Is there any importance to Renarin’s name?

[animalia]

I was just thinking that the meaning of his name seems interesting. “Born unto himself” That seems like a name chok full of meaning and potential foreshadowing, ESPECIALLY for a Brandon Sanderson novel. But I have no idea what such a name could be getting at. So I wanted to ask you all if you had any ideas.

Edited September 10, 2018 by animalia

[Calderis he/him]

I think it was just a funny cultural mismatch moment. Dalinar saw the "in" at the end of the name and turned it to the suffix like in Adolin or Kaladin. 

But Evi didn't care about the Alethi naming structure. She named him Renarin. When Dalinar asked what it meant "it means him."

"Born unto himself" is Dalinar not realizing that Evi was being Evi and didn't care about the propriety of the name. 

If he wanted Renarin to have a "proper" name, he probably should have been there at some point before the kid could walk. 

Edited September 12, 2018 by Calderis

[animalia]

That’s part of it but I wonder if there’s more to it, sense Sanderson as said before tends to work on multiple levels.

 

OR maybe this is Sanderson’s way of warning us that Renarin is SIMPLY Renarin. I think I like it that his name can mean that he is simply himself. It’s like his name his saying no matter how others may try to define him or shape him Renarin is simply himself.

 

That gives me an idea actually but I want some time to think over it.

[Storyspren]

On 9/9/2018 at 9:41 PM, Calderis said:

If he wanted Renarin to have a "proper" name, he probably should have been there at some point before the kid could walk. 

Burn!

[Ashertliden]

On 9/10/2018 at 0:41 AM, Calderis said:

If he wanted Renarin to have a "proper" name, he probably should have been there at some point before the kid could walk. 

I wouldn't be so callous about insulting Dalinar. He has a pretty intense history of roasting people, ya know.

[Calderis he/him]

3 minutes ago, A stick said:

I wouldn't be so callous about insulting Dalinar. He has a pretty intense history of roasting people, ya know.

Funny, I think Dalinar would agree with me at this point. 

[Leyrann]

I've been wondering about this as well. It would be really sneaky.

Might very well be something we can't accurately guess beforehand though.

[animalia]

7 hours ago, Leyrann said:

I've been wondering about this as well. It would be really sneaky.

Might very well be something we can't accurately guess beforehand though.

I have a guess, the only problem is the guess feels more like something that would fit with Cosmere Endgame than Stormlight endgame so I don’t think I am QUITE there. Still it’s interesting enough that I guess it’s worth posting.

Basically if I were to pick one real world thing that was like unto itself, it would be TRUTH OR REALITY.

Many people talk about “versions” of reality and how it changes according to person but I find tgat to be crem dung. Our PERCEPTION of reality can differ from person to person, but reality itself simply IS. And one thing we must always be careful of is to try and not get our perception of reality confused for actual reality. (I do not hold myself to be immune from this danger by the way. Simply being aware of said danger doesn’t in and of itself decrease your vulnerability to the danger.) Also while there may only be one reality or (I suppose you could call it truth), paradoxically there may be many PATHS (or I suppose I suppose you could call them journies) to get to the truth.

 So my theory is that by Renarin’s name saying he is born into himself, is that Renarin restrists all attempts to define him, like reality of truth. So in a way you could say he is “born into the truth”

Heck he is even a TRUTHwatcher of sorts.

The biggest problem with the this theory as mentioned is that it feels like something for the Cosmere endgame rather then the Stormlight Archive. So I do NOT think I got everything and something MUST be off. Nonetheless there is enough here. That I felt it was worth posting.

[Calderis he/him]

14 minutes ago, animalia said:

Many people talk about “versions” of reality and how it changes according to person but I find tgat to be crem dung. Our PERCEPTION of reality can differ from person to person, but reality itself simply IS.

In reality I fully agree with you. Human perception and memory are inherently flawed. 

In the Cosmere? That's just not true. Perception can literally change reality. 

Quote

wiresegal

In OB, you explained that the Singers have four sexes. I was wondering... Can the Singers have genders other than those four, like humans? Even as simple as just not going with male, female, or malen/femalen. Could a transgender Singer use their ability to shift forms to change their biological reality? And, finally, could a Spren be non-binary, if it wasn't personified in a typical male/female way?

Brandon Sanderson

In the cosmere as a whole, a person's perception of themselves has a lot of power over both their Spiritual and Physical forms. It is possible, with investiture, to change their biology to match Cognitive perceptions--and while this could be easier for some races (like the Singers) it's not outside plausibility for any race.

There are non-binary spren, actually--and you should be meeting one important one quite soon in the books.

source

Perception can change both the spiritual and physical in a person, as long as there's investiture involved, and this is also literally the way that Soulcasting works. You alter the Spiritual and Physical aspects of an item or person by altering it Cognitive aspect.

Perception can actually shape reality in the Cosmere. 

Edited September 16, 2018 by Calderis

[animalia]

On 9/17/2018 at 3:40 AM, Calderis said:

In reality I fully agree with you. Human perception and memory are inherently flawed. 

In the Cosmere? That's just not true. Perception can literally change reality. 

Perception can change both the spiritual and physical in a person, as long as there's investiture involved, and this is also literally the way that Soulcasting works. You alter the Spiritual and Physical aspects of an item or person by altering it Cognitive aspect.

Perception can actually shape reality in the Cosmere. 

Well IF we are going on that angle I have a sneaking suspicion (Nothing to justify it, other than a weird feeling) that Renarin knew the truth about his mom and dad. He saw the bad in his dad, he knew it for a long time, BUT he ALSO saw the POTENTIAL for good in him. (To be fair this COULD EASILY be a flaw in my theory on the meaning of his name, either way just bear with me.) I didn’t mean to imply that perspective doesn’t matter at all. How do I explain this. Let’s say if your past determines present then your present determines your future. Similarly, if your past outlook determines your present outlook then your present outlook determines your future outlook. And HERE is where perspective matters, and how it can shape lives. To give an example, you can look at history and look at all the horrible things people have done and still do and say that things are awful. But at the same time you can look at the same evidence and see that as bad as things are, humanity has continued to move forward. It happens on a glacial scale AND there is backsliding but moving forward IS something we do. Both ARE reasonable conclusions based on the evidence. BUT here I bring it back to the part where that perspective DOES play a real world role. Who is more likely to try and move humanity in a positive direction, someone who takes a look at that evidence and sees the negativity, or someone who looks at that evidence and sees the hope?* Did I explain that accurately.

 

 

*I think that’s why for as realistic as I insist on being I am able to keep a positive outlook on things, (or is it that I try to keep a positive outlook?) despite how life wants to me beat me down. Also while I find the truth can be brutal and harsh sometimes, I ultimately find it beautiful.

 

Another thing that I noticed about Renarin, though this doesn’t seem to play into his name, is that he has a gift for inspiring HOPE in others, even when he is in despair himself. I just thought this was worth mentioning.

Edited September 16, 2018 by animalia