"Why do fantasy and SciFi villains have Scrabble names?" Topic

Did you ever draw nothing but X, J, Z, Q and vowels?
Have no fear! You can always plonk them down and claim it's the name of a villain in a Jack Vance or Larry Niven story. If you allow proper names, of course.

Because "Bob" doesn't terrify anyone?

All the good names were already taken?

I know a Bob. I have often though of inviting him in for coffee and cannoli. I worry about him remaining in a good mood with me a little less than my wife. Yes, you can fear a Bob.

Don't forget random apostrophes: that's always the signal for "creative" names for strange cultures.

I know a Rick who literally has killed dozens of people. I guess he is not a bad guy, but he is one mean SOB.

Because they're foreigners.

There was little girl at my sons playgroup named
Abcde pronounced Ab-cee-dee

Wasn't there a bad guy in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant called Kevin?

Dick Jones, nuff said (Other then "I'd buy that for a dollar!")

you mean as opposed to historical names like Tiglath Pileser, Pepin the Short, Perfecto Balabag or Izzy Skenazy? :)

Oh, lacking in vowels? Like Mila Krstic?

Easy. So you can tell them from us. We want no ambiguity, after all.

Doug

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"Qaziqargs of Qargg

Can you get past the Magic Grxthyx ?

Can you vanquish the Guardian of Nyrkkyr's pool of pretentiousness ?

Can you wield the mystic Sword of Absolute Garbage to obtain jykyll's lost something else without any vowels in it ?

Can you grow up ?"

Courtesy of the appallingly disrespectful Spitting Image book.

Right by Zardoz, just to balance the karma on these names.
Our next dungeon crawl beasties will be known as The bear in the big blue dungeon and Peppa 'i like muddy puddles' pig.

Seriously, as much as we make fun of it, it's human nature combined with dramatic expectation, thematic elements, and practicality. If it's a different culture, we expect the name to sound "exotic" compared to our own culture. If it's a different world, we expect the name to differ from cultures we're familiar with. If it's a villain, the name may be designed to sound "harsh" or "deceptive". Names may even be chosen to sound like phrases from our own language (or related foreign tongues)— thus "Darth Vader," which is clearly a play on "Dark Father" and "Darth Sidious" which is obviously a play on "Dark Insidious," both names being clues to the characters' natures. "Skywalker" of course is meant to sound heroic and adventuresome— very much the name of someone who's born to traverse the stars— whereas "Han Solo" clearly reflects his status as something of a lone wolf and "his own man."
Finally, names in dramatic presentations need to be moderately pronounceable. One can type "Zkquthkzx" all one wants, but that doesn't mean an actor can pronounce it. With a made up name, the spelling typically tries to reflect a phonetic guide.

Because "Bob" doesn't terrify anyone?

I thought Murphy "took care" of Bob?

Can't believe nobody has mentioned:

Tim, the Enchanter !

Mr. Mxyzptlk!

There was little girl at my sons playgroup named
Abcde pronounced Ab-cee-dee

I'll see you and raise you – little girl round here called le-ia, promounced leedashia of course!

One of my friends named her dog Deojee (d o g)

Former Philippine BP

NO PROPER NOUNS…

Ugh, don't get me started! It was the unpronouncable names that made me throw down David Eddings' Belgariad series and never look at it again.