ST The Fisher King, Excalibur, Avalon - Arthurian and other myths in TFA and the ST

Rey's ( presumed ) amnesia, and maybe part of the meaning of the title of the movie, might have it's roots in the story of Brunnhilde:
http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Be-Ca/Brunhilde.htmlIn the Icelandic version of the legend, Brunhilde was a Valkyrie—a warrior maiden of the supreme god Odin. Because she was disobedient, Odin punished Brunhilde by causing her to fall into everlasting sleep surrounded by a wall of fire. The hero Sigurdcrossed through the flames and woke the maiden with a kiss.

It might also be based upon the Sleeping Beauty fairytale:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty

Interestingly, the earliest recorded version of the Sleeping Beauty tale, Perceforest, has it's roots in Arthurian myth:

Perceforest is composed of six books that describe a fictional origin of Great Britain, taking its inspiration from Wace, Orosius, Bede, Geoffroy of Monmouth. Alexander, having conquered Britain, departs for Babylon, leaving Perceforest in charge. Perceforest, so named because he dared to "pierce" the evil forest, as king of Britain introduces the Christian faith and establishes a Franc Palaisof free equals--the best knights--with clear parallels to the Round Table. "Thus the romance would trace back the model of ideal civilization that it proposes, a model also for the orders of chivalry created from the 14th century onwards, to a legendary origin where the glory of Alexander is united with the fame of Arthur."

An episode contained in Perceforest, the “Histoire de Troïlus et de Zellandine,” (Book III, chapter lii) is one of the earliest known versions of the Sleeping Beauty theme.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceforest

Maz Kanata, the Force user pirate could be representative of the Romani gypsy fortune tellers:

Romani mythology is the myth, folklore, religion, traditions, and legends of the Romani people (also known as Gypsies). The Romanies are a nomadic culture which originated in India during the Middle Ages. They migrated widely, particularly to Europe. Some legends (particularly from non-Romani peoples) say that certain Romanies are said to have passive psychic powers such as,empathy, precognition, retrocognition, orpsychometry. Other legends include the ability to levitate, travel through astral projection by way of meditation, invoke curses or blessings, conjure/channel spirits, and skill with illusion-casting.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_mythology

Also, given that we think that the crystal within the saber might be significant, it seems likely that what Maz does to conjur the flashback scene is scrying:

Scrying (also called seeing or peeping) is the practice of looking into a translucent ball or other material with the belief that things can be seen, such as spiritual visions, and less often for purposes of divination or fortune-telling. The most common media used are reflective, translucent, or luminescent substances such as crystals, stones, glass, mirrors, water, fire, or smoke.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrying

 

Anyone ever seen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_for_Camelot]Quest[/url] for Camelot? It's an Arthurian-based movie in which the daughter of a deceased Knight of the Round Table has to go to Camelot to return Excalibur to Arthur after it is lost when it's attempted to be stolen by a fallen Knight. This Knight is also obsessed with having the sword because he wants to claim it for his own, and also kill Arthur. And the fallen Knight is actually the one who killed the female lead's father. It certainly has its parallels to VII, it seems; the sword is lost and the group has to find it, while also fleeing the attacking Knight and his horde. Of note: Arthur (Luke) is disabled in this story after his arm is broken by the fallen Knight, who struck him with a mace.

 

There's a small precedent for Gypsies in SW. Remember the character Halla from Splinter of the MInd's Eye? I'd like to see SW Gypsies get some onscreen development.

 

I'd also love to see some space-faring nomadic people depicted in the GFFA.

 

Wow! This is some major stuff folks. I had to read it in two sittings because my brain filled up. Thank you all for your enlightened input!

I have a question for all of you, but I need to preface it. I don't believe in this theory, but I just want to make sure I'm not too hasty in discounting it. I'd like to know if there's someplace in everything you've mentioned that would make it "fit."

I've seen several people and websites bring Plagueis into the picture saying that Snoke = Plagueis or a reincarnation of same. They all mention the manipulation of midichlorians and the mastery of death as basis of this theory. So, please tell me what you think. Does a reincarnated baddie figure in any of these traditions?

I hope it's not Merlin, though. I just have this vision of Merlin as a non-bad-guy and I'd hate for that to be where this leads, although extreme age does fit.

 

Well, the quest for immortality is a familiar one from many mythologies.

