Names To Run Away From / Mor

Sandbox.Names To Run Away From Really Fast Single Words: Adjectives (The Adjective One) | Nouns (Animal | Body Part | Colors | Weapons) | Verbs | Titles (Noun X | The Person) Etymology:Ancient Dead Languages | Foreign Language Names Named After: Conquerors | Notorious Killers | Redneck Names | Religious Names (Biblical Names | Demons or Angels) | Shady Names Sounds and Letters: K Names | Mor | Names Ending In Th | R Names | Xtreme Kool Letterz | Unpronouncable Names Various: Mix and Match

There are more words out there with "mor" that don't carry such dark tones... So we can't say that this "mor" sound carries darkness and death wherever it goes. But we can say that it has some dark associations available if we want to use them... And every evil name that has "mor" in it adds to the weight of the association, especially when they're famous evil names... We don't always know what the authors were thinking. But we do know that they may readily have been influenced by the sound.

— James Harbeck

A form of Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Since "mors" is Latin for "death", and many languages use something with a close resemblance (works with the English word "mortality", as well as the French "mort", Spanish "muerte", Portuguese or Italian "morte", etc., or even worse, German "Mord" for "murder" and Czech "mor" for plague), any name with mor- or mort- can be used to indicate death, evil, or a disease.

---

Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Lamortmon (Named after La Morte a.k.a. "the death") from Digimon Ghost Game. He's unambiguously an ally and a loyal partner Digimon, although he does take his berserker tendencies a tad too far.

Comic Books

• Doctor Strange: Baron Mordo, supervillain enemy of Doctor Strange.
• Judge Dredd: Judge Mortis, one of the Omnicidal Maniac Dark Judges, whose touch causes people to rot alive.
• Morbius: Morbius the Living Vampire. He's a good guy at heart — until he gets hungry.
• Sojourn: The Big Bad Mordath.
• Spider-Man: Morlun. This guy, among other things, ate Spider-Man's EYE. Then killed him. Sure, Peter got better, but still.

Film

• Queen Bavmorda from Willow. God Save Us from the Queen!!
• Judge Morton from Who Framed Roger Rabbit
• Morty, the otherworldly shop clerk played by Christopher Walken in Click. He later reveals himself to be the Angel of Death.
• In the US version of The Ring, the Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl is named Samara Morgan.
• Mordo, the main villain of Zu Warriors.

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 Arthurian Legend.
• 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).
• Mordaunt, Milady de Winter's evil son in 20 Years After.
• Morlocks, from the novel The Time Machine, who were the namesake of X-Men's Morlocks and the basis for the novel Morlock Night (which makes them even more intelligent and dangerous).
  • It is theorised the name is an allusion to the Semitic God Molech, who had children burnt before him, while the Morlocks eat the childlike Eloi.
• Also by H. G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau.
• Sherlock Holmes' archnemesis, Professor Moriarty (and his 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.
• Harry Potter's foe Voldemort, 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 maternal uncle, Morfin Gaunt, who had a tendency to nail snakes to doors.
• Mort of Discworld plays this trope both ways: he's initially the skinny little nervous guy you might stereotypically expect a real-life "Mort" to be...until he takes his destined role as apprentice to Death.
• Jack Mort, psychopath in The Dark Tower.
  • Mordred from the later books.
• Morgan Sloat/Morgan of Orris in The Talisman.
• 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 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 almost having "Death" in his name as well.
• Mordion from Hexwood, who has the face of a skull and is tasked with killing political enemies.
• The Mord-Sith, a Praetorian Guard of Torture Technicians in the Sword of Truth universe.
• Morda from The Chronicles of Prydain is another evil wizard.
• Mord the brutal gaoler from A Song of Ice and Fire.
  • The historical figure King Morgon Banefort, the last Hooded King, who was said to be a necromancer.
  • The ancient, one-eyed Mors "Crowfood" Umber, one of two shifty uncles of ambiguous loyalty who declare for opposite sides in the War for the North, once the main line of Greatjon and Smalljon Umber are dead or captured.
• Commonly used by dark elves in The Riftwar Cycle, e.g. Morandis.
• Morgra, the Big Bad of 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 apathy 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.
• Morvern Callar is not someone to share your manuscript or your vacation with.
• In the Old Kingdom series you had best be aware of Mordauts, Mordicants, and several other horrible dead things that want to eat your life force.
• The humorous Fairy Tale deconstruction Enchanted Forest Chronicles has Morwen as an aversion: she's a good witch and something of the Team Mom.
• Lord Mordaunt in The Witch Watch. He's even a Viscount of Ravenstead.
• The Belgariad gives us Mordja, a Demon Lord associated with the Morindim.
• Madame Morrible in Wicked, whose name also rhymes with "horrible".
• The Shannara series alone has Mord Wraiths, the Moric, the Dagda Mor, and the Morgawr, the latter two being Big Bads.
• Morgarath, a major villain in the Ranger's Apprentice series.
• Valentine and Sebastian Morgenstern of The Mortal Instruments, both being rogue Shadowhunters ,though the both of them also possess demon blood, hellbent on committing genocide on all Downworlders and... well... just about everyone, respectively.

