Character Names: L

By Linda

Lady Torkumen: Saldaean Darkfriend see Names of the Shadow article.

Laman Damodred: Cairhienin. Laman is a surname and a place in the US, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Iran and Azerbaijan. Laman also is important in the Mormon religion, being the rebellious and impious son of the prophet Lehi. In the Book of Mormon, Lehi’s older sons, Laman and Lemuel rebelled against his teachings and rejected his prophecy of the forthcoming destruction of Jerusalem in 600 BC, while his younger sons Nephi and Sam faithfully followed his teachings. Laman, Lemuel and their descendants became known as the Lamanites and battled and eventually exterminated the Nephites, the descendants of Nephi.

Laman Damodred’s proud and arrogant actions on cutting down Avendoraldera to make a unique throne for himself caused the Aiel War.

Damodred is probably a combination of Damocles and dread. Damocles was:

a courtier of Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse, in Sicily, tyrant from 405 to 367 BC. The courtier is known to history through the legend of the “Sword of Damocles.”

According to the legend, when Damocles spoke in extravagant terms of his sovereign's happiness, Dionysius invited him to a sumptuous banquet and seated him beneath a naked sword that was suspended from the ceiling by a single thread. Thus did the tyrant demonstrate that the fortunes of men who hold power are as precarious as the predicament in which he had placed his guest. The story is related in Cicero's Tusculanae disputationes, 5.61.

- Encyclopaedia Britannica

This is basically the history of House Damodred in a nutshell—great power wielded with little appreciation of the consequences of arrogant actions. The dread in the name merely emphasises the deservedly bad reputation of most of the members of this House.

Laman Damodred’s overly ornate sword became an important symbol of his arrogance, crime and execution among the Aiel and is now in Rand’s possession thanks to Aviendha.

Lan Mandragoran: Moiraine’s, then Myrelle’s, then Nynaeve’s Warder. Lan, Lord of the Thousand Lakes is a parallel of Sir Lancelot du Lac of Arthurian myth. Lancelot was the son of King Ban of Benwick and Queen Elaine and was raised by the Lady of the Lake from whom he obtained his epithet of du Lac (of the lake). He was the First Knight of the Round Table, the best fighter and swordsman there, and he never failed in chivalry or courage. Lancelot was also a knight who was very willing to serve others.

Lan is the best of the Warders and a Blademaster:

If you must enter the Blight, and with only a few, there is no man better to take you there, nor to bring you safely out again. He is the best of the Warders, and that means the best of the best.

- The Eye of the World, More Tales of the Wheel

Like Lancelot, Lan was fostered after his parents’ death, but to Shienarans and not to the equivalent of the Lady of the Lake, Nynaeve (see Character Names N article). Rather than his foster-mother, Nynaeve, Lady of the thousand Lakes, is his Aes Sedai, wife and queen. Lancelot gained his epithet from his foster-mother, whereas Nynaeve gained her title from marrying Lan.

Both Lan and Lancelot are associated with unrequited or doomed love: Lancelot had a long-term adulterous affair with Queen Guinevere and was in turn loved hopelessly by Elaine; Lan was loved by many women when younger, and considered himself unworthy to marry Nynaeve because he served Moiraine and his fight against the Blight and had nothing to offer Nynaeve except pain and grief.

Lancelot went mad when sent away by Guinevere and Lan suffered deep depression when his bond to Moiraine was snapped. Lancelot was captured by the witch Morgan le Fay and Lan was Bonded by the Aes Sedai Moiraine (a parallel of Morgan, see Character Names M) to be her Warder and then forcibly passed to Myrelle.

In order to show how myth and legend change over time, Jordan has altered the Arthurian myth: Lan is ugly whereas Lancelot was very handsome; Elaine loves Rand and not Lan; Lan loves Nynaeve, and not Egwene al’Vere, the parallel of Guinevere (see Arthurian Who's Who and Character Names E article). Lancelot was found unworthy to achieve the quest of the San Greal, the Holy Grail, but Lan achieved the quest to kill the sa’angreal-wielding Demandred in a duel. For more information on Lan’s Arthurian parallels see Arthurian Who's Who essay).

