcs are evil. In Tolkien’s world, each race speaks a language appropriate to them, and thus Orcs speak an evil language. Note that they are capable of learning other languages, including the Common Speech, but even that sounds harsher coming from them, because their evil natures pollute their speech.

On the other hand, there is another reason why Orc-language does not change. We discussed how a history of language is a history of peoples interacting with one another. Someone claimed that Orc-language is corrupt because Orcs can’t really interact with anyone. This may be true, but I am not sure. I doubt that Tolkien would say that in order for languages to interact, there needs to be a positive, friendly interaction; the history of the world is full of situations in which a conquering people really do everything they can to subjugate the people they are conquering, but over time, the languages end up blending. One could claim that this blending happens due to assimilation, so that even though the relationship between the two peoples started out negative, it became positive. I don’t know whether this is true. It seems unlikely--language change is rarely intentional, so it seems unlikely that a people would ever say, “Hm, these conquerors use SVO word order, but I don’t like them, so I won’t use it. These neighboring peoples, though, are pretty cool, and they use SOV word order. I think I’ll start using that!” Living in close contact with another people seems to just cause languages to combine, regardless of whether the two peoples like each other. However, I’m not sure it is totally true that this is the reason Orc-language doesn’t have influences of other languages, and that is what makes it corrupt. Orcs, in fact, interact with all sorts of peoples. They threaten and torture people who speak many languages. However, they don’t cohabitate, as they live in Mordor, and that fact alone could explain why their language doesn’t pick things up from other languages: language assimilation requires prolonged close contact (as far as I know). So, perhaps it is true that Orc-language stagnates partly because it has no outside influences, but this is mostly due to the nature of where they live, not necessarily their evil nature.
"

https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orcs

"
In particular, Shagrat and Gorbag, two company leaders (one from Cirith Ungol, one from Minas Morgul) discuss the war, and make plans for the future, letting us see how they view the whole thing:

‘No, I don’t know,’ said Gorbag’s voice. ‘The messages go through quicker than anything could fly, as a rule. But I don’t enquire how it’s done. Safest not to. Grr! Those Nazgûl give me the creeps. And they skin the body off you as soon as look at you, and leave you all cold in the dark on the other side. But He likes ’em; they’re His favourites nowadays, so it’s no use grumbling. I tell you, it’s no game serving down in the city.’

‘You should try being up here with Shelob for company,’ said Shagrat.

‘I’d like to try somewhere where there’s none of ’em. But the war’s on now, and when that’s over things may be easier.’

‘It’s going well, they say.’

‘They would,’ grunted Gorbag. ‘We’ll see. But anyway, if it does go well, there should be a lot more room. What d’you say? – if we get a chance, you and me’ll slip off and set up somewhere on our own with a few trusty lads, somewhere where there’s good loot nice and handy, and no big bosses.’

‘Ah!’ said Shagrat. ‘Like old times.’

‘Yes,’ said Gorbag. ‘But don’t count on it. I’m not easy in my mind. As I said, the Big Bosses, ay,’ his voice sank almost to a whisper, ‘ay, even the Biggest, can make mistakes. Something nearly slipped, you say. I say, something has slipped. And we’ve got to look out. Always the poor Uruks to put slips right, and small thanks. But don’t forget: the enemies don’t love us any more than they love Him, and if they get topsides on Him, we’re done too.’

This passage, and much more of the same dialogue, is from The Two Towers, book IV, chapter 10 - 'The Choices of Master Samwise.'
"

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Letter_193

"
Tiller, adapting and producing the BBC Third Programme version of The Lord of the Rings, had written to Tolkien asking for advice on "accents". Tolkien took what he meant by "accent" to be the non-technical definition of "more or less consistent alterations of vowel and consonants of 'received' English". In the cases Tiller queried Tolkien said that no accent-differentiation was needed or desired. Orcs should not drop aitches; that was not done in the text, deliberately. If by "accent" Tiller meant intonation, articulation, and tempo then he had to use such means to make Orcs sound nasty.

If his "history" were real, said Tolkien, all users of Common Speech would reveal themselves by their accents, differing in place, people, and rank. That could not be done when rendering Common Speech into English and was not necessary. Tolkien had already paid great attention to such linguistic differentiation in his text so he doubted if much more could be imported. As Minas Tirith was the source of Common Speech it was to Common Speech as London is the modern English – none of its inhabitants should have any "accent".

The Rohirrim undoubtedly spoke with a slower tempo and more sonorous articulation than modern English, but Tolkien felt it was safe to have them speak Common Speech just as in Gondor. Probably better and slower than a native since to them it was a learned language, but that was a nicety safely neglected. Théoden was born in Gondor and the Common Speech was the domestic language of the Golden Hall in his father’s day.[1]
"

https://www.tvguide.com/news/the-lord-o ... t-problem/

https://forums.signumuniversity.org/ind ... blem.4436/

https://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewconte ... enresearch

http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=15109


https://tragedyandfarce.blog/2025/02/22 ... kney-orcs/

"
In its early years, Warhammer 40,000 (also known as Warhammer 40k) didn’t take itself too seriously. The designers intended for the game to be a over-the-top parody of British society, with the game’s space dwarfs taking their aesthetics from punk biker gangs, or the Imperium of Man (the game’s human faction) parodying the British civil service with its mountains of unread paperwork and indifference to human life.

The orks, for their part, were based on contemporary “football hooligan” culture. In the 1980s, soccer fans in the UK and elsewhere in Europe became infamous for causing mass violence, rioting, burning, and looting around big games. The British saw the cockney accent as inextricably linked to the hooligans. For instance, the popular term for hooligan-inflicted violence was bovver, the cockney pronunciation of bother.
"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle- ... y_of_Earth



"
Casual classism in The Rings of Power LotR?
Anyone else notice this?

Classism mixed with racism throughout the series.

Racism regarding the language used by the Harfoots, it is blatantly Irish/gaelic in nature. Painting them as clumsy simpletons.

The others fall into classism. Notice that the elves are considered eloquent, angelic and aloof, speaking like Eton students. The orcs speak using dialect akin to English working class.

People might disagree whether or not "racism" applies regarding the Harfoots but none of the actors are Irish. They all speak in a manner commonly used by that group of people.

What do you think?

Minimum_Shirt3311
•
3y ago
Questions of race and class are themes explored in Tolkien's original work so it makes sense that they have been carried over to The Rings of Power story.

As for your statement around accents portraying particular character traits, I think perhaps you're projecting some of your own biases here.. I for one didn't make a connection between Irish accents and clumsiness or stupidity.

Edit: word choice



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u/Kitchen_Bass6358 avatar
Kitchen_Bass6358
OP
•
3y ago
Oh, no. I meant that the Harfoots are simpletons and giving them accents akin to the Irish is thus a slur toward the Irish/Gaelic speaking parts of the world.

Am very well versed in the underhanded portrayals of characters on screen. Us ethnic folk kinda get used to it after a while.



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[deleted]
•
3y ago
In game of thrones the wildlings were given pretty much geordie accents. Is that a slur towards geordies? That geordies are wildings and disgusting?



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u/ozmalysol avatar
ozmalysol
•
3y ago
That one makes geographic sense tbf, being the "true north" though I wouldn't be surprised if they were going to give them Scottish accents but bottled it and went for Geordie

The harfoots are too far east for Irish accent to make sense in the way, I think they should have based them more upon romani, given their description of darker complex, migration from east to west and nomadic culture
"



https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Warduke

"
Warduke in all of his menacing good looks.
"

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki ... alevolence

"
Kelek, the group's rapacious leader that quested for the staff of power belonging to his rival Ringlerun.[2]
Warduke, the heartless mercenary whose visage remained ever-hidden beneath his characteristic dread helm.[10]
Skylla, a warlock that forged a pact with Baba Yaga, the Mother of all Witches.[11]
Zarak, an unconscionable orc assassin whose smaller stature made him resemble a gruesome dwarf.[12]
Zargash, a cleric of Orcus whose soul had been corrupted beyond redemption.[13]
"

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Orcus

"
I will be the last creature when I am done. The cosmos will then be perfect, free of the braying abominations that are all other living things.
”
— Orcus[26]
"

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Dark_Speech

"
“
Bloated goat prince of undeath, master of vampires and lord of specters, Orcus, grant me your crushing might and the deadly power of your skull-headed wand!
”
— The Skull King Quah-Nomog[10]
Worship of Orcus was spread across numerous isolated cults that operated independently of one another. They operated within the shadows of society, often congregating in locales linked to the dead, including graveyards and secluded tombs.[71]

Through consultation of wise men, use of the mystic arts, and the craft of military intelligence, we now know that our opponent is in league with powerful demons. We suspect the Prince of the Undead, Orcus, whose name I shudder to even mention.

Tranth, Baron of Bloodstone.[72]

His worship often attracted malevolent humans, orcs, ogres, giants, and goblinoids,[30][73][28] along with at least one line of red dragons .[74] His cults also attracted twisted creatures with a morbid fascination for undeath. Notable among these followers were necromancers[75] and others deliberately seeking the path to unlife via lichdom or vampirism.[17][76] Among the undead that dwelled within Orcus' palace or otherwise joined his armies were zombies, wights,[77] shadows, huecuvae, nightwalkers, sheet phantoms, and death knights.[8][78]

Leaders within the various cults of Orcus were known as Skull Lords. To attain this title, Orcus' followers were tasked with taking control of a horde of undead from the Plains of Hunger and setting them loose in an invasion upon the prime material plane. Those that failed were slain and raised as liches, doomed to dwell within Thanatos for eternity.[30]
"

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Iggwilv

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Nomog-Geaya

"
Nomog-Geaya exemplified the traits associated with and admired by hobgoblins; he was brutal and pitiless but also stoic and courageous. The only expression he was ever stated to display was that of a grim despot with a stiff upper lip, his dour countenance remaining unchanged even when injured.[3][6] He was quiet, speaking only when something had to be said, a part of why he was said to be one of the greatest commanders of the planes.[1] He was disgusted by weakness and cowardice yet he was not unbearably egotistical, being aware of his own capabilities and able to recognize greater authorities.[1][6]

Despite having some considerably noble traits however, the merciless general was still the Torturer, a sadistic entity said to have mastered the art of pain.[3][4] He was a fairly unpleasant individual to be around with such unsavory habits as consuming the cooked flesh of vanquished foes.[3]
"

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Khurgorbaeyag

"
Goblins modeled much of their lives and society off of Khurgorbaeyag's teachings, which pushed them towards more lawful behavior and formed the basis of the autocratic government of their tribes. The lessons of the Overseer granted his followers a dog-eat-dog mentality, that only by wielding the whip could its lash be escaped and that only by enslaving others could they avoid being enslaved. The ability to create a leather whip was often a carefully guarded secret by one family in a goblin tribe, who could therefore control the supply of them, and could instantly launch even a lowly goblin to the highest caste of their society.[1] Whips were holy symbols to be used on captive slaves, goblin enemies, and lower class goblins, but not in actual combat; when subduing prisoners or fighting battles, blunt instruments like maces and clubs were to be used to beat the enemy into submission.[1][3][5]

Khurgorbaeyag's clerics and shamans served the tribe as advisors rather than troop leaders or soldiers,[5] but if forced to fight they would attempt to capture rather than kill,[3] having assistants carry ropes and chains for binding captives on military missions. They encouraged taking back living, if injured, captives in order to use them as slaves or to "instruct them" on their new place in the world, effectively a euphemism for a public torture ritual.[5] As well as maintaining the social castes of their society, Khurgorbaeyag's priests were responsible for capturing, disciplining and "taking care of" a tribe's slaves.[3] Humans were favorites for the purpose of enslavement while dwarves and gnomes were often marked for death after capture. Their traditional religious garb was red scale mail and war helms along with vestments of gray wolf fur.[5]

Though nearly all goblins could technically be counted among Khurgorbaeyag's faithful, the Overseer disliked having to grant his followers divine magic, and occasionally saw fit to gift others with supernatural abilities.[1] The candidate for receiving such power had to show some level of physical strength and force of personality.[3] His priests received powers related to making others do as they said, such as, as they were called in goblin tribes, Boohyag Whips, who dominated small groups of other goblins so that they slavishly followed orders.[1] Other abilities included a resistance to magical charming, domination and fear, and the ability to inflict fear themselves.[3]

