So, here’s the thing. I have this setting I’ve been working on for years now. And the setting ended up with almost 5000 years of extensive lore, and you need to be familiar with several different philosophies and cultures to understand any of it. I was trying to come up with some names for characters in a story I am writing in said setting. And when I was researching how names and languages change I was struck with a thought. Am I overcomplicating this? Do I really need an explanation why there is a guy named “Al Banian” and why the name is actually a remnant from a completely different reality? I’m getting to the point where the lore is so complex it starts to sound stupid if you don’t know all the details. Case and point, a guy named “Al Banian”.
Another example. There are several creation myths, and three of them are technically correct.
I need some advice. Feel free to ask questions.
I mean, sometimes you have to explain things. Even in LOTR it was explained why Sauron was the bad guy and why the ring was important. But I get it. Flashbacks to millenia in the past aren’t usually good for stories. Usually.
Using Sauron as an example, we don’t actually learn that Sauron and Gandalf are from the same class of beings until the Silmarillion. There is a ton left ‘unknown’ about Sauron in the LotR because it simply isn’t relevant to the story Tolkien was telling. He is the dark lord. Do you need to know that he wasn’t the first dark lord, that Morgoth was, for the story of the One Ring to make sense? I mean it’s interesting, but ultimately it weakens Sauron’s role in the narrative. You’d be wondering about Morgoth and what he got up to instead of Sauron, the primary antagonist of the story.
I’m personally a big fan of deep history but one needs to appreciate the reality of history in order to utilize it effectively. In other words, things are lost to time. Some questions will never be answered. Do we know that Nero wasn’t actually playing the fiddle while Rome burned? Yes. Do we know that Nero was suspected of having a hand in the fire to clear out space for his new palace? Yes. Do we know that he definitely had a hand in it? No (though we’re pretty sure he didn’t).
Just food for thought.
Actually, we can be sure Nero wasn’t playing the fiddle while Rome burned, because Nero died in 68 AD, while the fiddle was invented in the 1500s (AD). He might’ve played a lute though, we will never know.
Other than that, I have nothing to add. Thank you for the comment.
I know.
Not my point. You almost got me. I almost apologized for not paying attention. But I’m in the right here. The myth was that he played the lute while Rome burned. You brought up the fiddle. That’s where I was confused, why a fiddle? It was a lute. Well, it wasn’t, since it didn’t happen. Okay. I hope that clears things up.
My guy, that is literally what I said. We know he wasn’t playing the fiddle while Rome burned, he wasn’t even in Rome at the time.
Okay, I might’ve worded it weird. But I am hung up on the “fiddle” part, not who was doing what with it. If you just changed the “fiddle” for the “lute”, I would have no notes. Because if we just go changing words around like that, Nero might as well had been playing the electric guitar.
The phrase is* the result of the story being chewed on by writers/literature over the ages. Medieval writers categorized ancient stringed instruments under the Latin word fidicula which would eventually translate into fiddle.
Edit: *
Mistranslations don’t change a lute into a fiddle. These are different instruments. They look different, and they sound different. And they are played COMPLETELY differently. I will NOT back down on this. It was a lute.
Also, medieval writers in what cultures? Because I’m pretty sure the ones from Italy did distinguish between the lute and the fiddle. They might’ve called it the same word in some cases, like you might call a glass a glass or a cup a glass or a mug a glass, and it’s still a technically correct name, they are different. And glass mugs do exist, I have one right now on my desk in front of me.
You can’t be right just because you give the source of where you got your misinformation from. Sorry. I don’t think that’s how it works.
No offense, though. Everyone makes mistakes. As far as I know, I could be making one right now and not even know.