#maudras | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fishtail-tavra · 8 months ago

Text

On the naming of the three sisters of Ha'rar by their mother, the whys and to what ends, a mushy mess of linked canon and headcanons.

TLDR: Seladon was probably named after her grandmother for sentimental reasons and to pacify the traditionalists, Tavra was probably named to try pacifying both the traditionalists AND the separatists only for it to kinda backfire, and Brea was probably just given a nice normal name which she ironically grew up to make a synonym of heresy and rebellion. Which probably pissed off Seladon. Tavra, local fun one, probably thought this was all very funny.

Sources / inspirations used:

The Netflix original Age of Resistance tv show,

the loosely connected Age of Resistance young adult novels by J.M. Lee (why doesn't the series have it's own overarching name?),

the loosely connected Age of Resistance comics focusing on young Mayrin by Mathew Erman (seriously it's four issues give them a title to tie them all together with this is silly).

Starting off with the assumption that, despite some fairly large differences in character design, creature design, world mechanics, and actual plots, the three above sources can at LEAST share the same basic traits and histories of their lead characters- at least up to final few trine preceding the start of the main events of the Age of Resistance.

Basic framework information:

At the end of her comics, Mayrin marries a Sifa captain named Kam'lu and moves away from her late mother's traditional ways.

During the book series, it's revealed that Mayrin's second daughter Tavra once rescued and has been in a steady forbidden relationship with a Sifa Far-Dreamer named Onica.

In the tv show, Brea interacts with Sifa without showing any personal knowledge of them or any sign she is aware of her own connection to them.

Kam'lu is not present in either the show or books when Mayrin's daughters are fully grown.

By that time Mayrin has become more traditionalist, though in both the books and the show she is shown ready to join the rebellion, and is murdered for it by the Skeksis.

Statements in the following mess that are canon in at least one source will have a bracketed exclamation point (!) placed after them. Sentiments that are implied in at least one source will have a bracketed asterisks (*) placed after them.

These indicators will be followed by a number matching a note of the specific source, as in 1 for the tv show, 2 for the books, 3 for the comics.

Now. From oldest to youngest, starting with...

Seladon the Second, heir to the throne

Mayrin’s relationship is the most expectant with her first daughter (*) 1-2, born during a time of youthful hope, who was named Seladon after Mayrin’s own dead mother, the late All-Maudra Seladon (!) 3. The name is given with the intention of:

planning for Seladon the Second to be All-Maudra someday.

hoping that invoking her traditionalist mother will put at ease the traditionalists in Ha’rar.

trying to balance out Seladon’s half clan heritage, which the traditionalist strongly disapprove of in their own families, to the point of sending their children to the Order of Lesser Service when they’re caught becoming too close with someone from another clan (!) 1.

aware that the backlash to Seladon having a Sifa father will be worse in the wake of the Sifa’s recent attempted overthrow of Vapra power and bid for independence, which Mayrin barely managed to diffuse (!) 3.

further complicated by Mayrin openly choosing to abandon several of her traditionalist mother’s practices, including how tribute is paid to the All-Maudra, imposing Vapra traditions upon the other clans, and choosing to walk Raunip’s Pass with her Sifa husband instead of fly its dangerous winds as her mother challenged her to (!) 3.

As a result, Seladon the Second carries an old fashioned named, the possessive -n ending for women having gone out of style during her mother’s own generation in favor of the Thra invoking -ra or shorted -a endings becoming more common, as seen the contemporary names Fara, Mera, Deethra, Mira, Mythra, Naia, Arla, Eliona, Pemma, and Onica. The bearing of such an important family name also led to:

adding to her sense of inadequacy and insecurity as she tries to live up to the name (*) 1.

instilling in her a loyalty to tradition and the established power structures, after modeling herself on the first All-Maudra Seladon (*) 1-2.

highlighting the perceived shame of her half Sifa heritage and disposing her to hate rather than defend it, in contrast with the celebrated memory of her namesake Vapra grandmother, further pushing her towards traditionalist values in a bid to make up for the differences between herself and the past All-Maudra.

increasing the existing tension between her and her youngest sister (*) 1 who’s own name carries no such great history to uphold.

tightening heer bond with their middle sister Tavra (*) 1, who’s common name is ancient and recently tied to their family, and who’s full name connects her to the part of their heritage Seladon the Second and Mayrin are most ashamed of, putting pressure on Katavra to prove herself in spite of it.

