posted
I do not know if this is the right section, but I have given alot of thought to this. Grant Morrison compared the JLA to the Greek panthenon. Superman is Zeus, Aquaman is Poseidon, Batman is Hades,etc. He was able to do this beccause of universal archetypes we find in stories everywhere.
I attempted to apply the Greek panthenon to the Legion, but hit a stumbling block because many of the powers are the same. My solution was to try a different panthenon, the Egyptian. Here is a short list (there are at least 3,000 deities). Feel free to add to the list or create your own using the Egyptian or other panthenons.
1. Amun- Superboy Amun was originally part of the Oggdoad (eight primordial deities) or Hermopolis Magna. His spouse was Amaunet. Later in Thebes he rose to prominence as a sun god. Superboy echoes this because he is originally just a kid in Smallville, fighting off and for Lana Lang. Then he moves to Metropolis and becomes a super-hero and ace reporter. 2. Ra- Ultra-Boy Ra was the solor god who eventually became merged with Amun in the 18th Dynasty. Ra was said to fight the demon Apophis as he makes the daily journey through the sky. This fit's Jo's story of being swallowed by a giant space whale. 3. Atum- Mon-El Atum was the creator god of Heliopolis, and Mon-el is directly responsible for the creation of the Legion. Note that I chose creator/sun gods for all the Legionnaires with similar powers. 4.Neith-Supergirl Neith was the creator goddess of Sais. She held arrows was compared by the Greeks to Athena. This fits Supergirl's warrior qualities. Neith was asked for advice during the contendings of Horus and Set. Powerful but aloof, she fits Supergirl's role in the Legion perfectly. 5. Shu- Polar Boy He was the god of air. Shu's primary role in Egyptian mythology is to hold his daughter Nut away from his son Geb on the orders of Ra. This fit's Polar Boys legalist perspection on the Legion Constitution. 6. Tefnut- Phantom Girl She was the goddess of moisture. What moisture does it make things stick together, which is what Phantom Girl does. She has never taken an absence from Legion duty. Tefnut can also be considered an eye of Ra, and we all know that Tinya is in Jo's eyes. 7. Ptah- Brainiac 5 The creator god of Memphis, known for helping manufacturers of all sorts. I compare him to Brainiac 5 not only because of that, but he is consistently in ever version of the Legion.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
I started writing a fanfic where the Legion got thrown back in time and robbed of their memories and ended up accidentally starting / perpetuating various mythologies before they recovered their memories and returned to the future.
Garth grew a beard and started the myth of Zeus, hurler of thunderbolts, Imra was Hera, goddess of laws, from whose eyes no secrets were concealed, Brainy was hurt during the transition and wore a leg-brace, functioning as Hephaestus, the lame craftsman of the 'gods,' etc.
I lost interest in it, because it required so much artificial kludging together of elements that didn't really fit.
The Ogdoad/Ennead never really occured to me to translate over.
Catspaw as Bast seems a given, 'though.
Isis as White Witch (or Projectra?), Blok as Geb, Anubis as Timber Wolf?
Lion-headed Sekhmet fired 'arrows of plague,' at armies that opposed Egypt. Perhaps Infectious Lass has a place here?
Dream Girl might associate with Nut (who is traditionally represented as lying down, as if dreaming), but then again, Shadow Lass also could represent the night sky...
I'm actually thinking that many of the Egyptian gods would be better represented by pairs of Legionnaires. Geb as Blok + Colossal Boy, Isis as White Witch + Projectra, Nut as Shadow Lass + Dream Girl.
Registered: Aug 2006
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8. Infectious Lass- Sekhmet One of the 'Eyes of Ra' who was ordered to destroy humanity once. She is a fearsome goddess of war and plagues, a very good fit for the Legion of Substitute member who was rejected from the Legion because of fear. 9. Isis- Saturn Girl Isis was a powerful goddess. Modern day worshippers say she is not to be messed with and demands respect. Does that not fit Saturn Girl? 10. Osiris- Lightning Lad Now you are thinking what does a god of vegetation have in common with Lightning Lad? They both died and came back to life. 11. Nethys- Lighting Lass This is obvious as they are both doting siblings. They both wanted their brothers back from the dead. 12. Elysion- Apophis They are both very evil beings that like to destroy things. No Legion villain properly matches Elysion's powers, and my knowledge of Egyptian demonology is low.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
Apep / Apophis might be an interesting choice to equate with both the Moby Dick of Space and the space whale / dragon / thing that swallowed Jo Nah and spat him out with ultra-powers.
