Cryptology 101

[Brunhidden]

sadly i know nothing about this. however i can nibble the edges.

first off, if you look hard enough theres plenty of physical evidence to support there was a 'great flood', however it was localised almost entirely in what you could call 'the bible lands' and didnt even touch places like europe, africa, or central asia. this flood did indeed last several days, but was a bit less then apocolyptic, and current theory states that the journey of noah was a bit exaggerated as well... supposedly the new theory is that he was fleeing debt collectors in a boat at the same time as bringing animals suitable for sarifice in temples downrivver to a foreign market in order to earn back some of his money so as to avoid haveing his legs broken. this version of the noah story implies that most people did not die, noah went somewhere other then the bible stated, and includes far more beer then the 'official' version.

secondly, giants are rife through the worlds mythology and pop up both everywhere and everywhen.  the greko-romans, scandanavians, orientals, native americans, and large portions of africa have had stories of giants, trolls, ogres, oni, firbolgs, and so on and so fourth all the way back to the bronze age and all the way up to the comming of the railroads. in fact the vast majority of these legends popped up between five hundred and a thousand years after the great flood- if it killed anything off it wasnt giants.

thirdly, most people today are ignorant of the fact that any dead thing becoming a fossil is an extremely rare occourance. its like winning the lottery more then once in your life. by the numbers it stands to reason that a large number of species never left us fossil records because they either lived somewhere that fosils didnt form, had the wrong body composition to fosilize, or was just too goll darned tasty for anything to leave a corpse behind. freaky things like this newt are bount to be one in a million that we would ever see it, so when someone does find one its so unique that people will try to explain it by tying it to an existing creature they DO believe in. for example the first fossils of the iguanadon were assembled incorrectly- thinking it was just a really big bowlegged lizzard with a horn on its nose, when in actuality they fused several skeletons together and the real iguanadon stood on its hind legs like a bird and the 'horns' were its thumbs.

i await the next question and frevrently hope its something ive heard of so i can give a better answer.

Spotted owls are delicious

[superluser]

sadly i know nothing about this.

Aww.  How about Piltdown Man?  Same sorta thing.

[Brunhidden]

Aww.  How about Piltdown Man?  Same sorta thing.

your doing this on purpose arent you?

all i know about piltdown man is that it was a fraud skeleton made of bits and pieces of modern apes. frankly i couldnt even guess the decade it happened in unless i did a web search.

i can understand this kinda thing though, cause someone forgot to leave assembly instructions included with bones and user manuals for the opposite genders.

Yeah, im really getting good at pushing my wifes buttons. Just yesterday i found the 'mute' button, but im still looking for the 'on/off' switch

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

What can you tell us about the reality behind the Medusa myth?

[Brunhidden]

What can you tell us about the reality behind the Medusa myth?

the common mistake is to think that medusa was the name of a kind of monster. it isnt, it was the name of a specific member of a monster race. this race is known as the gorgons, and it appears a couple times in greko/roman mythology.

asside from a very detailed appearence in the old percius myth they dont really show up anywhere else in literature despite being at the time considered to be just one of many other wild creatures in the world. greko/roman legends are full of many unique individuals who are merely members of a specific detailed race, and many of the other 'monsters' who appear (like the crazy guy with the bed by the roadside) are actually more or less humans.

keep in mind asking me the 'reality' behind something is far diffrent from asking me to list off traits or comparing diffrent versions of legends to find consistencies.

Her mornign breath alone could stun a yak

[Xuzaf D]

Have you posted anything about Gin or Din or whatever those genie like people are called? If not do so.

[superluser]

your doing this on purpose arent you?

Actually, I'd just hate to see this thread dry up, so I tried to come up with some questions.

Here's what I know about Piltdown Man.  Somebody claimed to find the remains of the ``missing link'' between hominids and other primates at Piltdown, a town in the UK.  This was very important, because it proved that man had evolved in Europe, and that humans did not come from Africa.  Racism was still pretty prevalent, and this was a comforting thought to many.

Then it turned out that the remains were the skull of a human and the jawbone of an orangutan.  The discoverer, whose name eludes me, was accused of creating the forgery, but he was probably just another victim.

