Religion in Middle-earth

Art by Falmarin de Carme

I came across this site a couple of weeks ago that compiles additional background material generated for a Finnish Middle-earth based role-playing campaign. What I found most interesting is its extrapolation and elaboration of the religions for Middle-earth. 

This is a perceived area weakness pointed out in Tolkien's work in the past. In Imaginary Worlds, Carter notes critically that Tolkien's world "has no religion in it." In Dragon #127, Rolston in his review of Lords of Middle-earth for MERP gets to the gamer brass tacks of it:

According to Lords of Middle-earth, Middle-earth has a "seemingly inexhaustible collection of deities, pantheons, practices, and religions." However, all of them are wrong. Eru is the only god, and the Valar and the Maiar are simply his servants. Enlightened folk (Elves and Dunedain) practice a nonritualistic monotheism with no formal clergy - pretty boring stuff by FRP standards. 

A lot of epic fantasy has followed Tolkien's areligious example (Jordan's Wheel of Time series, for one) and as modern society becomes ever more secular, it probably is less and less seen as a deficit. Still, if you think of religion is a fascinating aspect of the real world well worth including in imagined worlds (where you at, Gloranthaphiles?) it's cool to see the work Sampsa Rydman has done here. The religions described build on the details provided in Tolkien's extensive writings and (so far as I am familiar with the lore) the new things added seem consistent.

For instance, the orthodox worship of Númenor is as described in terms of its simple ritual and insistence that only the king prays to Eru. The description of a Trinity of Eru, Word, and Flame Imperishable seems a credible extrapolation from details given. Likewise, the sort of Satanic faith of the Black Númenoreans is given a creed that is consistent with what me know about the downfall of their land but with reasonable details as to what Sauron might have convinced them to get them on his side. "Doing evil" (from the point of view of the doer) has historically not really been a common motivator for human religions, so it makes more sense that those that Sauron seduced to his cause were given some other line: "The Valar have wronged both you and the true god, and the true god will redress that wrong if you help him out."

Art by Angus MacBride

Of course, an issue with religion in Middle-earth is canonically we know what's true and what isn't. For a game campaign I think it might be more fun, as Rolston implies, if that weren't true. Going as far as Jacqueline Carey's The Sundering duology and switching the moral polarity of the two sides doesn't really help, but borrowing her idea that the Creator is out of the picture and the lesser gods have differing understandings or interpretations of how to carry out their mission leads to a more ambiguous situation with more possibilities for equally valid appearing religions. In other words, something like the sort of cosmologies or interpretations offered in fantasy works that utilize Judeo-Christian mythology as their backdrop. Really just making the complete truth unknowable to beings within the world (even immortal ones like the elves) would serve the same purpose, though I think most people familiar with Middle-earth would tend to make assumptions that would make this minimal change approach Less effective.

I don't think a Middle-earth game (or a game in any setting) has to have religion (unless you got clerics, in which case, you sort of already do), any more than you are required to explore any other element of culture, but if you're planning to run a long campaign I think it's an interesting facet to add.

Wednesday Comics: DC, August 1984 (week 1)

My mission: to read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis. This week, I'm looking at the comics that were at newsstands on the week of May 10, 1984. 

Atari Force #8: This is another one of the stories from that analogy that was so formative to my early comics fandom, Best of DC #61. It's plotted by Conway but writer by Helfer with art by Garcia-Lopez and Villagran. In a misguided attempt to find and help Morphea, Babe and Hukka take a ship and go off-course, crashing on a planet where two hobbit-sized alien species are at war. Though he doesn't understand the conflict or their language, Babe manages to side with the native species fighting and helps its last survivor get revenge on the invaders. The Conway/Helfer story here may not be seminal in the way of "Anatomy Lesson" or "Who is Donna Troy?" but it is a well-done story with good visual storytelling. Its inclusion in the anthology shows the breadth of DC Comics in the era.

New Teen Titans #1: Here we are at the 1st issue of the new, direct-sale only, better paper Titans book. The issue opens with credits indicating Wolfman and Perez are the books co-editors as well as creators. There's not an indication of how much time has passed since last month's Tales of the Teen Titans #44, but it's long enough that Jericho is an established (if still new) member of the team and no mention is made of Tara's death. Anyway, in a training exercise Jericho uses his power to take over Raven, leaving him horrified at his brief glimpse of Raven's inner struggles and turmoil. He convinces the rest of the team they need to help Raven, but none of them know how, and then Raven rebuffs them and announces she's leaving the team.

