Tiger Lung Chapter Summary

Almodovar, Christopher

Tiger Lung by Simon Roy and Jason Wordie follows the adventures of an Upper Paleolithic, nomadic shaman named Tiger lung. Taking place 30,000 years BC in Europe between the Eastern Carpathians and the Northern shores of the Black Sea. A shaman is seen as a sort of religious specialist who by falling into a transcendent state, can consult with spirits, determine illness and possibly influence a cure, as well as manipulate curses. Shamans gain this role through various methods based on their culture. Either through drug use, surviving traumatic injury, lucid dreaming, mental disorder, ritual practice, or inheritance. Tiger Lung has inherited his position from his father and his father before him. In the book, we follow Tiger Lung through three separate narratives where he faces great challenges befallen a shaman of his universe.

The first narrative Beneath the Ice sees Tiger Lung, accompanied by his uncle and two other clan members, at the entrance of a great cave in the Flint Mountains. He’s traveled there to reclaim his father’s head which houses the spirit, even after death. His father, Running Lynx, had taken the journey himself to recover his wife’s (Tiger Lung’s mother) spirit from the White Chief “lord of the

Depicting them as band-level groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers with symbolic figurines, musical instruments, and elaborate burial customs. Shamanism is also portrayed genuinely as Tiger Lung, through his inherited role as a shaman, lifts the curse from his father, communes with the spirits of the deceased Tarpan people, and cures a woman of her sickness by entering the spirit realm. The universe of Tiger Lung is cognizant of our gathered knowledge of Upper Paleolithic Europe and its people. It pays homage to that knowledge with its tastefully stylized depictions of Tiger Lung’s experiences and the world he lives