According to the newspaper "Izvestia", in recent months, more and more residents of Russia began to call their children the names of the heroes of the very popular game "Game of Thrones".
Reference:
The series "Game of Thrones" is filmed on a series of already iconic fantasy novels of the American writer George Martin "A Song of Ice and Flame". There are currently five seasons of the series, and this is far from the end, because Martin has not finished this series of books yet. How this film epic will end, nobody knows, except George Martin himself and two producers of the series.
Intriguing? Not that word. But what do psychologists think about naming children in honor of the heroes of this cult series?
Opinion psychologist:
The literary critic and linguist were attracted to commenting on this news in Izvestia. It is strange that while journalists did not turn to psychologists or psychotherapists, because the question of choosing a name always has a strong psychological background, even if the parents themselves are not aware of this. Therefore, it seemed to me important to comment on this interesting news.
So let's start from the beginning - from the book and the series.
Attention: in the text below there are spoilers up to season 4 of the series inclusive, as well as brief descriptions of naturalistic scenes! Pregnant, people with fine mental organization and have not watched the series to read with caution!
Novels and TV series
What world shows us the author of books and TV series? If we discard magic, dragons and other fantasy attributes, we will see the real medieval world, and in many respects in its worst manifestations. With all its poverty and limitedness of ordinary people, the arbitrariness of the sometimes insane Tsarkov feudal lords, who deplete the land and their peoples with internecine strife and, most importantly, with such a level of cruelty that the modern murderers have not even dreamed of. Well, except that the Inquisition in the world of Westeros is not, because they have not yet reached monotheism there.
And if we are talking about the Middle Ages in its worst manifestations, then the life of all the heroes of this seemingly distant fantasy world will flow according to the earthly Middle Ages: few of these men and women will be able to live a happy and long life. Will it be fun? It may well be. But their life will not be long and free from inhuman suffering.
This is confirmed by the fact that a significant part of the heroes of the series die not their own - violent and rather painful - death, and sometimes at a rather young age.
Names
According to experts who were attracted by Izvestia, linguists and anthroponymists “do not have objective evidence that a name can affect human destiny.” I readily believe: where did linguists get such information? But, if you ask people who are professionally involved in these issues - family therapists - then this information will be more than enough.
So, in family psychology, a phenomenon that any experienced psychotherapist will confirm has long been known: if a child is called not “just like that”, but in honor of someone, then such a child is later forced to live not only and not so much for himself, but as if also “for that person” whose name he was called.
At the same time, without even realizing it, he becomes unfree in many of his life choices and decisions, unconsciously forced to conform to the “luminous image” of the person in whose honor he was named, or, on the contrary, to bear his own - and heavy! - I bear in the form of feelings of guilt or shame that do not apply to him at all.
It is also good if a child is named after some bright relative, for example, a grandfather who, let's say, did a lot for a family, for a country, for science, or simply was a very good and bright person. And if the baby is named after his deceased brother, who died unborn or in infancy? Do you think that such a child will have a long and happy life?
As a rule, all these people become regular clients of psychologists and psychotherapists, because due to the numerous expectations, hopes placed on them and psychological pressure from the family (explicit or unconscious), they have many psychological problems: it's hard for them to truly live their lives. Such children are doomed to fulfill the dreams and expectations of their relatives, distant ancestors, and teachers — anyone, not their own. Would you like to be in their place?
Arya, Theon and Daneris
Now let's go back to the Game of Thrones. What do people who call their children names from this show from a psychological point of view? They give the name to their child from a fictional world in which few people live to old age and do not die a natural death; a world where cruelty so disfigures the psyche of people that some of them can be called conditional people; cruel fantasy world, which sometimes turns people into psychopaths, sadists or animals.
But these are general notes. And now let's take a close look from the psychological point of view on the fate of the three heroes of the series.
Arya
The man who called his newborn daughter Arya, stopped, as it seems, in a very bright and attractive female image of the “Game of Thrones”: this is a brave girl who does not lose her presence of mind and fights against enemies, defending the honor of her family.
