r/shannara • u/ThatFatGuyMJL • 9d ago

The Isle Witch

Listening to The Jerle Shannara trilogy, as I read them several times as a kid.

but... I always thought it was Isle witch, like and Island Isle, the Isle of Ireland, Emerald Isle, etc etc.

However the Audiobook pronounces it Is la witch.

Have I been misthinking it all this time or is the voice actor just.... really badly mispronouncing a fairly common word.

15 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

12

u/srcarruth 9d ago

I pronounced Shannara wrong for decades

6

u/Gregalor 9d ago

Once you find out how it’s actually supposed to be pronounced, you realize, “Oh yeah, it’s double N, not double R”. I still prefer the wrong way, though lol

7

u/ElMondoH 9d ago

I think damn near everyone does.

When I heard Brooks pronounce it at a convention, practically everyone in the audience dropped their jaw. It was like a communal "Wait, what?"

Hell, I still say "Sha-NAH-rah" myself, even after hearing that.

2

u/Gregalor 9d ago

I’m not sure if it’s JER-el or JER-lee, and I don’t want to know

3

u/ElMondoH 9d ago

LOL, my headcanon pronunciation rhymes with "curl". 🤣

And after my first two misses with "Shannara" and "Ilse", I'd bet it's supposed to be pronounced "JEER-luh" or something like that. 😂

3

u/Slammogram 9d ago

That’s how I said. Jerle like curl.

5

u/aceoswords2002 9d ago

Wait, how do you pronounce Shannara??

4

u/srcarruth 9d ago

Shah nah rah, emphasis on the first syllable

2

u/Slammogram 9d ago

Think of the name Shanon

Shanna ruh- emphasis on the Sha

I always said Shuh-nahr-ruh- emphasis on Nahr

2

u/aceoswords2002 8d ago

I think so did 90% of us that read the books. Pronouncing made-up names is really a crap shoot.

1

u/ElMondoH 9d ago edited 9d ago

First syllable: "Shan", pronounced like "plan"

Second syllable: "Na", sort of sounds like "ne", short "e".

Last syllable: "Rah", close to "ruh".

At this video, you hear Brooks pronounce it the way he intended it to sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l-nuYZsX9c#t=47s

Thing is, Brooks will say "Shannara" like the rest of us when he's specifically referring to the MTV adaptation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMg-BoHCfz8#t=5s

When I saw him at a 2015 convention, he explained that he goes with that pronunciation for that TV version. I don't remember why - I vaguely recall him saying that the production crew was a bit caught off guard with his pronunciation and that it had something to do with it - but you can hear him in the second link saying it like the rest of us expects.

Anyway, bottom line is the pronunciation he intends can be heard in that first link.

1

u/Slammogram 9d ago

I always said Shah-Nahr-rah

It’s Shan Nah rah. Like Shannon.

I still say it my way.

12

u/Short-Potential-7630 9d ago

Isn’t it ‘Ilse’, rather than ‘Isle’? Recently did a reread and caught it.. pretty easy mistake to make, your eye just naturally turns it into a word you already know

8

u/ThatFatGuyMJL 9d ago

It actually is....

Jesus I have literally been reading it wrong for decades

3

u/Short-Potential-7630 9d ago

Wild that can happen, right?

3

u/ElMondoH 9d ago

You and me both.

1

u/EvilWhisp 7d ago

Same here. Read it at least twice pronouncing it wrong.

This last time I did a reread of everything from word/void though to Fall of Shannara, I finally realized I'd been saying it wrong. Felt so dumb! Glad I'm not alone.

Edit: typos

4

u/ProfessorKnow1tA11 9d ago

You’re spelling it wrong, and if the audiobook is pronouncing it the way you suggest then they’re spelling it wrong as well. It’s “Ilse” …

4

u/ThatFatGuyMJL 9d ago

Jesus I have literally been reading it wrong for years.

2

u/Inevitable-Weight-54 9d ago

The Isle Witch is a great spooky character

2

u/ShawnSpeakman 9d ago

ILL-suh

1

u/Slammogram 9d ago

This is how I said it.

1

u/sinna_fain 9d ago

I pronounce it the same way you do

1

u/-Simralin- 9d ago

When I was a kid, it thought it was pronounced 'ills.' I now know it's correct pronunciation thanks to the audiobooks, but I still fall back to my original version when reading the books 😅

1

u/Slammogram 9d ago

It’s not spelled Isle, it’s Ilse. I always said illza lol.

The Ilza Witch.

1

u/Tggdan3 8d ago

I pronounced it as ill see