Greetings, Loyal Reader!
Last post, I discussed Robert Asprin’s Myth Adventures Series as one of the inspirations for the Jason Cosmo series (both the original handwritten stories and the novels). Today I want to address a more basic matter of Jason Cosmo’s origin: his name.
This isn’t a long or complicated story. When I sat down at my desk one evening in 1982 with a #2 pencil and a blank sheet of paper to write my D&D adventure story, I knew I wanted wanted the main character to be a heroic warrior capable of amazing feats. And he needed a catchy name. As I have mentioned before, I love Greek mythology. One of my favorite stories is that of Jason and the Argonauts. The name “Jason” quickly popped into my mind. The name Jason evokes the ancient Greek period, but is not as tied to that era as names like Hercules, Achilles, Theseus, or (my personal favorite) Odysseus. It is both modern and ancient. Perfect! Now I needed a last name.
This was a little harder. Of course, epic heroes do not necessarily need last names. Gilgamesh Jones? Conan Smith? ((That would fit, actually. His father was a blacksmith.)) Fafhrd Johnson? But we also have Arthur Pendragon, John Carter of Mars, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Finieous Fingers — I wanted to give my character a last name. Jason was a good start, but by itself not evocative enough. I wanted to create an epic hero for cosmic adventures.
Cosmic! Yes, that’s it! Jason Cosmic!
No, not quite right. Cosmos? Close. Maybe lose the S and … Jason Cosmo!
Perfect!
That is pretty much the story of how Jason Cosmo got his name over the course of twenty minutes or so of pondering. I started writing. The rest is (obscure) history.
Best regards,
Dan McGirt
Since people in the middle ages and, by extension, Lower Hicksnittle generally lack imagination they often didn’t have last names. Family names were often based on their occupations – i.e. Smith, Cooper, Hooker?, etc.
So what does a “Cosmo” do?
Tim: Good question! A better question that you probably realize, and worth pondering. All will be revealed in due time. (Of course, you’re also assuming that Jason Cosmo’s world closely tracks the customs of our world’s medieval period, which may not be the case.)