Names

What was that bit at the end about names? Sounded like an inside joke to me.

Renfield is a character in Dracula.

I had to look it up on Wikipedia myself and wouldn't have done so if Weber hadn't made it so obvious that it was an inside dracula joke. Since I'm a pushover for puppies, it salvaged the book for me.

Did anyone notice the article on the Rhodesian Ridgeback in Germany that gave birth to 17 puppies. Brought back memories of the Rhodesian Ridgeback that we had when our chidlren were young. We had a four acre, heavily wooded lot that we had to fence in to keep the hound from following its nose as well as contain the children. The Rhodesian promply exterminated the population of rabbits, possums, and raccoons. She also bagged a deer that got in the fence. We could turn the kids loose with the dog for security. The Rhodesian would actually patrol the property line and periodicly (every few minutes) check on each of the children. We never ever had to worry about someone coming on to the property to harm them because we had no doubt that our fur coated razor blade would chew them into little bloody bits.

anyone catch the reuse of Merlin and Nemu names.

Scriptor wrote:.
anyone catch the reuse of Merlin and Nemu names.

Those two names I think are some of <DW>'s favourites !!

R

kbus888 wrote:

Scriptor wrote:.
anyone catch the reuse of Merlin and Nemu names.

Those two names I think are some of <DW>'s favourites !!

R

It may go a little bit deeper than that.
I noticed in the Honorverse series that Weber's depiction of the Star Kingdom of Manticore is almost an idealised interpretation of the United Kingdom. Manticore as England, Gryphon as Scotland etc. Royal family (albeit with way more power than our real-world Royals have). And Weber seems to have done his research into aristocratic titles etc.
I think Weber is a closet Anglophile.

Anyway. Nimue and Merlin are both very famous names from Artherian mythology. Weber has incorporated (or simply cameo-d) this in several books (The Excalibur Alternative, anyone?). Several of Webers books utilise mythology as the basis of their plot (In Fury Born being a very good example), showing that Weber (unlike Dan Brown) does do his research.

One minor fact (and I mean no disrespect to you Americans) is that America doesn't really have much in the way of mythology. Loads of legends and legendary characters, yes, but actual mythology? America is a relatively young country, and mythology takes centuries to form. The UK has cottages older than America-as-a-country, and stories (true or otherwise) dating back centuries or more. With the fact that America and the UK sort-of share a language, it makes researching legends a great deal easier (as opposed to, say, researching Japanese mythology). Many stories are based, whether directly or indirectly, on old myths (or proto-stories), giving countries which have remained relatively undisturbed by revolution and/or highly destructive civil warfare an advantage in having a wider "base" to work with.
And yes, I know! Oliver Cromwell. But his forces were professional and he at least tried to minimise collateral damage, unlike many commanders who followed the "Kill-them-all-and-burn-the-buildings" approach. The civil war he fought was bloody, but not nearly as destructive as it could have been. Which is one reason of many that the UK has such a plethora of myths and legends that have not been lost in the mists of time.

Michael Everett wrote:

kbus888 wrote:

Scriptor wrote:.
anyone catch the reuse of Merlin and Nemu names.

Those two names I think are some of <DW>'s favourites !!

R

It may go a little bit deeper than that.
I noticed in the Honorverse series that Weber's depiction of the Star Kingdom of Manticore is almost an idealised interpretation of the United Kingdom. Manticore as England, Gryphon as Scotland etc. Royal family (albeit with way more power than our real-world Royals have). And Weber seems to have done his research into aristocratic titles etc.
I think Weber is a closet Anglophile.

Anyway. Nimue and Merlin are both very famous names from Artherian mythology. Weber has incorporated (or simply cameo-d) this in several books (The Excalibur Alternative, anyone?). Several of Webers books utilise mythology as the basis of their plot (In Fury Born being a very good example), showing that Weber (unlike Dan Brown) does do his research.

One minor fact (and I mean no disrespect to you Americans) is that America doesn't really have much in the way of mythology. Loads of legends and legendary characters, yes, but actual mythology? America is a relatively young country, and mythology takes centuries to form. The UK has cottages older than America-as-a-country, and stories (true or otherwise) dating back centuries or more. With the fact that America and the UK sort-of share a language, it makes researching legends a great deal easier (as opposed to, say, researching Japanese mythology). Many stories are based, whether directly or indirectly, on old myths (or proto-stories), giving countries which have remained relatively undisturbed by revolution and/or highly destructive civil warfare an advantage in having a wider "base" to work with.
And yes, I know! Oliver Cromwell. But his forces were professional and he at least tried to minimise collateral damage, unlike many commanders who followed the "Kill-them-all-and-burn-the-buildings" approach. The civil war he fought was bloody, but not nearly as destructive as it could have been. Which is one reason of many that the UK has such a plethora of myths and legends that have not been lost in the mists of time.

