Good King Grallon II

(First see earlier post, "Good King Grallon.")

 At last, another wife addresses Gratillonius directly as "'...dear Grallon...' " (Poul and Karen Anderson, Roma Mater (London, 1989), p. 355).

Here, she is no longer mispronouncing "Gratillonius" but simply using the new Ysan form of the name, the one that, with its alternative "Gradlon," will be recorded in the legend from which the Andersons have created the fictitious character, Gaius Valerius Gratillonius.

Rereading but now scanning ahead, I notice one other reference in this opening volume of the tetralogy. Back to the King's favorite wife, Dahilis:

"His right name eluded her. It was lengthy, Latin, unmusical. Her tongue remembered how Ysans sometimes rendered it. 'Grallon. Oh, Grallon.' " p. 414.

It was she herself who, at least in our hearing, had stumbled on "Gratillonius," first saying "Grallon," then correcting herself (p. 317). Thus, very carefully, through five stages and over hundreds of pages, the authors have transformed the Latin name of their Romano-British character into the name of the legendary Ysan king.

Good King Grallon

Like everyone else, Poul and Karen Anderson inherited the French legend of a King Grallon or Gradlon in the city of Ys. In their King Of Ys tetralogy, they created a fictitious character called Gaius Valerius Gratillonius. How is the latter transformed into the former?

The Ysans have trouble pronouncing the Latin name "Gratillonius." One of his nine wives says:

" 'This Gra - Gra-lo - Gratillonius has met the leaders of Ys...' " (Roma Mater, London, 1989, p. 158).

His favorite wife, Dahilis, says:

" 'You are much like Hoel as I remember him, Gra- Gratillonius.' Her Latin weak, she occasionally had trouble keeping the syllables of his name in place." (p. 166)

Later, Dahilis says:

 " '...I am, am with you always, Grallon - Gratillonius...' " (p. 317)

Thus, she gives him his Ysan name for the first time. He will be known as "King Grallon" and even as "good King Grallon" despite all the problems eventually caused by his Kingship. The way in which a heroic character acquires the name by which he will later be known is always an important part of his story but here the transition from "Gratillonius" to "Grallon" is so gradual and understated that it will be missed on a casual reading - and, for me, it was unearthed only by careful rereading.