#as stagnation and laziness aren't the same things

[cienie-isengardu]

Cienie's take on Mandalorian Culture: Arasuum - stagnation as symbol of death, not sloth

The Funeral Rites of Taungs and later Mandalorian Warriors. <> Kad Ha’rangir and mandalorian traditional weapons (part 1 — part 2 — part 3 – part 4 – part 5)

Mandalorians: People and Culture [Star Wars Insider #86, 2006] introduced Arasuum as the god of Stagnation and Sloth:

“Mandalorians were once intensely religious but disillusionment with the old fanaticism and worship of war itself gave way to a far less supernatural belief system among modern Mandalorians. They now regard creation tales, such as Akaanati’kar’oya (The War of Life and Death) as parables to illustrate a deeper philosophical meaning rather than literal supernaturalism. The stars were mythologized as fallen kings of Mandalore, and there are tales of the mythosaurs, but the pragmatic and skeptical Mandalorians look for allegory in these stories. The manda - best described as a combination of the collective state of being, the essence of being Mandalorian, and an oversoul - is not viewed as a literal heaven. Traditionally, the Mando afterlife is seen as a plane of spiritual energy in constant conflict between stagnation, and the opportunity for change brought about by destruction - a parallel with modern theories of cosmology. In Mandalorian myth, this conflict is symbolized by the eternal war between the sloth-god Arasuum - the personification of idle consumption and stagnation - and the vigorous destroyer god Kad Ha’rangir, who forces change and growth on the universe. Every Mando warrior who dies is said to add to the army of the afterlife, defending wives and children living in its permanent, peaceful homestead - the only place Mandalorians believe they can ever reach a non-transitory state of existence.”

This description of Arasuum was repeated in following tie-in sources:

Excerpted from “Industry. Honor. Savagery: Shaping the Mandalorian Soul” keynote address by Vilnau Teupt, 412th Proceedings of Galactic Anthropology and History, Brentaat Academy, 24 ABY [2012, published in The Essential Guide to Warfare]:

“After being driven from ancient Coruscant, the Taungs relocated to Roon and then wandered the Outer Rim, leaving hints of their passage in various species’ chronicles and histories. But they attracted little notice until they conquered Mandalore around 7000 BBY. At that time Mandalore lay beyond the galactic frontier - but close to the Republic’s outlying trade routes. Soon, rumors reached the Republic of worlds ruled by ferocious warriors. They served the god Kad Ha’rangir, whose tests and trials forced change and growth upon clans he chose to be his people. In opposition to Kad Ha’rangir stood the sloth-god Arasuum, who sought to tempt the clans and drag them down into stagnation and idle consumption. By waging war in Kad Ha’rangir’s name and according to strict religious laws, the Mandalorian Crusaders defied Arasuum and showed themselves worthy of favor.”

and 

Death Watch Manifesto [2013, published as part of The Bounty Hunter Code: From the Files of Boba Fett]

Our history begins with the Taung, the Shadow Warriors we honor as our Progenitors. They originally dwelled on Coruscant, but their enemies drove them into the Outer Rim. Their clans traveled from planet to planet on orders from their war chief, who interpreted the will of their now-extinct gods: Kad Ha’rangir, the all-seeing creator of test and trials; Hod Ha’ran, the trickster agent of fickle fortune; and Arasuum the god of sloth, an enemy whispering and seducing with promises of peace [...].

“The ancient Mandalorian deities were led by all-seeing Kad Ha’rangir (left), shown here beside the trickster god Hod Ha’ran (central) and the slothful Arasuum (right).

The mentioned above works associate Arasuum with laziness and stagnation, even though those two terms aren’t synonymous, nor even closely tied to each other. Stagnation is, basically speaking, a lack of change that may be conditioned by various factors. Laziness though is a choice a person makes - a choice to not work or use as little effort as possible[1]. 

Arasuum is constantly accused of being sloth. In contrast, Kad Ha’rangir, as Destructor and as god sending trials to test his people plays an active role in mandalorian mythology. However, the same as with Kad Ha’rangir, I think the sources - and with it, in-universe knowledge - may not be accurate. Or more precisely, the modern academics’ conclusions are based on incomplete sources whose true meaning perhaps was lost over the centuries.

For example, Kad Ha’rangir is treated as one of the most important, if not outright the main deity, but as I was proving in previous analysis, sword - in mando’a: kad - did not have any special place in the culture of the original Mandalorians (Taung), as they hold mythosaur axes in high regard. Which puts into doubt the prominent position of god named after a weapon clearly favored by human Mandalorians who replaced the now-extinct Taungs. It does not mean there was never a god-Destructor in original mythology but rather allow us to assume the mandalorian culture has undergone many changes with passing time. If the Kad Ha’rangir himself may be a god reshaped to fit the needs of early human Mandalorians and their descendants, then the same could happen with Arasuum. 

Which is why I decided to analyze Arasuum and his role through the lens of three aspects:

Mandalorian language (Mando’a)

Official tie-in material 

widely understood Mandalorian culture

Let's start with the MANDALORIAN LANGUAGE

For those unfamiliar with Star Wars lore, mando’a is an official mandalorian language. Initially developed by composer Jesse Harlin as part of the soundtrack for the 2005 video game Republic Commando, it was expanded into functional language by Karen Traviss, the author or tie-in Republic Commando book series. The glossary included in her books evolved into a full dictionary and grammatical guide published on Traviss’ official page (archived version can be found here).

