Out of all the things to sting at my heart today it’s the memory of my mentor. Once a paladin whose body wore out to quickly, he passed away at three and fifty years of age over five hundred years ago. But I still remember our jokes and companionship. In truth, I did not know the man well enough to mourn him for so long. But his company left an absence.
To honor his company I decided to write down more of the Spiral’s words. The story of how the seasons came to be, focused on the Oak and Holly King. My mentor, like many others in the Spiral, followed that the Light was not one aspect of deity, but rather multiple, each with a different face.
There is an enduring legend that has existed as long as my mentor had known. There is a wheel that represents the year and if the wheel stopped turning then everything would stagnate and die. So the Gods, with their many conflicts and actions, along with those beneath them keep the wheel turning.
Two of the Gods who help the wheel turn are also two of the most important. These two Gods fight for supremacy throughout the year as the wheel turns. At the height of Winter the Oaken King will conquer the Holly King and when summer has come the Holly King returns to do battle with the Oak king, defeating him and reigning until Winter.
The King always had to be killed so that the Divine in him would be transferred to his success. Whether it was Oak or Holly, neither would leave their office until they were slain. To secure both renewed vigor in the new ruler and divinity. As long as he was strong he was fit to rule, but death and defeat proved him unfit to reign.
And every year the Oak and Holly King would battle. Two parts of a whole, essential to the Wheel of the year. Without the other they were nothing. No hatred was shared between the two. They were enemies, but they were enemies that knew their place in the divine plan.
The worshippers of the Oak and Holly Kings had complicated and intricate rules and taboos. At the height of their worship followers of either lived from southern Quel’thas to the end of Lorderon. More druid than priest of the Light, these worshippers were fond of planting oak and holly trees. Oak trees were planted (or attempted to.) during the winter and holly in spring. It was held custom to offer up a few droplets of blood in your passing. For what is more precious than your lifeblood?
My mentor remarked to me once that the Oak and Holly Kings had never entered Quel’thalas in their eternal struggle and that was why Quel’thalas remain frozen in eternal spring. I told him that the High Elves had kept it that way and it confused him. He had never thought we would be so bold as to change our own corner of the world by our own hand.
Even at the height of their worship the Oaken and Holly King’s worshippers were still few and far in between. As far as I am aware they were all only human. Like much of the Spiral’s works most of what they did and their stories, have been lost to time.
I could curse my younger self for being so careless with the loss of knowledge. But the more I think on it the more I do not think becoming forgotten bothered them. Perhaps next time I will tell the story of Dormund and how her vows changed her from kind and naive to angry and strong.
Tyleril Silversword 