But let's look at what is happening with this heroine on a psychological level. Arya is a girl who had her father executed by unjust accusation (and this execution took place before her eyes, but she could not even scream and cry, so as not to give herself away - her first mental injury). Then her mother is killed, separated from her sister ...
From that moment on, Arya would never have a childhood: it ended forever for her with the death of the old king. Everyone whom this girl loved was separated from her or killed.
Actually, the prospect of becoming a woman in the full sense of the word is also very vague in Arya: a significant part of the narration she pretends to be a boy and uses exclusively male behavior patterns.
But the most important thing, of course, is not this: the series of deepest injuries hardened and disfigured the psyche of this child, in general, that Arya is no longer able to think about anything else in her life, except to revenge all those people who killed her family members. Every night before bed, she, like a prayer, repeats the names of all these people, so as not to forget any of them, and then come and kill.
And now just compare this name with the name Catherine, Olga or Natalia ...
Daenerys (Khalissi)
The next most popular name, which is called girls in honor of "Game of Thrones" - Deineris (or Khalissi, although in fact it is not a name, but a title). This is, without a doubt, one of the brightest and most beautiful heroines of the series, while possessing special abilities - immunity to fire and the ability to command dragons.
Compared with Arya, Deineris seems to be more mentally healthy, but: was forcibly married; subsequently, she fell in love with her husband and did not object to the fact that in her very eyes she painfully killed her brother; after that, she lost both this husband and their unborn child.
There was little screen time in the first four episodes of Deineris Khalissi, but there is no doubt that she will show herself. And, knowing George Martin, there is no doubt: there will still be a lot of cunning, terrible deaths, betrayals and brutal murders.
The special irony is that dozens and hundreds of parents around the world already named their daughters in honor of the Mother of the Dragons, but how this woman of difficult fate still manifests itself, only three people on the planet know ...
Sharon? Anna? Joan? No, Deineris!
Theon
Well, and finally - the hero of the series, whose name is already wearing a newborn Russian somewhere in the Urals - Theon Greyjoy.
Maybe he was somehow lucky in life? Let's figure it out. Theon is a boy who in early childhood was taken by force from his native home and brought up together with other children (Starks), whose clan killed him, Theon, unruly relatives.
Having, apparently, a good sexual constitution, but at the same time being an unimportant warrior, Theon expressed himself in the series mainly in the sexual sphere, having fun with women of easy virtue.
It seems that this was his only opportunity to somehow prove himself, as he thought, as a real man. Therefore, when he was seized and his manhood was cut off during the torture process, the injury was so catastrophic that the psyche of the young man was completely broken. From now on, he is no longer Theon Greyjoy, but Stinky.
Following this trauma, Teon’s compensatory development of the so-called “Stockholm syndrome” is a special psychological defense, as a result of which a person begins to consider his tormentors to be “good”, and everyone else, including people trying to save him, to be “bad.” The severity of this Stockholm syndrome in Theon was so strong that when his father’s unit finally came to the rescue, he refused to crawl out of his cage and go home: now he is Stinky and his place is here!
- So, the Stinker will go to the board!
- Actually, I - Theon!
(recently appeared in the Internet joke-meme about the fact that someone in Russia called this name)
Here is such a story from the owner of this name. It turns out that “I lived to the fifth season - and it was already good” ... or maybe it was bad. Who knows.
Let's sum up
Arya, Deineris and Theon ... But there are other heroes and names - Eddard, Sansa, Tywin, Joffrey, Tirion ... Perhaps after this small analysis such unusual names will appear to future parents in a slightly different light?
Sometimes, listening to the patient, I find myself thinking that his relatives, parents, relatives, seemed to have done everything so that he could not live as he wants - a full and happy life. As a rule, you need to give them their due, these people did not do it from evil, not on purpose, but simply not thinking about some important things.
About things like what's really important. for the child himself.
About what he wants, and not they as his parents.
About what his name will be, and how he will later live with that name ...
Psychotherapist, family psychologist Yevgeny Makhlin