Mandragoran refers to Mandragora officinarum (mandrake), a very poisonous plant:

The mandrake has long been known for its poisonous properties. In ancient times it was used as a narcotic and an aphrodisiac, and it was also believed to have magical powers. Its forked root, seemingly resembling the human form, was thought to be in the power of dark earth spirits.

- Encyclopaedia Britannica

This plant is also likely to be the real-world plant on which forkroot was based and is one to be treated with respect. Lan is one of the most deadly fighters in the Wheel of Time world. Note that drake is another name for dragon and Lan has been intimately connected with finding and establishing the Dragon for twenty years.

The dried roots were also believed to be able to harbour a demonic spirit—the pre-scientific explanation for its powerful toxic effect. Dried mandragora roots were thought to be given to sorcerers by the Devil so that they could summon and consult the spirit in a time of need. Over time, a mandragora became the name for a familiar in the form of a little beardless man. Lan was linked to Moiraine, then Myrelle and now Nynaeve (as Aes Sedai, they are witches/sorceresses) by the Warder bond, and his Aes Sedai can locate him as she wishes and also Compel him to do her bidding. In that sense, he could be described as her familiar. As far as Myrelle is concerned, very familiar.

Aan'allein means one alone in the Old Tongue and is similar to those words.

Lanfear: Forsaken see Names of the Shadow article.

Latra Posae Decume: Age of Legends historical figure. Latra and Posae are similar to real-world place names. Decuma was one of the Roman goddesses of Fate, determining the length of people’s life threads. Latra Posae organised the "Fateful Concord" of women channellers who wanted nothing to do with Lews Therin's plans to attack Shayol Ghul, and thus greatly influenced the fate of the Age of Legends.

Leane Sharif: Aes Sedai of the Blue, and then Green, Ajah and former Keeper. Leane is a personal name and a surname. Sharif is the name of towns in Sudan, Azerbaijan, Somali and Iran, and is an Arabic title of respect restricted, after the advent of Islam, to members of Mohammed's clan of Hashim (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Sharif may refer to the actor Omar Sharif because Leane said that she felt she was playing a part as a Blue (The Fires of Heaven, Fanning the Sparks). Moreover, the names Leane and Sharif combine in the movie Lawrence of Arabia:

The story of T.E. Lawrence, a controversial British officer who led an Arab revolt against the German invasion during World War I, became the basis for Lawrence of Arabia (1962), often considered Sir David Lean's (1908‒1991) finest film. The film won seven Academy Awards, including best picture and director, and made international stars of actors Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif.

- Encyclopaedia Britannica

This emphasises Leane’s ‘Arabian’ Domani heritage and her likely participation in battling the Shadow.

Leanan sidhe (Leane Sedai) means ‘fairy lover’.

Lelaine Akashi: Sitter and Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah. Lelaine is a personal name similar to Elaine. Akashi is a place in Japan.

Lenn: a hero of myth who flew to the moon in the belly of an eagle (The Eye of the World, The Gleeman). While Lenn is a personal name and a surname, the story probably refers to John Glenn (1921‒2016), the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth (1962) (see photo right from Wikimedia Commons). After a long period in private business and politics, he returned to space at age 77 as a specialist on a nine-day mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery and participated in experiments that studied similarities between aging and the body's response to weightlessness (Encyclopaedia Britannica). The Wheel of Time folktale is an alteration of real-world history that illustrates Jordan’s theme of time’s effect on history: while the U.S. lunar landing craft was named the Eagle, Glenn didn’t fly to the moon, he orbited earth.

Lews Therin Telamon: Second Age leader. Lews Therin has one of the most complex names in the series. Lews is similar to Lew, a personal name meaning famous warrior (appropriate for Lews Therin) and Lewis, a personal name and also an island in Scotland where Lews castle is sited. Lews may also refer to Llew Llaw Gyffes (‘bright lion with a dexterous or sure hand’) of Welsh mythology. His Irish equivalent, Lugh, was described as ‘skilled in all the arts’ and was one of the most powerful and important of the Celtic gods.

