Ooh, I've always thought this was a cool trope! Here's a few ideas, some based on stuff I've seen before and others that I just came up with off the top of my head:
- In Fruits Basket, there's a character who can curse people if he knows their real names. You could possibly have something similar, with one of your character's powers being amplified by or powered by knowing someone's true name.
- Perhaps if someone knows your true name, your powers won't work on them?
- If actual mind control feels like it's too cliche, perhaps someone knowing your true name could at least make you more vulnerable to their suggestions and subconsciously want to do their bidding?
As for if you’re wanting using the True Name to overpower someone to have drawbacks:
- If the other person is strong-willed enough, the attempts to control them could backfire completely, leaving the user vulnerable to suggestion instead.
- Perhaps using the true name to overpower someone could create a mental bond, which may be unbreakble not only for the victim but also for the manipulator. Perhaps their could be a sense of exhaustion associated with this link, even if the person has essentially become your puppet.
I don’t know how helpful any of this might be, but hopefully it’s something at least.
>^owo^<Another thought might be that invoking someone's True Name makes them aware of you, not only of your existence but of your thoughts, perhaps even your perceptions (and thus, potentially, your location).
My Games and Asset PacksSome of the aliases and their true names:
Jhibukai (alias Misako), Paloma (alias Olapen) and Rosalina (alias Larosin)... As well as an entire culture of succubi who also utilise the true name principle via their "Word Magic" and synchronisation.
Shaman Meridian is a succubus shaman (a type of magical Battle-Mage leader) from planet Gliese, who also heavily specialises in True Names and working spells on others, shi lives in a hut away from the caves (where the succubi live) because hir magic is extremely potent and has a tendency to backfire on others.
Edited by sabrina_diamond on May 18th 2019 at 4:04:42 AM
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!

So basically I have a Dark Fantasy novella and the main characters all have aliases, true forms and True Names, but since this is a Dark Fantasy series, the power must have at least one main draw-back (disadvantage) to using the I Know Your True Name motif. This will be important foreshadowing much later in the novella.
Since in mythology usage of the True Name invokes power over them, how would it affect some of the characters?
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!