I suppose the Cardiff Giant is out of the question, then?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

What can you tell us about the reality behind the Medusa myth?

the common mistake is to think that medusa was the name of a kind of monster. it isnt, it was the name of a specific member of a monster race. this race is known as the gorgons, and it appears a couple times in greko/roman mythology.

I knew that. I just couldn't remember it while asking, and, well, everyone else was asking questions you didn't know anything about, so I thought I'd help out :-)

keep in mind asking me the 'reality' behind something is far diffrent from asking me to list off traits or comparing diffrent versions of legends to find consistencies.

Okay, I guess what I meant to ask was "are there any other versions, and could you pontificate for a bit, about the differences and inconsistencies in the gorgon mythical creature story?" :-)

[LionHeart]

your doing this on purpose aren't you?

Actually, I'd just hate to see this thread dry up, so I tried to come up with some questions.

Here's what I know about Piltdown Man.  Somebody claimed to find the remains of the ``missing link'' between hominids and other primates at Piltdown, a town in the UK.  This was very important, because it proved that man had evolved in Europe, and that humans did not come from Africa.  Racism was still pretty prevalent, and this was a comforting thought to many.

Then it turned out that the remains were the skull of a human and the jawbone of an orangutan.  The discoverer, whose name eludes me, was accused of creating the forgery, but he was probably just another victim.

Charles Dawson.

There are several theories, but I don't think the question of "whodunnit" has ever been satisfactorily resolved.

I suppose the Cardiff Giant is out of the question, then?

The Cardiff Giant was a fake; it was carved out of a large block of limestone, and buried on the lands of a local farmer, where it was later "discovered".

There is a story that P.T. Barnum tried to buy it for his museum, and when he was turned down, he had a sculptor make a copy of it, which he then exhibited as "The one and only original".

[superluser]

Have you posted anything about Gin or Din or whatever those genie like people are called? If not do so.

Well, I figured that Brunhidden would respond to this, but since he hasn't, let me tell you the totality of what I know on this subject: it's spelt `Djinn.'  I believe that the `Dj' has a slightly stronger initial stop--as in `Djibouti'--than a normal `j'--as in `joy.'

And that about wraps it up for what I know about Djinns.

By the way, does anyone know what the difference between a Gorgon and a Basilisk is?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

A basilisk is a small lizard. A Gorgon is a snake-haired woman.

Both cause men to turn to stone - although it's been mentioned that the Gorgon may just turn -parts- of men to stone, and it's not mentioned what either of them do to women....

[Fex]

I heard one time a story about a man who got hit by lightning. Becouse of that his skin turned green or something like that and hided in a old pipe. I tryed to find more about it but I can't find it any where while it was on tv ... yea I missed it I only got to see the last 5 min

[Brunhidden]

sorry, i had thought this thread died again or something.

Have you posted anything about Gin or Din or whatever those genie like people are called? If not do so.

Well, I figured that Brunhidden would respond to this, but since he hasn't, let me tell you the totality of what I know on this subject: it's spelt `Djinn.'  I believe that the `Dj' has a slightly stronger initial stop--as in `Djibouti'--than a normal `j'--as in `joy.'

And that about wraps it up for what I know about Djinns.

By the way, does anyone know what the difference between a Gorgon and a Basilisk is?

i believe the being you are reffering to would be the Djinn, sometimes called the Djanni, Djinni, or occasionally even Efreeti. obviously most people will immediately think of aladdin when this name is used, the so called 'genie'. close, very close. but incomplete.

the original Djinn were said to be 'demons of wind and flame' who roamed the inhospitable stretches of desert, usually with no more substance then the winds they ride uppon. the anger of Djinn was blamed for particularly foul sandstorms, mirrages were said to be thier tricks, and people who dissapeared crossing the desert had supposedly met a Djinn. the belief in Djinn is anchent, and predates islam and even judaisim by a few centuries. as far as physical appearance goes a Djinn was normally more or less incorporial, being literally made of wind and flame, but often takeing the guise of a stately human or even a somewhat demonic perversion of such.