The Arthurian myth has the Grail, which can grant immortality. We also have Iddun's apples from Norse myth, which granted the gods
Immortality: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iðunn

The apple of eternal youth myth feeds into other folktales, such as this gypsy fairytale, 'The King of England and his three sons', where the apples are a cure for old age :

An old king could be cured only by golden apples from a far country. His three sons set out to find them.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_England_and_his_Three_Sons

Like the grail, and Idunn's apples, the Philosopher's stone was also said to be able to grant ( amongst other things ) eternal life:

The philosopher's stone or stone of the philosophers (Latin: lapis philosophorum) is a legendary alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals such as leadinto gold (chrysopoeia, from the Greek χρυσός khrusos, "gold," and ποιεῖν poiēin, "to make") or silver. It was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal in alchemy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher's_stone

There are also famous historical ( with more than a hint of folklore attached to them ) quests for immortality, such as the first Chinese Emperor, Qin Shi Huang:

In ancient China, various emperors sought the fabled elixir of immortality with varying results. In the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang sent Taoist alchemist Xu Fu with 500 young men and 500 young women to the eastern seas to find the elixir, but he never came back (legend has it that he found Japan instead).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang

Qin Shi Huang's search for immortailty became the defining element of his legend, and extends into pop culture. Jet Li's character in the Mummy 3 is based on him, and many books have featured his obsession with eternal life:

The 1984 book Bridge of Birds (by Barry Hughart) portrays Qin Shi Huang as a power-hungry megalomaniac who achieved immortality by having his heart removed by an "Old Man of the mountain".

The there are those whose achievement of immortality was cursed in some way. Usually this meant that eternal life was achieved, but without eternal youth. So they were cursed to live forever as eternally decaying corpses, and the suchlike. Could the SWU description of Snoke as an 'old man, zombie, undead', tie into this theme?

One of the primary examples of this type of figure is Tythonus:

When Eos asked Zeus to make Tithonus immortal,[5] she forgot to ask foreternal youth (218-38). Tithonus indeed lived forever

but when loathsome old age pressed full upon him, and he could not move nor lift his limbs, this seemed to her in her heart the best counsel: she laid him in a room and put to the shining doors. There he babbles endlessly, and no more has strength at all, such as once he had in his supple limbs. (Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithonus






Then there's this guy.

From Slavic folklore, Koschei the Deathless is a nightmarish bogeyman figure. An immortal, corpse-like, kidnapper. The secret of his immortality lies within an egg ( containing his soul ), which is hidden within a crystal:

In Slavic folklore, Koschei (Russian: Коще́й, tr.Koshchey; IPA: [kɐˈɕːej], also Kashchei orKashchey; Ukrainian: Кощій, Koshchiy; Polish:Kościej; Czech: Kostěj) is an archetypal male antagonist, described mainly as abducting the hero's wife. None of the existing tales actually describes his appearance, though in book illustrations, cartoons and cinema he has been most frequently represented as a very old and ugly-looking man. Koschei is also known as Koschei the Immortal or Koschei the Deathless.

The spelling in Russian and other Slavic languages (like Polish "Kościej" or Czech "Kostěj") suggests that his name may be derived from the word kost‍ '​(Rus. кость, Pol. kość) meaning "bone", implying a skeletal appearance.


Koschei cannot be killed by conventional means targeting his body. His soul (or death) is hidden separate from his body inside a needle, which is in an egg, which is in a duck, which is in a hare, which is in an iron chest (sometimes the chest is crystal and/or gold), which is buried under a green oak tree, which is on the island of Buyan in the ocean. As long as his soul is safe, he cannot die. If the chest is dug up and opened, the hare will bolt away; if it is killed, the duck will emerge and try to fly off. Anyone possessing the egg has Koschei in their power. He begins to weaken, becomes sick, and immediately loses the use of his magic. If the egg is tossed about, he likewise is flung around against his will. If the egg or needle is broken (in some tales, this must be done by specifically breaking it against Koschei's forehead), Koschei will die.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koschei

There are numerous folktales featuring Koschei, and he's also made his way into pop culture:

The Death of Koschei the deathless:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Koschei_the_Deathless


In The Sandman: Fables and Reflections, Koschei's emerald heart (or a piece of green glass passed off as such) passes into the possession of a Romani trader, then awerewolf, then Baba Yaga, and is last seen as a medallion worn by Dream's successor, Daniel Hall.

In Alexander Veltman's Koshchei bessmertny: Bylina starogo vremeni (Koshchei the immortal: A bylina of old times, 1833), a parody of historical adventure novels, the hero, Iva Olelkovich, imagines that his bride has been captured by Koschei.

Koschei shares many characteristics in common with the Lich, also an undead figure:

In fantasy fiction, a lich (/ˈlɪtʃ/;[1] cognate toDutch lijk, German Leiche, Norse lík andSwedish lik all meaning "corpse") is a type ofundead creature. Often such a creature is the result of a transformation, as a powerfulmagician or king striving for eternal life uses spells or rituals to bind his intellect to hisphylactery and thereby achieve a form ofimmortality. Liches are depicted as being clearly cadaverous, bodies desiccated or completely skeletal. Liches are often depicted as holding power over hordes of lesser undead creatures, using them as soldiers and servants.

