Epithet

“	Epithets! Rare powers! Some people got 'em! Some people don't!	”
—Mera Salamin, "Quiet in the Museum!"

Epithets are special powers emitted from a single word tethered to a person's soul. People possessing epithets are referred to as "Inscribed", while those without them are called "Mundies". About one in every five people has an epithet, although epithets grow more common every year.

Inscribed can use their epithet for a variety of different things, depending on how they perceive their word and how high their creativity is. For example, Giovanni's epithet (Soup) not only makes a delicious dish, but can also make a "Demon Energy Aura" (steam is formed and rises off of Giovanni's body, dispelling anything in the air around him; introduced in Episode 2) among other things.

If a person has intense mastery over their epithet, then they can imbue an object with their power (ex: The Arsene Amulet). This is called “transcribing” or “embuing”.

Obtainment

Everybody is born as a “mundie” and they have no idea if they have an epithet or not until they stumble on it. This moment is called an Epiphany. There are a number of ways an epiphany can happen.

Usually when somebody hears their epithet spoken aloud or if they read the word written down somewhere there’s a sort of… click, in their head. It’s a 6th-sense thing. You feel drawn to that word, and often to its synonyms. Think of it like a magical game of hot-cold where your brain is a metal detector, beeping louder the closer and closer you get to your epithet.

Of course, this also creates false positives. Sometimes people just enjoy certain words and they go “Ooh! The word archipelago really resonates with me! I’m going to spend 2 months trying to figure out how to use island-based powers!” But nope. They just like the word. It’s not their epithet. It’s impossible to tell if you’ve got the right word until you finally snag it. Kind of like fishing! You keep imagining nibbles until you really feel the bite. And remember it’s more likely that you don’t have any epithet at all, so you might never find it. Some Inscribed people never do.

It’s a common thing for little kids to try and sit down and go through the entire dictionary to slowly figure out what their word is, but this rarely pans out too well. Epithet’s world doesn’t speak English. It speaks a sort of magic Esperanto-type language that combined all the languages that used to exist in the Epithet world into one, so there are way more words than just for one language. Not only that, but you need to consider archaic words no longer in use, which you often won’t find in a dictionary. Slang words also count. The only real metric for whether a word is fair game or not is “Does this word successfully encapsulate a specific idea?”

There are cases where people discover they have an epithet, but they don’t know exactly what it is. Sometimes it takes months or years to discover the right word. For instance a person might be able to generate little clouds and affect the weather slightly, but it could take them quite a while before they find their specific word is stratiformus.

Another significantly less common way of discovering your epithet comes in the form of an Epitome. An Epitome is the strongest, absolute most powerful use of an epithet you can possibly squeeze out of your word. A few Nova-class Inscribed can use their Epitome at will (Zora has one). Very rarely, in situations of extreme danger, a person who previously thought they were a mundie will unlock their epithet by way of unleashing an Epitome through the sheer need to survive. Think of it like the Inscribed version of an adrenaline rush.

Development

Once somebody has their epiphany they need to figure out how to actually do things with it, and what they’re able to do is heavily tied to what the word evokes for the user. For instance, if your epithet is the word “Beach” your powers would develop differently based on what you associate with the beach. One person might think of the beach and picture themselves building sandcastles, and so they develop a sand-based power. Another might have a deep fear of the ocean and gain the ability to summon sharks and storms. A third could’ve grown up near a shore-side boardwalk, so for them beaches are associated with Ferris wheels and terrible hot dogs. That’s not to say that any of those people couldn’t learn how to do ALL of those things eventually, but they will have something they gravitate towards first when they think of the word “Beach.”

There are cases where people use their unknown epithet by accident, either passively or actively. Mera, for instance, was affected by her power from an early age and accidentally used it many times before she even realized she was Inscribed. Mera just thought she had really terrible luck when it came to breaking things. You can see this in EP4 the window begins to crack because subconsciously she wants to break it and be on the other side with the kids playing in the snow.

Your epithet is trained by using it over and over again and finding new applications for your word. It’s not unheard of to accidentally train an epithet without even knowing you have one, then by the time you realize you’re Inscribed you’re already Class 2.

Politics

It is hinted at throughout the series that, within society, Inscribed are on average better off than Mundies.

The Banzai Blasters have yet to show any Blasters that aren't Mundies while all the officers shown so far are all Inscribed.

Gorou Shimizaki was chosen as the Sheriff of Redwood Run, entirely because he was Inscribed. This is despite the fact that Gorou is completely incompetent as a sheriff. Ramsey mentions that it's common for Inscribed to get special positions or benefits entirely on the fact that they are Inscribed, regardless of their actual merit.

Howie Honeyglow has a rivalry with Percy as a result of him being a Mundie: Howie was forced to build up his physique through merit in order to be a skilled carpenter, while Percy can simply use her Epithet whenever she worked construction. Howie has an open dislike for Inscribed as a result. Zora, despite being Inscribed herself, has a similar view about how unfair Epithets are: which is a primary reason why Zora wants the Arsene Amulet for herself.