Live-Action TV

• Morticia Addams, whose entire family parodied horror tropes.
• Throughout Angel, the ruthless Lilah Morgan is the most-featured representative of demonic law firm Wolfram & Hart.
• Mr. Morden, agent of the Shadows in Babylon 5.
• Dark Knight, a "re-imaginded update" of Ivanhoe (with Robin Hood and Camelot thrown in) had a black-hat wizard called Mordour as one of the antagonists.
• Doctor Who has Morbius, the Morpho, Morgus, the Morlox, Morgaine... Arguably, with some slightly different spelling, Mawdryn.
• Lexx offers Mort, who wants to reanimate the severed head of his unrequited love by attaching parts harvested from corpses—and if necessary, the living.
• Moriondor is the name given to the first generation of Orcs in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The name is canon only to the show and it means "sons of the dark".
• Morgause and Mordred from Merlin, just like in the legend. And... Morgana after her Face–Heel Turn.
• Power Rangers Mystic Force had the Morlocks and their general, Morticon, as ongoing villains.
  • Power Rangers S.P.D. had Mora/Morgana as The Dragon.
• Mordecai Sahmbi, the Big Bad of Time Trax.
• War of the Worlds (1988) retconned the Martians into Mor-Taxans from the planet Mor-Tax (and later, Morthren from the planet Morthrai.)

Newspaper Comics

• Mordac, the Preventer of Information Services in Dilbert

Tabletop Games

• Latinized version from Warhammer 40,000: Mortarion, Primarch of the Death Guard. Also Mork.
  • The God of Death in Warhammer is named Morr. However, he's actually of the nicer part of death gods.
    • The Skaven clan Mors plays this straight, though.
• In Pathfinder, the kyton demagogue Morrobahn. An archfiend also known as the Parasite Seed, it's everything to be expected from the leader of a race whose culture revolves around torture.

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.

Videogames

• 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
  • Morgrinn Crackfang, a Pandarian champion
• Mabinogi 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.
• Guild Wars 2 prominently features Mordremoth, the Elder Dragon of the Maguuma Jungle, in its first expansion Heart of Thorns.
• Morrigan Aensland, from Darkstalkers.
  • Though her name actually comes from the Irish goddess of war, which meant "The Phantom Queen;" not that it makes it much better.
  • Another Morrigan also fits, being a Lady of Black Magic who's a Token Evil Teammate.
  • The Dungeon Of Doom also borrows this name for a monster type.
• The evil wizard Mordack from King's Quest V.
• Mordavia in Quest for Glory.
• In the Interactive Fiction game Delusions, Morrodox is a sentient computer virus who likens himself to AIDS. (Subversion: he demonstrates the ability to Grow Beyond His Programming.)
• General Donald "Devil Rebirth" Morden from the Metal Slug games.
• Pokémon Gold and Silver 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, if a tad cocky.
• The reptilian queen Morag was the main antagonist of the original Neverwinter Nights.
• 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 choose 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, Prince of Monsters, from the MySims series.
• Mortimer McMire from the Commander Keen series, who has tried to destroy the Earth (Invasion of the Vorticons), the galaxy (Goodbye Galaxy), and the 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.
• The .hack franchise has evil A.I.s Morganna and Morti.
• Mors Westford from A Game of Thrones: Genesis is a Night's Watchman feared by friend and foe alike. His nickname? The Butcher.
• Darth Mortis, a Sith Lord in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
• Mors Gotha is the Final Boss of Ultima Underworld II, and your Evil Counterpart.
• Morta in 100 Sleeping Princes and the Kingdom of Dreams. He has an overwhelmingly (and rather chillingly) positive opinion on death, viewing it as a reward bestowed upon people who have made it far in life.
• Morton Koopa, Jr. of Super Mario Bros. fame.
• Archfiend Mortamor, the Big Bad of Dragon Quest VI.
• Dragon Quest XI has Mordegon, Lord of Shadows.
• Moribund Kadaver from Skeleton Krew.
• Dungeons of Dredmor's Big Bad, the Dark Lord Dredmor. Does the name make you feel more dread, or make you dread your impending death?
• Planescape: Torment has Morte, a floating skull.

Webcomics

• Mort the Ghost from Gunnerkrigg Court is less than intimidating. Unless you count the time that Annie gave him advice...
• Mordekai, Loveable Rogue from Irregular Webcomic!.
• Juathuur combines this trope with the -th ending to create "Mordth."
• Mordecai Heller of Lackadaisy, Neat Freak and Psycho for Hire extaordinaire.

Web Originals

• Protectors of the Plot Continuum has Nendil Morifëa, whose second name literally means "black soul."

Western Animation

• Mickey Mouse would have been called Mortimer Mouse if not for Walt Disney's wife's distaste for the way it sounded. The name ended up going to Mickey's rival.
• Mostly subverted with harmless Cloud Cuckoo Lander and foot fetishist lemur Mort from The Penguins of Madagascar. But push him too far and...
• MORBO WILL DESTROY YOU!!
• Invader Zim has Mortos Der Soulstealer, supposedly a wish-granting Humanoid Abomination. Subverted in that all he really does is mooch off of Dib for the whole episode.
• Mor'du combines this trope with Bears Are Bad News.

Real Life

• In fact, the word for death-related things starting with "mor/mar" is not exclusive to Latin. It came from Proto-Indo-European, meaning the trope is more than four thousand years old. Cognates in other ancient dead languages are Hittite "meerzi" ("vanish"), Old Persian "martiya" ("mortal man"), Sanskrit "marati" ("die"), and Old Irish "mar" ("dead"). Personal name examples include Mara, the Big Bad of Buddhism, and the Morrigan, goddesses of war in Celtic Mythology. And yes, Mortimer, as well; it came from a place in France called "Mortemer", which means "dead pond".
• From the same Proto-Indo-European root as "mors" is "mare", the word for an evil spirit. While it is obsolete in modern English, it still survives in words like "nightmare" (rooted in the belief that the spirit likes to haunt humans at night, causing their, well, nightmares) and cognates in other Germanic languages like the Dutch "nachtmerrie" and German "Nachtmahr" (though "Albtraum" is more commonly used these days). Oh, since it came from PIE, non-Germanic languages have it, too: Serbo-Croatian "noćna mora", Albanian "merë" ("fear"), etc.

---