Unlike zombies, which are often depicted as mindless, part of a hivemind or under the control of another, a lich retains revenant-like independent thought and is usually at least as intelligent as it was prior to its transformation. In some works of fiction, liches can be distinguished from other undead by theirphylactery, an item of the Lich's choosing into which they imbue their soul, giving them immortality until the phylactery is destroyed.

Several stories by Robert E. Howard, such as the novella Skull-Face and the short story "Scarlet Tears", feature undying sorcerers who retain a semblance of life through mystical means, their bodies reduced to shriveled husks with which they manage to maintain inhuman mobility and active thought.[

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lich

 

I'm intrigued, though the evidence is thin for this, about a possible thread through the ST that reflects the story of Sigurd and Gudrun. If "Snoke" is indeed some sort of reptilian baddie, and he ends up getting a sword in his belly (during a moment of arrogance and security), ala the dragon Fafnir, that'll make me smile. But yeah. Apart from Snoke sounding vaguely like a reptilian name (Snake + smoke), and the fact that there's a saber and a hero, there's not much to go on.

 

He could be the metaphorical dragon.

 

Well, sure. But this concept is so basic (hero slaying arrogant dragon), that it's not necessarily connected to Sigurd and Gudrun.

 

good job Mungo Baobab

 

A few thoughts on Maz Kanata...

So, I think it's safe to say that Maz, with her castle, 'magical' abilities, and a history with Rey that seems to date back to Rey's childhood, represents the figure of the Fairy Godmother, who is an important 'Donor' figure in folklore.

In fairy tales, a fairy godmother (French: fée marraine) is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies. In Perrault's Cinderella, he concludes the tale with the cynical moral that no personal advantages will suffice without proper connections. The fairy godmother is a special case of the donor.
The fairy godmother has her roots in the figures of the Fates; this is especially clear in The Sleeping Beauty, where they decree her fate, and are associated with spinning.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_godmother
In some tales, a donor is a character that tests the hero (and sometimes other characters as well) and provides magical assistance to the hero when he succeeds.

The fairy godmother is a well-known form of this character.

In his analysis of fairy tales, Vladimir Proppidentified this role as the donor and listed it as one of the eight roles found in fairy tales. Before giving the hero magical support or advice, the donor may also test the hero, by questioning him, setting him tasks, or making requests of him. Then, the donor may directly give the hero a magical agent, advise him on how to find one, or offer to act on his behalf.

Baba Yaga, though often portrayed as a villain, is most often seen as an ambiguous character, and in several tales takes on the role of the donor, or fairy godmother:

In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is a supernatural being (or one of a trio of sisters of the same name) who appears as a deformed and/or ferocious-looking woman. Baba Yaga flies around in a mortar, wields a pestle, and dwells deep in the forest in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs (or sometimes a single chicken leg).[1] Baba Yaga may help or hinder those that encounter or seek her out. She sometimes plays a maternal role, and also has associations with forest wildlife. According to Vladimir Propp's folktale morphology, Baba Yaga commonly appears as either a donor or villain, or may be altogether ambiguous.

Andreas Johns identifies Baba Yaga as "one of the most memorable and distinctive figures in eastern European folklore," and observes that she is "enigmatic" and often exhibits "striking ambiguity."[2] Johns summarizes Baba Yaga as "a many-faceted figure, capable of inspiring researchers to see her as a Cloud, Moon, Death, Winter, Snake, Bird, Pelican or Earth Goddess, totemic matriarchal ancestress, female initiator, phallic mother, or archetypal image"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga

I think it's interesting that some of the tales feature Baba Yaga as a donor to whom the hero must go to achieve the means to defeat Koschei the deathless, as in this one, The Death of Koschei the deathless:

Ivan is revived by his sisters' husbands, powerful wizards, who can transform into birds of prey. They tell him Koschei has a magic horse and Ivan should go to Baba Yaga to get one too, or else he won't be able to defeat Koschei. After Ivan stands Yaga's tests and gets the horse, he fights with Koschei, kills him and burns his body.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Koschei_the_Deathless


Speculating that Snoke is a Koschei figure, could Maz be the Baba Yaga in this tale? I've wondered whether there might be a connection between Snoke and Maz. During the academy attack, Maz seems to have an understanding that the 'object' must be protected from the Seven. I think Maz could be a pivotal character in the ST, with a significance beyond that which we can see at the moment.

 

i like the idea of a deathless skeletal figure. it could be really frightening.

 

On a visual level, that's actually how I've always seen the Stormtroopers, Tarkin, and the Emperor. They all have very skeletal qualities. And being that they are alive, they are essentially deathless skeletons.

 

"On a visual level, that's actually how I've always seen the Stormtroopers, Tarkin, and the Emperor. They all have very skeletal qualities. And being that they are alive, they are essentially deathless skeletons."

true but i'd like snoke took look like a skeleton with skin. like this dude from hellboy except worse.

