critical archetypal character , the Chief or Warrior . Many myths have the Blacksmith fashioning the weapon that the leader of the gods needs to destroy the Enemy threatening the new order of the universe . Hence , in Canaan , the divine smith Kôshar-wa- Hasis forges the cudgels that Baal uses to defeat Yam , the lord of the underground waters ( Eliade 97-98 ); in Egypt , Ptah makes the weapons that Horus uses to defeat Set ( 97-98 ); in Greece , Hephaestos creates the thunderbolt that Zeus uses to destroy Typhon ( 97-98 ); in India , Tvaṣṭṛ makes the thunderbolt that Indra uses to slay the water serpent Vṛtra ( West 155 , 256 ); in Ireland , Goibniu fashions the spear with which Lug kills Balor , the Fomorian king ( 155 ).
Yet again , showing the ambiguity inherent in the character , the same Blacksmith may also display his skill as craftsman , healer , and feast-giver of the gods . Kôshar-wa-Hasis , for example , builds Baal ’ s palace and furnishes the abodes of the other gods ( Eliade 98 ). Similarly , Hephaestos fashions Zeus ’ s golden throne , the golden houses of the gods , and the robots that serve within them ( West 154-55 ). He is also the cupbearer of the gods , plying them with the nectar that keeps them immortal ( 156 ). Likewise , Tvaṣṭṛ makes the drinking vessel of the gods ( 155 ), and Goibniu is a healer who invites the Dé Danaan to a feast at which he supplies an ale that makes them ageless ( 156 ). Several stories show the Blacksmith providing aid to mortals as well . The Ossetic smith Kurdalagon creates a cradle for the young hero Soslan , as well as armor , weapons , a plough , and a flute that plays by itself ( 155 ). The Old English hero Beowulf wears a mail shirt given to him by his grandfather Hrethel but originally created by the smith Weyland ( ll . 450-55 ). In the Iliad , when Achilles loses his armor , his mother , the goddess Thetis , asks Hephaestos to supply him with even better equipment , including a marvelously wrought shield ( book 18 ). In the Russian fairy tale “ Iván Popyalof ,” the hero Iván asks his father three times to make him a cudgel so that he can defeat the Snake that has made it always night and never day ; at the end of the same tale , a group of smiths led by Kuzma and Demian defeat the Snake ’ s Wife . In modern times , we see the ingenious Lucius Fox in Batman Begins create the Tumbler , the Bat suit , and an antidote to the Scarecrow ’ s hallucinogen for Bruce Wayne , and the similarly clever Q furnish James Bond with any number of tools and weapons to help him face his assorted villains .
Final Observations
One final note about the Blacksmith centers on a peculiar physical detail : The smith is often depicted as crippled or blinded . Hephaestos and Vulcan , for example , were lame from birth . Weyland , as noted above , was hamstrung by his captor Nidhad .
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