How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"But all of those who have the gift, as you seem to, even if they do not practice themselves, can tell when they are in the presence of magic, unless the magician is already powerful enough to set wards around him and thus disguise what he is doing. This is far beyond what I can do, but such people are known to exist. Alnor said you are looking for someone like that, but they cannot be found unless they choose to be. You will need, for a start, to know his name." (6.66)
Lananeth identifies the importance of a moniker when doing magic. The heart of a magician—and his power—resides in the magician's name, which can cut past the magic and get to the individual within.
Quote #2
"His true name!" Lananeth whispered.
"As far as we know," said Alnor. "It is in the story we tell in the Valley."
"I have heard that in the old days, before the Watchers, the names of magicians were openly spoken," said Lananeth, shaking her head. "Now every little country magician, for safety, is forced to take a true name and tell it to no one. My own is not Lananeth. Still, I would not have thought that even such a name was enough. This room is well warded." (6.99-101)
A magician's true name is the most essential part of who he or she is, so much so that those with power have to hide their true names and use fake ones in public. Now that magicians are in danger from the Emperor if they're not under his control, no one can risk using a true name in public and getting caught.
Quote #3
By the time they reached it even its name had become uncertain. In the Valley it had been Talak; north of the Pirrim Hills Talagh; but in the twenty-seven days of travel since then she had heard it called Talarg and Dalarg and Dhawak and Tallak-Tallak, and Ndalag and several other names, by travelers who had joined the traffic on the Grand Northwest Road by one of the scores of roads that fed into it from north and south. (8.2)
Talagh has a ton of different names—unlike for a magician, a name isn't the key to what the city is. For Tilja, it's an overwhelming place of excitement and crowds. For Meena, it's likely an annoyance to navigate the crowds. Ellion might think of it as a place of complex political alliances. In fact, Talagh can be lots of things to different people.