[Madness]

Colour me confused .

EDIT: As to how it might inform Bakker's work. I just don't get it.

[EkyannusIII]

Sharmat may mean that Bakker borrowed the word but not the concept behind it.

That being said, "Inverse" means opposite, and the fire that shows you damnation and Hell seems opposite to the benevolent creating power of Iluvatar.

[H]

Indeed, I can't help but feel that the name of it only takes us so far to understanding it.

Inverse, as "opposite or contrary in position, direction, order, or effect."  The Fire is nearly certainly that of Hell (Damnation).

So, it would seem in it is Inverse Fire because it is above, rather than below; it comes before, rather than after, Damnation itself; and it does not consume.