Before that can happen, Jericho again enters Raven's mind, hoping to find some way to help. Instead, he experiences something akin to hell and gets the notice of the part of Trigon that dwells inside her. Jericho is cast out and Raven disappears. As the Titans try to determine what happened, sky outside the Tower grows dark and there's thunder accompanied by sinister laughter.

DC Comics Presents #72: Kupperberg and Saviuk/Jensen come up with perhaps the most unusual team up this title has seen. The dimension where Maaldor (him again!) is basically a god has succumbed to his madness--a madness that might spread to other worlds. Sensing this danger (and the suffering of Maaldor) Phantom Stranger recruits Superman to go to that world with the only person capable of fighting madness with madness: the Joker. Once he gets the hang of manipulating reality, Joker threatens to betray his allies, but the Stranger and Superman are one step ahead. It's an unconventional story and not the best this title has had to offer, but not the worst either.

Fury of Firestorm #26: We left Firestorm in pretty dire straits, having been bitten by a cobra and being attacked by animated toys. Firestorm manages to get out of this predicament by using his power to transform some of the toys into a mechanism to suck out the poison. Seems dubious to me, but hey, it's a comic with a ghost of a Native American shaman fighting a guy with fire for hair! Anyway, despite being weakened Ronnie insists they pursue the villains who escaped by hijacking helicopter. He isn't up to stopping them alone, but luckily, they get close enough to Reilly's office that the fight gets Lorraine's attention, so she comes to help as Firehawk. Ultimately, though, after animating the Statue of Liberty, forcing Firestorm to turn it into a "bop bag," Black Bison and Silver Deer get away. 

Justice League of America #229: Conway and Kupperberg/Marcos continue the War of the Worlds. Firestorm and Martian Manhunter are teamed up despite Firestorm's newfound and relentless distrust of the Martian. Laying the groundwork for what is to come, the President quizzes Aquaman on where the League's most powerful members are, and he acknowledges they've been absent of late. Elongated Man shows up to help, though. Martian warships converge on the League Satellite and the Challenger boards it, though they manage to defeat him. Seeing to confirm Firestorm's suspicions Martian Manhunter dons a space suit and takes a Justice League shuttle, going it alone. In reality, he intends on facing the Marshal himself.

Ronin #6: Miller brings his groundbreaking limited series to an end a bit over a year after it began. It might have backed more of a punch if it had come out in a timelier fashion, but he saves some of his most elaborate layouts and intricate pencils for this final chapter--even if those sometimes leave the action a bit confusing. Casey fights her way into Aquarius to rescue the Ronin, which she now knows to be Billy. A visit to her husband, Peter, allows him to reveal that Virgo built this samurai fantasy to exploit Billy's power to transform itself from a machine to actual synthetic life. In the end it's freeing Billy from Virgo's clutches that is the solution to defeating it. Casey commands him with his ronin mentality to commit seppuku for his failures. The shock brings down the system, but the ending is ambiguous because the Ronin still seems to be alive. Anyway, work like this definitely paved the way for the real innovation in mainstream comics away from just newsstand superheroes.

Vigilante #9: Wolfman and Andru/Adkins continue the story from last issue. Chase escapes the burning house (just barely), but Ebert is dead, and a singed business card is the only clue. Chase is still thinking about taking the judgeship and has a couple of meeting that lean heavy into talk of "bleeding heart liberals" and "ACLU types" letting criminals off, but maybe this isn't the ethos of the title as much character development for the supporting cast. Later, the Electrocutioner and Vigilante tangle again, and the Electrocutioner kills another criminal. Meanwhile, JJ tracks the business card to a factory and decides to hack their computer. He rashly goes to the factory in person, falling into a trap set by the Controller. The next morning, Chase and Terry see a news reporter indicating JJ's body was found in the Hudson.

Wonder Woman #318: The story by Busiek and Norvick/Magyar is a fill-in, though its message is perhaps in harmony with the one in the ongoing story. Wonder Woman is transported to the 63rd Century to save the then-conquered Amazons from a race of sort of Magenta pig-faced orc aliens who have invaded Paradise Island. Once they are defeated, Wonder Woman (and Aphrodite) convince Hippolyta and her tribe that this happened in part because they strayed from the mission they were given.

The Huntress backup by Cavalieri and Beachum/Martin continues with Helena tangling with the ninja-like Nightingale and trying to solve the mystery of her friend's murder. The detective work here is good. With that and the art, this is one of the best of Cavalieri's Huntress stories. Shame it hasn't been collected.

