The weight of history
June 19th 2011 07:01
She was torn between Jupiter and Apollo.
-- Bob Dylan, “Changing of the Guards”
I’m glad to have been proven wrong about the addition of character backstories in the Commander theme decks. I’m also rather interested to note the wide range of characters in the decks, and some of their roots in mythology.
Greek mythology’s gorgons were mostly bit-part players in the stories they appeared in. Medusa, the most famous one, was part of Perseus’ quest objectives, and as such was presented more like most of Greek mythology’s monsters, as a metaphor for humanity’s struggle to conquer its inner turmoil. In recent times, of course, the gorgon has seen a lot of appearances, many of which were much more complex and nuanced. Like vampires, the combination of outward similarities with humans and alien thought processes have attracted people’s imagination, notably in Dungeons and Dragons. Damia goes yet another step further, as her setup suggests that she’s educated and rather cultured, in contrast to other gorgons who are portrayed as barbaric or even animalistic. I could easily imagine myself writing critical articles in a year or two if she doesn’t appear in the mainline Magic multiverse.
It never fails to amuse me that minotaurs are a race in many fantasy settings, including Dungeons and Dragons and Magic. The original minotaur was, of course, one of a kind. Since the myth’s historical origins were likely related to the political domination of Greece by Minoan Crete, and the prevalence of imagery related to bulls in Minoan religion and culture, it is perhaps fitting that depictions of the minotaur race in fantasy generally show them to have a highly political and ritualized society. Early Dungeons and Dragons source books describe them as collecting tribute from human societies where they were able, often in the form of young men and women, just as King Minos was said to have done.
Wreath of Geists isn't in the Commander decks, but it's rumored to be from the upcoming and highly anticipated expansion Innistrad. Judging by this, that set probably draws on a later, rather different part of mythology. This piece reminds me strongly of the later Castlevania games, which were themselves an interesting interpretation of 18th and 19th century horror fiction. Those stories led directly to early horror fantasy as exemplified by H.P. Lovecraft, which in turn had a great influence on the emergence of modern fantasy and, eventually, Magic. At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, I’m excited to see how the game pays tribute to its ultimate ancestry, and in a much more important and less unbalancing way than slavishly following Alpha’s color pie.
-- Bob Dylan, “Changing of the Guards”
I’m glad to have been proven wrong about the addition of character backstories in the Commander theme decks. I’m also rather interested to note the wide range of characters in the decks, and some of their roots in mythology.
Greek mythology’s gorgons were mostly bit-part players in the stories they appeared in. Medusa, the most famous one, was part of Perseus’ quest objectives, and as such was presented more like most of Greek mythology’s monsters, as a metaphor for humanity’s struggle to conquer its inner turmoil. In recent times, of course, the gorgon has seen a lot of appearances, many of which were much more complex and nuanced. Like vampires, the combination of outward similarities with humans and alien thought processes have attracted people’s imagination, notably in Dungeons and Dragons. Damia goes yet another step further, as her setup suggests that she’s educated and rather cultured, in contrast to other gorgons who are portrayed as barbaric or even animalistic. I could easily imagine myself writing critical articles in a year or two if she doesn’t appear in the mainline Magic multiverse.
It never fails to amuse me that minotaurs are a race in many fantasy settings, including Dungeons and Dragons and Magic. The original minotaur was, of course, one of a kind. Since the myth’s historical origins were likely related to the political domination of Greece by Minoan Crete, and the prevalence of imagery related to bulls in Minoan religion and culture, it is perhaps fitting that depictions of the minotaur race in fantasy generally show them to have a highly political and ritualized society. Early Dungeons and Dragons source books describe them as collecting tribute from human societies where they were able, often in the form of young men and women, just as King Minos was said to have done.
Wreath of Geists isn't in the Commander decks, but it's rumored to be from the upcoming and highly anticipated expansion Innistrad. Judging by this, that set probably draws on a later, rather different part of mythology. This piece reminds me strongly of the later Castlevania games, which were themselves an interesting interpretation of 18th and 19th century horror fiction. Those stories led directly to early horror fantasy as exemplified by H.P. Lovecraft, which in turn had a great influence on the emergence of modern fantasy and, eventually, Magic. At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, I’m excited to see how the game pays tribute to its ultimate ancestry, and in a much more important and less unbalancing way than slavishly following Alpha’s color pie.
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