A little nugget about Swain's name

Kairoptra·2/6/2018, 1:41:38 AM·4 votes·492 views

Now, I don't know about the "Swain" part of it, but I do know what "Jericho" comes from. I bet a good chunk of you know this story, so please appreciate this as a nudge towards those who don't. Before I start, this is not me trying to shove religion down your throats. I'm just citing scripture and leaving it up to you how to interpret it.

Now in the Torah (the Jewish religious text), better known in the Christian community as The Old Testament, there is a story of a powerful city named Jericho. Jericho had incredibly strong walls and a military might. So when the Israelites came to conquer it, it's clear why many of them were worried. For context, centuries ago there was a man named Abraham. God spoke to Abraham and told him to take his people to a place that would be later known as The Promised Land; a land "flowing with milk and honey". Due to various twists and turns in Abraham's and his descendants' stories (you can read them for yourselves in Genesis), he does not get there, and the nation that his descendants have created (the Israelites) is then enslaved to Egypt. Through God's chosen hero, Moses, the people are freed to go and conquer The Promised Land. As the Israelites make their way, they complain incessantly (blasphemy, saying they were better off in Egypt, etc.) so that God makes a decision that they are to wander in the wilderness for 40 years; just long enough for the generation of Egypt to die off. Moses is the last of these as he looks on from Mt. Carmel over The Promised Land as the Israelites finally arrive and dies there, said to be buried by God himself.

In his place, he leaves Joshua: a military commander with a strong connection to God. He goes out and conquers many cities and nations, eventually getting to Jericho. He sends in two spies to look out over the land, especially Jericho. There, a prostitute named Rahab hid them in reverence of God from the officers looking for them. The Jericho government was very afraid of Israel and its God as they had heard of their exploits. Rahab was then given a red cord to tie through a window to signal that her and her family would not be harmed, but taken in by the Israelites as a sign of thanks and divine reward.

After the spies reported back to Joshua, a man came carrying a message from God, telling them how to defeat Jericho. They were to march around the city once every day for six days. On the seventh day, they were to march around seven times, and on the seventh time around, the priests were to blow the ram's horn and all the people were to give a great shout. This would cause Jericho's walls to come tumbling down. So it was, and Jericho was conquered. Joshua placed a curse on the city as he left it: he who laid its foundation would do so at the cost of his oldest son, and at the cost of his youngest would he erect its gates. Sure enough, many years later, a man does just this and pays the price in full.

So what do you guys think? Let me know all about your theories and where Riot could have possibly drawn inspiration from this story. I'd be happy to hear all about it!

PS: There is another biblical reference in Swain's quote "What have the Ravens brought me?", eluding to the story of Elijah, but that's another story for another time.

4 Comments

underscores2222/6/2018, 3:09:55 AM1 votes

While the story could have been influential, Swain does come from a time in Riot where names were not as important as connections to the lore world. It's possible that someone during his development just threw out Jericho as a odd sounding name and it stuck.

I doubt we will know for sure, since any history concerning the creation of bridman Swain is trapped behind 8 years of history at this point, but perhaps someone at Riot will remember and tell us the story.

Whyte Lyon2/6/2018, 3:59:26 AM1 votes

Eh I don't know. Some people were naive to think just because Yorick has a name from Shakespeare, that he might have had a deeper connection to it. Obviously to the contrary.

Rathar Dashing2/6/2018, 5:32:08 AM1 votes

Swain also rhymes with Kayn and Vayne. Coincidence?!?!