[UA] Cannibal Avatar? (was "The End" of UA?)

[rowan at media.mit.edu]

> >Which reminds me, I was working on a cannibal archetype.  Does this 
> >interest anyone on the list or should I return it to the back burner of
> my 
> >mental processes.
> 
> I'd be interested in seeing it.  I've been thinking about the same 
> archetype, although I've never gone very far with it.  I was figuring on
> two 
> different interpretations of the archetype: the Ghoul and the Ogre.  The
> 
> Ghoul eats dead human beings; the Ogre eats live ones.  The Ghoul's
> channel 
> lets him steal the thoughts and memories of the dead that he consumes
> (or, 
> at higher levels, actually change into a duplicate of the victim for a
> brief 
> time), while the Ogre derives physical strength and power from his
> victims.

Yeah, I've been kicking around this avatar idea for a while too.
I keep almost getting it right, then backing down for various reasons.
Some associations: Ogre, Wendigo, Rakshasa, Baba Yaga, Jeffrey Dahmer,
Ed Gein, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hannibal Lecter, Saturn, ritual
cannibalism, Irish/Scottish "redcap" goblins, organ theft, Titus
Andronicus (and what's that Greek myth where the woman feeds her 
husband their kids or whatever?)

We have a few subtypes here: the Devouring Father (Saturn), who is also 
associated with incest and abuse; the Devouring Mother (Baba Yaga, the
witch from Hansel and Gretel, Tamora from Titus Andronicus, Mother Bates)
who is also associated with smothering/incest/overprotectiveness; and the 
Rakshasa, who subsumes not just the victim's body but his identity.

The Rakshasa was treated by a piece (in the AUrchive?) that cast it as a 
demon-possessed Nonentity. It was interesting, but it smelled to me too 
much of White Wolf-esque "needless multiplication of supernatural factors"
a la Magick-wielding Abomination Specters. (No offense to the author; it's
a game-style issue.) I found another UA Rakshasa concept that appealed to me
much more upon reading PoMoMa: an Indian Personamancy cabal. There is a
tradition in South Asia of travelling theater troups who make extensive use
of masks; perhaps some of them use their magic to impersonate other people
and carry out assassinations? They could also don "tiger" masks to give
them the beast's claws, etc. The parallel with the legends is pretty close.

I'm a little rusty on my Wendigo legends, but I think they're pretty 
standard Ogre fare. The Ogre is often a guardian, though, like the Dragon:
both are good Cannibal archetypes (isn't one of the Hannibal novels called
"Red Dragon"?). I thought about subsuming these into a "Monster" archetype,
or maybe a "Gatekeeper" archetype. A lot of mass murderers get labelled
"monsters"... I'm not quite sure what's goin on here. Certainly, incestuous
fathers fit this archetype, as the Ogre is often a father-metaphor in fairy
tales, just as the Hag is its maternal counterpart.

The Ghoul could be interesting. You've got personal injury lawyers, war
and crime beat journalists -- anyone who thrives on other people's 
suffering. Columbine -- and its media aftermath -- was a great feast for 
the Ghoul.

-Matt Norwood

PS - While searching for cannibalism, I turned up the following passage. 
Not very interesting for its cannibalism, but relevant to the Gypsie/Outsider 
stuff I just posted:

"Since the 14th century, Gypsies in Europe have existed as a people without a 
geographical homeland, and without any kind of political, military, educational, 
or financial strength; an easy target for the application of blame. Gypsies have 
been accused of theft, poisoning wells, poisoning cattle, spreading diseases, 
stealing children, and even of cannibalism. The most recent charges of the 
latter crime were made in Slovakia as recently as 1928. Kephart has recently 
suggested that prejudice against Gypsies is based in their being perceived of as 
a countercultural population—a refinement of the notion of Gypsy as Scapegoat: 
      
 American Gypsies too, continue to face prejudice and discrimination. Some  
observers contend that it is a matter of ethnic prejudice, similar to that
 experienced by blacks, Chicanos and other minorities. However, it is also  
possible that the Rom are perceived as a counterculture.  If people perceive
 of Gypsies as a counterculture, then unfortunately for all concerned, prejudice 
 and discrimination might be looked upon as justifiable retaliation."

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