I am going to be changing the names of the main heroes of the game. Crazy, I know. But hear me out.

In the original game the hero names were:

Holdana
Zefyrin (or was it Zefiryn? even I can't remember the spelling offhand)
Raj Ahten
Akira

Decent names, if none too original. Three of the four names will be changing. I don't know if anyone has any sentiment towards any of them (outside of Holdana) anyway. But why bother changing them? Well... two of them are direct lifts from other popular media, and the third isn't representative of the land their in-game country represents.



Holdana will remain Holdana. Her country - Norsland - is based on Scandinavian and Norse culture. I found her name looking through a scandinavian baby name website and, really, just liked how it sounds. As the first hero of the first chapter, and as the only hero whose appearance was edited at all from her rip, she became the identifying hero of Hero's Realm. She even made a cameo in Ocean's game Paradise Blue. Her full name is Holdana Nupdal (based on an old family name of mine).



Zefiryn will be renamed to Enobong. Her country - Hasara - is a blend of north Africa and southern Europe. Heck, Hasara is a lame respelling of Sahara, and the continent is dominated by a large desert. Zefiryn's name is of Greek origin, which was my original intent for the game, but as I developed it the African influences were more apparent. In this remaster, I am going to double-down on the African aspect. Thus the Greek name no longer fits. Her full name is Enobong Famuyibo, inspired by names of friends of mine.



Raj Ahten will be renamed to Rana. Raj Ahten is actually the name of a main antagonist in The Runelords novels. His country - Indhopal - is also a direct lift from the novels, and will also be renamed. The country is a blend of India, Tibet, and sprinklings of the middle east. His full name is Rana Adnan, inspired by names of co-workers of mine. It maintains the R-A cadence, too. Also, I like the letter A for some reason.



Akira will be renamed to Otojiro. His country - Jomungu - is very clearly Japan. And Akira is a Japanese name! ...it is also a very popular anime movie. And other than that name, this chapter doesn't reference this movie at all. I picked Otojiro because it is similar to a made up 'ninja' name I used to use as a kid playing make-believe: Yijira. Of course, that isn't a real name. His full name is Minamoto Otojiro. I used Minamoto because I drew inspiration of a pulp samurai book called 'Sensei' by David Charney, which is set in the Heian Period. The Sohei in Hero's Realm is also inspired by this book/time period.


So there you are! What do you think of the new hero names?

Holdana
Enobong
Rana
Otojiro

...welp