While reading the Conan Story "Black Colossus" (incidentally available on the net here (html), here (pdf) and here (pdf)), I came across a line that resonated:

"The gods of yesterday become the devils of tomorrow."

This echoes a quote I'm sure I've read a number of times, possibly in a signature hereabouts or another RPG-related site, but I can't quite place it. I think it was from a learned or academic source, and basically said the same thing in slightly more elevated language--that once a culture has discarded or outgrown its old gods, they become demons (I'm fairly sure this is the term in the quote, not "devil") in that culture.

Does anyone else remember this? I'd like to know if it is possible that Robert E. Howard had read the same article from which the quote was drawn.

Didn't Joseph Campbell say something of the sort?  Which raises the question: Did Campbell crib Howard's notes?

!i!

[Edit: Wait.  I may have been thinking of the quote, "Yesterday's hero becomes tomorrow's tyrant."]

It's a good guess, but adding "joseph campbell" to my (admittedly vague) search terms doesn't turn up anything.

I may have read it as an introductory quote at the beginning of a book or short story...

EDIT: Freud's another possibility, come to think of it...

It sounds like a truism. It may be that it's been articulated in a lot of different ways.

Probably; I just remember the other quote was very well stated, and even though it was more elaborate than Howard's phrase, the form was similar.

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;261468Probably; I just remember the other quote was very well stated, and even though it was more elaborate than Howard's phrase, the form was similar.

Possibly Nietzsche.  I could easily see Howard reading Nietzsche. (And misunderstanding him badly.)

Not that I can specifically recall anything in Nietzsche that would fit - but then there tends to be a Nietzsche quote for every occasion anyway.

Is it from Bride of Frankenstein?

QuoteDo you like gin? It is my only weakness. Here's to a new world of gods and monsters! -- Dr. Pretorious

Nope, but thanks for trying.

You know, I'm sure that someone around here had the quote in his .sig file at some point in the last year.  Damns if I can remember who, though.

!i!

A god outgrown becomes immediately a life-destroying demon.

Joseph Campbell.

Note that it's not on Wikiquote, so I'm not sure how reliable it is.

I think that must be it. "Life-destroying" clicks very clearly with my memory, even though I feel the quote was longer. Thanks!

It seems he first wrote that in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, published in 1949--so no chance of Howard cribbing from Campbell, although I wouldn't rule out the other way 'round...or as seems most likely, that it was a meme that'd already developed in 19th-20th century study of comparative religion.

Quote from: Age of Fable;262058A god outgrown becomes immediately a life-destroying demon.

Bingo.  That's the quote I was thinking of earlier.

!i!

Incidentally, that story (and 'the Tower of the Elephant') shows that thieves are a sword and sorcery trope ('thieves' in the sense of people with a seperate set of skills to warriors), despite some people's skepticism.

Also maybe D&D thieves can read scrolls because of the Conanesque assumption that they often rob wizard's tombs and the like.

Incidentally, that story (and 'the Tower of the Elephant') shows that thieves are a sword and sorcery trope ('thieves' in the sense of people with a seperate set of skills to warriors), despite some people's skepticism.

Also maybe D&D thieves can read scrolls and languages because of the Conanesque assumption that they often rob wizard's tombs and the like.

Good point, although I personally thought the old-school argument against thieves was more nuanced than just lack of precedent in the literature.

I've assumed that thieves' limited spell casting ability in D&D is from The Eyes of the Overworld.