Urshurak

Scott 'Dwarfland" Driver once opined that there was often more gaming inspiration to be had from "bad" fiction than from good. He was specifically talking about the works of Lin Carter, but I think this is often true in general. I haven't read Urshurak by the Brothers Hildebrandt and Jerry Nichols, so I can't comment on it specifically, but that seems to be the internet consensus. Here's a typical review.

Regardless, the art was surely the main selling point for purchasers in 1979. That and curiosity got me to pick it up on ebay a few months ago. It's gorgeous if you like the work of the Hildebrandt Brothers, though it could easily, I suppose be derided as too traditional or even generic nearly 50 years on. Certainly, the images and a thumbnail description of the plot mark it as a work of a more naive time when it comes to genre fantasy. There are heroes and a quest with swords and sorcerers and elves and dwarves in a vaguely faux Medieval Europe sort of setting. There are some sci-fi elements (it's a bit of fusion of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars), but no gestures toward realism, grittiness or deconstruction to be found.

Perhaps it's just nostalgia, but naive fantasy has a certain sort of appeal to me, though. It's not that I never want fantasy to go new places, but having seen the new places it has gone over the decades become, in their own way, stale or cliched or really shine in their focus on aspects other than adventure and action (which are the most relatable of fictional elements to the gaming table), I sometimes feel the pull for gaming inspiration to the things that wouldn't have made my reading list a decade or so ago.

And honestly, more fantasy epics could probably benefit from high tech Amazons. 

Weird Revisited: Further Ideas on Clerics

Prismatic Wasteland's call for a Blogging Conclave seemed like a good time to revisit this post originally presented in January of 2020:

It is no secret that clerics have always held a bit of an uneasy place in D&D. They were supposedly inspired by the vampire hunters of Hammer Horror with some further borrowings from Crusader orders. Even if later editions with variable domains, weapons, and powers have ameliorated there implicitly Christian, monotheistic origins, we are still left with them serving pantheons drawn from modern imposed-systemization on characters from later versions of myth, a systemization alien to actually polytheistic religions. But still, it's only a game, we can run with that, right?

Well, we're still left with unanswered questions regarding how the cleric class fits into the structure of religious organizations. Do all priests have spells? If so, where do they get the experience to go up in level?

Here are some possibilities drawn from real world examples that are potential answers, though of course not the only answers, to these questions. Most of these assume clerics adventure because they are "called" to in some way. Whether this is a legitimate belief on the part of the cleric and society or a mistaken one would depend on the setting.

Lay Brothers 
Clerics are not ordained priests but warrior lay brethren, like the sohei of Japan or the military orders of Europe. They would overlap a bit with paladins, but that's real just a matter of whether they were stronger in faith or battle. In this version, priests might or might not have spells, but if they did it would strictly be at the dispensation of their deity.

Prophets/Evangelists
This is more or less the idea I proposed in this post. Clerics are outside the church hierarchy, though they may or may not have started there. They were chosen by their deity for a special purpose. They may be reformers of a church that has been corrupted or lost it's way, founders of a heretical sect with a new interpretation, or the first in ages to hear the voice of a new god. Priests here may have no magic or may be powerful indeed but erroneous in their theology.

Mystics
Similar to my "Saints and Madmen" ideas before, mystics are either heretics or at the very least esotericists with a different take on their religion than the mainstream one. The difference between this and the Prophet above is that they have no interest in reforming the church or overturning it, they are either hermits or cult leaders who isolate themselves from the wider world to pursue their revelations. John the Baptist as portrayed in The Last Temptation of Christ would fit here, as would perhaps the Yamabushi of Japan, or certain Daoist sects/practitioners in China. They might be not at all scholarly (with all spells/powers being "gifts of grace" unavailable to less fanatical priests) or very scholarly with powers/spells coming from intense study or mediation which even more mainstream priests cannot master.

Special Orders
Clerics are members of special orders within the church hierarchy dedicated to recovering the wealth and lost knowledge of dungeons for the the glory of their deity and the betterment of their church. Not all  priests have spells. Clerics are priests chosen for their aptitude or particular relationship with the divine or whatever. These orders may be quite influential within the church hierarchy, but their mission thin their ranks and keeps them in the wilderness and away from centers of power--perhaps by divine will or by design of church leaders.

Wednesday Comics: DC, July 1984 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics on April 26, 1984.

