: Re: Why are names in fantasy novels often "original"? In the vast majority of fantasy novels, the characters' names are somewhat original (Bilbo, Kvothe, Daenerys, Pug and so on). Some authors use

@Hamaas631

Vote Up Vote Down

As others have said, most fantasy is set in a different environment, where the non-English-speaking inhabitants have different cultural and linguistic norms. So it's only natural to want to convey that.

But I think there's another reason. If I name my characters "Bob" or "Pocahantus" or "Chun Li", you form associations -- you see those characters a certain way because of your own cultural context. Since that's probably not the context of my world, that makes my job harder -- you, the reader, now have certain assumptions that I need to overcome. If I name my characters "Xilg" or "Z'lin" or "Loohrun97", you don't have those assumptions. I might have other problems (names shouldn't look like I just mashed the keyboard; what's the linguistic basis for them?), but at least you probably won't make Earth-based assumptions.

(0)

Login to post a comment!