In The King Of Ys, Poul and Karen Anderson created Gaius Valerius Gratillonius, a Romano-Britain of the Belgic tribe, centurion in the Second Legion Augusta, Roman prefect in Ys and King of Ys. They then explained how his name came to be mispronounced as either "Grallon" or "Gradlon," as in the legends of Ys.
In "Star Of The Sea," Poul Anderson starts with "Veleda," the name of a Pagan prophetess mentioned in Tacitus' Histories. From this, he works back to an entirely invented but wholly believable character.
First, "Veleda" was how Latin speakers rendered "Wael-Edh." (p. 504) This is explained as "'Edh the Foreigner, Edh the Strange.'" (p. 542) So her given name was "Edh" and she gained the descriptive affix, "Wael," as she bore her message across Germania.
Traveling back through time, the Patrol agents discover that "Edh" means "Oath." The name was intended as a reminder to the goddess Niaerdh that Edh's parents had given Her a valuable offering in exchange for protection of their offspring. And it is in Niaerdh's name that Edh prophesies the fall of Rome.
Niaerdh is associated with a star and the sea. We have already seen that Time Patrol includes, in successive passages, science fiction, historical fiction and mythological writing. "Star Of The Sea" ends with yet another type of writing, a prayer, addressed to "Mary, mother of God...," asking for protection at sea and ending: "Ave Stella Maris!" (p. 640) - "Hail, Star of the Sea!"
Although the Patrol prevents Edh from founding a German feminine monotheism that would have resisted Christianity, attributes of her goddess have been incorporated into Christianity in the history known to us.
Manson Everard withdraws from the text before the prayer on p. 639 and does not return until p. 667 because we read the points of view of Wanda Tamberly, Luis Castelar and Stephen Tamberly before then.
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