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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fairman Rogers" data-source="post: 6259709" data-attributes="member: 6747325">A couple of other literary examples to consider:In the Eddings series The Belgariad/The Mallorean (and additional books), the system used is referred to as "The Will and the Word." It requires the magic user to both visualize an intention and then to give it voice. The word there is primarily for activation purposes, and without the will behind it it is meaningless. There are gods in this series, but they are also bound by this convention rather than being the ones who grant the power.In Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles, there is the sympathetic magic, which involves a more alchemical approach to connecting things to other things through material similarity, proximity, or other inherent traits. However, it also deals with understanding the true name of a thing. Names have power in this magic, and that includes knowing the true name of something like water, or wind, or fire. In general, the "true name" is not the common word that everyone uses for it. It is something else entirely.This second example is also very like many modern as well as classical interpretations of fae. Naming something accurately gives you power over it, not because a god gave you that power, but because a true name implies knowledge and understanding of a thing's essence.</blockquote>