Significant Anagram/Video Games

Examples of Significant Anagrams in Video Games include:

After the apocalypse in Final Fantasy VI, Edgar works incognito as the bandit chief "Gerad". Oddly, he does this even if you change his name to something other than the default. Supposedly, if you change his name to Gerad, he'll use the alias "Edgar".
- He doesn't. That bit in particular is fixed dialogue it seems, since it's Gerad even if you use that name at the beginning.
Kingdom Hearts may well be the reigning champion of this trope, considering that a grand total of fifteen characters have anagrams for names. The names of the members of Organization XIII are simply anagrams of their original names - or in one case, a name they stole from someone else - with an X added in, while Xehanort's name is an anagram-plus-X of both "another" and "no heart". Birth By Sleep essentially makes a third one: "no earth".
- There is always a large debate in the fandom over what their names mean, de-anagrammed. The only canon ones are Ansem (1), Braig (2), Dilan (3), Even (4), Aeleus (5), Ienzo (6), Isa (7), Lea (8) and Sora (13).
  - Marluxia's is almost certainly Lumaria, which is a genus of a certain group of flowers. And, well, given that his element is flowers...
- Unfortunately for Xemnas, if you leave in the X, his name is an anagram for "mansex" (or "sexman"), something that is made fun of a lot in Fanon. Oddly enough, nobody ever seems to make fun of Bigrax (2) and Rent-a-Ho (Xehanort).
  - And let's not forget E-Sexual (5).
- Xion, the "14th member", is No. i, as in "The imaginary number." Also No. I, as in number one. She was the first creation of the Replica Program, of which Riku Replica was also a subject.
- And although probably unintentional, Ansem can be rearranged into Names. Rather ironic, no?
In Escape Velocity: Override, the three alien races/cultures known as the Strands are named Azdgari, Zidagar and Igadzra, and there's a planet known as Gadzair. Word of God says that the Strands are all the same species and Gadzair is their homeworld; this isn't actually part of any plots but was added as a plot hook for mods and future sequels.
In the MMORPG City of Heroes:
- Much has been made by fans over the possible relationship between new character Mender Silos and established villain Lord Nemesis. Whether or not this is significant has yet to be revealed, and it may just be a red herring. Of course, "Mender Silos" came into the game shortly after "The Honoree", which was a Paper Thin Codename for backstory character Hero-1. The City of Heroes staff do love their Significant Anagrams.
- Issue 19 of City of Heroes confirms that Mender Silos is a future version of Lord Nemesis.
- The City of Villains respec trial contacts are named Sparcetriel, Trepsarciel, and Ractespriel.
In Baldurs Gate 2, the famous Dungeons & Dragons character Elminster may appear to speak to one of the party. When doing so, he uses the rather transparent anagram "Terminsel".
The 7th Guest:
- The main villain is a man named Stauf, who apparently came by his riches and success via a deal with the devil. If this isn't clear enough, one of the puzzles in the series involves rearranging trains to spell his name. They are initially positioned to spell Faust.
- Another puzzle also qualifies as a Significant Anagram; the player is presented with a tic-tac-toe-like board on which Scrabblesque tiles are arranged. The letters must be rearranged to spell three words, one in each row. The words are GET BOY TAD, which gives the player some idea of what Stauf wants from his guests and how the game is going to end.
- And another puzzle earlier on involves rearranging the cans in a pantry so that their labels spell out a sentence, which foreshadows later events in the game. The trick is that the only vowel you can use is Y. The solution is "Shy gypsy slyly spryly tryst by my crypt".
Ace Attorney:
- In Apollo Justice Ace Attorney, Kristoph's name in the Japanese version is Kirihito, an anagram of 'hitokiri', meaning 'killer'.
- Earlier in the series, the founding member of the Fey spiritualist clan is Mystic Ami. This name was chosen in the English version because it anagrams to another phrase, "I AM", which, aside from being grounds for the localization to be struck by the Judeo-Christian God, is relevant in a certain case.
- And in Case 3 of Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, "Oliver Deacon" turns out to be an alias of Colin Devorae, the secretary who was forced into Taking the Heat for the Amano group, and his Japanese assumed name is also an anagram of his real one.
Super Robot Wars:
- One of the new characters in Super Robot Wars Z is an antagonist named Asakim Dowen, which immediately got him to be referred as 'Evil Masaki'. Not only is his name is an anagram to Masaki, but he's also clad in black bondage gear, looks Emo, and has the same voice with Masaki (Probably Hikaru Midorikawa is going to use his standard voice for Asakim), and his mecha is considered to be like a 'Black Cybuster'.
