True names in popular culture
Encyclopedia
The mystical concept of true name
s has appeared many times in works of modern culture.
In fantasy works where magic works by evoking true names, characters often go to great lengths to conceal their names; this may be a rule for all characters, as in Ursula K. Le Guin
's Earthsea
, or for those of magical inclination, as in Larry Niven
's The Magic Goes Away
, where a wizard is revived from the dead only by another who found his name, with great difficulty.
In the Inheritance Cycle
, magicians can take over someone by learning their true name, as well as make binding contracts or deals with them by using their name in the deal. In the third book of the cycle, it is thought that Eragon has found his sword's true name, Brisingr. By doing so he has a strong hold over the sword and can manipulate it easily.
Such true names are often the name given at birth. Patricia Wrede
, in her novel Snow-White and Rose-Red
, had a character not succumb to a spell because the caster did not know the name he was baptized by. In Operation Chaos, Poul Anderson
had the doctor who delivered a baby not only issue a regular birth certificate, but a secret one, with the newborn's name; the hero, born before such precautions were routine, is glad to hide his daughter's true name. In the Bartimaeus trilogy
by Jonathan Stroud
, a magician cannot have full control over a demon if the demon knows the magician's true name; as a result all magicians have records of their true names destroyed during childhood and take a new name around adolescence.
In David Gemmell
's Rigante series, tribesmen have a true name, or soul name, which ties them to the earth. This name can be given by the father of the child at birth, by a wise woman, or by deep reflection by the individual. Such examples are: Sword in the Storm, Midnight Falcon, Ravenheart, Stormrider, Hawk in the Willow, Flame in the Water, Cloud in the Night.
More arcane means may be needed to find a true name. In Earthsea, a wizard must listen for and give the hero his true name; this is performed in both Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea
and The Tombs of Atuan
. In Lawrence Watt-Evans
's The Wizard Lord, animals are described as having simple names of only a few syllables, while humans can have almost endless ever-changing names.
In the story line of Superman
, the character Mister Mxyzptlk is introduced in the 1940s
. The first incarnation of this character is described as a little imp
who suffered from the vulnerability that if he was tricked into speaking or writing his name backwards, he would be involuntarily transported back to his place of origin.
A character remembering their true name may be an important means of maintaining mastery of their own life. In Hayao Miyazaki
's movie Spirited Away
, the witch who runs the bathhouse, Yubaba, ensures loyalty by stealing the names of her subjects. For example, one of the witch's most loyal subjects, the spirit of the Kohaku River, has his name taken and is given a slave name: Haku. Haku
in fact forgets his name, and it is in this way 'taken' from him; he warns Chihiro Ogino against the dangers of forgetting her own name. She frees him when she recognises him and he then remembers and 'takes back' his name and is freed from the clutches of the witch.
In the series Death Note
finding one's true name is essential to murder them.
In the Dungeons & Dragons
role-playing game
, certain spells are more powerful if the target's true name is known. The Tome of Magic supplement presents a number of classes, feats and magical abilities which interact with truenames.
In the cyberpunk
genre following Vernor Vinge
's 1981 True Names
and the work of William Gibson
, much of the plot involved interactions between people's virtual selves in cyberspace
. Learning a fellow hacker's real-world name (i.e., their "true name") could allow you to turn them in to the government or otherwise blackmail them, conveying a kind of power that could be considered analogous to the equivalent concept of myth and legend.
In the video game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
, the character Doopliss has the ability to use unlimited magic, however, this magic stops working if his name is spoken to him.
In Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
, and the musical based on it
, each cat has – in addition to his common name ("that the family use daily") and his more dignified particular name ("that never belongs to more than one cat") – a "deep and inscrutable, singular Name" that "no human research can discover, but the cat himself knows and will never confess".
In the Doctor Who
episode "The Shakespeare Code
" the Doctor encounters an alien species calle the Carrionites who uses words instead of numbers as a science to manipulate the universe. They can take control over other people by saying their name and can be chased away by usage of their species' name.
In the Nintendo 64
video game Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage
, the storyline is centered on the main character's quest to earn a true name.