you may ask "but brunhidden, i thought genies were prisoners and slaves bound in things like lamps". also a valid point, but bound Djinn were an exception to the rule. in theese olden times it was considered the grounds of kings and wise men to make the world of men safe from the supernatural, so great men often sought to exterminate or bind troublesome spirits who posed a danger to the common folk. in particular king soloman the wise was said to have posessed a ring with the true name of god written uppon it, a book called 'the eye of soloman' which contained limitless knowledge about the world and what is beyond it, and with theese two items could command the demons as though they were trained dogs. according to the legends soloman sealed up the great devil Asmodeus in a bottle and cast him into the sea, afterwards he rounded up a host of demons and carried them in a backpack across the land and forced them to build his citties and do good works. Soloman only stands out in history because he is the most recent one, the legends that come before are so old that they were completely forgotten by the time "a thousand and one arabian nights" was ever told.

so, theese vessels that Djinn were bound to... werent always lamps, or bottles. the most well known and possibly even 'most common' was a ring, known in many legends as the "genie ring" which gave rise to the name 'genie' that i believe is meant to portray servitude. the 'genie ring' would call a Djinn to the wearer, but only for one hour each day. durring that time the Djinn was compelled to serve the wearer as though they were a loyal vassal. the bottles which were also common followed the guideline that you have just freed the Djinn from imprisonment (note- this most likely means there was a damned good reason someone saw fit to face a Djinn toe to toe in order to trap it in the first palce) and it is compelled to serve you as a debt of gratitude. usually this means one favor, after which the Djinn is long gone to resume its activities in the desert. the only occourance ive ever heard of a lamp was in "a thousand and one arabian nights" and sadly ive heard at least six diffrent versions of that same story. also keep in mind that several stories involving Djinn state that they are angry, do not look kindly on those who freed them, and try to kill whatever they see after being released.

and i guess your going to ask "but you didnt say anything about wishes, what gives?" and to that i answer "who said anythign about wishes in the first place? robin williams?" to be honest all the old stories had translation problems when people think that 'wish' is such a bold and miraculous instance. the stories portray a Djinn saying something like "what is your wish?" or "what do you wish of me?" and anyone with a certan level of education can also hear that as "what can i do for you?" or "what is it you want most in the world?". if a Djinn were to 'grant your wish' he would merely be useing the impressive powers he has as a 'demon of wind and flame' to do something like building you a palace from sticks lying on the ground, whisking you off to a far away land in the blink of an eye, fetch you gold and jewels as not even the sultan could dream of, and so on and so fourth. what demon worth his salt couldnt lift you in his claws and zoom you two hundred miles? what self respecting terror of the sands wouldnt have a crapload of riches just lying around? what kind of 'demon of wind' couldnt go all sonic the hedgehog when building a house?

in all honesty id preffer the ring to the lamp, you essentially get an unlimited number of 'wishes' and those thigns make fine guard dogs/attack dogs

A basilisk is a small lizard. A Gorgon is a snake-haired woman.

Both cause men to turn to stone - although it's been mentioned that the Gorgon may just turn -parts- of men to stone, and it's not mentioned what either of them do to women....

for the most part right, but some of the reffrences to gorgons merely state tat they turn men 'like stone' or 'as stiff as stone'. its possible that they have the ability to paralise instead of or in addition to petrification.

also a related being was the cockatrace, which had the strange littany of "being born from a egg laid by a cock and hatched by a toad" and being a rather ugly and malevolent carnivore that also carried the ability to turn men into stone.

what i wanna know is how theese critters could get a decent meal when they keep turning thier prey into modern art.

