My mom and I got into a discussion about the gods and goddesses in your books and we were wondering if they were based off of any particular pantheons or if you completely made them up. Some of the ones we argued over were:

Mila: Demeter (Ceres)Roman/Greece
The hawk dude(Magic Steps the harrier god): Horus Egyptian
The Great Mother Goddess: Artemis/Athena mix (Mom was playing with something from Celtic or Nordic mythology though)

edit for stupid smile html stuff

There were a couple of others but I can't remember names so I'll skip them.

Eta: no we aren't insane (okay maybe we are but) it was a really long car ride.

Listen to the MUSTN'Ts child
Listen to the DON'Ts
Listen to the SHOULDN'Ts
The IMPOSSIBLEs, the WON'Ts
Listen to the NEVER HAVEs
Then listen close to me
Anything can happen child
ANYTHING can be

I know there was a goddess named Mithra, and she could've gotten Mithros from that. But I'm not sure about the others. Good question!

You're living in America; leave your conscience at the tone. ~Rent

Oh yes, I want to know too!

~Annie

I'm still looking for the fred and george banner.

I knew the gods and godesses on the books were based in real ones, but I never stopped to think about it.

You seem a nice person!!!

Super feminist.
(Alias Alanna the Lioness)

Go to my own Tammy webpage:www.freewebs.com/tpbooks

  

I was thinking this same thing. For example, I've always thought that Mithros and the Great Mother Goddess were respectively based on Zeus and a Hera/Artemis mix. Harrier god most certainly must be based on Horus, at least in appearence. I can't think of any others at the moment, maybe more ideas will pop into my head later.

Just finished: New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Now reading: Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
2008 Book Count: 51

  

Mila is definitely Demeter/Ceres (I tend to go Greek first--it's kind of my default setting)
The Green Man is the Celtic Green Man
Hakkoi is part Hephaestos, part Wayland Smith (the smith archetype), part Thor
Shurri Firesword is rooted in Athena and Freya, but I branched out from there
Shaihun is like the pre-Islamic Shaitan, god of the desert demons
Lailan is more like Kwan Yin, the Chinese goddess of healing and mercy, adapted for the desert
and yes, Harrier is Horus, whom I love

Mithros started as Mithras of Persia with a spelling re-set, but in looks he resembles James Earl Jones
The Goddess is the classic three-form Goddess: Maiden/Mother/Crone (the Greeks broke her up into Artemis/Demeter/Hecate)
The Graveyard Hag is a combination of Hecate and Baron Samedi, the voodoo god of cemetaries and crossroads (Hecate is also a goddess of crossroads)
Kyprioth is a classic trickster, a combination of Loki, Raven, Coyote, and my friend Bruce Coville

I've studied all kinds of mythology over the years, so my gods are drawn from world myth and legend. Even in recent years, when I start to create more independent gods, I base them on some idea drawn from world mythologies.

Tammy

“No person is your friend who demands your silence.”
Alice Walker

i noticed that when i took a World Myth class in college, some of the Gods and ideas i learned about resembled what i'd read in your books. i'm sure you've made a lot of people more interested in history and mythology than we ordinarily would have been.

Oh dear. Now Mithros is going to have a Darth Vader voice. "Daine...Weiryn is your father."

Just Finished: Vacations From Hell by Libba Bray, etc.
Currently Reading: The Singing by Alison Croggon

Novel Count for 2010: 26

*bursts out laughing*

hehehe... NICE one!

I also love the animal Gods... makes me think of a more North American Native set...

and Kidunka the World Snake. for some reason I think of Indian culture. somehow I get this image of the many-armed elephant, since kidunka had many heads. but then, you could have just been basing kidunka on a hydra or something... What's WITH Kidunka, anyway? he's mentioned in RotG, and that's it. What's he FOR?

and of course, Father Universe and Mother Flame are like Uranus and Gaia....

27/female/Toronto

For all the best relationship advice, from flirting to kissing to gettin' physical to dumping... see it at all www.therfs.com

Kidunka is a Banjiku god, the great snake who made the world and all things in it (you don't want to know from what he made them, trust me), and made the ultimate sacrifice to hold it all together by biting his tail as he wrapped himself around the world. The End of Grazing Time will come, the Banjiku say, when Kidunka's great enemy, the Fire Ant Queen, will send her soldiers to cover him and climb into his nose and mouth. The great snake will gasp and snap as they bite him, releasing his tail, and the world will fly apart.