Tavra, Katavra, soldier

Mayrin’s relationship is the most distant with her second daughter (*) 1-2, born during a time of building frustration, who’s common name is associated with Raunip’s Pass through the historical Tavra, a Gelfling woman who was once Raunip’s friend. Through this connection the name is also tied to Mayrin’s contentious past relationship with her own mother. The name is given with the intention of:

referencing Raunip’s Pass, a narrow valley with dangerous winds that Seldon the First flew to show of her strength and skill, challenging her daughter Mayrin to do the same (!) 3.

naming her second born daughter after the idea of physically proving oneself a worthy heir to her late mother All-Maudra, to make up for Mayrin’s first daughter having a crooked wing (*) 1.

indirectly linking Tavra to her family while Mayrin, wary of presenting another imperfect heir and under pressured from Vapra traditionalists, holds off on publicly acknowledging Tavra as a princess of Ha’rar.

still being a suitable name for a princess to have if / when Tavra eventually proves herself a capable soldier and loyal Vapra, as she does when flying through a storm to the aid of others (!) 2 and returning home afterwards.

an propriate name for when Mayrin finally crowns her a princess of Ha’rar long after Tavra is a grown woman with her wings.

to help smooth out rising tensions around Mayrin’s struggling marriage to Kam’lu, allowing her to use the crowning ceremony to also give Tavra the full name Katavra, after Mayrin’s Sifa husband Kam’lu, and so honor both him and Tavra's act of flying to the Sifa’s aid.

As a result, Katavra is mainly known by her childling name Tavra (!) 1-2, even outside of Ha’rar, allowing her to travel unrecognized as a soldier without speaking any outright lies (!) 2, with her full name only being used by those who know of and acknowledge her as a princess of Ha’rar (!) 1-2. The circumstances of her belated crowning and name change by Mayrin also led to:

the mocking rumors of the “many daughters of Mayrin”, as mentioned by maudra Laesid's husband Bellanji after the rumors spread as far as the Drenchen swamps (!) 2, with some believing Mayrin has many other such children she refuses to legitimize, and others ironically joking that the All-Maudra gets all her daughters from other women instead of having them herself.

Mayrin becoming further shamed when the only daughter she named after her no longer present Sifa husband is rumored to be sneaking off to the wharfs to meet with a Sifa herself (!) 2.

a worry that Tavra will also be lost to her, as Kam’lu was, or fall in love with a Sifa who will bring more struggles down on her and her family, as Mayrin’s did.

leading to Mayrin demoting Tavra in the line of succession, possibly reflected in Tavra being seen standing third in line from the throne after both her older and younger sisters (!) 1, and threatening to disown her completely, which as Mayrin is also the Vapra maudra and All-Maudra would make Tavra an outcast among most Gelfling, in an attempt to rebuke her daughter into following her will, an attitude Tavra's Sifa partner Onica is quick to reference and still has not forgiven (*) 2.

with the unintended consequence of Tavra championing her little sister Brea’s increased involvement in the politics of Ha’rar instead (!) 1, a cause Mayrin can hardly oppose when she herself made Brea second in line to the throne.

Brea, scholar

Mayrin’s relationship with her youngest daughter is the most forgiving but least respectful (*) 1-2, born during a time of weary resignation and after Kam’lu is gone and out of their lives (*) 1-2, Brea is named without any family member in mind. The name is given with the intention of:

hoping Brea could have her own life mostly insulated from the pressures of leadership.

urging her youngest daughter to focus instead on becoming a scholar (!) 2 and making a name for herself the will be remembered beyond the history of her family.

trying ease Mayrin’s guilt over having to use her two older children so pragmatically as future All-Maudra and expendable soldier for the sake of their clan and people.

pushing back slightly on the idea of what a princess of Ha’rar should be.

indulging that last youthful memory of when she also cared more about truth than duty and felt she could change the way of things (*) 3.

As a result, Brea’s name is common sounding and leads to:

helping her remain unremarked upon by the Vapra, who mostly prefer her to remain in the library with her studies where her scholarly lack of self-awareness and her seemingly un-princess-like behavior embarrass no one- a preference Brea is vaguely aware of but unsympathetic towards whenever her older sister Tavra arranges for her to be present at some important event she’s never been allowed to take part in before (!) 1.

suiting her reaction to important ceremonies, where she regularly shows irreverence for tradition or social norms in the pursuit of actual understanding and enacting positive change, even when it embarrasses her family (!) 1.

growing up sharing her name with many normal people recorded in history, who she notices and identifies with.

causing her to view herself as a normal person and normal people as perfectly capable of being remarkable.

fueling her rebellious tendencies when faced with an arbitrarily hierarchical and unfair world (*) 1-2.

Final thoughts.

