Unsong - Hidden Transcendent Names of God

In Unsong, after the sky broke many close to random assortments of syllables started to produce supernatural effects when spoken by humans. These vary greatly in power and usefulness, the shortest and weakest word killing the user when spoken, while the longest and most powerful word lets one harness God's power to remake the world in their image.
These can be activated by speaking them, by using a scroll, or by destroying a piece of paper with the Name written on it, but they have to initially be spoken/written by someone with a soul to work.
Due to the huge amount of them no-one is canonically shown to be capable of using all of them, but many characters do know a large handful of them.
==The Shem haMephorash==
The Shem haMephorash, also known as the Explicit Name of God is a seventy-two letter long name which captures God's full essence and bestows near-omnipotence upon the speaker.Chapter 1: Dark Satanic Mills It has the power to destroy and remake worlds,Chapter 4: Tools Were Made And Born Were Hands it was the Name that God had spoken when creating the universe, and a Name that would let the wielder defeat hell itself.Chapter 22: Whose Ears Have Heard The Holy Word Speaking it shatters the world and rebuilds it according to the desires of the speaker.Chapter 71: But For Another Gives Its Ease
But it is not without its caveats. The Comet King and Albion are the only two people who have spoken it without burning up or going mad halfway through.Chapter 61: And Ololon Said, Let Us Descend Also, And Let Us Give Ourselves To Death In Ulro Among The Transgressors. This is because no-one before them could see the whole universe at once and figure out how it needed to be broken and remade.Epilogue
On top of this there's the issue of how Metatron, the Voice of God, would remove knowledge of the Shem haMephorash of anyone who isn't pure enough.Chapter 49: Terrors Of The Sun And Moon
But as far as indexing goes, users of the Shem haMephorash would get High 1-A Creation and destruction, as well as Law Manipulation, since the new universe they create can have different laws and fundamental properties, such as not having Hell or having Thamiel no longer be a facet of God.Chapter 68: Puts All Heaven In A Rage
==The Wakening Name==
The Wakening Name sends a jolt of energy through people,Chapter 39: Fearful Symmetry effectively acting as a replacement for coffee.Chapter 1: Dark Satanic Mills
This would be indexed as Healing.
==The Vital Name==
The Vital Name is a fifty-eight letter long Name capable of granting souls to non-living objects, not turning them into golems, but giving them actual souls that let them speak names.Chapter 4: Tools Were Made And Born Were Hands The thing given to them is also referred to as the divine spark.)Chapter 1: Dark Satanic Mills
Speaking this when he already had a soul gave Aaron a vision of the history of the Name.
This Name can also give mental pocket dimensions souls, causing them to have an independent existence uncontrolled by their creator.Chapter 38: I Will Not Cease From Mental Fight
This would be indexed as Soul Manipulation, Life Manipulation, and Psychometry.
==The Tempestuous Name==
The Tempestuous Name, as it says on the tin, summons a tempest,Chapter 2: Arise To Spiritual Strife but only with the power to knock someone off their feetChapter 15: O Where Shall I Hide my Face or blow some skeletons off a building.Chapter 40: In Terrible Majesty
This would be indexed as Air Manipulation.
==The Sentinel Name==
Having The Sentinel Name tattooed on one's ear, and other Names tattooed on one's forehead lets that person hear any uses of such Names within a couple miles of them.Chapter 2: Arise To Spiritual StrifeChapter 6: Till We Have Built Jerusalem
This would be indexed as Clairvoyance.
==The Confounding Name==
The Confounding Name, when spoken, lets one change the memories of themselvesChapter 2: Arise To Spiritual Strife and others.Chapter 41: Go Love Without The Help Of Any Thing On Earth This can be used to wipe memories of certain things entirely or subtly alter memories in an undetectable fashion.
This would be indexed as Memory Manipulation.
==The Vanishing Name==
The Vanishing Name is a form of teleportation, with a range of at least a few hundred miles. However, it's limited in that it teleports you to a situation complementary to the one you're in. Using it in a laboratory devoted to the testing of kabbalistic Names has you ending up in another laboratory devoted to the testing of kabbalistic Names in another city. Using it while being accosted by hooligans teleports you to the bad part of another city in front of some hooligans looking for someone to accost.Chapter 2: Arise To Spiritual Strife
However, a countermeasure against this limitation was devised by Jinxiang West; by creating an artificial situation that would appear nowhere else in the world, you can guarantee that the Vanishing Name would take you to a particular destination. Jinxiang's artificial situation was a Beanie Baby heptagram, burned afterwards to prevent anyone from following.Chapter 45: In The Remotest Bottoms Of The Caves
This would be indexed as Teleportation.
