A little passage in the Gods and Goddesses book that really pleased me:
As both the murderer of Yelm who plunged the world into darkness and the leader of the Lightbringers who revived the world, Orlanth is the God of Heroes, an untamed destroyer who nonetheless protects life and aids civilization. He destroys not to end the world but to make way for the new. Orlanth made the world what it is through his deeds and his cult is destined to play a central role in the Hero Wars.
There’s more than a little Shiva and Indra in Orlanth.
One of the things that long has fascinated me is the hero as both the destroyer and the protector of civilization. The archetype of the hero in myths and legends is rarely the Victorian-modern morally pure hero. Heracles does great and terrible things. As does Theseus, Cu Chulainn, Finn McCool, and Rustam. Lancelot is the embodiment of chivalry, but also murderous in rage, disloyal, and an adulterer. And so on.Orlanth very much is that mixed hero – and all the more mythically powerful for it.
Pretty much all of the gods can be blamed for the Gods War. Or maybe the blame is with the Cosmic Court. Or maybe Glorantha was impregnated with Chaos when she gave birth to world, and thus the seeds of chaos were present from the start?
A pretty common set of divine feats:
I imprisoned or castrated my father, slept with my sisters, imprisoned and tortured the helper of mankind, and unleashed torments on mankind. That’s why I am the Best and Most Powerful. Or I delight in bringing strife and war to mankind, I helped kill my creator, I deceive my enemies and allies alike, I knowingly keep a traitor and murderer in my household who I know will kill my own son – and when he does what I know he will, I’ll imprison and torture him, and that is why I am the all-father!and so on.
FWIW, I absolutely don’t consider any of the above a reason not to worship such a god. Heck, I consider that to be a better reason to offer sacrifices to the deity than the “I am a good and Victorian gentle-god.” It also helps explain theodicy – sometimes bad things happen to good people because the gods are in a bad mood.