Kevin's Watch

Kinda a poll: what is your favorite name/fictional word from fantasy and science fiction writing? What book or series contains the conlang you like the sound of most? Which title for a character/w/e impresses you the most (like, if you had Covenant introduced to you as "ur-Lord and white-gold wielder, Unbeliever, Illender, and Prover of Life," how awe-struck might you be?)?

Here are some of my candidates:

The Sea of Corruption from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (the title for the mutant forest).

Æsahættr, the "subtle knife" from His Dark Materials.

Valaquenta, the story of the Valar, from The Silmarillion.

By no means should that be read as close to an exhaustive list from my POV, it's just I'm having trouble remembering more atm.

Gurgi - from the Black Cauldron series.

The name sounds like the character.

I love the name of the Culture ships in the Iain M. Banks novels, such as:

• Grey Area
  Attitude Adjuster
  Heavy Messing
  The Ends Of Invention
  Of Course I Still Love You
  Just Testing
  Arrested Development

u.

The Shrike- the infamous Lord of Pain and Avatar of the Final Atonement from the Hyperion Cantos.

Orlion wrote:The Shrike- the infamous Lord of Pain and Avatar of the Final Atonement from the Hyperion Cantos.

Yea, I like that one. [partly cuz of where it comes from and his twist of it].

There are quite a number in the "New Sun" books that I liked...I THINK he didn't make any up from scratch, just resurrected and reapplied old and/or obscure ones.
Off the top of my head, I really like Conciliator and Lichtor and Thecla.

Everything in Zindell's Neverness series. Lightships have names like:
Immanent Carnation
Cardinal Virtue
The Sword of Shiva
The Snowy Owl


"Gods" have names like:
The Silicon God
The Solid State Entity
The April Colonial Intelligence
Al Squared
Chimene
The Degula Trinity
Kalinda of the Flowers
Ede
Pure Mind
Iamme
Maralah

There's even a guy named The Sonderval.


The beings known as the Lylmik in Julian May's Galactic Miliey books also have excellent names:
Atoning Unifex
Asymptotic Essence
Noetic Concordance
Homologous Trend
Eupathic Impulse
Resolute Mandament

Mighara Sovmadhi wrote:Kinda a poll: what is your favorite name/fictional word from fantasy and science fiction writing? What book or series contains the conlang you like the sound of most? Which title for a character/w/e impresses you the most (like, if you had Covenant introduced to you as "ur-Lord and white-gold wielder, Unbeliever, Illender, and Prover of Life," how awe-struck might you be?)?

Here are some of my candidates:

The Sea of Corruption from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (the title for the mutant forest).

Æsahættr, the "subtle knife" from His Dark Materials.

Valaquenta, the story of the Valar, from The Silmarillion.

By no means should that be read as close to an exhaustive list from my POV, it's just I'm having trouble remembering more atm.

Oh oh if Annie May and Mon Guh are fair game, then I pick the great pirate Edward Newgate! The strongest man in the world, one of the 4 pirate emperors that rule the new world, etc etc. Also the only person in Annie May history to actually PULL OFF that cliche tough guy line 'You're in my way, move.' Oh man he is so awesome >.<

Ahem. Quick poll though. Does anyone else feel like a lot of, if not most of, the names from SRD writings are...lamentable? Many of them sound like something I would expect to hear in a game of dungeons & dragons, when it first came out. Or what someone making FUN of dungeons & dragons might list as a character name.

Ragnor half elven, wielder of the schaleli of hitting, plus one.

I consider this to be SRD's 'exception that proves the rule' when nominating him for greatest author rank. Anyone else?

Then again he also has several book titles that really resonate with my nerdiness, like in the Gap series. Of course those are titles, not the unfortunately named characters in the series ;_;

I despise (pun absolutely intended) the name "Lord Foul." "Drool" is not so cool (again with the pun ), either. SWMNBN... augh... And "Glimmermere" is the one inexcusable similarity to LOTR in the First Chronicles, IMHO... However, I love:

Elemesnedene
a-Jeroth
Kastenessen
Mhoram/na-Mhoram
The names of the Ravers
Emereau Vrai
The Auriference
The Theomach
The Mahdoubt
The Insequent
Rant Absolain (fit the character to a t)
Sandgorgons
Bhrathair (right spelling? can't be troubled to go inside and check my copies atm, haha)
Coercri
The Elohim (sure, like the Ravers' names borrowed from human mythology, but w/e!)
rhadhamaerl(sp.?)
Waynhim
ur-viles
Demondim
anundivian yajna (the curly line over one of the letters in the real spelling hits a very nice chord with me)
Revelstone
Gravin Threndor
Andelain
Banas Nimoraam(sp.?)
Muirwin Delenoth(sp.?)
The skurj (esp. in "the Durance" thereof)
Melenkurion Skyweir
Infelice
ususimmiel(sp.?)
aliantha
lomillialor(sp.?)
Sarangrave Flats
ausat Befylam(sp.?)
jheherrin(sp.?)
Ridjeck Thome (although part of me has always wondered why the Despiser named his stronghold this way--what does the phrase mean?--"Foul's Creche"?--is the Despiser's "true name" Ridjeck or Thome or something?!)
ak-haru Kenaustin Ardenol
Quehrn Ehstrel(sp.?)

Probably others I don't recall right now.

Some of my favourites from Malazan:

Malazan:

Anomander Rake
Caladan Brood
Cotillion
Nefarias Bredd
Whiskeyjack
Quick Ben
Dassem Ultor
Caratheon Crust

Ed McNally' Norothan Cycle has one of my favorite nation names ever: Kantantanalace. I love how it just goes on and on. The country is nothing special, as fantasy nations go -- I just really like the name.