Khutulun, The Wrestler

One of the most enjoyable things about creating our game ULUS is discovering Mongol history and mythology.

One of our main characters is actually an athlete in one of the three major traditional Mongol sports, wrestling–and she is a woman: Khutulun, the Wrestler.

The great great granddaughter of Genghis Khan, and daughter of Kaidu, lord of the of Odegai and de facto Khan of the Chagatai, princess Khutulun is remembered for martial prowess that was striking even in the context of a martial society. In battle she fought beside her father, her deft equestrian skill making her a deadly combatant. Marco Polo met with her and relates a description of her novel tactics: she would “make a dash at the host of the enemy, and seize some man thereout, as deftly as a hawk pounces on a bird, and carry him to her father, and this she did one man a time.”

But it was in the wrestling ring that she covered herself in eternal glory. The Secret History of the Mongols, the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language, records how beginning in 1206, the annual Naadam games–which form the setting for the climax of our game ULUS–enshrined traditional Mongolian feats of skill and brawn as the nation’s spiritual touchstone. Marksmen vie with their bows, and jockeys strive with their ponies to win fame. However, the true heart of the games is Bökh, single combat wrestling.

Stripped bare to the waist, combatants engage in rounds of elimination-style grappling. Undivided by age or weight, and unhampered by a time limit, the Bökh is a visceral gauntlet of thew and guile that continues until only a single undefeated champion emerges.

Blessed (or cursed) by fourteen brothers, Khutlun emerged as a precocious wrestler in her youth. To her, the Bökh was the truest test of human worth, and as she grew into a desirable noblewoman, she demanded her suitors prove themselves to her on the grappling grounds. As her fame as a skillful wrestler and eligible heiress waxed, she attracted many suitors who presented herds of horses as either dowries should they best her, or forfeit should they lose. Despite a procession of suitors, no prince was able to throw the agile Khutlun, and she amassed a sizeable herd of horses with her victories.

Ultimately, she chose her own spouse, a noble warrior from her father’s horde. She thus retired from the Bökh on her own terms, undefeated. Her abilities were not unnoticed by her father Kaidu, who lobbied to have her named as his successor. However ambitious brothers and conservative advisors prevented her succession. She remained an influential figure in the Ogedai into her middle age, when political opposition forces initiated defamatory rumors about a supposed incestuous relationship with her father. Her sudden and mysterious death at the age of forty-five was whispered to be result of poison administered by those who feared she might one day rise to power.

She rides eternal however, immortalized anew with each generation in scores of oral legends, novelizations, and even an unfinished Puccini opera. Her name and fame continue to be, as was Khutlun herself, indomitable. Here’s an article about women in Mongol society.

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