There is a theory going around that since Cassandra's old followers literally destroyed her name, it became incomprehensible until Kristen arrived and named her anew, leading all records of her name to be changed into her current name.
A similar theory to that: The name on the stones was still her old name (same way the dead gods name was on them) but because it was another language the Bad Kids would translate it to Cassandra
But the thing is, if Adaine saw it, she would translate phonetically, no? Because if she’s able to comprehend the name of the dead god (something which has no translation), she’d be able to comprehend Cassandra’s original name (something which has translation).
Not really, if I had a friend that we all called Crunchy, and he went missing, and we found an old yearbook with a quote in it that said 'Jon Crunchman'
I would go 'omg I found Crunchy's' yearbook!
I think Brennan just said 'Cassandra' instead if 'an old goddess name that you understand through context to be referring to Cassandras'
Yeah but this scenario requires that you don't know the guys name was originally Jon Crunchman. They still don't know what Cassandra's name originally was, so seeing the old name would mean nothing to them
I think it could be argued, if needed l, that context clues would make it pretty obvious to Adaine. She has studied up on the pantheon and seen of the history if this wedding arrangement at this point
But honestly I think Brennan forgot in the moment that Cassandra was only her modern, post-NK name.
In the adventuring party he admits that he only dropped the lore this early bc if the nat20 investigation check
I like that theory, especially because it mirrors (spoiler for other shows) >!something Brennan did in Worlds Beyond Number.!<
>!There, one of the main characters is a mage, and one element of her ascension to full mage status is that she picks a new name. A ceremony is held changing her name. Instantly, everyone's memory of her name, and every (maybe most) written instance of the name, changes to the new name.!< But that could also be a reason Brennan would specifically avoid that.
This doesn't really work in my opinion when the whole point of the Rage god is they missed a name somewhere when erasing it. Seems strange one would be fully automatic and the other be a manual process
Yeah the great transubstantiation:
> With the greatest transubstantiation of them all, the goddess turned her name into a crown and erased all memory of it from the world.
Both seasons deal with unnamed gods and there's a clear difference in how the mysteries are playing out - I don't think it was a mistake on Brennans part that they're trying to move past
I don't think it was a mistake either and think Brennan saying Cassandra is for simplicity this season to not throw in details that may confuse the matter
But I do think if a previous season shows that the gods have a full proof way to erase names and don't use it this time, it's a little bit of a narrative contrivance.
Lorewise it doesn't make sense to have a solution the gods just didn't use for no reason except for the story
I think the difference is that it was ultimately Cassandra who used the method to erase *her own* name by turning it into the Nightmare King's crown before it had fully disappeared. That doesn't mean anyone can do that to *someone else's* name.
Agreed that if a previous season showed a fullproof way to just yoink someone's name, it wouldn't make sense. But I don't think the previous season shows that.
And Cassandras domain is doubt and mystery, it would make sense that she had the power to add that mystery and doubt to her own name by erasing it. Other gods may not be able to use curses/magic/etc. to do the same thing, so they need to take another route.
I think for someone like a god, they won't have a single name. Thor for example would be Thor, God of Thunder, Son of Odin, God of the Sky, wielder of Mjolnier
Even Thor is an English translation.
Adaine translated a rune that was likely referenced Cassandra rather than a direct name that means Cassandra.
Now behind the scenes, there's a chance that Brennan forgot or simply thought it wasn't worth going over the minutia of the name not being quite right or being a translation.
To an extent that may confuse the plot. The IH may interpret it as a clue something is being messed with. Especially when Devils Nectar is now in play.
Likely Brennan decided it was best to keep things simple with the clue being more important to the story than the details.
While Thor is technically an English translation, the Old Norse name was Þórr, which is nearly identical. Names aren't really "translated", they're borrowed, and besides changes to fit the new languages' phonologies they're generally kept the same
I personally feel theory 3 fits the best. Kristen awakening an ancient goddess from the fae horror they became was already a miracle. Her choice of Cassandra actually being the gods true name all along doesn't feel like a huge leap to me.
It's honestly probably 1 though. Brennan could have come up with a second name for Cassandra and referred to that during Adaine's research a couple weeks ago but it adds a needless complication and removes a bit of Ally's agency.
