Hermitess of Narnia wrote:I think the basic route whereby the Calormene gods came from is that the Calormenes got away from following Aslan, but still wanted deities to worship. That left them vulnerable to any of the evil creatures that could travel to Calormen, like hags and werewolfs. If the some of the evil creatures did originate in Narnia, that would explain the stories some of the Calormenes had heard about demons in the form of animals.
I think you are onto something. The WW came into Narnia because of Digory and Polly, and other humans followed. But whilst the WW had evil intent, she was still mortal, at least until she took a bite of the apple. Aslan destroyed her, but that story didn't have anything to do with Tash, and it isn't until HHB that we learn that Calormen had been little affected by the WW's reign, and they attributed this happenstance to the intervention of Tash and other gods and goddesses.
I get the impression that the Calormenes are like people everywhere who need deities to worship to explain their world. As in most pantheons of gods there has to be at least one Goddess (Zardeenah, Lady of the Night) for marriage and childbearing, and usually a chief god, like Tash, which would be worshipped, especially by the military, hoping for victory in battle. Their king, the Tisroc, was alleged to be a descendant of Tash, though I wouldn't like to think of any of my ancestors looked like Tash.
There is another thing that intrigues me. Both Zardeena and Tash, unlike Aslan, had an established religion. There were statues of Tash, such as in the Great Temple, where Rabadash left off his ass persona at their autumn feast. There were certain rites maidens were to perform for Zardeenah before marrying. There were certain forms of address and behaviour that were necessary to placate that God, and Emeth, probably along with others, was quite sincere in his following what he believed were the correct behaviour and precepts of that faith.
Again that was completely different from Aslan. Yes, everyone had a different idea of him. But Bree didn't really think that Aslan could be a real lion, others, even in Narnia, don't seem to think about it much, or to have a clear idea of him, and the Calormenes seem to have thought of Aslan as some sort of demon, not as a real lion. There were no statues of Aslan, no temples, and no monuments, apart from Aslan's How. Yet Tirian said there was a jewelled statue of Tash in the temple at Tashbaan. How did the Calormenes come to imagine and depict Tash's form so exactly, if none of them had seen him?
Hermitess of Narnia wrote:However, I get the impression that Tash really is a demon in the Narnian world and not based off the the White Witch's rabble because he can appear both in Narnia and in the world on the other side of the stable door.
Is it possible that Tash became a nightmare personified? At one point Tash tells Rishda Tarkaan, "Thou hast called me into Narnia, Rishda Tarkaan! Here I am! What has thou to say?" What I am trying to say, did Rishda's calling on Tash, and playing around with the Tashlan concept, actually summon Tash to come into Narnia? What do you think?