McKinley: Religion in McKinley

It's not clear how much "spirituality" there is in Damar. No mention of an
afterlife, ever, that I can recall. And religion is odd too: _Hero_ makes
many mentions of Aerinha and the Seven Perfect Gods, but we never see any
prayer or worship, just rituals. _Sword_ doesn't mention any gods, but the
ancestor-worship/hero-cult of the Lady Aerin seems more heartfelt than
anything in _Hero_. And has better results. Perhaps because Aerin's alive
while Aerinha was 20 years dead of poison in _Hero_ and the other gods never
existed. :) I must say, if _Hero_ was told from two removes you could call
the master mages gods, Old Ones, or elf lords, and no one would notice.

There isn't much religion in any of McKinley's other books, either. Beauty
seems to take place in Elizabethan England, but there are no priests or
churches that I remember. And _Rose Daughter_ practically has many
sorcerers running around, but no priests.

-xx- Damien R. Sullivan X-)
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Received on Thu Jan 8 19:48:09 1998