So an art issue that a few grognards have raised directly or indirectly – why does Orlanth have multiple arms?
The Orlanthi depict Orlanth as having four arms so that they might display the breadth of his powers – Orlanth is armed with a sword, the thunderbolt, a shield, and a dragon head or axe, or even sometimes the lightning spear. He is even sometimes depicted as having three or four heads – each depicting an aspect of him (Adventurous, Thunderous, Rex, and Lightbringer). This is a visual way of showing Orlanth’s remarkable breadth of abilities and aspects – greater than other gods, and clearly greater than any mortal, limited by a mere two hands.
This was some early concept art for Orlanth from when I was working on the Guide to Glorantha.
More early concept art. Important that Orlanth is always depicted in Motion, usually doing his war dance.
Lisa Free’s Orlanth is based on the four-headed Svantovit pillars of Slavic mythology. I still imagine these being common in Orlanthi lands, with likely one face being female
