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qbert posted:No, they've always been solitary by nature. It's why the T'lan Imass managed to wipe most of them out. Even after they started getting hunted down, they never thought to band together. This. And when they do team up they're a force to be reckoned with. I believe in the mythos the first Tyrants were Jaghut because when one decided to rule and banded a bunch together they were extremely powerful. Hence why Tyrants = Bad guys. Heck, can't just one Jaghut basically cause a mini ice-age wherever they dwell?
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May 6, 2011 01:04
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Someone on the Malazan FB community did some cool cover designs. Guess he's gunna do a whole set: 
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May 11, 2011 04:07
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Loving Life Partner posted:Someone on the Malazan FB community did some cool cover designs. Guess he's gunna do a whole set: Those are pretty badass. They look like pulp science fiction, which I'm okay with.
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May 11, 2011 04:51
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"Cutter" is a dumb rear end name and Erikson needs to stop trying to convince me otherwise
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May 11, 2011 09:11
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Just like to note I'm a big fan of these books. Fantastic writer. I starting reading Glen Cook after I finished number 10 but I just can't stop wanting more Erikson. Fiddler and Hedge rock.
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May 11, 2011 09:30
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Loving Life Partner posted:Someone on the Malazan FB community did some cool cover designs. Guess he's gunna do a whole set: those are amazing apart from the flying giant ninja on the gardens of the moon cover
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May 11, 2011 10:13
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L.E. Cheetah posted:"Cutter" is a dumb rear end name and Erikson needs to stop trying to convince me otherwise Erikson's names are almost universally really bad.
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May 11, 2011 15:42
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On one hand, it's vaguely endearing that the Empress of the Malazan Empire used to be known as "Surly", and things like that. On the other hand, it's like he put so much effort into everything else that when it came to names he was like "eh gently caress it"
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May 11, 2011 17:29
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No, she's Laseen. You see, she changed her name from an adjective to a generic Forgotten Realms fantasy name for no discernible reason. The main problem with the names might be the whole 'GURPS game from 1980s' phenomenon. A lot of the names are just random things Erikson came up with while he was DMing or rolling up characters on the fly and they stuck.
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May 11, 2011 18:19
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what names do you like in other books (that are fantasy)
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May 11, 2011 19:34
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HeroOfTheRevolution posted:No, she's Laseen. You see, she changed her name from an adjective to a generic Forgotten Realms fantasy name for no discernible reason. She changed her name to Laseen because it meant "Thronemaster" in her native language, iirc. Not really a spoiler, she then proceeded to steal the throne. edit: fixed meaning from "Throne Stealer" because Gardens of the Moon was so long ago. cenzo fucked around with this message at 20:31 on May 11, 2011 |
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May 11, 2011 20:24
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You'd think people would've seen that coming...
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May 11, 2011 20:29
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Pretty sure Whiskeyjack commented on it in the prologue of Gardens of the Moon.
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May 11, 2011 20:39
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I am pretty sure most of the stupid names for Malazans like 'Surly' are Braven Toothisms. He seems to have trained anyone who is anyone, and nobody gets spared one of his nicknames.
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May 11, 2011 20:46
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"I need a reason for the stupid names I give people so I'll have a character with a stupid name give other characters stupid nicknames"
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May 11, 2011 21:01
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The marine names are fine, cause I understand the nickname thing, and enjoy a lot of them. It's another aspect of them losing their previous lives entirely to become fighting forces. You don't know anybody's real name, aside from Kalam, WJ and Quick. Aside from the marines, I'd say Erikson is like 1 for 2 on names. I can forgive generic fantasy names, Trull, Rhulad, et al, then there are dumb ones, like Fear, Rake, Bugg, every Watered/Pure etc., then there are a host of decent names, Karsa, Gothos, Fisher Kel Tath, etc. So whatever.
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May 11, 2011 21:43
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Loving Life Partner posted:You don't know anybody's real name, aside from Kalam, WJ and Quick. I don't think we know Whiskeyjack's real name. Iskar Jarak was given to him by the Anibar. Loving Life Partner posted:Aside from the marines, I'd say Erikson is like 1 for 2 on names. I can forgive generic fantasy names, Trull, Rhulad, et al, then there are dumb ones, like Fear, Rake, Bugg, every Watered/Pure etc., then there are a host of decent names, Karsa, Gothos, Fisher Kel Tath, etc. So whatever. I'm with you on Fear, but Bugg is a perfect name for that character. Tehol even says he likes it better than his real name. Rake is kind of goofy on its own, but Anomandaris Dragnipurake is pretty cool. I generally like the marines' names, though some of them are kind of stupid. I think the most successful names (can a name be said to be successful?) are the really ancient ones like Kilmandaros, Icarium and Dessimbelackis, because there's just something about them that evokes antiquity to me. One of the most annoying things about this series is that a lot of characters have very similar sounding names, which only adds to the general confusion.
