: But in the Myth II epilogue each Era is described as
: hosting a single event of destroying a Leveller's
: body. Doesn't this indicate that the Eras are a
: thousand years long (although it doesn't tell us when
: each Era starts)?
Yes, it all fits quite nicely. I'm just being picky and/or playing the Leveler's advocate.
: It wasn't just Muirthemne he had to destroy. At the end
: of this Light Age, almost the entire world would be
: Light-dominated. If Balor started his conquest at the
: eastern edge of the world, it could easily be a few
: centuries before he even got in sight of the Cath
: Bruig empire.
From the intro movie of Myth: TFL.
"In a time long past, the armies of the Dark came again into the land of men. Their leaders became known as The Fallen Lords and their terrible sorcery was without equal in the West.
In thirty years they reduced the civilized nations to carrion and ash, until the free city of Madrigal alone defied them."
The two things that might be conflicting in this is that the East might not have been the land of men, but rather of beings superior to men, but that doesn't sound too likely. The other is that about "terrible sorcery without equal in the West". The Cath Bruig empire is always spoken of as the greatest of empires. But that the West would not know of a great war going on between the Dark and the Cath Bruig for 450 years is just not to consider a plausible theory.
Also remember that Covenant was not sacked by Soulblighter that Battle for Tyr did not take place and that The Watcher and The Deceiver did not go for each other's throats until after Madrigal stood up to the Fallen. (See journal entry from "Flight from Covenant.") This would mean that there was not much fighting in the West until all of the East was defeated. Also remember that the Heron Guard was absent at the fall of Muirthemne.
What makes the thought of Balor's quite late appearance appeal to me is how the thirty years in which civilized nations had their asses kicked corresponds fairly well with the second journal writer's account of when Muirthemne fell. The journal writer puts the fall of Muirthemne at 5950, and the intro puts the time at which the Fallen began their destruction of civilized nations at 5953. Does it mean Balor waited three years to start wasting the Westor that he started by wasting Muirthemne with a slight time descepancy in the sources?
The 1000-year cycle theory doesn't need to be wrong, but that the return of the Leveler happens at the same time relative to the cycles might be. It could also be that for the first time there has been a major change in the cycle besides Soulblighter's lame attempt at blowing up the Cloudspine.
After Connacht killed Moagim, he ruled the civilized nations for what could have been a very long time (known as the Age of Light). He then disappeared and returned "centuries later" as Balor. If we go by this, he could've ruled for 500 years, then disappeared for about 450 years and then popped up again with The Fallen Lords on a leish. I would think that Soulblighter might've gone about the same path, chronologically speaking. 500 years of going back and forth, mucking about beyond the Untamed Lands, disappearing for centuried and finally leading part of Balor's army upon his return.
: But Mazzarin wouldn't have died at the hands of the
: Watcher if he was a great hero/Leveller. He would have
: conquered all evil, then turned bad himself and been
: killed by a good guy (unless, back then, the Watcher
: was a good guy and the good guys used undead.)
As I'm pointing out below, power seems to have very little to do with victory in the world of Myth. The Watcher, who could be as much as two millenia old or more, was put to rest by someone who was less than half his age. I don't think one needs to be a immensely powerful just to be a hero.
The Watcher seems to be an evidence of someone who can survive cycles.
: I agree with you that the Four Ages could have included
: the one after Mazzarin, the Wolf Age, without showing
: Mazzarin to be better than Alric (who didn't really
: come into his own until the Sword Age.) Also, once he
: becomes a Great Hero, Alric might not be classed as an
: avatara anymore, so Mazzarin might be stronger than
: any of the avatara of Alric's period without being
: stronger than the post-Balor Alric.
I sorta never saw Alric or any of the Nine being per say powerful. Just look at what happened against The Fallen Lords. It was almost always defeat and retreat. The one thing the Light-sided (Heh heh) had against the Fallen seems to have been cunning. Alric had to use one of the Eblis stones, an extremly rare and powerful artifact, just to get Balor under control for a few important moments. It can only remind me of Rommel's shenanegance in North Africa. To be honest, the Light of the Great War seemed to have been total weenies compared to the Dark, but with truckloads more wit. Either that or the whatever deities that might exist were making destiny work for them in the end.
Peter Isotalo