 

I like that. Frankly, he looks a lot like a few of the White Walkers we've seen on Game of Thrones. And that's not a bad thing.

 

Following MSW's news that filming for Episode 8 will commence at Skellig Michael later this year, I thought I'd share a few thoughts on it's possible mythological connection to Avalon, and other places.

We think that Skellig may fit the role of Avalon in the ST, and Luke would appear to be the Arthur figure ( and at the same time, also the Fisher King ), but the 'magical island' is a common mythological archetype, quite often representative of the 'Otherworld', or spirit realm.

The concept of an "otherworld" in historical Indo-European religion is reconstructed in comparative mythology. The term is a calque of orbis alius or "Celtic Otherworld", so named by Lucan in his description of the druidic doctrine of metempsychosis.
Comparable religious, mythological or metaphysical concepts, such as a realm of supernatural beings and a realm of the dead, are of course found in cultures throughout the world.[1] Spirits were thought to travel between worlds, or layers of existence, usually along an axis such as a giant tree, a tent pole, a river, a rope or mountains.[1][2][3] Red and white are the colors of animals in the Celtic Otherworld,[4] and these colors still animate transcendant religious and political symbols today.

Avalon's name is most likely derived from an association with apples, a fruit often linked to the concept of immortality, and the spirit realm, in northern European folklore:

Geoffrey of Monmouth referred to it in Latin as Insula Avallonis in the Historia. In the later Vita Merlini he called it Insula Pomorum the "isle of fruit trees" (from Latin pōmus "fruit tree"). The name is generally considered to be ofWelsh origin (though an Old Cornish or Old Breton origin is also possible), derived from Old Welshaball, "apple/fruit tree" (in later Middle Welsh spelled avall; now Modern Welshafall).[1][2][3][4] In Breton, apple is spelled "aval"/ "avaloù" in plural. It is also possible that the tradition of an "apple" island among the British was influenced by Irish legends concerning the otherworld island home of Manannán mac Lir and Lugh, Emain Ablach (also the Old Irish poetic name for the Isle of Man),[1] where Ablach means "Having Apple Trees"[5] – derived from Old Irish aball ("apple")—and is similar to the Middle Welsh name Afallach, which was used to replace the name Avalon in medieval Welsh translations of French and Latin Arthurian tales. All are etymologically related to the Gaulish root *aballo- (as found in the place name Aballo/Aballone, now Avallon in Burgundy or in the Italian surname Avallone) and are derived from a Common Celtic *abal- "apple", which is related at the Proto-Indo-European level to English apple, Russian яблоко (jabloko), Latvian ābele, et al.


As was the case in the Celtic mythologies, in Germanic myths apples were particularly associated with the Otherworld.[5] In the Scandinavian tradition mythological localities are featured, as in Irish mythology; however, unlike Irish mythology, an attempt was made to map the localities of the Otherworld rather than list locales associated with it.[2] In the Edda many locations are named including the dwellings of the gods such as Odin's hall of Valhalla orUllr's dwelling of Ydalar ("Yewdale").[2] The Gylfaginning and the later Norwegian poem the Draumkvaede feature travels into the Otherworld.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalon

This ties back in to a reference I made to the Norse myth of Mimmir's Well, the Well of Knowledge, but many Otherworld myths feature the concept of a river, or spring that can grant inspiration, or wisdom:

Many Indo-European mythologies show evidence for a belief in an "Otherworld"[1] and in many cases such as in Greek,[3] Germanic,[1][2][3] Celtic,[1][2][3] Slavic[3] and Indic mythologies[3] a river had to be crossed to allow entrance to the Otherworld[3] and it is usually an old man that would transport the soul across the waters.[3] In Greek and Indic mythology the waters of this river were thought to wash away sins or memories whereas Celtic and Germanic myths feature wisdom-imparting waters, suggesting that while the memories of the deceased are washed away a drinker of the waters would gain inspiration.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherworld


Other such versions of the Otherworld as represented by a mythical isle, are the Irish Tir na nOg:

In Irish mythology and folklore, Tír na nÓg ([tʲiːɾˠ n̪ˠə ˈn̪ˠoːɡ]; "Land of the Young") or Tír na hÓige ("Land of Youth") is one of the names for the Otherworld, or perhaps for a part of it. It is depicted as a supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance and joy.[1] Its inhabitants are the Tuath Dé, the gods of pre-Christian Ireland.[1] In the echtrae(adventure) and immram (voyage) tales, various Irish mythical heroes visit Tír na nÓg after a voyage or an invitation from one of its residents. They reach it by entering ancient burial mounds or caves, or by going under water or across the sea


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tír_na_nÓg



The Welsh Annwn:

