r/TopCharacterTropes • u/dream_monkey • 14h ago

Lore (Loved Trope) Aptronyms

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

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.

2.1k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

633 comments sorted by

View all comments

27

u/Bakingguy 10h ago

The draco Malfoy example is missing one thing. The foy part is derived from the latin foi, meaning faith. So his name actually is dragon bad faith

14

u/McShaneVsGaming 9h ago

Doing something in "bad faith" typically implies deceit right? So would he be a lying dragon?

7

u/dream_monkey 10h ago

Bad faith. Maybe a reference to the Death Eaters ostensibly renouncing Voldemort.

8

u/Zero_Digital 10h ago

Or his misplaced trust in his dad and Voldemort.

4

u/TPFRecoil 8h ago

I like to think of as "a bad-faith dragon", or in otherwords, a guy who's peacocking. Which pretty well describes Draco Malfoy.

Becomes more apt when he gets better character development in 6, and we learn that he doesn't quite align with all the evil that his characterization had made out up to that point.

1

u/orangeconversion 8h ago

I never read the books. Does he ever turn into a dragon?

3

u/hatethiswebsight 8h ago

I read some online, he turns into a pregnant girl dragon. Wild stuff