Origin of PoE's name? :o

Or...



So which do you think it is?

Source:- https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/cyuzpp/fun_fact_you_might_not_know_about_the_origin_of/

"The Path of the Exile" is a story older than the Bible.

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Shagsbeard wrote:

"The Path of the Exile" is a story older than the Bible.

Also worth mentioning that the dev's neighboring country of Australia was a penal colony settled by 'exiles'.

It's amazing what you miss without the grounding of classic literature and history.

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鬼殺し wrote:

...What, you thought the drop bears were just a coincidence?

I asked way back in 2012 something that still has no real answer. 'Wraeclast' means 'the exile's path' in Old English, and I figure it's called that by the people exiled there, i.e. fairly recently ex-Oriathans. So what do the older inhabitants call it? What do the Karui call it? The Vaal? The Ezomytes?

Answer: they all conveniently call it 'Wraeclast' in the lore, but WHY? Why would they all refer to their home as 'The Exile's Path'? And even if they call it that without regard to the meaning of the name, it was named that with the meaning in mind originally.

So were there exiles to Wraeclast long...long ago?

I feel like I'm poking giant holes in a lore that has failed to retain consistency over the years, but eh. It seems worth asking to me, given how unique and purposeful a name 'Wraeclast' really is.

It's because Wraeclast is Boletaria. "Still sane exile?", people turning to beasts. A land where people are exiled, lol.

Edit: A lot of the Scion's lines back that up too.

I forgot a big one too, Alva was a character from souls, who's league is all about time travel.

In case you aren't familiar with souls, the entire plot is based around time travel and alternate dimensions. It's why you always play in the same place, but it looks completely different.

"

鬼殺し wrote:

...What, you thought the drop bears were just a coincidence?

I asked way back in 2012 something that still has no real answer. 'Wraeclast' means 'the exile's path' in Old English, and I figure it's called that by the people exiled there, i.e. fairly recently ex-Oriathans. So what do the older inhabitants call it? What do the Karui call it? The Vaal? The Ezomytes?

Answer: they all conveniently call it 'Wraeclast' in the lore, but WHY? Why would they all refer to their home as 'The Exile's Path'? And even if they call it that without regard to the meaning of the name, it was named that with the meaning in mind originally.

So were there exiles to Wraeclast long...long ago?

I feel like I'm poking giant holes in a lore that has failed to retain consistency over the years, but eh. It seems worth asking to me, given how unique and purposeful a name 'Wraeclast' really is.

'The Exile's Path' may be what it translates to in Old English, and that may be the origin of the name in the minds of the devs, but that doesn't mean it means that in-universe. Cos, as far as we know, in-universe there is no Old English. Or New English. Whatever it is the people in-universe speak, which our character does too but the game conveniently auto-translates for us as players, it isn't English (at the very least it can't be called English, cos there's no England to name the language after). We only know the name of the Karui language, as far as the Oriathans are concerned people just call it Oriathan (and the Vaal script is just called Vaalish). So it could just be that the continent is called Wraeclast by all for the same reason Gabon is called Gabon - that's just the name one of its peoples came up with for it, which may mean anything (so not necessarily 'the exile's path') or perhaps even nothing, and the name stuck. If those people were dominant on the mainland, such as the Eternals or the Vaal, then it's likely the Karui, Ezomytes and Maraketh all typically call it Wraeclast as well (though they might still have their own local name for it too, which may or may not mean anything itself). A word meaning something out-universe doesn't mean it means something in-universe, even if it is where the author pulled the word from. :)

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BloodPuddles420 wrote:

I forgot a big one too, Alva was a character from souls, who's league is all about time travel.

In case you aren't familiar with souls, the entire plot is based around time travel and alternate dimensions. It's why you always play in the same place, but it looks completely different.

Dark Souls? I'm not aware of Dark Souls even having a plot, at least not as I understand that word. An incoherent, impenetrable but possibly philosophical discourse maybe, but about one bargepole and several revolutions around the Jovian equator short of what I might consider a 'plot'.

Tbf, I feel the same way about the old Elder Scrolls lore. Stuff like the 36 Lessons of Vivec and other shit dreamed up by that drug-adled madman of a writer they once had.

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Exile009 wrote:

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BloodPuddles420 wrote:

I forgot a big one too, Alva was a character from souls, who's league is all about time travel.

In case you aren't familiar with souls, the entire plot is based around time travel and alternate dimensions. It's why you always play in the same place, but it looks completely different.

Dark Souls? I'm not aware of Dark Souls even having a plot, at least not as I understand that word. An incoherent, impenetrable but possibly philosophical discourse maybe, but about one bargepole and several revolutions around the Jovian equator short of what I might consider a 'plot'.

Yeah they intended that, you have to play a lot and actually search for the story.

The item descriptions alone have 10x as much of a fleshed out story as 90% of RPGs. Then there's the tons of info you get from talking to all the NPCs and doing the quest lines.

Edit:

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Exile009 wrote:

Tbf, I feel the same way about the old Elder Scrolls lore. Stuff like the 36 Lessons of Vivec and other shit dreamed up by that drug-adled madman of a writer they once had.

I always wanted to learn TES lore, there was way too much to do all the time though. It's like I could be doing fighter's guild quests, stealing things from people who'll kill me, or just jumping up hills to level my acrobatics.

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BloodPuddles420 wrote:

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Exile009 wrote:

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BloodPuddles420 wrote:

I forgot a big one too, Alva was a character from souls, who's league is all about time travel.

In case you aren't familiar with souls, the entire plot is based around time travel and alternate dimensions. It's why you always play in the same place, but it looks completely different.

Dark Souls? I'm not aware of Dark Souls even having a plot, at least not as I understand that word. An incoherent, impenetrable but possibly philosophical discourse maybe, but about one bargepole and several revolutions around the Jovian equator short of what I might consider a 'plot'.

Yeah they intended that, you have to play a lot and actually search for the story.

The item descriptions alone have 10x as much of a fleshed out story as 90% of RPGs. Then there's the tons of info you get from talking to all the NPCs and doing the quest lines.

Oh, I know that. It does have a lot of lore. Problem is that lore is evidently meant for higher dimensional minds, cos it makes no sense to ordinary old me.

Just ask yourself - what is Dark Souls even about? There are entire YT channels dedicated to answering that question, and even they admit it's all speculation.

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鬼殺し wrote:

the original name of Path of Exile was One With Nothing. Heck of an acronym, and quite a cool concept. Totally inappropriate for where the game has ended up though.

One With Nothing, hmm? -