- Dowen can also be rearranged into Endow.
- Masaki Ando was named after a member of JAM Project named Masaki Endoh.
Alucard of Castlevania. However, the name (Dracula backwards) is from way back in Son of Dracula (1943), so predates Castlevania by more than half a century.
Metal Gear Solid 4 does this with Rat Patrol, whose callsign is RAT-PT01, an anagram of the LaLiLuLeLo's proper title.
In Mother 3, twin brothers Lucas and Claus.
The Roguelike ADOM uses these for a number of names; Tywat Pare from Wyatt Earp, Lawenilothel from hole-in-the-wall, Gaab'Baay from Baba Yaga, and the fourteen statues in the Bug-Infested Temple which are named after Thomas Biskup and the thirteen prerelease testers.
In World of Warcraft:
- Players meet Matthias Lehner, who turns out to be Arthas Menethil. Or at least, the last remnant of his humanity.
- In a more comedic than significant example, there's the group known as D.E.H.T.A.-- Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals. Rearranging a few letters gives you "D.E.A.T.H." (they send you out to hunt poachers for their ears).
- And another funny examble, a boss in Naxxramas, one of the raid instances in WoW, is named Loatheb. He's known for having an ability that makes it impossible to heal for most of the time you're fighting him. His name's an anagram of Healbot.
- In one questline, Sylvanas Windrunner masquerades as Lindsay Ravensun. It's a flawed anagram, but "Lindsay W.N.R. Ravensun" would have been rather suspicious.
- In the End Time instance there's the leader of the infinite dragonflight Murozond, an anagram of his uncorrupted past self Nozdormu, leader of the bronze dragonflight.
Alan Probe, the star of Amateur Surgeon. Just switch two letters in his first name and you have "anal probe". Which... sort of has something to do with medicine.
In Kingdom of Loathing:
- The Wand Of Nagamar^[1] is required to defeat the main boss without exploiting the kind of loophole that tends to get immediately closed after use. This is something of a Guide Dang It moment.
- The December 2009 event involved a newspaper. Almost all of the newspaper's bylines are anagrams of "Mr. Skullhead", the member of the devteam who was in charge of that part of the event.
- Rene C. Corman, the name of the villain behind the 2010 halloween event and 'The Skies over Valhalla', is an anagram of Necromancer.
Dr. Chakwas of Mass Effect, whose name is an anagram of "hacksaw." According to Word of God, it's meant to play off "sawbones" as a nickname for a trauma surgeon.
The Legend of Zelda: Tetra's Italian name is "Dazel". Now switch around the letters and see what you get. The weird thing is that this painfully obvious anagram actually sounds a lot better as a name than her real, original Japanese name...
In Star* Soldier, the manual for Wing Commander Arena, one of the entries in the timeline lists a "Rein Etorbs" as an author of a book series The Darkening. Erin Roberts (brother of Chris, the WC creator) was in charge of what eventually became Privateer 2: The Darkening (originally just "The Darkening" before Executive Meddling).
In the Inferno campaign of Heroes of Might and Magic 5 you play as a Noble Demon general Agrail. In the subsequent League of Shadows (dark elves) campaign you play as an aspiring dark horse warlock named Railag. Then we have The Reveal. Genre Savvy players instantly recognized the Agreal/Raelag anagram, effectively spoiling the surprise before the game came out.
The second Just Cause: Sloth Demon? Tom Sheldon
The Interactive Fiction game Delightful Wallpaper, intended as an homage to Edward Gorey, was submitted by author Andrew Plotkin under the anagram "Edgar O. Weyrd".
RuneScape has a mahjarrat named Wahisietel who hasn't been seen in decades. There's also a strange man named Ali the Wise who seems to be an expert on the mahjarrat. Hmmm...
Nanaki is a great character (as far as a completely stat-based game can go) who ultimately betrays you but comes back to your side (thankfully not as lethal). He also has two children in the ending.
In the Alternate Reality Game for Batman: Arkham Asylum you agree to help a woman named Wendi Maga, who claims to have a doctorate in psychiatry, hack into the Arkham security system. Dr. Wendi Maga anagrams to Edward Nigma.
The Pokémon Mareep (which resembles an electric sheep) actually gets its name from an anagram of the word "ampere", which is used to describe the strength of an electric current.
The title-giving Lost Superweapon of the Interactive Fiction game The Weapon is called the Yi-Lono-Mordel. This is an anagram for the term "One Room Dilly", which is a nickname for one-room Interactive Fiction games. This hints that the game takes place all in one room, but the Yi-Lono-Mordel itself is far bigger than just the room.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope features Arumat P. Thanatos, who's first name is an anagram of "trauma."

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