Khurgorbaeyag's priests were his greatest servitors which he used to direct the race's path,[2] and as such he took personal interest in their affairs, sometimes sending avatars simply to oversee their slave-taking efforts.[3] He was also known to communicate his opinions, or just his presence, with more esoteric omens such as whip cracks without sources or binding instruments that moved on their own. These signs could even act as boons to the goblin tribe in question, such as if glowing bars of light like those of a forcecage appeared and trapped goblin enemies or others that displeased him. The sudden onset of depression was known to be a sign of his displeasure among worshipers, and once roused from this state they were known to take back up the whip and use it on more creatures with a renewed sense of zealotry.[1][3]

Tribes
Khurgorbaeyag was the most widely worshiped god of the Batiri.[4][7] Although many goblin tribes worshiped Khurgorbaeyag, the Kuro tribe of Chult were solely dedicated to him, and knew him as Kuro. They believed that he owned the jungle and could take the form of a huge and powerful dinosaur.[4]

Other Gods
As a result of their mutual understanding, Hruggek and Khurgorbaeyag's shamans were allowed to work together in relative harmony, in other words, cautious cooperation. The two held joint ceremonies at times and bugbear guards could be frequently be found guarding Khurgorbaeyag's temples.[3][5] Conversely, goblin and hobgoblin shamans of Khurgorbaeyag and Nomog-Geaya respectively, mutually detested each other, goblin shamans referencing Nomog-Geaya's subtle treacheries and hobgoblin shamans making thinly veiled references to their god's barely contained disgust for Khurgorbaeyag. While the Overseer's shamans claimed that goblin petitioners had to fight all the harder in the goblin afterlife against the orcs do to the clumsy, lazy hobgoblin petitioners, the General's shamans claimed that hobgoblin petitioners had to do the same as a result of the weak, dishonorable goblin petitioners.[5]
"



https://tragedyandfarce.blog/2021/06/05 ... al-part-i/

https://tragedyandfarce.blog/2021/06/08 ... l-part-ii/

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgo ... 0318130700

https://sweatingtomordor.wordpress.com/ ... -of-melko/

"
Squat and Unlovely – Tolkien’s Earliest Orcs, the Broodlings of Melko
January 5, 201510 Comments

Few creatures in Tolkien’s legendarium have such a large roll, while also being so greatly misunderstood and (and in many ways unknowable) as Orcs. They were there from the very first stories and evolved when he needed armies to fill the Enemy’s ranks. They were a foil to his philosophy, and even their in-story origins was fluid and undecided for decades. This week, we’ll take a look at Tolkien’s history with the Orcs, from his earliest intentions to the very last word on their purpose.

Tolkien first wrote about Orcs in 1916’s Fall of Gondolin, part of the Book of Lost Tales. Tolkien often counted this story as his first, though it was actually preceded by an introduction of sorts called The Cottage of Lost Play. Through the talks in this cottage, we learn about the creation of the universe, the higher beings, the Elves, Men, the Enemy and its hordes. They fought under Melko, along side the Balrogs and dragons, and in armies of their own.

When first written, he called them Orqui and sometimes Goblins, the terms being at this stage fully interchangeable. It was in his first mention of them that he debated their creation – if it could even be called such a thing: “…for all that race were bred by Melko of the subterranean heats and slime.” This would possibly place them among, as Tolkien would soon call them, the Úvanimor, “who are monsters, giants, and ogres.”

Several different origins for the Orcs were in favor during the long history of writing. It seems that Tolkien at first believed that they were created by Melko [Melkor/Morgoth], though he hinted that perhaps not all of the Orcs were such. Melko had captured many of the Noldoli [Noldar], and kept them as slaves. When they would sometimes escape, Men would mistake them for Orcs. It was speculated that it might have been “that certain of the Noldoli were twisted to the evil of Melko and mingled among these Orcs….”

The Noldoli called the Orcs “Glamhoth,” meaning “folk of dreadful hate.” Tolkien described that “their hearts were of granite and their bodies deformed; foul their faces which smiled not, but their laugh that of the clash of metal, and to nothing were they more fain than to aid in the basest of the purposes of Melko.”

The Orcs appeared next in the Tale of Tinúvial, started in 1917, and the Tale of Turambar from the year after. Though the Orcs and Goblins were the same species, Tolkien hinted that perhaps there was a difference after all. In the Tale of Tinúvial, it was explained that the “thrall-Noldoli laboured bitterly under the Orcs and goblins.” He would hint at this a few years later in another tale, as well.

Tinúvial also birthed the Orcs as the “foul broodlings of Melko,” and introduced a trait that they would carry from then on:

“Many a combat and an escape had he [Beren] in those days, and he slew therein more than once both wolf and the Orc that rode thereon with nought but an ashen club that he bore….” The Orcs, we learn, would travel with wolves “as dogs with Men.” But these were no ordinary wolves. When they camped, the wolves did not sleep, but kept vigil over their masters, and “their eyes shone like points of red light among the trees.”

Nienóri in the Turambar story, camed upon one of these camps, and at first believed it to be a camp of Men. Looking on it, “she saw that they were creatures of a squat and unlovely stature that dwelt there, and most evil faces had they, and their voices and their laughter was as the clash of stone and metal. Armed they were with curved swords and bows of horn….”

Also in Turambar, the Orcs were described as having “ears of cats,” meaning they could hear sounds that Men and Elves (probably) could not. Earlier, in Gondolin, their sight is likened to that of cats, as well, with “eyes of yellow and green like cats that could pierce all glooms and see through mist or fog or night….”

Cats didn’t get much love in Tolkien’s early stories, and their feline likeness probably stemed from Telvildo Prince of Cats, a servant of Melko who would be later folded into the character who would become Sauron (that’s a story for a different time).

Though Orcs were created by Melko, they apparently bred in the same manner as Men and Elves. There’s mention of the “sons of Orcs” in Gondolin, but, unlike Elves, they seem to not have been able to breed with Men. There was the story of Meglin from that same tale that told of rumors that this betrayer of Gondolin “had Orc’s blood in his veins,” but the narrator didn’t see how that was possible.

In his later writings, especially in Lord of the Rings, Tolkien gave names to a good many Orcs. But he handed out a few in the early writings as well. His first were probably given during an incredibly killing spree by Tuor and Ecthelion:

“There Tuor slew Othrod a lord of the Orcs cleaving his helm, and Balcmeg he hewed asunder, and Lug he smote with his axe that his limbs were cut from beneath him at the knee, but Ecthelion shore through two captains of the goblins at a sweep and cleft the head of Orcobal their chiefest champion to his teeth; and by reason of the great doughtiness of those two lords they came even unto the Balrogs.”

The Orcs, as can be seen, were an early creation of Tolkien’s, coming at the same time as his first few stories. In 1920, when he began to compile the Book of Lost Tales many other stories had been written – from the Music of the Ainur to The Hiding of Valinor and many in between and after. When he laid them out, they formed a storyline very closely related to what would much later become the published Silmarillion.

As far as the Orcs were concerned, however, in the story, they did not come about until an early draft of the Awakening of Men, though that was removed in a subsequent draft. This placed the first mention of the Orcs during the History of the Exiled Gnomes, a sort of proto-Return of the Noldor. Incidentally, in the published Silmarillion, they show up much earlier, in the Coming of the Elves chapter.

After working for the last time on the Book of Lost Tales material, Tolkien turned in 1920 to retelling two of his stories as long epic poems. The first he worked on was a new version of the Tale of Turambar called the Lay of the Children of Húrin. In this, Orcs played a similar role as before, though lengthened and flowered as poetry.

Here, we have “Glamhoth’s goblin armies” and “the wolf-riders and the wolves of Hell”.

His death or torment he deemed was come,
for oft had the Orcs for evil pastime
him goaded gleeful and gashed with knives
that they cast with cunning, with cruel spears.

Though the Orcs don’t really go through any massive changes through the Lays, they are described in more vile and horrible manners. It’s here, in the Lay of Leithian (from the Tale of Tinúvial) where we understand just how evil these creatures were:

The leaguer of Angband Morgoth broke:
his enemies in fire and smoke
were scattered, and the Orcs there slew
and slew, until the blood like dew
dripped from each cruel and crooked blade.

also…

“The Orcs went forth to rape and war,
and Balrog captains marched before”.

Tolkien would soon put down his Lays in order to focus upon writing what would become The Hobbit, though, at first, he did not link it directly with the Lost Tales/Lays. This, along with its sequel, Lord of the Rings, would transform the Orcs into something much more human, if not slightly less menacing.

Camera: Argus C3 Film: PolyPan F 50iso
Camera: Argus C3
Film: PolyPan F 50iso

A Few Notes

In the Book of Lost Tales, Tolkien also mentioned that Melko “fashioned the false-fairies or Kaukareldar in their [Elves] likeness, and these deceived and betrayed Men.” It seems like Melko was a bit more crafty in the old days.
I really don’t find it helpful to speculate on why Tolkien wrote something the way he did, but his battle scenes in Lost Tales, written very shortly after World War I, are much more brutal than those written in Lord of the Rings when he son was fighting in World War II.
From now on, if you have kids, you have to refer to them only as your “broodlings.”
About the Photo
I know that I’ve shown this place before, but this is Goblin Valley, Utah. If you ever find yourself in the West, make a point to visit. The “goblins” are actually small hoodoos – large rocks held up by much softer sandstone. I can’t recommend it enough.



Miles today: 20
Miles thus far: 1194 (280 miles since leaving Lothlórien)
109 miles to the Falls of Rauros
579 miles to Mt. Doom
Book II, Chapter 8, Farewell to Lórien. Drifting down the Anduin, February 21, 3019 TA. (map)
"

https://middle-earth.xenite.org/are-j-r ... ally-evil/

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Orcs/Origin

https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Pig-Like_Enemies

"
Nijata
•
7y ago
The word Orc is the welsh word for pig and other forms of old English it means the word DEMON. There have been a legend of pig humanoid creatures in Europe & the depictions of the devil had pig-like heads during the 16th century , ALL of which that were always connected by having the common themes of being boorish, brutish corruptions of other beings twisted into something else. Now doesn't that sound familiar? As not many people (including myself) exclusively think of the corrupted version of Elves when they talk Orc and I choose to look at what is confirmed to and was most likely inspired JRR according to his own notes .
"

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ail%29.JPG

"
Ethereal_Stars_7
•
3y ago
Here is an excerp from a 1500 piece on the Land Orc. Might be what Gary was reffing. Orcs as giants!

To calculate the griesly monster's height,
(So measureless is he) exceeds all skill;
Of fungus-hue, in place of orbs of sight,
Their sockets two small bones like berries fill.
Towards us, as I say, he speeds outright
Along the shore, and seems a moving hill.
Tusks jutting out like savage swine he shows,
A breast with drivel foul, and pointed nose.
"

https://www.tumblr.com/vintagerpg/16076 ... -1977-when

"

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vintagerpg


This is what D&D orcs looked like in 1977, when David C. Sutherland III drew them for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. They’re a far cry from the Tolkien standard of the day, which was still the sort of inflatable reptile/rats of the Rankin Bass adaptation of The Hobbit (Bakshi’s unfortunately African-looking orcs in The Lord of the Rings wouldn’t appear until ’78 and the less said about them the better; Tolkien already put us in an awkward spot with orcs by mainly describing them as “swarthy”). Making them pig men, with all the connotations of that animal’s behavior, makes for a good visual metaphor. I dig it.

I also dig those door-shaped shields. I drew many a shield like that in my elementary school notebooks.

