WEBVTT - Whispers of the Speaking Sword 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:10.400 Calavoynan, wicked wizard grasps the handle of his broadsword, asks 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:14.320 the blade this simple question, tell me, O, my blade 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:17.959 of honor, dost thou wish to drink my life blood? 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:23.880 Drink the blood of Calivoynin. Thus his trusty sword makes 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:29.440 answer well, divining his intentions, Why should I not drink 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:35.400 thy life blood, blood of guilty Calivoynin? Since I feast 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:39.600 upon the worthy, drink the life blood of the righteous. 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:45.320 Thereupon the youth Colervo, wicked Wizard of the north Land, 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:50.120 lifts the mighty sword of Uko, DIDs adou to earth 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.160 in heaven, firmly thrust the hilt in heather to his heart, 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:57.840 he points the weapon, throws his weight upon the broadsword, 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:03.000 pouring out his wicked life blood. Air be journeys to Manala. 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:08.400 Thus the wizard finds destruction. This the end of colivoidment. 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:18.600 Born in sin and nursed in folly. Welcome to Stuff 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:27.920 to Blow your mind Production of My Heart Radio. Hey, 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:30.360 welcome to stuff to blow your mind. My name is 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:33.720 Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And what you just 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.760 heard was an excerpt from Room thirty five of the 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:41.320 Finnish epic the Kalavala, as translated by John Martin Crawford 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:45.759 in Uh, it's a famous scene from the text um 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.480 that has been depicted in art. You'll find depictions of 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:51.560 it in public statues. Uh. There was one that I 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:53.680 was able to pull up here for us, Joe, for 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:57.280 our notes, where you see this very stoic, very grim 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:01.160 looking figure standing there gripping the laid of his sword, 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:03.680 not the not the hilt, but the actual blade of 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:07.440 it as he contemplates deep dark thoughts. Now, as for 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.040 the things that are draped over his midsection, is this 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:12.680 just sort of straps or from the pelt that have 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.280 tassels like a scarf might have, or are those the 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.600 paws of what was a bear skin with the claws 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:21.880 still on them. They to me, they look like the 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:25.440 claws of an animal skin. Yeah. But the way they 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:27.880 wrapped around him, it looks like he's being hugged from 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.680 behind by a very flattened bear. That's kind of like 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:33.680 reaching down onto his thighs in a funny looking way. Now, 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:35.960 that the Calavaya for anyone who's not familiar. But this 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:39.480 is the national epic of Finland and nineteenth century work 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:44.880 based on on on Caroline and finish, folklore and mythology 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.959 concerning the creation of the world, the exploits of heroes 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.080 and villains, as well as the magical sampo. So this 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:54.920 has been this has been given the cinematic treatment a 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:57.400 few different times over the years, and I know we've 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.400 we've heard from listeners about some of those depicts and 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.600 about just the uh, the epic itself. I myself, if 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:06.480 have have yet to read it in full, but I 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.200 have to say, after this, um, this little cold open 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:11.840 reading here, I really like the cadence of it. I 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.080 like the cadence of this translation. So perhaps I'll dive 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.000 back in at some point. Yeah, it's on my mental 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:20.160 list as well. But so what's going on in the 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.240 scene that you read? Okay, So this scening question concerns 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:27.320 the character uh Klavo, who of course is also referred 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:31.519 to as Colorvoi in in this uh this this particular translation. 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:35.160 And he's a tragic and doomed character. Uh. He has 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.560 this he needs, having this conversation with the unnamed but 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:42.240 clearly sentient blade that he wields. Uh. There's an element 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.040 of edifice to the character Theo, and he's also something 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:47.160 of a of a wizard obviously is described as an 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.440 evil wizard. Uh. So there's a lot going on here. 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.160 But the interesting thing for our purposes is that the 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:57.160 sword speaks. The sword seems to keep a history of itself. 