Llew Llaw Gyffes was spontaneously born from Arianrhod (‘silver wheel’; note that her parallel Lanfear is associated with silver and claims the similar sounding Tel’aran’rhiod as her territory) when she was tested by her uncle Math ap Mathonwy to see if she was a virgin. Being rejected by her, Llew was hidden in a box and raised by his uncle Gwydion. Arianrhod repeatedly tried to kill Llew and placed a geas (compulsion or obligation) on him that none but she could name him and provide him with arms. Llew was almost impossible to kill: he could only be killed neither by day nor night, indoors nor out of doors, riding nor walking, clothed nor naked, nor by any weapon lawfully made. He was tricked into assuming this vulnerable position and killed.

Lews Therin was the most important man in the Age of Legends, one of the most powerful channellers, a skilled swordsman and noted author—as skilled in all the arts as Llew Llaw Gyffes. Lanfear, furious at Lews Therin’s and Rand’s rejections, wanted to kill Rand/Lews Therin (they are equated in her mind) and also wanted to control Rand by baiting him to use the Power and to declare himself the Dragon Reborn. She also considered seducing him in his dreams so he would “never forget” her. Her ultimate trap was to try and kill Rand when Rand was in the Pit of Doom (neither indoors nor outdoors), during an eclipse (neither day nor night), while standing and using the One Power and True Power as a weapon (drawn indirectly through Moridin and Callandor). The Welsh god’s “virgin” birth foreshadows Lews Therin Telamon’s prophesied rebirth born to a maiden, and his containment in a box foreshadows Rand’s imprisonment in a box by the Aes Sedai.

Therin is a French surname and is similar to Thorin, which mans ‘daring’ or ‘bold’ in Old Norse and is one of the names that appears in the Old Norse poem Voluspa and was used by Tolkien as the name of the chief dwarf in The Hobbit. Thorin is thus a link to Tolkien and to Rand al’Thor.

Telamon is a hero from Greek mythology, one of the Argonauts who accompanied Jason on the quest for the Golden Fleece, and was present at the hunt for the Calydonian boar. He killed his half-brother Phocus and was banished by his father—a kinslayer like Lews Therin.

Telamon means 'enduring' and was often given as an epithet to Atlas, the Titan the Greeks believed held up the sky. Lew Therin knew the strain of supporting the world.

The name Telamon also commemorates a battle, as a few of Jordan’s names do: the Battle of Telamon (or Talamone) was fought between the Gauls and the Roman Republic in 224 BC. The Romans, led by Consuls Gaius Atilius Regulus and Lucius Aemilius Papus, defeated the Gauls, removing a threat to Rome (Encyclopaedia Britannica). The Age of Legends is a parallel of the Roman Republic (see The Age of Legends essay) and Lews Therin attempted to remove the threat of the Shadow from it, partially succeeding.

The name Lews Therin is similar to Lucifer, "light-bearer", the Roman term for the planet Venus as "Morning Star". Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon, but because it is closer to the sun than the earth, it appears only in the morning and evening. This puzzled the ancients, who explained the situation with the myth that Venus Lucifer tried to outshine the more important Jupiter and Saturn and was cast out of heaven for being too ambitious and proud. Metaphorically, the word was used as a term in ancient times for those of pre-eminence, virtue and glory.

Later, Christians associated the myth of Lucifer with Satan so that Lucifer is believed to have been a prominent archangel in heaven who was overly proud and rebelled against God. He was cast out of heaven into the world, along with other rebellious archangels, and set up shop as Satan.

Lews Therin, Lord of the Morning, and most acclaimed man of his age, believed in his pride that men:

could match the Creator, could mend what the Creator had made and they had broken. In his pride he had believed.