==The Luminous Name==
The Luminous Name is capable of creating light seemingly arbitrarily, being worked into prayers and magic squares to produce lights of various shapes and colors,Chapter 5: Never Seek To Tell Thy Love as well as being able to light up a darkened library,Chapter 19: The Form Of The Angelic Land or create a pale sphere of light.Chapter 64: Another Better World Shall Be
However, after Uriel's death all Names appear to become more powerful, with the Luminous Name now creating a ball of fire instead.
This would be indexed as Light Manipulation and Fire Manipulation, but the profiles should clarify that it can only really be one of these at a time.
==The Kinetic Name==
Not much is known about the Kinetic Name. It's known that clever inventors incorporate it in gadgets and doodads, but not what effect that has. It was also used once to fling someone out of a shattered window.Chapter 65: The Fruit Of My Mysterious Tree
So in lieu of better information, this would be indexed as Telekinesis.
==The Fertile Name==
The Fertile Name simple speeds up the growth of crops.Chapter 5: Never Seek To Tell Thy Love
This would be indexed as Plant Manipulation.
==The Purifying Name==
The Purifying Name is initially only brought up for its ability to kill harmful bacteria,Chapter 5: Never Seek To Tell Thy Love but was later used to help fend off skeletons.Chapter 40: In Terrible Majesty
This would be indexed as Purification.
==The Thunderclap Name==
The Thunderclap Name simply creates a deafening boom.Chapter 5: Never Seek To Tell Thy Love
This would be indexed as Sound Manipulation.
==Sacred Kabbalistic Marriage of Minds (SCABMOM)==
SCABMOM is a ritual created by Uriel that lets two minds join together, letting them share thoughts, memories, and emotions beyond distance or death.Chapter 70: Nor For Itself Hath Any Care It essentially grants the two participants telepathy with each other, with this conjoining persisting after death, essentially letting that person's mind live on in the mind of the other.Chapter 70: Nor For Itself Hath Any Care Control of the body can seemingly be passed to anyone else in the mind, with Sohu passing her body to Uriel to kill Thamiel.Chapter 70: Nor For Itself Hath Any Care
As people can be kabbalistically married to multiple people, this after-death persistence can transfer, with all minds passing through any SCABMOM links when someone dies. This is particularly noticeable at the culmination of the series, with Uriel, Sohu, Dylan, Erica, Ana, Sarah, and THARMAS all residing in Aaron's mind, before gradually merging into one entity.Epilogue
SCABMOM also has the side-effect of passing knowledge of Names through these telepathic links, seemingly unconsciously.Chapter 19: The Form Of The Angelic Land But as this is an unconscious process they're not consciously aware of these Names they learn this way unless they're explicitly consciously shared.Chapter 25: Lie Down Before My Feet, O Dragon
This would be indexed as Telepathy and Immortality (Limited Type 6).
==Some Sorta Moon-Finding Name==
Early on Aaron (by use of Sarah) discovers an unnamed Name that shoots a beam of light in the direction of the moon.Chapter 6: Till We Have Built Jerusalem
This would be indexed as Light Manipulation.
==Some Sorta Perfect Vision Name==
Early on Aaron (by use of Sarah) discovers an unnamed Name that gives him perfect 20-20 vision.Chapter 6: Till We Have Built Jerusalem
This would be indexed as Biological Manipulation.
==The Motive Name==
The Motive Name is used to make things move. It's usually used to make cars move, replacing the internal combustion engine,Chapter 7: The Perishing Vegetable Memory and it can also be used to turn locks.Chapter 39: Fearful Symmetry It was also seemingly used by Sarah to let her move despite not having legs/a body.Chapter 41: Go Love Without The Help Of Any Thing On Earth
This would be indexed as Telekinesis, due to its ability to create movement at a distance.
==The Avalanche Name==
The Avalanche Name is an eleven-letter long Name which causes substantial damage against buildings but isn't very good at harming humans.Chapter 10: Bring The Swift Arrows Of Light This Name has been used to blow up the front wall of a house, punch a human-sized hole in the floor,Chapter 10: Bring The Swift Arrows Of Light and to shatter a window.Chapter 37: Love That Never Told Can Be
Jinxiang West also attempted to use it to collapse a pyramid, but it only caused bits of it to crumble off.Chapter 38: I Will Not Cease From Mental Fight
This would be indexed as Telekinesis, and given a tiering of 9-B, possibly higher Environmental Destruction, the higher end coming from the ambiguity of how much of the pyramid was destroyed, how large the pyramid is, and the fact that the incredibly smart fighter Jinxiang used valuable time to attempt such a feat.