I heard one time a story about a man who got hit by lightning. Becouse of that his skin turned green or something like that and hided in a old pipe. I tryed to find more about it but I can't find it any where while it was on tv ... yea I missed it I only got to see the last 5 min

contrary to popular belief, lightning not only hits people quite often but you also have a darned good chance to live. the obvious chances of it being lethal are 1- the heat and 2- the jump your heart gets from the electricity may mess up your timing. a headshot is less common but probably worse cause all your memories and thoughts are essentially electrical impulses, and lightning does to that what a magnet can do to the guts of your computer...dosent always, but it can.

to me it seems that the only thing lightning could have done to turn him green is if he hid in a pipe filled with some kind of mold or mildew....or if he hid inside of a COPPER pipe due to some severe deficency in thought. if it were a copper pipe theres a chance that the lightning would hit the top of the pipe, arc to the man in the middle rather then takeing the long way around both sides, and sear him good and crispy. theres also the chance that the  lightning bolt would find the copper pipes sides to be a faster conducter then the man due to things like his height, how wet he is, and the material of his shooes, thus possibly electroplating the man with vaporised copper which would corrode almost instantly. theres also the chance lightning never hit the pipe at all and thats just corroded copper that crumbled on him.

for those of you who are unfamilliar with metals- polsihed or newly forged copper is an orange colour, but when it corrodes it turns a musty green. the statue of liberty is made of copper and is currently the colour of extremely corroded copper

If you say you believe in magic, magic is real. if you deny it, then the magic does not work. that is not to say the magic is not still there, it just does not work

[Alondro]

king soloman the wise was said to have posessed a ring with the true name of god written uppon it, a book called 'the eye of soloman' which contained limitless knowledge about the world and what is beyond it, and with theese two items could command the demons as though they were trained dogs. [/glow]

*Can't resist the obvious implications...*  Sooooo... what you're saying is that Solomon had one ring... TO RULE THEM ALL!!     And he was able to see and know all things with the Eye... 

I'd heard about this before.  I can only surmise that it was the Solomon story that influenced Tolkien to imagine the Rings of Power, the controlling One Ring, and the Eye of Sauron.   They do have some striking similarities.

[superluser]

Becouse of that his skin turned green or something like that and hided in a old pipe.

Well, what about the Libertarian candidate for senate in Montana?  He got concerned that Y2K would cause a shortage of antibiotics, so he started taking colloidal silver, which turned him blue:

sorry, i had thought this thread died again or something.

The hard and fast rule is one month (as mentioned in the rules), but I'm sure that resurrecting anything older than a week is probably going to get you weird looks if it's not for a good reason.  On the other hand, Damaris has suggested that she would make an exception for this thread.

This thread was only gone for 5 days, though.

Hmmm...on the subject of colors, what's the deal with woad?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

The hard and fast rule is one month (as mentioned in the rules), but I'm sure that resurrecting anything older than a week is probably going to get you weird looks if it's not for a good reason.  On the other hand, Damaris has suggested that he would make an exception for this thread.

... I'm pretty sure that Damaris said that -she- would make an exception, rather than he.... And was talking about the Demonology thread, not this one. See reply #3...

On the other hand, reasonable people can make reasonable compromises, no?

[Brunhidden]

Hmmm...on the subject of colors, what's the deal with woad?

wode (or woad, wode is the old spelling from the old lands and i preffer it)is a blue leaf, used as a dye. for those of you who dont know much about the old practice of dyes, know that everything you see on sodacans and Tshirts is listed as something like "yellow dye #2" and "red dye numer 5" because theyre a very complex mixture of volitile and often posionous chemicals. that being said they cant list the ingredients for purposes of trade secrets and people getting squeamish theyre drinking soda laced with amonia and sulpheric acid. many of theese dyes today use a handfull of carious materials, most of which were originally discovered to stain glasses. iron oxide (rust) for red, copper sulfade (tarnished pennies) for green, and chromium (virtually any colour depending on how you heat it) for anything you dont have something on hadn for, theese were the main ingredients, other ingredients can be as esoertic as crushed beetles to as common as carrot juice and as nasty as selenium (a metal harvested commercially from human urine, its in shampoo too).

but thats not how it used to be, if you wanted something red you boiled beets in water and soaked fabrics in it. if you wanted something black there were roots such as ansie and blackroot you could boil, and for blue there was wode. in fact, wode was the first dye, used back in the depths of time before anyone even wore clothes. it was used to pain faces. ever see braveheart? sure, those blue men were wearing designer makeup, but it was to imitate the wode the scotts used to wear. the scotts, norsemen, the early francs, especially the celts, and even many of the vistigoths wore wode as warpaint. why? it was effective, an early psychological tool. not only did the ritual of applying it psyce you up but it also made you look inhuman to the enemy, especially when it hid the fact you were bleeding and made you look like wounds didnt apply to you.

