Character Names

[Joshua]

I missed the dramatis personae when I started reading initially so it wasn't until the last few chapters that I realized Vrath's last name is Xizor. Kind of an odd choice, since we also know the character is human. Anyone know a reason Kemp might have gone with that? Was it a tribute to Shadows or something?

[Travis]

Yeah I wondered about that too. It's a pretty unique and well known name so it has to be on purpose but I don't know the reason.

[Teresa, Ewok Defender]

I have not read that much to know if there is significance behind this.

[Bruce]

Too many characters whose names begin with Z or start with the Z sound when listening to the audiobook. It took me a while to get them straight.

Zallow
Zeerid
Xizor

[Joshua]

I'm a little behind here, but I did just read that Vrath's name was given to him by whoever he's working for (the Hutts, right?). So, maybe it's a tribute from Kemp OOU, while a name the Hutts had on hand IU.

[Jason]

Speaking of names, the main character in Kemps other duology was Jaden Korr. This dude is Zeerid Korr. Hmmmm. Korr chronicles?

[Jason]

Bruce, after pondering the male character names it is obvious that the female's names share a similar thread ... The soft A sound or something

Aryn
Arra
Eleena

A's and Z's.

[Bruce]

Jason - Very interesting. Thanks for picking up on that. I'll be looking for that in Kemp' other books.

[Joshua]

Jason wrote: "Speaking of names, the main character in Kemps other duology was Jaden Korr. This dude is Zeerid Korr. Hmmmm. Korr chronicles?"

And thus, we reach the reason I created this thread.

The first time I read this book, I didn't initially read the DP or notice the mention of Zeerid's last name early in the book. Late in the book, around the time Zeerid and Aryn part again with Z planning to go to his daughter and Aryn planning to confront Malgus, we see Zeerid's full name once again. And that's when I realized that Aryn was going to survive her encounter. This book was released between "Crosscurrent" and "Riptide", where Kemp has essentially written more about Jaden Korr than anyone else before or since. And I realized that Kemp likely meant Zeerid as an ancestor as Jaden.

Now, I could be wrong. Maybe it's just a nod, something he threw in there for fun. But given the end of the book, I'm skeptical. It makes me wish Kemp had not revealed Zeerid's last name until, say, the epilogue because as soon as I made the connection, I concluded Malgus wasn't going to kill Aryn. And he didn't.

That said, I was genuinely surprised that he killed Eleena.

[Heather]

I was pretty surprised that he killed Elena also. So sad.