Kawaguchi cites Record of Lodoss War, Fortune Quest as well as foreign and domestic light novels in writing Lord Marksman and Vanadis. When creating the names of the Vanadis, he used Russian names as he based Zhcted on that country. On deciding a good name for a character, Kawaguchi said that he first decides on a common name, as he feels that it might be hard for readers to understand strange names. After deciding on what the character's name means, Kawaguchi thinks of the name's quality based on if they have an active role.
