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silverwolfer
Senior Scribe
789 Posts |
 Posted - 15 Aug 2013 : 02:14:26
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I know we have Egyptian gods, and various norse or southern american inspired ones.
But where exactly did Nobanion come from, I hardly read any info on him, but he seems to survive each edition, even the 4e culling.
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 15 Aug 2013 : 02:16:10
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From what I remember Ed stating over the years, he was based on Aslan from Narnia and other myths. So he's a unique creation from Ed, kind of. :)
Found the post, from 2004.
"Hi, Wooly Rupert. Well, now: Nobanion and Lurue are, of course, the Lion and the Unicorn of British nursery rhyme fame (with all the meanings that go with that, too; they are among other things the supporters of the royal coat of arms for that country, and in many other coats of arms associated with England).
Yet they're also MUCH more than that. For me, I have to be able to imagine a deity with some awe, and I often do it by attaching to them emotions evoked by other fiction. So, the Lion is also Aslan the Lion in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (Christian allegorical fantasy classics soon to appear in a Disney movie that * might * turn out to be okay, and already on film in any number of BBC adaptations down the years, some of them superb). The Narnia books are hated by some, loved by others, but chock-full of little heart-wrenching scenes regardless, and are among the top-selling English-language fiction books of all time.
I didn't mean my lion-god to BE Aslan, of course; as you saw in that DRAGON article, a lot of names were placeholders at the time, waiting for Mr. Gygax to round out the "official" (Greyhawk) pantheon. Aslan has that name because he has evoke that "awe" for me. The name "Aslan" is Indian in origin (India, not native North American), and the lion is of course a Christian symbol for 'the King' from way back, hence its lavish use in royal heraldry.
So "Aslan" went away the moment TSR decided to publish the Realms (mustn't lift central characters from other authors, even in homage, though I did unwittingly [i.e. I'd forgotten] sneak one direct homage into the Realms [Aglarond, for Tolkien], and beat another well-known fantasy author to a name by coincidence, coining the name "Ashaba" for the river that runs through Shadowdale years before David Eddings used it in his Malloreon books)." |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
Edited by - Kuje on 15 Aug 2013 02:20:09 |
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Gyor
Master of Realmslore
1632 Posts |
Posted - 16 Aug 2013 : 16:58:57
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Wasn't Aslan supposed to be s metaphor Jesus?
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 16 Aug 2013 : 17:16:19
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Yes, but that doesn't take away how great those books were (which I haven't read since I was 13, but still remember fondly). I can see where J.K. Rowling drew some inspiration as well (normal children whisked into a magical world, etc).
Have you read any of his other stuff? I highly reccomend The Screwtape Letters for anyone who wants to get inside the heads of fiends. That book was decades ahead of its time.
Anyhow, I picture 'the Lion & the Unicorn' as two sides to some sort of power-coin. We know Lurue is Arcane energy, so what might Aslan/Nobanion be? love? The power of adorement (which would include loyalty to a king)? According to the HP books (TWO HP references in one post!), "Love is the most ancient magic of all."
The weird part is, we already have Shar and Mystra/Selune acting as our power Ying/Yang (the two sides of magic, which we see so heavily highlighted in such series as WoT and SoT). Maybe those two are on a different axis, the same way we have C/L and G/E alignments on two different axis? |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Where did we inherit Nobanion from?