the ritual of applying wode pretty much stemmed from this illusion, sinse the warrors felt it offered them a measure of protection against their enemies weapons.

ritual? yes, ritual. wode had been given an almost sacred standing by most of its users, and typically it was the shaman, elder, or chief who applied it to his warriors. the norse Aesir Odin actually derived his name from wode, seeing as how he was originally called "Wotan" and later "woadin" (wode-din) in the germanic and lower scandinavian countries he was first worshiped in, long before even the vikings.

Merciful lord, spare us from the fury of the northmen.
Mighty lord, save us from the wrath of the meteor.

medieval prayer of the gauls

[Brunhidden]

king soloman the wise was said to have posessed a ring with the true name of god written uppon it, a book called 'the eye of soloman' which contained limitless knowledge about the world and what is beyond it, and with theese two items could command the demons as though they were trained dogs. [/glow]

*Can't resist the obvious implications...*  Sooooo... what you're saying is that Solomon had one ring... TO RULE THEM ALL!!     And he was able to see and know all things with the Eye... 

I'd heard about this before.  I can only surmise that it was the Solomon story that influenced Tolkien to imagine the Rings of Power, the controlling One Ring, and the Eye of Sauron.   They do have some striking similarities.

whoops, cant believe i missed this.

close, but not quite ( i say that alot dont i?), most people believe that Tolkien borrowed the concept from the germanic story of The Ring of the Nibelung.

the story of the ring is a really really REALLY old legend involving the norse gods, the Nibelung, a magic ring, and a whole crapload of violence. today it is imortilised in the opera 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' by the german composer Wagner. ever heard of "it aint over till the fat lady sings"? thats wagners ring, the roll of 'brunhilda' the leader of the valkreys is alwyas given to the biggest woman they can find who has a voice that can flatten cans at ten paces, she ends the opera with a great big solo number. ever heard the number 'ride of the valkreys'? also this one, the valkreys being rather important throughout. i highly doubt anyone here will be willing to sit down through a 21 hour german opera though, so ill give the brief summary.

note, this summary is of the original story, NOT the opera which is edited for theatrical purposes and would take me like five pages.

the ring in brief notes- okay, so there once was a group of people and their king known as the Nibelung, thier treasure was known also as the Nibelung and anyone who owned it was known by that name (theese particular Nibelung were thought to be either dwarves or trolls depending on who you ask). they lived somewhere along (or beneath as some say) the Rhine river. one day the norse gods are short some serious cash so they decide to pay the fabulously wealthy king of the Nibelung a visit, and loki decides to take ALL of the kings treasure. the king is pissed, but does so willingly in exchange for the safety of his people. loki however is not satisfied, he also wants the kings magic ring (its always called a ring, but it was actually an armband. a solid gold armband which would weigh at least two or three pounds) which is the source of his power and wealth. the king refuses, this ring is incredibly important, every night when he wakes up the ring makes a copy of itself to increase their hoard of gold (remember, thats like two or three pounds of gold, not the few ounces youd find in a normal ring) and the gold made this way is known as the magical rhinegold which is used to craft many wonderious things. uppon reffusing the Aesir, the king is struck down, and with his dying words he curses the ring so that nobody who posessed it would ever be happy and any who see it would kill thier brother to own it. the aesir pretty much just shrug and move on. in one version it states the gold was needed as bloodmoney in apology for killing Otyr, a boy who could turn into an otter and was slain as such. Otyrs father demanded they completely cover his body with gold so that he could not see a single hair before he would forgive them. in another version its stated that uppon aquiring the gold two giants had built a mighty fortress to serve as the home of the gods. the giants demand freya, the godess of love, as payment, but Odin cannot stand to let her leave and offers them the gold. the giants are not satisfied, and demand that the gold pile be so tall as they cannot see freya through it. after all the rhinegold is piled up they can still see freya through a small chink in the middle, and say they still weep for her beauty and cannot accept the gold. Odin then regretfully takes the cursed ring he himself wore as a prize and placed it on the pile to hid freya. no sooner had it been placed as the giants agreed, and one killed the other (they were brothers actually) to claim the ring as his own.

after that theres several years of killings, sorrid love affairs, angry kings, and all pervasive well endowed Valkyries in chainmaile and leather. but i wont get into that, thats the boring stuff now that were not tlaking about gold anymore (i like gold, okay?)


and there you have it, the cursed ring which inspired tolkien.

i await the next question.