At any rate, remember this illustration – we’re going to revisit it (after a fashion) on Friday.

scribblingsorsomething
The look was 'borrowed' from depictions of orcs by the Brothers Hildebrandt. They created a series of LotR-related artwork for two calendars in '76 and '77, and their orcs were in the former.
"



"
Charles Hildebrandt
@CGHildebrandt
...if you want to know the origins of the Hildebrandt pig-faced orcs... well, I can tell you that my dad was a *huge* fan of the Disney animated 'Sleeping Beauty' from 1959.
"

https://dhvy3ng9937ei.cloudfront.net/me ... 7ba387.jpg

https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/07 ... s.html?m=1

https://swordssorcery.blogspot.com/2015 ... 6.html?m=1

https://www.spiderwebart.com/productsd.asp?snob=102915

https://www.spiderwebart.com/images/art/102915B.jpg

https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/view ... 4&start=90

"
This is the heart of the argument for me - orcs need to be distinct from goblins and hobgoblins. Most of the non-piggo orcs posted in this thread look like big goblins (AKA hobgoblins) to me, so there isn't a distinction. Until I see something else I like more, I'm gonna tout the snout.
"

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Gamorrean

https://www.medievalists.net/2019/02/fa ... n-romance/

https://www.calameo.com/read/003061718e7d71d4a9e8e

https://www.academia.edu/91232379/The_M ... anuscripts

"
Saint Christopher gains human speech capabilities, no longer only able to communicate in ‘the
language of the Dogheads,’ and begins working to convert humans to Christianity. In the text of
the Passion of St. Christopher, he is physically described to the emperor as a ‘a man with a dog's
head on him, and long hair, and eyes glittering like the morning star in his head, and his teeth
were like the tusks of a wild boar.’ It has proven difficult to find confirmed visual depictions of 93
Saint Christopher with a dog-head within illuminated manuscripts, as it appears that this specific
imagery was most common on portable icons in medieval Eastern Europe, despite the narrative
existing and being commonly found in folklore in Western Europe. However, the physical
description of St. Christopher seems to have influenced visual depictions of unrelated
cynocephali found in manuscripts, especially referencing his ‘tusks of a wild boar.’ In the 94
manuscript of miscellany from the eleventh or twelfth-century, a monster, referred to in a folio
description written by the British Library as a ‘beast,’ is shown resembling a cynocephalus — the
naked monster has a head resembling a dog, with human bodily characteristics including
humanoid arms, legs, and genitalia. In this miniature illustration, the cynocephalus is depicted 95
with tusks matching the boar tusks described in the Passion of St. Christopher, creating a visual
tie between the religious text and the physicality of the cynocephalus — the holy and the
monstrous. Suchaux and Pastoureau note in their Le bestiaire medieval: Dictionnaire historique 96
et bibliographique that, ‘if the cynocephali really existed,’ their monstrous nature could not be
considered against the laws of nature, as ‘they could have only appeared though the will of God,’
thereby validating the existence of sainthood within the cynocephali species, as well as
questioning the validity of the argument against the existence of monsters as being against God’s
vision of creation. 97
"

https://thewalters.org/wp-content/uploa ... europe.pdf

https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/bitst ... 0/download

"
Virtuous Saracen women often marry a Christian knight and convert, like Josian in Bevis of
Hampton; bad Saracen women are often also masculine, like the Sultaness in Chaucer’s The Man
of Law’s Tale, who is a “Virago” (359) and a “feyned woman” (362).
99 Because of Old English and French influences, in some cases in Middle English a word like
“blake” might mean white, so context is important. In Havelok the Dane, for example, there are
three instances when “blac” (48), “blake” (311), or “blackne” (2165) probably means white or
pale rather than black (Herzman, Drake, and Salisbury n.48, n.311).
100 Bartlett shows that medieval medical theory explained skin colour as the result of geographic
determinants, especially heat and cold. As an example, Bartlett includes Albertus Magnus’
assertion from De natura locorum that dark skin could become lighter after many generations in
a new, colder climate (46-47). Medieval thinkers believed in the mutability of race over time, and
in this sense the Sultan’s change may simply be a sped up version of something that would
happen eventually.
"

https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewconten ... t%3Dhonors

https://sites.nd.edu/manuscript-studies ... -the-east/

https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/ ... 0Women.pdf

Added in 1 hour 39 minutes 17 seconds:
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/210598677.pdf

"
However, the focus of this chapter as it relates to these three accounts will be on
the portrayal of the three Sarasin “types” – Foreign, Familiar, and Converted – in
accounts of the Third Crusades. In particular, the chapter will seek to identify common
themes in the portrayal of Sarasins as a group, and in the portrayal of the three types of
Sarasins between the three accounts. In addition, the chapter will compare the depictions
of the Foreign, Familiar, and Converted Sarasins in the works of fiction with those found
in the historical accounts.
There are numerous examples of the Foreign Sarasin in the popular fiction of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, one of the most striking being Astragoth, the Sarasin
giant in the army of the Soudan in the Sowdone of Babylone, who is described as being a
giant from Ethiopia.13 It is immediately clear, from the author’s description, that he is
wholly alien in appearance from his Christian adversaries, and in truth, from humanity in
general:
With bores hede, blakke and donne
For as a bore an hede hadde…
He was a king of grete strength;
There was none suche in Europe
So stronge and longe in length. (347-8, 353-5)
The writer’s next step in his description is to connect Astragoth’s appearance to the
demonic: “I trowe, he were a develes sone, / Of Belsabubbis lyne” (356-7). Astragoth is
situated outside the boundaries of humanity by the author, and as such, he becomes a thoroughly foreign body upon which the writer and his audience can project their
hostility. Thus, after a portcullis falls upon him, before he dies, he is described as
“…cryande at the grounde/ Like a deuelle of Helle” (435-6); moreover, “Gladde were al
the Romaynes, / That he was take in the trappe” (439-40). Astragoth is a dehumanized
figure throughout his short appearance in the Sowdone, and as such, his death does not
elicit compassion from the Christian warriors, the author, or the audience, since one
cannot relate to the monstrous on a human level.
The Foreign Sarasin does make rare appearances in historical writing about the
Third Crusade. However, in such cases the idea of the alien is more often evoked by
reference to the culture or religion of the Other than his actual physical appearance. As
the matter of the chronicles is a more or less factual account of the Crusades, there is no
place for the types of figures one finds in many of the romances. In the rare instances in
which the Foreign Sarasin is presented other than in contexts of religious or cultural
difference, the precipitating factor is often the introduction or appearance of a group that
is markedly different from the more recognizable “Sarasins/Turks.” Hence, one finds this
description of two groups of warriors that accompanied the Turkish regulars in the
Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi:
After these ran a devilish race, very black in colour, who for this reason have a rather
appropriate name: because they are black [nigri] they are called ‘Negroes’. Also there
were the Saracens who travel about in the desert, popularly called ‘Bedouins’: savage
and darker than soot, the most redoubtable infantrymen, carrying bows and quivers and
round shields. They are a very energetic and agile race.14
Here, the Foreign Sarasin is not a literary device evoked to elicit a desired response from
the audience, but rather appears uninvited and, in a sense, is more like the wonders
described in travel literature than like the demonic figures and Sarasin giants encountered
in the romances of Charlemagne and Arthur.

While a Foreign Sarasin is often identifiable by his appearance, in certain
instances this character is set apart through his behavior.15 In such instances, the Sarasin
characters are portrayed as removing themselves from resemblance to their Christian
counterparts through their behavior, which is at odds with acceptable Christian behavior
and comportment. Frequently, such a character appears in popular romances in the form
of the raving Sarasin king, over whom the Christian characters will triumph completely
and come to dominate entirely.
Perhaps the raging Sarasin king par excellence is Laban, the “Soudan” of the
Sowdone of Babylone. In his behavior, Laban exemplifies all of the characteristics
associated with this figure or type. First, and most obvious, he is prone to uncontrollable
fits of rage, which generally accompany news of a setback at the hands of his Christian
adversaries. Thus, when the twelve peers raid his camp, killing three hundred of his men
in the process, he flies into a rage, directing much of his anger at his gods:
O ye goddess, ye faile at nede,
That I have honoured so longe,
I shall you bren, so mote I spede,
In a fayre fyre ful stronge; …
Ye shalle be brente this day ere eve,
That foule mote you befalle! (2,431-4; 2,437-8)
In another instance, after failing to recapture his castle, in a fit a passion, he knocks an
idol of Mahound to the ground so that it falls on its face, and is then compelled by the
priests to kneel and ask for forgiveness (2,407-10; 2,511-26). And in yet another instance,
on learning of the rescue of Sir Guy, he again threatens to burn his gods, only to be
reconciled to them by his priests, who convince him to offer one thousand besants in
homage to the gods (2,761-90).

In each instance in which Laban flies into a rage, he calls the audience’s attention
to two realities: his impotence in the face of his Christian adversaries; and the impotence
of his deities, and hence his religion, in the face of Christianity. For, despite his best laid
plans, his superior numbers, and his natural advantage fighting within the confines of his
kingdom, his forces are unable to prevail against the forces of King Charles in combat, be
it a pitched battle, a raid, or a chance encounter. And with each subsequent defeat, his
rage appears to increase in proportion to the setback, thus diminishing him in the eyes of
the audience, until at story’s end he has been reduced from the seemingly invincible
destroyer of Rome to a comic foil to King Charles. Thus, Laban’s rage serves to limit and
greatly reduce him throughout the course of the Sowdone of Babylone, particularly as it is
contrasted with the calm demeanor of King Charles and the twelve peers as they go about
the business of defeating him.
The impotence of Laban is almost always linked directly to the failure of his gods,
and often by Laban himself, as he does not fail to implicate them in his defeats. Thus, in
each of the aforementioned examples, news of a defeat is immediately followed by
invectives against his gods in which he derides them for failing to reward his loyalty and
liberality toward them with success. Indeed, Laban seems to share the perspective of the
writer, in that he views each loss as an indication of the value of his belief system and of
his gods. And as his rage increases in proportion to the magnitude of his defeats, his
expression of his discontent toward his gods also becomes more forceful, only to be
followed by an increasingly outlandish act of obeisance, at the instigation of others, on
his part. Thus, his initial threat to burn his gods is followed by a reconciliation, while his
physical attack on Mahound is followed by him kneeling to the fallen idol, and his final threat to burn the gods (at which point he has actually set the fire in which they are to
burn) is followed by him offering one thousand besants as a peace offering. Just as he is
diminished as a character by each outburst in the Sowdone of Babylone, so are his gods
and his religion diminished by his subsequent actions. While the forces of King Charles
ultimately expose his impotence, it is he who exposes the weakness of his deities by
revealing their inability to help him, or even to punish him when he defies them. Thus,
his reconciliation with them through the intervention of his priests is fitting, as they are
ultimately compatible in their mutual inability to effect change.
This pattern of defeat and impotent rage is brought to an end, fittingly enough, by
Laban’s final defeat and subsequent execution at the hands of King Charles and his
forces. As Laban surveys his present situation, bereft of his kingdom, his power, and his
children, who have both converted and by their subsequent actions betrayed him, he is
powerless to act in a meaningful way, and thus, refusing baptism, seeks recourse through
his only available option, cursing Christians in general, and his children in particular:
Ye and thou, hore serpentine,
And that fals cursed Ferumbras,
Mahounde gyfe hem both evel ending,
And almighty Sathanas!
By you came all my sorowe,
And al my tresure for-lorne.
Honged be ye both er tomorowe!
In cursed tyme were ye born. (3,171-8)
It is here that the true value of the raving Sarasin king to a romance is most evident. That
value is to debunk the idea of Sarasin might loosely based upon historical encounters
with Muslims in the Levant and North Africa. While Laban’s forces serve as bodies upon
which the Christian characters can inflict damage on a massive scale, Laban demonstrates
his inability to help them and himself, and as each threat and each boast goes unfulfilled,
the Sarasin menace, and by extension the Muslim menace, is diminished. Thus it is Laban and the other raging Sarasin kings of the romances that complete the mission of their
Christian enemies, for while King Charles, the twelve peers and their literary equivalents
show that the Sarasins can be defeated, Laban and his literary equivalents show that
Sarasins are not even to be taken seriously.
While there are numerous examples of the Foreign Sarasin in popular medieval
literature and historical texts, examples of the Familiar Sarasin – the Sarasin in whom
medieval Europeans could recognize socio-cultural and moral similarities, yet who
remains Sarasin throughout – are far more prevalent in Crusade-era historical works than
in popular works of fiction. The most probable reason for the paucity of Familiar Sarasins
in medieval works of fiction is the fact that by its very nature the Familiar Sarasin is ill-
suited to such works. The Foreign Sarasin is useful in that he or she supplies both the
writer and audience with the requisite threat to Christendom, the enemy to be vanquished;
he or she exists so that Christians and Christianity can be exalted through their defeat. In
a similar manner, the soon-to-be-converted Sarasin, through both a display of admirable
qualities and eventual conversion, offers the hope that the best from among the enemy
can be converted, and that the superiority of Christianity can be successfully asserted
through reasoned discourse.
Of the few examples of the Familiar Sarasin that are to be found, the Sarasin king,
Clarell, in Sir Otuell, serves as an apt representative. Clarell first appears within the
context of a skirmish that takes place between three members of King Charles’ renowned
twelve peers (Ogier, Oliver and Roland) and Clarell with three other Sarasin kings. In the
ensuing melee, Clarell’s companions are killed, but he pleads for his, and thus is spared.16
Yet the defeated Sarasin king is described as follows: “…when his visage was alle bare/A fayrere knyghte saw Þay neuer are” (853-4). Thus, soon after his introduction in the
text, he is distinguished from his Sarasin companions and compared favorably to all
knights, Sarasin and Christian.
Beyond appearances, Clarell also proves to be a man of his word as well; soon
after he is captured, Ogier, Oliver and Roland are ambushed, and Ogier advises that they
release their prisoner, as he will be a burden to them, because they are bound not to harm
him, but yet must engage the other Sarasins now before them (865-70). As a knight,
Clarell recognizes the act as a sign of nobility on the part of the Christian knight, in
particular given the situation at hand: “this was a worde of gentill blode/ to speke thus for
thi foo” (872-3). But beyond verbally acknowledging Ogier’s act, Clarell demonstrates
that he too lives by a similar code through his subsequent actions; having been released
by the three peers, he absents himself from the coming battle, despite the fact that, as a
Sarasin, he would benefit from an enormous numerical advantage against the same
knights who had but recently killed his companions and captured him (874-6). And when
Ogier is captured during the course of the ensuing battle, Clarell returns the favor that
was extended to him, intervening to save the Christian knight (944-8). Moreover, when
another Sarasin challenges Ogier’s right, as a Christian, to a Sarasin’s protection, Clarell
asserts the right of his prisoner in both word and deed, reaffirming Ogier’s status as a
prisoner, and killing the upstart Sarasin (949-54). In extending his protection to the
captured Ogier, Clarell also demonstrates his willingness to act in defense of his captive,
even in opposition to his coreligionists.
The similarities between the Sarasin king Clarell and his Christian adversaries are
also evoked in the depiction of Clarell’s paramour and her interactions with Ogier.