True name
A true name is a name of a thing or being that expresses, or is somehow identical with, its true nature. The notion that language, or some specific sacred language, refers to things by their true names has been central to philosophical and grammatical study as well as various traditions of magic,...
s has appeared many times in works of modern culture.
In fantasy works where magic works by evoking true names, characters often go to great lengths to conceal their names; this may be a rule for all characters, as in Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
's Earthsea
Earthsea
Earthsea is a fictional realm originally created by Ursula K. Le Guin for her short story "The Word of Unbinding", published in 1964. Earthsea became the setting for a further six books, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The...
, or for those of magical inclination, as in Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
's The Magic Goes Away
The Magic Goes Away
The Magic Goes Away is a fantasy short story written by Larry Niven in 1976, and later expanded to a novella of the same name which was published in 1978...
, where a wizard is revived from the dead only by another who found his name, with great difficulty.
In the Inheritance Cycle
Inheritance Cycle
The Inheritance Cycle is a series of fantasy novels by Christopher Paolini. It was previously titled the Inheritance Trilogy until Paolini's announcement on October 30, 2007 that there would be a fourth book...
, magicians can take over someone by learning their true name, as well as make binding contracts or deals with them by using their name in the deal. In the third book of the cycle, it is thought that Eragon has found his sword's true name, Brisingr. By doing so he has a strong hold over the sword and can manipulate it easily.
Such true names are often the name given at birth. Patricia Wrede
Patricia Wrede
Patricia Collins Wrede is an American fantasy writer from Chicago, Illinois.The eldest of five children, she graduated from Carleton College in 1974 with a BA in Biology, married James Wrede in 1976 , and obtained an MBA from University of Minnesota in 1977.She finished her first book in 1978,...
, in her novel Snow-White and Rose-Red
Snow-White and Rose-Red
Snow-White and Rose-Red is a German fairy tale. In the seventeenth century Charles Perrault was the first to write it down, but the best-known version is the one collected by the Brothers Grimm as tale number 161....
, had a character not succumb to a spell because the caster did not know the name he was baptized by. In Operation Chaos, Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
had the doctor who delivered a baby not only issue a regular birth certificate, but a secret one, with the newborn's name; the hero, born before such precautions were routine, is glad to hide his daughter's true name. In the Bartimaeus trilogy
Bartimaeus Trilogy
Bartimaeus is a fantasy series by Jonathan Stroud consisting of a trilogy published from 2003 to 2005 and a prequel novel published in 2010. The titular character, Bartimaeus, is a five-thousand-year-old djinni, a spirit of approximately mid-level power...
by Jonathan Stroud
Jonathan Stroud
Jonathan Anthony Stroud is an author of fantasy books, mainly for children and young adults.-Biography:Born in 1970 in Bedford, England, Stroud began to write stories at a very young age. He grew up in St Albans where he enjoyed reading books, drawing pictures, and writing stories...
, a magician cannot have full control over a demon if the demon knows the magician's true name; as a result all magicians have records of their true names destroyed during childhood and take a new name around adolescence.
In David Gemmell
David Gemmell
David Andrew Gemmell was a bestselling British author of heroic fantasy. A former journalist and newspaper editor, Gemmell had his first work of fiction published in 1984. He went on to write over thirty novels. Best known for his debut, Legend, Gemmell's works display violence, yet also explore...
's Rigante series, tribesmen have a true name, or soul name, which ties them to the earth. This name can be given by the father of the child at birth, by a wise woman, or by deep reflection by the individual. Such examples are: Sword in the Storm, Midnight Falcon, Ravenheart, Stormrider, Hawk in the Willow, Flame in the Water, Cloud in the Night.
More arcane means may be needed to find a true name. In Earthsea, a wizard must listen for and give the hero his true name; this is performed in both Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea
A Wizard of Earthsea
A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, is the first of a series of books written by Ursula K. Le Guin and set in the fantasy world archipelago of Earthsea depicting the adventures of a budding young wizard named Ged...
and The Tombs of Atuan
The Tombs of Atuan
The Tombs of Atuan is the second of a series of books written by Ursula K. Le Guin and set in her fantasy archipelago of Earthsea, first published in 1971. Its events take place a few years after those in A Wizard of Earthsea and around two decades before those in The Farthest Shore...