We did not realise the danger untill it was scratching at our door.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

The "Ride of the Valkyries" is also frequently parodied.

If you ever heard the tune, you'll probably recognise it...

Terry Pratchett had some big women in chainmail and leather singing "Toi yo to ho, toi yo to ho" (the basic theme) in, as I recall, one of the Cohen stories... IIRC, those women had their horses stolen by Our Hero....

That's all by the by, though.

[superluser]

but i wont get into that, thats the boring stuff now that were not tlaking about gold anymore (i like gold, okay?)

``Was' the nex' wor'?''
``S'gold.  I think.''
``Ah.''
``And you left out the `gold.'''
``Where?''
``I reckon it was between the `gold' and the `gold.'''

and there you have it, the cursed ring which inspired tolkien.

I was in the Düsseldorf airport when I saw a copy of Der Spiegel with a cover story about Die Nibelungen.  It was simply too much German.  I had to get it.

Then there are the dwarven names from The Hobbit, which come straight out of the Völuspá.

[Tiger_T]

The "Ride of the Valkyries" is also frequently parodied.

If you ever heard the tune, you'll probably recognise it...

Terry Pratchett had some big women in chainmail and leather singing "Toi yo to ho, toi yo to ho" (the basic theme) in, as I recall, one of the Cohen stories... IIRC, those women had their horses stolen by Our Hero....

That's all by the by, though.

I rather liked Bugs Bunny's take on the Wagner-opera.




Hmm; What did you already talk about?
Let's see; So far we've got:

A link to the old Demonology 101 thread: >LINKY<
with:
(in a mostly chronological order)
Fairies
black/dark/demonic Animals, agents of The Evil One
Balore
Basilisk (brief)
Phönix (? - brief)
Anthros (basics)
Zombies
Demons and Angels (basics)
Vampires
Litch/(Ogre/Immortal)
...
Briefly going off topic here and picking up a conversation at the end of the old thread to reply something:
One difference between diamonds and rubies is that a ruby does not burn. It will just melt at 2050°C.
...
back on topic...

...and then we've got here in this thread:
(again in a mostly chronological order):
Vampires (->see old thread  for answer)
Jackalopes (care for a try on 'Wolpertinger'?)
Bermuda Triangle
Lilith
Grendel (also Troll)
Incubi and Succubi
Polyphemus the cyclops
Minotaur
(Atlantis - very brief)
Whendigo
Dover Demon
the biblical Flood
Giants (?)
Piltdown Man
Medusa (also Gorgons)
Cardiff Giant
Basilisk (brief)
Djinn
Cockatrace
being hit by lightningand live
Wode/Woad
origins of 'The One Ring'

So after my try on indexing your threads I thought of/found some interesting things to ask about:
Mermaids
Sasqwatch <sp?>/Yeti
Homunculus
Wolpertinger
More on:
-Atlantis
-Giants
-Basilisks
-Phönix
Werewolfes
Hydra (again)
Gemstones and their powers in myths


Take your time. It's not like I am in a hurry or something. I'd rather get some good answers than fast ones.

[LionHeart]

The "Ride of the Valkyries" is also frequently parodied.

If you ever heard the tune, you'll probably recognise it...

Terry Pratchett had some big women in chainmail and leather singing "Toi yo to ho, toi yo to ho" (the basic theme) in, as I recall, one of the Cohen stories... IIRC, those women had their horses stolen by Our Hero....

That's all by the by, though.

I have the book that happened in - it's called "The Last Hero". At the end of it, the Silver Horde stole the Valkyries' horses, and rode off to find new adventures...