Having sent the captured Ogier to his lady’s pavilion, the reader now catches a first
glimpse of his lover, Alphayne, who, interestingly enough, is described as “white als
fame,” (967), a phrase that is generally used to describe Christian princesses. In her
treatment of Ogier, Alphayne acts much like King Charles’ daughter Belesant’s does with
the Sarasin Otuell prior to his duel with Roland.17 Both Belesant and Alphayne are aware
of their duties relative to the knight who was been placed in their care, and both appear to
be comfortable within their respective guest’s presence, displaying a willingness to
discuss all topics, whether it is Belesant’s maidens advising Otuell to beware of Roland’s
sword (427-32), or Alphayne marveling at the ability of three knights to be the cause of
discomfort to so many Sarasins, including her lover, and attending to Ogier’s wounds
(982-4; 991-6). Not only does the Sarasin Clarell resemble the Christian peers of King
Charles in appearance and comportment on the field of battle, the similarities even extend
to his lover and her behavior as well.
However, despite the similarities between Clarell and his Christian counterparts,
in the end he remains a Sarasin, and as such, the enemy. In an ironic turn of events,
Clarell is exposed as being unforgivably Sarasin in his interactions with the Sarasin
convert Ottuell, with whom he later engages in a duel in which each combatant
champions his religion. Clarell dies at Otuell’s hands, revealing his fatal flaw as a
Familiar Sarasin: despite his proximity to his Christian adversaries, he is both unwilling
and unable to take the final step and become Christian. As such, he is, in the end, an
artifact from the Sarasin convert’s past, an embodiment of the last stage in the individual
process of evolution from Sarasin to Christian. Thus it is perhaps fitting that he meets his end at the hands of his more advanced relative on the evolutionary chart, the Sarasin
convert.
In Clarell, the text presents both the positive and negative aspects of the Familiar
Sarasin as they relate to the narrative of Christian triumph that lies at the heart of
medieval popular literature involving Christian-Sarasin conflict. The Familiar Sarasin is
at the same time comforting in the fact that his behavior and values point toward the
existence of universally-held concepts of normative behavior and values and yet
problematic in his insistence on remaining Sarasin and thus implicitly legitimizing a
religious and cultural perspective that is decidedly and defiantly non-Christian. As such,
the Familiar Sarasin poses more of a threat than the Foreign Sarasin, for while the
Foreign Sarasin is an unequivocal monster, the Familiar Sarasin is an enemy with a
plausible argument, a Sarasin with an alternative theology that appears to result in a
moral and social system not unlike that found in Christian society. Thus, the only feasible
end for the Familiar Sarasin is the fate of the Foreign Sarasin. The Familiar Sarasin may
meet his end in a less extreme or humiliating manner than the Foreign Sarasin, but it is
necessary that his voice be silenced, as it raises questions that cannot be answered within
the context of the traditional medieval narrative.
The Familiar Sarasin offers neither of these positive outcomes to the writer or
audience. He or she is a figure who is admirable for noble qualities and in whom the
audience may recognize some of the qualities of Christian heroes. As such, the Familiar
Sarasin inhabits an uncomfortable space in medieval popular fiction: not a wholly
foreign, evil character upon which the writer and audience can project anger and not a
figure from whose ultimate defeat and demise they can derive satisfaction. Yet, for all of the similarities between the behavior and customs of the Familiar Sarasin and his or her
Christian adversaries, the Familiar Sarasin will never take the next step and join the ranks
of the Sarasin converts. Rather, the Familiar Sarasin remains familiar yet Sarasin, a
proximate Other who, by his very existence, raises uncomfortable questions about both
the true nature of the Other and the true distance culturally, morally and socially between
the Christian and the Other. Moreover, by virtue of his existence, the Familiar Sarasin
presents the unsettling possibility that qualities like chivalry and honor can exist outside
of a Christian context, and need not be informed by Christianity. And it is perhaps for
these reasons that the Familiar Sarasin, because of his implicit rejection of Christianity, is
rarely found within the context of medieval popular fiction. Of those few examples that
are to be found, even fewer escape fates similar to those of their Foreign Sarasin
companions.
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Another aspect of the Sarasin convert of popular fiction is his similarity to the
medieval audience for whom the tales were composed. In appearance and behavior, the
Sarasin convert is, in a manner of speaking, the most European of the Sarasins, and
therefore the most likely candidate for conversion. Such characters are also the most
desirable candidates for conversion; their credentials (beauty and position for Sarasin
women, and skill in battle and nobility for Sarasin men) serve to mark them in the texts as
potential converts. However, the process of conversion, while not necessarily a
conventional battle, is nonetheless a type of conquest, and one that differs considerably
depending on the gender of the Sarasin convert.
In the case of the Sarasin princess, conversion is a matter of conquest through
love, whereby the princess is willing to forsake all, including religion, for the love of a
Christian knight. Consequently, the conversion of the Sarasin princess also takes on many
of the trappings of medieval Orientalist fantasy, in which an Eastern seductress becomes
both a conquest for the Christian knight as a lover and future wife, and a conquest for
Christendom, since a flower of Sarasindom has been plucked from its fold and all that it
has to offer is now at the disposal of the Christian community into which she has been
assimilated.
Princess Floripas of The Sowdone of Babylone stands as an excellent example of
the prototypical Saracen convert. The daughter of the sultan, Laban, she is both a source
of pride35 and a trusted counselor. In fact, her first act in the text is to advise Laban what
to do with Oliver and Roland, who have recently been captured, so as to ensure the safety
of Ferumbras, who is a prisoner of the French (1,511-26). Moreover, she is intelligent, a
quality which serves the Christian knights well throughout the work.

