Skip to main content

folklore - In-universe, is Gesar the same person as the central Asian folk hero?


The head of the Moscow Night Watch in Sergei Lukyanenko's Watch series is named Gesar. When I asked about why the Russian name Гесер (Geser) is transliterated to English as Gesar, I learned about the real-life legend of the Central Asian folk hero King Gesar. Which immediately made me wonder if Lukyanenko's Gesar is actually meant to be this folk hero (certainly he does come from central Asia, if I recall correctly) or if Lukyanenko simply used the name as inspiration.


In-universe, is Gesar of the Night Watch the same person as the folk hero King Gesar?


Please mark any spoilers from books 4-6 as such.



Answer







The Most Radiant Gesar, aka Gesser, aka Djoru the Snotty, aka Boris Ignatievich, ... the Most Radiant Gesar, Higher Magician and Magician Beyond Classification, Light Other, Conqueror of Demons and Son of Heaven, Hero of Tibet and Mongolia, central character of the national epic the Gesariada, venerated by the Kalmyks and honored with a huge equestrian statue in Buryatia, head of the Night Watch of Moscow and therefore, de facto, of the whole of Russia, was standing behind me.
(Lukyanenko, "Sixth Watch", Andrew Bromfeld translation. Part 1, "Mandatory Actions", Chapter 3.)






According to both Wikipedia entry on Gesar, as well as serious academic research of Geseriad, Geser's childhood (as per legend) is described thusly:





  1. Born in Tibet




  2. Named Djoru/Choru




  3. Snotty as a child.




  4. Had an enemy named Soton/Tzoton.





  5. Was a Trickster archetype




  6. Super-powerful mage (basically, a reincarnated deity) fighting the forces of evil




I will provide details of these 5 real-life points and citations below, but first, let's see how well in-universe Gesar matches:





In Book #5 of Watches cycle, "The New Watch", we see the hero read a children's textbook, which basically paints a "true in-universe biography of Gesar" as matching these very four details from our real-life folk legend:



... Издательство "Иное слово". Печатает книги и прочую бумажную продукцию для Иных. Для Светлых и Темных, без разбора. ... Книжка называлась "Детство замечательных Иных". ... Для внеклассного чтения. Истории про детство великих волшебников. ...


... Наткнулся на статью про Гесера и ухмыльнулся, прочитав первые строчки:
"Когда великий Гесер был маленьким, он жил в горах Тибета.
... его даже обзывали обидным именем Джору – "сопливый". ...
Про это знал только Темный Иной – Сотон, который мечтал сделать Гесера Темным…"
("Новый Дозор", Часть первая "СМУТНЫЕ ЦЕЛИ", Глава седьмая)


... Published by "Other word". They print for Others. For Light and Dark, indiscriminately. ... The book was called "Childhood of remarkable Others". ... For outside-classroom reading. Stories about the childhood of the great wizards. ...



... I stumbled on an article about the Gesar and smirked when reading the first lines: "When Great Gesar was young, he lived in the mountains of Tibet.
... He was even insultingly called "Joru" - meaning "snotty". ...
Only the Dark Other - Soton - knew he was Other, and wanted to make Gesar Dark ... "
("The New Watch", Part One "Vague Goals", Chapter Seven)



As we can see, all 4 first points are matching very precisely.


Of course, the fact that in-universe Gesar was a trickster was fully explored in SFF Q&A " Is Gesar a joker? ".


Um, do I really need to prove that he's magical in-universe and fights the forces of evil? Didn't think so.


So, Gesar in the books matches the real life Geser on all 6 points.


Q.E.D.




My original answer version merely cited Wikipedia, but for a more epic (pun intended) answer, I decided instead to look at...



One of the best academic resources I could find on Geser that had a full e-version was a Russian book "The History of the World literature, Part 3", published in 1985 by Georgy Petrovich Berdnikov, on pages 362-364, chapter "Tibetian-Mongolian Geseriad" (Автор: Бердников Георгий Петрович - Книга: "История всемирной литературы Т.3" - Страница 362-364, "ТИБЕТО-МОНГОЛЬСКАЯ ГЭСЭРИАДА")


Berdnikov cites specific published legend version of the legend (1716 Beijing version, the first printed one), but also analyzes other versions.



