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What if Revan and Malak are not their real names?


Jediphile

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http://www.darkhorse.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=11439

 

The series has taken no position on that matter, of course, but I like to bring up an observation that adds to the debate.

 

Hitler and Mussolini were born with those names -- Stalin, Lenin, and Tito weren't. Yet everyone, from the press to other rulers to personal friends, used those names as if they were -- and we still do today.

 

I am not necessarily saying that's been done here -- just that many of us have gone our whole lives knowing what Iosef Vissarionich Dzhugashvili did without ever knowing him by that name...

 

So without actually saying it is so, John Jackson Miller - who writes the pre-Mandalorian Wars KotOR comic book about Zayne Carrick and others -manages to infer that Revan and Malak might not be the real names of the characters.

 

How do people feel about that possibility?

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I think it's a good thing. :)

 

It would be...strange to just take your name and put 'Darth' in front of it.

 

I think Darth Malak is Alek, and the Revanchist Leader (or hooded Jedi) is Revan. Alek his name was just...changed a bit to reflect the character better. I recall the SW databank said something about a lightsaber accident severing his jaw. It would seem logic he would take on a Sith name that would help him bring up his inner hatred. And naming himself Malak (Latin for Jaw, I believe?). It also means that if it's called an accident, he must have had the injury in the time he was still a Jedi.

Same goes for Revan. It's basically just "Revenge" or "Revanche" spelled differently.

 

Fits perfectly with my ideas and feelings regarding the two Sith.

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I agree with you Ztalker. Malak is like so Alek. But i believe that Revan is called what we name him. Revan and Malak are just names created by the developers to fit their personality. Mala is jaw in latin and since he doesn't have a jaw, they went with that and added a k. Revan is short for Revanchist or Revanchism which basically means getting lost lands back.

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So without actually saying it is so, John Jackson Miller - who writes the pre-Mandalorian Wars KotOR comic book about Zayne Carrick and others -manages to infer that Revan and Malak might not be the real names of the characters.

 

How do people feel about that possibility?

 

As long as they aren't retconning who those characters were along with the possible name change I don't mind. If they do pull another "Never mind that, this is what really happened..." (again) I don't like it though. There is enough room in the Star Wars universe to introduce new characters that they don't have to modify and recycle already established ones ad nauseam, IMO. :)

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I agree with you Ztalker. Malak is like so Alek. But i believe that Revan is called what we name him. Revan and Malak are just names created by the developers to fit their personality. Mala is jaw in latin and since he doesn't have a jaw, they went with that and added a k. Revan is short for Revanchist or Revanchism which basically means getting lost lands back.

 

I agree with Ztalker myself, too, but I doubt Revan would be called what we name him in the game. After all, that's a given name for a new assumed alias. Surely the name was different before.

 

As for Malak, I've though he and Alek were the same person ever since the ending of the "Flashpoint" arc, where he is lusting to torture Demagol and wears the very padawan-spacesuit that the Taris masters saw the Sith wear in their visions.

 

The origin of the name "Malak" is speculated much about. Personally I've always associated with the prefix "mal-" which means "bad" in latin, and which can be noted in such english words as malfunction, malice, malnutrition, etc.

 

I have no problem with giving Revan and Malak "proper" names. Indeed, it always seemed very uncool to me, that they simply put "Darth" in front of their names. If we now find those were assumed Sith names a la Vader/Sidious/Traya/Nihilus et al, then it's actually better and a nice way to rectify that rather annoying problem in a simple and elegant manner. But at the same time, I would not be surprised if hordes of fanboys refuse to accept it.

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I would make sense for them to have different names as stated before, but, to point to Revan and Malak as the Revachist leader and Alek, would imo be ret-con, Alek refers to the "Leader" as Master...Malak was Revans friend and fellow knight, Malak didn't assume the apprentice role until there "fall" to the Darkside.

 

Little was known about Malak's childhood or many details of his past, including his planet of origin. His first entry in the annals of recorded history placed him on Coruscant as a young student of the Jedi Order. During his time there he befriended a fellow Padawan named Revan.

 

While Revan was acknowledged as having the greater potential—studying beneath a number of different masters in his pursuit of knowledge—Malak was himself extremely gifted, and like Revan, would often go to Jedi Master Zhar Lestin for training beyond that given to most Padawans. Though some masters voiced concern at the speed of his and Revan's progress, their diligence paid off; by the outbreak of the Mandalorian Wars, both young men had already been promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight.

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Didn't it already come out somewhere that "malak" wasn't his actual name? I wouldn't mind really.

 

As for Stalin, actually, yes, I do know that the lonk russian name there is his, I just can't pronounce it. "Iosef" does roughly come out as "Joseph". Stalin actually means "man of steel".

 

As pointed out above, I would be less thrilled with Revan being given a name, for reasons give above.