But perhaps most importantly, through the course of the text she becomes a means
by which the Christian characters can inflict pain and suffering upon the Sarasins, and
Laban in particular. Indeed, long before she is baptized, and before she has joined forces
with King Charles and his peers, she is working to their benefit, and to the detriment of
her father and his forces. Her desire to meet the imprisoned Oliver and Roland leads her
to dispose of first her governess, and then the jailer (1,563-78; 1,584-1,606). Floripas’
placing both her natural gifts and the gifts she has accrued as a consequence of her
position at the disposal of the Christian forces is a constant theme in the text. Indeed,
after disposing of the jailer, she works quickly to gain custody of the two prisoners, acts
which include lying to her father in the process, promising to protect them from harm
(1,607-46), and upon the arrival of the remainder of the twelve peers into her custody, she
informs Sir Naymes, and the audience, of her long-standing love for Sir Guy and her
desire to be baptized for his sake (1,891-6).
Having given herself to Sir Guy, and in so doing, to the cause of King Charles and
his forces, Floripas not only becomes a willing instrument in the undoing of her father,
but appears to derive a genuine satisfaction from his distress. When Lukafer, one of
Laban’s trusted advisors, is burned alive by Naymes, Floripas expresses her approval,
and soon after advises the peers on how to proceed against her father (2,018-26). Once
her allegiance to the Christian forces is revealed, she joins the fray in full, trading insults
with Laban (2,212-30), providing the peers with alternative sources of sustenance (2,299-
2,306), and later weapons with which to repel Laban’s forces during a siege of the castle
(2,475-86) (which they have commandeered), and generally working in tandem with the
Christian knights against her father and his forces. Moreover, it is Floripas who recognizes the banner of the advancing King Charles and his forces, and alerts the peers
in a timely fashion, ensuring their participation in the rout of the assembled Sarasin
forces (3,083-94). Thus it is little wonder that, upon his capture, Laban finds no comfort
in being re-united with his daughter (3,129-32).
In her actions on behalf of the Christian forces subsequent to her declaration of
love for Sir Guy, Floripas highlights a key concept in the trope of the Sarasin convert in
medieval popular fiction, that of the link between religious and political affiliation.36
Having allied herself with the forces of King Charles and assured them of her eventual
conversion, it is not sufficient that she merely recognize her fate as being linked to their
fate. Rather, as a soon-to-be-former Sarasin, she must actively participate in the ongoing
conflict against the Sarasins, amongst whom are members of her family (although by this
time Ferumbras has been baptized, unbeknownst to her), taking part in the conflict in a
manner that would be both unexpected and inappropriate for a Christian princess.
However, as a convert (or prospective convert), she must demonstrate her allegiance to
her new faith and her new coreligionists by actively severing all ties to her former faith
and the members of that community. In a sense, conversion is perceived as an act of
betrayal, and as such, necessitates action on the part of the Sarasin convert to allay any
fears on the part of other Christians regarding the motives and sincerity of the convert, or
that they will be the victims of a similar betrayal at some point in the future. Thus the
Sarasin convert, in this instance Floripas, displays a particular zeal in bringing about the
downfall of former companions and coreligionists, as through their defeat and eventual
annihilation, the convert is born anew within the context of his or her new religious
community. By itself, the account of a trusted and loved princess who murders her governess, collaborates with an outside force to bring about her father’s downfall, and
witnesses his execution without protest would be reprehensible; indeed, Laban’s
imprecations against her upon first seeing her subsequent to his capture37 would be
appropriate. However, as the actions of a Sarasin convert, they are both necessary and
appropriate; moreover, they are part of a rite of passage, as Floripas, like all other Sarasin
converts, must completely sever all ties with Sarasin society, and thus their Sarasin
selves, in order to obtain a place in Christian society.
While the converted Sarasin princess is often noted for her beauty, it is skill in
battle and nobility that are often the distinguishing characteristics of the converted
Sarasin knight, qualities which, subsequent to his conversion, are used in the service of
the Christian sovereign under whom he now lives, and the Christian community of which
he is now a part. Perhaps one of the best examples of the converted Sarasin knight, as
mentioned earlier in this chapter, Sir Otuell of The Romance of Duke Rowlande and of Sir
Otuell of Spayne, for in Otuell one finds the prototypical Sarasin convert both prior to and
following his conversion. From his introduction in Sir Otuell, Otuell is clearly presented
as both an uncommon knight and a loyal Sarasin. He first appears in the text as a
messenger, delivering an ultimatum to King Charles on behalf of the Sarasin emperor
Garcy. In delivering the message, he identifies himself as a loyal servant of his Sarasin
sovereign and ardent devotee of the Sarasin faith, and, through his bravado and threats, a
knight of similar standing to Roland:
…my lorde þe Emperour Garcy…
In Paynym ne es none so doghety,
He hathe the flour of cheuallrye…
Charles I ne maye noghte honour the,
For þou hase greuede Mahoun & me,
þat alle þis worlde has wroghte.
And Rowlande, if euer I may the see
At Batayle or at any Semble,
Then, for further emphasis, Otuell follows his pronouncements with his account of the
Sarasin attack of Lombardy, the ensuing massacre of fifty thousand Christian knights,
and his role in both the destruction of the city and the massacre (134-50). It is only after
he has slain Sir Estut (who attacks him in anger as a result of Otuell’s account of the sack
of Lombardy) and secured the protection of King Charles against his barons, whose
collective wrath he has aroused (151-83), that the Sarasin knight actually delivers the
message for which he was sent to Charles’s court: the king is to renounce Christianity,
adopt the Sarasin religion, and recognize Garcy as his emperor; in return, he will be given
England and Normandy to govern, and certain members from among the twelve peers
will also be granted additional lands over which to rule (203-46).
Otuell’s standing as a knight is further reinforced by both King Charles and
Roland within the context of the duel between the two knights, during which the king
prays for Roland’s success and the conversion of the “gentill knyghte/ þat es so hardy and
so wighte” (511-12). For his part, Roland offers both the king’s daughter (Belesant) and
his friendship, along with Oliver’s friendship, as incentive for conversion (517-28).
However, in a response typical of a Sarasin knight, Otuell rebuffs Roland’s offer,
returning threats of further violence, and the duel continues (529-40). Otuell’s manner of
declining his opponent’s offer serves to highlight his qualities as a knight, for although
his refusal to convert to Christianity can be read as an affront from a purely religious
perspective, it would be highly irregular for a warrior engaged in a duel to capitulate
instead of fighting. In the context of the duel, Sir Otuell’s rejection of Roland’s offer
comes as no more of a surprise than Charles’ rejection of Garcy’s demands that he
renounce Christianity in exchange for land; in a sense, both the responses of King Charles and Sir Otuell spring from a similar sense of personal and cultural pride. Indeed,
the prayer of the French king and his knight’s offer serve to set the stage for Otuell’s
moment of conversion and emphasize his sense of self, as he cannot be brought to the
baptismal font through the efforts of men, even men of the stature of King Charles and
Sir Roland.
In the end, Otuell’s conversion can be effected only through divine intervention;
in this case, it takes the form of a dove sent from the heavens which alights on his helmet
and inspires him to convert (577-85). Yet even in these circumstances he remains
unconquered; neither his opponent, nor any of the spectators, are cognizant of his
decision to convert prior to his announcement to Roland, and his decision takes place at a
time in which the outcome of the duel is in doubt to the degree that the French king feels
compelled to offer yet a third prayer for his knight.38
Upon his conversion Otuell immediately demonstrates his loyalty to his new king
and religious community. His first act after his baptism is to declare that he will “distruye
þe heythyn blode,” precluding all things, including marriage to the king’s daughter (648;
658-60). As a Sarasin convert, he is cognizant of his precarious position relative to both
the Sarasin community he has just abandoned, and the Christian community which he is
attempting to enter and of the fact that his entrance into that community is dependant
upon his complete severing of all ties with his former one. In essence, King Charles will
become his ally only on the condition that Garcy is his enemy, and such a radical shift
can be effected only through violence initiated by Otuell and directed against his former
sovereign. Otuell acknowledges this reality in pledging to destroy the Sarasins, retake
Lombardy and capture Garcy (who, as well as being the emperor, is also his uncle); in effect, he must reverse the damage he helped inflict upon Christendom. Before he can
enter Charles’ court, he must efface the most powerful symbols of his Sarasin past: his
works as a Sarasin knight, and his personal connections to the Sarasin world.
The reality of Otuell’s precarious position as a Sarasin convert is reinforced by
the reactions of both Christians and Sarasins to him after he converts. As a new convert,
he has yet to be fully integrated into the brotherhood of the Christian knights and
therefore is not a member in full standing of Charles’s peers. Thus, despite previous
assurances of the formation of a trio of sorts comprised of Roland, Oliver and Otuell
(assurances which were made by no less an authority than Roland himself), upon their
arrival in Lombardy, it is Roland, Oliver and Ogier who set off in search of adventure
(760-8). As one who would now join both the Christian community and the fraternity of
the peers, Otuell lacks the requisite body of work by which King Charles and his knights
can judge him, and more importantly, through which bonds are formed within this closed
community of warriors. Consequently, Otuell remains on the periphery of his new
community, eagerly awaiting an opportunity to demonstrate his loyalty and his value as a
knight.
While the attitude of the Christian knights towards Otuell is one of acceptance
tempered by a degree of ambivalence, the Sarasins regard the Sarasin convert with open
hostility. Since conversion represents a shift of temporal as well as spiritual allegiance,
the Sarasin knight who converts is regarded by his former comrades as having committed
an act of treason. However, until the conversion is confirmed through action by the
Sarasin convert, the Sarasins are slow to believe the claims of conversion. It is the
Sarasin Clarell who first learns of Otuell’s conversion. His reaction is telling, in that he expresses both wonder and dismay at the loss of Otuell from the Sarasin ranks and then
advises him to recant:
…alas,
Now is this a wikkede case,
& þou so noble a knyghte.
Whi dwelles þou there amonges thi fase?
Foully there thou wichede was,
& whi es this dede thus dighte?
I rede þat þou conuerte the in hye,
& then sall saughtyll with thyn Eme sir Garcy,
& forsake not thy lawe. (1,147-55)
In essence, Clarell’s advice is to consider the implications of his actions and repent of
them while he can. When Otuell refuses, the duel between the two knights is a necessary
consequence. For Clarell, Otuell’s act constitutes treason, and as such, it must be
punished. For Otuell, the duel represents an opportunity to sever his ties to the Sarasin
community and his Sarasin past by championing the cause of Christianity against his
former religion: in effect, to make real his earlier conversion in the eyes of both Sarasins
and Christians alike. In this context, the religious overtones of the duel benefit Otuell’s
cause, and it is used to solidify his new position within the Christian community.
With the death of Clarell during the course of the duel, Otuell’s conversion is
made real for both Christians and Sarasins alike, and his relationship to each group
fundamentally altered. His position among his new coreligionists is strengthened, and
each subsequent act serves to further improve his situation, while his links to the Sarasin
community are irrevocably severed. Otuell becomes as much an enemy to the Sarasins as
King Charles and the peers, and perhaps even more of an enemy, since Otuell shares a
personal history with his new enemies. Garcy’s reaction to the sight of Otuell on the field
of battle expresses his new standing in the eyes of his uncle and former ally:
…alas,…
…Renayede thefe my Cosyn was,
he ledis vs here a wikkede pase,
bothe with traye and tene. (1,513; 1,516-18)
Otuell’s affiliation with both the Sarasin community as a whole and with his immediate
family is all in the past tense in the eyes of the Sarasin emperor.
Otuell’s subsequent actions (capturing Garcy and marrying Belesant) bring the
narrative to a close in a predictable manner. But in a sense, the narrative of the
conversion of Sir Otuell ends with the death of Clarell. While the capture of Garcy
enables Otuell to assume the position in Christian society promised him by King Charles,
it is his victory in a duel in which he champions Christianity which assures a place for
him in Charles’ kingdom and in Christian society. Prior to the duel, Otuell’s position, like
that of other Sarasin converts in medieval popular fiction, is very much in doubt and
largely contingent upon his actions against his former allies on behalf of his new
coreligionists. While the act of conversion represents a step for the Sarasin convert, it is
but an initial step, and will not result in admission into Christian society without the
equally important steps represented by the active severing of ties to the character’s
Sarasin past, and thus, the annihilation of the convert’s Sarasin identity. In order to
become fully integrated into the new society, the Sarasin convert must cast his or her
fortune entirely with the Christian society. For the Sarasin convert, Sarasin society
remains a viable alternative as long as links remain, as Clarell’s offer to Otuell upon
learning of his conversion demonstrates. It is only by destroying that option that the new
Christian can ensure his or her position in Christian society. Thus, as the door to the
Sarasin world and a Sarasin past closes for the Sarasin convert, a new door opens to
reveal a Christian future within the Christian world in which he or she is now a member.
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The position maintained by theologians in the Latin West at the time of the Third
Crusade regarding Islam was that it was a heresy rather than a religion,40 and scenes in
which Christian symbols are desecrated serve to reinforce the image of a Sarasin heresy
that negates and distorts fundamental aspects of Christianity rather than positively
asserting a rival theological position via its own religious symbols. Moreover, such
examples of overt hostility toward Christianity evoke the religious aspect of the Third
Crusade for the audience, and can serve to remind the reader not only of the reason
behind the Crusade, but also, in light of its outcome of the necessity for renewed action.
And in addition to the aforementioned reasons, the chroniclers were actually quite
uninformed about Islam and the ways in which it would have been manifested
symbolically. While there appears to be some knowledge of Muslim beliefs and practices
on the part of many of the chroniclers, much of it is at a very superficial level. As a result,
the best way for them to identify the positive assertion of Islam would have been through
locating examples of the active negation of Christianity.
Thus, there are numerous examples of the assertion of a Sarasin religion through
acts negating Christianity in the various historical accounts. After the conquest of Acre,
the Itinerarium describes the condition of the Christian churches and symbols at the time
of the re-entry of Christians into the city en masse:
The state of the churches inside the city was horrible to behold, and even now it is distressing
to remember the shocking things seen within them. For which of the faithful could gaze dry-
eyed on the face of a venerable image of God’s Son Himself crucified, or of some saint, which
had been disfigured or dishonoured in some way? Who would not shudder at the horrific
description of how that impious Turkish people abusively destroyed altars, and threw holy
crosses on the ground, and beat them in contempt? (pp. 221-2)41
In a similar fashion, both Ambroise and Richard de Templo relate that, after the Sarasin
capture of Jaffa, the Sarasins killed all of the pigs in the city, and then placed the bodies
of the slain Christians together with the swine in a show of contempt.42 A similar state of
affairs is reported in connection with the various Christian holy sites in Jerusalem in the
Itinerarium, as Christian pilgrims are said to have found that the Sarasins were using
many of these places as stables (p. 377).43 Thus for the chroniclers, the areas under
Sarasin control are, in effect, polluted by their religion, which, as a part of its
manifestation, includes the active negation of Christianity. Consequently, the only way in
which such areas can be rendered suitable for Christian habitation is through conquest,
and the “conversion” of the city to Christianity through the assertion (or reassertion) of
Christianity through symbols and symbolic acts.
Due to the nature of the Third Crusade (indeed, all Crusades) and the underlying
religious foundation of the conflict, military actions were necessarily rendered religious
actions at some level. Thus, the act of conquest on either side was invariably an act of
conversion, since the result of the conquest was that the area in question was now “free”
and re-absorbed into God’s dominion. Thus, in writing of the conquest of Acre, Richard de Templo describes it as having been “surrendered” (p. 221), and in a later passage,
informs his audience that Richard strove to “conquer God’s inheritance.”44
These acts of conquest, while themselves a form of conversion, are at times also
accompanied by symbolic acts of conversion on the parts of the Crusaders. There are
symbolic acts of conversion that were undertaken by members of the clergy that, while
not mentioned in the chronicles, undoubtedly took place. However, the focus of the
chroniclers most often falls on the reversal of Sarasin acts of desecration undertaken by
the Crusaders themselves. Thus, in the aforementioned example of the Sarasins mingling
the corpses of the slain Christians with those of pigs in Jaffa, both the Estoire and the
Itinerarium state that the Christians, upon resuming control of Jaffa, recovered the
corpses of their coreligionists and substituted them with those of the dead from among
the enemy.45 In this instance the Sarasin investiture of the city is, in part, asserted through
both the assertion of practices, expressed through the killing of pigs,46 and an insult, the
mingling of the corpses of their enemies with the slaughtered animals. The Crusader
response is to effectively return the favor, and in so doing, to implicitly reassert the
dominion of Christianity in Jaffa.
The Third Crusade, much like the previous and subsequent ones, stood apart from
other conflicts in that in many ways it represented the concrete expression of religious
differences via armed conflict. Moreover, as the religious foundation of the conflict was
universally acknowledged, the religious and the martial aspects of the conflict often
occupied the same space. In such an atmosphere, victories and reverses gained an added
significance. For the chroniclers of the Third Crusade, military success was a reflection
of a greater spiritual superiority, and the convergence of doctrine and proper application via practice and ritual. Similarly, conquest was akin to a form of conversion, as, even
precluding individual conversion, the result was the absorption of another city, town or
territory into the fold; this was significant in that not only was the area in question
transformed into a safe space for one religious community, but conversely, it also became
uninhabitable for one religious community. And given the atmosphere of heightened
tension and religious intolerance that was part and parcel of life in the Levant during the
period of the Crusades, the difference between the conquest and conversion of an area
was often a question of interpretation.
The Sarasin, both as the representative of the Eastern Mediterranean Muslim of
the Middle Ages and as the bogeyman of medieval popular fiction, was a study in
contrasts: alien yet similar, feared and abhorred, yet consistently popular as a character in
medieval fiction. In the historical context of the Middle Ages, and the Third Crusade in
particular, the Sarasin as historical Muslim represented a very real threat located just
beyond the borders of Western Europe (with the exception of Spain, which was
experiencing a gradual process of Christian re-conquest). Moreover, the Sarasin
represented an unconquerable threat in the cultural, political and religious arenas, and
Sarasin leaders like Salh al-Dn consistently proved to be the equal of their Christian
counterparts. And in the context of the medieval world, the edge in economic and
military power, if one was to be found, lay not in Western Europe, but with their Eastern
neighbors.
Ultimately, the West’s answer to the Sarasin as a representative of historical
Muslims was the Sarasin of medieval fiction. If the Sarasin in the historical context
symbolized a threat militarily, politically and religiously, then the Sarasin of popular fiction served as a counterweight, as he presented an image of the historical Sarasin’s
opposite, a character consistent in its ineptitude and impotence, that provided a ready
target for Christian adversaries. In this context the threat posed by the historical Muslim
was debunked through caricature, as the image of Muslim political and military strength
was reduced to that of raving, ineffective sultans and hordes of Sarasin soldiers
descending upon fields of battle against their Christian opponents like cattle to slaughter.
And as the situation deteriorated in the Levant in the face of stiffening political
opposition on the ground and reverses on the field of battle, the image of the Sarasin in
popular fiction deteriorated further, and Christian triumphs in the literature served to
counterbalance their defeats in the real world. With each Christian victory and Sarasin
defeat, the Sarasin of popular fiction served to take a bit of the edge off of the ominous
situation in the East and South that was a part of the audience’s historical reality. Thus,
while the Sarasin of popular fiction could not alter the historical reality of the Crusades or
offer a viable solution to the situation in the Levant, it did provide its Western audience
with a diversion, and a way in which to obtain a victory of sorts in the face of an
increasingly difficult military and political situation in the East.
"

