Earwa > TGO ARC Discussion

[TGO SPOILERS] The Gods

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MSJ:
I'm beginning to believe there is whole lot more going on with Onkis and Ajokli. Particularly, that Ajokli is more like a Loki figure, manipulating the Gods and Men to his own purpose. Maybe he is trying to take control of the Outside, but take a closer look at his entry in the glossary.


--- Quote ---Ajokli—The God of thievery and deception. Though listed among the primary Gods in The Chronicle of the Tusk, there is no true Cult of Ajokli, but rather an informal network of devotees scattered across the great cities of the Three Seas. Ajokli is oft mentioned in the secondary scriptures of the different Cults, sometimes as a mischievous companion of the Gods, other times as a cruel or malicious competitor. In the Mar’eddat, he is the faithless husband of Gierra.
--- End quote ---

Take note of the bolded, sometimes described as a companion of the Gods? I just believe there is more here and would love your thoughts. Here is Onkis's entry and her obvious connection to TDTCB and Nonmen.


--- Quote ---Onkis—The Goddess of hope and aspiration. One of the so-called Compensatory Gods, who reward devotion in life with paradise in the afterlife, Onkis draws followers from all walks of life, though rarely in great numbers. She is only mentioned twice in the Higarata, and in the (likely apocryphal) Parnishtas she is portrayed as a prophetess, not of the future, but of the motivations of Men. The so-called “shakers” belong to an extreme branch of the Cult, where the devotees ritually strive to be “possessed” by the Goddess. Her symbol is the Copper Tree (which also happens to be the device of the legendary Nonman Mansion of Siol, though no link has been established.)
--- End quote ---

The bolded brought me to flip through and see what the glossary had to say about Nonmen, here is the part that is intriguing.



--- Quote ---Nonmen—At one time the pre-eminent race of Eärwa, but now much reduced. The Nonmen call themselves ji’cûnû roi, “the People of Dawn,” for reasons they can no longer remember.
--- End quote ---

The People of Dawn and they can no longer remember why they call themselves that, huh. The dawn of the Gods? Is Ajokli some great Nonman whom ascended to God-Hood and is manipulating them to try and avoid damnation for him and his brethren? I think Locke nailed the Onkis part of the equation, but what about Ajokli? What makes him so damn special?

locke:
just want to throw in these from the false sun first:


--- Quote ---Now that he had seen.

“Very well,” Shaeönanra conceded, bowing in the shallow, cursive way of the Umeri. He turned to the attendant. “Summon our…” He paused as if at the humour of the word Onkhis had delivered to him. “Our guest.”
--- End quote ---


--- Quote ---A flush of horror. Shaeönanra tensed against the sudden loosening in his bowel, not quite believing that the Inchoroi had dared name it aloud. Xir’kirimakra. The Inverse Fire. For a heartbeat he found his Voice divided between mere fear and what mattered. What? Did Aurang seek to seduce the Sohonc Archideme? Could he not see that Titirga was not one to suffer rivals, that Shaeönanra himself would be doomed were he to embrace their Holy Consult?

But these were vain questions. They fell away as quickly as Onkhis offered them up, so flimsy were the concerns that moved them. All that mattered, the Ground’s only consequential thing, was what he had seen…

Damnation.
--- End quote ---

locke:
Now TDTCB:


--- Quote ---Onkis...beloved.

God has a thousand faces," Sejenus had said, "but men only one heart." Every great faith was a labyrinth possessed of innumerable small grottoes, half-secret places where the abstractions fell away and where the objects of worship became small enough to comfort daily anxieties, familiar enough to weep openly about petty things. Inrau had found his grotto in the shrine of Onkis, the Singer-in-the-Dark, the Aspect who stood at the heart of all men, moving them to forever grasp far more than they could hold.

He knelt. Sobs wracked him.

If only he could have forgotten... forgotten what the Mandate had taught him. If he could've done that, then this last heartbreaking revelation would have been meaningless to him. If only Achamian had not come. the price was too high.

Onkis. Could she forgive him for returning to the Mandate?

The idol was worked in white marble, eyes closed with the sunken look of the dead. At first glance she appeared to be the severed head of a woman, beautiful yet vaguely common, mounted on a pole. Anything more than a glance, however, revealed the pole to be a miniature tree, like those cultivated by the ancient Norsirai, only worked in bronze. Branches poked through her parted lips and swept across her face--nature reborn through human lips. Other branches reached behind to break through her frozen hair. Her image never failed to stir something within him, and this is why he always returned to her: she was this stirring, the dark place where the flurries of his thought arose. She came before him.
--- End quote ---


--- Quote ---Onkis, the Singer-in-the-Dark, the Aspect who stood at the heart of all men, moving them to forever grasp... she was this stirring, the dark place where the flurries of his thought arose. She came before him.


--- End quote ---


--- Quote ---She came before him.
--- End quote ---

Onkis is the goddess of the darkness that comes before.

Madness:
Yeah, since we long ago broke down that it seems Onkis speaks to Inrau in TDTCB, I've always found those descriptions interesting in the context of the Dunyain and their relationship with Onkis (unbeknownst to them).

EDIT: (We specifically being locke, I, and others in the Almanac threads for The Darkness That Comes Before.)

MisterGuyMan:
Is this the head on a pole the is referenced in the Kellhus POV chapters?

Would Kellhus be an avatar/servant or enemy of Onkis?  TTT's glossary says thus:

--- Quote ---The Goddess of hope and aspiration,  One of the so-called compensatory Gods, who reward devotion in life with paradise in the afterlife....She is only mentioned twice in the (likely apocryphal) Parnishtas she is not portrayed as a prophetess, not of the future, but of the motivations of Men.
--- End quote ---
If she were a Bellicose god, a god who sees worship as sycophantic and rewards followers that strive against her, then Kellhus striving to come before her would actually be no big deal.  She's a compensatory god though so she rewards followers not rivals.

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