Who is the guy with an English accent in the cell at Demonreach?

[groinkick]

We dont know who it is.  We have two WOJ regarding Who it is not: it is not the original Merlin, who would not sound at all british he says, and it is not Loki who is suffering the very literal Norse punishment of venom dripping in his eyes.

Jim also stated that he has dropped misinformation on purpose.  Sooooo that leaves us with "who knows".

[Wizard Sibelis]

Given that Jim has also said he'll lie in Q&A if necessary to prevent a spoiler - and "I'm not going to tell you" in reply to asking if the prisoner is the original Merlin would pretty much be a confirmation - I'm putting limited weight on that one.

He's never said that, only an outright no. Pretty sure it's cause he's already place OG Merlin elsewhere..

[Quantus]

Given that Jim has also said he'll lie in Q&A if necessary to prevent a spoiler - and "I'm not going to tell you" in reply to asking if the prisoner is the original Merlin would pretty much be a confirmation - I'm putting limited weight on that one.

I dont think he ever actually said that, but I guess I could be wrong...

[morriswalters]

The English accent is obviously(at least to me) signaling something. But what? Could the guy have been the last warden? Is the backstory related to the Gatekeeper and the and Demonreach's limp?  Maybe the Well has been attacked by the outsiders before, maybe in the same way that Winter was attacked through Lea.

[Quantus]

The English accent is obviously(at least to me) signaling something. But what? Could the guy have been the last warden? Is the backstory related to the Gatekeeper and the and Demonreach's limp?  Maybe the Well has been attacked by the outsiders before, maybe in the same way that Winter was attacked through Lea.

Worth noting that the entire conversation, including the accent, were happening in Harry's head, so the accent could be literal, or it equally could be part of harry's mind interpreting the communication in a familiar way (though the Piss Off slang makes me think it would have to be at least a little bit two-way. 

[Wizard Sibelis]

Worth noting that the entire conversation, including the accent, were happening in Harry's head, so the accent could be literal, or it equally could be part of harry's mind interpreting the communication in a familiar way (though the Piss Off slang makes me think it would have to be at least a little bit two-way.

Ahh no, see. I actually thought about his choice of curse words and why he used it, being 'english', and i'm totally forgetting the names right now but, Piss is one of the original 'cuss words' that evolved from the Angelo Saxons being replaced as top tier society in England. It's actually a method to 'carbon date' so to speak the prisoners actual age/time in the mortal word. It's around the same time  said revolution came about, so the 'youngsters' were calling out the new curse words based upon specific societal standards... and English guy is likely from the society who had the 'high bred' words instead.
*totally have to figure out the details here, but this IS a method to apply a date to the origin of the English Fellow.

[Wizard Sibelis]

With the conquest of England in 1066 by William of Normandy, the Angelo-Saxon language of the British Isles underwent several alterations. As the French-speaking Normans established themselves as the ruling caste, they treated native Saxons and their language as inferior. Many Saxon words were regarded as Crude simply because they were spoken by Saxons. Some of these words, once inoffensive, survived and passed into English as coarse, impolite, or foul expression....
...The Mother tongue of the twelve kings and queens from William 1st(ruled 1066-1087) to Richard 2nd(1377-1399) was Norman's French, though the Angelo-Saxons' English continued to be spoken. When the two tongues blended into a new language, Middle English, which became the official language of the court in 1362 and the language for teaching in the universities at Oxford and Cambridge in 1380...

So it Dates the guy to right around Hastings too... perhaps a little later.. and iirc also puts it into the realm of Arthurian possibilities. And.. maybe the last Starborn too O.o ?
*Which reminds me, the blurb Susan said when meeting Michael, a knight put in stasis to fight in the end of days.... That's also cluebat towards the future prisoner not introduced for, what, 12 more books?

[Quantus]

Have you ever actually /heard/ any middle-English?  It's not even close to the modern language; hell, I find /latin/ easier to decipher and that's just from having exposure to science vocabulary.  My high school English teacher made us memorize some of the Canterbury tales in the original Middle English and it's almost entirely incomprehensible. There's no way at all that that accent and/or turn of phrase is from Hastings era. 

[morriswalters]

I looked it up to be sure, but JB uses the term British.  Not English.  That was an accidental misquote on my part.  What he actually says is, "This guy just  sounded...British." 

[Wizard Sibelis]

Have you ever actually /heard/ any middle-English?  It's not even close to the modern language; hell, I find /latin/ easier to decipher and that's just from having exposure to science vocabulary.  My high school English teacher made us memorize some of the Canterbury tales in the original Middle English and it's almost entirely incomprehensible. There's no way at all that that accent and/or turn of phrase is from Hastings era.

Piss is specifically one of the words digested from the Angelo Saxon language... Which was directly Hasting era per the above quote... It seeming a relative novelty expression while being used, as though he learned it academically, implies to me he might have been from the era after it became the collegate... putting him STILL between Hastings and iirc BCV creation... and in Arthurian centuries...
I don't care what middle English sounds like, how is ANYONE from any other century except the last couple going to sound genuinely and simply 'british' to Harry anyway? And i'd doubt the prisoner is so relatively young... Think before you speak such rudness please -.-

[Arjan]

Have you ever actually /heard/ any middle-English?  It's not even close to the modern language; hell, I find /latin/ easier to decipher and that's just from having exposure to science vocabulary.  My high school English teacher made us memorize some of the Canterbury tales in the original Middle English and it's almost entirely incomprehensible. There's no way at all that that accent and/or turn of phrase is from Hastings era.

It is more understandable than some current English dialects, you probably can get used to it with some exposure.

https://youtu.be/B5QAV6lOCnQ

Old English without the French influences though is completely incomprehensible:

https://youtu.be/_K13GJkGvDw

Old Brittisch, the original merlins tongue, is a Celtic language and only distantly related.

[morriswalters]

While this is all good clean fun, the dialog is modern English.  Obviously JB is setting something up.  I take it to mean that the character comes from the UK.  I would assume that if any character survived to a modern age, he would speak a modern language.  And if JB decides to introduce some denizen of the UK who has been around long enough to have known at least a couple of wardens from his cell in the well, he will speak in a understandable language.

[Jcarlson171]

It could also be Jim stretching out into different mythology. Arthur isnt the only brittish legend(though he is the most popular)

Personally i think it would be most interesting if the prisoner was cu chulainn who may or may not have fought the armies of winter already depending on how you interpret his legend. If Jim takes the story that way he could do a lot of fun things with Mabs reaction.

[Arjan]

The prisoner would speak the language he spoke just before he was locked up. He told us he had to be locked up so that reeks like a Lea scenario. Infected, able to fight it but not able to keep it under control all the time. Knew about demonreach and decided to have himself locked up.

[Quantus]

The prisoner would speak the language he spoke just before he was locked up. He told us he had to be locked up so that reeks like a Lea scenario. Infected, able to fight it but not able to keep it under control all the time. Knew about demonreach and decided to have himself locked up.

Agreed, i too got the sense of a voluntary committal more than a traditional imprisonment.  Im leaning toward it being a former Warden that used too much Black Magic but is cognizant of the fact that he is Tainted and untrustworthy.