Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

Propaganda!

In Greek mythology, Echo was an Oread who resided on Mount Cithaeron. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and often visited them on Earth. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mount Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs. Echo, by trying to protect Zeus (as he had ordered her to do), endured Hera's wrath, and Hera made her only able to speak the last words spoken to her. So when Echo met Narcissus and fell in love with him, she was unable to tell him how she felt and was forced to watch him as he fell in love with himself.

Aslan is a major character in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series. Unlike any other character in the Narnian series, Aslan appears in all seven chronicles. Aslan is depicted as a talking lion and is described as the King of Beasts, the son of the Emperor-Over-the-Sea, and the King above all High Kings in Narnia. C.S. Lewis often capitalizes the word lion in reference to Aslan since he parallels Jesus as the "Lion of Judah" in Christian theology. The word aslan means "lion" in Turkish.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, is a literary and religious figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven, he is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha. Five hundred years later, he accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang riding on the White Dragon Horse and two other disciples, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, on a journey to obtain Buddhist sutras from India, known as the West or Western Paradise, where Buddha and his followers dwell.

Propaganda from the submitter:

In C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy, Glund-Oyarsa is the guardian of Glundandra, the name of the fourth planet in the books.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Hestia is the virgin goddess of the hearth and the home. In myth, she is the firstborn child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and one of the Twelve Olympians. the new-born Hestia, along with four of her five siblings, was devoured by her father Cronus, who feared being overthrown by one of his offspring. The last-born was Zeus, who escaped with his mother's help, and made his father disgorge all his siblings. Cronus was supplanted by this new generation of deities; and Hestia thus became one of the Olympian gods, the new rulers of the cosmos, alongside her brothers and sisters. In spite of her status, she has little prominence in Greek mythology. Like Athena and Artemis, Hestia elected never to marry and remained an eternal virgin goddess instead, forever tending to the hearth of Olympus.

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Kahless the Unforgettable is a mytho-historical figure from Star Trek's Klingon civilization. He was the first Warrior King and Emperor of the Klingon Empire, known as the "greatest warrior of them all". Kahless was the last Klingon to unite all tribes until the Federation-Klingon War of 2256, which was started with that purpose by a Klingon called T'Kuvma, who was concerned that his race had begun to "forget the Unforgettable". Sometime in the 9th century, Kahless defeated his enemies, including Molor and the Fek'Ihri, on the field of battle and founded the mighty Klingon Empire, uniting the Klingon people and giving them the laws of honor. Upon his death, Kahless promised he would return one day and lead the Empire again. After his death, it was said that Kahless awaited all Klingons in Sto-vo-kor: the life which lies beyond this life. His teachings of honor and tradition formed the basis of modern Klingon philosophy and culture. As of 2374, Kahless was still revered as a near-divine figure by the Klingons.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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In Aztec mythology, Xochiquetzal, also called Ichpochtli , was a goddess associated with fertility, beauty, and love, serving as a protector of young mothers and a patroness of pregnancy, childbirth, and the crafts practiced by women such as weaving and embroidery. Unlike several other figures in the complex of Aztec female earth deities connected with agricultural and sexual fecundity, Xochiquetzal is always depicted as an alluring and youthful woman, richly attired and symbolically associated with vegetation and in particular flowers. By connotation, Xochiquetzal is also representative of human desire, pleasure, and excess, appearing also as patroness of artisans involved in the manufacture of luxury items.

Ulmo, also known as Ulubôz or Ullubôz, was an Ainu, one of the Aratar, and the Vala responsible for the control over the oceans of Arda. A lover of water, Ulmo was one of the Arda's chief architects and was always in a close friendship with Manwë. He always distrusted Melkor, and the Dark Lord feared the Sea almost as much as he feared Varda because the sea cannot be tamed. Ulmo had no dwelling in Valinor or any permanent dwelling on land, as he preferred the deeps of the seas and the rivers. Ulmo seldom came to the Councils of Máhanaxar, and only when in great need. He preferred to stay in Arda, not by walking on the land, as his form would fill man or Elf with great dread.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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Vanth is a female demon in the Etruscan underworld that is often accompanied either by additional Vanth figures or by another underworld demon, Charun (later referred to as Charu). Both Vanth and Charun are only seen in iconography beginning c. 400 BC, in the middle period of Etruscan art, although some earlier inscriptions mention her name. Her other attributes include the possession of a torch, key, or scroll, and she is shown often to be bare-chested with cross-straps across her breast, adorned with fur boots, a rolled short chiton, and sometimes with unattached sleeves. In fact, her dress has been attributed by Scheffer as specifically that of a huntress.

