Llarimar Posted July 2, 2018 Report Share Posted July 2, 2018 Just a brief observation, I wanted to see if anyone else has noticed the same thing. For being such an artsy and creative person, Shallan sure is not very creative when it comes to naming things. This has happened three times: Pattern Veil Radiant All of these names are just bland descriptions of what she is naming. Pattern is a swirling black pattern, Veil is a secretive thief-like spy (like a person wearing a veil), and Radiant is a stately and dignified aristocrat-swordsman (like a Knight Radiant). Now I am not sure what else Shallan could have named these things... but for someone who is so artistic and creative (left-brained, isn't that what that's called... or is it right-brained?), these seem like pretty boring and obvious choices. At least Pattern, I think, she could have given a more creative name. And as a sidenote, why doesn't Pattern have a name of his own? Kaladin doesn't name Syl - her name is Sylphrena, and the same is true of all the other spren we've seen, I think, so it seems a bit strange that Pattern doesn't have his own name (or maybe he just hasn't shared it with Shallan or doesn't remember it yet). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyRioter Posted July 2, 2018 Report Share Posted July 2, 2018 Pattern does have a name of his own, but it's a string of numbers and thus kind of awkward for humans to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llarimar Posted July 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2018 2 minutes ago, CrazyRioter said: Pattern does have a name of his own, but it's a string of numbers and thus kind of awkward for humans to use. Oh yes, I'd forgotten that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaladin Zahel Posted July 2, 2018 Report Share Posted July 2, 2018 (edited) While I agree that the names are rather simple, it does kind of make sense. She has so much complexity in her psyche and emotions that having something easy to latch on to is probably a relief. Also, naming her personalities by what distinguishes them is easy schytzo organization. But more likely, it is a simple tool for the reader to keep track of. Edited July 2, 2018 by Kaladin Zahel Typos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strifelover Posted July 2, 2018 Report Share Posted July 2, 2018 I don’t have such a problem with Radiant since it isn’t really an outward facing persona but an ideal she aspires to. Veil is pretty absurd though considering it’s her name to try and trick the Ghostbloods. She may as well have just named herself Guy (girl?) Incognito or Disguise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angsos Posted July 2, 2018 Report Share Posted July 2, 2018 I think Shallan's bigger problem is that she has Multiple personalities to name, not that she doesn't do it creatively Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyRioter Posted July 2, 2018 Report Share Posted July 2, 2018 2 hours ago, Strifelover said: I don’t have such a problem with Radiant since it isn’t really an outward facing persona but an ideal she aspires to. Veil is pretty absurd though considering it’s her name to try and trick the Ghostbloods. She may as well have just named herself Guy (girl?) Incognito or Disguise. To be fair I don't think she was really trying to pass that off as a real name, fake names are pretty much par for the course in secret societies, she was just trying to obscure her real identity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doomdrinker Posted July 2, 2018 Report Share Posted July 2, 2018 To me it makes perfect sense just because your creative at one thing doesn't mean your creative with everything. It's just anecdotal but I do some art and I consider myself reasonably creative yet I'm garbage when it comes to names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weltall Posted July 3, 2018 Report Share Posted July 3, 2018 (edited) 23 hours ago, Strifelover said: Veil is pretty absurd though considering it’s her name to try and trick the Ghostbloods. She may as well have just named herself Guy (girl?) Incognito or Disguise. As mentioned, she isn't really trying to trick them, she just needed a name that wasn't 'Shallan Davar' and an obviously fake alias is as good as anything. The Ghostbloods really don't care (and of course they see through it fairly quickly) and our primary point of contact with the group also goes about using something that is not his real name. Mraize is a title (likely Thaylenah) rather than the man's name. Random aside, I cannot read any of Oathbringer and the parts that include 'Radiant' without immediately thinking of Laura Arseid from the Trails of Cold Steel games. She's actually kind of similar to Shallan's persona in mannerisms, she largely defines herself as a swordswoman and her entire body of technique incorporates the word Radiant, which is also part of her father's nickname 'Radiant Blademaster'. And her sword is aaaaalmost big enough to be a typical Shardblade to boot. This has been your geeky digression for the morning. xD Edited July 3, 2018 by Weltall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zelly Posted July 3, 2018 Report Share Posted July 3, 2018 Franz Marc is my hero for naming paintings. His painting of a yellow cow? It's title: Yellow Cow. Painting of a blue horse? Title: Blue Horse. Makes me so happy. I've taken a lot of art history courses that required memorization of a artwork's date, artist, and title. Sometimes simple is good. Also, a major turn off for me in the fantasy genre is when too many things are named too unusual. End up with a book that reads like, "S'polyc'ay reached out with his rewata powers, touching the umuth with his mind. The shield was laced with layers of po'quil, which he peeled back gently like the leaves of a bawapni plants." Bleh. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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