Super Powers #1: This is an out of continuity tale (though it doesn't outright say so) to tie-in with the Kenner Super Powers action figure line. Kirby gets a plot credit and providers a cover with inks by Royer. The story is scripted by Cavalieri with art by Gonzales/Marcos. Darkseid imbues four Apokolipsian champions to recruit agents and give them power to defeat his enemies. The four each chooses a super-villain, giving them powers they've never had before, allowing Luthor, Brainiac, Penguin, and the Joker to each defeat the members two members of the Justice League.

Thriller #8: This issue actually came out last week, but I forgot to include it. Bill DuBay comes on board as new writer with Fleming exiting due to conflict with editorial (though of course that isn't mentioned here). Von Eeden is still on art but this is his last issue. The story takes a dramatic shift but feels like DuBay is trying to stay loosely consistent with the sort of stories presented before. Janet is shot down over the USSR and captured. The Soviets have a living super-computer in the form of a child and its aware of Thriller and the Seven Seconds and wants lure them in for its own purposes. The team takes the bait. Janet is rescued at it turns out the super-computer only wants out of its existence in servitude. Somehow, Angie seems to convert its child-self to energy like her and bring it along.

Action Comics #557: There are two stories this issue. The first by Kupperberg and Swan/Hunt involves Terra-Man stealing the same Rembrandt paintings three times in an effort to lure Superman into a showdown, which of course, he loses. In the second by Rozakis and Bender/Hunt, when Superman finds out he inadvertently helped a murderer escape 7 years ago, he recreates the crime scene as it was to catch the crook. It's unclear to me exactly how that all happens but the story didn't seem worth re-reading to see if it sticks together or not.

Arion Lord of Atlantis #21:  Still hanging with the pirate crew, Arion and friends get in on the game, until an angry sea god challenges them and Arion has to dig deep to access his magic that is now only available as plot contrivance. Wyynde must accept that Fawndancer, being a mermaid now, lives in a different world, and he says goodbye to her forever.

All-Star Squadron #35: Thomas and Hoberg/Collins continue to milk this Earth-X arc. Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle are saved from Tsunami by Starman and Firebrand. Neptune Perkins does battle with the Japanese agent (and loses), while the All-Stars head to Santa Barbara. On Earth-X, the Red Bee shows up just in time die heroically and distrace Baron Blizkrieg long enough for Hourman to escape. Hourman frees Freedom Fighters, while Uncle Sam bashes Blitzkrieg.

The Baron escapes back to Earth-2 with three Nazis from Earth-X. The Spectre shows up, and tells them all this world-hopping is wreaking cosmic havoc and 3 of them must stay behind to maintain balance. Uncle Sam, Ray, and Black Condor volunteer.

Blue Devil #2: Cohn/Mishkin and Cullins/Martin pick up with Cassidy in Metropolis, trying to figure things out now that he's trapped in the Blue Devil suit which is essentially a part of him now. Complicating matters, Shockwave, a mercenary villain who has just stolen some synthetic kryptonite from S.T.A.R. Labs, destroys his brownstone. Once again, Cassidy is forced against his inclination to play superhero. Shockwave is defeated but gets away--without the kryptonite. the STAR Labs' scientist is grateful to Cassidy and agrees to help him find a cure for his condition. However, Verner Studios has sent him a cease-and-desist order, telling him he can't appear in public because the Blue Devil is their property!

Detective Comics #540: Moench and Newton/Smith conclude the Scarecrow story. Batman and Robin separately manage to avoid the surprises Scarecrow had in store for them. They meet-up again in Scarecrow's hideout, and Batman thinks he knows a way to block the villain's fear signal. After some adjusts it appears they are both protected, and they go on to confront and defeat Scarecrow. Only when this is done does Robin realize only he was protected, and Batman was really only controlling his fear and bluffing. Meanwhile, Bullocks clumsiness saves him from an assassin's bullet, but the assassin doesn't know that and reports to Mayor Hill that the job was done.

In the Green Arrow backup by Cavalieri and McManus/Trapani, Green Arrow uses one of the Printer's Devil's fires to burn through the net, then puts out the fire before it can reach the gas pumps, escaping the predicament we left him in last issue. The Printer's Devil escapes, but in a confrontation the next day at the Daily Star's offices, the two tangle again. Green Arrow captures him and reveals him to be not an agent of Burdick but fellow columnist Thomas Doyle. He hoped to devalue the Star through his Scooby Doo-ish, costumed terrorism and make it less valuable to Burdick. He sort of succeeds because Burdick decides not to buy the paper.

