4 ms·

Reading this I had a silly thought: "What if we are the 'giants' of old ?"

by donatj 10y ago

Razengan 10y ago
Well height variation still occasionally occurs within all populaces everywhere. "Giants" and "dwarves" as a distinct race was probably a drunken glimpse of different looking people from other villages, in a dark wood or the like. A related thought is that if there ever was any other intelligent species on Earth, noticeably different than humans, we wiped them out long ago.
- chillacy 10y ago
  But given that in fantasy, all the populations seem to be technically the same species (hence able to breed half-elves, half-dwarves, quarter-veelas, etc), the another likely outcome is that the variation would go away over time
  - Aelinsaar 10y ago
    For a second I read that as, "Quarter-Veals" and my confusion was total.
  - bduerst 10y ago
    Following this thought experiment, it could be that half-breeds are sterile hybrids and can't reproduce, kind of like mules (horse + donkey). Then you wouldn't get genetic normalization. If they have a different number of chromosomes it's likely.
    - roywiggins 10y ago
      Hybrid speciation can happen, where the hybrids don't breed with the parent species but do with each other.
      - bbcbasic 10y ago
        With mules?
        maxerickson 10y ago
        I guess not really, but a search for "fertile mule" shows lots of resources discussing female mules giving birth. (which I think illustrates the complexity more than it does anything else)
        roywiggins 10y ago
        No. Mostly plants. But, there are some interesting animal examples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_speciation#Known_cases_of_hybrid_speciation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_speciation#Known_cases_...
    - chillacy 10y ago
      I thought that as well, but for instance in harry potter one of the characters is quarter-veela, implying that one of the character's parents is a half-breed, and was able to reproduce. I'm unsure if there are other quarter-breeds in other fantasy universes.
giancarlostoro 10y ago
Biblical giants? They were half fallen angel, half human. Not many Christians (and maybe even Jews) believe this, but if you study the context of Genesis 6 and the rest of the Bible anytime it speaks of Noah's flood and judging of angels, they coincide (especially in the New Testament in the book of Jude) then there's the Book of Enoch, which isn't in protestant or Catholic Bibles, but the Ethiopians have it in theirs, and it speaks about how the angels took human wives to themselves. The Liger hybrid species explains scientifically the nephelim (or Giants) hybrid species to some degree, how it can be so massive is explained by the DNA. These are the views of some Christians, but again, assuming Biblical giants, there's a lot of different factors into play.
- moultano 10y ago
  Man, it would be so amazing if we could somehow attribute ancient stories of dwarfs, trolls, giants, to humans meeting other hominid species that we coexisted with.
  - digi_owl 10y ago
    Or encountered the remains of, as seems to have been the case of dinosaurs becoming dragons.
    - jbattle 10y ago
      Along those lines ... http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/land-creatures-of-the-earth/griffin-bones/ http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/land-creatu...
    - clock_tower 10y ago
      From what I've heard, dinosaur bones tended to be taken for the bones of giants, at least in the Middle Ages. Dragons were much older than any awareness of dinosaurs; most medieval myths about dragons trace back to the draco standard carried by late-Roman cavalry. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_%28military_standard%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_%28military_standard%29 .) This, by the way, means that there really were dragons in sub-Roman parts of the Dark Ages world: Wales and Cornwall, for example, where draco-bearing cavalry (including King Arthur's, if there was a King Arthur) were fielded probably until the 600s or 700s.

Reading this I had a silly thought: "What if we are the 'giants' of old ?"

by donatj 10y ago

Reading this I had a silly thought: "What if we are the 'giants' of old ?"

Well height variation still occasionally occurs within all populaces everywhere. "Giants" and "dwarves" as a distinct race was probably a drunken glimpse of different looking people from other villages, in a dark wood or the like. A related thought is that if there ever was any other intelligent species on Earth, noticeably different than humans, we wiped them out long ago.

chillacy 10y ago
But given that in fantasy, all the populations seem to be technically the same species (hence able to breed half-elves, half-dwarves, quarter-veelas, etc), the another likely outcome is that the variation would go away over time
- Aelinsaar 10y ago
  For a second I read that as, "Quarter-Veals" and my confusion was total.
- bduerst 10y ago
  Following this thought experiment, it could be that half-breeds are sterile hybrids and can't reproduce, kind of like mules (horse + donkey). Then you wouldn't get genetic normalization. If they have a different number of chromosomes it's likely.
  - roywiggins 10y ago
    Hybrid speciation can happen, where the hybrids don't breed with the parent species but do with each other.
    - bbcbasic 10y ago
      With mules?
      - maxerickson 10y ago
        I guess not really, but a search for "fertile mule" shows lots of resources discussing female mules giving birth. (which I think illustrates the complexity more than it does anything else)
      - roywiggins 10y ago
        No. Mostly plants. But, there are some interesting animal examples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_speciation#Known_cases_of_hybrid_speciation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_speciation#Known_cases_...
  - chillacy 10y ago
    I thought that as well, but for instance in harry potter one of the characters is quarter-veela, implying that one of the character's parents is a half-breed, and was able to reproduce. I'm unsure if there are other quarter-breeds in other fantasy universes.

giancarlostoro 10y ago

Biblical giants? They were half fallen angel, half human. Not many Christians (and maybe even Jews) believe this, but if you study the context of Genesis 6 and the rest of the Bible anytime it speaks of Noah's flood and judging of angels, they coincide (especially in the New Testament in the book of Jude) then there's the Book of Enoch, which isn't in protestant or Catholic Bibles, but the Ethiopians have it in theirs, and it speaks about how the angels took human wives to themselves. The Liger hybrid species explains scientifically the nephelim (or Giants) hybrid species to some degree, how it can be so massive is explained by the DNA. These are the views of some Christians, but again, assuming Biblical giants, there's a lot of different factors into play.

moultano 10y ago
Man, it would be so amazing if we could somehow attribute ancient stories of dwarfs, trolls, giants, to humans meeting other hominid species that we coexisted with.
- digi_owl 10y ago
  Or encountered the remains of, as seems to have been the case of dinosaurs becoming dragons.
  - jbattle 10y ago
    Along those lines ... http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/land-creatures-of-the-earth/griffin-bones/ http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/land-creatu...
  - clock_tower 10y ago
    From what I've heard, dinosaur bones tended to be taken for the bones of giants, at least in the Middle Ages. Dragons were much older than any awareness of dinosaurs; most medieval myths about dragons trace back to the draco standard carried by late-Roman cavalry. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_%28military_standard%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_%28military_standard%29 .) This, by the way, means that there really were dragons in sub-Roman parts of the Dark Ages world: Wales and Cornwall, for example, where draco-bearing cavalry (including King Arthur's, if there was a King Arthur) were fielded probably until the 600s or 700s.