I rather liked Bugs Bunny's take on the Wagner-opera.

I remember that one - it was titled "What's Opera, Doc?", if I remember right.

Sasqwatch <sp?>/Yeti

I'm pretty sure it's spelled "Sasquatch" - otherwise known as "Bigfoot". Yeti are vaguely similar, at least in appearance.

-Phönix

I think you mean "Phoenix" - at least that's how I'm used to seeing it spelled.

[Tiger_T]

I don't know that book. *shrugs*

The german title likely will have differed. I just remember seeing it, not the title they used.

Likely.

Yep. Phoenix it is. Phönix is just the german spelling and sounds almost identical.

[Brunhidden]

The "Ride of the Valkyries" is also frequently parodied.

If you ever heard the tune, you'll probably recognise it...

Terry Pratchett had some big women in chainmail and leather singing "Toi yo to ho, toi yo to ho" (the basic theme) in, as I recall, one of the Cohen stories... IIRC, those women had their horses stolen by Our Hero....

That's all by the by, though.

that would be the graphic novel "the last hero", and thats a bit of a parody on the way the valkreys call out during wagners opera. in traditional folklore the valkreys were often beautifull warrior maidens (often very well endowed) with penchants for chainmaile, leather, furrs, and helmets with wings on, the image of them being fat stemmed from the need to use massive women in operas to get the full power of voice.

Hmm; What did you already talk about?
Let's see; So far we've got:

A link to the old Demonology 101 thread: >LINKY<
with:
(in a mostly chronological order)
Fairies
black/dark/demonic Animals, agents of The Evil One
Balore
Basilisk (brief)
Phönix (? - brief)
Anthros (basics)
Zombies
Demons and Angels (basics)
Vampires
Litch/(Ogre/Immortal)

...and then we've got here in this thread:
(again in a mostly chronological order):
Vampires (->see old thread  for answer)
Jackalopes (care for a try on 'Wolpertinger'?)
Bermuda Triangle
Lilith
Grendel (also Troll)
Incubi and Succubi
Polyphemus the cyclops
Minotaur
(Atlantis - very brief)
Whendigo
Dover Demon
the biblical Flood
Giants (?)
Piltdown Man
Medusa (also Gorgons)
Cardiff Giant
Basilisk (brief)
Djinn
Cockatrace
being hit by lightningand live
Wode/Woad
origins of 'The One Ring'

So after my try on indexing your threads I thought of/found some interesting things to ask about:
Mermaids
Sasqwatch <sp?>/Yeti
Homunculus
Wolpertinger
More on:
-Atlantis
-Giants
-Basilisks
-Phönix
Werewolfes
Hydra (again)
Gemstones and their powers in myths


Take your time. It's not like I am in a hurry or something. I'd rather get some good answers than fast ones.

wow, when you look back this thing has almost become a good place just to plop down and read for some light enternainment (although i doubt anyone reads anything other then the answer to their own personal question or to question an answer). im actually quite impressed at how much weve covered.

lets see you want me to touch on the following yes?

Mermaids/Merrow/Selkies
Sasqwatch/Bigfoot/Yeti/Skunk apes/Orange eyes/Hodags
Homunculus/Hommonculi
Wolpertinger
More on:
-Atlantis- technology/dates/location/relations
-Giants- Cyclopes/ogres/trolls/titans/firbolgs/frost giants/oni/hopi ogres/whendigo
-Basilisks
-Phönix/pheonix
Lycanthropes- Werewolves/vampires/selkies/druids
Hydra (again)
Gemstones and their healing/destructive/enhancement powers in myths

if that is not a complete list feel free to add at any time.

and the way i will do this is that if nobody thinks of a question for the better part of a week i will pick one of theese to go in depth with. this is not an encouragement to just sit around and wait for me to run out of questions, its just to keep this thing from dying.

oh, and asking more detailed questions about topics previously covered is encouraged.

The pursuit of knowledge is a quest which becomes longer and more unobtainable every time you suceed

[Tiger_T]

Looks good so far.

I'm looking forward to your posts.

