Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Mor

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A form of Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Since "mors" is Latin for "death", and many Latin-derived modern languages use something with a close resemblance (French "mort", Spanish "muerte", Portuguese or Italian "morte", etc, or even worse German "Mord" for "murder"), any name with mor- or mort- can be used to indicate death or evil.

Examples of Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Mor include:


Comic Books

Film

Literature

  • Mörðr Valgarðsson, one of the few people in The Icelandic Sagas who come across as unambiguously "evil".
  • Mordred, Morgause and Morgan le Fay from King Arthur.
  • Mordaunt, Milady de Winter's evil son in The Three Musketeers sequel Twenty Years After.
  • In J.R.R. Tolkien's invented Elvish languages, "mor" means dark or black, hence it often appears in "evil" names: Morgoth ("Dark Enemy", Supreme Big Bad), Mordor ("Black/Dark Land" of Dark Lord Sauron), Morannon (the "Black Gates" into Mordor), Minas Morgul ("Tower of Dark Sorcery"), Moria ("dark pit"). But mor also appears perfectly innocent at other times, e.g. in the girl's name Morwen ("dark/black maid", referencing hair color).
  • Morlocks - From the novel The Time Machine, which was the namesake of X-Men's Morlocks and the basis for the novel Morlock Night (which makes them even more intelligent and dangerous).
  • Professor Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes.
    • And Dean Moriarty from On The Road who gets his name from the above. While not evil, he is a morally loose character who seems to come apart at the seams at the end.
    • Oh, and Moriarty's right-hand man, Colonel Sebastian Moran
    • Word of God has it that Moriarty was named after a real, extremely violent, criminal whose name Doyle spotted in a newspaper.
  • Voldemort - Harry Potter, of course, meaning "Flight of death" or "Theft of death" in French. And if you say his name in Deathly Hallows, you really do have to Apparate. Really fast.
    • Bonus points to him for making it up himself with an anagram of his real name.

Tom Marvolo Riddle = I Am Lord Voldemort

    • There's also the spell which summons his Death Eaters' symbol, Morsmordre.
    • As well as his relative, Morfin Gaunt, who has a tendency to nail snakes to doors.
  • Mort, of Discworld is an exception, as despite being Death's Apprentice, he's a skinny little nervous guy...until he gets into his role...
  • Jack Mort, psychopath in The Dark Tower.
  • Morkai the Red, a minor character but powerful wizard in the early Drizzt novels, who is vicious and dogged in paying back those who killed him.
  • Moridin from the Wheel of Time. Dangerously insane, third most powerful evil person in the world (after the Dark One and his avatar), name literally means "death" in the Fictionary of the books, and just to top it all off, his previous name: Ishamael, a.k.a. Ba'alzamon. Oh, like it wasn't obvious.
    • Mordeth from the same series. Bonus points for having the English word "Death" in his name as well.
  • Mordion from Hexwood, who has the face of a skull and is tasked with killing political enemies.
  • Morda from Taran Wanderer is another evil wizard.
  • Mord the brutal gaoler from A Song of Ice and Fire.
  • Commonly used by dark elves in The Riftwar Cycle, e.g. Morandis.
  • Morgra from David Clement-Davies' novel "The Sight".
  • The Neverending Story has the villain G'mork, the servant of the Nothing, and Morla The Ancient One, who, while not being a villain, represents the nihilism and atrophication which allows the Nothing to take hold.
  • Morzan from the Inheritance Cycle.
  • Morisant, the corrupt wizard from the Fablehaven series.
  • Sarah Mortis in Duumvirate. She tends to live up to it.
  • In The Old Kingdom you had best be aware of Mordauts, Mordicants, and several other horrible dead things that want to eat your life force.
  • Morwen in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles is an aversion, being a good witch and something of the Team Mom.
  • Lord Mordaunt in The Witch Watch. He's even a Viscount of Ravenstead.
  • The Belgariad features the Morindim, a race of savages who summon demons (and usually get eaten as a result).

Live-Action TV

MMORPGs

  • World of Warcraft has several examples:
    • Murlocs
    • Morbent Fel, a malevolent warlock
    • Mor'ladim, an undead elite soldier
    • Moroes, second boss of Karazhan
    • Morpaz, dragon boss in Sunken Temple
  • Mabinogi Fantasy Life has Morgant, also known as Dark Lord, who is both The Dragon and has yet to be defeated in the mainstream storyline; both times you actually fight him the dialogue suggests he let you win, although Tarlach does manage to knock him out temporarily in a cutscene.


Newspaper Comics

  • Mordac, the Preventer of Information Services in Dilbert

Tabletop Games

Theatre

  • Subverted with Mortimer Brewster from Arsenic and Old Lace. He reviews murder plays for a living, but, unlike several other members of his family, he hasn't committed actual murders.

Toys

  • The first enemy the Toa Metru of Bionicle went up against was the Morbuzakh, a Matoran-kidnapping plant.

Video Games

  • Morrigan Aensland, from Darkstalkers.
  • The evil wizard Mordack from King's Quest V.
  • Mordavia in Quest for Glory.
  • General Donald "Devil Rebirth" Morden from the Metal Slug games.
  • Gym Leader Morty subverts this. His name alludes to the fact that he uses ghost types - but he's a really nice and easygoing guy.
    • Albeit a bit cocky. [1]
  • Morte, from the video game (and parallel animated adaptation) Sands of Destruction. Among her other nicknames are "Lady Death" and the "Scarlet Plague".
  • Mordin Solus from Mass Effect 2. Sure, he may be a scientist primarily, but he's also a highly trained and extremely efficient killer, and he's not afraid to tell you so.
    • Do not sleep with Morinth. Should you chose to ignore this warning, you should make sure your life insurance and will are up to date.
  • The Morton family in Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.
  • Overlord II has Mortis, who controls the life and death of Minions. He's even got a cloak and scythe to make him look like a tiny little Grim Reaper.
  • Morty Maxwell of the Super Solvers series.
  • Morcubus from the My Sims series.
  • Mortimer McMire from the Commander Keen series, who has tried to destroy the Earth (Invasion of the Vorticons), the galaxy (Goodbye Galaxy), and even the entire universe (if the Universe is Toast trilogy had been made, that is...)
  • Mordekaiser from League of Legends.
  • Mort the undertaker in The Curse of Monkey Island -- though he's a Harmless Villain (if that) with exploitable superstition. He eventually helps you once Murray threatens to curse him with the inability to "find socks that match."
  • The initial villain in Tales of Vesperia is called Mordio. However, this is subverted when it turns out that "Mordio" is an imposter and the real Mordio is one of your party members.

Web Comics

  • Mort the Ghost from Gunnerkrigg Court is also less than intimidating.
    • Unless you count the time that Annie gave him advice...
  • Mordekai, Loveable Rogue from Irregular Webcomic.
  • The salamander king of Juathuur, if salamanders weren't such cute critters, and the shrieking sky. Also, Mordth.

Western Animation

Back to, not away from, Names to Run Away From Really Fast

  1. ↑ "It's said that a rainbow-hued Pokémon will come down to appear before a truly powerful Trainer. I believed that tale, so I have secretly trained here all my life. As a result, I can now see what others cannot. I see a shadow of the person who will make the Pokémon appear. I believe that person is me!"
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