"
In his later work, Kitāb al-Tanbīh wa ’l-Ishrāf, al-Mas‘ūdī takes up the subject of
the climatic divisions of the world and their effects on the nature and temperament of the
peoples found therein. In his discussion of the various climes, he divides the earth into
two parts, and then proceeds to describe the inhabitants of both regions. The description al-Mas‘ūdī provides of the peoples of the North (of whom the Franks are one group)
enumerates many of the stereotypical attributes that were already circulating in
association with Europeans in medieval Muslim literature:
As for the northern quarter, which is farther away from the sun, in the extreme north, and
which is the abode of the Saqāliba, the Afranja [Franks] and the neighboring races, and
where the influence of the sun is rather alleviated and the region is cold, moisture and snow,
the people are characterized by good physique, rude behaviour, slow wit, harsh tongue,
white complexion, thick flesh, blue eyes, thin skin, curly and red hair. All these
characteristics are found due to the predominance of moisture in their lands, and their
cold nature does not encourage firmness of religious belief. Those living farther north
are characterized by dullness of mind, harsh behaviour and barbarism. These
characteristics increase proportionately as we proceed further north.66

In this passage, al-Mas‘ūdī reinforces what was already quickly becoming a widely-held
belief about the “character” of Western Europeans, identifying barbarity and lack of
intelligence in all things as the principal characteristics of this group and its culture. The
Tanbīh was in many ways a revised edition of the Murūj and largely reflects the thinking
of the prior work, as well as contemporary thought regarding the Northern regions. In the
same way in which the Tanbīh condensed much of the information found in the Murūj
and other previous works, presenting the information in a concise manner, this passage
serves to present al-Mas‘ūdī ideas regarding the IFranj in their essential form.
With his breadth of knowledge regarding the distant places and peoples of the
world, which was a product of his extensive consultation of Muslim and non-Muslim
sources and his wide-ranging experiences abroad, al-Mas‘ūdī’s works were invaluable for
the information they contained about the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds. Al-Mas‘ūdī’s
attention to detail as a geographer was in part a reflection of his interest in history, and
his belief that the history of a people could not be understood outside of the context of the
environment, cultural and physical, of the group in question;67 this idea would resonate
with some of the best minds of the medieval Muslim world in the subsequent centuries Al-Mas‘ūdī’s interest in both pre-Islamic and non-Islamic societies, along with his
interest in the various denominations within Islam and other religions in general, was also
of great value to those who would follow in his footsteps, as these interests resulted in his
amassing a wealth of information relating to these subjects. In addition, his methodology
of privileging knowledge based on personal observation and practical experience was not
only a motivating factor for his many sojourns abroad, but also resulted in a few findings
which challenged widely-held beliefs.69 Al-Mas‘ūdī’s travels to distant shores and
inquiries into the culture, history and religion of the peoples with whom he came into
contact resulted in a vast quantity of information in a variety of fields, and in those of
geography and history in particular, and in a research model for future scholars in the
medieval Muslim world to emulate.
"

"
However, despite Ibn Jubayr’s predisposition against the Franks, he does not
hesitate to highlight areas in which the practices of the enemy are superior to those of his
coreligionists. Just such an example is found in his description of the conditions of the
Muslim inhabitants of the area of Tibnin, in which he inserts an aside on the comparative
state of Muslims living under Frankish rule versus those living under the dominion of
their coreligionists:
Our way lay through continuous farms and ordered settlements, whose inhabitants were
Muslims, living comfortably with the Franks. God protect us from such temptation. They
surrender half their crops to the Franks at harvest time, and pay as well a poll-tax of one dinar
and five qirat for each person. Other than that, they are not interfered with, save for a light
tax on the fruits of trees. Their houses and all their effects are left to their full possession. All
the coastal cities occupied by the Franks are managed in this fashion, their rural districts, the
villages and farms, belonging to the Muslims. But their hearts have been seduced, for they
observe how unlike them in ease and comfort are their brethren in the Muslim regions under their
(Muslim) governors. This is one of the misfortunes afflicting the Muslims. The Muslim
community bewails the injustice of a landlord of its own faith, and applauds the conduct of an
opponent and enemy, the Frankish landlord, and is accustomed to justice from him. He who
laments this state must turn to God.155
Ibn Jubayr’s criticism of the failure of the local Muslim sovereigns to implement a
system of governance that measures up to the standards of their Frankish neighbors is
both an impartial appraisal of the practices of the Frankish potentates in the Levant in
dealing with their Muslim subjects and an indictment of the Levantine Muslim kingdoms.
"

"
For Usāmah, the Franks are, despite his close relationships with a few individuals,
the enemy, and more often than not the reader finds some type of malediction attached to
references to them. Moreover, his stories involving the Franks are designed to denigrate
them, their customs and their beliefs. Some of the anecdotes also come across as far-
fetched, and at times lurid, as if crafted to evoke popular stereotypes of Christian
Europeans held by members of his audience.28 Thus, one finds the following account,
which is intended to illustrate Frankish men’s lack of jealousy concerning their spouses:
Here is a fact of the same nature of which I was witness. When I was in Neapolis, I lived
at the house of a man named Mou‘izz at whose house [Muslims] used to stay. Our windows
opened on to the street. Opposite, on the other side, there lived a Frank who sold wine to the
merchants. …One day, going to his bedroom, the wine-merchant found a man in bed with
his wife. “What has induced you to come in to my wife?” he asked. “I was tired,” the other
said, “and I came in to rest myself.” “But how,” said the Frank, “did you go in to my bed?” “I
found a couch smoothed over like a rug and I went to sleep on it.” “But my wife was sleeping
by your side.” “The bed belonged to her, could I turn her away from it?” “By the truth of my
religion,” the husband answered, “I swear to you that if you do it again we shall see an
estrangement between us.” That is what discontent is with a Frank and that is the measure of his
jealousy. (177-8)
Such a story clearly cannot be taken at face value, but rather is a caricature of Western
Europeans which employs Eastern Mediterranean stereotypes of Franks’ loose morals,
along with their lack of an “appropriate” level of vigilance regarding their wives and their honor, and it presents a tale in which both stereotypes are presented in extreme forms for
the amusement of his audience. Moreover, Usāmah is careful to present a figure for
which the audience will not feel sympathy, as he is twice removed from an Eastern
Mediterranean Muslim audience. Racially, he is a Frank, and as such, part of an
unwanted presence in the Levant. And while the religious separation between the Frank
in the story and Usāmah’s Muslim audience is implicit, this difference is presented in
emphatic terms by his identification as a wine-seller, an occupation that places him
beyond the boundaries of what is religiously acceptable.29 This double-screen, established
within the context of the narrative, effectively moves the Frankish husband from the
realm of the potentially pitiable, as one who has been cuckolded, into the realm of the
comic figure, one who has received ample recompense both as an enemy of Muslims, and
as one who profits from a forbidden practice.
For Usāmah ibn Munqidh, the singular positive attribute of the Franks is their
courage and skill in battle, a quality that, according to him, is highly valued in Frankish
society. As Usāmah implies in one passage, it is the most important criterion in Frankish
society, as the illustrative example he provides is meant to show:
The Franks (may Allāh turn from them!) have none of the virtues of men except bravery. It is
only the knights who are given prominence and superiority among them. The knights are really
the only men who count among them. They are also considered as the arbiters of councils,
judgments and decisions. One day I demanded justice of them for some flocks of sheep which
the lord of Paneas had taken in the forest. …I said to King Fulk, son of Fulk:30 “This lord has
committed an act of hostility against us and has carried off our flocks. It was at the time when
the sheep were lambing; their lambs died at birth. He has given them back to us after he has
caused the death of their offspring.”
The king at once said to six or seven knights: “Hold a session and do him justice.”
They left the room, went apart, and discussed the matter until they had come to an agreement.
Then they returned to the room where the king held audience and said, “We have decided that
the lord of Paneas is bound to compensate them for the loss that he has caused them by the death
of their lambs.” The king ordered him to pay this debt. …Now, once a decision has been
pronounced by the knights, neither the king nor any other chief of the Franks can alter it or
diminish it, such is the importance of the knight in their eyes! (86)

Having established the importance of the knight in Frankish society, he also reports some
of the physical attributes that are esteemed in a Frankish knight,31 although coming as it
does, after a discussion of the influence knights wield in Frankish society, it seems to
portray the Franks as shallow in their focusing so much attention on appearance in
choosing such important figures.
Although the nature of Frankish society is so portrayed in this manner by Usāmah
ibn Munqidh, he does not hesitate to draw attention to the Franks’ ability to recognize
and appreciate demonstrations of martial prowess by both their companions and their
enemies, members of a kind of universal fraternity of warriors. To this end, the amīr
reports an encounter with a Frankish knight during the course of a battle in which he was
an active participant:
...In the rear of the Franks was a knight mounted on a dark roan horse which looked like a
camel. He wore his coat of mail and his cuirass. I was afraid of him and I did not worry
about his not deigning to take the offensive against me. Suddenly he spurred his horse and
I was delighted to see its tail glitter…. I hurled myself on the knight, struck him, and my
lance pierced his body, coming out almost a cubit in length. The lightness of my body,
the violence of the blow and the speed of my horse tumbled me out of my saddle. I got
into it again, flourished my lance, quite convinced that I had killed the Frank, and collected
my comrades….
My uncle (may Allāh have mercy upon him!) arrived some days later, having
taken leave of Nadjm ad-Dīn Īlgāzī (may Allāh have mercy upon him!). He at once sent a
messenger to me, asking me to appear before him at the usual time. He received me, having
by his side one of the Franks. “This knight,” he said, “has come from Apamea and wants to
see the soldier who tilted with the knight Phillip, for the Franks were amazed at the blow
which he received which pierced his coat of mail in two places at the edge and yet the knight’s
life was saved.” (52-4)
Thus, the Franks are capable of appreciating martial prowess within any context and in
any individual, even if it comes at the expense of one of their own. In this particular
instance, Usāmah ibn Munqidh appears to point to values shared by the two sides, as they
both demonstrate an appreciation for individuals who are skilled in the practice of
warfare.

