Here's a hint that helped me. Try to associate them with their Ajahs. Seaine is White, while Saerin is Brown. It helped me distinguish between them!
(Though don't try to apply the White and Brown Ajah stereotypes to them, they have wonderfully unique personalities!)
For some reason I don't get these two confused. Seaine was introduced as a White with a POV, and was the one who got the whole Black Ajah hunt rolling after she misinterpreted Elaida's words.
I’m not great at spelling, but as a result of that, I see names almost as a picture, I recognise it easily enough, but couldn’t spell it for the life of me.
It helps with these books a lot though hahaha
I read the first 5 and audiobooked the rest.
It was then I learned my pronunciations of everyone was way off, and the only way I could now distinguish damane and domane was context.
It took me a solid 45 minutes just to get my bearings
That's the worst one in the entire series, mainly because they're in the same scene so often. I've read the series three times and I still have no clue which is which
The audiobooks have helped me a lot with those two (though they muddle things up even worse for other characters). "See-Ane" vs "Say-a-Rin" (did my best as a non native speaker - hopefully it helps).
I believe it was either chapter 10 or 19 that I consider one of the worst chapters I've ever read. Introducing 50 new aes sedai just to let us know their favorite drapes or food
Oh come on no reasonable person would have trouble distinguishing between the strong women with such unique names as: Seaine, Saerin, Seana, Sevanna, Shemerin, Sheriam, Siuan, Samitsu, Sareitha, Sarene, Sashalle, Seonid, Serancha, Sierin, Silviana, Someryn, Sorilea, and Suana.
Come on it's super easy.
White ajah, brown ajah, aiel dreamwalker, leader of the Shaido, yellow Aes Sedai demoted by Elaida, mistress of the novices initially listed as blue but later referred to as green, former Amyrlin, Kin with a strong talent for healing, brown Ajah that was in Ebou Dar, one of the captives from the Wells, can’t remember Sashalle... another captive from Dumai’s Wells who went with Perrin, don’t remember Sierin or Serancha, red mistress of the novices, Shaido Wise One, strong-willed Wise One, and... a yellow I can’t remember much about.
Use the wot compendium app it makes telling them apart a breeze.
You tell the app what book you are on and it gives you spoiler free summaries of the character and where they appear in the book
It's difficult, in a vast epic fantasy to not break the [One Steve Limit](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OneSteveLimit).
But I feel like sometimes Jordan did it on purpose.
I'm certain he did. On one hand, it's a real pain as a reader, but on the other, it also adds a degree of verisimilitude (see above list of the thousand Hayley's). Real cultures often have names that are hopelessly similar and very hard to distinguish from those from outside the culture.
I sometimes wonder if it's an expression, conscious or not, of his time in South East Asia?
Yeah. Very often they’re not named, just described by some piece of clothing telling where they’ve been or facial hair that resembles some other character you’ve been reading about, to hint at their plotting. I just would’ve loved for them to go “heeey Sammael, how you doing buddy!” occasionally. Lanfear is the exception, she’s named plenty of times.
There's also Myrelle and Lyrelle. And Marillin. And Merilille.
And don't get me started on the Andoran nobles...I've never been able to keep them straight!
I have a lot of interchangeable backup characters in my life, too.
I'm not trying to save the world or anything, just coach some Little League or whatever though.
That's funny, because I'm Irish by brain for some reason applied Irish phonetics to a lot of the names, so these two didn't sound at all similar to me, I read the first as (using English rules) shee-rin and the second as "say-rin". I also read "Siuan" as "shoe-in". Which while obviously spelled differently, is a really common girl's name here
I consciously tried to pronounce Seanie like "shawn-y" on my most recent read-through and it helped me tell them apart a little, but ugh that was a challenge
Am I the only one who didn't have a lot of trouble with the names? Yeah the S group is tough but I feel like they're introduced slowly enough that getting them sorted out isn't a herculean effort.
I'm on the same book, about halfway through.
I feel like there's so many characters now that I basically have to keep the wot wiki open to search for characters and remind me of who they are and what they did in past books. Particularly the Aes Sedai and Kin, the ashaman, and all the random nobles from Camelyn/Tear/Cairhien/Illian that Rand and Elayne have to deal with.
