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Treguard and Lord Fear talking

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  3. Phrases used in Knightmare

Phrases used in Knightmare

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    Canadanne
    wrote on last edited by
    #18

    This thread might be a useful place to note some of Knightmare's other mysterious incantations. Here are a few that come to mind. My phonetics are only approximate.

    Morghanna in Series 3, preparing to zap Martin: "Dahrius ivah. An end to the quest"

    Lord Fear in Series 6, freezing Matt: "Epassipum vaydellum"

    Lord Fear in Series 8, turning Maldame to stone: "Zalas caranaffa"

    Yes, I often wonder about those incantations too! (Morghanna's could definitely be borrowed from somewhere in the real world.) The one by Lord Fear that sounds to me like "Epacsepom vedelos" starts with ESCAPE backwards (which the clue scroll explicitly tells them to reverse), so it feels like the rest of it should have some meaning as well, but perhaps they just tried to make it into something Latin-sounding. "Vedelos" could possibly have an origin in Portuguese or Spanish - it seems that "vede" is a subjunctive form of "I impede", and "los" means "them" - but I'm not at all convinced that's where it came from!

    I transcribed Lord Fear's other spells as "Zalash caralam" (turns Maldame to stone), "Zash caram" (displays Bhal-Shebah on his screen) and "Caram gar" (speeds up the Corridor of Blades). They seem to have some common elements, and feel more made-up than the Latin-esque ones. But who knows.

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      Canadanne
      wrote on last edited by
      #19

      Also, what's the origin of "Caras carom" and does it have a literal translation? He uses that to express a range of emotions including frustration, horror and delight.

      I remember Robin/Mashibinbin once suggesting that the residence of Hordriss could be called Castle Carascaram. (We had Hordriss planned as a Knightmare RPG character at one point.) Whenever I try to consider the origin of the phrase, I end up imagining Hordriss singing along to The Pink Panther theme.

      I transcribed Lord Fear's other spells as "Zalash caralam" (turns Maldame to stone), "Zash caram" (displays Bhal-Shebah on his screen) and "Caram gar" (speeds up the Corridor of Blades). They seem to have some common elements, and feel more made-up than the Latin-esque ones. But who knows.

      It may be worth noting that čarati means "to cast a spell, practise sorcery" in Serbo-Croat, with the second- and first-person forms being čaraš and čaram.

      Merlin uses the exclamation "Spells and incantations!" at one point, so perhaps Hordriss' phrase means something similar?

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        Canadanne
        wrote on last edited by
        #20

        And finally... does anyone know if the "Ooooh, naaasty" catchphrase was borrowed from Leslie Phillips in The Navy Lark (consciously or otherwise)? It may just be coincidence, but their delivery is so similar, I'm wondering if Hugo Myatt was a fan!

        Hugo has answered this question himself now! (Page 50.)

        https://www.flipsnack.com/5B7D5F6BDC9/suffolk-norfolk-life-november-2020.html

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        • MorghannaM
          MorghannaM
          Morghanna
          wrote on last edited by
          #21

          This thread might be a useful place to note some of Knightmare's other mysterious incantations. Here are a few that come to mind. My phonetics are only approximate.

          Morghanna in Series 3, preparing to zap Martin: "Dahrius ivah. An end to the quest"

          Lord Fear in Series 6, freezing Matt: "Epassipum vaydellum"

          Lord Fear in Series 8, turning Maldame to stone: "Zalas caranaffa"

          Yes, i wondered if Morghanna's exclamation was an authentic name/phrase from an ancient language.

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          • MorghannaM
            MorghannaM
            Morghanna
            wrote on last edited by
            #22

            And finally... does anyone know if the "Ooooh, naaasty" catchphrase was borrowed from Leslie Phillips in The Navy Lark (consciously or otherwise)? It may just be coincidence, but their delivery is so similar, I'm wondering if Hugo Myatt was a fan!

            Hugo has answered this question himself now! (Page 50.)

            https://www.flipsnack.com/5B7D5F6BDC9/suffolk-norfolk-life-november-2020.html

            Thank-you for posting this link. That's a really interesting interview and great to know where he got the "Ooooh naaaasty!" from.