However, the amīr’s compliments of the Franks rarely come without a
qualification that often serves to all but negate the positive attribute in question, and his
remarks concerning valor among them Franks is no exception. While Usāmah readily
acknowledges courage and martial prowess as being found in great measure among the
Franks, he makes it clear that these are the only qualities they possess, portraying the
qualities as instinctual rather than developments of any type of cognitive process:
Anyone who is acquainted with what concerns the Franks can only glorify and sanctify
Allāh the All-Powerful; for he has seen in them animals who are superior in courage and
in zeal for fighting but in nothing else, just as beasts are superior in strength and
aggressiveness. (172)
In describing the Franks in this manner, Usāmah recasts his earlier comments regarding
the proficiency of the Franks in battle, transforming it from a positive attribute worthy of
praise into something more akin to a distinguishing physical characteristic such as might
be found among animals. For Usāmah, the Franks are not courageous in battle in the
manner of his companions; rather, they have the distinguishing characteristic of being
war-like just as other animals possess the characteristics of speed or strength.
The amīr further expounds upon the barbarity of the Franks in his discussion of
the role of violence in the Crusader courts. Having already explained the manner in
which Frankish knights are esteemed as a result of their martial prowess (86), Usāmah
provides an illustration of the negative implications of such evaluation and the reliance
upon violence as a determiner of justice through an anecdote about the case of a farmer
accused of aiding and abetting a group of thieves from an adjacent Muslim area:
At Neapolis, I was once present at a curious sight. They brought in two men for a trial
by battle, the cause being the following. Some [Muslim] brigands had raided some
property in the neighborhood of Neapolis. A farmer was suspected of having guided the
brigands to this spot. The farmer took flight but soon returned, the king32 having had his
children imprisoned. “Treat me with equity,” said the accused, “and allow me to fight
with him who has named me as the person who brought the brigands into the village.”
The king then said to the lord who had received the village as a fief: “Send for his
opponent.” The lord returned to his village, picked out a blacksmith who was working there, and said to him, “You must go and fight a duel.” For the owner of the fief was
primarily anxious to see that none of his laborers got himself killed, for fear his crops
should suffer. (181)
At this juncture in the narrative, Usāmah has painted a picture in which it is unlikely that
justice will be served; a legal matter – the question of the farmer’s guilt or innocence in
rendering assistance to a group of brigands – is to be settled through a duel, which is not
likely to establish anything conclusively outside of which of the two combatants is the
superior warrior. Moreover, the farmer is denied even the opportunity to face his accuser
in combat, but rather the accuser is able to offer a proxy, in this case a strong yet
“expendable” young blacksmith, whose participation in the duel ensures that the lord of
the village will not have to risk losing one of his field hands to the vicissitudes of such
combat.
As the duel unfolds, the picture becomes more disturbing. The challenger, who is
described as “an old man of great courage” (181), comports himself well against a
younger opponent in a scene that abounds with grisly images.33 When, at the instigation
of the sheriff (182), the duel comes to an end, with the young blacksmith victorious,
Usāmah describes the aftermath, in which the authorities attempt to add a veneer of
justice to the proceedings:
At once they put a rope round the neck of the corpse, which they took away and hung on a
gibbet. The lord who had chosen the blacksmith gave him a considerable piece of property,
made him get on a horse with his followers, took him off and went away. See from this
example what law and judicial proceedings mean among the Franks… (182)
In this example, the alleged barbarity of the Franks is on full display for the audience, for
whom the lesson is that courage and enthusiasm for battle, while admirable in the context
of combat, is inappropriate in other circumstances. The preceding anecdote serves as a
clear illustration of the fact that the Franks have not come to this understanding, but
rather have allowed their proclivity toward violence to spill over into other aspects of society. For the amīr, this is but one example of the implications of the natural bellicosity
of the Franks, and the reason for which it deserves condemnation rather than praise.
Not content to leave his audience with but one illustration of Crusader barbarity,
Usāmah provides another example of the “Frankish” manner of justice in the form of the
tale of blind young man whom he came across in the course of his travels. This young
man had been in the habit of killing Frankish pilgrims (183), but in time, the Franks
began to suspect him guilty of the very crimes he had committed and in accordance with
their customs, the man was put on trial:
They fitted up an enormous cask, filled it with water and placed a wooden plank across it.
Then the suspect was bound, hung by a rope from his shoulders, and thrown into the cask.
If he were innocent, he would sink into the water and would be pulled out by means of this
rope without being allowed to die. On the other hand, if he had committed any fault, it
would be impossible for him to sink in the water. The unfortunate man when thrown into
the cask tried hard to reach the bottom but did not succeed, and had to submit to the rigour
of their judgment… They passed a red-hot stiletto over his eyes and blinded him. (183)
Although this “trial” happened, in this particular instance, to arrive at an appropriate
“verdict,” clearly Usāmah ibn Munqidh thought it lacked both the appearance and
substance of justice. This example, much like the previous one, serves to reinforce
stereotypes of Frankish barbarity, stereotypes that the amīr of Shayzar evokes and
endorses in his discussions of other aspects of Frankish culture and customs.
If the Franks’ innate courage is both a positive and negative attribute in the
estimation of the amīr, there is no such ambiguity in the author’s discussion of the
question of constancy among his neighbors from the West. For Usāmah, the Franks are
duplicitous by nature, and as such, are not to be trusted. Even when there is an existing
agreement, Franks will seek to circumvent it to the greatest degree possible. To illustrate
this point, Usāmah provides one particularly poignant example of the alleged deceitful
nature of the Franks. He recounts his family’s ordeals in traveling through the territory of Baldwin III (1142-1162) en route to Damascus. According to Usāmah, the sultan Nūr al-
Dīn had obtained safe passage for his family from the Crusader king (43-4). However,
despite this agreement, his loved ones encountered trouble soon after entering Crusader
territory:
On leaving Damietta, they set sail in a Frankish ship and crossed the open sea. When they came
near Acre, the king (may Allāh have no mercy upon him!), who happened to be there, sent out
men in a light skiff. These men broke the ship with their axes, in sight of my family. The king
mounted his horse and remained on the shore, plundering everything that he found there.
My servant swam up to him, carrying the safe conduct, and said to him: “O king, my
master, is not this your safe conduct?” “Certainly,” replied the king, “but it is the custom among
the [Muslims] that, when one of their ships is wrecked before a town, the inhabitants of that town
have the right to plunder it.” “Are you going to take us prisoners?” asked my servant. “No,” the
king answered. He (the curse of Allāh upon him!) had them collected in a house and went so far
as to search the women and take from them all their possessions.
There were in the ship apparel which the women had placed there, clothes, pearls,
swords, arms, gold and silver of the value of about 30,000 pieces of gold.
The king took the whole of it and gave the travelers 500 pieces of gold, saying to them,
“Here is enough money to take you home.” Now, they numbered not less than fifty persons,
women and men. (44-5)
This is, for Usāmah, a clear example of Frankish duplicity. The individual in question,
Baldwin III, puts forth the utmost effort to circumvent his guarantee of safe passage to
the Muslim travelers, violating the spirit of the agreement through his extemporaneous,
literal interpretation of the covenant. While Usāmah’s family and their retinue do arrive
safely in Damascus (45), they are greatly imperiled by the very individual who is
ostensibly the guarantor of their ability to travel safely through his dominions.
Usāmah ibn Munqidh assumes a far different tone in his discussion of Frankish
marital relations, in which Frankish men are depicted as comic figures rather than
villains. One of his examples of the Frankish men’s approach toward their spouses, and,
for Usāmah, the exorbitant amount of trust they display, has already been cited,34 which
is more in keeping with the conventions of a fabliaux than a chronicle or memoir. Yet the
tale in question is largely representative of the amīr’s characterization of Franks’ marital affairs. Perhaps the most serious observations he offers on the subject can be found in his
prefatory comments on the topic:
The Franks understand neither the feelings of honour nor the nature of jealousy. If one of
them is walking with his wife and he meets another man, the latter takes the woman’s hand
and goes and talks to her while the husband stands aside waiting for the end of the interview.
If the woman prolongs it unreasonably, the husband leaves her alone with her companion
and goes back. (177)
In this passage, the reader finds Usāmah’s main issue in regard to Frankish conjugal
relations: husbands are not jealous of their wives, presumably, in his estimation, because
they do not attach an appropriate level of importance to the institution of marriage and
the way in which it reflects on them and their standing within the community. From this
point, the discussion takes a turn toward the farcical, as Usāmah relates the
aforementioned story of the Frankish wine-seller in Nablus, which is followed by an even
more outrageous “anecdote” involving a Frankish knight, his wife, and a Muslim bath
house attendant (178-9), an even more lurid story. These two tales, which appear to be
designed to do little beyond deriding the Crusader community, and the men in particular,
are then followed by an interesting observation by the amīr concerning Frankish behavior
in general, and Frankish courage in particular:
Consider this absolute contradiction. Here are men without jealousy and without a feeling
of honour. On the other hand, they are endowed with great courage. Generally speaking,
courage originates solely in feelings of honour and the care people take to avoid any slur
on their reputation. (179)
For Usāmah, the courage of the Franks is all the more curious a characteristic, as it does
not appear to be the outward manifestation of a sense of honor and the accompanying
desire to protect that honor. Since the Franks, in his estimation, do not attach honor to the
appropriate institutions, they must not have a sense of honor. Thus, this observation
serves to distance the Franks even further from other peoples as a race without an
identifiable motivating force behind that courage regularly exhibited by them on the battlefield; their works of heroism appear to be instinctual rather than the products of
meditated actions.
While Usāmah ibn Munqidh’s portrayal of the relationships between Frankish
men and women tends to portray them as farcical, one of his contemporaries, ‘Imād al-
Dīn al-Isfahani, who served as both Nūr al-Dīn’s secretary and Salāh al-Dīn’s
chancellor,35 exploits another Eastern Mediterranean stereotype regarding Western
Europeans’ sexual relationships, one which emphasizes the loose morals and wantonness
of Frankish women. In one passage, he describes the arrival of a group of prostitutes from
Europe come to ply their trade:36
There arrived by ship three hundred lovely Frankish women, full of youth and beauty,
assembled from beyond the sea and offering themselves for sin. They were expatriates come
to help expatriates, ready to cheer the fallen and sustained in turn to give support and assistance,
and they glowed with ardour for carnal intercourse. They were all licentious harlots, proud
and scornful, who took and gave, foul-fleshed and sinful, singers and coquettes, appearing
proudly in public, ardent and inflamed, tinted and painted, desirable and appetizing, exquisite
and graceful, who ripped open and patched up, lacerated and mended, erred and ogled, urged
and seduced, consoled and solicited, seductive and languid, desired and desiring, amused and
amusing, versatile and cunning, like tipsy adolescents, making love and selling themselves for
gold, bold and ardent, loving and passionate, pink-faced and unblushing, black-eyed and bullying,
callipygian and graceful, with nasal voices and fleshy thighs, blue-eyed and grey-eyed, broken-
down little fools. Each one trailed the train of her robe behind her and bewitched the beholder
with her effulgence. She swayed like a sapling, walked proudly with a cross on her breast, sold
her graces for gratitude, and longed to lose her robe and her honour.37
Here ‘Imād al-Dīn, in an ornate style for which he is famous,38 portrays these Frankish
women in a manner different from the way in which the amīr of Shayzar presents his
Western characters, as cunning seductresses rather than as mere participants in the
cuckolding of their husbands. For Usāmah ibn Munqidh, the focus is on the perceived
indifference of Frankish men regarding their wives; the moral laxity is, in a sense, a by-
product of the men’s failure to effectively safeguard their marriages, much in the manner
of the cuckolded husbands of the fabliau. For ‘Imād al-Dīn, who is writing chiefly as a
partisan propagandist for Salāh al-Dīn, the concern is the moral laxity that allegedly runs rampant among the Franks. These divergent objectives on the parts of the two writers
result in two different portraits of the same enemy’s sexual mores. While the amīr’s
approach to the subject is more personal, that of a married man who is observing other
men interact with their wives, the chancellor deals with the issue from a distance. This
personal approach distinguishes Usāmah ibn Munqidh from ‘Imād al-Dīn, and the
majority of the other Muslim chroniclers. Usāmah’s comments, which are based on his
observations, are more likely to reflect what Muslims who actually encountered the
Franks thought of them than are those accounts which merely repeat stereotypes.
Another incident that, for the amīr, is representative of Crusader culture in
general, takes place on the occasion of a holiday celebration in Tiberias, for which he
claims he was present:
I happened to be at Tiberias when the Franks were celebrating one of their feasts. The
knights had left the town to take part in a tournament. They had brought with them two
decrepit old women whom they placed at one end of the hippodrome while at the other
they put a pig tied up and placed conspicuously on a piece of rock. The knights ordered a
race between the two old women. They both started, accompanied by an escort of knights,
who obstructed their passage; at every step they fell over and got up again, causing the
spectators to roar with laughter. In the end, one of them got there first and took the pig as
the prize of victory. (180-1)
Such an account evokes stereotypes of Frankish barbarism and filth, in the context of a
bizarre scene. The presence of the Frankish knights reinforces the idea that violence is
part and parcel of Frankish society, and their actions, obstructing the progress of two old
women and holding them up for ridicule rather than helping them, points to the counter-
productivity of such violence in the public sphere. The pig, an unclean animal in the eyes
of medieval Eastern Mediterranean Muslims, being made the object of the women’s
endeavors, serves to underscore the larger idea of Franks as unclean, polluting the Levant
through their presence. The image of the two old women racing, and falling, is
simultaneously barbarous and comical, barbarous in its implications for the treatment of individuals who should occupy a more distinguished position in any society, and comical
both for the immediate image it presents,39 and by extension, as a representation of
Frankish society as a whole as violent, haphazard, and uncivilized. Consequently, the
amīr’s audience is provided with an anecdote from which they can derive personal
satisfaction, both at face value as a humorous tale, and as something to be used in the
denigration of their Frankish neighbors.
For Usāmah, the best Franks are those who have been tempered by prolonged
contact with Muslims, since they have become, by degrees, familiar with Muslim
customs, adopting many of these themselves, and thus losing some of their innate
Frankish barbarism (176). To illustrate this point, he relates the story of a friend who,
while in Antioch, is invited to the house of a knight who had come on the First Crusade
and subsequently taken up residence in the Levant (184). Upon arriving, he finds that a
splendid repast is prepared for the knight and his company; however the narrator refrains
from eating, due to his concerns over what may be in front of him. Noticing this, his host
assures him that he has nothing to fear, as the knight has Egyptian cooks who prepare
only local cuisine; moreover, he does not eat pork (184-5). This is sufficient for the
narrator, who proceeds to eat, but in a cautious manner (185). Later, this same knight
saves the life of Usāmah’s friend when a Frankish woman mistakes him for a man who
had slain her brother. The narrator, who is unable to communicate with the woman, is
surrounded by a group of Franks and despairs of his life, but the knight appears and
resolves the situation (185). However, for the amīr, such individuals are the exception
rather than the rule, since they have been altered by their time in the Levant and
consequently have lost much of their “authentic” Frankish barbarism.
In the end, Usāmah ibn Munqidh appears to vacillate between outright hostility
and condescension in his appraisal of Franks and Frankish customs. In matters of war he
reveals a grudging admiration for their courage and ability, tempered by his partisan
interests as a Muslim involved in the Counter-Crusade. In all other matters, he finds the
Franks by turns barbarous and amusing, and in the course of the work he utters invectives
and maledictions upon these new Western neighbors as he describes their system of
justice and their duplicity, while sharing a good-natured laugh with the reader at the
expense of Frankish men. However, the predominant tone of the amīr concerning the
Franks and their customs is one of condescension. He finds humor in their behavior
toward their spouses, and relates the story of the race between the two old women in the
hippodrome in the manner of an appalled, yet amused spectator. Even in matters of faith,
as we shall see, his expressions of outrage at the beliefs and practices of the Franks reveal
an underlying, yet consistent, tone of condescension.
"

