Names and Power

In reading the bulk of the old Something Awful Slenderman stories and measuring them up against what I have read of most slenderblogs, I have noticed something that both intrigues and irks me:

There is a sort of taboo against saying Slenderman's name.  The immediately obvious reasoning behind this  is the same reasoning that causes people to be hesitant to talk about him.  Slenderman is, in my opinion, a mind-virus.  He spreads via contagion.  To say his name is to spread it.  This is simply a method of stopping the pathogen from spreading any further--a quarantine, of sorts.  Each mention of his name is another chance for one who is uninvolved to overhear and be infected.

Another immediately obvious reason for the lack of usage is one tied into tradition and superstition:  naming something acknowledges its existence.  To give something a name is to give it power.  The more people who know this name, who spread this name, who speak this name, the more powerful the bearer of the name may become.  The Forgotten Realms setting (by Wizards of the Coast) used this sort of logic to strip a goddess of her power.  By erasing her name from history, they essentially erased her.  By not speaking Slenderman's name, we may be able to erase him (or, that is what these individuals may hope).

It could even be as simple as the reason why one should never say the name of one of the Fair Folk:  if you say their name, they are summoned to you and will whisk you away to the land of the Fae.  There was at least one of the original "transcripts" in which one who had seen Slenderman begged her doctor not to say his name, as it would summon him.

All of these reasons are valid.

Yet I feel that it is better to name the beast than to simply ignore the elephant in the room.

Yes, I know that I could be spreading the contagion.  We are overlooking a key factor here:  fear.  If we avoid using his name, we cause his name to invoke fear when uttered.  The lack of use gives it a different power--not over Slenderman himself, but over those who know the name of Slenderman.  To continue my slightly nerdy comparisons, the disuse and taboo of Slenderman's name is much the same as calling Voldemort "You-Know-Who."  The only difference between the two is that, while it requires one to use Voldemort's name in order for him to pinpoint your position, the minute you think of Slenderman, he knows where you are.  It is completely irrelevant whether or not you use his name, he'll be able to find you anyway.  The only possible escape is lobotomy or amnesia, as he holds no power over those who do not know him (much like The Game, in a way).

So, I will be using his name within this blog.  If you disagree with this, that is fine.  This is simply a heads-up.