GRADUAL INTERVIEW SPOILER WARNING!   ..........   Spoilers - Fatal Revenant Ian Chadwick:  Hi Stephen, Now that the Mahdoubt has giggled her way off stage, apparently for good (she'll be missed), I feel safe to ask what her name means. All the other Insequent have meaningful names (he states confidently, based on the massive sample of three individuals). Harrow isn't too obscure - a tool for breaking earth prior to sowing; Theomach can be easily constructed from its parts - 'God warrior'; and a trip to my dictionary gives Vizard as a mask. What about Mahdoubt? Ma = Mother + redoubt = stronghold? Or doubt as in uncertainty? To be sure, the Mahdoubt doesn't seem to believe herself infallible, but she doesn't lack for confidence in her decisions. Maybe I'm complicating the issue unnecessarily by wanting to pronounce her name to rhyme with 'boot' rather than 'shout', but neither of the above alternatives sit well. And tickling the back of my mind is a hazy memory from the original Dune trilogy of an elderly Fremen housekeeper who made vaguely prophetic statements and then vanished from the story, and who had a similar name. I don't own a copy of Dune to check this out. Finally, let's hear it for Linden Avery. Give me an 'L'! Give me an 'I'! ... etc. She's a legend! Thanks for everything - roll on 2010! Ian I can appreciate your curiosity/frustration. But for me, names pretty much always start with *sound*. If the sound turns out to be a real word--and if that word has an apt meaning ("Sunder")--so much the better. For the sake of how a name sounds to me, however, I'll reject all other considerations. So the fact that the Mahdoubt (which I pronounce to rhyme with "redoubt") is the only known Insequent who appears not to have used a real word (or words) is pretty much a coincidence. HowEVER: since we're in the "spoiler" section anyway.... I'll admit that I was still in the process of developing my ideas about the Insequent when I first brought the Mahdoubt on stage. If my working methods were different, she also might have found herself with a "real" name. In addition, I'll confess that I was explicitly influenced by the Shadoubt Mapes (I can't check the spelling because I can't find my copy of "Dune"). I love that name, as well as the character's air of mystery when she enters the story. (05/14/2008)