(Loved Trope) Aptronyms

[u/dream_monkey]

Aptronyms are characters whose name is heavily symbolic or represent them as a character. Sometimes it is a subtle play on words, sometimes it’s just a clunky transliteration. Either way, it can help characterize a character and provide more allegorical depth. Authors must be careful not to delve into the realm of cliche, though.

1. Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter series) His name means Evil Dragon, and he tries really hard to live up to his name.

[Many commenters have pointed out that Darth Vader is not a true aptronym. I stand corrected .]

1. Darth Vader (Star Wars series) His name means Dark Father, which cleverly conceals one of the biggest reveals in cinema history.

2. Cthulhu (Lovecraft mythos) Cthulhu may just sound like a nonsense syllable, unpronounceable by a human mouth. The name is derived from the word “cthonic” which means a being that lives under the earth or in the underworld, so an ancient and terrible god that lies dreaming in death at the bottom of the ocean would definitely fit the description.

[u/cknight222]

It’s very funny to me how much of Vader’s original characterization solely comes from the opening scene.

Like another example is that Vader’s iconic suit was originally just meant to be a spacesuit that he wore because he had to jump from the Star Destroyer to the Tantive IV, which meant jumping through space. He was supposed to just be a normal dude under there.

[u/Geffalrus → u/cknight222]

The Marvel comic made from Lucas’s original script is so wild.

[u/Spacecow6942 → u/Geffalrus]

I think that was Dark Horse.

[u/Geffalrus → u/Spacecow6942]

Oh really? I read it on Marvel Unlimited, but never actually looked at the brand of the comic. 😅

[u/NeonMutt → u/cknight222]

Honestly, the story would have been so much more powerful if Vader had been a normal guy. Making villains monstrous actually weakens their impact because it adds a level of abstraction to them. We are taught to assume ugly things are evil. There is a reason we think spiders are murderous beasts, while ferrets are cute pets. Ferrets are way more vicious than any spider! Such as it is, we can imagine Darth Vader is only evil because he is a mangled cyborg. That point is only driven home further when he appears as a Force ghost whole and handsome.

Making Vader a normal man places the burden of his evil squarely on his shoulders, and those of everyone like him. He is a fascist and a sociopathic mass murderer. These are very human things, and it is more terrifying to imagine your neighbor or your gym coach being given too much power and descending to that same level of cruelty and inhumanity.

[u/pyrhus626 → u/NeonMutt]

I think both can work, it just depends on the intent of the story. The twisted cyborg thing works by making him into a force of nature you'd have nightmares about, he was deliberately supposed to be more monster than human. I also think it helps his redemption land because it makes it easier to separate "good Anakin" from "evil Vader" in viewers' minds because they're functionally different characters, and makes it feel more tragic that maybe Vader wasn't 100% complicit with everything had his body not been destroyed (tho the prequels remove than angle). And it's a visual / physical reminder of the theme of the Dark Side only corrupting and destroying.

For Star Wars, it definitely works better this way IMO. Other stories are better served by human evil over monstrous evil, but Vader just being a guy removes a lot of the sympathy the story needs viewers to feel for him in order for his redemption to land.