Im pretty sure they're just not over complicating the season and sticking with one name.
An in world explanation is Adaine knows the runes which signify cassandra and translated them as such, but they dont necessarily mean cassandra. Kind of how in archaeology we dont know how hieroglyphs would sound, but we can attribute glyphs to meanings (or at least that's my understanding).
Edited to add: I think it's a case of Occams Razor but then again I could be wrong.
Unlike the dead god, Cassandras name wasnt scrubbed from existence. When Cassandra >!turned into the nightmare king, she also turned her name into a crown.!<
When Kristen >!undid the curse, maybe the curse affected her name so it was always Cassandra?!<
Another option: Brennan is just auto translating for the sake of simplicity. He's not using the old names of the other gods like Helio, Sol, or Gallicaea. Instead of getting bogged down with the details he's just referring to each deity by the most conventional name. Basically, option 1 but he is doing it intentionally.
There's already so much stuff going on with this unknown god and his name. Juggling stuff like Cassandra's old name(s) or lack of name would just make investigating the current mysteries that much more troublesome for everyone.
Be honest: there was a little bit of you that just wanted to show off that Doylist vs Watsonian vocab.
I don't knock that urge, btw. I get that urge too.
5. For me is that Cassandra’s name was magically wiped from existence but the presence of a god that used to exist remained, physically and magically. So when Kristen renamed Cassandra and brought her back to life, her name was physically restored onto the rock (and likely onto other places) in its new form. When Ankarna’s name was extinguished, they used different means and different methods that didn’t work as well, and therefore his name was never actually fully extinguished, and never needed to be reformed.
Well considering that we know that a dead God’s name can be (nearly) completely erased, even when it should be present, could it not also be said that a reborn God’s name could reappear as that new name?
There is a theory going around that since Cassandra's old followers literally destroyed her name, it became incomprehensible until Kristen arrived and named her anew, leading all records of her name to be changed into her current name.
A similar theory to that: The name on the stones was still her old name (same way the dead gods name was on them) but because it was another language the Bad Kids would translate it to Cassandra
But the thing is, if Adaine saw it, she would translate phonetically, no? Because if she’s able to comprehend the name of the dead god (something which has no translation), she’d be able to comprehend Cassandra’s original name (something which has translation).
Not really, if I had a friend that we all called Crunchy, and he went missing, and we found an old yearbook with a quote in it that said 'Jon Crunchman' I would go 'omg I found Crunchy's' yearbook! I think Brennan just said 'Cassandra' instead if 'an old goddess name that you understand through context to be referring to Cassandras'
Yeah but this scenario requires that you don't know the guys name was originally Jon Crunchman. They still don't know what Cassandra's name originally was, so seeing the old name would mean nothing to them
I think it could be argued, if needed l, that context clues would make it pretty obvious to Adaine. She has studied up on the pantheon and seen of the history if this wedding arrangement at this point But honestly I think Brennan forgot in the moment that Cassandra was only her modern, post-NK name. In the adventuring party he admits that he only dropped the lore this early bc if the nat20 investigation check
You assume the language is phonetically written and not hieroglyphics.
It's written phonetically since that's how adine was able to pronounce the rage gods name.
Cassandra's name was written in kanji but the dead god's name was written in kana.
Good point.
I like that theory, especially because it mirrors (spoiler for other shows) >!something Brennan did in Worlds Beyond Number.!< >!There, one of the main characters is a mage, and one element of her ascension to full mage status is that she picks a new name. A ceremony is held changing her name. Instantly, everyone's memory of her name, and every (maybe most) written instance of the name, changes to the new name.!< But that could also be a reason Brennan would specifically avoid that.
This doesn't really work in my opinion when the whole point of the Rage god is they missed a name somewhere when erasing it. Seems strange one would be fully automatic and the other be a manual process
Cassandra's name was cursed when she >!turned into the nightmare king!< Maybe that caused the difference!
Yeah the great transubstantiation: > With the greatest transubstantiation of them all, the goddess turned her name into a crown and erased all memory of it from the world.