- The Eye of the World, Prologue

and he laments “How many have died for my pride?” (The Path of Daggers, Answering the Summons). Ishamael pointed out how far Lews Therin had fallen:

"Look at you," he said scornfully. "Once you stood first among the Servants. Once you wore the Ring of Tamyrlin, and sat in the High Seat. Once you summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion. Now look at you! A pitiful, shattered wretch.”

- The Eye of the World, Prologue

Even though he saved the world, Lews Therin’s destruction of his family in his madness resulted in him being vilified for centuries. Due to the drastic actions and treatment forced upon the Dragon by the Shadow, the Dragon is so reviled that he is confused with, or regarded as little better than, the Dark One (a parallel of Satan):

"The Dragon!" someone moaned. "The Dark One's loose in Ghealdan!"
"Not the Dark One," Haral Luhhan growled. "The Dragon's not the Dark One. And this is a false Dragon, anyway."…
"Just as bad as the Dark One!"
"The Dragon broke the world, didn't he?"
"He started it! He caused the Time of Madness!"
"You know the prophecies! When the Dragon is reborn, your worst nightmares will seem like your fondest dreams!"

- The Eye of the World, The Peddler

Interestingly, in the light of Jordan’s revelation that he is a Freemason (see RJ's Blog Posts Post Knife of Dreams), Freemasons have been accused of worshipping Lucifer by some Christian groups, despite the fact that Freemasonry claims not to be a religion, and moreover has Christian members.

For more information on Lews Therin's real-life parallels see Lews Therin essay.

Liandrin: Black Ajah see Names of the Shadow article.

Lillen Moiral: Moghedien see Names of the Shadow article.

Lini: Andoran nurse to the royal family. Lini is similar to the personal names Lyn and Lynette, and may refer to Linet, the maiden of Arthurian myth who continually castigated Sir Gareth on a quest. Lini constantly corrects the behaviour of Morgase’s group. Lini may also refer to Walter Lini (1942‒1999), Anglican priest and the first prime minister of Vanuatu from 1980‒1991. Lini's administration was very controversial in the West because of its ties with socialist countries, its opposition to nuclear testing in the Pacific, and its support of the right of indigenous people in New Caledonia and of East Timor to self-determination. Lini, too, stands up for her values against opposition, and Morgase, for one, thinks she goes too far at times.

Lir Baryn: Andoran noble. In Irish mythology Lir was the rival of Bodb Dearg for the kingship of the Tuatha Dé Danann after their retreat into the fairy mounds. Lord Lir supported Trakand’s rivals to the Andoran throne.

Baryn is a personal name and is similar to baron (a title of nobility) and barren.

Lisaine Jarath: Seanchan. Lisaine is a place in France and is similar to the personal name Lisa. The name may commemorate a battle as a few names do: the Battle of the Lisaine was fought in 1871 between Prussian and French forces. The French, led by Charles Denis Bourbaki, were trying to relieve the Siege of Belfort, but they failed, and were forced to flee into Switzerland.

Jarath is a personal name.

Llyw: Kairen Stang’s Warder. Llew is a Welsh personal name and may refer to Llew Llaw Gyffes, an ancient Celtic God who was almost impossible to kill but was tricked into revealing how it could be done and then killed.

Logain Ablar: False Dragon and Asha’man. Logain is similar to Logan, a personal name, surname and place name, and the name of a street in Jordan's home city of Charleston. The name may allude to James Logan (d. 1780):

the prominent Indian leader whose initial excellent relations with white settlers in Pennsylvania and the Ohio Territory deteriorated into a vendetta after the slaughter of his family in 1774.

Logan was never a chief but achieved renown among many Indian tribes, at first because of his friendship with the white settlers. Logan was converted to an intense hatred of all white men in 1774, when his entire family was treacherously slaughtered by a frontier trader named Daniel Greathouse during the Yellow Creek Massacre. In the ensuing conflict, which is known as Lord Dunmore's War, Logan was a prominent leader of Indian raids on white settlements, and he took the scalps of more than 30 white men… He became a violent alcoholic and died in an altercation.

