(Mis)Understanding the Protonymic - An Analysis

Today I would like to discuss the power of the Protonymic and the importance of the Neonymic. We are going to explore exactly what they are metaphors for, and how they are applied in real life.

I took some liberties in terms of how they are applied in the lore, and in how I extrapolated them to real life. Allow me to establish a definition:

NAMES

As in other pieces I have written, I am going to define a name as an identity (AE) for the purposes of this analysis. I do this because a name is a social construct for mortal minds, and frankly it wouldn’t be very fun if you could banish Molag Bal simply because you knew his real name was “Fred”.

The names by which we identify the Aedra/Daedra are Neonymics. Their “New” names. The identities they chose, or wove themselves. Protonymic describes the deepest, truest AE of the et’Ada, and knowledge of this gives you great power over them. You can banish them from the mortal plane by using the Protonymic. Imagine the CoC being able to simply get rid of Mehrunes Dagon by calling him out for what he is.

Which is why Protonymics are held so close to home and jealously guarded from both greater and lesser spirits.

Imagine yourself a crab. Not a mudcrab from the game, but a real life Dungeness crab. Or blue crab, or even a lobster, I don’t care. You are well protected by your outer shell from predators and impacts. Every so often you grow, and your shell becomes tight. You must moult and grow a new one. During the moult, you are extremely vulnerable, and can literally be eaten alive or smushed by others, because your innermost self is exposed to the rigours of the ocean.

This is an imperfect metaphor for the Protonymic/Neonymic. The Neonymic is the shell of the et’ada, keeping them safe and cohesive in hostile environments. The Protonymic lies under the shell, soft, vulnerable, delicious.

So we are now all clear on my basic and imperfect understanding of these concepts. Good.

So in real life, what are the applications of this dynamic?

Have you ever had someone say something to you that really hurt badly, because it was true? Have you ever had a person say something that described you so closely, it was creepy and gave you goosebumps? Maybe it also made you uncomfortable, and insecure around that person, because they seemed to be able to see right into you…so even if it was a person you would otherwise be friends with, it just was too close too soon.

This is the power of the Protonymic. It’s a power born of intimacy. Not physical intimacy, necessarily, but a deep and comprehensive knowledge of the nature of another being. You can gain this by knowing someone a long time; by having Benedict-Cumberbatch-as-Sherlock-Holmesian powers of deduction; or by having a similar or related life experience that gives you deep insight into the mind and feelings of the other person.

Throughout the lore, we see the importance of protecting the Protonymic: In the Sermons, Vivec states at least twice the importance of not betraying his nature; the whole banishment thing I discussed above; the Khajiit’s love of secrets and their orders from Azura to hide their true nature from the others. Feel free to add more examples, as I am sure I missed some. There are examples from C0DA, but I will discuss those shortly.

In real life, we protect our tender insides behind personas we create in the physical world and in the online world. So here you know me as laurelanthalasa, and you know things about the quirky, nerdy intellectual part of me. My colleagues at work may know my real name, but even there I have a Neonymic; at work I am a hard-nosed bureaucrat who doesn’t take shit and is really good at completing paperwork and translating stuff from French to English/vice versa. They don’t know about laurelanthalasa at all, they don’t even know I am a nerd, although they know I am kind of weird. My clients are legally entitled to know my real full name and the city I work in, but all they hear is a cheerful voice telling them very patiently what to do, how to do it, and when it needs to be done by. I even hide the fact that I am hard-nosed to them, because it’s easier to get them to comply when I am being sweet.

And none of that really reflects the full picture of me. Even if you take its sum and try and figure it out, the picture is obscured, fuzzy and unclear.

The real me is for me, and my closest intimates. Why? Because feelings.

Back to the et’Ada…

Protonymics in C0DA

I don’t quite know what Jubal’s game is, I have some pet theories but this is not the place to discuss Jubal’s inner nature. But Jubal has some Benedict-Cumberbatch-as-Sherlockian powers of deduction going on. He is one that truly understands not only the power of the Protonymic, he can also identify them readily in the people around him. He wields them mightily at least thrice in C0DA; twice at his bachelor party (thrice if you count Kyne but he got her wrong), and against Numidium.

ANIMAL PICTURE, RUDE-WALKER, GO BACK TO THE LAMP THAT STAYS LIT IN WATER AND STORE NO MORE MESSAGES OF USELESS NOISE. WALK AWAY. WE’VE BEEN THROUGH THIS ALREADY. ?PROUD RESIDUE, SOON DISPERSED, SERVE NO GUARANTEES MADE IN THOSEMOVIES AND DEMAND NOTHING OF ITS UNDER-SKIN. I AM THE GROOM. WALK AWAY.

I’m not going to paste the other quotes right now because they are all on the same area of the comic script, starting on page 38.

See how he completely calls out Akatosh for what he is? And then the poor Worm is sent away, banished from Jubal’s presence. When he calls Talos a Virus, Talos leaves as well, and again when he more gently calls him a preacher. (Which is clearly a statement that your Protonymic is not simply one word or concept, but a multi-faceted description of your AE.)

When he finally names Numidium as an Entitled Teenager who only wanted to win, that is when Numidium finally accepts its fate and allows itself to be killed with its own (EMPTY SPEECH BALLOON).

Conclusion

Knowledge is power, not only in politics and society, but between individuals, both mortal and immortal. Some of us are better than others at reading one another. It requires a delicate mixture of instinct and skill. A good dose of maturity helps too. It involves reading between the lines, and not depending on the explicit for understanding.

While a mortal can grow and mature into a person so comfortable with themselves that they do not need to obscure their nature; the et’Ada do not have the ability to self-reflect. They rely on obscurity to confer invulnerability. This is why so many of the et’Ada, particularly the Daedra, are so mysterious and difficult to really pin down and understand. It is their only way of protecting themelves.

The essence of the Protonymic, the Protonymic of the Protonymic so to speak, is the Ad Hominem attack. It is not an assault on the ideas or the actions of the subject; but an attack on their innermost being, their personality, their past, their present, their future.

In the lore, it is a necessary weapon against beings that can seem omnipotent.

In real life, it is a weapon best used sparingly, because it is seldom truly relevant and often cruel. In using such a weapon callously, we reveal more about ourselves than we do about our victim, something that should give us pause before we hand out personal attacks.

The details about our innermost selves are gifts to one another that tie us together, to be treasured, protected and never abused.