==The Tenebrous Name==
The Tenebrous Name plunges an area into near-absolute darkness.Chapter 10: Bring The Swift Arrows Of Light
This would be indexed as Darkness Manipulation.
==The Bulletproof Name==
The Bulletproof Name is a forty-letter long Name which protects the speaker from exactly one bullet.Chapter 10: Bring The Swift Arrows Of Light The bullet still hurts the recipient,Chapter 10: Bring The Swift Arrows Of Light but causes far less damage than normal.
This would be indexed as Damage Reduction.
==The Ascending Name==
The Ascending Name lets one rise into the air. Exactly how high it sends someone seems controllable, capable of sending someone up to a balcony, atop the Empire State Building,Interlude ל: New York City or even higher than the hills.Chapter 15: O Where Shall I Hide My Face
This would be indexed as Pseudo-Flight.
==The Mortal Name==
The Mortal Name is a four-letter long Name, the shortest Name, and by virtue of that the weakest. All it does is simply kill the speaker by lighting them on fire.Interlude ד: N-GrammataInterlude ק: Bush
This name's been weaponized by Dylan Alvarez by tricking others into speaking it.
This would be indexed as Self-Fire Manipulation.
==The Spectral Name==
The Spectral Name turns the speaker invisible, but wears off as soon as they speak another word.Chapter 11: Drive The Just Man Into Barren Climes This also makes any clothes, bags, etc. the speaker is wearing/carrying invisible.Chapter 11: Drive The Just Man Into Barren Climes In fact, if multiple people are wearing a harness tying them together, speaking the Spectral Name makes them all invisible.Chapter 59: Clothe Yourself In Golden Arms
This would be indexed as Invisibility.
==The Airwalker/Airwalking Name==
The Airwalker/Airwalking Name (the exact moniker is unclear/inconsistent) lets the speaker walk on air as if it were solid ground.Chapter 11: Drive The Just Man Into Barren Climes
This would be indexed as Pseudo-Flight.
==The Zephyr/Mistral Name==
The Zephyr/Mistral Name (the exact moniker is unclear/inconsistent) calls various winds before the user, the squall, simoon, sirocco, monsoon, marin, zephyr, levante, tramontane, haboob, and the Santa Ana.Chapter 21: Thou Also Dwellest In Eternity The user is then able to fling these winds at a target.Chapter 27: The Starry Floor The Watery Shore
This would be indexed as Air Manipulation.
==The Amnestic Name==
Not much is known about the Amnestic Name except that it's able to affect someone's memory in some way.Chapter 14: Cruelty Has A Human Heart
This would be indexed as Memory Manipulation.
==The Precious Name==
Not much is known about the Precious Name other than the fact that it was discovered.Chapter 14: Cruelty Has A Human Heart
This would not be indexed due to the unknowns surrounding both of who knows it and its function.
==The Fulminant Name==
The Fulminant Name shoots a lightning bolt, capable of lighting objects on fire.Chapter 65: The Fruit Of My Mysterious Tree It's short rangeChapter 15: O Where Shall I Hide My Face and rarely fatal, but it could knock someone out long enough to be captured.Chapter 15: O Where Shall I Hide My Face
This would be indexed as Electricity Manipulation.
==The Wrathful Name==
The Wrathful Name causes immense destruction. It's been described as having the power of a hydrogen bomb,Chapter 16: If Perchance With Iron Power He Might Avert His Own Despair having the power to level cities,Chapter 43: Lest They Be Annihilated In Thy Annihilation and having the power to destroy half a state.Chapter 62: That The Wide World Might Fly From Its Hinges
However, this Name should cause the same level of destruction each time it's said. The two earlier statements are around 7-B. The latter statement when calculated with an average state gives a High 6-C result, and this end was accepted despite the lower ends So it'll be indexed as High 6-C.
==The Animating Name==
The Animating Name turns inanimate objects into ones that can move and think, and is widely used for that purpose.Chapter 28: Hid As In An Ark It was used by the Comet King on his ship to give it an autopilot mode.Chapter 39: Fearful Symmetry
The process this Name enacts seems to correspond to the first example in both of these two paragraphs,Chapter 1: Dark Satanic Mills granting of the nefesh, the animal soul.
Although it seems to not work on all materials, as exemplified by the next Name.
This would be indexed as Life Manipulation.
