Friday, March 5, 2010

New article Released: Names of the Shadow



By Linda


An article on the allusions underlying the names of all the characters allied to the Shadow, Names of the Shadow, is now published on the Thirteenth Depository. It dovetails in with the regular Character Names articles series (where I am up to the letter I). The Forsaken's names, with their references to demons, devils, monsters, and gods, are there of course, plus their various aliases, which are usually more innocuous, but hint at knowledge that genuine Third Agers would not know.

I've also looked at the names of the Shadowspawn including the Trolloc clans.

The names of the Black Ajah and Ashaman and Darkfriends are sometimes merely derived from surnames or place names, but some, such as Ryne Venamar (venom + mar) refer to the evil they cause.

My favourites? Moridin, M'Hael, Maisia and Jaichim Carridin, I guess.

6 comments:

Mik said...

Heads up; posted a comment in the linked article. I remember it vividly from Wotmania.
Great article! (as were the others in that section of Wotmania)

Mik said...

P.S: What happened to Dominic?

I see him post on RAFO on a regular basis lately and notice he logs on to the 13th Depo Forum regularly.

He's awfully quiet out here.
Just wondering,....is all.
(I just miss his grear posts/ opinion/ insights here.)

Mik said...

One more thing! (sorry for the tripple post *stufs fist in mouth*)

I know I've posted this as a comment on this blog before, but...

I think "Taim" choose the title M'Hael, because if you combine it with Asha'man, you get Asha'm'hael.

Ishamael promised Lews Therin in the prologue he'd "make men worship the name they gave to revile him". Here it is; men worshipping his hidden name!

Coincidently, I think Asha'm'hael literally means "Leader of the Blades" (or Blademaster).
Because that's what Ishamael wants men to be. Weapons instead of humans.

So yeah.. urgh.. I'm rammbling. ;)

Linda said...

Mik: Dominic's taking a break.

Mik said...

Awww shucks. I hope he'll be back soonish.. :)

What do you think of that Asha'm'hael idea? I know you and I both like to think Taim is Moridin.

Linda said...

It's an amusing idea. :)