Some names are quite random, others are not. We used a lot of Roman names for the Champions of Aleroth for instance, whereas a lot of villagers have random names. Still, it is true that there are many names that carry a connotation or reference to something else. A couple of examples:

  • Stan and Ollie: the first names of Laurel and Hardy
  • Eugene, the axe-wielder: after the Careful with that Axe Eugene song by Pink Floyd
  • The trees Yggdrasil, Jievaras and Irminsul: after mythological trees (Norse, Lithuanian and Germanic respectively)
  • Simeon the philosopher: after Simeon the Stylite (who actually spent 37 years atop a pillar until his death)
  • Sosostra, the fortune teller: after 'Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante' from T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land

Etc. etc.

Many of the important character names though, do not have a secondary meaning. Rhode, Lovis, Zandalor, Laiken, Ygerna, Maxos: they are not intended to have further reference.


I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er.