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:00.640 It knows what it has done, it knows who it 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:04.320 is killed, in the character of those that it is killed. Um, 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.760 and there's a sense of the blade has some sort 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.480 of will of its own, even if in this case 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:13.080 it's more of a bloodthirsty indifference to whoever's blood it 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.880 happens to spill. Is it like a kind of propaganda 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.800 that justifies its own use? Yeah, I mean it, It 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:20.280 kind of makes sense, right, I mean the sword, what 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.840 does the sword want? Well, in this case, the sword 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:24.800 just wants to spill blood. It doesn't care if it's 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.680 righteous blood, it doesn't care if it's evil blood. Uh, 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:31.640 it just wants blood. Now, if this particular scene sounds familiar, 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.080 you know it is clearly echoed in the famous is 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.560 this a Dagger which I see before me monologue from 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.040 William Shakespeare's Macbeth. And I've also read that Hamlet too 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:45.040 was at least in part inspired by this this uh, 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:49.120 this finished tale that these finished legends. Um. Of course, 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.880 in Macbeth, the dagger does not answer the doomed king. Um, 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.120 he's just speaking to it. He's just, you know, he's 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:59.440 kind of making it the focus of his monologue. But 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.440 there is an interesting history of speaking swords in myth 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:05.200 and legend, and of course this also spills over into 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:09.240 the existence of various speaking weapons in fiction. Um. One 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:12.480 of the most notable, at least for me, would would 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:16.279 be the sentient weapons of dungeons and Dragons, particularly the 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.160 sword Black Razor, which has been around and the Dungeons 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:22.760 and Dragons lore for a while. But we should we 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:27.400 should also mention some other, perhaps um less obvious examples 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:31.520 of of intelligent weapons, especially from the film Who Framed 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:35.719 Roger Rabbit? I think these are actually parodies of old 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:39.159 like Loony Tunes conventions, But there is a sword that 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.080 sings in it right, right, It's kind of a Frank 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:46.760 Sinatra cartoon Frank Sinatra sword. And uh, it's been a 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:48.640 long time since I've seen Roger Rabbit. I remember the 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:52.039 sword being fairly useless, like it seemed more interested in 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:56.120 singing and crooning as opposed to being a proper stabbling implement. 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.000 And again it had a will out its own. What 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:00.279 if there was a sword who just wanted to day ants. 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:03.480 But but the other thing is, I remember in this 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:07.760 movie there are like sentient bullets like, uh, what's his name? 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.400 Bob Hoskins gets out of a bunch of bullets to 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.719 put in his gun, and their cartoon like Old West 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:18.120 cowboy bullets, and that one talks like a prospect or. Yeah. 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:20.880 I'd completely forgotten about this until you shared an image 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:22.920 with me. I think at least one of the bullets 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:27.400 as Pipper from Final Sacrifice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:29.400 It's been like again, it's been a long time, so 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:31.279 I've seen it. But looking at this still, I can. 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:35.320 I can hear that stereotypical like prospect or voice. Yeah. 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:37.720 So in this episode, we're going to discuss some examples 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.520 of speaking swords from myth and legend and literature and 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:46.240 maybe get into what it all means to a certain extent. Now, 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:48.880 the idea of a weapon that has a mind of 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.920 its own and can even talk and talk to its bearer, uh, 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:55.880 it goes goes very far back, even farther back than 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:59.599 Balla Valla. In fact, it goes to the civilizations of 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:03.120 ancient Spopotamia and their myths. Yeah, because this and this 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:05.280 is one that's not just an old example, it's just 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:07.919 it's an example that checks off all the boxes of 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.120 what you want to find in a sentient weapon. It 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.640 is a shower the talking mace, which was a weapon 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:19.840 that was wielded by the hero god Ninurta. So this 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.400 would have been of Sumerian and then I think later 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:26.040 Babylonian mythology. Yeah, and um, And like a lot of 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.520 those gods, I think his his trajectory kind of changes 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.640 course over time. He's uh, he was at least initially 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:35.400 a god of spring, thunder showers and a protector of agriculture. 