TCoC: Character Names and Titles

[Meghan]

I've just started the audio version and I find it much harder to keep characters, especially ones with similar titles straight. I think this is an advantage of print over audio (if nothing else you can easily flip back and forth and reference characters). Fantasy and historical fiction tend to be the most difficult, in my opinion, to quickly get a handle on.

Does anyone have any tips and/or suggestions for parsing out more relevant characters while diving into a book? I've found that after more story, things tend to become clear - usually, but sometimes I have to make diagrams and other reference materials. Does anyone have any handy for this book?

[Alan]

I think the order of title hierarchy in the book goes like this:

Roya/Royina
Royse/Royesse
Provincar/Provincara
March/?
Castillar/?
I didn't catch the feminine equivalents of the last two.

And, if you were to translate those to English titles, they'd be something like:

King
Prince
Duke
Marquess
Baron

When the book calls someone "dy" something or another, I think it's giving the character's last name/area of control. It's like referring to the Earl of Essex by the name "Essex".

I hope that helps.

[Serendi]

The Bujold Nexus has a Chalion Index, including maps, dictionary of people, places, and things, and other stuff here: http://www.dendarii.com/chalion.html

[Meghan]

Thank you both! And I'll definitely be checking out the website.

[George]

There is a "castillara" mentioned.

[Will]

The names were my least favorite part of this book. Thanks for the explanation

[D. H.]

Will wrote: "The names were my least favorite part of this book. Thanks for the explanation"

I agree. I had a problem with the names too, but this list of the titles helped.