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Do you think you could create a mythology from scratch?

Lark

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Do you think you could create an original mythology from scratch or would you just wind up reproducing one that has been around for a long time? Like is it possible to truly innovate or are the archetypes so ingrained and collective unconscious so powerful that you'll just wind up reinventing the wheel some how?
 

Siúil a Rúin

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I don't think I could, but my sister could. She has more Ne than me, but I don't know if that is the reason.
 

The Cat

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I have for my mythology class. And a world in some of my fiction fantasy. It was fun. I wish It hadn't been for a grade and I could ave let my hair down, as it was i was just reading the teacher for what they wanted and then just giving them my version with that. I might post it one day in my blog. But I think these days I would have probably done a few things jut a bit different for aesthetic reasons
 

Obfuscate

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the point of a mythology seems to be to capture everday archetypes in a new and interesting form... so i believe i could... i also believe i could create one less effectively by avoiding said archetypes, but i wouldn't choose to handle the project in that manner...
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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Do you think this has successfully been done in the modern age? Lucas and Tolkein at least tried to do this. Opinions may vary on how successful they were.

And what about superheroes? Maybe modern mythology is really around us all the time.
 

tony_goth

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Do you think you could create an original mythology from scratch or would you just wind up reproducing one that has been around for a long time?

I can create a mythology, but not from scratch. Because it's basically a set of symbols that are meant to acquire some type of meaning.

Like is it possible to truly innovate or are the archetypes so ingrained and collective unconscious so powerful that you'll just wind up reinventing the wheel some how?

If I create a mythology, I won't reinvent the wheel, I'll just make a wheel which would seem more functional, or clearer to people.

I think the main purpose of a mythology is to tell people to follow their conscience and how.
 

Shadow Play

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I think any attempts at creating a myth from scratch would lead to rehashing elements from other myths, along with elements of real world history, so no.
 

LucieCat

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I'm sure I could come up with a creative system. Though there would likely be parallels to other existing systems.
 

Lord Lavender

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I could for sure given time and motivation lol. I can conjure up magical worlds and try and make it my own creation without rehashing anything. It's like I can make that god make a story around him then incoprare him into the massive canvas that is fiction.
 

Jaq

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Kanra Jest

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I would love to.

In fact: I've thought of making a story with original mythologies in it.
 

draon9

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Do you think you could create an original mythology from scratch or would you just wind up reproducing one that has been around for a long time? Like is it possible to truly innovate or are the archetypes so ingrained and collective unconscious so powerful that you'll just wind up reinventing the wheel some how?

no. every myth is based on some type of truth and is exaggerated a little bit
 

á´…eparted

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I could. I do extensive world building as a hobby and have for years. I don't have the intention to do so though because organized religion nor mythology is a major theme in my worlds. That is replaced by physics, magic (which is a product of physics), and the presence of non-biological species.
 

Pionart

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Wouldn't the purpose of myth be to express [universal ideas]? If you deviate too much from these, you'd likely just be creating mytholog-esque fiction.

However, not all [universal ideas] have thus far been revealed through myth. It would certainly be possible to express something that humanity has not thus far grasped in such a manner.
 
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Let me very briefly compare the story that I have actually written with mythology, to answer the question. I wrote drama story back in high-school for a class assignment. If we put it under a genre category it may have been under fiction-fantasy mystery. I notice Some Myth relates to a certain belief or religion of a specific society e.g mahabharata is closely associated with Hindu, a religion majorly embraced in India, while my drama story didn't have such characteristics. Another characteristics of myth would be word of mouth story told without any traceable written record like history. In addition, the specific time of when story happened aren't mentioned with some geographical location that no one can exactly point out where on the map while as I can remember My drama story exactly mentioned the where setting took place e.g in a police office. It wouldn't be worldwide popular like Greek Mythology, Indian Mythology, Norse Mythology, if published.
if we could be sure who the author of mythology was, he must have been not the same type as I am, as I am not confident I could write a story as his.

Some Movie director that adopted mythological story may not be confidently creative enough to come up with completely different story line and character as the original one. Or perhaps they are just afraid of some change. Let's take an example. Disney Hercules 1997, most of the story still adopt the original myth. Hercules was adopted as human child, he possess superhuman physical strength and he must accomplish some tasks so that he can go back to Olympus, where he originally hails from. If they created completely a new story than what it was well known for centuries, they might have hardly got market acceptance.
However, Well if business related thing didn't matter, like we created a new myth but only for art class assignment, we did not intend to sell it as a movie, hence not too much worry whether or not the movies is marketable, then, art student whose story teller aptitude might be able to come up with a new story.
But, Percy Jackson the series despite noticeable adoption of greek mythology, are a bit improvisational e.g Zeus' lightning bolt is stolen.
If you addressed the question to me as an individual, then my answer would be I am probably not a mythological story teller. But someone else might be.
 
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The Cat

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making something from scratch doesn't necessarily entail taking out ingredients. :shrug:
 

Earl Grey

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making something from scratch doesn't necessarily entail taking out ingredients. :shrug:

Ingredient: pure and unconstrained manic brain juice and maybe 3 days of no sleep.
 

Tina&Jane

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This is an interesting question...I definitely couldn't, but maybe someone who's more imaginative and creative than I am would be able to. Sometimes I do wonder about the limits of creativity and whether there can be truly original ideas anymore, but then again, I might just be speaking from the limits of my own ability.
 
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