En'Kara
The First Turning
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Passage Hand
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Year 10,176 Contasta Ar

Two Collars



Here is my narrative and relevant references from the Books to answer if a slave would have a collar of two Masters at the same time.
I make no pronouncements on these matters, but report them as I find them.
Arrive at your own conclusions.

I wish you well,
Fogaban


The original question was this:
Were there any cases where a slave was owned by 2 Masters or a company owning a slave in the books?

And I had originally answered this question with the narrative which I have kept intact and show below.

However, after building that answer, which requires 'reasoning on the books tell us', I found the definitive answer to the question when I located this quote.

The master may have many slaves, but the slave may, by law, have but one master, even if it be the state, or some corporate entity.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 278

Plainly stated, the books say NO. End of story.






Original Answer

There is no quote which plainly says something like "A girl would never belong to two masters at the same time and therefore would never wear two collars (of two masters) at the same time".

What this means is, we now need to reason on the overall theme of the books.
We need to reason on what the books tell us of the master / slave relationship, of ownership of slaves, across the entire series.

I assume this is not what is meant by wearing two collars.

My former master thrust his collar, the chain attached, higher on my neck, closer to the chin. He had its key in hand. My new master then, below the former collar, closed his own about my neck. I was now double collared. My former master then removed his collar, with the chain, from my neck. I had not been without a collar, even for an instant.
Dancer of Gor     Book 22     Page 289


The word co-owner does not exist anywhere in the series.
The words two and owners do not exist anywhere in the series.
The words partial and owner do not exist anywhere in the series.
The words two and masters do not exist anywhere in the series.
The words duel and masters do not exist anywhere in the series.
The words duel and owners do not exist anywhere in the series.

The words two and collars do appear together several times.
Let's see how these denote two owners of the girl.

I had two collars engraved one for Midice and one for Telima
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 113

Well, damn, the first example didn't prove the point.


Soon Narla and I, sharing a common neck leash, two collars, with a strap with center grip, stood outside the long, low room, in the corridor. The leash dangled between us, depending from our leather collars.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 327

Well, hell, the second example is describing a leash with a leather collar at each end used for transporting girls.


The two girls, on their hands and knees on the deck, linked together by a gleaming neck chain, some five feet in length, attached to two steel work collars, these fitted over their regular collars, looked up.
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 98

No, this is just a set of work collars, to be removed after the task is completed.


Grunt, from his saddlebags, removed two collars. He joined them, by means of snap locks, with a length of chain. He then put them on the necks of Max and Kyle Hobart.
Savages of Gor     Book 17     Page 164

Grunt had shortened the coffle by two collars and chain lengths.
Savages of Gor     Book 17     Page 240

I included these quotes to show every example.

"When their collars are off," said the leader, "put the other collars on them, those we prepared for them. "Tupita looked at the leader. Two collars had been prepared. They had planned, then, from the beginning, to take her along.
Dancer of Gor     Book 22     Page 278

While it does say two collars, this is describing two collars for two different women.

"There were two collars on my neck," she said, "a light, temporary slave collar, identifying me as a slave provisionally in the custody of magistrates, and, over it, a retaining collar, that by means of which I was fastened to the wall." "Go on," I said. "I felt the collars on my neck," she said. "The temporary collar was flat and close-fitting. It was the first collar I had ever worn. It was put on me after my branding. The retaining collar, too, was close fitting, scarcely less so, it seemed, than the collar it covered. It was heavy and thick. The chain to it was heavy, too, with thick links. It was about four feet long. It was fastened to a stout ring in the wall, about a foot above the floor."
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 309

This time the girl is wearing her owner's collar and a second one to keep her at the wall.

I then put out my hand and touched the collar on her neck. It was one of three collars I had for her. The other two, with their keys, were in the flat box. The collar on her neck bore the legend, "RETURN ME TO TARL AT THE INSULA OF TORBON." I then removed the first of the other two collars from the box and, reaching out, put it on her neck, next to the other collar, but ahead of it, closer to the chin. I snapped it shut. It fit well. It was now on her, locked. Its legend read, "RETURN ME TO THE WHIP MASTER OF THE CENTRAL CYLINDER." I then turned it and, inserting the key, opened it, and removed it from her neck. I then lifted the second collar from the box, putting the first, with the key, back in it. This second collar I then put on her neck, next to the original collar, and ahead of it, closer to the chin, as I had the one a moment before. Then I snapped it shut. It, too, fit well, and was now on her, locked. Its legend read, "RETURN ME TO APPANIUS OF AR." I then let her remain that way for a little while, on all fours, in the two collars.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 343

In no way did any of this denote that Tarl was sharing ownership of this girl.