==Some Sorta Water Walking Name==
The Lubavitcher Rebbe walks on water at one point.Interlude ל: New York City Contextually this is likely done through the use of an unnamed Name.
This would be indexed as Water Walking.
==Some Sorta Copper Animating Name==
This unnamed Name animates golems created out of copper, and was used by Lubavitcher Rebbe to turn the Statue of Liberty into an animated golem.Interlude ל: New York City
This would be indexed as Life Manipulation.
==Some Sorta Demon Disintegrating Name==
This unnamed Name disintegrates demons like fire melts ice, and was used by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to this effect.Interlude ל: New York City
This would be indexed as 9-A AP and Energy Projection, calc group members I've talked to seem to think that feat's best equalized to vaporization.
==Some Sorta Snake Name==
Jalaketu West used an unnamed Name to turn a car's gearstick into a snake.Chapter 29: He Who Respects The Infant's Faith
This would be indexed as Transmutation.
==Some Sorta Un-Snake Name==
Jalaketu West also used an unnamed Name to turn that snake back into a gearstick.Chapter 29: He Who Respects The Infant's Faith
This would be indexed as Transmutation.
==Some Sorta Sunlight-Focusing Name==
Jalaketu West speaks an unnamed Name which makes the sky seem to dim, as if all the sunlight is focused on him and him alone, as a way of gathering people's attention for a speech.Chapter 29: He Who Respects The Infant's Faith
This would be indexed as Light Manipulation.
==Jalaketu's Series of Unnamed Names==
Jalaketu speaks a series of three different Names, each stronger than the last, which jerk Reagan around like a puppet on strings.Chapter 31: The Foundation Of Empire
While the scene is ambiguous, it's likely Body Puppetry of various strengths. Jalaketu didn't know that Reagan was possessed so those Names being some form of Purification would be strange. And even if it was meant to be Purification, it didn't remove the angel's possession.
==The Static Name==
The Static Name was used to buy John a few days after he suffered a fatal injury.Chapter 39: Fearful Symmetry
For indexing purposes, this seems to be a sort of Limited Time Stop.
==The Sanctifying Name==
The Sanctifying Name blesses an area.
This would be indexed as Holy Manipulation.
==The Revelatory Name==
The Revelatory Name exposes hidden dangers.
This would be indexed as Clairvoyance.
==The Coagulant Name==
The Coagulant Name, from the context it's talked about in and its name, appears to stop bleeding.Chapter 42: Whose Delight Is In Destroying
This would be indexed as Healing.
==The Somnolent Name==
The Somnolent Name can be used to put the user to sleep.Chapter 46: To Talk Of Patience To The Afflicted
This would be indexed as Sleep Manipulation.
==The Cavernous Name==
The Cavernous Name can be used to collapse the ground.Chapter 46: To Talk Of Patience To The Afflicted
This would be indexed as Earth Manipulation.
==The Sea-Parting Name==
The Sea-Parting Name parts bodies of water, leaving dry land in the middle for people to walk through. This has been used in New York City to replace bridges,Chapter 66: In The Forests Of The Night and by the Comet King to part the Bering Strait.Chapter 55: None Can Visit His Regions
This would be indexed as Water Manipulation.
==The Beast-Tamer's Name==
While training for an assassination mission, Erica pretended to speak the Beast-Tamer's Name, causing a fake dog to retreat quietly.Chapter 59: Clothe Yourself In Golden Arms Presumably, this Name would have that sort of effect, of taming beasts and being able to direct their movements because of that, when actually used on real animals.
This would be indexed as Animal Manipulation.
==The Fluvial Name==
The Fluvial Name was used by Erica to deflect a swarm of angry bees.Chapter 59: Clothe Yourself In Golden Arms The word "fluvial" is defined as relating to rivers/streams and their actions, so presumably this Name has something to do with manipulating water.
As such, this would be indexed as Likely Water Manipulation.
==The Incendiary Name==
The Incendiary Name launches a projectile which sets whatever it hits alight.Chapter 65: The Fruit Of My Mysterious Tree
This would be indexed as Fire Manipulation.
==The Extinguishing Name==
The Extinguishing Name's effects haven't been shown, but going by the contextChapter 65: The Fruit Of My Mysterious Tree and its name, it presumably puts out fires.
As it likely does this by some magical mechanism instead of by creating water, this would be indexed as Likely Fire Manipulation.
==Some Glass-Exploding Name==
This unnamed Name was used by Malia Ngo to make Clark explode into a shower of glass.Chapter 65: The Fruit Of My Mysterious Tree
This would be indexed as Transmutation.
References
Category:Unsong
Category:Explanation Pages