# What's in a name?



## Sulimo (May 22, 2011)

I have recently read The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the Wheel of Time all back to back, and the one thing I've noticed is that for some reason people do not use the bad guys' name. Now in HP and WOT its different, because good guys don't say it, but in LotR the bad guys just call him the eye. I am curious what is up with this? Does this stem from Tolkien, and if so where did he get it from? Just wondering.


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## Beorn84 (Oct 26, 2015)

Maybe its a speak of the devil and he shall appear throry


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## Erestor Arcamen (Oct 26, 2015)

Maybe they just don't want to give that evil power any recognition at all. Naming something really gives it power and significance, but by calling Sauron the eye, it's degrading and not recognizing him as "Sauron the great and powerful."


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## Alcuin (Oct 26, 2015)

I’m not familiar with HP or WOT, but in Tolkien – and in the Bible and the ancient real world – knowing someone’s name gave you some power over them. In today’s world, _not_ knowing someone’s name deprives the State of some power over them: they cannot be served in court except as “John Doe”, for instance, and it is harder to find them. 

In _The Hobbit_, Bilbo is wise enough to conceal his name from Smaug; but he unthinkingly gives it to Gollum, who in turn gives it to Sauron: “Have you seen _Baggins_?” was the Nazgûl’s query of Farmer Maggot. Describing the situation to Frodo in “Shadow of the Past”, Gandalf said, “As for the name, Bilbo very foolishly told Gollum himself.”

Sauron’s original name might have been _Mairon_, “Admirable”: he was a powerful Maia in his beginning. (_Mairon_ is reported to have been published in _Parma Eldalamberon_ #17, 2007, p. 183, but I have never seen it myself, and cannot source the information beyond that.) _Sauron_ is Sindarin, worn down from _Gorthaur_, “Cruel”, from the Sindarin root _-thaw_. In the Second Age, he was called _Zigur_, “Wizard/Sorcerer” in Adûnaic, the Númenórean language that evolved into the Westron or “Common Tongue” of _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings_. 

When Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli encounter Gandalf the White in Fangorn Forest, Gandalf muses over the two names they use for him, _Mithrandir_ and _Gandalf_, and says, “You may still call me Gandalf.” 

Tolkien believed names very powerful: “Give me a name and I’ll produce a story,” he told BBC Radio 4 in a 1970 interview. 

As for where he got this idea, remember the first paragraph in this post (if it isn’t too long). *Having someone’s name gives you some power over him*, legally and socially. You cannot slander someone if you cannot name him. You can only indict or arrest someone as a John Doe if you cannot identify him. The State cannot seize your property if it cannot identify you and find it. It can execute you if it can get you; but if it does not know who you are, getting you is much harder. 

“Speak of the Devil and he appears,” is a near-universal saying, giving it credence: it’s as if someone had the unfortunate experience, and the shock is remembered from generation to generation. Celeborn rebuked Boromir, “Do not despise the lore that has come down from distant years; for oft it may chance that old wives keep in memory word of things that once were needful for the wise to know.” The truth of the Slavic form, “Speak of the dog and ready the stick,” can be readily proven by experiment: call your dog and see how fast he comes. The Chinese version remembers the brilliant general Cao-Cao, a terror to his enemies: _Shuō Cáo Cāo, Cáo Cāo dào_: “Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives.” 

In northern Europe, ancestors of Germanic speakers (including English speakers!) were afraid to call the big creatures they encountered by their name, _h₂ŕ̥tḱos_, “Destroyer”, because they were plentiful, and naming one might summon it. They called it the “Brown One”: _*bear*_. _h₂ŕ̥tḱos_ survives in many languages: in Latin _ursa_, in Welsh _Arthur_, in our name for the far north: _Arctic_, “land of the Destroyers”.

In the Bible, Moses at the burning bush asks God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what do I tell them?” (Moses is trying to get out of going: he doesn’t want to be a prophet! moreover, he had fled Egypt as a fugitive after murdering an Egyptian official.) God’s answer, “*Ehyeh asher Ehyeh*”, “I AM WHO I AM”, is both profound and enigmatic: it is a Name to ponder, for it says much about its Owner, but it is also a Name elusive to the hearer: you cannot pin Him down or require anything of Him. Egyptian gods could be summoned or controlled using their names, but not I AM. 

That’s probably where Tolkien got the idea.


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## Exma (Nov 10, 2015)

Alcuin...I am impressed with your insight. Would you say that all of what you have pointed out then lends credence to the theory that Tolkien's works were allegorical in nature?


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## JoyridingTilion (Dec 1, 2015)

Tolkien may have had some deeper reason for it, but I don't think Jordan, Rowling and the rest do it for any other reason than ominousness.


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