- Encyclopaedia Britannica

Logain was stripped of his lands and status when he began to channel. After being captured and gentled, he hated all Aes Sedai and was used by Siuan to get revenge on the Red Ajah by claiming that Red sisters aided him in establishing himself as a false Dragon. He achieved renown as a false Dragon and again as an Asha’man with his own Light-aligned faction which drove off the Black Asha’man. Logain overcame the deep depression of gentling, but then was extensively tortured by the Shadow in their efforts to turn him to the Shadow. This made him extremely dark until he was redeemed by the gratitude of parents whose children he saved in the Last Battle.

Logain also reminded me of the novel Logan's Run (1967) by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, which depicted a dark future Earth society in which dwindling resources and overpopulation are controlled by killing everyone when they reach twenty-one years of age.

Logan is a "Deep Sleep Operative" or "Sandman", whose job it is to find and kill Runners, those who refuse to report in for termination and flee to Sanctuary where they can live in defiance of the government. Logan decides on his own Lastday to go undercover as a Runner to find Sanctuary and destroy it so that he will be remembered as a hero. He is an antihero who becomes sympathetic to Runners and eventually desires to achieve, rather than destroy, Sanctuary, and does so.

The twenties are the most common time for the channelling spark to manifest in males and expose them to the lethal taint on saidin. Logain was captured and gentled (terminated as a channeller, and thus doomed to die), then ran when the White Tower’s political system broke down, and was saved by Siuan to be used to undermine the Tower further. Once Healed by Nynaeve, he was allowed to escape to find sanctuary with the Asha’man (contrary to Tower law) rather than be gentled again.

Ablar may be derived from Abalar, a place in Turkey, but it could also refer to hablar, the Spanish word for speak or talk. We see Logain paraded in front of nobles in Salidar to tell his false tale about the Red Ajah and later giving orders to his Asha’man faction and parleying with the Sea Folk.

Loial son of Arent son of Halan: Ogier. Loial is loyal, as Faile pointed out to Perrin (The Shadow Rising, Leavetakings). As the first Ogier we meet, he exemplifies the loyalty and oath-keeping nature of his species. He even speaks against the Ogier opening the Book of Translation and fleeing the war against the Shadow. He vowed to Rand that he would be at Tarmon Gai’don even if the other Ogier leave (Knife of Dreams, The Golden Crane) and was instrumental in bringing the Ogier to the Last Battle.

Arent is a personal name and Halan is a place in Sweden.

Lothair Mantelar: founder of the Whitecloaks. Mantelar is similar to real-world place names. Lothair is a Germanic personal name. A few kings have been named Lothair, and the ones most like Lothair Mantelar are:

Lothair I (795–855), king of Italy (818–855) and Holy Roman Emperor (840–855) (see illustration right), who issued the Constitutio Romana in 824, affirming imperial sovereignty over Rome and demanding an oath of fealty from the pope (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Lothair II (835‒869), was the second son of Emperor Lothair I. Lothair’s attempts to dissolve his childless marriage to Theutberga so that he could marry Waldrada caused much controversy and led to a bitter struggle between himself and Pope Nicholas I. Lothair:

induced two subservient archbishops, Günther of Cologne and Theutgaud of Trier, to start ecclesiastical proceedings against his wife. Two synods at Aachen dissolved the marriage and in 862 gave Lothair permission to marry Waldrada. He obtained the papal legate's confirmation of this decision, probably through bribery, at a synod at Metz (June 863). Pope Nicholas I, however, reversed these decisions and took the unprecedented step of deposing archbishops Günther and Theutgaud (October 863). In August 865 another papal legate forced Lothair to take Theutberga back again.

- Encyclopaedia Britannica

Both Lothairs behaved as though the papacy was to be used for their convenience. The Whitecloaks, founded by Lothair Mantelar, want to remove the Amyrlin (a parallel of the Pope, see Aes Sedai Laws and Customs: Administration essay) and all Aes Sedai altogether. Martin Luther, whose name is close to a reversal of Lothair Mantelar, also became increasingly anti-Papacy.

