Talk:Vol.2 Ch.203: 39F - Hell Train: The 'Name Hunt' Station (6)/@comment-28686446-20160624180424/@comment-26484417-20160625121502

You're talking about identity in the bureaucratic sense, I'm talking about identity in the philosophical sense. We know that Baam currently has both; there can be no question considering the Pocket registry that states "25th Baam" (i.e., bureaucratic identity), and he has an ego, thinks for himself, etc etc. (i.e., philosophical identity).

The example with amnesiac is missing the resolution that--if the memory doesn't return and there is no other means of identification--the amnesiac is assigned or chooses a new name that is embedded into the system and becomes their official bureaucratic identity. And they also develop a new philosophical identity that may or may not be anything like their former self. Furthermore, should the memory return after the new identity had been established, the two identities have to undergo a merger, and it is up to the individual how they go about this particular process (e.g., which part of which identity takes precedence, etc.). And we can probably all agree where Baam fits in this scenario.

You may or may not be right about Baam having no bureaucratic identity (recognised by the Tower) prior to our story; that would depend on the origin story that is still subject to all manner of wild speculations. However, the moment he started introducing himself as 25th Baam on 1F and 2F (to Headon and other administrative figures), this would become his official identity. Speaking of, I suspect that many people from unique, wild, or extremely rural circumstances are in the same boat as Baam when it comes to their bureaucratic identity within the Tower despite being born and bread there (e.g., the case of Baek Ryun?).

Finally, the bureaucratic identity doesn't seem to matter at all. First, we know that the Pocket registry provides names for the Name Hunt station. Therefore, if bureaucratic identity matters, then anyone with foresight could update the Pocket registry with some nonsense before the station obscuring their bureaucratic identity in the process, which would make it safe until they restore the proper Pocket registry entry. Second, we know that even if one has multiple bureaucratic identities, they become "nameless" the moment even one of the names is stolen (e.g., Androssi's case--the short version).

The Name Hunt station appears to view the names (i.e., bureaucratic identities) themselves only as trophies, while the subordination mechanism doesn't appear to distinguish whether it stole a made up identity, true identity, or a nickname, whatever it stole represents the philosophical identity of the person it's (originally) stolen from under the Name Hunt contract.

I think that an apt analogy is to think of the name in the Pocket registry as a Voodoo doll of the original owner. No matter how the original owner refers to it, it's still a Voodoo doll that can be used to command the original owner should anyone steal it.