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.880 I've also seen him uh written about as being more 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.360 connected with the sun, and then in later traditions more 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.960 of like a warrior god. Um. And then he's there 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.280 are there are. There are also some some pretty famous 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:50.120 depictions of him. There's a like if you just go 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:54.200 to like a Wikipedia page about ancient Sumerian legend, you're 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:57.640 likely to see this image of non Urta with it 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:02.560 with thunderbolts, pursuing this wing a demon an zoo Um 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.440 who has stolen the tablets of destiny. Uh. It's pretty 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:09.680 famous image. Yeah, and like so much of that great 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.840 old Mesopotamian art, you get this kind of side view 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:15.960 of the characters right there there in profile as they're 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:21.920 striding forward. And Unnurta has absolutely fabulous calf muscles. Yes, 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:25.320 and in this image he has that he has thunderbolts. 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:29.800 But um, this other weapon is associated with him in 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.719 some of the old old writings. And this is this 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.280 is again Sharro or the Smasher of Thousands, and it 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:39.600 is a mace. Uh. And I'm gonna have a short 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.480 artifact episode coming up I think next week that gets 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.719 into this a little bit. But uh, just getting into 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:47.480 the idea of like why a mace? What is it? 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:49.960 Is it about a mace? Uh? That would have been 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.800 important in ancient warfare and and basically it comes down 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:54.800 to the fact that, yeah, if you were fighting people 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.400 that did not have metal helmets, a mace was just 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:01.040 an absolutely devastating weapon to have. It became a symbol 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.520 of authority and many different cultures, and therefore it's exactly 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:08.360 the sort of thing that a powerful deity would wield 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.400 against monstrous enemies. I think of the mace as being 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:15.760 very prominently displayed in some some quite memorable ancient Egyptian art, 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:19.000 for example on the Narmer palette, which shows, of course, 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.440 you know, the Pharaoh clutching the head of the conquered 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.160 enemy and raising the mace in the other hand. Uh, 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:27.960 it's sort of an image of total dominance. Yeah. Yeah, 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.120 Apparently the mace was the symbol of of Egyptian power 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:33.680 for a very long time, because that for for the 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.800 longest their armies only fought enemies with no armor or helmets, 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.600 and so the mace was just a dominant weapon to wield. Now, 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:45.000 as as far as Shahua goes, this was no typical mace. 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:47.840 This was a weapon that could speak, It could fly 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:51.200 across vast distances, and even take on the form of 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:55.840 a winged lion. As Abraham Amen points out in the 0:09:55.840 --> 0:09:59.120 Monster Hunter's Handbook, the weapon was capable of smashing enemies 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.520 either on its own own or in the hands of 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.280 non Orta, and it also rain fire and venom down 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:08.280 on its enemies and allowed the hero god to slay 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:12.239 this terrifying demon Azog, the one that we just described 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:15.800 from that that illustration. Wow. So, but of course us 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.600 just talking about it, you know, doesn't doesn't really give 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:20.560 it justice. You gotta you gotta go to the poetry, 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.440 or at least translations of the poetry, and in the 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:28.120 Sumerian poem Nenorta's Exploits. Uh yeah, there's a lot of 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:32.600 just beautiful violent language about our hero's use of the mace. 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.200 He said to pound Ausg's body as if it were 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:40.480 barley like in a mill or yea, like a mortar 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:42.720 and pestle. Yeah. Yeah, Like he's not going to just 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.600 knock down the monster and and and act like it's 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.000 a Friday that thirteenth movie. Oh, is the enemy dead? 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:50.559 I don't know. No, he's gonna go over and pound 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.640 that enemy into the ground with this mace. In fact, 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.600 such is the power of Choor that the condition of 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:59.240 the slain demon's body is compared to that of a 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:02.320 shipwrecked by a tidal wave. That's the demon you make 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:07.520 bread out of, yeah or pasta? Yeah. Now. Nnirta's Exploits 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:11.160 translation of it is available online, and there are little 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:12.760 bits of it that are you know, that that are 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.080 just lost. But it's well worth looking up and reading 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:18.720 through because it has all this awesome battle language in it. 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:20.760 But I want to read just a few quotes from 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.400 it that drive home mostly this idea of the weapon 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:29.840 as being the sentient speaking thing. Quote. At that moment, 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:33.680 the lord's battle mace looked towards the mountains, and Shahur 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.360 cried out aloud to its master. And then there's another 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:41.160 passage here, O beware, it said, concerned lee. The weapon 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:45.920 embraced him, whom it loved. The Shahur addressed Lord Nenirta. 