Martin Luther (1483–1546) was a German priest and theologian whose teachings and objections to the Catholic Church inspired the Reformation and influenced the course of Western civilization. Lothair Mantelar founded the Children of the Light to combat the increasing number of Darkfriends, but within 90 years the Children had changed from a group of ascetic preachers to a military order implacably opposed to channelling and Aes Sedai as well as Darkfriends.

Luther’s writings were printed on the recently developed printing press and published widely. The Third Age retained the printing press and Mantelar’s book The Way of the Light also was therefore able to be rapidly reproduced and widely distributed.

Education was important to Luther and he not only thought that it was the duty of the civil authorities to provide schools and to see that parents sent their children to them, but that elementary schools should be established for the education of girls. Whitecloaks ensure that all new recruits are literate enough to read Lothair Mantelar’s writing themselves:

[New recruits] who could not read when they swore were taught so that they could study Mantelar’s words.

- Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue

Martin Luther protested the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences because he believed it was a money-making exercise and that the pardon of the Church was in God's power alone. He began to teach that salvation is a gift of God's grace through Christ received by faith alone. Luther was against using reason to study theology or the world:

It was sheer hubris and blasphemy to suppose that one could decode God’s handiwork.

- Phillip Ball, The Devil’s Doctor: Paracelsus

Like most late medieval Christians, he believed that witchcraft existed, worked and was anti-Christian. Whitecloaks believe that the Creator’s One Power is not meant to be touched by humans and that those who channel it (or even try to do so) are Darkfriends allied to the Dark One. Aes Sedai are also referred to as witches as well as Darkfriends.

By rejecting papal and ecclesiastical practices that Luther deemed were in conflict with Scripture, he asserted the primacy of scriptural authority over the Church; and correspondingly a reduction in the power of the papacy. He soon declared that he despised Rome (a parallel of the White Tower), wrote a pamphlet entitled Against the Roman Papacy an Institution of the Devil and declared the Pope (a parallel of the Amyrlin) to be the Antichrist in To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520). After being excommunicated and outlawed as a notorious heretic, Luther took on the garb of a knight as a temporary alias. Just as Martin Luther became more anti-papacy and dressed as a knight for a time, so the Whitecloaks became more extreme over time and changed from ascetic preachers to knights crusading against Darkfriends and channellers.

Jews were widely disliked by Christians in Luther’s time, but Luther’s writings (for example On the Jews and Their Lies) were more extreme; he wrote that Jews' homes should be destroyed, their synagogues, books and schools burned, their money and property to be seized, their rabbis forbidden to preach and their rights and liberties curtailed. While some consider that the violence of Luther's views greatly increased the anti-Judaic attitudes of Christians, his writings alone did not turn Germans into Nazis (a parallel of the Shadow, see Three Strands Common to the Forsaken essay). 19th century Romanticism and 20th century Darwinism also played an important part. Lutheran church bodies have distanced themselves from this aspect of Luther's work (especially since World War II). Whitecloak extremism plays into the hands of the Shadow and has been used to cover the activities of Darkfriends as we saw with Carridin and Ordeith and on Almoth Plain. Whitecloaks hunt for heretical books and burn them; the Two Rivers people complained of this in The Shadow Rising, Beyond the Oak. The Whitecloaks gradually regarded Aes Sedai as Darkfriends, but, as Galad has reminded them, they fought with Aes Sedai at the Last Battle. This and the (long overdue?) reformation of the Aes Sedai may change their attitudes.

Jordan conflated Luther’s austerity, his hatred of the papacy, his belief in witches and that they should be killed, and his extremism against Jews into the organisation Mantelar founded.

Luther’s cause became caught up in the political machinations of the German princes, the Emperor and the papacy—and the Wirrenberg rebel [Luther] was canny about exploiting these currents.

