Talk:Gaunter O'Dimm/@comment-82.23.85.181-20180904021422/@comment-2A00:23C4:A499:B00:E5C9:EA83:33AF:2C21-20191126073540

"People who know my real identity are dead or suffered a fate worse than death"

I believe this to be a reference to demon invocation according to (R/L) mythology.

To invoke one, a person was supposed to create a seal (some kind of representative token) inscribed with the demon's secret name, for use in a ritual. Summoning the demon to force it to work for them, which would give them arcane knowledge and other benefits (providing ritual conditions were met - right materials and commands used, right time of day etc). The demon would be bound into servitude until the person no longer commanded them (by whichever means the demon saw fit, IF the summoner were not sufficiently cunning).

Awareness of a demon's real name increased the likelihood that it would be compelled to appear somewhere and act, so a demon would try to keep it secret.

So, reading between the lines, Gaunter's saying "My real name? I could tell you.. but then I'd have to kill you, or worse"

The devil? Maybe. But a demon for sure.

Source/The book of black magic-Arthur Edward Waite/ Esotericarchives

Also, pentacles feature as protection in the rituals mentioned in the above book, using information from The Key Of Solomon (which has Christian references/associations). I assume, like many symbols, it was defined by the group who were most prominently using it, and as crossover occurred, it came to have several meanings.