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.679 Quote the weapon it's heart was reassured. It slapped its thighs. 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:54.880 The Sharhur began to run. It entered the rebel lands joyfully. 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.520 It reported the message to Lord Nenorta. And then there 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:01.800 is this one's great. The shower made the storm wind 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.079 rise to heaven, scattered the people like and then as 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.880 there's a fragment that's lost, it tore its venom alone 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:13.120 destroyed the townspeople. The destructive may set fire to the mountains. 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:17.800 The murderous weapons smashed skulls with its painful teeth. The club, 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:21.640 which tears out in trails, gnashed its teeth. The lance 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:25.360 was stuck into the ground, and the crevices filled with blood. 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.800 In the rebel lands, dogs lift it up like milk. 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:32.920 The enemy rose up, crying to wife and child, You 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:35.920 did not lift your arms in prayer to Lord Ninurta. 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:39.320 The weapon covered the mountains with dust, but did not 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:42.480 shake the heart of a zog. The shower threw its 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.240 arms around the neck of the lord. All right, so 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:48.120 this is a mace, a weapon that not only talks, 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:52.160 not only cries allowed to its beloved master, but it 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:55.760 also hugs its beloved master. Yeah, this is a weapon 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:57.160 that's not going to turn on you. This is not 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.920 a weapon where you're gonna be like where you ask 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:01.760 get hey, or things pretty bad and the weapons like, 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:04.440 yeah it's pretty bad. You should push, you should follow me. 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.160 Uh No, this is a mass that stands by you, now, 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:11.040 doesn't This weapon also essentially function as a long range 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:16.920 surveillance device, reporting information back to its bearer from a distance. Yeah, 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.760 it is um It is an extremely overpowered weapon. It's 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.719 befitting of a of a god hero. But yeah, we're 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:26.959 we're based on these passages and others. There's this idea 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:29.560 that it will fly ahead, it will report back, it 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.160 will fly into battle on its own. But it can also, 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.880 you know, very much be wielded as a traditional weapon 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:40.720 by um by Nenorta. So it does all of these things. 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:43.960 It also has these these powers of venom and fire. 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:48.280 It's just absolutely powerful. I think we're in Batman territory 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:50.920 here because it's kind of like overpowered in the way 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.360 Batman's gadgets are that he just has gadgets that like 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.679 there's no reason he should have. Yeah, and and this 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.160 one just yeah, this does everything you can imagine. It's 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:02.240 almost as if, like later traditions were like, this is great, 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.280 but let's tone it down a little bit, because I 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:05.960 don't know if people are going to believe it. But 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:09.240 like I said, it's it's it's amazing. It's an amazing weapon. 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.679 Sharer has shark repellent properties. That's right, Batman did have 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:19.760 shark repellent, just carried it around just in case. Than 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:26.000 now when it comes to to speaking weapons in other traditions. 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.480 We have to pay special attention to to Irish myth 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.200 and legend because it seems it seems a really good 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:34.880 place to to spend some time, not only for the 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:37.200 tales themselves, but because it's an area where we have 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.680 some some pretty solid papers written on the history of 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.560 it all. In particular, I was looking at gary are 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.280 Varners the Sword and Dagger in myth and Legend from 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:49.800 twenty twelve and Omens, Ordeals and Oracles on Demons and 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:55.200 weapons in early Irish texts from by Jacqueline Borsch Now. 