Heck - it's even been suggested that Palpatine was based on Nixon, although I fail to see how that's supposed to make sense.
Me either.
Isn't there a (quite new) theory that Caesar's apparent dictatorship actually was much more on behalf on the masses than the supposed democratic government which he replaced?
That's not entirely new though Rome was never a democracy as we mean the term. His reforms benefitted the common Romans greatly. There's no question the Roman Masses in parcticular the lower classes and Head Count loved him. The Senate and Tribunes on the other hand didn't really care about the majority and instead were all about themselves. Their reputation is some what legendary in that regard.
But the question is why Caesar did what he did. There are basically the two schools: Reformer or King to Be. The King To Be was given more credence than perhaps it should have simply because of the propoganda by his killers and the later ages disbelief that a man who could have seized such power wouldn't. The Reformer is suggested far more by the actions he did take when he was in power (as consul and dictator) and some of accounts of him we have that are accurate.
Ultimately we aren't likely to ever know which it was. Ceaser was very ambitious but what exactly it was aimed at's any one's guess.
The Boba Fett-Vader connection can likely be traced to the fact that the design for Fett came about basically through a combination of the StormTrooper and Vader costumes. Where the father connection comes from i still have no idea...Fett was nothing more than a background character whose name wasnt even spoken.
stormbringer wrote:
Heck - it's even been suggested that Palpatine was based on Nixon, although I fail to see how that's supposed to make sense.
Me either.
Actually this is quite true. The Emperor wasnt originally written as an evil Sith Lord or anything--he was merely a corrupt politician, scheming his way into office through bribery and corruption. The character of the Emperor was written immediatly after the Nixon scandal, and while the character isnt exactly meant to be a straight parallel of Nixon, there is a strong inspiration. Just as an aside, the Emperors original name in these drafts was Cos Dashit ("caused the shit")! The force weilding sorcerer-Emperor wasnt an invention until well after ANH; at the time of its writing the character had become a sort of victim himself, hinting that he was a once-good man who was now being controlled and influenced by his aids, who are the real tyrants in the galaxy--this would eventually be directly ported over to Chancellor Valorem in TPM.
I think "Vader" is supposed to sound like "invader" just like "Sidious" is supposed to sound like "insidious." I think the father thing is just a convenient coincidence, mostly because I don't buy that Lucas had it all planned out...
Last edited by Galvatron on 2003-12-29 03:00pm, edited 1 time in total.
Indeed. Vader does mean "father" in dutch, but its just a coincidence. The legend is that "darth vader" translates to "dark father" but darth does not translate to anything. I guess it is possible that Lucas heard the word vader--dutch-influenced or not--and thought it sounded cool. In any case, its strictly a coincidence. If you translated every character name into every language in the world you'd probably find a whole bunch of unintentionally meanings.
Galvatron pointed out what is likely the correct origin--that all the sith names sound like words that describe them. Vader is a brute war general and so we get "inVADER". Sidious is a sneaky bastard so we get "inSIDIOUS". Maul will kick your ass so we simply have "MAUL". and Tyrannous is a world-ruling usurper so we have "TYRAN(T)ous".
It is also possible that the vader=invader thing was a coincidence that Lucas never noticed until the prequels and decided to run with it and name all the siths after their adjectives. After all, Darth Vader wasnt a "sith" title, it was his actual name--which is why Obi Wan refers to him by his first name, Darth, and not Vader in ANH.
