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This article is about the goddess/demon. For the similarly named succubus in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, see Salma. |
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The Black Sun was to announce the imminent return of Lilit, still honoured in the East under the name of Niya, and the extermination of the human race. Lilit's path was to be prepared by "sixty women bearing gold crowns, who would fill the river valleys with blood. |  | |
| - pg. 83, The Last Wish (U.K. edition) | |||
Lilit, or Lilith, is a goddess or demon still worshiped in the East under the name Niya. While revered by Easterners, Nordlings believe that she will return someday and bring ruin to the world.[1]
The sorcerer Eltibald, believed by some to be a prophet and by others to be a madman, claimed to have deciphered the ancient Dauk, Wozgor, and werebbubb legends, which connected the return of Lilit with the eclipse known as the Black Sun. Her path was to be prepared by "sixty women wearing gold crowns, who would fill the river valleys with blood", which he interpreted as girls of royal families born during or after the eclipse.[1]
History[]
While it is theorised that the cult of Lilit was started by nonhumans, its beginnings are lost to the history.[2] The eldest people known to worship her were the Wozgor, primitive tribes inhabiting regions of modern-day Mag Turga, Geso,[3] Kovir and Poviss, and Hengfors League.[4] According to the tales, they used to offer their goddess blood sacrifices. When Nordling kings started establishing their realms, most of the Wozgor were either killed or forced to escape East, to which they brought the cult.
The remaining Wozgor mixed with eastern populations and the cult of Lilit transformed into a syncretic religion of Lilit-Niya.[3] It gained popularity in certain regions of Hakland but the true centre was established in Zerrikania where its matriarchal character swayed many women across the country and the elites, endangering the state religion of divine dragons.[2] In the west it became known mostly from old legends and relations of merchants from the east. Often exaggerated, those tales portrayed Niya as a demonic entity posing a threat to the world so the Eltibald's prophecy fell on a fertile ground to provoke anti-Lilit sentiments.[1]
After the Northern Wars, Lilit-Niya started to gain some followers in the Northern Kingdoms and Nilfgaardian Empire. Partially comprised of men who believed that bowing before the cruel goddess would ensure their safety during the prophesied apocalypse,[3] partially of women and children who were hurt by the horrors of war, the cult was growing quickly, eventually becoming a local opposition to the Church of the Great Sun in certain regions of the Empire.[2]
Beliefs[]
The cult of Lilit took different forms depending on the culture of the people who worshiped her. For the Wozgor, she was the goddess of war who rewarded spilling blood in her name. This eventually led to her introduction as a satanic figure in werebbubb mythology, in which she is interpreted as a bloodthirsty dragon, hungry for sheep and whose arrival is heralded by solar eclipses. One of the legendary werebbubb heroes, Dezeh, reportedly drove her off by shouting war cries very loudly and swinging his weapon at the dragon.[3]
In the East, the cult has become more civilized. Niya, while still hungry for blood, provides a shelter for women and their children from the abuses of adult men. They believe she has avatars in lamias and succubi who seduce lustful men and lead to their oblivion. Easterner men in turn perceive her as a patron of erotic dreams and passions, but also a bringer of their impotence and fears.[2]
Symbols[]
The primary and most popular symbol of the religion is the Black Sun, though using it in Nilfgaard is considered as a blasphemy towards the Great Sun. Another emblem, used in Hakland, is a crossed circle. Animals attributed to Lilit by her followers are the owl, jackal, snake and ostrich. The jackal is also considered as a bad omen.[2]
Cult[]
The cult is most popular in Zerrikania and has significant groups of followers in Hakland. Her temples are located underground to avoid the sunlight. In the cellars, priestesses keep lamias whom they give offerings, sometimes of human males. Men are dissallowed to enter the sacred parts of the temples in any other character than an offering – each other case is considered profane. Apart from the temples, the followers esteem various ruins as places of the goddess' rest and tend to leave there minor gifts for her.
Lilit's holidays are the new moon (Black Moon's Nights) and solar and lunar eclipses. The solar eclipses are considered special and it is reported that some temples organize orgies connected with human (male) sacrifices.[2]
Trivia[]
- Lilith (Hebrew: לילית) is a mythological female Mesopotamian storm demon associated with wind and was thought to be a bearer of disease, illness, and death. In the bible, she is also apocryphally the first wife of Adam in the Jewish tradition.
- Niya (Nija, Nyja, from Proto-Slavic navь - "dead" or nyti - "to rot", "to moulder", "to putrefy") was a Slavic deity of uncertain gender mentioned in Jan Długosz' chronicles. She or he was a deity of underwold, depths, wealth and sorcery.
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