Aedea - The Name
- CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR...Books One, Two, Three, and Four
The central question of The Mythic Series is: where does inspiration come from?
The answer: another world.
It’s a story about stories, at once both a meta, yet straightforward, take on the hero’s journey.
Since this other world was the literal source of our inspiration, its name needed to be perfect. It had to demonstrate the main concept, but naturally feel like the title of a fantasy world – to be both meta and straightforward.
‘This should be easy,’ I thought to myself sarcastically.
World Views
Looking back it appears I created about fifty names in total. I say “appears” and “about” as the names are scattered through various notebooks, scribbled on the backs of receipts, and texted or emailed to myself.
For some I mashed two locales, whether from fiction or reality, into one. This resulted in names like Middle Earthsea, Never Badlands, Nether Nether Land, and Oztralia.
Some were simple re-spellings – creating Zanadu, Farawei and Asguard.
And with some I just had fun – which is how I got Banania.
None of them worked but I got to use my favourite ones in other ways as eagle-eyed readers of the series will know. Farawei, in particular, shaped that land’s personality so perfectly that I’m relieved I didn’t use it as the world name. I haven’t found a place for Middle Earthsea yet, but I’ll get there.
A Good Aedea
Finally, I went back to that central theme – that this was a book about inspiration, about ideas.
Aedea, then, is just a fancy version of “idea”. I loved how the different spelling looked. There is something curious about the “AE” combination at the start. For me it evokes both science and the fantastic.
I also liked the simplicity of it being just a re-spelled noun, rather than a reworked fictional world or place. There was a pureness to it being independent of existing mythologies.
Best of all, it perfectly demonstrated my aim to be meta and straightforward. Straightforward and straightbackward – because it’s also a palindrome, although an unintentional one. That was just a happy byproduct of the new spelling. But I took it as a sign that I had, indeed, found my one true name.
Bonus Round
There’s a moment in The Mythic where Lucy calls the other world “Aorta”. That’s not just a malapropism. The aorta sends blood from your heart to other parts of the body. Aedea sends inspiration to our world.
