Kevin???

A place to discuss the books in the FC and SC. *Please Note* No LC spoilers allowed in this forum. Do so in the forum below.

Moderators: Orlion, kevinswatch

Post Reply
krycek
Ramen
Posts: 99
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:04 pm
Location: Scotland

Kevin???

Post by krycek »

is it just me or does kevin's name seem a bit outta place?? every1 else has some pretty cool fantasy-type name, and then you have kevin... that's always struck me as being weird, and its my only real complaint with TCTC. ok, so its not a big thing, but i thought i'd comment on it...
User avatar
duchess of malfi
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 11104
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2002 9:20 pm
Location: Michigan, USA

Post by duchess of malfi »

Well, there is quite a mixture of names. :) Lena, Elena, and Hyrim also have names that would not be uncommon in our world -- whereas Hile Troy, who is from our world has a very unusual name. :)
Love as thou wilt.

Image
User avatar
aTOMiC
Lord
Posts: 24976
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2003 6:48 am
Location: Tampa, Florida
Has thanked: 19 times
Been thanked: 13 times
Contact:

Post by aTOMiC »

Now that you mention it Kevin does sound a bit strange. It reminds me of "Tim the Enchanter" from Holy Grail. I suppose we should all giggle when we hear "Kevin the Landwaster" in the midst of so many high sounding and exotic fantasy names.
"If you can't tell the difference, what difference does it make?"
Image

"There is tic and toc in atomic" - Neil Peart
User avatar
Durris
Giantfriend
Posts: 483
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2004 6:21 pm
Location: Hamden, CT, USA

Post by Durris »

I have 2 thoughts on this, not necessarily consistent with each other.

First, the very "real-worldishness" of Kevin's name seems to me consistent with Donaldson's other naming practices: all over the mythos there's a sort of patchwork of exotic/invented names right beside co-opted real-world names. Even some of the most exotic words, e.g. metheglin, turn out to be earthly words from different languages. Donaldson is something of a lexical magpie (I mean this affectionately; as a child I drove my elders bonkers by making up new meanings for common words, and it takes one lexical magpie to know another one).

Second, perhaps Kevin's very common name underscores him as an Everyman figure. Not even "There but for the grace of the Creator or whomever go I," but "Every Tom, Dick, and Harry of this fallible race has the risk of Desecration inside him."
Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased.
--Spider Robinson
User avatar
CovenantJr
Lord
Posts: 12608
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2002 9:10 pm
Location: North Wales

Post by CovenantJr »

That seemed very odd to me for a significant chunk of Lord Foul's Bane, but it seemed to fit with the way SRD names... eg Lord Foul, Revelstone... As I've mentioned before, they are quite simple names, often descriptive too.

I seem to recall reading that SRD named Kevin after a real person though, a specific Kevin.
User avatar
Durris
Giantfriend
Posts: 483
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2004 6:21 pm
Location: Hamden, CT, USA

Post by Durris »

CovenantJr wrote:I seem to recall reading that SRD named Kevin after a real person though, a specific Kevin.
Yikes, that sounds like an honor most people would rather do without!
8O
Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased.
--Spider Robinson
User avatar
Fist and Faith
Magister Vitae
Posts: 25507
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 2002 8:14 pm
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 57 times

Post by Fist and Faith »

heh :D True enough, Durris!
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest
-Paul Simon

Image
User avatar
variol son
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 5777
Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2002 1:07 pm
Location: New Zealand

Post by variol son »

What about Lord Trevor? That always struck me as much wierder for some reason.

Sum sui generis
Vs
You do not hear, and so you cannot be redeemed.

In the name of their ancient pride and humiliation, they had made commitments with no possible outcome except bereavement.

He knew only that they had never striven to reject the boundaries of themselves.
User avatar
Nav
Lord
Posts: 2137
Joined: Tue Nov 26, 2002 5:03 pm
Location: Surrey - Home of Baseball

Post by Nav »

I was about to mention that. I'd say Kevin and Trevor seem about as out of place as each other. I think I found it strangest when I first came across the names. It was hard not to imagine Lord Trevor as my friend with a pierced eyebrow and the Union Jack dyed into his hair.
Q. Why do Communists drink herbal tea?
A. Because proper tea is theft.
User avatar
Fist and Faith
Magister Vitae
Posts: 25507
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 2002 8:14 pm
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 57 times

Post by Fist and Faith »

I hear the Giants got Trevor a bit toasted on diamondraught, and a Bloodguard pierced him. Bannor's all, "I'm not gonna do it!" I can't remember which actually ended up doing it.
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest
-Paul Simon

Image
User avatar
Durris
Giantfriend
Posts: 483
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2004 6:21 pm
Location: Hamden, CT, USA

Post by Durris »

8O So at least one Bloodguard has used extrinsic weaponry in historical time!!!

I'd figured Trevor's was a tragic story involving a Healer possessed by a Raver.
Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased.
--Spider Robinson
krycek
Ramen
Posts: 99
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:04 pm
Location: Scotland

Post by krycek »

I never really noticed lord trevor, i have to admit, just cause he had a fairly small role in comparison to the others. Lena, Elena and Hyrim are names I've never heard in our world, i obviously lead a sheltered life, lol. and i would really hate to be the kevin that kevin was based upon, although the implications are quite interesting, like what sort of thing could someone have done in our world to have a character like the desecrator based upon?
User avatar
CovenantJr
Lord
Posts: 12608
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2002 9:10 pm
Location: North Wales

Post by CovenantJr »

I've come across Lena and Elena, but I must say Hyrim is a new one
User avatar
Durris
Giantfriend
Posts: 483
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2004 6:21 pm
Location: Hamden, CT, USA

Post by Durris »

krycek wrote:what sort of thing could someone have done in our world to have a character like the desecrator based upon?
Put someone, or many someones, in a position where the most objectively disloyal choice they could make was the choice of being loyal to one's expressed wishes? There are various ways of doing that in RL...
Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased.
--Spider Robinson
krycek
Ramen
Posts: 99
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:04 pm
Location: Scotland

Post by krycek »

yeah ok, i didnt think about that too hard, i should have worked that out
User avatar
[Syl]
Unfettered One
Posts: 13021
Joined: Sat Oct 26, 2002 12:36 am
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Post by [Syl] »

Hyram is a Jewish name. Fairly common.
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
krycek
Ramen
Posts: 99
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:04 pm
Location: Scotland

Post by krycek »

I learn something new everyday. Well maybe one day I will meet a Hyrim, or a Lena or Elena, who knows
A good friend will always bail you out of jail, but a true friend will be sitting there saying "damn that was fun"
User avatar
Fist and Faith
Magister Vitae
Posts: 25507
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 2002 8:14 pm
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 57 times

Post by Fist and Faith »

Ha! There's a character in ASOIAF named Kevan Lannister?? :LOLS:
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest
-Paul Simon

Image
Post Reply

Return to “The First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”