(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/pyrhus626]

Darth Vader started as wanting to invoke the vibes of “dark” and “invader” to sound scary and intimidating, which is how Lucas came up with all the Darth names. Every one is a play on some scary sounding word, and not a hamfisted reference in Dutch.

Vader = Invader
Sidious = Insidious, even copies the format of dropping the -in prefix he used for Vader
Maul = Just maul, he didn’t even change up the word there
Tyrannus = Tyranny or Tyrant.

Think the overall track record makes it pretty clear Vader isn’t supposed to be Dutch, which I’m not even sure the Dutch word is pronounced the same way. The next best theory is that Lucas went to school with a kid whose last name was Vader and it stuck with Lucas as a cool sounding name.

[u/cknight222 → u/pyrhus626]

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. 😅