Героическое детство Гэсэра наиболее полно разработано в ксилографической (пекинской) версии 1716 г...
Heroic childhood of Geser is developed most fully in xylographic (Beijing) 1716 version...



One other reason (aside from e-book availability) that I rely on this book more heavily (instead of more specialized academic research like R.A.Stein or Alexandra David-Neel), is that the original SFF story by Lukyanenko is Russian, which means any real-life epic references he used were likely in Russian and not English or French, which in turn means he's far more likely to have been using Berdnikov.



All citations below are from this book, unless specified otherwise.




  1. Born in Tibet (specifically, Ling kingdom)



    “Somba Yexei Banjor is a scholar who opinion is that Gesar was a real person who lived in the Ling area of Kham (source).



    Seriously, any serious reference mentions Tibetian origin so it's useless to cite any more, but why not cite Berdnikov again? :)



    С XI в. в тибетских текстах встречается упоминание о Кесаре, но не Кесаре из Лина (упоминания о последнем дошли лишь от XVII в.), а Кесаре из Крума (Фрума) (Бердников)



    From 11th century, Tibetian texts mention Cesar, but one from Krum and not Linn. (Berdnikov)





  2. Named Djoru/Choru



    Сам Гэсэр до поры до времени выступает в виде никчемного и вместе с тем проказливого Цзуру (тиб. Чжору). ... (Бердников)


    Geser himself for the time being acted as worthless, yet mischievous Tzuru (Tibetian Choru). ... (Berdnikov)



    Or, here's the summary of the epic being performed:




    How young Choru was expelled from Ling Kingdom by his jealous uncle Trothung, but thanks to his magical skills and a famous horse race became the King of the Ling and married queen Dugmo



    Also, see the citation from Stein in #3.




  3. Snotty as a child.



    ... Важнейшие элементы сказания о Гэсэре, ... детские подвиги и проделки — часто под видом никчемного "соплячка", — преследование злого дяди (Тхотуна, монг. Цотона)... (Бердников)


    ... The most important elements of Geser epic ... childhood feats and pranks - often under the guise of worthless "snotty kid" - the pursuit of his evil uncle (Thotun, Mongolian Tsoton) ... (Berdnikov)




    Another citation (which also has independent confirmation of Choru/Joru name)



    ... The hero's life is divided into two parts... the hero even bears different name in each of them. In his youth he is Joru, an ugly, snotty-nosed lad...
    "Tibetan Civilization" By Rolf Alfred Stein, 1962/1972, p.280



    The same is likely noted in same author's French book "Recherches sur l'épopée et le barde au Tibet, Volume 13" from 1959, but I couldn't find the text to cite; but Wikipedia's cites the snottiness from this book, page 545.




  4. Had an enemy named Soton.



    See the quotes from #3 above, as well as:



    В годы детства Гэсэра родители его находятся в изгнании и бедности по вине Цотона.
    Целый ряд проделок он совершает для наказания алчного и злобного Цотона.
    (Бердников)


    During Geser's childhood, his parents are in exile and poverty, due to Tsoton.
    A number of tricks he performs are to punish the greedy and evil Tsoton.
    (Berdnikov)



    Tzoton is mentioned in various other places in Berdnikov; and in Stein; as well as a quote I used in #2 above from the description of the video of the epic's performance, not worth citing them all.





  5. Was a Trickster archetype



    ... архаических чертах мифологического озорника (ср. ... Локи в «Эдде»), переплетенных с чертами шамана-волшебника и настоящего воина-богатыря.
    (Бердников)


    ... archetypical features of mythological Trickster (similar to... Loki in the "Edda"), interwoven with features of shaman-wizard and a true warrior-hero.
    (Berdnikov)



    Also see quote from #3 above.






A lot more detail can be found in a book that contains a very very detailed analysis and summary of the Geseriad, by a researcher of the topic, and which is frequently cited by others: "The Superhuman Life of Gesar of Ling" By Alexandra David-Neel, translated from French.


It's hard to offer citations as the book isn't freely visible on Google Books, but it definitely confirms point #4 (Tsoton as enemy) and #5 (trickster) even from small snippets available.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more