The story plays on the linguistic meanings of the names—Light and New Day vs. Oppressor.

Rojhat smiled, the amber light of the setting sun catching his eyes. He didn't need to say a word. He simply opened the gate.

"Then we will break," Rojhat replied, his voice as steady as the mountain. "Light does not ask permission to enter a room; it simply arrives." The Shadow and the Light

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Rojhat spent that night tending the fires. He traded his heavy silk robes for a wool cloak to help the travelers thaw. He realized then that his surname wasn't a destiny, but a challenge. He decided that if the world called him "Zalim," he would redefine what it meant to be powerful.