Tammy

“No person is your friend who demands your silence.”
Alice Walker

ouch! that's a terrible image! Sometimes I wish I didn't have such a vivid imagination!

It's not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confident knowledge that they will help us.

I just was part of organizing a creation-story coffeehouse/potluck, too bad we missed this one! Although we already had two snakes (one with legs, one with a lil' vishnu), so if anybody asked I could have said this story...

the "fuzzy" green doran Meril

>Mithros started as Mithras of Persia with a spelling re-set, but in
>looks he resembles James Earl Jones

Mighty Hogweed is avenged.


Thanks, dameragnall!

*blink* Bruce Coville? the author? hrm...

more questions:
1. Why do you love Horus?
2. What about Gainel, the dream king? I've always rather liked him.

-luna-

Shakith? Goddesses of seers and/or the sea?

Mynoss = Minos, I presume.

Repeat: Ganiel?

Lushagui/Kidunka?

Horse Lords?

Sakuyo = Kyproith?

Uusoae? I always think Ursula, from A Little Mermaid.

Thanks to your own list of gods/goddesses from your page (http://www.tamora-pierce.com/gods.htm#tortall).

Moonlightrider

I have another question: In Wolf-Speaker on page 31 there is a conversation between Daine and Brokefang:

' Men like you, said Brokefang, with the Light inside.
"we call them mages," Daine told him. "Or sorcerers, or wizard, or witches. What we call them depends on what they do"'

My question is: How do u classify them?

Thanx ~ Thayet!

Insanity runs in my family

>I have another question: In Wolf-Speaker on page 31 there is a
>conversation between Daine and Brokefang:
>
>' Men like you, said Brokefang, with the Light inside.
>"we call them mages," Daine told him. "Or sorcerers, or wizard, or
>witches. What we call them depends on what they do"'
>
>My question is: How do u classify them?

*shrugs* It doesn't seem like in the Tortall books, there's much classification at all, other than that conversation. Of course, less of the focus is on mages than in the Circle books...
Maybe that's how they do it in Galla??? All the Tortallan Gifted seem to mostly be called mages, or healers, if that's what they do.

In the Circle books, it seems like they're just different names, like the foreign names, Viynain and such. Tris is called both a weather mage and a weather witch, like Sandry is a thread mage/stitch witch.

*shrugs again* I dunno. Just my thoughts on the subject...

Blueberry

Founder and 1st (and only) Member of Nerds Anonymous - Get To Know Your Inner Geek

Well, when I read about Kidunka I immidiately thought of Midgard, the world snake in German mythology...

And the terms "mage" "witch" "wizard", I don't think that those terms are comparable in the two universe's, since we already learned, that magic in the Circle-Universe is different from the magic in the Tortall-Universe...

best wishes Michiru

Then come comrades rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale
Unites the human race.

That's my point. The terms 'witch' and 'wizard' seem in wider use in the Circle books than in Tortall. Are they even really used besides that conversation with Daine and Brokefang, besides hedgewitch?

Blueberry

Founder and 1st (and only) Member of Nerds Anonymous - Get To Know Your Inner Geek

ohhh good question. how do you classify a mage, witch or wizard. sure a witch is female but why not just call her a mage.

or a magelet?

Too wierd to live, Too rare to die
Hunter S Thompson

I always presumed that a witch or wizard is like the local, less powerful, mage. Someone who can do some tricks, protective spells and the like, but tends to also use a lot of herblore and natural elements to their spells.
Mages are more academic, related to concepts and ideas, and less reliant on herbs and the like. I always imagined them to be more powerful as well - able to do greater things.

This may or not be Tammy's version. It's all blurry - maybe the name is decided on an individual basis??

I think that witch or wizard is short for hedgewitch/wizard. Like Daine's mom. Or possibly some others like Tris the weather witch. Probably depends on your power.




"Little Pink Piggies Fly On Gossamer Wings"