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I just really want to include Elysion in this because he is a favorite of mine. Can you think of any deities that would fit? He can control the Earth is that helps to narrow it down.
I am also unsure whether to cast Lightning Lord as Set. He was never a member of the Legion, whereas Set was respected because he guided Ra through the Underworld and fought Apophis.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
I am unqualified to present any objective view of Set.
Someone who started out as a good guy, and turned into a treacherous bad-guy might be appropriate, such as Universo, for the modern view of Set.
Unlike the Greco-Roman gods, who had Titans and Giants and other cthonic beasties aplenty to serve as adversaries (ditto the Hindu gods and the Rakshasa, the Norse and the Jotun, etc.), the Egyptian gods didn't have a whole bunch of enemies to match up with the LSV, Fatal Five, Super-Assassins, etc.
Apophis, and, later, when the Greeks conflated him with Apep/Typhon, Set, were pretty much it for 'bad-guys,' and modern stories tend to go so far as to try to paint even *Anubis* as a bad-guy, just to add some diversity (and partially because modern audiences have trouble with the concept of a god of death who *isn't* a bad guy, hence the dozen atrocious portrayals of Hades as a villain in various Disney-fied venues).
As much as I love the Egyptian gods, they get less play than the Greek, Norse, etc. pantheons and don't really seem to adapt well to modern day mythic archetypes as the later groupings. No sky-father (Zeus, Odin, Ukko). No 'maimed god' (Hephaestus, Airgitlamh, the Fisher King). No goddess of love (Aphrodite, Inanna). No sea god (Poseidon, Susanowo). No hunt/fertility god (Cernunnos, Herne, Artemis). Etc.
Mon-El would be my first choice for Osirus. He 'died' and entered the 'spirit world' (the Zone) and rose again. He even got sent back (as Mon-El was later thrown back into the Zone, on occasion) and has become a powerful, but distant figure. Power wise, he's got nothing to do with growing plants or fertility, but if we tried to make exact parallels, we'd end up with some sort of Black Lantern version of Chlorophyll Kid as our Osirus-analogue.
But your choice of Lightning Lad is also a good one. He's the only Legion male to have explicitly sired children, which makes him best suited for a 'fertility' god. (Barring the Ultra Boy of another continuity, or the *possibility* that Mon-El has descendents from his 20th century shenanigans.) It also sets up Graym as a potential Horus the Avenger...
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quote:As much as I love the Egyptian gods, they get less play than the Greek, Norse, etc. pantheons and don't really seem to adapt well to modern day mythic archetypes as the later groupings. No sky-father (Zeus, Odin, Ukko).
They had Nut, a sky-mother so to speak. They also had tons of solar gods
quote:No 'maimed god' (Hephaestus, Airgitlamh, the Fisher King).
Horus lost an eye.
quote:No goddess of love (Aphrodite, Inanna).
Hathor fits the role of love goddess.
quote:No sea god (Poseidon, Susanowo).
Hapy, the god of the Nile River.
quote:No hunt/fertility god (Cernunnos, Herne, Artemis). Etc.
Min, Sobek, Osiris, probably more.
Though I understand this isn't easy. We can try the Greek panthenon. How did you reconcile the fact that Superboy, Ultra Boy, and Mon-El have the same powers?
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
With the Egyptian gods, I'd be inclined to say that the various sun-gods represent the solar powered Superboy / Mon-El, on the one hand.
Ra seems like the best choice for Kal-El.
Thoth could be either Brainy or Computo 2 (Danielle Foccart).
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13. Khnum- Cosmic Boy Like the creator god, Cosmic Boy's leadership molds both the team and individual members. Both the deity and Legionnaire are said to be quiet, but close to those they love.
Roman Analogies...because I like the Romans better than the Greeks. I loved the Aeneid.
1. Pluto- Polar Boy Brek isn't King of the Dead just because of his powers. He is King of the Dead because of his style of leadership. Pluto has been described as a strict father to be respected. Few came back from Pluto's realm, and the Legion Constitution was interpreted strictly throughout Brek's term. 2. Charon- Elysian This fits alot better than the Egyptian one. Charon didn't care about who died as long as he got his coin. Elysian is the same, he doesn't care who he kills as long as he is having a good time. 3.Proserpina- Sensor Girl Just as Kore was transformed from a maiden into a woman by her abduction by Hades, the death of Karate Kid transformed Jeckie into Sensor Girl.
[ August 09, 2010, 06:19 PM: Message edited by: Red Arrow ]
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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