[LionHeart]

I have been and am following this with great interest... Looking forward to the next instalment.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I read all this thread anyway :-)

[Brunhidden]

okay, todays lesson will be Homunculus/Hommonculi

for starters i am working under the assumption that you and 80% of the people reading this are immediately thinking of the popular japanese animated program known as full metal alchemist. thats not a homonculi, not even close. THOSE would be known as 'sins', the physical avitar or incarnation of one of mans seven basic flaws which cause humans to be evil. yeah, people are almost never evil just for the sake of being evil, its one of the seven corruptions that makes doing evil things the chosen path.

so, what then is a homonculus? quite literally homonculus means 'little man' and is an incredibly old concept for much of mankinds history beliveing in the idea that a man was 'controlled' by a little man inside its head. kinda silly eh? its almost like the olden days iamgined that human beings were giant robots and the real people were opperating them.

however, that was an unsophisticated belief. in later years the concept of the homonculus grew and evolved. the longstanding concept is that homonculi are mental devices that you use in order to put a face on a trait or thought process. examples are the 'good' and 'evil' guys that sit on peoples shoulders, and whenever the thought process of a person is illustrated by people in the head doing something, or even when your diffrent personalities assume diffrent appearances as people in your head.

for those of you who did not fall in the 80% of the readers thinking of FMA, chances are youwere thinking of D&D, in that case see Mandrake root for more information.

also, see folowing flash animation concerning the 'creation' of such homonculi

http://www.bandwidththeater.com/homonculi.html




so far that leaves our list as follows
_____________________________
Mermaids/Merrow/Selkies
Sasqwatch/Bigfoot/Yeti/Skunk apes/Orange eyes/Hodags
Homunculus/Hommonculi *answered*
Wolpertinger
More on:
-Atlantis- technology/dates/location/relations
-Giants- Cyclopes/ogres/trolls/titans/firbolgs/frost giants/oni/hopi ogres/whendigo
-Basilisks
-Phönix/pheonix
Lycanthropes- Werewolves/vampires/selkies/druids
Hydra (again)
Gemstones and their healing/destructive/enhancement powers in myths

so think up some more questions before i run out! see you next time, buh bye *blows kiss*

ARTHUR
Run away!

ROBIN
Run away!

LANCELOT
Run away?

BEDAVERE
Run away!

KNIGHTS
Run away!

Run away! Run Away!

ARTHUR
Run away from the stench and the trenchies!

KNIGHTS
Run away! Run Away!

BEDAVERE
From these horrible, nasty old Frenchies!

ROBIN
These frogs and their terrible prattle, are fighting a battle with cattle!

LANCELOT
We're all full of fear so let's get out of here!

KNIGHTS
Run away, run away, run away!

FRENCH GUARDS
You English all are buggerfolk
Your mothers all are ruggerfolk
Your army is a bloody joke
You couldn't beat an artichoke

If battle you choose to renew
We'll taunt you 'til you all turn blue
We turn our asses as you part
In your direction we all fart!

*French National Anthem plays*

FRENCH GUARD
Fetchez can-can dancers!

ALL KNIGHTS *To the tune of a can-can*
Run away! Run away! Run away! Run-run-run-run-run-run away! Run away! Run away! Run away, run away!

Ruuuuun a-waaaaay!

Run away! Run away!

ARTHUR
It seems like a helpful solution

KNIGHTS
Run away! Run away!

ARTHUR
To avoid this French revolution!

We're stuck in a nasty position
Why don't you take a short intermission?
Have a drink and a pee, we'll be back for Act Threeeeeeeee...

LANCELOT
Two, sir!

ARTHUR
Twooooooooo....

[Tiger_T]

Indeed I am aware of FMA.
It is quite interesting to learn that the 'little angel/devil on your shoulders' are hommonculi.

Hmm, why did people think that bodies were controlled by a smaller version inside? That sounds strange. Can you elaborate that further?


Flesh-suit 2007 with Homunculus inside. Now 50% faster! Buy now - pay later.

[Aridas]

Huh. when i looked up homonculi, it was about little "golems" to do your bidding, or something.