Propaganda from the submitter:

In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr, also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent, is an unfathomably large sea serpent or worm who dwells in the world sea, encircling the Earth (Midgard) and biting its own tail, an example of an ouroboros. As a result of it surrounding Midgard (the Earth) it is referred to as the World Serpent. Jörmungandr releasing its tail is one of the signs of the beginning of Ragnarök (the final battle of the world). Jörmungandr is said to be the middle child of the trickster god Loki and the giantess Angrboða.

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Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

Propaganda!

In the Catholic faith, Dymphna was the only child of a pagan king who is believed to have ruled a section of Ireland in the 7th century. When the queen died at a very young age, the king ended up propositing his daughter to marry him and become his new queen. Disgisted, she fled from home to avoid the danger of her refusal. She fled with a party that included her priest confessor and took a vow of chastity. When her father eventually located her, he ordered his men to kill her and the priest. They murdered the priest but were unwilling to touch Dymphna, who was only 15. Enraged, her father killed her himself. She is honored as a saint and her feast day is May 15.

Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Etruscan and Roman mythology. As with Hades, the name of the god was also used for the underworld itself. Eventually, he was conflated with Dis Pater and Pluto. The Romans sometimes conflated Orcus with other underworld gods such as Pluto, Hades, and Dis Pater. The name "Orcus" seems to have referred specifically to the malicious and punishing side of the ruler of the underworld, as the god who tormented evildoers in their afterlife. In the charitable interpretation for such a place, it was believed to be an abode for purification of the souls of the deceased.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness, revenge, and purification, which retain obscure threads of much older works. In Homer's telling of the story, Orestes is a member of the doomed house of Atreus, which is descended from Tantalus and Niobe. He is absent from Mycenae when his father, Agamemnon, returns from the Trojan War with the Trojan princess Cassandra as his concubine, and thus not present for Agamemnon's murder by Aegisthus, the lover of his wife, Clytemnestra. Seven years later, Orestes returns from Athens and avenges his father's death by slaying both Aegisthus and his own mother Clytemnestra.

Kali, also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali appears in numerous stories, with her most famous being when she sprang from the goddess Durga's fury to defeat the demon Raktabija. She is stated to destroy evil and defend the innocent. Kali is worshipped as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, and Divine feminine energy. She is also seen as the divine protector and bestower of moksha (liberation). Worshipped throughout South Asia but particularly in Nepal, Southern India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is a central figure in the goddess-centric traditions of Hinduism as well as in Shaivism. Since the late twentieth century, feminist movements in the West started to associate Kali with women's empowerment.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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In Aztec religion, Coyolxāuhqui ("Painted with Bells") is a daughter of the goddess Cōātlīcue ("Serpent Skirt"). She was the leader of her brothers, the Centzon Huitznahua ("Four Hundred Huitznahua"). She led her brothers in an attack against their mother, Cōātlīcue, when they learned she was pregnant, convinced she dishonored them all. The attack is thwarted by Coyolxāuhqui's other brother, Huitzilopochtli, the national deity of the Mexicas.

Jaci (of Ya-cy or Ia-cy, from the Tupi, "mother of the animals"), in Brazilian mythology, is the moon goddess, protector of the animals, lovers, reproduction, plants, night, moonlight, offerings and maidens. She avoided wars as she is goddess who prefers to observe before saying something. According to tradition, Guaraci, the sun god once got tired of his eternal job and had to sleep. When he closed his eyes the world fell into darkness. To brighten the darkness while sleeping, Tupã created Jaci, the moon, to illuminate the night and bring softness and charm to the world.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her Roman equivalent is Discordia, which means the same. Eris's Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Roman counterpart is Concordia, though she is also described as opposing Nike, counterpart of the Roman Victoria. Homer equated her with the war-goddess Enyo, whose Roman counterpart is Bellona. The dwarf planet Eris is named after the goddess. It is unknown whether she had any temples or sects in Greece. She is often invoked as a personification of strife, as which she appears in Homer and many later works.

In the Latter Day Saint movement, Heavenly Mother, also known as Mother in Heaven, is the mother of human spirits and the wife of God the Father. Collectively Heavenly Mother and Father are called Heavenly Parents. Those who accept the Mother in Heaven doctrine trace its origins to Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. The doctrine became more widely known after Smith's death in 1844.

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Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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Nezha (哪吒) is a protection deity in Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religion. His official Taoist name is "Marshal of the Central Altar" (中壇元帥). He was then given the title "Third Lotus Prince" (蓮花三太子) after he became a deity. Nezha's mother, Lady Yin, gave birth to a ball of flesh after gestating for three years and six months. Li Jing thought his wife had given birth to a demon and attacked the ball with his sword. The ball split open, and Nezha jumped out as a boy instead of an infant. Nezha could jump and walk immediately after birth. Nezha is worshipped in Chinese folk religion and is called "Marshal of the Central Altar" or "Prince Nezha", the "Third Prince". Nezha is also often regarded as the patron god of children and filial piety. Parents would make an offering to Nezha with the hope that their children would grow up strong, healthy, and be dutiful and respectful.