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May 11, 2011 23:45
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Juaguocio posted:One of the most annoying things about this series is that a lot of characters have very similar sounding names, which only adds to the general confusion. I like that some people have the same names. It's more realistic, even if having two characters named Pearl was awfully confusing for a bit.
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May 11, 2011 23:55
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HeroOfTheRevolution posted:The main problem with the names might be the whole 'GURPS game from 1980s' phenomenon. A lot of the names are just random things Erikson came up with while he was DMing or rolling up characters on the fly and they stuck. Huh? The names Erikson uses have a lot in common with Dickens, if anything. That's a very obvious influence that he even acknowledged. Not sure Dickens copied names from GURPS.
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May 12, 2011 00:06
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I generally like the names. Sure some are fairly stupid fantasy names but they are usually less offensive than Drizzt or Dr Raven Darktalon Blood. And I rather like the marines nickname thing even if some of them are stupid. I just imagine that they pissed off their drillmaster and he punished them with a dumb name that will follow them forever. With the names sounding alike and two pearls how many guys named John have you met in your life? And as far as Cutter goes didn't Crokus come up with that himself? Look at the real world when dumb kids name themselves, you get stupid internet names like xXxSephirothxXx. I envisioned that when Crokus was all like "call me Cutter now!" everyone around him was all 
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May 12, 2011 00:58
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Are people really going to say they dont like Sweetlard and Rumjugs? Get the hell out. Just go. There's only one really bad name in the Malazan world, and that is Kyle. It just doesn't fit at all.
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May 12, 2011 06:58
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the periodic fable posted:what names do you like in other books (that are fantasy) Martin does a good job with names, as does Abercrombie. Their names are 'fantasy' but not so fantastical as to sound like they'd be completely out of place in real life. 'Roose Bolton' isn't a real name but it's not so jarring that it takes over the narrative. Erikson's names were occasionally bad enough to unnecessarily throw me for a loop while reading. It's a matter of preference, and I understood the marines 'callsign' thing even if it didn't seem particularly consistent until about halfway through the series. Abalieno posted:Huh? The names Erikson uses have a lot in common with Dickens, if anything. That's a very obvious influence that he even acknowledged. My favorite part of A Tale of Two Cities is when Khrugava went to the guillotine in place of K'azz D'Avore. I can see maybe some sort of vague Dickens influence in the marine names (see: Artful Dodger), but the vast majority of characters are more Drizzt Do'Urden than anything. Hondo82 posted:Are people really going to say they dont like Sweetlard and Rumjugs? Get the hell out. Just go. The entire New Bridgeburners plot should have probably had an editor's scalpel taken to it because it just didn't go anywhere. I got that it was more comic relief than anything but I thought it was pretty unnecessary. HeroOfTheRevolution fucked around with this message at 08:05 on May 12, 2011 |
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May 12, 2011 08:00
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L.E. Cheetah posted:"Cutter" is a dumb rear end name and Erikson needs to stop trying to convince me otherwise Cutter is supposed to be a dumb name. The character takes the name in an attempt to be scarier and more assassin sounding but it's a nickname for healers. That was entirely intentional.
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May 12, 2011 14:56
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Just finished Midnight Tides and now have started Night of Knives.
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May 12, 2011 15:58
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Hondo82 posted:There's only one really bad name in the Malazan world, and that is Kyle. It just doesn't fit at all. Sorry is a stupid name, nickname or otherwise. Also you say this as if one of the main characters isn't named Ben.
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May 12, 2011 16:40
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Sorry but Sorry is a hilarious name.
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May 12, 2011 16:49
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I guess it's better to quote Erikson himself at this point:quote:In practical terms, characters generally arrive (for me) as names first; sometimes that name describes something about the character, in a Dickensian fashion; while at other times that name runs counter to the character’s traits. Two examples would be Antsy for a nervous, agitated, paranoid character; and Tiny Chanter, for the biggest and nastiest of the Chanter brothers. Obviously, some characters arrive with names that have no earthly correlation, and there I find that the ones that sound right in my head often do so because they trigger some related (or not-so-related) image or emotion in me. In still other instances, I use names to resonate with historical, earthly personages, though usually when I do that I disguise that resonance so that only I am aware of it. Finally, some names I invent and keep only because I like the look and sound of them.
