Tuesday, November 11, 2008

What's In A Name?

I totally forgot to reserve a name for my inevitable death knight alt on Cathmor's server. Problem #1 - I take forever to pick names, since they need to both fit the character and be something I like, otherwise I loathe playing the character. Problem #2 - A lot of the names I gravitate toward (names lifted out of George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series) have been used all ready.

So, first thing's first. This death knight will be an Alliance slave for Cathmor, being an herbalist/skinner so that I have all 3 gathering professions covered. Screw crafting, the gear is usually equal to drops anyway. BUT, what race should I pick? The character will be male, I don't gender bend.

Choice #1: Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human, or Night Elf?

Secondly, the name. My first thought was to choose the name Beric, for Beric Dondarrion, a character in Martin's books who has died and been revived several times. Alternately, I could name the character Dondarrion.

Next thought would be Coldhands, another character from Martin's book. Presumed to be the resurrected body of a former ranger, here's the first description of the character from the book (from A Storm of Swords, page 536):

"Brother!" The shout cut through the night, though the shrieks of a thousand ravens. Beneath the trees, a man muggled head to heels in mottled blacks and grays sat astride an elk. "Here," the rider called. A hood shadowed his face.

...The rider wore no glove. His hand was black and cold, with fingers as hard as stone.
Another descriptor, from the same book (page 635):
He wore blacks, like a brother of the Watch, but he was pale as a wight, with hands so cold that at first I was afraid.
That, to me, is a good image of a dead man risen and roaming the world.

Of course, my theme of name also needs to be refined. Do I go with a name of a character that could be construed as a living being, a given name? Or do I pick a name that is more descriptive, like Coldhands?

Choice #2: Given name, or descriptive name?

And, once that is decided, I need to delve further and actually pick a name that is not totally unfitting of the chosen race. Beric would fit for a human or dwarf, but not for a night elf. It might work for a draenei or gnome. Coldhands would fit for any of them.

And, the ultimate problem, I don't know what's still available on my server.

Does anyone have thoughts on how I should proceed? What race do I pick? What type of name do I choose? Yar, too many choices...

1 comment:

Dradis said...

For the race I would go with either Human, Night Elf, or Dwarf if for no other reason then it would make sense for those races to be Death Knights since they experienced the Plague. And as I recall, you had to be infected to become a DK, could be wrong on that though. Of those three, I think Human would be the way to go for aesthetic reasons, imho.

Good luck on the name. That is the hardest part for me as well. I have deleted toons because I didn't like their name.