: I think you're probably right that none of the names *we*
: hear are *anyone's* true names. Not even
: Ravanna--surely someone would have randomly gone
: "Ravanna, I say your name!" by now and
: crippled Shiver, right? Also, true names don't have
: quite as much power in Myth as in the Black Company;
: we know that having a bit of the sorcerer himself is
: more useful.
: I think that perhaps everyone, mage or no mage, has a
: true name they keep secret. That's the way it is in
: LeGuin's "Wizard of Earthsea" novels; you
: get a true name when you're born, and you only ever
: reveal it to a best friend or a trusted teacher. A
: true name is less of a weakness if you're not a
: mage--if your initial magical ability is 0, it doesn't
: really matter if it stays at 0--but it can still be
: used against you in spells and things, so even
: non-mages like to keep quiet about their true names.
: --SiliconDream
Even in the Black Comapany knowing a mages true name wasn't garunteed to kill them, just make them vulnerable. Like when Raven ambushed Whisper and Limper with the arrow with Limper's true name on the tip. It didn't kill him just made him vulnerabel to attack although till the very end he was trying to cast a spell on his attackers. This is alot like what happened to Shiver isn't it? Her true name (maybe) revealed she attacks but with lessened effectiveness against Myrdred and then Myrdred is able to kill her with his simplest attack, she sounds pretty weakened to me compared with Rabican's stunning victory in a spectacular dream duel. Rabican never would have expended such energies on any but one of the fallen and Myrdred uses the same attack he would use to dispatch a common maul or myrkridia.
