I find it curious that the scripture of the gods often finds itself in a sort of repetitive nature. Of course, we know now that the reason for this is more than likely tied to the fact that many of these stories were once orally transmitted from generation to generation. However, the manner by which the show repetitiveness is still something to be amazed by.
The patterns of the cyclical natures of the stories are hard to locate, at first, but once you've poured over them for hours upon countless hours, you come to them. Some of the patterns can be hard to miss, like the ways that gods often reference cycles in their nature. Some of them a little more artistic, and while they seem to be going for unique stanzas, the pattern becomes clear after the first few times. One really good example of this, is the way the gods present themselves, the scriptures. All of them seem to follow a memorable formula: "I shall take blah blah, and I shall do blah blah blagh, and I shall make it my domain, and it shall be called blah blah blah. I will take the name 'insert god name here', in honor of blah blah blah or 'insert god name here.'
Its fascinating to know that it was such a popular pattern amongst oral bards of the past that they kept it going and going and going through out the ages, very rarely swaying from the formula. There are some larger patterns, too, some that are right in your face, the whole time, without really thinking about it. Like, how the paragraph usually always breaks when a god speaks, and often times, when a god responds back to another, they share a similar pattern of exaltation to each other. The only break to this pattern that I have found thus far, is when ever Cor'Neas speaks. He seems to be a break in the pattern, at first, but even his appearances tend to be calculated too, or the motifs that he comes with in the tales.
I think, perhaps, the most fun part of the repetitive nature of the scriptures, is the fact that all the stories with: "And Stell'Arya marked the day in the movements of the stars." It is such an iconic phrase that we still use it today in plain conversations with others. I imagine it was a very good way to end a story being told a crowd, and so the tradition kept on for annuls to come. Often times, when we want to end a conversation, or when we want to mark a point made, a transition in direction of conversation, we say: "Marked in the Stars". This goes to show how the tradition is still alive and well in the social atmosphere of our society. A thousands year old repeated saying, used, like many of the other repetitive patterns of the texts, over and over over and it has launched itself from eras long gone and dead, into the lexicon of today.
How marvelous, the power of oral tradition on storytelling, and how you can still find the marks of its effect on story telling today, and in the way we regale ourselves with stories now...Simply, marvelous.