In both Welsh and Irish mythologies, the Otherworld was believed to be located either on an island or underneath the earth. In the First Branch of the Mabinogi, it is implied that Annwn is a land within Dyfed, while the context of the Arthurian poem Preiddeu Annwfn suggests an island location. Two other otherworldly feasts that occur in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi are located in Harlech in northwest Wales and on the island of Grassholm in southwestern Pembrokeshire.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annwn

From Slavic folklore, we have the island of Buyan, where, amongst other things, legend has it that Koshchie the deathless' heart lays buried:

In Slavic mythology,Buyan(Буя́н sometimes transliterated asBujan[1]) is described as a mysteriousislandin the oceanwith the ability to appear and disappear. Three brothers—Northern, Western, and Eastern Winds—live there.
It figures prominently in many famous myths; Koschei the Deathless keeps his soul hidden there, secreted inside a needle placed inside an egg in the mystical oak-tree; other legends call the island the source of all weather, created there and sent forth into the world by the god Perun. It is also mentioned in The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan (an opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) and many other Slavic folktales.
Some scholars interpret Buyan as a sort of Proto-Indo-European Otherworld (see Fortunate Islands). Others assert that Buyan is actually a Slavic name for some real island, most likely Rügen.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyan


There are also those mythical islands, such as Atlantis, that were said to be the home to ancient and powerful civilisations. One such place was Thule, whose name was adopted by the Thule Society:

Thule (Greek: Θούλη, Thoúlē)[1] was a far-northern location in classical European literature and cartography. Though often considered to be an island in antiquity, modern interpretations of what was meant by Thule often identify it as Norway,[2][3] an identification supported by modern calculations.[4] Other interpretations include Orkney, Shetland, andScandinavia. In the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, Thule was often identified as Iceland or Greenland. Another suggested location is Saaremaa in the Baltic Sea.[5][6] The termultima Thule in medieval geographies denotes any distant place located beyond the "borders of the known world". Sometimes it is used as a proper noun (Ultima Thule) as the Latinname for Greenland when Thule is used for Iceland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule







Brasil, or Hy-Brasil:



Brasil, also known as Hy-Brasil or several other variants,[1] is a phantom island said to lie in the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland. Irish myths described it as cloaked in mist except for one day every seven years, when it became visible but still could not be reached.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasil_(mythical_island)

From Greek mythology, The Fortunate Isles:

The Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blessed[1] (Greek: μακάρων νῆσοι, makárôn nêsoi) were semi-legendary islands in the Atlantic Ocean, variously treated as a simple geographical location and as a winterless earthlyparadise inhabited by the heroes of Greek mythology. The related idea of Brasil and other islands in Celtic mythology are sometimes conflated with the Greek place. These boundaries were different in the ancient world, then it is the western Mediterranean to the island of Sicily, the Aeolian Islands, the Aegadian Islands or other smaller islands of Sicily. Later these islands were thought to lie in the Western Ocean near the encircling River Oceanus;Madeira, Canary Islands, Azores, Cape Verde, Bermuda and Lesser Antilles have sometimes been cited as possible matches.
According to Greek mythology, the islands were reserved for those who had chosen to be reincarnated thrice, and managed to be judged as especially pure enough to gain entrance to the Elysian Fields all three times. Feature of the fortunate islands is the connection with the god Cronus; the cult of Cronus had spread and connected to Sicily, in particular in the area near Agrigento where it was revered and in some areas associated with the cult of the Phoenician god Baal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortunate_Isles

 

Bloody brilliant Mungo Baobab will digest ASAP. In the meantime, shut up and eat your mythic apple.

 

I'm sort of hoping Snoke looks more like a Dragon instead of an old man. Old almost dead man is too close to Palpatine for me. Not that it can't be awesome.

 

My ideal Snoke would be the McQuarrie 'Blue Emperor' version, but I'd be down with a corpse-like Snoke, too. Hard to say how much faith to put in the SWU description, but MSW said that he thought they were reliable, didn't he?

 

And also in Judeo-Christian theology; don't forget the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.

 

Thoughts on the possible mythological inspiration on the attack on the Jedi academy:

The academy attack scene is so hazy that I'm going to make some pretty big speculative leaps here, but I wondered if this aspect of the story could have it's origins in kidnappings and abductions from folklore?

