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<blockquote data-quote="Squizzle" data-source="post: 5049642" data-attributes="member: 76486">Even better examples of using the players' native language to create mystique than I had been able to provide. Thanks for elaborating where I failed.&quot;Jedi&quot; is notable as being the only pure fantasy term in the movie, lacking any clear English derivation, that is plot-important. You don't ever need to truly get what a bantha is, or risk being lost from the narrative. When you hear &quot;jawas&quot;, the context makes it explicitly clear what they--and once they're gone, you don't need to care if you somehow managed to miss what they were, as long as you understand that tiny squeak-hobos grabbed and sold the droids. &quot;Wookiee&quot; might be an species, a job description, or an affectionate nickname, so far as it matters to the film; it only ever refers to Chewbacca, so it's no big loss that you don't know a general definition, provided you know its specific referent withing the context of the movie. Even &quot;Jedi&quot;, the single term that is both plot-important and unrelated to English, is used in conjunction with &quot;knight&quot;, almost(?) every time: it is clear that the Jedi are a special order of fighting-men, who--it is made unambiguous--favored the use of the lightsaber and various abilities granted through the psychic Force.&nbsp; And most of those alien names are for characters we're not supposed to sympathise with: Jabba is a throw-away reference to establish things about Han; Greedo is only a little more meaningful than that. Chewbacca, within the context of the first movie, doesn't matter as a character. He's Han's monster sidekick whose presence serves to make Han seem that much more interesting and exciting. You don't need to care about him as a person, so his name being consonant vomit is a non-issue. The most exotic name on a character we're meant to care about (aside the droids) is &quot;Leia&quot;, but that doesn't sound implausible as a human name--and anyway, princesses are supposed to be a little distant and exotic.Yes, the droids R2D2 and C-3PO have silly, unrelatable names, but that's for specific narrative effect. 3PO, at least, is a perspective character, reacting with the fret and confusion that the audience might express if they were thrust into similar circumstances; it's intentional irony that he, one of the most &quot;authentically human&quot; characters, is a robot with goofy arms and a serial number instead of a name.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Squizzle, post: 5049642, member: 76486"] Even better examples of using the players' native language to create mystique than I had been able to provide. Thanks for elaborating where I failed. "Jedi" is notable as being the only pure fantasy term in the movie, lacking any clear English derivation, that is plot-important. You don't ever need to truly [I]get[/I] what a bantha is, or risk being lost from the narrative. When you hear "jawas", the context makes it explicitly clear what they--and once they're gone, you don't need to care if you somehow managed to miss what they were, as long as you understand that tiny squeak-hobos grabbed and sold the droids. "Wookiee" might be an species, a job description, or an affectionate nickname, so far as it matters to the film; it only ever refers to Chewbacca, so it's no big loss that you don't know a general definition, provided you know its specific referent withing the context of the movie. Even "Jedi", the single term that is both plot-important and unrelated to English, is used in conjunction with "knight", almost(?) every time: it is clear that the Jedi are a special order of fighting-men, who--it is made unambiguous--favored the use of the lightsaber and various abilities granted through the psychic Force. And most of those alien names are for characters we're not supposed to sympathise with: Jabba is a throw-away reference to establish things about Han; Greedo is only a little more meaningful than that. Chewbacca, within the context of the first movie, doesn't matter as a character. He's Han's monster sidekick whose presence serves to make Han seem that much more interesting and exciting. You don't need to care about him as a person, so his name being consonant vomit is a non-issue. The most exotic name on a character we're meant to care about (aside the droids) is "Leia", but that doesn't sound implausible as a human name--and anyway, princesses are supposed to be a little distant and exotic. Yes, the droids R2D2 and C-3PO have silly, unrelatable names, but that's for specific narrative effect. 3PO, at least, is a perspective character, reacting with the fret and confusion that the audience might express if they were thrust into similar circumstances; it's intentional irony that he, one of the most "authentically human" characters, is a robot with goofy arms and a serial number instead of a name. [/QUOTE]

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