I was always rather partial to Cassandra. First she has to deal with the prophecy thing and then, after she refuses to sleep with Apollo, he curses the “gift” of prophecy and makes it so that no one will ever believe her. Then she gets stuck dealing with her city being destroyed by people pursuing her sister-in-law.
I was so mad when they combined her with another character in the movie!
I love the feathered serpent.
And for some reason I’ve always had a special thing for Inti as well.
Actually, I really liked the Inca pantheon better than the Aztec pantheon, but the darkness of Mesoamerican mythology is fascinating. The demons are within the gods themselves.
Not the gods I’d want to worship, but I love to study them.
I do have a special fondness for Thor.
And…Shiva. hmm…
Sun Wukong
I’ve had a soft spot for the legends around Herne / Cernunnos ever since I saw his first appearance in the ‘The Dark is Rising’ series as a kid.
And I always liked Crow from a lot of Native American traditions.
Medusa, of course.
Depends on how you define favorite. The myth I find most ENGROSSING is the epic of Gilgamesh, and as a literary character he’s by far the most interesting.
In terms of most admirable – and stretching “mythology” to include “popularized versions of true myths”–I’d have to say Theseus, as depicted in Edna Hamilton’s mythology. His words and actions of comfort to Heracles after the son of Zeus, in a fit caused by Hera, has slain his own children, are to me the very definition of friendship. He clasped Heracles’ blood-stained hands so that the ritual impurity Heracles was under would be inflicted on both of them rather than just his friend, and said, “Men of great heart can bear the blows of heaven and not flinch.”
Does Tolkien really count as myth, though? I love the Silmarillion and its sequels too, but to me myth has to have a ritual and religious component that the professor’s legendarium lacks.
Really? One true god, at least two orders of Angels, a creation story, a Flood, a huge long clash between Good & Evil. Stories to rival any Norse or Greek myth. Over a dozen scholary works devoted to studying it.
Did the Coyote have any worshipping rituals or just stories and parables of what he did?
What religious component do you need? I find the echoes of many creation myths in the Professor’s myths. Both Judeo-Christian and those of the Finnish, Celtic and Norse.
If you insist on classic myths, then fine, that is why I mentioned Lugh first.
Jim
I’ve heard her described as the ultimate Daddy’s Girl.
Myself, I think my favorite is King David. It helps if you don’t think of him as a religious figure, but instead as a contemporary of Odysseus, with whom he shares many similar qualities. Brave, clever, handsome, loving, deeply flawed, he was the original warrior-poet, and is probably the most fully human character in any mythology.
Posiden. Cool name, cool image, cool God-gig. I also like Heracles, but only if you pronounce it that way. Hercules reminds me of Jerkules.
nn
Another vote for Loki. Those who pull the hair of the goody-goods are always memorable.
I’d call Professor Tolkien’s work a quasi-myth. It’s written in a style that evokes much true myth–specifically the Judeo-Christian stories, but also much of the classical cycle–but none of his stories represent a belief system that was ever held by any real culture. Again, I don’t wish to denigrate his work, which is brilliant; I just wouldn’t call it a myth in the sense that the stories about Artemis, Anasi, and Thor are.
Athena’s my favorite God, Odysseus my favorite mortal.
Lately, I’ve been attracted to Tricksters - Coyote, Raven, Anansi, Stone Monkey. Oddly, *not *Loki, though. Also Heitsi-eibib for personal reasons.
Otherwise, the divine Mayan twins from the Pophul Vu have a cool story.
Furthermore, the Tolkien saga is only accepted by society as fiction. And it is fiction. The Norse mythology *was *the Scandinavian religion before Christianity came and ran people over.
Philip K Dick’s Glimmung, a rather charmingly inept god.
Acts involve appearing to followers by teleporting himself onto a floor incapable of withstanding his weight (by several tonnes) or demanding the completion of acts already written into history as unacheivable.
I like lots of the other ones in here, too. Count me in for most of them.
If I had to chooose, I’d probably pick Perseus, due to his nobility and upright character.
In terms of tricksters, lemme add two more:
-B’rer rabbit. You take Anansi, add in some American mythology, and get some stories that mock slavemasters and are nonetheless adored by the slavemasters’ children. You gotta love a trickster whose very stories constitute a trick.
-El Ahrairah, the rabbit god in Watership Down. Okay, he’s fiction, but some of his stories are among my favorite trickster tales.
Daniel