Legion of Super-Heroes #313: Levitz and Giffen/Mahlstedt have the Legion, and the Science Police still trying to track down the bomber who has now threatened to bomb the United Planets Council Building and kill the President — Colossal Boy's mom. After multiple attacks they are able to thwart the Legion finally gets a break that leads them not to a member of the Science Police but a civilian contractor that happened to do some computer programming for them. We also get a map of "Metropolis" this issue, but it's confusing because it's just New York City. I don't mean a stand-in, but literally New York. It seems like Levitz is saying New York City will be called Metropolis in the future, but what about Superman's Metropolis in the present? The DCU can't just be an alternate world where Metropolis is NYC, because both clearly exist in published stories. Anyway, we also get another remind of the impending shift to two books for this title.

New Adventures of Superboy #54: The chubby, canary-yellow Klingon type, Harzz, from last issue initiates his plan for revenge against Superboy with Superboy Revenge Squad along to observe by using artificially created disasters to manipulate Superboy into destroying the Earth. Superboy doesn't fall for it, and the Revenge Squad leader executes Harzz as a competitor. Kupperberg and Schaffenberger/Giella keep juggling the other plotlines from previous issues: Lana escalates her selfish attempt to get Clark's attentions back by using Superboy to make him jealous, while Jonathan Kent stands defiant in the face of increasing pressure to drop his bid for city council, acceding to the demands of crooked developer, Gary Simmons.

This is the last issue of this title. The letter column asserts that Superboy's adventures will continue in another title, DC Double Action, in the future, but that series never materialized, likely in part due to the changes wrought by Crisis. I don't mourn the loss of Superboy, but the core concept, the teen superhero, is obviously one with a lot of promise which (for Superman, at least) we had to wait for TV to exploit.

Sun Devils #1: This is a space opera by Conway and Jurgens/Maygar. Conway tells us that the basic idea was a joint effort between him and Thomas, mixing his love of space stuff and Thomas' love of history. It shows in that there has perhaps never been so blatant a sci-fi version of the lead up to World War II. The leaders of the free worlds think peace has been achieved through appeasement, but Karvus Khan and his Sauroids want war, as a surprise attack on the planet Wolfholme demonstrates. Rik Sunn, former aspiring diplomat, is thrust into fighting a renegade war against the empire that destroyed his home, but he looks like he's going to find an eclectic group of allies. The World War II and Star Wars influences are obvious, but what is perhaps less apparent but still pretty clear when you think about it, is that this is a space opera re-imaging of Blackhawk, with Rick Sunn in the Blackhawk role and the Sun Devils his cadre.

Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3: Wolfman and Perez/Giordano get us to the end of "The Judas Contract." H.I.V.E. has the Titans and they are again help suspend by their limbs, their powers siphoned. Lucky for them Nightwing and Jericho have infiltrated H.I.V.E.'s base to come to their rescue. Thanks to Terra, they are captured, but when the Terminator recognizes his son, the distraction gives Jericho the opportunity to possess him. Using the Terminator's body and weaponry, he frees the Titans, and they all start fighting the H.I.V.E. 

Terra goes a little crazy, not understanding the situation and feeling betrayed by Slade, she fights both him and the Titans. The Titans are hampered in their ability to take her down by their refusal to believe she is truly their enemy and it's being mind-controlled in some way. Terra's emotions and powers get out of control, and she winds up burying herself under earth and debris.

The Titans take her body back to New York where there's a funeral with the Outsiders in attendance. They don't tell her brother the truth, that she was a villain who betrayed them, letting him believe she died in the line of duty.

Though it seems like this was the point to Wolfman and Perez, the lack of any sort of motivation for Tara's behavior other than she's "crazy" or "evil" is a weakness with this story to me. The Terminator becomes, if not sympathetic at least understandable after we have his backstory, but Terra isn't provided with the same depth.

World's Finest Comics #305: I still don't know what Kraft sees in Null and Void, but here we are on part 2 of their return with von Eeden on art. The international scramble to claim the mysterious frozen figures ends up with they split up and the Russians getting the woman and the Swedes the man. Batman is caught in the middle of all this. He confronts Null and Void again, and Null decides to surrender, but Void escapes into the Void where he previously sent Superman, allowing the Man of Steel to escape from that surreal realm. 

