a random thought on character names in the Riddle-Master trilogy

[edenfalling]

Apropos of nothing in particular:

There are two very important characters in Patricia McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy who are never directly given their proper, original names. One is the High One, whom we meet in various guises (each with its own name), but based on the words of the dead children under Isig Mountain and a few things he says near the end of Harpist in the Wind, one can work out his original name: Tir, Master of Earth and Wind.

The other is the woman who leads the shape-changers. She enters the story masquerading as a named human character and then is only ever referred to as "the woman you knew as So-and-So," "the dark, delicately beautiful Earth-Master," "a dark-haired woman," "the woman," and so on and so forth. My guess is that her original name is also one of the names provided by the dead children under Isig -- Edolen or Sec, in other words; one of "those from the sea" -- but unlike the High One's name, hers is never confirmed within the story.

This annoys me both from a feminist perspective and from a fic-writing perspective.