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Indra is a storm god who fights Vritra, the three-headed serpent or dragon (his mantles and attributions change in retellings, also an important theme I tackle). Vritra (from the Indian epic, the Mahabharata,) and another god from another pantheon with a similar story. One example of this that I found in my Indo-European research is the analogs between Indra vs.
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Some steal and twist to serve new cultures or environments better, or with more familiar and relatable characters. They all borrow, life, and mirror many others. People are informed and shaped by the stories they’re exposed to, and no story begins or shapes itself in a vacuum. So keen-eyed readers (and re-readers) will find many more secrets and things hidden the more attention they give to the story, and the stories within stories.Īt first, this only applied to Ari as I figured he would be the best lens and focal point to show this with, but as the world grew, and as did my research, I realized they couldn’t be separate. So I went in very aware of this and wanted to use this as part of the world building in how stories change shape and so do names and facts over time. And it’s a very real thing that has happened time and time again throughout our own worldly history. It’s part of how stories change and reputations are created. Something that happens to Ari over the course of his life, and something he has seen happened to others.
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This theme is something that will play out in Tales of Tremaine (the series) as names are traded, misremembered, mispronounced, and twisted over time and distance. Over time and travel, and no amount of western tongues probably being unable to pronounce it right, the word became Satan-soon synonymous with Lucifer. The most notable example of this in modern SFF is The Wheel of Time where it is used as another name for the primary antagonist of the series, The Dark One. But did you know the word originally comes from Arabic and Hindi, and it is said as, Shaitaan in the latter, Shaitan in the former. We all know it as another name for the Christian Devil. How can any story do so over a thousand miles, told over time, and by countless tongues?Ī real life example that inspired the word, Satan. But his stories and rumors have never held their shape. Some by luck, bits by truths, and some through lies. We’re shown his life, past and present, and how his legendary (or villainy) reputation has come to be. Ari, the protagonist, is the main vehicle for this. Along with this, how words and names in stories change as well. Something I wanted to tackle with The First Binding is the nature of stories: how they’re created, how they travel, change their shape, and evolve. Virdi tells us a bit about how stories change, shift, and adapt over time in the Big Idea for his newest novel, The First Binding.