The Russians take the frozen woman into Cuban waters, but Batman and Null go after the figure in the hands of the Swedish. In a firefight, Null touches hands with the figure who has the same tattoo and awakens the pirate-dressed guy who calls himself Swordfish. Swordfish has no idea how many years he has been trapped, but he joins Null and Batman on their quest to free his companion, Barracuda.

Meanwhile, Peter without his Void powers and trapped in the other realm, encounters X'ult, the enemy of Swordfish and Barracuda.

A Pantheon from Kirby's New Gods

Art by Alex Ross

Jack Kirby's so-called "Fourth World," an interconnected group of series at DC Comics from 1970-1973, posits a new group of god-like beings emerging from Ragnarok. These beings are presented and engage in action largely like other modern-era superheroes, but I've been thinking about whether one could make a pantheon from them usable in a traditional, medievalish fantasy game.

A notable trait of the so-called New Gods is that they are arranged in a sort of dualistic polytheism (not unlike the gods of Tekumel in Empire of the Petal Throne). The gods of New Genesis are the "good" gods and those Apokolips are the "evil" gods. 

As presented in the comics, the portfolios of the Apokolipsian gods (to the extent they are clear) are modern evils. They are mostly related to concerns of its author in post-World War II West, rather than traditional concerns of ancient or Medieval peoples. They will require some modification. They work better as devils or demons, probably, as Apokolips is pretty much Hell.

Interestingly, the stories that take place on Apokolips regarding the escape of Mister Miracle and friends have an almost gnostic dimension. Darkseid is a Demiurge sort of figure, while the Promethean Himon is the serpent in the stifling, poisonous Garden of Apokolips leading Mister Miracle to freedom.

In contrast, the gods of New Genesis are a bit more straightforward, harkening in many cases to Norse or Greek polytheistic figures. The problem is they just don't always have really clearly portfolios. 

Anyway, here's what I've got:

New Genesis:

• Highfather - Patriarchal leader of the gods of New Genesis. God of Wisdom, Diplomacy, and Rulership.
• Lightray - God of light, probably the sun too.
• Orion - God of War; given to berserker rages.
• Mister Miracle - A dying and rising god, probably with a mystery cult.
• Big Barda - Warrior goddess; defector from Apokolips
• Black Racer - Psychopomp and god of Death.
• Lonar - the Wanderer; god of horses and hospitality
• Metron - God of knowledge and travel.

Apokolips:

• Darkseid - Supreme god of evil.
• Kalibak - Monstrous son of Darkseid; god of violence and destruction.
• DeSaad - Lord of torture and cruelty
• Doctor Bedlam - God of Madness
• Female Furies - A (more) evil version of Valkyries
• Glorious Godfrey - God of Lies
• Granny Goodness - The cruel mother; a stealer of children, perhaps a Baba Yaga sort?
• Kanto - God of assassins
• Mantis - Vampiric lord of plagues and pestilence
• Steppenwolf - Dark lord of the hunt

Setting Folklore

I was on vacation last week and visited Antwerp where I saw the Brabofontein in the Grote Markt. It depicts events related to the legendary founding of Antwerp, where Roman soldier Silvius Brabo defeated Druon Antigonus, who had been demanding tribute to use a bridge over the River Scheldt. Brabo's killing of the giant provides the folk etymology of the origin of the name Antwerp as Brabo did to Druon what the giant had done to unfortunates who couldn't pay his toll: he cut off his hand and threw it across the river. Hence, the name Antwerp is supposed to come from handwerpen (throwing hands).

Anyway, the legend and the statue caused me to consider why isn't there more of this sort of folklore and folk etymology in settings? I sort of did some of this with the City and Weird Adventures (see "Thraug's Head", and perhaps "Saint Joan of the City" and "Short People, Big Worm"--admittedly, these blur the lines because they are depicted as relating history, not folklore, but I think they serve a similar purpose in their fancifulness and mostly not direct applicability to adventuring), but I haven't really done much of that in other settings.

I feel like little details like this both make places feel more real, but also potentially provide springboards for adventure because in fantasy worlds, even the strangest details might well be true. I suppose some people might think this sort of thing is excessive or maybe even unhelpful because it might confuse player's about what's true and what isn't, but I would argue a ruthless economy of setting details, limiting them to only things relevant to adventuring/dungeoncrawling and the need for every one of those details to be literally true or at least definitively falsifiable loses an aspect that differentiates rpgs from other sorts of games, that is, the ability to truly explore an imagined world.