The abduction of children is a common theme in folklore. In Europe, Fairies are the primary culprits. In Japan, it is blamed on spirits or gods, and termed Kamikakushi, meaning 'spirit away':

Kamikakushi (神隠し?, lit. "hidden by Kami") means "spirited away". Kamikakushi is used to refer to the mysterious disappearance or death of a person that happens when an angered god takes a person away. In pre-modern Japan children would often disappear in this way and be rediscovered several days later in a shrine or temple, consistently telling a story of being swept away by a god.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_away

Such abductions are often ascribed to Tengu, evil spirits:

The Konjaku Monogatari, a collection of stories published in the late Heian Period, contains some of the earliest tales of tengu, already characterized as they would be for centuries to come. These tengu are the troublesome opponents of Buddhism, who mislead the pious with false images of the Buddha, carry off monks and drop them in remote places, possess women in an attempt to seduce holy men, rob temples, and endow those who worship them with unholy power. They often disguise themselves as priests or nuns, but their true form seems to be that of a kite.
Throughout the 12th and 13th centuries, accounts continued of tengu attempting to cause trouble in the world. They were now established as the ghosts of angry, vain, or heretical priests who had fallen on the "tengu-realm" (天狗道, tengudō). They began to possess people, especially women and girls, and speak through their mouths (kitsunetsuki). Still the enemies of Buddhism, the demons also turned their attention to the royal family. The Kojidan tells of an Empress who was possessed, and the Ōkagami reports that Emperor Sanjō was made blind by a tengu, the ghost of a priest who resented the throne.[13]
One notorious tengu from the 12th century was himself the ghost of an emperor. The Hōgen Monogatari tells the story of Emperor Sutoku, who was forced by his father to abandon the throne. When he later raised the Hōgen Rebellion to take back the country from Emperor Go-Shirakawa, he was defeated and exiled to Sanuki Province on Shikoku. According to legend he died in torment, having sworn to haunt the nation of Japan as a great demon, and thus became a fearsome tengu with long nails and eyes like a kite's.[14]
In stories from the 13th century, tengu began to abduct young boys as well as the priests they had always targeted. The boys were often returned, while the priests would be found tied to the tops of trees or other high places. All of the tengu's victims, however, would come back in a state of near death or madness, sometimes after having been tricked into eating animal dung.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengu

In Finnish folklore, a similar phenomenon is known as Metsanpietto:

Metsänpeitto (lit. forest cover) is a phenomenon found in Finnish folklore. It was used to describe people or domestic animals who went missing in nature for unexplained reasons.
People "covered by forest" were described as not being able to recognize the terrain around them, even if they were on familiar grounds. In other cases they might have walked endlessly through unfamiliar terrain, or were rendered completely paralyzed, unable to move or speak. Unnatural silence devoid of the sounds of nature was also common.
People or animals under the influence of the phenomenon were described as becoming either completely invisible to other people, or looking like part of the nature around them, like a rock. In one story a man had been looking for a missing cow for days. When he finally gave up and returned to his work, the first tree stump he struck with his axe transformed back into his cow.
The cause behind metsänpeitto was usually credited to maahinens, who were small humanoid creatures living underground (usually translated as "gnomes"). Some people managed to free themselves from metsänpeitto by their own means, for example by turning their jacket inside out, by switching their shoes to the wrong feet, or by looking between their own legs. This was because of the idea that everything was topsy-turvy in the lands of the maahinens. Some were released seemingly without reason, others only after being sought after by a shaman. Some were never seen again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metsänpeitto


In Europe, fairies were thought to kidnap children, and sometimes adults, to use as concubines, slaves, or even to use as payment to the Devil:
In many legends, the fairies are prone to kidnapping humans, either as babies, leaving changelings in their place, or as young men and women. This can be for a time or forever and may be more or less dangerous to the kidnapped. In the 19th-century child ballad "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight", the elf-knight is a Bluebeard figure, and Isabel must trick and kill him to preserve her life.[63] Child ballad "Tam Lin" reveals that the title character, though living among the fairies and having fairy powers, was in fact an "earthly knight" and though his life was pleasant now, he feared that the fairies would pay him as their teind (tithe) to hell.[
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy

Teind is a Scots and Northern English word for tithe, meaning a tenth part.[1] In Scotland, a teind was a tithe derived from the produce of the land for the maintenance of the clergy.
It is also an old lowland term for a tribute due to be paid by the fairies to the devil every seven years. Found in the story of Tam Lin as well as in the ballad of Thomas the Rhymer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teind


In Greek mythology, the story of Persephone and Hades is one of the primary abductions myths. Hades became enamoured of Persephone and kidnapped here to become his bride.

In Greek mythology, Persephone (/pərˈsɛfəniː/, per-seh-fə-nee; Greek: Περσεφόνη), also called Kore or Cora (/ˈkɔəriː/; "the maiden"),[n 1] is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter, and is the queen of the underworld. Homer describes her as the formidable, venerable majestic princess of the underworld, who carries into effect the curses of men upon the souls of the dead. Persephone was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld.[1] The myth of her abduction represents her function as the personification of vegetation, which shoots forth in spring and withdraws into the earth after harvest; hence, she is also associated with spring as well as the fertility of vegetation. Similar myths appear in the Orient, in the cults of male gods like Attis, Adonis and Osiris,[2] and in Minoan Crete.

