Thunder And A Name

For the characters, see People And Places.

Ponsario tells Sidir that Josserek, an escaped mutineer and possibly also a spy for the Seafolk Seniory, may be hiding in the Lairs of Arvennath.

Sidir asks:

"'Where in that warren could your beast be?'"
-Poul Anderson, The Winter Of The World, III, p. 42.

Ponsario replies:

"'I can offer you a good guess, Captain General...At the headquarters of - ' Thunder trampled the name underfoot." (ibid.)

This is a dramatic effect borrowed from cinema. The author wants us to know that a significant name is to be said but does not want us - yet - to know what it is. There are different ways to do this. Anderson could just have written something like, "Ponsario told Sidir a name." Instead, the author has told us at the start of the chapter that a storm was approaching. Of course, this also signals an approaching storm in human affairs. Now, thunder dramatically conceals the name - even tramples it underfoot. That would work in a film and works just as well in a novel.

I discussed a similar situation with a character's name in How To Film Mirkheim?