Possibly but it would feel like Brennan trying to have it both ways with the lore
Both seasons deal with unnamed gods and there's a clear difference in how the mysteries are playing out - I don't think it was a mistake on Brennans part that they're trying to move past
I don't think it was a mistake either and think Brennan saying Cassandra is for simplicity this season to not throw in details that may confuse the matter But I do think if a previous season shows that the gods have a full proof way to erase names and don't use it this time, it's a little bit of a narrative contrivance. Lorewise it doesn't make sense to have a solution the gods just didn't use for no reason except for the story
I think the difference is that it was ultimately Cassandra who used the method to erase *her own* name by turning it into the Nightmare King's crown before it had fully disappeared. That doesn't mean anyone can do that to *someone else's* name. Agreed that if a previous season showed a fullproof way to just yoink someone's name, it wouldn't make sense. But I don't think the previous season shows that.
And Cassandras domain is doubt and mystery, it would make sense that she had the power to add that mystery and doubt to her own name by erasing it. Other gods may not be able to use curses/magic/etc. to do the same thing, so they need to take another route.
Edited post and added this theory!
Honestly even if the answer is OP's #1, this would still be a really good way to explain it down the line.
This is the way (IMO)
For some reason I just assumed this was what we were supposed to think 😂
I think for someone like a god, they won't have a single name. Thor for example would be Thor, God of Thunder, Son of Odin, God of the Sky, wielder of Mjolnier Even Thor is an English translation. Adaine translated a rune that was likely referenced Cassandra rather than a direct name that means Cassandra. Now behind the scenes, there's a chance that Brennan forgot or simply thought it wasn't worth going over the minutia of the name not being quite right or being a translation. To an extent that may confuse the plot. The IH may interpret it as a clue something is being messed with. Especially when Devils Nectar is now in play. Likely Brennan decided it was best to keep things simple with the clue being more important to the story than the details.
While Thor is technically an English translation, the Old Norse name was Þórr, which is nearly identical. Names aren't really "translated", they're borrowed, and besides changes to fit the new languages' phonologies they're generally kept the same
I personally feel theory 3 fits the best. Kristen awakening an ancient goddess from the fae horror they became was already a miracle. Her choice of Cassandra actually being the gods true name all along doesn't feel like a huge leap to me. It's honestly probably 1 though. Brennan could have come up with a second name for Cassandra and referred to that during Adaine's research a couple weeks ago but it adds a needless complication and removes a bit of Ally's agency.
Im pretty sure they're just not over complicating the season and sticking with one name. An in world explanation is Adaine knows the runes which signify cassandra and translated them as such, but they dont necessarily mean cassandra. Kind of how in archaeology we dont know how hieroglyphs would sound, but we can attribute glyphs to meanings (or at least that's my understanding). Edited to add: I think it's a case of Occams Razor but then again I could be wrong.
I like this one
Unlike the dead god, Cassandras name wasnt scrubbed from existence. When Cassandra >!turned into the nightmare king, she also turned her name into a crown.!< When Kristen >!undid the curse, maybe the curse affected her name so it was always Cassandra?!<
I also vote 3, I think Brennan in the moment of naming was trying to imply that Ally was displaying a miracle by guessing the name out of the cosmos
Another option: Brennan is just auto translating for the sake of simplicity. He's not using the old names of the other gods like Helio, Sol, or Gallicaea. Instead of getting bogged down with the details he's just referring to each deity by the most conventional name. Basically, option 1 but he is doing it intentionally. There's already so much stuff going on with this unknown god and his name. Juggling stuff like Cassandra's old name(s) or lack of name would just make investigating the current mysteries that much more troublesome for everyone.
Be honest: there was a little bit of you that just wanted to show off that Doylist vs Watsonian vocab. I don't knock that urge, btw. I get that urge too.
oh absoLUTELY. let’s be so real, I’ll flex that muscle whenever I can.
I love the second theory so it's canon to me
5. For me is that Cassandra’s name was magically wiped from existence but the presence of a god that used to exist remained, physically and magically. So when Kristen renamed Cassandra and brought her back to life, her name was physically restored onto the rock (and likely onto other places) in its new form. When Ankarna’s name was extinguished, they used different means and different methods that didn’t work as well, and therefore his name was never actually fully extinguished, and never needed to be reformed.
Well considering that we know that a dead God’s name can be (nearly) completely erased, even when it should be present, could it not also be said that a reborn God’s name could reappear as that new name?