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3.5: Random Names

Aginor: "Recently, a friend of mine had to read the Iliad. In book 21, a character named Agenor attacks Achilles, and is defeated. Not much is said about him (Agenor) other than that he is "blameless and powerful", and knew that Hektor was stronger than he was. He attacked anyway, figuring that while Hektor was much more combat-capable, Agenor had the gods on his side, not to mention the fact that even the powerful make mistakes. In a few minutes, Hektor defeats Agenor, and Apollo surrounds the loser "in a thick mist", and transports him back to Troy. Some interesting parallels between this and TEOTW's final battle: Both Aginors knew that his opponent was more powerful. Both were full of pride. Both attacked anyway." [Mike O'Malley]

Asmodean: A demon described in the Old Testament book of Tobit, which is included only in the Catholic canon of scriptures (you won't find it in Jewish or Protestant Bibles; it's considered apocrypha in those circles). In the book of Tobit, Sara had been married seven times, but Asmodeus had slain all of them before they could consummate their marriage (Tobit 3:7-8). Sara eventually married Tobias, the son of Tobit, who was able to banish Asmodeus by burning the heart and liver of a special fish given to him by the angel Raphael in their bedchamber (Tobit 6:16-17, 8:2-3). Asmodeus fled to Egypt, where Raphael caught up with him and bound him up. [Rafael Sevilla]

Ba'alzamon: Ba'al, Baelzebub, or Ba'al Shamin (literally, "the lord of the heavens," an appellation of Ba'al.) Baelzebub, Lord of the Flies, was an ancient Caananite fertility deity that competed with worship of Yahweh in Old Testament times. Later became a euphemism for the devil from the time of Christ on (see Matthew 10:24, 12:24-27, Mark 3:22, and Luke 11:15-18) from its similarity to Aramaic beeldebaba = enemy, and from the fact that many ancient pagan gods were demonized in Christian times anyway. [Rafeal Sevilla]

Be'lal: Belial, literally means "worthless" in Hebrew, "sons of Belial" is used throughout the Bible to denote evil men. Eventually becomes the name of a demon in Medieval times. [Rafael Sevilla] Belial was often noted as commanding legions. Be'lal was one of the noted generals of the Shadow. [John Novak]

Bel Tine: Beltane, a Druidic holiday

Birgitte: Brigit/Brigid, Celtic goddess of fire, poetry, smithery, and/or healing.

Cyndane: Cynthia(?), another name for Artemis, the Greek Moon Goddess, who also was identifed with Selena. [Rich Boye]

Graendal: Grendal from Beowulf

Illian: Ilion, aka Troy, as in the Iliad

Ishamael: Ishmael: In Genesis, Abraham's eldest son (to an Egyptian serving girl Hagar) was called Ishmael. Apparently Abraham's wife took a disliking to young Ishmael and pressured Big Abe into exiling Ish and Hagar into the desert. The name literally means "God has Heard," because God is said to have heard of mother and son's plight at Sarah's hand. Jordan seems to have a taste for irony, methinks, as Ishamael is called the Betrayer of Hope! The whole quote about "every hand raised against him" is interesting, and in full:

"You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility towards all of his brothers." [Bible: Genesis 16:11-12]

As a side note, Ishmael is said to be the ancestor of the present-day Arabs and other peoples who now dwell in the lands around Israel.

Jehennah: Gehennah, a place of fire and torment.

Lanfear: French "l'enfer," the word for Hell.

Lews Therin/Lord of the Morning: Lucifer--the morning star

Lothair Mantelar (Founder of Children of Light): Martin Luther?

Masema: I actually came across a reference to a demon named Mastema, which seems to have been an apcryphal name for Satan-- Satan in the sense of Chief Accuser, rather than corruptor. [John Novak]

Mayene: Mayenne (1573, D F): for Charles de Lorraine-Guise, FP. Passed to Gonzaga 1621. Sold 1658 to La Porte-Mazarin. The title of duke remained by special clause in the letters patent, and became extinct in 1738. Essentially, Mayenne was a small, royal land-grant from the French Crown, that was near the Riviera. [Richard Boye']

Mesaana: Possibly from Messalina, the notorious third wife of Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, Emperor of Rome

M'Hael: a possible reference to Michael the Archangel who was Lucifer's chief opponent. (Technically, this shouldn't be in the "Names" section, but I put it here to provide easy comparison with the Lews/Lucifer idea.