The story of her abduction by Hades against her will, is traditionally referred to as the Rape of Persephone. It is mentioned briefly in Hesiod's Theogony,[69] and told in considerable detail in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Zeus, it is said, permitted Hades, who was in love with the beautiful Persephone, to carry her off as her mother Demeter was not likely to allow her daughter to go down to Hades. Persephone was gathering flowers with the Oceanids along with Artemis and Athena—the Homeric Hymn says—in a field when Hades came to abduct her, bursting through a cleft in the earth.[70] Demeter, when she found her daughter had disappeared, searched for her all over the earth with Hecate's torches. In most versions she forbids the earth to produce, or she neglects the earth and in the depth of her despair she causes nothing to grow. Helios, the sun, who sees everything, eventually told Demeter what had happened and at length she discovered the place of her abode. Finally, Zeus, pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other deities who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone.
Hades indeed complied with the request, but first he tricked her, giving her some pomegranate seeds to eat. Persephone was released by Hermes, who had been sent to retrieve her, but because she had tasted food in the underworld, she was obliged to spend a third of each year (the winter months) there, and the remaining part of the year with the gods above.[72] With the later writers Ovid and Hyginus, Persephone's time in the underworld becomes half the year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone


In Norse myth, Loki is tricked by a giant into helping kidnap Idunn, in order to gain access to here apples of eternal life:


The Abduction of Idun:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%C3%B0unn
The Prose Edda relates that Loki was once forced by the jötunn Þjazi to lure Iðunn out of Asgard and into a wood, promising her interesting apples. Þjazi, in the form of an eagle, snatches Iðunn from the wood and takes her to his home. Iðunn's absence causes the gods to grow old and grey, and they realize that Loki is responsible for her disappearance. Loki promises to return her and, in the form of a falcon, finds her alone at Þjazi's home. He turns her into a nut and takes her back to Asgard. After Þjazi finds that Iðunn is gone, he turns into an eagle and furiously chases after Loki. The gods build a pyre in Asgard and, after a sudden stop by Loki, Þjazi's feathers catch fire, he falls, and the gods kill him.
According to Skáldskaparmál, the gods Odin, Loki and Hœnir set out one day on a journey, traveling through mountains and wilderness until they were in need of food. In a valley they saw a herd of oxen, and they took one of the oxen and set it in an earth oven, but after a while they found that it would not cook. As they were trying to determine the reason for this, they heard someone talking in the oak tree above them, saying that he himself was the one responsible for the oven not cooking. They looked up and saw that it was Þjazi in the form of a great eagle, and he told them that if they would let him eat from the ox, then he would make the oven cook. To this they agreed, so he came down from the tree and began devouring a large portion of the meal. He ate so much of it that Loki became angry, grabbed his long staff and attempted to strike him, but the weapon stuck fast to Þjazi's body and he took flight, carrying Loki up with him. As they flew across the land Loki shouted and begged to be let down as his legs banged against trees and stones, but Þjazi would only do so on the condition that Loki must lure Idunn out of Asgard with her apples of youth, which he solemnly promised to do.
Later, at the agreed time, Loki lured Idunn out of Asgard into a forest, telling her he had found some apples that she might think worth having, and that she should bring her own apples with her to compare them. Þjazi then appeared in his eagle shape, grabbed Idunn and flew away with her to his realm of Þrymheimr, located in Jötunheimr.
The gods, deprived of Idunn's apples, began growing old and grey. When they learned that Idunn was last seen going out of Asgard with Loki, they threatened him with torture and death until he agreed to rescue her. Loki borrowed a magical coat from Freyja that would allow him to take the shape of a falcon, then flew to Jotunheim until he reached the hall of Þjazi. Finding Idunn alone while Þjazi was out to sea on a boat, Loki transformed her into a nut and carried her back, flying as fast as he could. When Þjazi returned home and discovered she was gone he assumed his eagle form and flew after Loki. When the gods saw Loki flying toward them with Þjazi right behind they lit a fire which burned Þjazi's feathers, causing him to fall to the ground where he was set upon and killed.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Ejazi

 

Great stuff again Mungo - while not an abduction - I have wondered if the Academy attack may also be a nod to the battle of Camlann.

 

Yes, Camlann is a good fit for the Arthurian angle. In this case, a battle where Luke / Arthur did not participate, but was severely spiritually wounded as a result nevertheless.

 

Part of me wonders if he does take part in the battle. If some of those bodies burning belong to the seven.

