Best title: "Sentinels of Miith" vs. "Bane of Miith" vs. "Miith's Bane"?

[HareBrain]

Originally Posted by Ursa major

As for your new three: It's probably just me, but the last two (The Lie Sublime and Tearing the Shroud) sound a bit too much like euphemisms to me, the second pleasant, the third a lot less so; but the latter thought was probably initiated by seeing the second title and the third one would probably not have stood out on its own.

I estimate the probability at 0.9999999999999999999999999999999, and thank heavens for that.

[Threddy]

I prefer The Bane of Miith out of the first 3.

The Unspoken Covenant sounds quite cool, altho those 3 all sound a bit too philosphical to me.

[Threddy]

Thinking about this some more, I'd be tempted to drop the Miith bit, and just have:

The Bane

or

The Sentinels

That would be more curiosity-mongering to me.

[Aes]

I'm going to have to agree with the first couple people who posted. Anything with "bane" in the title sounds (looks?) tacky, and makes me think the contents of whatever that word adorns will involve a boy hero, a magic sword, a princess, a dark lord, and all sorts of other delightful cliche elements.

[JDP]

Out of the original options, I prefer 'The Sentinels of Miith' , though I must admit that 'Miith' threw me because it wasn't immediately clear how this should be pronounced, which irritates me.

Out of the later options, I'd avoid the title with Covenant in it as that smacks of Donaldson, and the 'Tearing the Shroud' one sounds like a euphemism. I prefer 'The Lie Sublime' from those later options.

[Spectrum]

I still don't get the euphemism part...

[HareBrain]

It will haunt you till you die.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by Spectrum

I still don't get the euphemism part...

Think what activity is generally associated with one individual lying prone and another supine.

If you do that, the pun in one of your titles should be rather obvious.

Ursa's interpretation of the other title, on the other hand, is purely metaphorical.

[HareBrain]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

Ursa's interpretation of the other title, on the other hand, is purely metaphorical.

Oh ... I didn't think it was, though I've always had a rather literal mind. And now I'm worried that it's even more depraved than Ursa's. Probably too much reading Baudelaire as a youth ...

Talking of which, and getting back on point, I like titles that contain an apparent contradiction, like Baudelaire's The Flowers of Evil, or The Serpents of Paradise, etc. Any scope for one of those?

[Ursa major]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

Ursa's interpretation of the other title, on the other hand, is purely metaphorical.

As it happens, I was thinking of a real shroud - though still in an unpleasant way - when I made my comment, but your interpretation is just as valid as any other.

Off hand, I can't think of a pleasant meaning of "Tearing the Shroud"; all the ones I can think of involve some kind of violation (some of them with severe religious overtones), which would have to be justified by the actions or motivations within the series. Has the porotagonist to cross some moral barrier to defeat the antagonist? Is the protagonist driven by moral fervour when he or she discovers the antagonist's violation?

The more I think about it, this title might be suitable, but only if it was somehow relevant to the overall story.

[Aes]

Originally Posted by Ursa major

As it happens, I was thinking of a real shroud - though still in an unpleasant way

Likewise. In fact, my interpretation was pretty much a mix of what Teresa said combined with, well, something involving the deceased. Either I'm depraved, I've been listening to too much Voltaire, or both of the above.

I'd say the general consensus is this: Using "Tearing the Shroud" is a bad idea.

[Ursa major]

Even for a ripping yarn?



(Or is this comment off-thread?)

[Sev]

I would go for "Sentinel" as "Bane" sets your story up to be a LOTR derivative fest in my mind... and perhaps "Myth" or "Mythe"? (but not "Miff" )

Remember you have so much freedom in choosing a title; just look at Robert Jordan's - they often barely relate to the content, but sound "cool".

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by Sev

"Bane" sets your story up to be a LOTR derivative fest in my mind...

Several have said or suggested this. Can you explain why?

Originally Posted by Sev

and perhaps "Myth" or "Mythe"? (but not "Miff" )

Good point. Maybe I need a spelling that gets the pronunciation across better. As I said, "Miith" is supposed to be pronounced so it rhymes with "heath" or "beneath". To my mind, neither "Myth" nor "Mythe" conveys this. Does anyone have a better idea for a spelling?

[The Judge]

Perhaps because 'bane' is not a word that is used much nowadays except in phrases like 'bane of my life' when it means something like nuisance or annoyance. If you are using it in a more deadly sense as in poison (eg the herb henbane), then it's distinctly old fashioned - in fact I just checked and my dictionary actually says 'archaic'. Because of that it does sound self-conscious - and the type of thing latched onto by Tolkien imitators.

Meath sounds like, well, meath. Though since there is a county of that name in Ireland I can understand your not wanting to use the spelling. How about 'Meeth', to rhyme with 'teeth'. Though frankly, it looks comical, so I don't think I'd use it. Is the pronunciation important to the book? If not, why not go for something else? Mieth (My-eth), Maeth (May-eth) etc.

Apropros of pronunciation I had a teacher called Mrs De'ath - pronounced not as Death but as Day-ath. (She failed her driving test once too often so the Sixth Form put out a huge banner with the-then safety slogan 'Keep Death off the Road' and put the apostrophe in the appropriate place...)

J