"
Once again, the chronicler ‘Imād al-Dīn, as an eye-witness to the
events on the Muslim side, offers the best insight into the thinking of both camps. As for
the Crusaders’ desire to maintain possession of Jerusalem, and in particular the Church, a
speech attributed to the Franks shows the writer’s acute awareness of the sanctity of the
Church in their eyes:
The Franks said: ‘Here our heads will fall, we will pour forth our souls, spill our blood, give up
our lives; we shall endure blows and wounds, we shall be prodigal of our spirits in defense of
the place where the Spirit dwells. This is our Church of the Resurrection, here we shall take up
our position and from here make our sorties, here our cry goes up, here our penitence is
performed, our banners float, our cloud spreads. We love this place, we are bound to it, our
honour lies in honouring it, its salvation is ours, its safety is ours, its survival is ours.’49
This speech appears to have accurately represented the feelings of the Crusaders, and
their desperation in the final days before the fall of Jerusalem.50 Their devotion to the site
itself appears to have made an impression on the Muslim leaders, some of whom, in
‘Imād al-Dīn’s account, articulate the position that the destruction of the Church would
deter Christian pilgrims, armed or otherwise, from coming to the city, a position which is
quickly refuted:
Many discussions were held with him [Salāh al-Dīn] about its fate; some advised him to demolish
it and remove all trace of it, making it impossible to visit,… ‘When its buildings are destroyed,’
they said, ‘and its fires spent and extinguished, and its traces rubbed out and removed, and its
soil ploughed up, and the Church scattered far and wide, then the people will cease to visit it, and
the longings of those destined to damnation will no longer turn to seeing it, whereas if it is left
standing the pilgrimage will go on without end.’ But the majority said: ‘Demolishing and
destroying it would serve no purpose, nor would it prevent the infidels from visiting it or prevent
their having access to it. For it is not the building as it appears to the eyes, but the home of the
Cross and the Sepulchre that is the object of worship. The various Christian races would still be
making pilgrimages here even if the earth had been dug up and thrown into the sky. And when
‘Umar, prince of the believers, conquered Jerusalem in the early days of Islām, he confirmed to
the Christians the possession of the place, and did not order them to demolish the building on it.’51
For the Muslim chroniclers, holy symbols, relics, and monuments carried a special
significance to the Franks, and could often encourage them to victory in adverse
situations. This had been so since the discovery of the “Lance of the Messiah” by Peter
Bartholomew in 1098 and the subsequent Crusader victory over superior numbers outside
of Antioch.52 In their belief in and reliance upon holy symbols, objects, and places,
Crusaders were no different from the Muslims with whom they were contending for
control of the Levant. However, the Western writers do not appear to have had a similar
level of awareness about the sacred symbols and objects of their Muslim adversaries, and
so the Muslim chroniclers stand out for their understanding of this aspect of the religious
dimension of the Crusades.
But beyond the material symbols and monuments, the Muslim chroniclers
understood, and at times appreciated, religious fervor that transcended concrete objects and places, and that animated the Western soldiers. It is not improbable that the
chroniclers perceived in the crusading ethic of their foes something akin to the popular
concept of holy war that was being evoked in the Muslim Eastern Mediterranean in
response to the Western presence in the Levant. Whether or not the writers recognized
any parallels between the two concepts, they were well aware of the role that religious
fervor could play in inspiring Crusaders to greater acts of valor on the field of battle. An
example of the chroniclers’ cognizance of the role of religious fervor as a motivating
force for the enemy can be found in Bahā’ al-Dīn’s account of the capture of the fortress
of Tibrīn (Toron) in July 1187.53 Bahā’ al-Dīn, who served as qadi54 for the army of
Salāh al-Dīn, acknowledges the role of faith in the Franks’ resistance to the siege:
The garrison was composed of men of tried valour and very zealous for their faith, therefore
they held out with wonderful endurance; but God came to the Sultan’s [Salāh al-Dīn]
assistance, and he carried the place by storm on the 18th of the month, and led the survivors
of the garrison into captivity. (116)
The qadi provides another example of the role of religious fervor in the Crusader cause in
his description of the famine that afflicted the Crusader territories in the latter half of
1190 and the Crusaders’ persistence in the face of such hardships:
We were constantly kept informed as to the enemy; they were suffering severely from
scarcity of food, for famine prevailed throughout the territories, and had now invaded their
camp. The scarcity reached such a height that at Antioch the price of a sack of corn rose to
ninety-six Tyrian dinars. But this only strengthened to the resolution of the besiegers. (223)55
While such resolve was not displayed by all of the Crusaders at Acre,56 it is clear that the
Franks as a whole are buoyed by their devotion to the cause.
Perhaps the most compelling example of the recognition and appreciation of the
religious fervor of the Franks and its role in the crusading effort comes from the mouth of
one of the most famous leaders on either side of the conflict, via a Muslim historian. In
his famous work The book of the Two Gardens (Kitāb ar-Raudatain), the thirteenth century philologist and anthologist Abu Shama57 reproduces a letter attributed to Salāh
al-Dīn in which he calls for increased support from the surrounding Muslim kingdoms. In
the course of this letter, the Sultan reproaches his coreligionists by comparing their
efforts to that of the enemy:
Where is the sense of honour of the Muslims, the pride of the believers, the zeal of the faithful?
We shall never cease to be amazed at how the Unbelievers, for their part, have shown trust, and
it is the Muslims who have been lacking in zeal. Not one of them has responded to the call, not
one intervenes to straighten what is distorted; but observe how far the Franks have gone; what
unity they have achieved, what aims they pursue, what help they have given, what sums of
money they have borrowed and spent, what wealth they have collected and distributed and
divided among them! There is not a king left in their lands or islands, not a lord or a rich man
who has not competed with his neighbours to produce more support, and rivalled his peers in
strenuous military effort. In defense of their religion they consider it a small thing to spend life
and soul, and they have kept their infidel brothers supplied with arms and champions for the war.
And all they have done, and all their generosity, has been done purely out of zeal for Him they
Worship, in jealous defence of their Faith. Every Frank feels that once we have reconquered the
(Syrian) coast, and the veil of their honour is torn off and destroyed, this country will slip from
their grasp, and our hand will reach out toward their own countries.58
This letter is remarkable in its appraisal of the Crusader war effort, including the
principles guiding it, and the writer assesses the Muslim war effort by comparison. It is
all the more noteworthy in light of the statements of the “soudan” on the topic of the
moral state of Christendom in Mandeville’s Travels,
59 because in this instance one finds a
historical sultan bemoaning the complacence of the Muslims in combating Christian
aggression. Salāh al-Dīn’s appraisal of the Crusaders’ devotion, when viewed in the light
of some of the contemporary Western evaluations of the Christian crusade effort,60
appears generous by comparison. However, it is perhaps the highest praise of the
devotion displayed by the Western European forces in prosecuting this holy war, and of
the religious convictions that motivated the enterprise.
"

Added in 6 hours 20 minutes 38 seconds:


This is so weird and specific, look at the display picture of the person who put up the video, it mixes the two things I talked about in relation to Orcs, pigs and cats, in an armor looking situation too!

While I was writing that stuff, I looked down in front if me and an image had formed physically out of hairs on the floor which looked like an Orc too, most specifically like the way bugbears are being drawn in Dungeons and Dragons, and I took pictures.

I didn't really expect supernatural weirdness to be generated so soon from the themes in this thread or in relation to them, but "surprise" or "ambush" is a major theme in this thread.

https://yt3.googleusercontent.com/ytc/A ... ffff-no-rj

Oh, it is supposed to be a bear? So that even includes the bear theme that comes up with the word "bugbear", and it looks like a cat because of the small or short snout and face, and like a dog or puppy, wearing a skin in a manner that looks "savage" like what someone might design for an orc to wear too, very weird. The song mentions Mecca and swine and says "bear" too.



I've used the background music they are using before they ever used it probably in a song of my own.





The armor shows up again.



Added in 1 hour 59 minutes 31 seconds:
What the heck! Another bear in Orc-like armor:



Added in 1 day 22 hours 55 minutes 8 seconds:
Hruggek is Gruagach:

https://davecstone.substack.com/p/the-gruagach

"
The mysterious figure of the gruagach strides toward us through the mists of time. In Irish and Scottish folklore its name translates as the Long Haired One.
"

"
However, perhaps it’s in the South of Ireland that the true nature of the gruagach is revealed. In a series of manuscripts, dating from the 1700s, come tales that appear to contain vestiges of much older material, in which gruagachs are named as wizards (or druids depending on the translation).

In an Irish tale copied in the 1700s – the Eachtra Ghruagaigh – the gruagach is a poet, who sings and plays upon his harp. When its grey foxes are slain, it too dies. Echoing this theme, a story from the Highlands tells of how the life-force of another was contained inside a brown trout – in this case the gruagach was brought back to life by smearing its corpse with the blood of a venomous, horned beast. The creature in question could well be a viper, and horned serpents do feature in ancient Celtic imagery.
"

"
Pickled in folklore, the gruagach bears the apparel of a character preserved from the past. This mix of bard, poet and wizard suggests the personae of a druid (and we seem to be dealing with both female and male versions here). We know the druidic class formed a vital role in Celtic society. Those that sent their children to be trained by them would likely have been of the noble class. This appears to be faithfully remembered in these accounts, where the gruagach is the son of kings. In the tale of ‘Conal Gulban’, a queen sends her children to be trained in the ‘skills of heroes’ by the gruagach of Bhein Eidinn. In folkloric accounts the regal bearing of both female and male gruagach is retained.

It’s interesting to me that such imagery (albeit mutated by time) lived on in the lore of the rural people of Scotland and Ireland. In their tales they maintained vestiges of older stories and the very real history that inspired them. The country folk shaped these legends to form new realities to explain their world – and the gruagach became bound to herd and byre. Yet even here, like an image held in the corner of our eye, we might envision a figure clad in a bull-hide and become hypnotised by the disc of its bird-like eye – a mask from behind which incantations flow. Shadowed by the mists that separate us, its long hair flows like teeth of sunlit flame, framing its mask. For a moment we stare at each other, separated by the gulf of time, before the vision slips away into the mists.
"

The same sort of A.I. seems to have assisted in the writing of that, perhaps anyway.

http://zeluna.net/fairy-list-Gruagach.html

"

https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/Gruagach