 

This isn't really mythology, but it references it, and there are seemingly enough similarities to TFA plot elements, and Arthurian myth, that I think it's worth posting....and it's a slow week, so.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Hideous_Strength

CS Lewis's 'That Hideous Strength' features a sinister occult organisation, The N.I.C.E, who are secretly lead by supernatural being known as the Oyarsa ( and 'Eldila',who communicates to them through a re-animated severed head! ).
The N.I.C.E are hellbent on discovering the resting place of Merlin, whom the Oyarsa wishes to possess in order to gain the power to carry out it's plan. The plan involves death, destruction, and the replacement the human race with a new race of disembodied heads, though ultimately would culminate in a sort of Ragnarok scenario, where the Earth as it is would effectively be destroyed, only to be replaced by a new world.

One of the opponents of the N.I.C.E has ties to King Arthur, and has actually taken the surname 'Fisher-King':

• Dr. Elwin Ransom (also known as "the Pendragon" and "the Director") – A former Cambridge don who heads the community at St. Anne's. He alone communicates with the benevolent eldila, whom he met during his earlier voyages to Malacandra and Perelandra (Mars and Venus). He has changed his surname to Fisher-King and has a wound in his foot, received on Venus, that will not heal till he returns there. His heavenly experiences have made him a kingly figure among his small band of followers, and he attributes his following to a divine Power, presumably Maleldil (Jesus Christ).

• Merlinus Ambrosius – The wizard Merlin, awakened and returned to serve the Pendragon and save England. Receives the powers of the Oyéresu. He has been in a deep sleep since the time of King Arthur, and both sides initially believe he will join the N.I.C.E. His appearance at St. Anne's comes as a surprise.

A few details on the N.I.C.E:

N.I.C.E.[edit]

The National Institute of Coordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.) is a scientific and social planning agency, furtively pursuing its program of the exploitation of nature and the annihilation of humanity. The Institute is secretly inspired and directed by fallen eldila, whom they refer to as "Macrobes", superior beings. Their takeover of Edgestow and its surrounding area shows the manner in which they use human pride and greed to get what they want. After the N.I.C.E. would achieve its ends, the earth would only belong to the "Macrobes".

• François Alcasan – "The Head", a French scientist executed for murder early in the book. His head is recovered by the N.I.C.E. and appears to be kept alive by the technology of man while actually having become a communication mechanism for the Macrobes.
• John Wither – Long-winded bureaucrat, Deputy Director of the N.I.C.E. He is the true leader of the N.I.C.E. and a servant of the Macrobes. Long association with them has "withered" his mind, and his speech and thinking are characterized by vagueness and jargon. He hardly ever sleeps, but instead maintains a continual dreamy wakefulness that affords him the ability to maintain a shadowy, supernatural presence throughout the Institute.
• Professor Augustus Frost – A psychologist and assistant to Wither, he is the only other N.I.C.E member who knows the true nature of the Head and of the Macrobes. He views emotions and values as mere chemical phenomena to be ignored as distractions from scientific inquiry. He is coldhearted and unemotional and he has an exact, precise manner of speech and thinking.
• Miss/Major Hardcastle (a.k.a. "The Fairy") – The sadistic head of the N.I.C.E. Institutional Police and its female auxiliary, the "Waips". Torture is her favorite interrogation method, and she takes special, sexual pleasure in abusing female prisoners.
• Dr. Filostrato – An obese Italian eunuch physiologist who has seemingly preserved Alcasan's head. He believes the Head to be truly Alcasan. His ultimate goal is to free humanity from the constraints of organic life.
• Lord Feverstone (Dick Devine) – The politician, recently ennobled businessman, and nominal academic who lures Mark into the N.I.C.E. Feverstone was one of the two men who kidnapped Ransom in Out of the Silent Planet, and the person responsible for getting Mark Studdock his fellowship at Bracton. A classic sociopath, he is motivated in all circumstances by the perceived benefit to himself. Although he is aware of the Macrobes, having encountered their benign counterparts on Mars, he has no interest in them.
• Reverend Straik – the "Mad Parson". He believes that any sort of power is a manifestation of God's will. Straik is ready to obliterate that "organisation of ordered Sin called Society." When Mark objects that he must not want to preserve Society because he believes in an afterlife, Straik objects that Jesus's real teaching was justice here and now. Emphasis on an afterlife has, he thinks, emasculated and sidetracked the real meaning of Jesus's teaching. This belief, along with other beliefs, makes him a suitable candidate for introduction to the Macrobes. Straik was "a good man once", but became deranged by the death of his daughter.
• Horace Jules – A Cockney novelist, tabloid reporter, and pseudo-scientific journalist who has been appointed Director of the N.I.C.E. He studied science at the University of London, but clearly never advanced beyond an elementary level. He fondly imagines himself to be the actual leader of the N.I.C.E., but as he is not aware of its true nature he is easily manipulated by Wither and Frost. He has a strong anti-clerical bias and objects to Wither appointing "parsons" (such as Straik) to the Institute. He is in part a caricature of H.G. Wells,[5] whose book The Shape of Things to Come presented the systematic persecution of Christianity (and all other religions) by a future world government as a positive activity.