I have really been enjoying going back and rereading and reanalyzing the myths and stories that got me into D&D to start with. I can't help but feel like this is the start of 1979 instead of 2019 with my reading list lately. Only now at 49, I can really enjoy them in a different light than 9.
Let's continue with One Man's God and see what sort of demons the Greek Myths give us.
The Furies, Erinyes and the Dirae
Part of my prep for this has been to go back over my Hesiod (7th Century BCE) and Ovid(1st Century BCE and CE) (and other sources, but that is later) to see how these myths changed over the centuries. One of my favorites was the various different interpretations of the Erinyes also know as the Furies and the Dirae (Roman). Like I mentioned in
Part 1, they are the archetype of what OMG is trying to do. Their new life in the Monster Manual as a devil is not just in line with the myth, it also makes a certain level sense given the internal logic of the D&D multiverse.
I took it a step even further with my own
Avenging Angels, The Dirae.
Typhon and Echidna
Another candidate for a demon is the god/titan
Typhon. I have used Typhon as a demon in the past. Essentially a Balor whose primary aspects are lightning, storms, and rain rather than smoke, darkness, and fire. I still like that idea, but it really
isn't Typhon is it? Typhon is the offspring of Gaia (Earth) and Tartarus (the underworld) so there is some connection to him being a Cthonic deity (like Nox) and he certainly looks like a demon. Also, the Ptolemaic Greeks (and earlier) associated and conflated and syncretized Typhon with Set.
I think in this case I am going to have my cake and eat it too. There is Typhon, the titan locked away in Tartarus and there are the Typhon demons, demons of storm and wind that might be his offspring.
Echidna is the "mother of all monsters". In a way that sounds like another "Other Side" favorite, Lilith the Mother of Demons. Though aside from the similar titles that is where the commonalities end. Echidna is a half-woman, half-snake creature born "to the sea" (depends on who ask) and was the mother to some of the most fearsome monsters of the Greek Myths, including
Orthrus, Dioskilos, and Cerberus.
As with Typhon, she seems to remain more of a titan to me. As the mother of monsters, I can see that she is the mother/progenitor of the harpies and even the Marilith aka the Type V demons. Given her and Typhon's affinity for snakes, it makes sense. I also think that I would say that she lays eggs, a nod to the animal Echidna; an egg-laying mammal.
In truth, any monster of demon can be the offspring of Typhon and Echidna.
Demogorgon
Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name
Of Demogorgon
— John Milton, Paradise Lost II. 966.
Time to address the titan in the room.
Is Demogorgon a part of the Greek Myths?
Well, he is not listed in the Deities & Demigods as part of the Greek Myths, so this is a stretch of scope for this OMG, but Demogorgon is so central to the mythos of D&D that he can't go unmentioned.
Many scholars now believe that the word Demogorgon was badly translated from the Greek δημιουργόν (dēmiourgon) or demiurge. As an aside, does this mean he could be the Demiurge in the game
Kult? NOW THERE is a fun idea! Throughout the study of the name, there are two basic threads. 1. Demogorgon is some sort primordial progenitor of the Gods. and 2. It is a grammatical error given life as a god. Certainly, the look given to Demogorgon in the Monster Manual is a pure fabrication on the part of authors and artists of D&D (note: this is not a bad thing).
From Milton above, we learn that Demogorgon was already in Hell waiting for the arrival of Satan. He is picked up as a prince of darkness in Edmund Spenser's
The Faerie Queene.
But my favorite one has to be from Shelley's
Prometheus Unbound which takes influences from Paradise Lost. Here Demogorgon is the son of Zeus/Jupiter and Theris and is known as "the supreme Tyrant" of "the shadow realm". Here the gods, Jupiter, Hades even Typhon are all dead. In this Demogorgon defeats Zeus/Jupiter as he did Kronos/Saturn before and Ouranos/Uranus before that. Maybe much like the prophecy, Metis was given of Zeus' son defeating him this happened, but only it was his via Thetis instead.
So what does all that mean to us?
Well Demogorgon, as he appears in the Monster Manual, is not really Greek. This is fine. But grabbing all sorts of elements of his/its past we can come up with an old demon whose goal is to destroy the Gods (as one interpretation). If we look into his origins as quasi-Greek then it is interesting that his chief rival is Orcus a demonic version of an Etruscan/Roman deity. But more on Orcus in the next OMG.
Demogorgon has been featured here before and likely will again
That's a lot for today and I feel like I have barely scratched the surface, and there are still Roman Myths to cover!
The more I think about it. The world of Kult is one where Demogorgon has succeded in killing most of the gods.
