Argrath lets us have a dynamic and rapidly changing setting WITHOUT requiring that the players or even the GM be responsible for the main thrust of the changes. So even if all the players do is dungeon dive, there is stuff going on in the background and the setting is dynamic. Alternatively, if the players want to get involved in the wars and politics, they can and they can get caught up in that whirlwind and reap what they sow.
That’s his function in the game.
Now some player and gamesters present him as a fellow adventurer, some as a Hero, some as an ambitious warlord, others as an objectively bad guy – whatever. That is almost immaterial to me. For me he’s like Alexander the Great written by Nick Cave, with a few elements of Odysseus and a smattering of David.
His ally is the demigod Heracles with a bit of Rustam and Conan thrown in, and even a dash of Cuchulainn, and wearing a white bear skin instead of a lion skin.
Now I don’t see the Hero Wars as a battle of good and evil, but rather it is an age-ended cosmic battle that was likely set in place by the very nature of the Compromise. Heroes on both sides exhibit virtues like bravery and loyalty alongside fatal flaws such as pride, jealousy, or deceit, leading to no unambiguous victors. The Hero Wars results in a transition between mythological age. Think the Trojan War or the Kurukshetra War.
As a result, Argrath does not have to be good or evil. Nor does the Lunar Emperor. Now I personally have as a working model that the Lunar Empire’s acceptance of Chaos meant this cataclysm was going to happen – but that doesn’t mean that the Lunar Empire is a moral evil (and nor does it mean that Sartar’s confederation of cities, tribes, and trade routes is a moral good). And yes, the Red Moon is gone at the end, and Argrath has his apotheosis as a god. But that’s subject to a thousand different meanings and interpretations.
There are many perfectly decent and kind Pelorians who are loyal to the Red Emperor and adore the Red Goddess. There are plenty of dangerous killers on the Sartarite side, men and women who are willing to break the world for adventure, glory, and honour. And of course, I could flip that the other way and say there are many perfectly decent and kind Sartarites who are loyal to their Prince and King, who revere Orlanth and the Lightbringers, and there are plenty of dangerous killers on the Lunar side, men and women who are willing to break the world for mystical reasons, glory, and honour.
To me that is a key part what makes the Hero Wars interesting. I’ve always preferred epic wars like Greece and Persia, Alexander and Darius, Rome and Carthage, where both sides had perfectly good reasons for what they were and did.
Now outside of Gloranthan canon, Argrath was created alongside Arkat back in the late 60s and early 70s when Greg introduced Gbaji and Chaos into the setting. Argrath/Arkat (originally the same character) fought against Gbaji and Chaos, alienating many with his necessary battle against a deceptive evil. The character was able to find new allies after his satisfying the goals of his old allies and then moving on.
Greg then later used that character in his boardgame White Bear and Red Moon as the leader of the Sartar faction. It is important to remember that initially White Bear and Red Moon wasn’t even part of his early Gloranthan stories – he meshed them together. As he expanded the mythical and historical background of this new meshed-together setting, Arkat got recycled and came back into the story a thousand years before Argrath.
See also
- Search this site for Argrath