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I would have figured they were both their original names. No one ever refers to them as anything but Revan and Malak. Logically, if they had once had another name, when someone is speaking of before their fall, before the Mandalorian Wars, they'd refer to them by their original name instead of their Sith name.

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I would have figured they were both their original names. No one ever refers to them as anything but Revan and Malak. Logically, if they had once had another name, when someone is speaking of before their fall, before the Mandalorian Wars, they'd refer to them by their original name instead of their Sith name.

 

yeah but remember how Obi-wan talked about Anakin and Vader like they were different people? There's probly some sort of unspoken rule that when one becomes a Dark Lord people consider who they were to be "dead" and hence talked about in a different sense.

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I want to put my two since in and say, Kreia was the first Sith Lord to actually take on an Alias, becoming Darth Traya. Any previous sith lords just put Darth infront of their name. Wookipedia stats that Revan and Malak were their real names, they just placed Darth in front of them.

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Originally Posted by Darth Balor

I want to put my two since in and say, Kreia was the first Sith Lord to actually take on an Alias, becoming Darth Traya. Any previous sith lords just put Darth infront of their name. Wookipedia stats that Revan and Malak were their real names, they just placed Darth in front of them.

 

Could be. But I'd just like to refer to two cases:

1: Harry Potter - Voldemort.

His name was Tom Asmodon Riddle or something? He took on the mantle of Voldemort. Dumbledore KNEW this. In "Halfblood Prince" he says something among the lines of "I know you have taken up a new title, but you will also be Tom Riddle to me."

All his followers called him Lord Voldemort. None of the people around seemed to bother. It was after he claimed this title that he started the war. So he was known as Voldemort before he started doing bad stuff. Plus, people accepted the title.

 

2. "Master" Jorus C'baoth - Star Wars

Jedi Knight. Arrogant beyond all recognition. Formed a tight group of highly-placed people around him.

He then 'gave' himself the title of Master, and no-one complained. The Jedi never gave him the title, but they didn't complain either. They probably saw this as one of his 'arrogance' things, and let it be to prevent him from leaving the order (since he was supposed to be a great jedi).

 

Right. About the words in Italic.

 

-Revan could have 'given' himself the name of Revan before his fall. Maybe just as a sting towards the council. Revan, meaning revanche. "I will fight the Mandalorians, stupid council!"

-The council, knowing Revan had a huge army at his disposal (hundred, thousands? of Jedi and soldiers) let it be. I would gladly have a Jedi Knight insult me if he would save the Republic. And if he would insult me by faking a name, I would't mind at all.

Same goes for Malak. I'd call it irony. If I would have had my leg suffered, I'd probably take in a nickname like "Legman" as well. If that goes for Malak's severed jaw, why not?

- We know Revan was powerfull. If the Hooded guy from the comics is Revan, he already had high-placed contacts with Lucien and such. I think he was already a powerfull Knigth when he entered the war.

 

Meh...let's wait and see. If all the hints Alek gives us ("We should tattoo our heads" and "Talk about the dark side" and "I'm a little taller then before" ) we should see him get the 'jaw severing' in a few issues. We know it was an lightsaber accident. :)

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NO.

 

What makes Revan and Malak unique is that they decided NOT to go and change their name like every other Sith Lord before adding the Darh Prefix. They said, "Listen, Jedi. We are better than all those other Sith Lords. All those Other Sith Lords want to go and deceive you with really cool-sounding names, and act as cowards. Not us. In fact, we admit that we are evil, and we admit we are now Sith Lords. Now, come, try to attack us." The Sith Lords are bold, and keeping their orignal name is, IMHO, the greatest taunt they could think of.

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Oh...Darth Anakin/Darth Jacen/Darth Dessel(Bane) strongly disagree ;)

 

Even if it makes them unique, it still won't fit the bigger picture. It means Alek isn't Malak. So we have another bald, long, red space suit wearing Jedi walking around the place. That means the comics are...acting weird.

 

And it isn't logical. If Revan's real name is..uhm...Revan, just adding 'Darth' to it wouldn't be wise. If I was a Council member at the time, and would hear the stories of a 'Darth' Revan, I would certainly point Revan out as the suspect, and do something about him. He probably needed the Jedi archives to find the maps. If he could 'keep' the two identities (Darth Revan and his real name) seperated for the public, he could probably do far more damage then if he did otherwise. And doing damage and being sneaky is the Sith way. :)

 

Plus, the recent Legacy Era comics and books prove that taking a Sith in fact supports your corruption. The Jedi didn't find out about Jacen (he even attended Mara's funeral!) and the same goes for Darth Krayt. Who would have known he was a jedi?

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I think it makes a lot of sense for those not to be their real names, but very close to them. Taking the titles Darth Revan and Darth Malak would then be a subtle taunt to their former masters so they could then say, "it was right under your nose all the time and you still did nothing."

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