-or- Imagined origins of large monster/creature myths.
Dear Authors,
I just finished reading "A Mankind Witch" by Dave Freer. This is the second story of his that I've read. I'd categorize these stories as historical fantasy. The settings are both Europe in the 1530s and have the same core of characters. This story is about a political problem the Holy Roman Empire is having with a small Norse/pagan kingdom in Norway. A HRE prince and his Icelandic body guard/combat expert are members of the Knights of the Holy Trinity, the top level of the HRE warriors. These two men are excellent fighters, very intelligent and good detectives. The HR Emperor sends them various places as diplomatic trouble shooters. The earlier story was set in Venice. In both of these stories, the heroes encounter supernatural forces as the root cause of the problems.
The Norse mythology has kobolds (gnomes), dwarves, trolls and witches/troll mothers among others; the heroes are captured and escape from all of these in the course of the story. These trolls, specifically, are large (of course), very strong and covered with white fur.
My idea is that Norse stories of trolls were started by tales of actual Homo sapiens encounters with Yeti/Sasquatch type hominins/great apes. If there are or were Yetis, white furred ones would likely live in high mountains or in the arctic. I don't know if Yeti/Sasquatch are supposed to be top predators, or are omnivorous, like bears. Perhaps, like polar bears, they are compelled to become top predators when living in areas with very little or only (short) seasonally available vegetation. I can imagine, in general, that many myths could arise from encounters with various, now extinct hominid/hominin species; short, medium sized or large. (Great apes, including us, are of the family Hominidae, so can be referred to as hominids. Our ancestors and their close relations [genus Australopithecus and genus Homo] are referred to as hominins in some articles.)
I would be intrigued to read of large (trolls, orcs, etc.), mysterious beings portrayed as human like hominins or another species of great apes. There would be much more behavior to write about than just large, malevolent beings brought into existence by wizards, demons or others. Along this line of thinking, gremlins or other mid sized frighteners, might be based on Neanderthals, Homo erectus, or even chimpanzees.
Good writing to you all!
Comments
A Fertile Ground For Fiction
I agree that it's a fertile ground for fiction, one that only a handful of writers - Stephen Baxter comes to mind - have explored.
The problem is, anyone who wants their story to be taken seriously needs to do a hell of a lot of research first. Where is the story set? How long ago? What was the extent of the permanent ice during that period? How did the lower sea levels affect the landscape? What flora and fauna predominated in the region, and how did the hominids exploit them? What materials were available for them to use? How advanced had their technology become? What was the structure of their society? How did they treat those who due to illness, injury or great age - by which I mean 30 or 40 - were unable to take part in the daily search for food?
And that's the easy bit. Though the experts squabble over every detail, the information is out there.
What we cannot know is their mentality. To what level did language allow them to communicate? How did they view death? What emotions were they capable of feeling? Did they have any concept of the abstract?
No doubt you've heard of the footprints in the lava, fossilised somewhere in Africa a few million years ago. Two sets of adult prints, and a child's between them. It's so easy to envisage a couple walking along, both holding their little girl's hand. Maybe that's what happened. But I rather think it's our tendency to anthropomorphise creatures with whom we may have had nothing in common other than a shared ancestry.
I hope I haven't put anybody off, by the way...
Good writing to you too.
Rich
You should find...
You should find the "rest" of the series... Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint also - A shared world.
Annette
In reality, practically all
mythological monsters are either very large or very small animals/mutants or regular animals made into such thanks to the imagination. A dinosaur could be seen as a dragon, man on horse a centaur or unicorn, and others such as the loch ness monster are real. just look at the aliens created in the movies and T.V.
May Your Light Forever Shine
Another version of Norse myth
A book I was told about (I didn't actually read) had a man interested in the Norse myths travel back in time to find the source of the myths. Once there (due to the size differential) he was accepted by the Norse as a great warrior, and asked to join them in a feast. When they handed out nuts, and everyone was using their battle hammers to crack them, since he didn't have a hammer he used the butt of his gun he'd brought for protection. Everyone once they saw that assumed the .45 was a fancy hammer. Later they are attacked by a group of large hairy Mongols (Ice Trolls). Seeing that they're outnumbered the traveler asks how many they could take out without risk, and then proceeds to shoot the rest. The Norse, seeing him pull out his "hammer" then seeing a flash of light, and a roar of thunder, followed by his opponents dropping like they were hit hard, followed by the 'hammer' miraculously reappearing in his hand realize he's actually a GOD (Thor), and that his 'hammer' is Mjolnir.