Propaganda from the submitter:

Lurga, known as Saturn on Thulcandra, is the sixth planet in the Field of Arbol, beyond the orbit of Glundandra, but inward of Neruval. It has a ring called known as the Ring of Lurga. It also has the non-canon names of Lurgandra and Lurgadandra. Like most other planets such as Thulcandra, Malacandra, Glundandra, and Neruval, it has its own moons, but these are not named in the Space Trilogy. Lurga does however have its own Eldila and Oyarsa like all the other planets, but no hnau are mentioned. In the Space Trilogy, the Low Worlds are newer, so the Great Worlds such as Lurga will be older worlds.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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Hero is from the Greek myth Hero and Leander. Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite dwelt in a tower in Sestos on the European side of the Hellespont, and Leander, a young man from Abydos lived on the opposite side of the strait. In the story, Leander falls in love with Hero and swims every night across the Hellespont to spend time with her. Hero lights a lamp at the top of her tower to guide his way. Leander's soft words and charms—and his argument that Aphrodite, as the goddess of love and sex, would scorn the worship of a virgin—convince Hero, and they make love. Their secret love affair lasts through a warm summer, but when winter and its rougher weather looms, they agree to part for the season and resume in the spring. One stormy winter night, however, Leander sees the torch at the top of Hero's tower. He attempts to go to her, but halfway through his swim, a strong winter wind blows out Hero's light, and Leander loses his way and drowns. When Hero sees his dead body, she throws herself off the tower to join him in death. Their bodies wash up on shore together, locked in embrace, and are then subsequently buried in a lovers’ tomb.

Molor is from the Klingon myths from Star Trek. According to his story, he sent five hundred warriors against the city of Qam-Chee. The city's garrison fled, leaving only Kahless and the Lady Lukara to make a stand in the Great Hall. Kahless and Lukara emerged victorious, after which they commenced the greatest romance in Klingon history. Kahless and Lukara were also nearly killed by Molor's troops shortly after they were wed. This battle was commemorated by the use of ma'Stakas in the traditional Klingon wedding ceremony. The final confrontation between Molor and Kahless took place at the River Skral, which became the subject of a popular Klingon drinking song. Kahless slew Molor with the first bat'leth, which came to be known as the Sword of Kahless, and founded the Klingon Empire. After Molor was slain, the shrines to him were abandoned and built over. The ones that survived were shielded to prevent detection. Followers of Molor continued to exist into the 23rd century; one custom among them was to pour an extra drink and light it on fire.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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In Aztec mythology, Xolotl was a god of fire and lightning. He was commonly depicted as a dog-headed man and was a soul-guide for the dead. He was also god of twins, monsters, death, misfortune, sickness, and deformities. Xolotl is the canine brother and twin of Quetzalcoatl, the pair being sons of the virgin Chimalma. He is the dark personification of Venus, the evening star, and was associated with heavenly fire. The axolotl is named after him. Xolotl was the sinister god of monstrosities who wears the spirally-twisted wind jewel and the ear ornaments of Quetzalcoatl. His job was to protect the sun from the dangers of the underworld.

In Tolkien's books, Melkor is the most powerful of the Valar, but he turns to darkness and is renamed Morgoth, the primary antagonist of Arda. All evil in the world of Middle-earth ultimately stems from him. One of the Maiar of Aulë betrays his kind and becomes Morgoth's principal lieutenant and successor, Sauron. Melkor has been interpreted as analogous to Satan, once the greatest of all God's angels, Lucifer, but fallen through pride; he rebels against his creator. Morgoth has been likened, too, to John Milton's fallen angel in Paradise Lost, again a Satan-figure. Tolkien used the Norse god Odin to create aspects of several characters, the wizard Gandalf getting some of his good characteristics, while Morgoth gets his destructiveness, malevolence, and deceit.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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Thoth is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. Thoth played many vital and prominent roles in Egyptian mythology, such as maintaining the universe, and being one of the two deities (the other being Ma'at) who stood on either side of Ra's solar barque. In the later history of ancient Egypt, Thoth became heavily associated with the arbitration of godly disputes, the arts of magic, the system of writing, and the judgment of the dead. Thoth's roles in Egyptian mythology were many. He served as scribe of the gods, credited with the invention of writing and Egyptian hieroglyphs. In the underworld, Duat, he appeared as an ape, Aani, the god of equilibrium, who reported when the scales weighing the deceased's heart against the feather, representing the principle of Maat, was exactly even. The ancient Egyptians regarded Thoth as One, self-begotten, and self-produced.

