I've been pronouncing a main character's name wrong for a whole book series

Our club just finished the third book in that fantasy series everyone's reading. We were about an hour into the debate when Sarah, who's usually quiet, said, 'I just don't get why the author named him See-bass-tian. It sounds so clunky.' A complete silence fell over my living room. I'd been reading it as 'Seh-bass-tee-an' in my head for all three books, nearly 1,200 pages. My wife just stared at me and slowly said, 'Honey, it's Seh-bass-chun. Like the saint.' I had built this whole mental image of the character around a name that wasn't even correct. It made me rethink several of his described mannerisms. Has anyone else had a key piece of a book just completely unravel because of a simple misreading?

3 comments

3 Comments

gracej9927d ago

That "whole mental image" thing is so real.

sam_cooper27d ago

Honestly though, sometimes that mental image stuff gets way too much credit. People act like it's some perfect guide, but our brains fill in blanks with a ton of bias and past junk. Tbh, relying on it completely can actually mess you up because you stop seeing what's really there. It's just a feeling, not a fact.

lee58227d ago

I used to think the mental image stuff was just harmless fun. But I read a whole trilogy picturing this wizard with a deep, booming voice because I misread his name as "Gareth" instead of "Garreth". Found out at a book signing and suddenly all his quiet, sneaky scenes made way more sense. Totally changed how I see that character now.