In short, Mandalorian language evolved from a few songs into a functional dialect that fans adapted and to this day are still developing for their own use. Understandable, the original mando’a published by Karen Traviss is an artificially created language but because it was made by the same person that at time shaped Mandalorian culture, we have a reason to assume the meaning of deities’ names wasn’t assigned at random.

And so we have a role of Destructor assigned to Kad Ha’rangir - in which kad is a word for sword/saber

while ha’rangir is derived from ha’ran or rangir, two words related to ash/destruction & hell. 

With publication of Bounty Hunter Code and The Essential Guide to Warfare comes Hod Ha’ran, another deity whose name and role correlate with similar meaning in mando’a:

The name of Arasuum brings an important detail - mandalorian language distinguishes between stagnation

and laziness.

As can be seen, there is no common element between those two words, as in: one word is not derived from the other, the way logically some meanings are connected.

If two names have direct correlation to gods’ mythological roles, why Arasuum wouldn’t be perceived by original Mandalorians the same as Kad Ha’rangir and Hod Ha’ran? And this is our first clue to understand Arasuum’s original role in mythology.

Arasuum, as his name suggests, remains the same. Is stagnant. In contrast Kad Ha’rangir is associated with vigor, the growth that happens to Mandalorian people. All three presented above source material associate Kad Ha’rangir with life (active energy), what from biological and symbolic perspectives is a constant change. Since both deities are part of the same myth titles as The War between Life and Death, logically thinking Arasuum, the unchanging god, should represent death as opposition to growth.

If we go with that logic, then facing and overcoming Kad Ha’rangir’s trials may mean surviving the hardship like fight (war). Each victory over death (stagnation) gives a warrior an unique experience that change them, though if the change is for better or worse may be secondary concern. Alive Mandalorian can’t stay the same, because those unable to grow will fail to survive another god’s trial and then will be lost to Arasuum. 

And this is the base ground for my theory that stagnation from mythological point is symbolic metaphor for death and with that, Arasuum is the god of death, not laziness.

The next part will explore the tie-in source material, with special focus on Death Watch Manifesto and political symbolism of Arasuum.

SIDE NOTES:

[1] Just to be clear here: no, needing to rest after hard work is not laziness, the same as lack of will to take action due to depression or other psychological or physical illness. 

[kpoptarotvibes]

Idk if it's just me, but I'm thinking Hybe is basically keeping BTS in this weird stagnant place where they're not releasing a full album or having 'proper' releases until they see an 'all clear' (or at least as much of one as possible) for them to do a full world tour. I think they are actually holding their album back waiting for the right moment so that they can have a real comeback in Korea and then start touring. I feel like now apparently Korea is about to drop most of their remaining restrictions, we'll probably hear a comeback announcement soon...

But for now... I really am not a fan of the recycling of this same setlist. I also really hate that they didn't at least take this opportunity to let MOTS 7 (with all the songs) properly get its shine in concert cause that was a good album and it deserved the tour they had planned for 2020.

Building a concert around PTD (their worst song without question imo) just wasn't a great idea, nor was not performing any solo or unit songs... although the guys are giving their all onstage and you can feel their love for performing and the fans... the choice to recycle this set list feels tired and lazy (idk whose idea that was, them or the company?...)... and the fact that every song is a group song doesn't allow anyone a chance to rest and catch themselves which means that the performances, despite their efforts, are overall not up to the highest quality cause the guys are just exhausted. I also can't believe the guys themselves aren't at least a little tired of performing Dynamite, Butter and PTD at this point.... surely they're bored and want to move on too.

I honestly think these concerts are like a stop gap for Hybe to suck some more money from the fans while they wait for the right moment to launch the next era and I don't like that... it feels kinda half assed.... yet people are paying a lot of money to see a substandard bts concert... (prepandemic armys should know this is not up to par). Rather than having the same old concert again, they could be working on their music, focusing on their health and getting a some more rest in between because they'll need it for when they finally have a real comeback. Some of Namjoon's words about them getting more involved in their music and sharing their voices and going back to their roots in his recent live are giving me hope for their next album at least... I really hope it's authentic Bangtan energy 🙏.

On a lighter note... I have a feeling the collab with Snoop could possibly end up being a bit gimmicky cheesy/silly but still fun and enjoyable to listen to (depending on the involvement of the rap line, whether they get to sing / rap in Korean and write their lyrics) but I actually hope it surprises me and ends up bringing an old school hip hop vibe back and has a bit of edge to it... either way, I don't think it will be bad cause the rap line for sure wouldn't want to waste the opportunity to rap with Snoop... 🤞

Remember they are in a stagnate place because Korea is still deciding whether to let them serve in the military or not. So I think they are to prepare how to schedule things outside of that.

I totally agree with you about PTD tour it's just so lazy. And I really wish if they were to have the same setlist that they would just remix a few songs. Yeah we pre-pandemic Army know this ain't up to par. They really could have done this once and then let all the members recover properly from COVID. Then have a new comeback. SMH. Just poor planning on their part.

I hope they go back to focusing on the music and going back to their roots because they have just lost their own sound and style.

Yeah I feel like that whole Snoop dog song is going to be corny. SMH.