Trope-a-Day: War is Glorious

War is Glorious: The doctrine of one of the Flamic war gods: Kalasané, Laughing Warrior, Sword of Heaven, Lord of the Two Swords, the eikone of battle, courage, valor, victory through strength, and personal combat, who approaches the whole thing with a degree of enthusiasm that would impress the mythological Norseman or the fictional krogan. You are standing on the edge of civilization, facing down barbarism and desolation! How should that be less than glorious?

(The other one, Dúréníän, Noble Warlord, Grand Master of Strategies, Champion of the Just, the Ice Warrior, eikone of righteous war, battle, conquest, strategy and tactics, and patron of the sentinels, prefers to take a distinctly more sober attitude.

That both of these approaches have their strengths and the perfect warrior exists in a state of dynamic tension somewhere between the two is exactly why they have a pair of war gods.)

2 thoughts on “Trope-a-Day: War is Glorious

  1. I can assume they are derived from Ares and Athena? Obviously Ares is a bit more….headstrong….than Kalasané. Dúréníän seems a pretty close match for Athena.

    • Well, not explicitly, and in general, I might not want to take that analogy too far. Dúréníän is arguably a pretty close match for those aspects of Athena, but not (obviously) her various other aspects, but Kalasané… well, mythologically, Ares seems to have been more of a personification of the “War Is Hell” trope, with his associations with untamed violence, the barbarity of warfare, savagery, etc., etc., and not really respected among the Olympians, or by any of the Greeks except for the Spartans. The more civilized/dignified Roman Mars might fit better than the Greek Ares when considering how he’s seen, although in terms of his personification’s personality, I might picture him as more like Thor, especially in his personal strength and protective aspects.

Comments are closed.