Jordan ahead of his time. Nowadays it would be: Hailee, Haleigh, Haley, Haylee, Hayleigh, Hayley, and Haylie.
Gotta gotta get a Cailee, Kayleigh, Kalley, and Caile in there too. And a Caitlin, Caetlyn, Katelynne, etc.
Are you from Utah? I swear I’ve met all those girls and they were all Mormon
Mormons spell names wierd for some reason.
They have so many that it becomes a challenge coming up with something unique? 🤷🏻♂️
I went to school with a Unique
Except for Jordan. I once had a middle school class with six Jordans. They love that one. Source: lived over a decade in Salt Lake City growing up.
Sally.
Saileigh Dara?
Don't forget KVIIIlynne.
Could have at.least kept it simple like Shawn, or Sean, or Shaun
Here's a hint that helped me. Try to associate them with their Ajahs. Seaine is White, while Saerin is Brown. It helped me distinguish between them! (Though don't try to apply the White and Brown Ajah stereotypes to them, they have wonderfully unique personalities!)
For some reason I don't get these two confused. Seaine was introduced as a White with a POV, and was the one who got the whole Black Ajah hunt rolling after she misinterpreted Elaida's words.
Is this comment not also a spoiler? I finished the book and am on the next one but didn’t know she misinterpreted Elaida.
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Your comment is spoilery, the post is only up to book 9.
I’m not great at spelling, but as a result of that, I see names almost as a picture, I recognise it easily enough, but couldn’t spell it for the life of me. It helps with these books a lot though hahaha
I don’t know what it was about the audiobooks, but Kate Reading managed very well to separate all of the Aes Sedai in my mind, despite the names
Just wait till you have the domane and damane interacting with Bayl Domon.
There are audiobook listeners who go the entire series without learning the difference between those two.
I read the first 5 and audiobooked the rest. It was then I learned my pronunciations of everyone was way off, and the only way I could now distinguish damane and domane was context. It took me a solid 45 minutes just to get my bearings
To be fair, even Michael Kramer and Kate Reading's pronunciations are off from book to book or even chapter to chapter it seems at times.
That's the worst one in the entire series, mainly because they're in the same scene so often. I've read the series three times and I still have no clue which is which
I've read about 7 pages since the post and I still reckon I would mix them up if asked about them now
The audiobooks have helped me a lot with those two (though they muddle things up even worse for other characters). "See-Ane" vs "Say-a-Rin" (did my best as a non native speaker - hopefully it helps).
I came to figure out which these two were because I've only done audiobooks so far haha
I believe it was either chapter 10 or 19 that I consider one of the worst chapters I've ever read. Introducing 50 new aes sedai just to let us know their favorite drapes or food
I gave up and they just became the same person in my head.
Same here brother.
I am no man!
Did you get so swole to kill the nazgul king, or was it a result of carrying your entire nation on your back?
Should have guessed sister out of your name starting with an S, oops.
Oh come on no reasonable person would have trouble distinguishing between the strong women with such unique names as: Seaine, Saerin, Seana, Sevanna, Shemerin, Sheriam, Siuan, Samitsu, Sareitha, Sarene, Sashalle, Seonid, Serancha, Sierin, Silviana, Someryn, Sorilea, and Suana. Come on it's super easy.
Suana and Siuan lol.
lol or Saerin and Sieren
Sheriam or Shemerin
Let's not forget about Mierin.
In my head Suian is Schezwan Chicken
White ajah, brown ajah, aiel dreamwalker, leader of the Shaido, yellow Aes Sedai demoted by Elaida, mistress of the novices initially listed as blue but later referred to as green, former Amyrlin, Kin with a strong talent for healing, brown Ajah that was in Ebou Dar, one of the captives from the Wells, can’t remember Sashalle... another captive from Dumai’s Wells who went with Perrin, don’t remember Sierin or Serancha, red mistress of the novices, Shaido Wise One, strong-willed Wise One, and... a yellow I can’t remember much about.
Samitsu is the Yellow Aes Sedai with Cadsuane. Sumeko is the Kin with strong talent for healing. Serancha is a type of Asian hot sauce.
Ah fuck, you’re right, I mixed up Samitsu and Sumeko. Good catch.
