Saturday, 6 March 2021

Gadrol And Eidhafor

Might there be a society in which each personal name is unique, specific to just one individual? But then how would there be enough names for everyone? Apparently the Romans had very few personal names.

Merseian personal names are not unique. For two Eidhafors, see Merseian Names. For Cyntafth Gadrol, see More Merseian Names. For another Gadrol, see Ensign Flandry, CHAPTER TEN, p. 91. The Cyntath commands a task force whereas the other, earlier, was a provincial governor so we deduce that these are not the same guy.

Anderson does not disclose anywhere near as much about Merseians or Ythrians as Tolkien does about Elves and Dwarfs but he sure discloses plenty. The Earth Book Of Stormgate, a masterful volume of Ythrian lore, even recounts the fateful contact of the Polesotechnic League with Merseia. Flandry reaps what Falkayn sowed.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I would not be surprised at all if some humans (and non-humans!) in Flandry's time wished, in their darker moments, that Merseia had not been saved by Falkayn in "Day of Burning." That would have spared the Empire this grim, exhausting struggle with an implacable enemy.

Or would it? Even absent Merseia, some other power might well have risen to challenge Terra.

Ad astra! Sean