Reply To: True Names
Yes, he was under a compulsion to reveal his name.
if he’d have managed to resist, they’d have used a stronger spell…thus convincing them that he was even higher powered.
The true name basically allows the caster to “pin down” the exact being he/she is interested in. They then have to “glue a link to them”
You can form links to something without a true name, but the anchor is no where near as good.
So for example if put a “remote eyes” spell on someone (like a familiar) it might work at least for a while, but to get a permanent bond that wouldn’t break easily I’d need to know the true name…at that point the link spell (for a wizard) could take hold.
Tom was good example of this, he didn’t know the names of the priests he invaded, but through sheer force he was able to overwhelm them, but they could have eventually fought it off, pushed him out, particular if he had help. But if he had know the true names of those priests, it would have taken a full blown exorcism to get him out of their bodies.
It’s effectively one way, because the person who’s name is known doesn’t know the true name of the person who knows theirs (presumably) so they have a harder time “locking on” to that person.
That being said…specifically it’s well known that just because you know the true name of a demon, doesn’t mean you can control it, any normal “sane” wizard who knows the true name of say an Archdemon would think twice about using it’s true name to compel it. Because the Archdemon is likely so much more powerful than the wizard, that it could do a two way on it. Follow the link back and use shear force to attach to someone who’s true name they don’t know, and in however short of a time that is…be very very very nasty.
This is why you start with the true name and then use mutliple wheel barrels full of the biggest spells you’ve got to back yourself up and contain/control the demon.
The true name is really just a key to making stuff “stick” or “finding someone”
Think of it as being like an encryption certificate. In terms of an SSL certificate, the true name guarantees you’ve got the right person on the other end of the spell, and like a PKE certificate, it can let you decode the person and get “inside”