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Adem Cultural Taboos Are Ancient Safeguards Against Accidental Naming

plausible mechanism · popularity 222 · 1 source thread

The Adem's bans on speech, song, anger, and eye contact are practical defences against accidentally invoking or revealing true Names.

About: The Adem, Naming

Also involves: The Lethani, The Ketan, Elodin, Felurian, Haliax, Selitos

The theory§

This theory reads the defining customs of the Adem, sparse speech, an absolute ban on singing, the suppression of anger, and the avoidance of direct eye contact, as ancient deliberate safeguards against the accidental use of Naming. Each taboo maps onto a known route to a Name: spoken words carry power and disturb the air, songs can encode Names, anger surrenders control to the sleeping mind, and direct eye contact is repeatedly shown to be how a Namer perceives and speaks another's true Name. To enforce these restraints the Adem built the Lethani to keep control, a full sign language to replace both speech and eye contact, and a cultural revulsion toward song. The same logic extends to Haliax, whose curse wraps his face and eyes in perpetual shadow, precisely concealing the features through which his Name could be read.

Evidence§

  • Adem consider several things as barbarian and they do them little or nothing: * talking much * singing at all * anger exhibition * looking in the eye Those things are hugely related with naming. Names need to be said. Also, talking disturbs the air around the person who talks. Names can also be sung. Anger explosions lead to the sleeping mind taking control. To finish, it seems necessary to look into the eyes to see the name of a person.
    OP's core claim: the four Adem taboos each map onto a known route to a Name. — u/Vardil
  • To control those behaviours they have developed very intricate techniques and weird traditions. They have: * developed the Lethani, which prevents loosing control * developed a whole language of signs to prevent eye contact and talking * stigmatized songs.
    OP: Adem institutions exist to enforce the taboos against accidental Naming. — u/Vardil
  • His eyes caught mine. The numbness faded, but the storm still turned inside my head. Then Elodin's eyes changed. He stopped looking toward me and looked into me. … He looked deep into me, not into my eyes, but through my eyes.
    OP's textual evidence that eye contact is the channel through which a Name is read. — u/Vardil
  • Haliax can’t be Named because Haliax’s eyes are hidden. You have to see something (e’lir) before you can name it (Re’lar). And, since with naming people you specifically have to see their eyes, Haliax can’t be Named.
    Comment extends theory: Haliax's curse hides his eyes, blocking Naming. — u/nIBLIB
  • Damn, this adds a whole other dimension to the ban on music (and honestly makes it more believable)
    Comment endorses the song-ban strand of the argument. — u/Lawlcopt0r
  • to look, or to see? … Too much looking can get in the way of seeing, you see?
    Comment refines: it is true seeing, not mere looking, that enables Naming. — u/td941
  • I just have to disagree with the lethani. I don't think everything in the ademre culture has to tie in with the lethani. … I think the language came first, and lethani is more recent.
    CounterCounter: the sign language predates the Lethani, weakening the unified-safeguard claim. — u/Rucs3
  • I might add that an anger management culture is a smart idea in a society where most people are trained fighters.
    CounterCounter: anger taboo may be plain practicality among fighters, not Naming defence. — u/OverloadedPampukin

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

multiple converging eye-contact citations; plausible confirmed

Contributors§

Source threads§