Darth Who? (Was: Jacen Solo: Darth-You-Pick)

I want to know where they got that definition from

-The Rebel Gungan

 

same place as the Taral definition.

 

Waru?

-The Rebel Gungan

 

Ackbar: Can you e-mail somebody about that? Because that "definition" they gave is just ridiculous. It doesn't even make sense. Not that they've ever particularly cared about communication with fans, but I'd at least try.

Anyone else reckon Taral is a ringer here?

 

Well that might be the reason they would use it in the story. I wonder if Karen has Darth _________ in every spot of her novel. Who knows? I don't know how or if I should try and get a hold of someone. There was no input for what the names meant so they didnt get that from me. Unless someone else submitted Caedus and they asked them.


-The Rebel Gungan

 

I agree with whomever said Taral might just win this after they gave it that definition......I mean, Sith beats latin any day

 

Yep they through in Taral...its got Traviss written all over it. If Caedus doesn't win (the polls here should reflect the overall feelings of the fans) then we'll know it was rigged and we can't really trust Del Rey.

 

The hell?

Somebody's getting creative . . . and I'm thinking Taral is either an editorial submission or a meaning they made up all on their own.

 

I don't like this one bit...

 

Well, I did wonder what they were going to do about the mental mechanics of Darth Solo's choice, when the title was only being chosen by the fans this late in the process...

(Somehow, "You may call me... Tim!" is just not Jacen's style... )

What I suspect happened here is this: they pre-selected five definitions of Jacen's Sith name a while back, and then applied the actual names to the definitions - perhaps with tweaks, like adjusting one to fit the river meaning of "Acheron", but basically, matching names to meanings that already had alternative passages for the book written around them, ready to slot in...

(That's a pure guess, by the way, but for comparison, remember that "Darman" is the name of one of Karen Traviss's friends, which she used as a placeholder, but which stuck, and presumably then generated the concept of dar'mando....)

Now, defining "Caedus" as "a battle of darkness" sounded silly at first to me. I did have the cynical thought that they could be linking what seems to be the early fan-favourite with a totally naff definition on purpose...

But then my brain got working... and I realised that the meaning actually fits the shape of the word: start in Celtic, with the phrase "black battle" - Cad ddu in Welsh, Cath dhu in Irish... then take the name (or rather, I think, sobriquet) from Welsh through Old English, where Welsh Cad is recorded as a name-element in the form Caed- ("Caedwalla" for Welsh "Cadwallon")...

This English form in Caed- gets a Latin ending bunged on the end, and the remains of ddu get lost betwen the -d of "Caed-" and the -u of "-us"...

Hence, Darth Caedus.

Totally reverse-engineered, and shamelessly driven by the need to fit word to meaning, but the best I can come up with this late at night....

I liked Acky's original Latin meaning a lot...

- The Imperial Ewok

 

I could see the roots their McEwok. I guess it makes sense if you try to force the definition in there. I should have known better too, I just started taking a class in how words change over time to get from their latin/greek roots to the English words we have today. But I thought I knew what my own entry meant. I guess not. Just another sign I am working for Del Rey but don't know it yet.

-The Rebel Gungan

 

Acheron.

 

I like Caedus myself - I just like how it sounds. The others seem a little too silly or sound like other things.


And I'm not sure if I buy Acheron as some sort of 'river of justice'...

In The Aeneid the only prereq for getting across was having had a proper burial. And in The Inferno (where it's a boundary of hell) folks who got left behind were people who sided with neither good or evil but were looking out only for themselves.

But maybe those fit in with Jacen some way or another.

 

Out loud Caedus sounded the best so it wins my vote.

 

Your signature has inspired me to come up with a quote from Sacrifice, Kiss Me I'm A Rebel...

"All hail Lord TARAL!"

Luke (enslaved): Don't blame me --- I voted for Caedus.

(Luke gets whipped by a Sith Assassin).

 

Imagine Palps saying Caedus like he says Vader

Darth Kaiiiiiiidus...


-The Rebel Gungan

 

Is it just me, or is Taral a little close to Charal...

The original Dathomir Nightsister is back, and this time, she's Jacen!

EDIT: I edited my post.

 

Well done

 

Acheron.

Just too cool to read.

 

Caedus.

I read McEwoks post about the latin meaning. I thought it was fitting with it happening in Sacrifice that and with all this speculation of someone dying or something being sacrificed in the book of the same name, that Jacen take this name on himself.

 

i voted for caedus and i think it could have a chance to win... but still one month to go...
who knows what definitions of the different names will appear to influence us...

 

Yeah... "Taral" already started to look better to me.

Thankfully I've already voted...

 

Should Taral be choosen...what will

Taral Hicks

think about it?

Great LFL, just great using the firstname of a FEMALE actress as s Sith name for a MALE Sith Lord!!!!!

ROTFL

Now I'm more sure than ever, the hole LOtF is just a joke !!

 

I'm well aware that being a native speaker of a language doesn't usually qualify one to comment on the ancient etymology of that language. Neverthless, I'll stick my oar in. From a welsh perspective, Du definitely means black (it's only spelled "ddu" after certain words), and my dictionary informs me that Cad does mean battle (though the word seems better suited for "host" or "army" - its alternate meanings).

But that's a...highly obscure meaning of the word. I've never in my life heard it actually used (as opposed to "rhyfel", "brwydr" or "ymladdfa"). Also Cad Du would be pronounced "Kaahd Dee" - very different from either Kaiduss or Kayduss. Though McEwok is right - "Cad-" is the starting syllable of several male welsh names - mostly ancient ones.

I guess what I'm saying is - I'm extremely impressed by the reverse engineering even if it's a little forced, but I'm saddened that they didn't go with the faux latin definition. It was much more awesome - with Ackbar_Van_Gungan's meaning it was fitting for Jacen AND it sounded cool.

Total random comment - regarding the Irish "Cath Dhu" - in welsh Cath means cat. Darth Black Cat. I move we make it official!

 

I agree with McEwok's reasoning here. In fact I think we all may have interpreted the competition differently from what Del Rey intended. We thought they were saying: "Think up names with meanings that fit Jacen", when in fact they were saying: "Think up something that sounds cool and we'll give them our own meanings".