: The way things are phrased in the M2 epilogue makes me
: think differently.
: First of all, facts. We know that the Leveler is the same
: spirit but a different body each age. We know that the
: Great Hero also has a different body each age.
: We don't know for sure whether the Great Hero has an
: underlying spirit each time, that is just a theory.
: GURPS Myth suggests that Alric may be a reincarnation
: of Moagim, and thus he would also be Tireces, so if
: this were true then the theory about the underlying
: spirit would also be true.
Additional bits of information (again, just religious theories, not facts) from GURPS are that "great heroes and villains tend to be alternate aspects of the same reincarnated soul" and that "every Dark lord is a Light hero reborn and vice versa."
: Here's an extract from the M2 epilogue: "Although
: the hero of every age of light is different, every
: dark age is ushered in by the same beast — a transient
: divinity that seeks only conflict — The Leveler."
: Now, the narrator has been told by Nine Skull Crocodile
: about how the various bodies that the Leveler used
: were destroyed, so he knows this. Therefore when he
: says that "every dark age is ushered in by the
: same beast", he is refering to the Leveler spirit
: (and yes I know you know this). Yet he also says that
: "the hero of every age of light is
: different". Now it seems unlikely that here he is
: refering to the Great Hero's body, because he then
: says that thing about the Leveler, and in that context
: it would look like he was saying the Leveler's body is
: the same (follow?). So therefore it looks like he is
: refering to the Great Hero's spirit being different
: each time.
Depends what you mean by "spirit". If you're using it to mean the mind as a whole, then yes, the Great Hero's don't share very much of this. But I'm using it to refer to a few desires and aspirations. Being an avatar of the "A" spirit, say, simply means that you tend to favor chaos and freedom. Other than this--and a few memories that might leak from avatar to avatar, like a hatred of horses--the various "A" avataras may be entirely different in personality and memories. On the other hand, I think the Leveller is much more of a complete mind--carrying more complex desires, and lots of memories, and so forth. So naturally the Leveller *remembers* that it's the Leveller, whereas the chaos/order avatars don't really know what they are, unless they find out through magical research or something.
So different avatars of the same spirit are merely *similar* in motivation, whereas different Levellers are truly the *same.* Think of the percentage lists I gave earlier. Both the Leveller and the chaos/order spirits make up a percentage of their avatars' minds, but the Leveller makes up a *much* larger percentage.
Furthermore, I don't believe that Mythworlders are really aware of this fact. After all, from what GURPS says, these more exotic theories of reincarnation (such as Alric being Moagim) are held only by obscure scholars. And very few people alive now are old enough to compare Tireces to Alric and notice any similarity. So it's not surprising that Nine Skull simply summarizes as "The Levellers are the same but the Heroes are different."
: However, like the theory of the spirit being the same,
: this is just that: a theory.
It's a better-supported theory, though. I'm just trying to show that the two theories aren't contradictory.
--SiliconDream
