So I was musing about the names in The Seer of Grace and Fire #darkfantasy trilogy and I thought that I would write a blog post about how they got their names since some of them are a little “out of the ordinary.” And on top of that I wanted to add the pronunciation key as well.
How Do You Pronounce the Names of Characters in The Seer of Grace and Fire?
Timorn – Tih Mourn
Ethesian – Eh Thee See Ahn
Ishika – Ish Ih Kah
Kabal – Kah ball
Ihel – Eeeh Ehl
Arhl – Are Ull
Seih – Say
Kennai – Keh Nigh
Isla – EEss Lah
Silamir – Sih La Meer
Valkyris – Vahl Kah Riss
Dalannin – Dah Lah Ninn
Where Did The Seer of Grace and Fire Character Names Come From?
Timorn – Timorn was an original character that I created in the 6th grade from an original fantasy story where he was an elf and a Tracker. He hid in trees and had two daggers and a fierce temper. He wore leather belts and arm guards and a hide tunic in a dark colour. He was enamoured by an elven archer and hid in trees from adversaries. He was tracked by The Valkyris an evil elven queen. In The Seer of Grace and Fire, Timorn is a Ranger which is close to a Tracker and is 17 with purple eyes because he is a Jahnae Faerie. He has a twin and has two magical daggers and a sword made from faerie magic. He is a noble born faerie but was raised by a poor human family in a human town who adopted him when his mother the First Consort to King Ailon of Faerie hid him away to escape the murder of all the male faerie children at DarkFall 17 years ago by the Valkyris.
Ethesian – Originally a character I wrote in the 9th grade from a fantasy story. His original name was Jennen, I think and he played a lap harp. He had long hair that was red because he dressed and acted female which affected his hair and influenced his magic. His hair was red because he defied the customs at court and used magic to present as female. This was my first unknowing attempt at writing a transgender character. In The Seer of Grace and Fire, Ethesian plays the dragon lyre, a female magic faerie instrument and has long brown hair. She is transgender and hides her real gender from everyone. She is a magic user and also has prophetic dreams which is male faerie magic. When Ethesian comes up with the name “Toda” which he calls himself with Naril when he goes to study magic, the name is actually a Hebrew word, which was divine providence for many reasons.
Ishika – Ishika in The Seer of Grace and Fire is a new character and a thief. The name is actually Middle Eastern, I believe. I wanted a thief in The Seer of Grace and Fire who was human without magic but was cunning and smart. I gave Ishika darker skin and curly dark curls which originally were red but were changed to brown to match her skin tone. I wanted to add diversity to the story. I had liked the thieves guild idea from playing Dungeons and Dragons as a kid and so I made her an Apprentice member of the Thieves Guild at Ekhrine, the human city.
Kabal – Kabal in The Seer of Grace and Fire is named after the Mystical Jewish Spiritual System, The Kabbalah. I shortened Kabbalah to Kabal and named him as such since he is a cleric, a religious man, who translates mystical Elven prophesies into Jahnae and is the senior translator at the Ecclesiastical University at Ekhrine. I figured as a cleric and not a monk he would study esoteric practices and the Kabbalah is ancient Jewish mysticism. I had him spend his novice years in Akrisia, the home of the elves so that he could deepen his spiritual knowledge and power which is used later in the trilogy.
Ihel – Ihel is a high elf and she is originally the archer from the 6th grade story that Timorn was originally in. She had long hair in the original story but I cut it short in The Seer of Grace ad Fire to show her rebellion. I made her also a noble keeping with the original which is not revealed until later in the trilogy. She is an archer in The Seer as she was in the original story.
Arhl – This is another new character for The Seer of Grace and Fire. He is a scout who disguises himself as an elf. He is half-dragon who fights in the Dragon King’s imperial militia.
Seih – Another new pivotal character for The Seer of Grace ad Fire. He is a captain the Dragon King’s imperial militia. He is a half-dragon. I needed to explain the adult dragon coming to destroy Kannon in book 1 so that spurred a whole dragon related plot line starting in book 2. Some of his rebellious nature and fire comes from Timorn’s original character in the 6th grade story. I needed Seih to be rash and to calm Timorn down so he took some of the original Timorn’s arrogance, brashness, cunning and unpredictability.
Kennai – An elven snob. He is the son of the Elven King and Queen of Akrisia. He reminds me a little of the noble elves from The Lord of the Ring’s movie and his armour in the one drawing was slightly reminiscent of that. Initially in Book 2 of The Seer of Grace and Fire he is amenable and a leader of an elven regiment. He is a swordsman but later in the story his hatred for half-dragon kind makes him act and causes Timorn to want to take revenge on him for his actions.
Isla – She is a pure-blood dragon demon who is an apprentice to Dalannin. She was originally a character in the 6th grade story who appeared as a magical servant without a name. She can take commands from Dalannin from afar and is brought to the elven lands of Akrisia and sold by a merchant. She becomes a soldier in Kennai’s army and is one of his top 50 soldiers. She hides her real form which includes red eyes, white hair and dragon scales on her face with red tinted skin behind demon magic taught to her by Dalannin, her master.
Silamir – Silamir is the official sorcerer to King Ailon, the faerie King of Itheria at the high court at Kannon. We first see him in chapter 2 of The Seer of Grace and Fire book 1 but he does not have a role until much later in the book and through the other volumes. I needed a faerie sorcerer to counteract Dalannin. In chapter 2 when I started writing The Seer of Grace and Fire he did not have a name. I went back and named him when I got to the end of book 1 when the battle for Kannon at DarkFall started. He has a strange personality and usually shuts himself up in his Tower of Sorcery at Maniford only coming out when summoned by the king but most times when summoned he sends one of his faerie squires which he controls with his magic to report or communicate his words to the king. Him being in the Kannon palace in chapter 2 called by the King means that the king is deeply concerned about something for the sorcerer to come in person.
The Valkyris – The Valkyris is based off the original character from the 6th grade story and was more flushed out in the 9th grade story. She gets a dark elf mage partner in the 9th grade story. She is evil. In the original stories she was an elf not a faerie like she is in The Seer of Grace and Fire. She wore black mage robes which carried into The Seer of Grace and Fire and got more elaborate. She wore a crown also in the original stories which turned into the crown of thorns in The Seer. She has purple eyes which flash red when she uses the full power of her magic. She is beautiful and her beauty and life are extended made more vibrant by many spells she has cast over herself. She is a dark mistress, same as she was in the original stories.
Dalannin – Dalannin is a dark elf and the main mage to the Valkyris. The Valkyris sees him as a tool to do her bidding, but he thinks of himself as better than other apprentices. He was banished from his home in the elven city of Akrisia because of his pervasive use of dark magic which was against the elven kings edict. The background for Dalannin comes a little bit from my love of the character Raistlin from Dragolance which I read when I was in middle school and the room at the top floor of his tower where he does his magic at the Tower of High Summoning is how I envision Raistlin’s magic room would have looked like from reading those books many years ago. In later chapters in the trilogy I start hinting that Dalannin might actually be a little enamoured of the Valkyris and maybe even have a crush on her which eventually plays itself out in some fashion in the story.
What Else?
So that basically explains where the characters came from. I did not really have a fantasy book planned when I started writing The Seer of Grace and Fire trilogy. It was more a divine inspiration type thing that just wrote itself. The first volume of The Seer of Grace and Fire is due in early 2017. Check out concept art and more about the series as we get closer to the release on the blog.