- Phillip Ball, The Devil’s Doctor: Paracelsus

Lothair Mantelar was not anti-Aes Sedai himself, even though the abuses of power shown by the Amyrlin to Artur Hawkwing were so recent. It was the turmoil of those times with the power struggle between the Tower and Artur Hawkwing and the presence of Ishamael himself (as Jalwin Moerad, Artur’s advisor) which led to the rise of Darkfriends and both inspired the founding of the Whitecloaks and their rise in influence, and their condemnation of Aes Sedai.

Both Luther’s and Mantelar’s teachings were austere: Luther advocated a plainer liturgy and a simpler lifestyle for clerics, and Mantelar wrote:

Therefore abjure all pleasure, for goodness is a pure abstract, a perfect crystalline ideal which is obscured by base emotion. Pamper not the flesh. Flesh is weak but spirit is strong; flesh is useless where spirit is strong. Right thought is drowned in sensation, and right action hindered by passions. Take all joy from rightness, and rightness only.

- The Shadow Rising, Deceptions

While Luther's teachings in his final years became more severe regarding both Jews and Christians, he was displeased that some of his followers were even more extreme. This is a parallel of the way the Whitecloaks developed into an increasingly violent and intolerant order.

In a curious coincidence, one of the early members of the Nazi party was Martin Luther’s namesake. Martin Luther (1895–1945) was a master schemer and plotter and served as an advisor to Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop (a parallel of Rahvin, see Three Strands Common to the Forsaken essay). He participated in the infamous Wannsee Conference, in which the Final Solution was planned, and later pressured German subject and allied nations to hand over Jews populations for deportation to the death camps.

Late in the war he tried to supplant von Ribbentrop as Foreign Minister, but was exposed and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. (While his name is similar to Lothair Mantelar’s, he may be the real-world person on which the character and deeds of the Whitecloak Darkfriend Carridin were modelled).

Luc Mantear: Andoran noble who battled Isam and is now joined with him in one body. Luc is a personal name. Mantear is similar to real-world place names and has the connotations of tearing men (‘man tear’). The Dark One tore Luc to put two souls in one body.

Ludice: Aes Sedai of the Yellow Ajah. Ludice may commemorate Lidice, a village in the Czech Republic which was completely destroyed by the Nazis during World War II.

Luthair Paendrag Mondwin: was Artur Paedrag’s son and led an expedition to, and eventually conquered and ruled, Seanchan. Luthair’s name is similar to Uther Pendragon, the father of King Arthur. Jordan has reversed the relationship between Uther and Artur here, from father to son of Arthur. Luthair is similar to the personal names Lothair and Luther. There were a few medieval kings named Lothair. Like Martin Luther, Luthair Paendrag hated Aes Sedai (developed from both witches and the Papacy) for their abuse of power.

Mondwin may mean ‘win world’, since monde is French for world—Luthair Paendrag conquered a ‘New World’. It may also refer to Manwydan/Manawydan, the son of the Welsh sea god Llyr. Manwydan was a scholar and magician, who joined the expedition to free Branwen from the slavery imposed by her husband Matholwch. He inherited the Welsh kingdom after Bran's death, but surrendered it to his cousin to avoid warfare. Manwydan was adversely affected by magic: for example, faery mice destroyed his crops. He caught one, and threatened to hang it despite the pleas of important passers-by. Luthair Paendrag, who made an expedition to Seanchan, was adversely affected by magic, both on the main continent and in Seanchan. His conquest of Seanchan freed the people from their subjection to Aes Sedai, but the Aes Sedai themselves were enslaved as damane.

Luthair Paendrag combines the warrior king status of Uther Pendragon, blood kin to King Artur, with the hatred of the Papacy and intolerance of witches of Martin Luther.

Lyrelle: Aes Sedai and Sitter of the Blue Ajah. Lyrelle is similar to the personal names Lorelle and Laurelle. She is believed to have been a dancer and her name also evokes lyre and lyric.

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Written by Linda, January 2005 and updated November 2013