BAD fantasy names...

G

Guden Oden

Senior Member
Legend
There was this author once whose name shall go unnamed, who obviously wanted to have a different name for this character, but still familiar in a way I guess. Or else he had just poor imagination. Anyway, he named his creation "Arutha". Fcuk's sake, why not just call him ARTHUR and be done with it? Don't try to be original if you're bad at being original!

Then, the same author went and created another character that would grow up to become the Greatest Wizard Of All Time. And he named the wizard...Pug.

BEHOLD, THE GREATEST WIZARD OF ALL TIME: PUG!!!

No disrespect intended to anyone out there whose name might be pug,
but I bet you're not THE GREATEST WIZARD OF ALL TIME either! :LOL:

And then there's Drizzt... Jesus. That's what you call a guy in Diablo2 when you're out of inspiration. You don't go and make him a leading character in a series of fantasy novels, even if they are set in the overcommercialized forgotten realms world!
 
Egads I hated that name too. Loved the game where I first encountered him but hated his name.

I mean, I'm supposed to be impressed by a dude with the name, Pug? No thanks. Oh well, at least the game was kick ass.
 
Guden Oden said:
There was this author once whose name shall go unnamed, who obviously wanted to have a different name for this character, but still familiar in a way I guess. Or else he had just poor imagination. Anyway, he named his creation "Arutha". Fcuk's sake, why not just call him ARTHUR and be done with it? Don't try to be original if you're bad at being original!
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You'll be pleased to know that in some of his books Raymond Feist had the genius to have Arutha call himself Arthur to confuse his enemies.
 
Sandwich said:
You'll be pleased to know that in some of his books Raymond Feist had the genius to have Arutha call himself Arthur to confuse his enemies.
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Uhm... Yes, I'm sure they'd be VERY confused by that! Rofl...

And well, I did read some of Feist's books; the original "Magician" wasn't bad at all really, the two others that came after ("Silverthorn" was one, can't remember the other) were...well...not quite as good I thought. The society beyond the rift (can't remember the name of it) was rather fascinating though, but I don't remember how much we learned of it in those novels.

Never bothered with any of his later stuff.
 
Eldaina Fec'lash.
Mara Wintermoon.
Leyla Arthmod.
Jean Askthwynsth.

I made those up from the top of my head. :)
 
K.I.L.E.R said:
I made those up from the top of my head. :)
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Obviously the thread is meant to deal with ACTUAL bad fantasy names, meaning those you find in books and movies and such.

Also, I'd prefer if you keep your attention-seeking to your own threads, thank you...
 
Do NOT diss The Magician. Easily one of the best fantasy books of all time. And the Riftwar Saga that comes after the first triliogy is stupidly brilliant. I lent my copy to my best mate, and it quickly became his favorite book (mine is IT). For his 21st b/day a couple of years ago, I spent £60 on getting a one off reprint of the hardback edition.
 
I didn't dis the book, as you can see yourself, I wrote I think it's quite good actually. The first one anyway. Naming a Great Wizard-type character "pug" though is infinitely stupid and laughable. It's like naming the most beautiful princess in the land "Griselda", it just doesn't work.
 
Yes, he definitely changed his name to Milamber once he turned into hot shit. Or well, he didn't change his name, but rather that's what he was called by the people beyond the rift, I think. It was years ago since I read those books tho, and don't even remember which books belongs to what series. I thought both the Serpentwar and Riftwar were pretty awesome back when I read them though.

Edit:

Do NOT diss The Magician. Easily one of the best fantasy books of all time. And the Riftwar Saga that comes after the first triliogy is stupidly brilliant.
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A quick check tells me that Magician (Apprentice and Master, which were released as two books here at least) is, along with Silverthorn and A darkness at sethanon what makes up the Riftwar Saga, and the Serpentwar comes after that (which I guess I never finished, or I've just lost some of the books, heh).
 
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I think I read Riftwar when I was a lot younger on a plane or something. I never much liked it, as it was rather cliched. I think that was three books where some sort of ancient dragon rulers (blah blah blah) are trying to come out of some portal or somesuch.

If you like cliched D&D stuff, I much preffered the Dragonlance series (particularly the twins trilogy) it seemed to be better written.

Anyway im craving fantasy again recently, after not having touched it for many years, is the Elrick series any good?

Any suggestions for a more adult book?
 
While not exactly fantasy, I'm currently enjoying the Casca series by Barry Sadler. In condensed form: Casca is the guy who thrusts his spear into Jesus while he's on the cross, and gets cursed to eternal life as a mercenary. The books then just follow Casca through time in a non-chronological order as he makes his appearance during more or less famous events (Hitler, Cortez, Attila and so on). Each book is basically just a 'short-story' around 150ish pages, which is perfect for me since I generally don't have time to read fiction as much as I'd want to.
 
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Fred said:
I never much liked it, as it was rather cliched.
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The first book, "Magician" (released as two volumes in the US because the publisher in that country feels their people are so stupid they can't be bothered to read big long books), wasn't all that cliched in my opinion. Okay, parts of it probably was, but the world beyond the rift was really interesting, and that made me like it. The two followups however weren't at all as good, particulary the second book and I kept nodding off and putting them down while reading them.

If you like cliched D&D stuff, I much preffered the Dragonlance series (particularly the twins trilogy) it seemed to be better written.
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Heh, I LOOOOVED the dragonlance books when I was a teen. :) The first volume, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, is really quite unsophisticated and is noticeably moulded after gameplay sessions of playing the roleplaying campaign the novels are based on. There's even one section in the book where they spend time in a dungeon searching for hidden doors... :D The second and third novels however are much more standalone, and the twins trilogy that came afterwards are completely original.

Also, anyone who enjoyed the two first trilogies of dragonlance novels should read the Death Gate Cycle by Weis/Hickman, seven books in a really fascinating world. Really great stuff, and with the same quirky humor as in their six previous books. :)

is the Elrick series any good?
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Some of the Elric stories are enjoyable yes, at least the initial ones. Later, they take a downturn IMO.

Elric is a rather fascinating character tho, and has become the mould out of which quite a few cliche copycats have been fashioned out of, together with his sword of course... :)
 
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