For the same reason William Shakespeare wrote his name with a few dozen different spellings - the love of puns and language, and the fact that spelling isn't standardized at that point in history.
That's it, is it? Cool, thanks.
Not to mention that by the time he ascended to godhood, Zagyg was quite insane. No doubt, he spelled it whatever way he felt like at the moment.
But I guess what I was wondering is whether the change in spelling was done deliberately, with the explanation being given that it's because Zagyg was insane, or whether, as ripvanwormer suggests, the spelling wasn't decided upon, and that's why we see multiple spellings. The first is an in-game explanation, the other is an out-of-game explanation.
Kinda like how in some places you see the name of the Demon Queen of Spiders as Lolth, while in a few other places it's written as Lloth. The latter spelling, as I understand it, was a mistake. But since you had books with that spelling in it, people got confused. Two explanations were offerred. First, that Lolth (or Lloth) is chaotic, and so sometimes spells her name differently. The second (somewhat more plausible) is that the drow call her Lloth, while everyone else call her Lolth (I think this is the Realms explanation). But those are just after the fact rationalizations; the real reason for the different spelling is that someone made a mistake.
It's the same sort of thing I was wondering with Zagyg. Not a big deal, just a matter of idle curiosity.
...
It's the same sort of thing I was wondering with Zagyg. Not a big deal, just a matter of idle curiosity.
IIRC, he was Zagig as a mortal ruler of the City of Greyhawk, but after that he disappeared and then came the mad god Zagyg. Don't recall the Xagyg spelling, however.
--Ghul
IIRC, he was Zagig as a mortal ruler of the City of Greyhawk, but after that he disappeared and then came the mad god Zagyg. Don't recall the Xagyg spelling, however.
--Ghul
Yes, as a mortal he was Zagig Yragerne, which is almost Ernie Gary Gygax spelled backwards ;)
As far as Gary's obsession with using backward versions of his own name for his PCs, my favorite is Yrag (who most recently appeared in the Greyhawk Gazetteer as 'Eraj') the fighter. Sheesh, if I came to the table these days with a character named Nlocnil, they'd run me out of town.
FWIW, Gygax replied somewhere in his Q&A thread in the not-too-distant past that Zagy was Zagig's evil uncle, apparently.
Eh? But how does that fit with Zagy being allegedly involved in the creation of Ehlissa's Fabulous Nightingale (along with Joramy)?
Unless you have a bit of time travelling/chronomancy?
Or that he was in fact ancient, but spent a heck of a time on the planes...with his brother/sister. Hmmm...
Or perhaps there's more than one Zagy (I know - two NPCs with the same name in a fantasy setting - it sounds crazy, but it might just be possible :D )?
Eh? But how does that fit with Zagy being allegedly involved in the creation of Ehlissa's Fabulous Nightingale (along with Joramy)?
Well, I dug the post back up (I asked, so it was relatively easy to find). It's at http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2303327&postcount=506
So, Xagy (not Zagy) is in fact Zagig's great uncle; that suggests to me that his family (which includes the Gynarchs of Hardby) is in general magically-inclined.
Unless you have a bit of time travelling/chronomancy?
Or that he was in fact ancient, but spent a heck of a time on the planes...with his brother/sister. Hmmm...
I'm not sure that I follow your time travel logic there, woesinger. Please elaborate?
Or perhaps there's more than one Zagy (I know - two NPCs with the same name in a fantasy setting - it sounds crazy, but it might just be possible :D )?
Well, there is Xagy from the Nightengale, and the Talisman of Zagy; I wonder now if in fact they are one and the same person??
Also, a word of warning: EGG initially ignored my question, and then followed up with this post: http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2304243&postcount=508 It may not be too much to read fiction/lies into his reply ;)
In this case, "a great uncle" could easily be read as "a great, great, great, great, great, great... uncle." He could have been an elf in ancient Flan times whose bloodline later on became part of the House of Cranden, and that would satisfy the criteria.
Though I think I'm going to add "Zagy Trieste" as the brother of the Gynarch of Hardby to my ongoing fanfic. Zagyg could have been named after him.
Well, I dug the post back up (I asked, so it was relatively easy to find). It's at http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2303327&postcount=506
So, Xagy (not Zagy) is in fact Zagig's great uncle; that suggests to me that his family (which includes the Gynarchs of Hardby) is in general magically-inclined.
OK - got my X and Z mixed up.
I'm not sure that I follow your time travel logic there, woesinger. Please elaborate?
Well, wasn't there a story knokcing about GreyTalk of how Xagy was in fact Zagyg, who was thrown into the past, helped Ehlissa out with making the Fabulous Nightingale and then got in his chronomantic DeLorian and went back to the future? (OK that summary doesn't do it justice, though in truth I never put much store in the tale).
So to have Xagy make the Nightingale and be Zagyg's great uncle, you'd have to either have something similar (Xagy goes back in time) or you go for Rip's take where the great in great uncle is short for a lot of greats (I favour this take).
Rip - where does it say Xagy was an elf?
BTW - a bit of complete GH fan trivia - in that Hardby - City of Scorned piece in Dungeon, Zagig's mother's name (Eileme) is the name of EGG's mom (Emelie, or so I was told) backwards.
P.
Rip - where does it say Xagy was an elf?
Nowhere. I was just trying to illustrate exactly how far apart Xagy and Zagig might be - he could have even been an elf, for all we know.
Let us not forget Drawmij (Jim Ward spelled backwards). I believe there are some others that escape me at the moment.
In Iuz the Evil (p. 5), someone named Neb Retnar is said to have accompanied Tenser and Bigby into Castle Greyhawk's dungeons when Robilar set Iuz free in 570 CY (along with Quij and Riggby). Once I realized EGG had a habit of using backwards names and sometimes anagramming them (such as Ernest becoming Tenser), I realized Neb Retnar was Ranter Ben spelled backwards...
see also: http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_anagrams.html
I'm just a posting fiend today....
My current Dwur Wizard is Aksis Azin (Issak/ Azin is rockdwur in dragon)
My last PC, a very dark skinned guy from Hepmonaland (what's that really dark skinned race?), named Aksis of House Dowyaho (Issak of house Haywood)
Previous PC's are: Sisak Yrag (a fighter from Tehn searching for his kidnapped wife), and Pholtan Priest of the Church of the One True Path (redundent, I know) Kisas Ryga.
When I was a kid, I always tried to make cool names J'halrengen K'ahan (another cleric of Pholtus [yes, even as a kid I was facinated by Pholtus]), but have since realized that if it's good enough for the deified father of gaming to anagram his characters, then it's good enough for me.