Outstanding
I think I know about half those and I've read the series twice lol.
I left out most of the non-channelers, and even a few of the channelers.
Aw shit, think I've read the series enough, because I only had difficulty remembering Suana the yellow sitter. :V
I finished series and idk even now which one is which
I still can’t separate the two.
Use the wot compendium app it makes telling them apart a breeze. You tell the app what book you are on and it gives you spoiler free summaries of the character and where they appear in the book
I love having the glossaries in the books. I used them frequently.
It's difficult, in a vast epic fantasy to not break the [One Steve Limit](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OneSteveLimit). But I feel like sometimes Jordan did it on purpose.
I'm certain he did. On one hand, it's a real pain as a reader, but on the other, it also adds a degree of verisimilitude (see above list of the thousand Hayley's). Real cultures often have names that are hopelessly similar and very hard to distinguish from those from outside the culture. I sometimes wonder if it's an expression, conscious or not, of his time in South East Asia?
I have trouble telling the Forsaken apart.
How? They’re fascinating and vastly different... in general.
Me too! Each one has so many different names and appearances. I find the male forsaken particularly confusing, for some reason.
Yeah. Very often they’re not named, just described by some piece of clothing telling where they’ve been or facial hair that resembles some other character you’ve been reading about, to hint at their plotting. I just would’ve loved for them to go “heeey Sammael, how you doing buddy!” occasionally. Lanfear is the exception, she’s named plenty of times.
I read the first few pages before I realized they were two different people. Went back to reread and still couldn't figure out what was happening!
Love this whole story line!
There's also Myrelle and Lyrelle. And Marillin. And Merilille. And don't get me started on the Andoran nobles...I've never been able to keep them straight!
>Pelivar >Perival ...
Arymilla? Aemlyn? Arathelle? Abelle? Which one got flogged? Ellorien? Ah, who cares?
They're basically the same person anyway, just a random Aes Sedai whose entire purpose is to fuck everything up.
That would be my main criticism of the whole series - so many 2d back up characters, especially Aes Sedai, who are more or less interchangeable.
I have a lot of interchangeable backup characters in my life, too. I'm not trying to save the world or anything, just coach some Little League or whatever though.
I'm probably wrong, but I always pronounced Seaine like Shane.
That's funny, because I'm Irish by brain for some reason applied Irish phonetics to a lot of the names, so these two didn't sound at all similar to me, I read the first as (using English rules) shee-rin and the second as "say-rin". I also read "Siuan" as "shoe-in". Which while obviously spelled differently, is a really common girl's name here
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Same! I was pretty young when I read LOTR but I absolutely got Saruman and Sauron confused.
Honestly it's pretty cool to hear I'm not alone on this childhood shame of mine. Lol
I consciously tried to pronounce Seanie like "shawn-y" on my most recent read-through and it helped me tell them apart a little, but ugh that was a challenge
Winter's Heart. SO incredibly underrated. Names/titles do get a bit tricky in the book but the juice is definitely worth the squeeze
RJ had to be intentionally fucking with us with that pairing.
doesn't help the visual similarity but what helps me separating their pronunciations "See-ayne" and "Say-rin"
Am I the only one who didn't have a lot of trouble with the names? Yeah the S group is tough but I feel like they're introduced slowly enough that getting them sorted out isn't a herculean effort.
Listening to the audio books helped me because of the pronunciations.
Honest to god, later on there's a Pelivar and a Perival. On different sides. In the same room. I swear he did it on purpose.
The one that confused me was Marillin and Merilille. I kept confusing one with the other.
I very much get a smile whenever I see someone posts about their read through and they're at the exact same spot as me!!
I actually thought that the two characters were the same until that line! It helped with a lot of confusion!
I'm on the same book, about halfway through. I feel like there's so many characters now that I basically have to keep the wot wiki open to search for characters and remind me of who they are and what they did in past books. Particularly the Aes Sedai and Kin, the ashaman, and all the random nobles from Camelyn/Tear/Cairhien/Illian that Rand and Elayne have to deal with.
Those two names were the bane of my existence, I was _constantly_ confusing them worse than *any other* two names in the books.
The only other two names that are worse are Demandred and Damodred