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:58.200 Varner points out that Irish swords were said to retain 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.080 a memory of the acts committed with the weapon, and 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.440 a warrior would swear by these weapons, but also could 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.120 be rebuked by the sword if they did not speak 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:09.760 true uh and Apparently this could take a couple of 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.560 different forms. The weapon might simply fail for the hero 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.080 at an important moment in battle, but it might also 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:20.440 speak and curse them for their false trophies. M. This 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:25.440 is interesting, the idea of being um accepted or rebuked 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.480 by a weapon. It makes me think of Excalibur, which 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:32.680 in which I do not think. I was looking around 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.960 for evidence of stories where Excalibur speaks, and I didn't 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:40.120 find any. But Excalibur does certainly look for its rightful 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:43.120 owner and uh and and rebukes people who try to 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.320 wield it without the right to do so. Yeah. And 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:50.400 of course R. Tolkien was was obviously a uh an 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:52.800 admire of many of these myth cycles that that we're 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:55.440 discussing here, So you see a lot of this reflected 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:57.920 and say, the behavior of the one ring, the idea 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.120 that it it chooses who wears it and who wields it, 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.440 and it might leave you if it has decided that 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:07.040 it it no longer believes in you. Right, I'm done 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.400 with the sealed or no more. Yeah, And so you 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:12.120 see that in some of these these accounts, you know 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:14.920 it's not uh, you know it will ultimately be like Okay, 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.520 the the hero has failed and the weapon has abandoned 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:22.760 them at a crucial moment. Q that Taylor Swift breakup song. Now, 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:25.400 an example cited by Borish can be found in the 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.880 Sick Bed of Colin. Now, this is a character that 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:31.960 we've discussed on the show before. This is the Irish 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.800 hero who I believe we did a whole episode where 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.080 we talked about one of his special weapons that may 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.920 or may not be related to the biological properties of 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:45.080 the stingray. Oh yeah, that's right. I do recall that 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:49.400 episode maybe being one of our most difficult pronunciation adventures 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:52.600 of all time. Yeah, globe trotting as we do with 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:55.440 our clumsy tongues. But but that one was also a 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:58.000 lot of fun. Uh, those myths are awesome. I remember 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:02.080 the warp spasm, right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, Klan is as 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.960 a fascinating character. And and I hope I'm saying it 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.600 appropriately here because I've heard it said both way, like 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:10.639 Kuklan and Kuhlan, and we had a whole lot of 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.320 of Irish listeners right in and um and weigh in 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:18.760 on this topic. So here we are once again, folks. Yeah, 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:22.119 but in an early scene, uh, speaking of clumsy tongues, 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:26.320 they're the warriors bring forth the tongues of their enemies, 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.120 though some have embellished their trophies with the tongues of cows. 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.359 And so the warriors swear with their swords on their thighs. 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:37.440 And here's a quote from it. For their swords used 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:40.680 to turn against them when they would declare a false victory, 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.320 that is right, for demons used to speak to them 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.720 from their weapons, so that their weapons were thus guarantees 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:49.399 for them. I'm not sure I understand the causality of 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:52.000 the sentence. Let's see, So the demons used to speak 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.240 to them for their weapons, so that their weapons were 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:58.120 thus guarantees for them, meaning that the demons speaking from 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.960 the weapons would would let you know whether what the 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:04.239 warrior said was true or not. Yes, yeah, And of 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:06.440 course then now the whole idea, in the whole use 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:08.280 of the word demon, we'll get into that in a bit, 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:11.680 because of course that obviously smacks of of of later, 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:16.600 you know, Christian era writers making sense of of older 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:19.600 beliefs and traditions by attributing them to demons as opposed 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.280 to you know, uh, spirits or deities that would have 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.840 made sense within the actual traditions and religion of those 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:27.920 people's right. Sure. So there are a lot of things 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:31.399 from the ancient world where where there's a story or 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:33.399 a text that has a word that means something like 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:37.560 spirits or gods or something, but Christian writers might translate 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:42.199 it as demons. Now, a specific example of talking weapons 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:44.439 that the board springs up is made in the Battle 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:48.600 of mag Truetta. This is an Irish epic about the 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:52.080 battles thought by the to Atha Dudon and against the 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.320 first the fear Bold, and then against the monsters from 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:59.639 Marian's So these are like the the Ta Dudon, and 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:02.119 these are like the fairy folk of old. They're kind 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:03.840 of like the Yeah, I guess you should compare them 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:05.800 to like the high elves, like they were, you know, 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.920 a warrior, magical warrior people, and then these enemies were 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:14.360 mostly monsters. Quote. Now, in that battle, Ogma the champion 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:19.159 found Oma, the sword of Tether, ra king of the Fomorians. 