Poll Winner: Sally!

3/30/2018

(Don't worry, it won't literally be Sally.)

To no one's surprise, the winner of the Cradle bow-naming poll is Sally. Now one of the most dreaded shadow artifacts of the Cradle world will be named like a baby girl.

EDIT: Also, there were 720 votes in the thread! That's a lot of votes. It reminds me of the time when I had to count up votes manually, and then wept tears of blood.

Here's Paden's winning suggestion, copied from the original thread:

A female name as if it was sentient.

umm..."Sally"

potential character dialog: "what's the name of your bow?"
"sally."
"sally???"

So, per the spirit of the suggestion, I'm going to come up with a simple female name that fits the setting. Which won't be Sally, but could be something like Sali, Sari, Sa Li, or Jim.

Maybe in this culture Jim is a woman's name. You don't know.

-Will

34 Comments

Below average Joe

3/30/2018 12:24:57 pm

I think it would be cool to have a name that seems completely out of place. Adds to the mystery of the weapons past

Will link

3/30/2018 12:39:34 pm

I don't mind that, but a name like "Sally" sounds too much like it comes from our world than a different one. That's like one dragon's name being Xerevandrius and his brother's name being Jim Smith. To someone in our world, that's a funny juxtaposition and an incredibly ordinary name, but to him there wouldn't be anything ordinary about the name Jim Smith. So it's only a joke if the real world exists and the narrator is aware of it.

I don't mind some of those little in-jokes, but having a name exist in the world that wouldn't normally exist is *just* on the other side of my line.

That said, I wouldn't mind if it sounded completely out of place.

He Who Laughs Last Is Slow

4/4/2018 09:33:29 am

My thoughts on this when I first saw "Sally" as an option were that the bow is something akin to a Drudge or Mantel (if I am remembering my terms right...). Perhaps very powerful items have a remnant bound to it, like someone whose achieved gold absorbs a remnant. Perhaps is was a very powerful Shadow path practitioner, like a sages apprentice. The apprentice died before replacing their Sage. The sage of the (insert shadow path) honors them by crafting this bitchin bow. "Sally" is the name of the apprentice. The bow has your standard lofty titles, but to those who truly commune with it, its "Sally".

bestessays link

4/1/2018 10:02:37 pm

Sally is a great and strong name for a certain art. It signifies strength and feminity at the same time thus, it represents what women can do to our society. It might be a simple poll that doesn't have something big to do with our society. But if we are going to begin at the small things and try to make it bigger, it's possible to make a global change and could affect us in a positive way! I am sure it will have an effect to all of us if all women would see things that way.

Sword Immortal Darknorth

3/30/2018 12:35:36 pm

Maybe you could go with something that has a double meaning?

"Shady" is like Sally but it also means shadows, so it could be a good nickname.

Will link

3/30/2018 12:41:07 pm

I'm probably going to have the Sally-equivalent be the nickname, and the original names throughout the years being Shadestrike, Shadowfury, Eclipse, etc.

Sword Immortal Darknorth

3/31/2018 03:57:57 pm

Yeah you're right, I should have suggested Shady during the poll if anything.

Looking at an electronic screen

4/1/2018 05:02:09 pm

I’m a big fan of Eclipse, the Lightbreaker.

Sam

4/2/2018 08:18:24 pm

Eh, I couldn't really get the appeal of Eclipse, the Lightbreaker. Sure, it's objectively a cool name but it doesn't bring the shadow or soul aspects of the bow in at all.

TBoy

3/30/2018 12:37:49 pm

Shady is an interesting suggestion, but we still want to be true to the poll. What won was a simple female name, so I think that should be stressed in the final version of whatever we're calling the bow.

I'm partial to Sari myself, though Sa Li fits better with the Eastern theme and the phonetic pronunciation is closest to Sally, so I think that is the best fit.

Will link

3/30/2018 12:40:36 pm

^

I was also considering something like Seiri or Seila.

TBoy

3/30/2018 12:49:27 pm

Save Seiri for when the gang finds some sort of artifact/weapon/treasure that talks, that way they can say:

"Hey Seiri, what is the madra composition in the air today?"

Like asking "Hey Siri, what's the weather today?"

Deadnettle

3/31/2018 01:05:46 pm

I would totally love Seiri as a name for Little Blue if she were ever to be given a proper name.

Godking Of The Outer Lithosphere

3/30/2018 12:42:46 pm

The point is moot though, since unless Will decides to hold a poll to vote on the results of the poll he's going to come up with whatever the final name is, not us.

That being said, if we don't like his final decision everybody make sure to psychically blast him with a wave of discontentment to the point that he feels mildly uncomfortable and might even wake up briefly in the middle of the night after having a reader-induced somewhat unpleasant dream.

Nicolas

4/2/2018 08:19:44 pm

This is what I do every day Will fails to publish a new book. I demand a new Will Wight book. EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Otherwise, you will fell my projected psychic wrath!

Deadnettle

3/31/2018 01:04:21 pm

The real question we have to be asking is when will there be an update to the progress bar?