"Then I was double leashed," she said. "A single metal collar," I said, "with chain leashes on each side?" "Yes," she said. There are several double leashing arrangements, sometimes with two collars, and sometimes with a single collar, with leash rings on opposite sides. The collars are usually of leather, metal or rope.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 360

The slave was now in two collars, the holding collar and, just above it, the identification collar, that by means of which she can be identified, as belonging to a particular individual. As soon as the identification collar was in place, the guard of the court removed the holding collar. There had been no moment, then, when the slave had not been in at least one collar.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 516

"There were two collars of gold," said the man behind me.
Witness of Gor     Book 26     Page 683

These last three should be self-explanatory.


How about in a large house where there are hundreds of slaves?
In Captive of Gor, Book 7, Elinor is owned by Bosk but she is under the control of Publius, the kitchen master. Publius did not also put his collar on Elinor just because he had claim and control over her day-to-day activity.


But what about an actual Company Collar? Certainly this would be the example we need.

He then showed me the collar, indicating the engraving on it. "This is a company collar," he said. "It says, 'I belong to Mintar of Ar. I work in Mill 7. My number is four-zero-seven-three.'"
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Page 268

So no, even though Mintar owns companies all over the place and owns thousands of slaves, the slave does not belong to a company, and the collar still reads 'I belong to Mintar'.


I cannot find a reference anywhere, looking from multiple directions, which would lend support that a girl would physically wear two collars at the same time belonging to two masters at the same time.

I don't care if there is a 'majority owner'. I don't care how the percentage is divided up.


Now, for some quotes emphasizing the idea of "one girl one master".

Slave girls, on Gor, address all free men as master, though, of course, only one such would be her true master.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 60

"Hassan!" screamed Alyena, from below.

I smiled to myself. She had dared to soil the name of her master by putting it on her lips which, though beautiful, were only those of a slave. Girls are not, commonly, permitted to speak the name of their master. He is addressed as, or responded to, as "Master" or "my Master." If Hassan survived, he would, I suspected, well beat her for this lapse. Some masters, it might be noted, however, permit the girl to speak their name, if it is accompanied by an acknowledgment of title, as in, say, "Hassan, Master," or "Hassan, my Master." Hassan, however, was not so lenient; he had, as yet, not permitted his pretty Alyena this liberty. I had little doubt, should he survive, the lovely, little wench would be well whipped for her oversight, her agonized outburst, bordering on insolence.
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 183

Any slave girl, incidentally, addresses any free man as Master, any free woman as Mistress, though only one, of course, at a given time, is likely to be her true Master or Mistress.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 77

"May I speak, Master?" asked the girl.

"Yes," I said, as Marcus would not respond to her. This permission may be given by any free person and is effective, unless it is overruled by the true master.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 486

The word of the master, of course, takes precedence over the word of a free person who is not the slave's master or mistress.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 178

When Alcinoë passed me, I whispered to her, "Heat your thighs, slut," and she jerked at the chain, frightened, but kept her head down, and whispered, "Yes, my Master." That had surely been a mistake. She had been terribly startled. She had not thought. For such a mistake, a girl might be switched. I was not her master. She was a ship slave. I watched her proceed toward the end of the wharf, the walled-in trail. Normally, of course, that expression, 'my Master', is used only to one's actual master, the one to whom one belongs.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 372


Next let's take another look at what the collar means in the first place.

the brand is impersonal; the collar is intensely personal; the brand marks her property; the collar proclaims whose property she is . . . the brand relationship to the free man is institutional; the collar relationship, on the other hand, is an intensely personal one.
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 42


This highlights what I mean by the overall theme of the books.
If the collar is intensely personal, it makes no sense that it would be shared.

After reading all of that, a person could still use the age old excuse of "The books DON'T say it CAN'T happen so that means it CAN happen."

And yes, I suppose that's true. Two negatives make a positive?

I cannot prove a negative.
Was there a girl, once upon a time, somewhere, across all of Gor, that was owned by two men at the same time and wore two collars at the same time?
I cannot PROVE that it didn't happen.

It just doesn't make any sense that it would happen.


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