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:22.800 Ogma unsheathed the sword and cleaned it. Then the sword 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.359 told what had been done by it, because it was 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:27.520 the habit of swords at that time to recount the 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:30.399 deeds that had been done by them whenever they were unsheathed, 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:33.680 and for that reason, swords were entitled to the tribute 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:37.760 of cleaning after they have been unsheathed. Moreover, spells have 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.560 been kept in swords from that time on. Now, the 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:44.199 reason why demons used to speak from weapons, then, is 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:46.840 that weapons used to be worshiped by men and were 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:51.480 among the sureties of that time. Whoa several interesting things 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:55.240 going on there. So I like the idea that the 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:59.320 swords being empowered to speak about the deeds that have 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.479 been done with them is in a way presented as 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:07.159 an incentive for the care and maintenance of your sword. Yeah, 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:09.800 and for that reason, swords are entitled to the tribute 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:13.639 of cleaning after they've been unsheathed. But I mean, it 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.600 also seems just like cleaning a sword is important for 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:20.080 maintaining the sword like keeping it useful. So this seems 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.159 perhaps like one of those myths that that may have 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.840 a sort of practical origin. Yeah. And then, of course 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:27.840 at the end this bit about well people used to 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:30.520 men used to worship their swords, that also kind of 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:32.280 smacks of what we were talking about earlier, as does 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.000 the use of the word demons. And again we'll come 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.360 back to that shortly. But here's another bit. This one 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:39.359 is from the Cattle Rate of Coolie, and this concerns 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:43.399 our our hero cuc Colin once again. Quote. Then he 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.119 put on his head his crested war helmet of battle 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:49.679 and strife and conflict. From it was uttered the shout 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:52.880 of a hundred warriors, with a long drawn outcry from 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:55.560 every corner and angle of it, For they're used to 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:57.760 cry from it like and then there are a few 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:00.560 different um like old Irish cry eyes which I will 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:02.679 not try to repeat here, uh, you know, just just 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:04.080 in case I don't know, I don't know what their 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.080 translation is, and might anger at the warriors of old 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:10.879 um quote and demons of the air before him and 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:15.000 above him and around him wherever he went, prophesiesing the 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:18.720 shedding of the blood of warriors and champions. Now, obviously 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:20.399 this is a helm as opposed to a weapon, but 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:23.000 still it contains a record and it sort of speaks 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:26.520 now if it's saying here though that it's not just 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:29.520 recalling a record of the past. But it uses the 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:33.239 word prophesying, which makes me think that it's speaking of 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:36.400 the future or is this just a version of prophesying 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:39.640 that speaks of the past. Um, I think we are 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:42.760 getting into divination here a bit, because as um, as 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:45.359 we'll touch on on later, you also see the idea 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:47.920 of the sword as this kind of focus of divination 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:50.960 in many different cultures. Now here's another account of of 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:54.120 weapons doing battle on their own, kind of like our 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:57.480 our ancient Sumerian example of from earlier. And this is 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:02.520 from the death of a malodron macdemo krone, sometimes the 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.880 violent death, and it contains a passage about a spear 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:10.720 that would leap into battle on its own and require tribute. Um. 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:13.040 Actually I don't have the exact quote from that, but 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:15.760 but that's the that's just the sum of summarizing of 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:20.719 what occurs. But then in the mescal Ulad, there's a description, uh, 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:24.680 not only of Cocullen leaping into battle. But his weapons 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:28.399 are described as leaping into battle as well, um like 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:30.440