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            • D
              D
              Drassil
              Senior staff
              wrote on last edited by
              #23

              And finally... does anyone know if the "Ooooh, naaasty" catchphrase was borrowed from Leslie Phillips in The Navy Lark (consciously or otherwise)? It may just be coincidence, but their delivery is so similar, I'm wondering if Hugo Myatt was a fan!

              Hugo has answered this question himself now! (Page 50.)

              https://www.flipsnack.com/5B7D5F6BDC9/suffolk-norfolk-life-november-2020.html

              For anyone who'd like to hear Leslie Phillips saying "Ooh nasty" in The Navy Lark, search for 'Commander Murray and the Squatters' (Series 11 Episode 1) on a popular video sharing website and listen to the first minute.

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                Canadanne
                wrote on last edited by
                #24

                I'm interested in the phrase the Gruagach screams when Treguard is attacking the catacombite in the book, "Ughrgis ar calibrahm" (described as "an ancient tongue"). Completely made up, or based on some existing real or fictional language? Does it mean something? Is it an anagram I've failed to work out?!

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                • HStormH
                  HStormH
                  HStorm
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #25

                  According to Google Translate, it might be Hindi, although it can't find an actual translation for it.

                  More helpfully, keep an ear open for a Temporal Discussion podcast coming soon; we're speaking to a certain someone who might just know the answer, so we'll put this one to him for you.

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                    Canadanne
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #26

                    More helpfully, keep an ear open for a Temporal Discussion podcast coming soon; we're speaking to a certain someone who might just know the answer, so we'll put this one to him for you.

                    Ooo, thanks!

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                      Canadanne
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #27

                      I transcribed Lord Fear's other spells as "Zalash caralam" (turns Maldame to stone), "Zash caram" (displays Bhal-Shebah on his screen) and "Caram gar" (speeds up the Corridor of Blades). They seem to have some common elements, and feel more made-up than the Latin-esque ones. But who knows.

                      Having noted the many similarities between Lord Fear and Sauron, it occurred to me recently that his Series 8 incantations might be intended to resemble Black Speech, which has the same kind of harsh sounds (and includes "ash" among the few words Tolkien invented). Tim seemingly included a few bits of Elvish in Knightmare, so this feels quite plausible.

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                      • T
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                        TheOldenDays
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #28

                        If I forget to refer to this on Temporal Discussion S8E2, I'll be furious with myself.

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                          Canadanne
                          wrote last edited by
                          #29

                          Having noted the many similarities between Lord Fear and Sauron, it occurred to me recently that his Series 8 incantations might be intended to resemble Black Speech, which has the same kind of harsh sounds (and includes "ash" among the few words Tolkien invented).

                          Interestingly we see this again in Lords Of The Game where Lord Fear's name is Veerash - very Orkish-sounding! (His middle name less so, haha.)

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                            Canadanne
                            wrote last edited by
                            #30

                            Intriguingly, I've just noticed another example of something that sounds like Black Speech: the weird landing command Kelly has to use for Smirkenorff, "Avash kraf" (or however it might be spelt).

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                            • MystaraM
                              MystaraM
                              Mystara
                              Administrators
                              wrote last edited by
                              #31

                              I will need to look it up. But I have a stack of Clifford Norgate’s scripts and in some cases I seem to recall him rewriting the spells.

                              https://www.twicetwice.co.uk/

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                              • MystaraM Mystara

                                I will need to look it up. But I have a stack of Clifford Norgate’s scripts and in some cases I seem to recall him rewriting the spells.

                                C
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                                Canadanne
                                wrote last edited by
                                #32

                                @Mystara said:

                                I will need to look it up. But I have a stack of Clifford Norgate’s scripts and in some cases I seem to recall him rewriting the spells.

                                Oh wow, that would be interesting to see...

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                                • MystaraM
                                  MystaraM
                                  Mystara
                                  Administrators
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #33

                                  I'll see if I can dig that specific one out. We're putting together longer term plans for the scripts.

                                  https://www.twicetwice.co.uk/

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