Dark fantasy names haunt Arcane Elemental Academy
Arcane Elemental Academy is no dark fantasy. But each character’s name may fool you because they sound like they come straight outta the genre.
When you’ve got a main character with the last name Diamondback, you know sh*t’s about to get real with the dark fantasy names, even if Arcane Elemental Academy’s a young adult academy fantasy bringing libertarian vibes.
Well, actually, libertarian vibes and themes first, genre second. Yeah, you’ve been forewarned. This, like the rest of my work, don’t got the genre tropes or formulaic approaches. But hey, dissident should be my middle name.
All of that said, there’s a growing number of us out there, so maybe dissident’s not the most accurate term these days. The United Sheep of America (USA) on both the mainstream left and right-hand sides of the political horseshoe would probably call us a bunch of names, and that’s fine.
But at the end of the day, we’re not the ones blindly following Leftist-hijacked institutions or calling the man in the Oval Office at the time of this writing ‘Dad.’ Still, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, and you won’t find Arcane so beautiful if you look outward and follow your chosen shepherd.
As for you critical thinkers who question everything the mainstream media (MSM), institutions, and politicians throw at you? Welcome to the creepshow. And I mean that in a good way. Now, let’s talk about those evil names.
Arcane Elemental Academy’s cast sounds dark fantasy, even if they ain’t
Yote Diamondback’s sister, Jett, may not have the darkest name out there. But that’s because I named Yote after the old Arizona Coyotes of the NHL and Jett after the Winnipeg Jets. Just an FYI, the original Jets moved to Arizona following the 1996 season.
And no, before you ask, there won’t be a character named Mammoth. If you’re a hockey fan, you’ll understand the joke. If you don’t, then look it up.
Anyway, there’s Yote and Jett’s parents – Zane and Willow Diamondback. Then there’s Rass Vexx, who Yote meets early in Book I, The Arcane Prophecy. Think of Rass as Yote’s go-to, kind of how Hagrid was to the Golden Trio in Harry Potter.
How about Hayek Angelsin (unseen in Book I), Rayne Grimbane, and Cassara Darkwood? Angelsin and Grimbane are respected teachers at Yote’s chosen school at the academy, Scorpii.
But it gets even better. Add in Loki Kahne, a boy who’s kind of in love with Yote, and Storm Sharpe, a Draco Malfoy meets Ron Weasley love interest of Yote’s, and Storm’s father, Ukko – because what else would be his name?
Yeah, all in all, the nation of Etharia, where Yote lives, or the world of Xadis – a world much like our own except many of its people know how to channel elemental magic through ancient runes – just has a thing for dark fantasy-like names.
Do the names mean much, or what?
Angelsin’s first name is Hayek, so yeah, there’s meaning there. If you know who F.A. Hayek is, you’ll know where I’m going with this. Ukko, as I hinted above, has a son named Storm for a reason. And while Ukko Sharpe’s not the god of thunder like the mythical figure is in the Finnish tradition, his name still strikes a chord.
That said, Loki’s no mischief maker (I loved that game, by the way), but he’s not the luckiest guy out there. Hell, his last name’s Kahne, the namesake of my all-time favorite NASCAR driver. And Kasey Kahne wasn’t the luckiest driver by any means, even if he somehow wormed his way onto the Top Seventy-Five Greatest Drivers list.
But no, I mainly went with dark names because I thought they seemed like a lot of fun. And don’t be surprised if I come up with even darker names for future installments.
Speaking of which, be sure to claim your copy of my free series prequel, Arcane Awakenings, so you can meet Yote before you dive into the good stuff. You’ll also meet her sister/nemesis, Jett, and the gang of ‘mean girls’ who live to torment Yote during her final days in middle school.