The Annoying fan

3/31/2018 04:15:00 pm

Based on previous data it takes Will approximately 7.5 months to write a trilogy finale. Since he is writing two of them simultaneously right now I think it will take him about 15 months to write them. September 2017 is when he finished Skysworn so based on these predictions OKAK should be finished by January 2019. He is 6 months into this 15 month prediction, so by this estimation he should be about %40 done with OKAK. The progress bar isn't too far off from that.

Kaden

3/31/2018 10:23:01 pm

Imma go on an optimistic limb here and say about mid summer maybe early fall depending but we do need an update to the bar.I(since according to blog he has been working about 3.5 months worth of time on the book and is 34% done at 2.7 months worth so with a little math and guess work not to hard to estimate also it should go a lot faster when one of the books is down so he has a backbone for the other)

Adarsh

3/31/2018 08:32:41 pm

I think its original name should be the Sally equivalent. You could make it so that the one who crafted it named it after his deceased sister or something, and thats what it(The bow) will call itself, but all those who have faced it in combat only know it as "Shadestrike" or "Eclipse" etc...

DemandingFan

3/31/2018 11:38:36 pm

Will I demand you make an April Fools Day post. Something about how you're dropping all your current series' to purse your true literary passion: Romance novels.

Extesian

4/1/2018 09:17:41 pm

So...why is the first 'I' in your name smallicized in the graphics on this site? Why Will? Why :(

Kaden

4/2/2018 02:56:31 pm

that is the question isn't it

EndanDrachon

4/3/2018 03:55:15 pm

Probably to screw with us. It IS Will Wight we're talking about. Based on the blog that would totally be in character for him...

Walter

4/2/2018 05:20:52 pm

I asked a long time ago, but it has most likely changed. What sort of time line do you think you’ll have until the next cradle book is ready? I understand it’s a hard question, but I’m super invested and check this site daily for updates, and I’m desperate for news

AnnoyingFan

4/2/2018 07:53:58 pm

Will has promised another Cradle book as soon as he finishes up with the Elder Empire.

Skysworn was published late September so it's been about six months. He's currently 34% of the way through the story as per the progress bar, which means we can expect him to be about 1/3 done (Note, this is a bit of an overestimation, since he likely has made some progress since last updating the progress bar). By this estimation, it should take him 18 months to finish OKAK in its entirety, 6 months of which are past.

Therefore, I predict that he be done with both OKAK books around this time next year, at which point he will begin writing the next Cradle book. The longest period of time between Cradle books was the seven moth period between Soulsmith and Blackflame, so assuming the worst it would take Will an additional 7 months to write and release the next Cradle book.

This puts the next Cradle book at around November 2019. Hope this helps!

Walter

4/3/2018 09:12:01 am

It doesn’t. I should go back in time, but I thought he said March of this year a while back. There was a hurricane, his flu, weddings, etc. that have also affected productivity. I just hope by the time it gets written people still remember Lindon. He sells the most books he’s ever sold, that sell faster than ever with each new cradle volume, and then stops? It doesn’t make sense imo- if life drops opportunity in your lap, you don’t turn around and say, ya but what about that thing I used to do?

The Annoying Fan

4/3/2018 09:03:17 pm

It's because he didn't want to leave the Elder Empire series finished. He already put of the Elder Empire finale for a year to work on Cradle, which he originally thought was just going to be a fun side project.

Will likes to keep his promises, which is why he is working to produce a satisfying conclusion to the Elder Empire series before he sits down to seriously work on Cradle.

The Annoying Fan

4/3/2018 09:04:27 pm

*unfinished. Will doesn't want to leave the Elder Empire series unfinished.

Walter

4/4/2018 05:14:59 pm

Yea- you’re right. D: I got overzealous. I apologize.

The Annoying Fan

4/4/2018 11:01:36 pm

It's okay! We're all fellow Will Wight cultists here!

Besides, I'm partially to blame. My initial response was more than a bit cheeky.

Ronald McDonald

4/2/2018 07:46:40 pm

Question, Do you consider your Cradle novels to be "Non-western setting?" Asking so I can use it to fill out my "Non-western setting" bingo mark on my r/fantasy bingo card for this year.

Jonathan

4/6/2018 09:24:35 am

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it would be incredibly funny if the reason the bow was named Sally, is because the bow chose it's own name and the original creator couldn't get it to change it's mind. It refuses to answer to anything else, and gets royally pissed if a new user tries to call it by "It's Monikers".

Brian S

4/10/2018 09:48:11 pm

Sally-a sortie of troops from a besieged place upon an enemy.
a sudden rushing forth or activity.

If framed in a certain way, then Sally works. Say if the full name of the weapon is Sallier of Gates, The Dead of the Sally. Weapon could be Dead Sally, or Sally for short. Just a few ideas that could make the name work.

Wiley

4/17/2018 03:29:57 pm

you could use the name Silly, close enough to Sally xD

"Such a mighty artifact! Please tell me, what is its venerate name?"

"Silly"

"Do no not be judgmental of the elders naming sense! please tell me."

"No, no.. It's literally 'Silly'.. "

In which we ramble on.
And by we, I mean me.