. In Lawrence Watt-Evans
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Lawrence Watt-Evans is one of the pseudonyms of American science fiction and fantasy author Lawrence Watt Evans...
's The Wizard Lord, animals are described as having simple names of only a few syllables, while humans can have almost endless ever-changing names.
In the story line of Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
, the character Mister Mxyzptlk is introduced in the 1940s
1940s
File:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events which happened during World War II : From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching "Omaha" Beach on "D-Day"; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurred during the war as Nazi Germany...
. The first incarnation of this character is described as a little imp
Imp
An imp is a mythological being similar to a fairy or demon, frequently described in folklore and superstition. The word may perhaps derive from the term ympe, used to denote a young grafted tree.-Folklore:...
who suffered from the vulnerability that if he was tricked into speaking or writing his name backwards, he would be involuntarily transported back to his place of origin.
A character remembering their true name may be an important means of maintaining mastery of their own life. In Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
's movie Spirited Away
Spirited Away
is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood and after her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba,...
, the witch who runs the bathhouse, Yubaba, ensures loyalty by stealing the names of her subjects. For example, one of the witch's most loyal subjects, the spirit of the Kohaku River, has his name taken and is given a slave name: Haku. Haku
Haku
Haku may refer to:In individuals:*Tonga Fifita , professional wrestler who wrestled under the name Haku*Shinkun Haku , Japanese politician*Kiyoko Haku or Kiyoko Arai, Japanese manga artistIn fictional characters:...
in fact forgets his name, and it is in this way 'taken' from him; he warns Chihiro Ogino against the dangers of forgetting her own name. She frees him when she recognises him and he then remembers and 'takes back' his name and is freed from the clutches of the witch.
In the series Death Note
Death Note
is a manga created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and manga artist Takeshi Obata. The main character is Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a god of death, or a shinigami, named Ryuk...
finding one's true name is essential to murder them.
In the Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
, certain spells are more powerful if the target's true name is known. The Tome of Magic supplement presents a number of classes, feats and magical abilities which interact with truenames.
In the cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
genre following Vernor Vinge
Vernor Vinge
Vernor Steffen Vinge is a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author. He is best known for his Hugo Award-winning novels and novellas A Fire Upon the Deep , A Deepness in the Sky , Rainbows End , Fast Times at Fairmont High ...
's 1981 True Names
True Names
True Names is the science fiction novella which brought Vernor Vinge to prominence in 1981. It is one of the earliest stories to present a fully fleshed-out concept of cyberspace, which would later be central to stories in the cyberpunk genre. Because of this, it is often referenced as a seminal...
and the work of William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
, much of the plot involved interactions between people's virtual selves in cyberspace
Cyberspace
Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
. Learning a fellow hacker's real-world name (i.e., their "true name") could allow you to turn them in to the government or otherwise blackmail them, conveying a kind of power that could be considered analogous to the equivalent concept of myth and legend.
In the video game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, or Paper Mario 2, released in Japan as , is a console role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube...
, the character Doopliss has the ability to use unlimited magic, however, this magic stops working if his name is spoken to him.
In Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats is a collection of whimsical poems by T. S. Eliot about feline psychology and sociology, published by Faber and Faber. It is the basis for the record-setting musical Cats....
, and the musical based on it
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...
, each cat has – in addition to his common name ("that the family use daily") and his more dignified particular name ("that never belongs to more than one cat") – a "deep and inscrutable, singular Name" that "no human research can discover, but the cat himself knows and will never confess".
In the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
episode "The Shakespeare Code
The Shakespeare Code
"The Shakespeare Code" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 7 April 2007, and is the second episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series. According to the BARB figures this episode was seen by 7.23 million viewers and was...
" the Doctor encounters an alien species calle the Carrionites who uses words instead of numbers as a science to manipulate the universe. They can take control over other people by saying their name and can be chased away by usage of their species' name.
In the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
video game Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage
Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage
Aidyn Chronicles: The First Mage is a role-playing video game developed by H2O Interactive and published by THQ for the Nintendo 64 video game console.-Plot:...
, the storyline is centered on the main character's quest to earn a true name.