Sacred Hospitality: Difference between revisions

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* In ''[[PS238]]'', Hestia, a pre-teen avatar of the same-named Greek god of the home, has the ability to totally incapacitate or worse anyone who breaks the laws of hospitality.

* [[Satan|Lucifer]] in [[Lucifer (comics)|his own comic]] visits the pantheon of the Japanese Underworld, its gods plot extensively to make him break the code of Sacred Hospitality, giving them an excuse to kill him. He [[Politeness Judo|smoothly dodges every attempt]].

* Not even [[The Sandman|Morpheus]] can break this rule. He cannot harm any guest, unless they break it first. Or if they explicitly reject his offer of hospitality, at which point they become fair game. It does not end well for those who reject Dream's hospitality {{spoiler|because he ''is'' Dream - and within his domain, [[Reality Warper|the laws of reality only conform to Earth-standard as long as he says they do]]. He can change them at any time.}}

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* The Trojan war described in ''[[The Iliad]]'' of [[Homer]] actually resulted from a violation of xenia. Paris was a guest of Menelaus but seriously transgressed the bounds of xenia by abducting his host's wife, Helen. Therefore the Achaeans were required by duty to Zeus to avenge this transgression, which as a violation of xenia was an insult to Zeus's authority.

** Two heroes meet during the battle and realize that their grandfathers had once been host and guest. So they trade armor. That way they can ensure that they do not kill each other and so infringe on the obligations of ''xenia''.

* In one novel by [[Alan Furst]] an [[OSS]] agent in the Balkans is sheltered by a fishing village. Sometime later the villagers discover that left on the shore for them is a feast (smuggled in by the [[OSS]] of course) with a note left to them thanking them. The villagers thereupon wonder what [[Yanks With Tanks|Fabulously Rich]] [[Noble Fugitive|refugee]] they had obtained the gratitude of.

* In [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[Stardust (novel)|Stardust]]'', when one witch [[I Gave My Word|pledges]] to treat another as if she were her guest, the other takes it as a perfect promise.

* This is why Talon Karrde wouldn't turn in Han Solo and Lando Calrissian when the Empire came by in ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy|Heir to the Empire]]''.

* In [[Jim Butcher]]'s ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', even vampires can be taken seriously with hospitality. Of course, they tend to aim for [[Plausible Deniability]] instead of just not harming their guests. It's all down to the most powerful members of the supernatural community being a few hundred years behind the times and having an Old World mentality. The various supernatural groups also have a treaty detailing diplomacy and hospitality and various other aspects of supernaturals dealing with each other. Also, hospitality ''means'' something. Any being's home has a magical barrier at the door referred to as the threshold. Crossing the threshold without being invited in means leaving a chunk of your power at the door, if they can enter at all. How much power they lose is determined by how much the dwelling is a home. Dresden's basement bachelor apartment, inhabited for not much more than ten years, doesn't have much stopping power, but a friend's home, inhabited by the same family for about a hundred years, has a hell of a kick.

** In a much later strip, Charlie Brown invites him again, and Snoopy decides to bring a bottle of root beer. Seeing as most adult guests bring wine.

 

* [[Classical Mythology|Greek mythology]] is full of examples. Zeus himself was patron of hospitality (as well as most other social laws), so breaking Sacred Hospitality, either by host or guest, would incur his fury.

** The poor, elderly couple Baucis and Philemon received with glad hospitality two weary travelers whom their wealthier neighbors had driven off. Since these travelers were [[Angel Unaware|Zeus and Hermes]], their neighbors' village got transformed into a lake, and them into fish, while Baucis and Philemon received their wish: that they should die at the same moment so neither of them had to live widowed. When they did die, [[Heartwarming Moments|they turned into trees, their branches forever intertwined in love]].