What is Euhemerism?A short version is that it's a method of rationalizing myths and stories as corrupted accounts of real-life stories. For instance, Euhemerus (the guy this method was named for) was of the belief that the legend of Zeus was based on a king whose tomb could be found on Crete. It can be applied to pretty much any fictional character or event; for instance...
Galactus ate worlds, which is an unusual trait for people to have. However, a Euhemerist scholar might note that the word planet comes from the Greek word for "wanderer". Therefore, such a scholar might suggest that Galactus was based on someone who ate nomads or travelers. Noting Galactus's size, armor, and wandering nature, he might come to the conclusion that Galactus was a wandering knight, killing and eating members of nomadic tribes.Said scholar would probably be stumpted as to why his armor is purple, but there's probably an explanation he could find...possibly just an odd detail someone added at some point to make him seem powerful or special.
This game is a simple one. Poster A posts a fictional character, event, or somesuch; Poster B thinks of some rationalization that covers, at minimum, the major unusual traits associated with the person or event. Then poster B appends a fictional character/event/etc and the cycle goes on.
Rules1. You don't need to cover everything. Someone who gets Superman should explain Krypton, the secret identity, and Supe's major powers, but you don't need to explain S-throwing, super-weaving, or that time he burned the bathrobe he got as a Father's Day gift (unless you want to).
2. The simpler the better.
3. Remember, euhemerism assumes these were real people. Don't say Gandalf was based off of a guy in England who could use magic. An Easterner who brought fireworks to England would work, though. (Actually, that works pretty well...)
4. While these don't have to fit
perfectly with reality, they shouldn't violate common sense too much (e.g, if your explanation involves Native Americans going to Japan more than a few centuries ago, you're violating this rule big time. And probably #2, actually.)
5. If someone ninja's you, you can (and are encouraged to) still post your interpretation, but the previous player's choice of the next fictional thing still stands. You can work on that in your post, though.
6. Have fun.
I'll get us started with
Captain America.
Author
Topic: Euhemerism (Read 1554 times)