Paaren Disen: Paradise

Perun: Pre-Christian Slavonic (Balkan) god of thunder. His sacred animal was the bull. A war god, Perun's weapons were the axe, the hammer, or "thunder arrows," all which symbolize thunder and lightning. [Rich Boye]. Fred Van Keuls adds: "He was a god of defensive warfare and was depicted with a big blonde beard. Jean Dufresne adds: "Those are his attributes as they had already drifted away from his original role, following the norse influence on the slavic peoples. Originally, he also had a strong agricultural component mixed with the rest. Which makes him even closer to Perrin than Thor is.

Rahvin: the raven--harbinger of evil. Or, Ravana/Ravan, a demon in Hindu mythology who abducts Sita, Rama's wife, in the Ramayana. (cf Morgase and Sita: Both Queens, both fall under the power of a demon/forsaken, in both cases there are doubts by other characters about whether they were willing or no) [Emma Pease].

"Rhiannon at the Tower": Rhiannon from Welsh mythology. The closest connection between her and a tower that I could find is the following from the story of Manawyddan: Manawyddan, his wife Rhiannon, her son Pryderi, and his wife Kicva were out hunting. They came upon a mysterious castle. Their hounds ran into the castle, and didn't come out. Pryderi went in after them, and saw a large gold bowl. He touched the bowl, and became frozen. After a while, Rhiannon went in to look for him, got similarly stuck, and then the castle disappeared. (They finally got released.)

Sammael: Either a member of Lucifer's host, or another name for Lucifer himself (depending on one's source).

Selene: Selena, a Greek goddess of the moon, (Hence the icon) merged in Artemis and Hecate. She loved a youth named Endymion, and put him into a deep sleep so that he would not be conscious of her caresses.

Semirhage: Legendary Assyrian queen mentioned by Herodotus, wife and successor to Ninus, mythical founder of Nineveh. Noted for being so excessively lustful and depraved she even legalized incest within her realm. Dante Alighieri puts her in the Second Circle of Hell with those who committed the sin of lust.

Shai...: (well you KNOW who this is) : Satan [Will Baird notes: Shai... is the Arabic name for Satan literally.]

Shayol Ghul: Sheol: Hebrew for hell; Ghul: Gol or Gul, Arabic for Demon

Tarmon Gai'don: Armageddon

Telamon: another character in the Iliad who we might recognize is Aias, (Roman: Ajax) one of the most powerful and respected warriors of the Greek army. Because there was another, unrelated warrior with the same name, Aias was also known by his father's name, Telamon. [Peter Smalley]

Tuatha'an: Tuatha De Danann, "People of the Goddess Danu." A magical race of beings who were supposed to have inhabited Ireland at the time of the arrival of the Milesians (i.e. humans).

Wild Hunt:Wild Hunt, of Celtic legend

Heroes of the Horn, from [ACOS: 21, Swovan Night, 362]:

Mikel of the Pure Heart: Archangel Michael?
Shivan the Hunter, Calian: He was said to herald the end of Ages, the destruction of what had been and the birth of what was to be, he and his sister Calian, called the Chooser, who rode red-masked at his side.": two Hindu deities: Shiva the Destroyer and Kali, goddess of death.
Amaresu, with the Sword of the Sun: Amaterasu, ancient Japanese goddess of the sun, from whom the Japanese royal family claims descent.

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The Wheel of Time FAQ. Copyright 1999 by Pamela Korda and Erica Sadun. HTML implementation by Matthew Hunter. This site maintained by Matthew Hunter (mhunter@andrew.cmu.edu). Comments and questions regarding the content itself should be directed to Pam Korda (kor2 @ midway.uchicago.edu).