Loki is a god in Norse mythology. Like other gods, Loki is a shape shifter and in separate sources appears in the form of a salmon, a mare, a fly, and possibly an elderly woman named Þökk (Old Norse 'thanks'). While sometimes friendly with the gods, Loki engineers the death of the beloved god Baldr. For this, Odin's specially engendered son Váli binds Loki with the entrails of one of his sons, where he writhes in pain. Loki is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources: the Prose Edda and Heimskringla, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson; the Norwegian Rune Poems, in the poetry of skalds, and in Scandinavian folklore. Loki may be depicted on the Snaptun Stone, the Kirkby Stephen Stone and the Gosforth Cross. Scholars have debated Loki's origins and role in Norse mythology, which some have described as that of a trickster god. Loki has been depicted in, or referenced in, a variety of media in modern popular culture.

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Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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Born in the 12th century in France, Emilina is a saint in the Catholic church, a devout soul who deeply desired to do God's will. She led a solitary life near the abbey and followed the Cistercian rule as much as she could. She had a deep prayer life, highlighted by extreme fasts and mortification. She was known to predict with accuracy future events, but was most concerned with the visitor's relationship with God. Humility marked her interaction with everyone and she never used her heavenly gifts for selfish gain. Since she neither married nor professed vows with any religious community, Emilina is known as the patron saint of single lay women.

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Luna is the divine embodiment of the Moon. She is often presented as the female complement of the Sun, Sol, conceived of as a god. Luna is also sometimes represented as an aspect of the Roman triple goddess, along with Diana and either Proserpina or Hecate. Luna is not always a distinct goddess, but sometimes rather an epithet that specializes a goddess, since both Diana and Juno are identified as moon goddesses. In Roman art, Luna attributes are the crescent moon plus the two-yoke chariot. In the Carmen Saeculare, performed in 17 BC, Horace invokes her as the "two-horned queen of the stars", bidding her to listen to the girls singing as Apollo listens to the boys.

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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In Greek mythology, Orpheus was a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, and even descended into the underworld of Hades, to recover his lost wife Eurydice. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music (the usual scene in Orpheus mosaics), his attempt to retrieve his wife Eurydice from the underworld, and his death at the hands of the maenads of Dionysus, who got tired of his mourning for his late wife Eurydice. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant figures in the reception of classical mythology in Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular culture including poetry, film, opera, music, and painting.

Krishna is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love, and is widely revered among Hindu divinities. Texts portray him in various perspectives: as a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and the universal supreme being. His iconography reflects these legends and shows him in different stages of his life, such as an infant eating butter, a young boy playing a flute, a young boy with Radha or surrounded by female devotees, or a friendly charioteer giving counsel to Arjuna. The name "Krishna" originates from the Sanskrit word Kṛṣṇa, which is primarily an adjective meaning "black", "dark", "dark blue" or "All-Attractive". The waning moon is called Krishna Paksha, relating to the adjective meaning "darkening".

Mythology Olympics tournament round 1

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Cihuacōātl was one of a number of motherhood and fertility goddesses in Aztec mythology. She was sometimes known as Quilaztli. Cihuacōātl was especially associated with midwives, and with the sweat lodges where midwives practiced. She is paired with Quilaztli and was considered a protectress of the Chalmeca people and patroness of the city of Culhuacan. She helped Quetzalcoatl create the current race of humanity by grinding up bones from the previous ages, and mixing it with his blood. She is also the mother of Mixcoatl, whom she abandoned at a crossroads. Tradition says that she often returns there to weep for her lost son, only to find a sacrificial knife.

Tupã is considered to be the creator of the universe, of humanity and of the spirits of good and evil in Guarani mythology referred to as Angatupyry and Tau respectively. Tupã is more specifically considered the creator of light and his residence is the Sun. Tupã was not actually a god, but rather a manifestation of God, in the form of thunder. Tupã, according to Câmara Cascudo, is an adaptation of catechism, which also existed in concept for the Amerindians, but as the "sound of thunder" (tu-pá or tu-pã), an unknown (and thus feared) phenomenon. [image credit]

Call for a pinch hitter

When submissions were made, someone submitted a figure named Hinsi from the Hindu religion. However, I cannot find anything about a figure called Hinsi. This is a call for replacements for Hinsi (or for someone who's in the know to explain what this is meant to be). No links or propaganda were submitted.

I'd like the replacement figure to also be Hindu. The only other Hindu figures submitted were Kali and Pritvi. Today's polls are scheduled to start posting at 4pm EST this afternoon.