It is actually common for Inscribed to underestimate Mundies. Ramsey remembers that it was a Mundie that damaged his right eye. Ramsey also pointed out that Percy did not bother to handcuff or restrain Ramsey in any way when Percy believed that he was a Mundie, despite the fact that Ramsey admitted to being an imprisoned criminal: Percy admits that she thought that if Ramsey was a Mundie then he would be literally 'powerless'.

Because of the unique abilities Epithets grant, many Inscribed characters want to avoid losing their Epithets to become a Mundie. Molly did point out to Mera that the latter can remove her fragility and constant pain by having the Arsene Amulet take her Epithet away: but Mera stiffly opposed this, not wanting to get rid of her power she spent so much time training. Sylvester desperately begged for his Epithet to be returned when it was temporarily stolen by the Amulet. Molly actually considered allowing her Epithet to be stolen, but was convinced by Giovanni that her Epithet was special and more useful than Molly originally thought.

List of known epithets

"Just gonna out me like that, huh? You're no fun."
This article or section contains heavy spoilers for Epithet Erased. Read with caution.

Molly Blyndeff: Dumb Can simplify and mute objects, sometimes even able to dumb down objects out of existence.

Giovanni Potage: Soup Makes tasty soup that has a range of possible abilities.

Mera Salamin: Fragile Can increase an object's frailty until it shatters. Unfortunately, this also affects the user. Meaning that if the user were to accidentally bump into someone, their bones would easily break.

Indus Tarbella: Barrier Creates barriers of varying sizes and shapes.

Dr. Sylvester Ashling: Drowsy Has a collection of sleep-based abilities, such as lulling enemies to sleep and bringing nightmares to life.

Percival King: Parapet Creates small magical buildings with a variety of special effects.

Ramsey Murdoch: Goldbricker Allows the user to transmute objects into solid gold and back. The user can also use this on themselves or others.

Zora Salazar: Sundial Allows the user freeze time to any object & can reverse or forwards the age of their opponents.

Arnold Markdown: Coupon Allows the user to use coupons that gives their allies a stats boost.

Bugsy Pugsler: Bellybutton Anything that the user eats can give out a random attack from ice blasts to rubber duckies.

Gorou Shimizaki: Bluster Allows the user to blow very slightly harder than average blowing.

Creator of the Arsene Amulet: Copycat Allows the user to steal other people's epithets.

Trivia

• Whether any given person gets an epithet or not is mostly up to chance.
• It's possible for Inscribed to only learn their epithet very late in their life, or not at all.
  • Although a slim chance, an Epithet can still affect a user even they have not known it yet.
• You can never change your epithet once it has been established.
• The same epithet can occur more than once, but no two people can have the same epithet at the same time.
• All grammatical derivatives of a word are included in a single epithet, even if this greatly alters the meaning of the word.
• Epithets can be verbs, nouns, swears or animals. They cannot be multiple words (unless they mean one specific thing together) or proper names.
• Animals cannot have epithets.
  • There is a reason for this but it has not revealed because it might end up being a spoiler.
• Homophone epithets can give the user the powers of both words as long as they are spelled and pronounced the same way. If two words are not spelled and/or pronounced the same way, they would be separate epithets. Along with this, if the user's epithet had two definitions, the user would be able to use both definitions of the word.
• Epithets cannot be words that have not come into existence yet.
• Epithets have existed for around 250-300 years and used to be very uncommon. They grow more common every year.
• There are tiers for each stats ★ (Star), ⍟ (Orbit), & ✦ (Nova).
  • ★ is Class 1, ⍟ is Class 2, & ✦ Class 3 the highest of them all.
  • Tier 1 is level 1-40, Tier 2 is level 41-80, and Tier 3 is level 81-100.
  • 95% of people are in the star class, <4% are in the orbit class, and nova classed ones are exceptionally rare and stupidly powerful beings who only appear once in a lifetime.
  • Epithet users can get stronger through growth or even intensive training, so their stats are not always permanent.
• At least one character that is planned will discover their epithet mid-series.
• At least one character that we have met so far will unlock their epithet using an Epitome.
• Many concepts revealed by the Epithet Erased crew will be explored in the show.
• Eraser cuffs remove your memory of having an epithet. If you never had an epithet, or if you had one but didn’t know what it was, they would just glow and then do nothing, since no memory would be removed. 
  • Although the arrested may have difficulties remembering their epithets if they are cuffed, they will still have blurry memories about the circumstances, and the epithets side effects will not be erased either.
• Epithet supremacy exists in the universe of Epithet Erased.  Any epithet-based discrimination is called Lexism. Jello explained that it mainly inhibits Mundies. 
• As everybody in the Epithet Erased universe speaks the same language, epithets can be non-English words.
• The effects of an epithet can be demonstrated by changing the physical appearance of a user.