Thank you for the most interesting post.

It taught me stuff I did not know and any day I learn something new is a good day.

Thanks for making this one of my good days :-)

R

Michael Everett wrote:

kbus888 wrote:

Scriptor wrote:.
anyone catch the reuse of Merlin and Nemu names.

Those two names I think are some of <DW>'s favourites !!

R

It may go a little bit deeper than that.
I noticed in the Honorverse series that Weber's depiction of the Star Kingdom of Manticore is almost an idealised interpretation of the United Kingdom. Manticore as England, Gryphon as Scotland etc. Royal family (albeit with way more power than our real-world Royals have). And Weber seems to have done his research into aristocratic titles etc.
I think Weber is a closet Anglophile.

Anyway. Nimue and Merlin are both very famous names from Artherian mythology. Weber has incorporated (or simply cameo-d) this in several books (The Excalibur Alternative, anyone?). Several of Webers books utilise mythology as the basis of their plot (In Fury Born being a very good example), showing that Weber (unlike Dan Brown) does do his research.

One minor fact (and I mean no disrespect to you Americans) is that America doesn't really have much in the way of mythology. Loads of legends and legendary characters, yes, but actual mythology? America is a relatively young country, and mythology takes centuries to form. The UK has cottages older than America-as-a-country, and stories (true or otherwise) dating back centuries or more. With the fact that America and the UK sort-of share a language, it makes researching legends a great deal easier (as opposed to, say, researching Japanese mythology). Many stories are based, whether directly or indirectly, on old myths (or proto-stories), giving countries which have remained relatively undisturbed by revolution and/or highly destructive civil warfare an advantage in having a wider "base" to work with.
And yes, I know! Oliver Cromwell. But his forces were professional and he at least tried to minimise collateral damage, unlike many commanders who followed the "Kill-them-all-and-burn-the-buildings" approach. The civil war he fought was bloody, but not nearly as destructive as it could have been. Which is one reason of many that the UK has such a plethora of myths and legends that have not been lost in the mists of time.

When do legends turn into mythology? Part of the problem is that most of our "legendary" figures are people that we have recorded facts on. Kit Carson, Davy Crockett, Dan'l Boone, and others. Some such as Paul Bunyon, Pecos Bill, and others are tall tales made up. A few Casey Jones, John Henry might be based on real people. And there are many "ghost" type stories out there.

The true problem with a US Mythology is that there are written records of the entire history of the US.

Thirdbase wrote:
When do legends turn into mythology? Part of the problem is that most of our "legendary" figures are people that we have recorded facts on. Kit Carson, Davy Crockett, Dan'l Boone, and others. Some such as Paul Bunyon, Pecos Bill, and others are tall tales made up. A few Casey Jones, John Henry might be based on real people. And there are many "ghost" type stories out there.

The true problem with a US Mythology is that there are written records of the entire history of the US.

Actually, I think it may be more accurate to say that the mythology in the US/Canada is mostly contained in the native North American Indian culture and that culture was largely killed off by disease, greed, guns, and carelessness.

(There are some parts of my history in which I am not proud!!)

R

kbus888 wrote:

Thirdbase wrote:
When do legends turn into mythology? Part of the problem is that most of our "legendary" figures are people that we have recorded facts on. Kit Carson, Davy Crockett, Dan'l Boone, and others. Some such as Paul Bunyon, Pecos Bill, and others are tall tales made up. A few Casey Jones, John Henry might be based on real people. And there are many "ghost" type stories out there.

The true problem with a US Mythology is that there are written records of the entire history of the US.

Actually, I think it may be more accurate to say that the mythology in the US/Canada is mostly contained in the native North American Indian culture and that culture was largely killed off by disease, greed, guns, and carelessness.

(There are some parts of my history in which I am not proud!!)

R

That is why I said US Mythology instead of American Mythology. The natives had their own full blown mythology, and very little of it has made it into US mythology.