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May 12, 2011 17:05
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He doesn't say he was influenced by Dickens, just that the underlying reasons for the names are similar. Naming a guy who has red hair 'Red' doesn't require you to be influenced by Dickens. That actually really didn't bother me too much because there was a compelling reason for it in Malazan world, but it also was not always consistently applied. The aforementioned Pearl, for example, is a 'noun/adjective' name and yet the character is a Claw and not a Marine. The Crimson Guard are the worst offenders, alternating between 'noun/adjective' and 'fantasy' names without any rhyme or reason at all, though that's at least partly Esslemont's fault. Again, I think the naming scheme was hurt by the fact that a lot of the characters came from his tabletop RPG campaign and thus he was married to names that he rolled up in the 80s, often probably on the fly. Really, K'azz D'avore. HeroOfTheRevolution fucked around with this message at 17:22 on May 12, 2011 |
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May 12, 2011 17:17
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Lunchtray posted:Just finished Midnight Tides and now have started Night of Knives. I'm so sorry in advance.
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May 12, 2011 20:30
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NovemberMike posted:Cutter is supposed to be a dumb name. The character takes the name in an attempt to be scarier and more assassin sounding but it's a nickname for healers. That was entirely intentional. LtSmash posted:And as far as Cutter goes didn't Crokus come up with that himself? Look at the real world when dumb kids name themselves, you get stupid internet names like xXxSephirothxXx. I envisioned that when Crokus was all like "call me Cutter now!" everyone around him was all That was definitely my reaction to it. If it was intentional then why does every other character's internal dialogue take his new name so seriously? There's no way. Crokus turned into this hard-bitten assassin type and Erikson wanted him to have an awesome hard-bitten new name.
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May 12, 2011 21:19
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L.E. Cheetah posted:That was definitely my reaction to it. If it was intentional then why does every other character's internal dialogue take his new name so seriously? There's no way. Crokus turned into this hard-bitten assassin type and Erikson wanted him to have an awesome hard-bitten new name. It's almost certainly intentional. IIRC one of the first times he tells someone his name is Cutter they ask if he's a docter and it's a reference to Croaker the doctor from the Black Company series.
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May 12, 2011 21:24
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NovemberMike posted:It's almost certainly intentional. IIRC one of the first times he tells someone his name is Cutter they ask if he's a docter and it's a reference to Croaker the doctor from the Black Company series. Again, I'd believe this if every other character didn't take his name so seriously. Their musings on his name change always go along the lines of "A hard name... for a the hard man he was becoming." "His new name suited Cutter's new nature...".
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May 12, 2011 21:41
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Maybe they were smirking when they said it.
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May 12, 2011 21:53
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Abalieno posted:I guess it's better to quote Erikson himself at this point: He talks too much.
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May 12, 2011 22:22
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HeroOfTheRevolution posted:
I'm not sure I entirely agree. Though they didn't do a ton plot wise, they helped set up some of the more moving scenes with Fid and Hedge. Some of the stuff the former did toward the end seemed very fueled by the emotional scenes just before that.
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May 12, 2011 22:49
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qbert posted:I'm so sorry in advance. You know I've been bracing myself on how bad Night of Knives could be but I'm 50 pg's in of 230 and so far it hasn't been so bad. I've found it's fast and easy to read so far without much elaboration outside of basic necessity to setup a scene. It's far simpler than Erikson's work but so far it's almost a break from slogging through the first 5 in a row so far. Who knows that might change shortly...
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May 13, 2011 01:44
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Lunchtray posted:You know I've been bracing myself on how bad Night of Knives could be but I'm 50 pg's in of 230 and so far it hasn't been so bad. Well I guess as long as you don't ask yourself why the two main characters do what they do, you might be fine...
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May 13, 2011 05:53
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qbert posted:Well I guess as long as you don't ask yourself why the two main characters do what they do, you might be fine... Kiska and Temper? Yeah, I have no idea why they're doing what they're doing at this point. Maybe they're just the types that just somehow get sucked into happenings outside their control and are along for the ride either by accident, stupidity, naive interest, or it's something about their personality that hasn't really been explained well yet.
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May 13, 2011 15:09
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HeroOfTheRevolution posted:the whole 'GURPS game from 1980s' phenomenon. Well, this explains the Che'Malle, I guess. Giant dinosaurs with swords for hands that can fly airplanes. It sounds like some nerd group's epic injoke.
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May 16, 2011 06:29
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L.E. Cheetah posted:Well, this explains the Che'Malle, I guess. Giant dinosaurs with swords for hands that can fly airplanes. It sounds like some nerd group's epic injoke. Don't forget the dinosaurs with tesla-coil backbacks.
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May 16, 2011 06:43
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