Elven deities real-world counterparts
Posted: 14 Jun 2014, 19:00
As we all know a lot of the folklore and background in Warhammer draws inspiration from various myths, tales and armies from our world. After reading some of the fluff behind the elven pantheon I started trying to work out where the ideas behind them might have come from. I've not thought through all of them but here are my ideas so far. I wondered if anybody here with a bit of knowledge of mythology fancied chipping in and adding their ideas? I've not looked into every one of the gods, only the ones that immediately jumped out at me.
Khaine - The Biblical Cain.
Khaine is the god of murder, Cain is the biblical first murderer. Given the similarity behind their names and the idea behind them I think this one's pretty clear cut.
Isha and Kurnous - The Wiccan mother and horned god.
Wicca (a form of Neopaganism) often revolves around the worship of two figures, the mother and the horned god (sometimes called Cernunnos, a somewhat mysterious Celtic deity). A lot of the duality in the Wood elf lore regarding light/dark, masculine/feminine reflects some of the duotheism found in Wicca and other Neopagan religions.
Lileath, Isha, Morai-Heg - Maiden, Mother, Crone
Another concept found in some veins of Neopaganism is the idea of a triple goddess representing a maiden, a mother and a crone. This also parallels the importance of the cycle of seasons and of life, death and rebirth found in the Wood Elves' religion.
Hekarti - Hecate
Another one where the name is a big clue as to the inspiration. Hecate was a Greek goddess associated with witchcraft, while Hekarti is the elven goddess of dark magic.
Ereth Khial - Ereshkigal
Ereshkigal was a Mesopotamian goddess of the underworld and married to a plague god named Nergal
Anath Raema - Diana/Kali
Diana wasn't so vicious a huntress as Anath Raema, but there's certainly a parallel. I don't have the dark elf book with me, but if I remember rightly she's described as wearing a necklace of heads and hands, not unlike the Hindu Kali.
Loec - Loki
Both trickster gods with similar sounding names.
Vaul - Vulcan
Both crippled forge gods.
*edit* just a quick one for the mods. I wasn't 100% sure where this should go, so if it's in the wrong place by all means move it
Khaine - The Biblical Cain.
Khaine is the god of murder, Cain is the biblical first murderer. Given the similarity behind their names and the idea behind them I think this one's pretty clear cut.
Isha and Kurnous - The Wiccan mother and horned god.
Wicca (a form of Neopaganism) often revolves around the worship of two figures, the mother and the horned god (sometimes called Cernunnos, a somewhat mysterious Celtic deity). A lot of the duality in the Wood elf lore regarding light/dark, masculine/feminine reflects some of the duotheism found in Wicca and other Neopagan religions.
Lileath, Isha, Morai-Heg - Maiden, Mother, Crone
Another concept found in some veins of Neopaganism is the idea of a triple goddess representing a maiden, a mother and a crone. This also parallels the importance of the cycle of seasons and of life, death and rebirth found in the Wood Elves' religion.
Hekarti - Hecate
Another one where the name is a big clue as to the inspiration. Hecate was a Greek goddess associated with witchcraft, while Hekarti is the elven goddess of dark magic.
Ereth Khial - Ereshkigal
Ereshkigal was a Mesopotamian goddess of the underworld and married to a plague god named Nergal
Anath Raema - Diana/Kali
Diana wasn't so vicious a huntress as Anath Raema, but there's certainly a parallel. I don't have the dark elf book with me, but if I remember rightly she's described as wearing a necklace of heads and hands, not unlike the Hindu Kali.
Loec - Loki
Both trickster gods with similar sounding names.
Vaul - Vulcan
Both crippled forge gods.
*edit* just a quick one for the mods. I wasn't 100% sure where this should go, so if it's in the wrong place by all means move it