Jump to content

Parallel's between WoK and the Fall of Troy


Kurkistan

Recommended Posts

Hello all. Short time lurking, first time posting.

As I was reading the umpteenth nipple-piercing spear thrust in the Iliad the other day, my mind naturally skimmed to more interesting topics. While I'm sure that comparisons could be drawn between many works of literature, certain parallels between the fall of Troy and the Way of Kings seemed readily apparent to me as I thought more about it.

I could dive into the minutia of similarity and ignore vastly different contexts, as is always fun in such comparisons, but I will instead try to just lay out a few broad-stroke comparisons between the war upon the Shattered Plains and the Trojan war. Feel free to yell at me

1. Alethi and Greek cultural similarities.

-Both the Alethi and Greeks are warlike peoples, with many who consider themselves themselves rulers in their own right and lead personal troops into battle under the banner of a loosely obeyed ruler.

2. The precipitating event for war.

-The cause in both cases was an unexpected breach in hospitality. Assassination in the one case and wife-stealing in the other. I will admit to differences in degree, as well as to the fact that Paris absconding with Helen was not approved of by the Trojans, while the Parshendi seemed to have planned out their betrayal.

3. A pact binding the warring princes to the war.

-The Vengeance Pact keeps the Alethi at the Shattered Plains while the pact made between Helen's suitors to support the right of whoever wed her bound them to the siege of Troy.

4. The extreme length of the wars.

-5 years for the vengeance pact and 10 for Troy. I'm reaching here.

5. Ritualization of the war.

-Both the Iliad and the Way of Kings establish a virtual ritualization of what is supposed to be a war to the death. The attacking army is in an extremely well established, completely unthreatened base camp from which they regualarly sally forth to fight the enemy at a position between their two camps, to no real result.

6. Last one, I promise: Looting of precious armor

-Yes yes, different contexts and all of that. But every third line in the Iliad seems to be someone jumping into the middle of the battle to claim the body of the foe they just defeated and strip him of his armor. Think about it.

Ok, thank you for reading. This is almost certainly just the lonely, unloved child of a sleepless and distracted mind reading too much Homeric verse, but I thought it might prove of interest to those of you who are more sane.

It would also be amusing if I turn out to be right somehow, and Sanderson goes: "Oh yeah, I totally based that off the Iliad" at some point. I do doubt that possibility, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello all. Short time lurking, first time posting.

As I was reading the umpteenth nipple-piercing spear thrust in the Iliad the other day, my mind naturally skimmed to more interesting topics. While I'm sure that comparisons could be drawn between many works of literature, certain parallels between the fall of Troy and the Way of Kings seemed readily apparent to me as I thought more about it.

I could dive into the minutia of similarity and ignore vastly different contexts, as is always fun in such comparisons, but I will instead try to just lay out a few broad-stroke comparisons between the war upon the Shattered Plains and the Trojan war. Feel free to yell at me

1. Alethi and Greek cultural similarities.

-Both the Alethi and Greeks are warlike peoples, with many who consider themselves themselves rulers in their own right and lead personal troops into battle under the banner of a loosely obeyed ruler.

2. The precipitating event for war.

-The cause in both cases was an unexpected breach in hospitality. Assassination in the one case and wife-stealing in the other. I will admit to differences in degree, as well as to the fact that Paris absconding with Helen was not approved of by the Trojans, while the Parshendi seemed to have planned out their betrayal.

3. A pact binding the warring princes to the war.

-The Vengeance Pact keeps the Alethi at the Shattered Plains while the pact made between Helen's suitors to support the right of whoever wed her bound them to the siege of Troy.

4. The extreme length of the wars.

-5 years for the vengeance pact and 10 for Troy. I'm reaching here.

5. Ritualization of the war.

-Both the Iliad and the Way of Kings establish a virtual ritualization of what is supposed to be a war to the death. The attacking army is in an extremely well established, completely unthreatened base camp from which they regualarly sally forth to fight the enemy at a position between their two camps, to no real result.

6. Last one, I promise: Looting of precious armor

-Yes yes, different contexts and all of that. But every third line in the Iliad seems to be someone jumping into the middle of the battle to claim the body of the foe they just defeated and strip him of his armor. Think about it.

Ok, thank you for reading. This is almost certainly just the lonely, unloved child of a sleepless and distracted mind reading too much Homeric verse, but I thought it might prove of interest to those of you who are more sane.

It would also be amusing if I turn out to be right somehow, and Sanderson goes: "Oh yeah, I totally based that off the Iliad" at some point. I do doubt that possibility, though.

Oh, I'd have to say that the parallels aren't nonsense. It's a good parallel, actually. I don't know if Brandon referred to the Illiad specifically. I think it's just as likely to refer to historical cases where long sieges result in the wars becoming somewhat stylized.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, I'd have to say that the parallels aren't nonsense. It's a good parallel, actually. I don't know if Brandon referred to the Illiad specifically. I think it's just as likely to refer to historical cases where long sieges result in the wars becoming somewhat stylized.

Yeah, the ritualization of the siege was what struck me the most. Thanks for replying, btw.

Edited by Kurkistan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

I think my favorite is the comparison between the Alethi and the Greeks. As VERY independent city states, throughout history the Greeks have struggled to work together, from the time of the Trojan war, through the Persian and pelopponesian war, and up until the time of Philip the II. This situation, I think has some nice similarities to the way the Alethi nobility behave under the uneasy rule of the king.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^I agree, the Greek comparison is strong. Although, half a year later and a bit farther away from the Iliad, I get the impression that Alethikar is a bit more like a feudal European state, at least after the unification. Before unification, I would think of them as more like "the Germanies" before Bismarck (Gavilar) came along.

Also:

*Muwhahahahaha!*

21263d1305120619-necro-thread-necro.jpg

P.S. I know that this thread was bumped up to the top because of a spammer, not you, Comatose, I just wanted to post this picture :D.

Edited by Kurkistan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

^I agree, the Greek comparison is strong. Although, half a year later and a bit farther away from the Iliad, I get the impression that Alethikar is a bit more like a feudal European state, at least after the unification. Before unification, I would think of them as more like "the Germanies" before Bismarck (Gavilar) came along.

Also:

*Muwhahahahaha!*

21263d1305120619-necro-thread-necro.jpg

P.S. I know that this thread was bumped up to the top because of a spammer, not you, Comatose, I just wanted to post this picture :D.

Grabbed your pic!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Grabbed your pic!

It's always been a favorite of mine. :D

Beware that I just grabbed the image link off the first website that had it, so it might not last forever. I had forgotten until about half-way through writing this post that I actually have a Photobucket account, so I tend to just grab random links off the internet.

Edited by Kurkistan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Chaos locked this topic
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...