I think it'd be very funny if the Librarian of Ha'rar was named something like Bre'rian, or Brealyn, or Li'brea or such like.

Both for the punning (in the same vein of Katavra sounding like a mix of katana and cadaver, fitting for a soldier lady who keeps dying, add a librarian who's names sound like the word library),

also for the implication that Mayrin and the Librarian might have bonded over their shared Sifa heartbreak, to the point of Mayrin thinking of her friend when having to name her youngest and hopefully most scholarly child, who Brea would indeed grow up spending a lot of time with and rely on for help and wisdom.

(though having Brea full name be Brea'leth would also be a really cute call back to Mayrin's advisor, Dot'leth)

(and it would also be punny. Brea'leth... breath... vapra vapor... blah blah)

I also really like the idea of Mayrin threatening to disown Tavra, making Tavra sad for 0.5 seconds before she goes- "No wait, that is in fact an excellent idea. My sisters can rule together, once I convince them to stop yelling at each other for 5 minutes, leaving me free to someday sail off with Onica in to the gay pirate sunset. Perfect."

and all Mayrin can do is watch Tavra encouraging Brea to take up more princess roles in Ha'rar, happily stepping side for her little sister, while Mayrin screams internally.

the fun one strikes again. Younger Mayrin might have been proud.

#the dark crystal age of resistance #all-maudra mayrin #seladon #katavra “tavra”#brea #speculation and headcanons

17 notes · View notes

pomgore · 2 months ago

Text

colored maudra seethi from this set of drawings, did you ever see a gelfling so beautiful you started crying

seethi headcanons under the cut :3

i imagine she inherited the maudra title young following her mother's death (she looks so young compared to the other maudras!) and, being a young gelfling surrounded by matriarchs, maybe struggled to integrate and get along with the other maudras for a while. she understood gelfling law in theory but in practice it doesn't come naturally to her, and the maudras being a sort of old ladies club didn't offer a lot of help at first.

probably she resolved this by withdrawing her personal feelings and emotions from her maudra "persona," she tries to be completely objective, plays by all the rules and waits for others to express their stances on a given matter before offering her own input. the other maudras opinions on this behavior range from annoyed to indulgent, most of them were there while she was struggling and they understand the need to separate their personal lives from the lives they lead as maudras.

gelfling autism

the shape of the dousan headdress is determined by how much hair it needs to hold--seethi has lots and lots and lots of hair, but she almost always wears it tied up or braided back to keep it off her neck in the desert heat.

the loss of her mother, which i imagine was unexpected and came at an already-fraught time in inter-clan relations/shifting skeksis policy/some other drama, had a profound effect on seethi that gelfling close to her recognized--the dousan perspective on death helped her rationalize and accept her mother's death, but she's never quite been able to move on.

the little hair charm at the end of her necklace is a lock of her mother's hair

whether in maudra-mode or not, seethi comes across like she's sort of floating through life, a bit detached from everything but still held down to thra by virtue of existing on it. she becomes more grounded in reality when a present situation or task demands her whole attention

related to above, she realizes she actually quite enjoys fighting during the outset of the garthim war, because unlike maudra work it's fast-paced, physical and decisive, and she doesn't have to worry about doing it "right" so much as just surviving to fight another way.

seethi lost a lot of her friends when she became maudra, unable to maintain relationships as the role demanded more and more of her time. :C

despite the kind of unwieldy shape seethi actually likes to wear the headdress because she thinks her ears are too big. when she wears it she has to trade big ears for a fivehead, but a big forehead is a feature of beauty among dousan (but not among stonewood, thats why they all have bangs)

since dousan aren't a part of the alliance of the crystal, seethi has only met the skeksis incidentally when some event necessitated both she and a skeksis ambassador attend. after maybe the third or fourth time this happens she decides to take a leaf out of maudra argots book and just sends a messenger with a no-show letter.

during aor seethi is the second oldest maudra, a little younger than mera (spriton maudra) and youngest of all being ethri (sifan maudra). mera became maudra not long after seethi, although at an older age, and adjusted pretty well to the position, so she and seethi get along well being closer in age than the other maudras. ethri became maudra under similar circumstances to seethi (sudden loss of a mother) so seethi and mera advise her where they can and do their best to make themselves welcoming presences for her. mera is better at this than seethi lol

related to above, this is why they all kind of cluster and make the same choice to support seladon when fara issues her challenge for the crown.

#the dark crystal #tdc #tdc aor #maudra seethi #seethi #gelfling #dousan #the pom! signal #my art #when a character has like 5 lines. thats my time to shine

76 notes · View notes