Saturday, April 6, 2013

Finis Valorum

Some of you who know Latin may recognize the phrase "Finis Valorum." It means "the end of worthy deeds." Well it is also the name of Chancellor Valorum from "Star Wars episode 1: The Phantom Menace." His name was chosen by Lucas to refer to the fact that he is the final "legitimate" Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. When he is ousted, it paves the way for Senator Palpatine to become "Emperor."

The actor who played him in "The Phantom Menace" is Terence Stamp. If you are an uber nerd, you may recall Terence in the well-known role of General Zod from the second Superman movie starring Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder.
So in a really weird kind of way, Terence in the role of "Zod" had to relinquish his leadership role and kneel before Superman when all of his powers were stripped away at the end of Superman II.

And he also had to kneel before Amidala in "The Phantom Menace" when she stripped away all of his political power through a vote of "No Confidence" before the galactic congress. Coincidence? The world may never know.

I know that I've embedded double meanings within the names of some characters who exist solely in the pages of fiction that I write. For example, I made up this villain once and called him "The Hater of All", because I thought it sounded rather cool. The villain was a huge monster with tentacles that sprouted from its head. It lived inside a huge cylindrical fish tank. People that stared in through the glass would see this kind of floating disembodied head with a huge eye ringed by stalks that had other eyes. On a plaque in front of the tank read "Hater of All."

One kid asked me, "Why is it called that?"

I shrugged and replied, "Because it hates everything. Hence 'Hater of All.'"

I thought it was pretty self-explanatory :P And "Hater of Some" just wouldn't have the same ring to it.

So quid pro quo? Do you use double meanings in the names that you choose?

24 comments:

  1. I do try to make my names mean something, but I haven't gone for double meanings yet.

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  2. I named a character in my upcoming novella Sacrifice Her. His name's Kale and then I found out by accident his name means wanderer, which he is in the book. Weird huh?

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  3. I sometimes make names out of anagrams, but it's just for my own amusement.

    mood
    Moody Writing

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  4. How do you remember all of these people.

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  5. I remember seeing Superman II in the theater.
    No double meanings in my books that I am aware of.

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  6. I'm working on a new project and I plan on using double meanings for several names in the book.

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  7. Interesting. No, I haven't used double meanings yet.

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  8. Hi Michael .. I don't know those - but recognised Finis Valorum - then I recognised Terence Stamp - he's just been in a very sad very British Movie "A Song for Marion" .. with Vanessa Redgrave ... a grumpy, very attractive, old man!

    Cheers Hilary

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  9. I barley noticed the character, had no idea on his name or the actor behind the role

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  10. I wish my name had an exotic double meaning.

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  11. Love your topic. In my fantasy series, The Futhark Chronicles, the lead male character is named Cage. As the story progresses he finds he is trapped by destiny. Too obvious?

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  12. I like to have hidden meanings in the names of my characters. ... I just googled the meaning of your first and last names ... and it could be said that your two names together mean "The one who strives to write as well as Margo." bwhahahahaha. JK

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  13. I dunno. Hater of Some would make a fine funny character.

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  14. Hater of All. Great name.

    No, my names don't have double meanings. It's hard enough for me to come up with names in the first place. If I looked for double meanings, all my characters would end up nameless. Although, that's an idea...

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  15. No double meanings in my work that I'm aware of. I'll settle for single meaning.

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  16. I use double meanings/easter eggs in my writing. I love doing that and it makes it fun for the one or two people that like to ponder stuff. :)
    My first book had a Prince Ruminantia in it...who turned into a goat... ;)

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  17. I am an uber nerd because I got all excited when I saw the pic of General Zod! I loved Superman II. :D

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  18. Nope, my names don't have double meanings, although at some point I may try it with a character.

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  19. I'm at the point where I pick names that I think sound cool for the character, giving little thought to meaning. Hopefully, I can work my way up in the future.

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  20. I'm using a name with a double meaning in the mystery I just started writing . Cool post. I also posted something about Latin terms for my letter F post.

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  21. Sometimes I do... for the main characters, rarely for the side characters... it's always fun to see if anyone notices:)

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  22. My character names don't usually have deeper meanings. I just choose names that I think suit the characters. At one point, I considered choosing names for Seb & Ceara that were anagrams of each other. Really glad I decided against that idea!! ;-)

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  23. I only pick my character names because they sound cool. I don't bother with meanings. They are unimportant in the grand scheme of things as far as names go. I mean we all get our names because they sound cool, 99% of parents don't have a clue what their kid's name means.

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