how do people know the name of the dark one?

[king of nowhere]

the dark one must not be named. ever.

in fact, most people don't name it, ever. at the beginnign of book 1, mat recalls one of the village guys doing that, and a series of calamities falling on him. that would imply that naming the dark one is extremely rare. probably that guy was the only one in the village to have done so in years.

so how do people know that name? even those who knows it in the first place surely don't pass that knowledge to their childrens, as doing that would require naming the dark one. It stand to reason that within a few generations no one would know what the dark one's name was. except the darkfriends, but they won't declaim it in public. So how is knowledge of the name spread? who told rand, mat and perrin the name shai'tan in the first place, back when they were in the two rivers?

[Aethling]

People still say it, mostly people trying to prove how brave they are. Travelers and Gleemen have probably kept it alive even in the remotest regions like Two Rivers.

[Lady_Yasha]

It's like the name of Voldemort - saying his name incurs his attention but in a time before the Potter books that didn't actually bring about misfortune because he wasn't powerful enough to react. With the Dark One sealed in his prison I can assume saying his real name didn't affect the person who said it because, like Voldemort, he was powerless to touch the physical world at the time.

In the Two Rivers, the Dark One was treated as a scare-tactic to get naughty children to behave. It wasn't until Rand, Perrin, Mat, etc., experienced the world did they understand the gravity of affairs outside their village. At this time the Dark One was breaking free from his prison and could touch the world to some extent.

People were scared to invite misfortune on themselves and only the sceptics remained who might have been lucky enough not to invite the attention of the Dark One by saying his name.

Edited October 8, 2012 by Lyrebon

[king of nowhere]

i found neither to be very convincing, but lyrebon's expalnation is at least good enough for my suspension of disbelief

[Lady_Yasha]

Well his name would have been freely spoken by his followers long before the Age of Legends and perhaps even during it. Normal folk would have overheard if the Darkfriends wanted to spread the name to bring misfortune upon the world. Each time his name is spoken it gives him the focus to cause mass chaos in the local area. This would be a powerful weapon for the Shadow to exploit. Rooting out ta'veren and such.

Remember that the Bore caused the Dark One's freedom for a time before the Breaking of the World. Before that he'd been imprisoned since the beginning of time. Maybe speaking his real name lured people to, unconsciously, seek out his prison and release him. By speaking his name he was able to affect the speakers' mind without them knowing.

Once people understood the danger of speaking the name, however, it'd be written in text only, warning those reading it to never speak it aloud. Fragments of such texts might still survive since the Breaking, as a lot of documents have.

This is all just speculation on my part though, don't take it for fact.

Edited October 9, 2012 by Lyrebon

[Lightflame]

I just assumed they wrote it down. Cenn Buie would know it though, since he's Demandred.

EDIT: Proof of the Cenn = Demandred theory.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Lightflame

[Lady_Yasha]

I just assumed they wrote it down. Cenn Buie would know it though, since he's Demandred.

EDIT: Proof of the Cenn = Demandred theory.

Use spoiler tags please.

Also I don't believe Elayne is Demandred. We've seen events from her point of view to know her too intimately and she doesn't think or act like a Forsaken would. If Demandred had a plan, it wouldn't be locking himself up behind layers upon layers of the noble girl, magnanimous, lion-hearted queen's psyche.

Also, Robert Jordan and Brandon have already said that Demandred has never appeared "on screen" before Knife of Dreams (source:http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/74795-big-demandred-news/, Post #5, Terez). Since Cenn Buie has appeared on screen before then, he can be discounted too.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Lyrebon

[king of nowhere]

lyrebon, i think you failed your detect sarcasm check.

Anyway, I prefer the idea that demandred is bela

After all, isn't it suspicious that she is just a stupid farm horse and we still see her around and in the middle of important events after 13 books?

Edited October 10, 2012 by king of nowhere

[Lady_Yasha]

I'd just woken up

Sarcasm detector runs on coffee.