ParanetOnline
Other Jimness => Codex Alera Spoilers => Topic started by: barronfamily16 on August 18, 2018, 05:09:59 AM
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Please help...... in the First Lords Fury at the beginning of the epilogue there is an excerpt signed Gaius Tavarus Magnus 1AD. Is that supposed to be Tavi? If so why was his name changed from Octavian to Tavarus Magnus? Or is it his future son? My husband and I have searched boards to no avail. Please help
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Yes, its Tavi, and Octavian had a new state to run, as Alera was almost destroyed, and with the Canim state and all the changes to the structure of the empire. Doesn't make sense to be the "Eighth" in a new state. He also had the Canim to appease, so he used their name for him "Tavar" in it.
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Big clue is that it actually says Gaius Tavarus Magnus 1 AV. To me this means 1st year After Vord.
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Yeah, "Magnus" is just Latin for "Great." So he's Gaius (family lineage) Tavarus (new name he chose for himself; many, many kings picked a new name for themselves in history when they took the throne—King George VI, the latest King of the United Kingdoms (who died in 1952) was born with the first name "Albert," and only chose the name "George" after his older brother abdicated. "The King's Speech" actually did a really good job in terms of reasonable accuracy about the abdication and King George's succession. Spoiler alert, I guess. The point is that normally a king or ruler would select a name from a previous ruler, unless they wanted to break from tradition for whatever reason; Tavi's succession to First Lord fits the mold) The Great. It helps that Tavi never really went by Octavian; he'd been Tavi all his life, and his favorite enemy gave him a name of his own. It just happened to fit his current nickname.
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It makes sense for Tavi to change his name with the upheaval that happened as a result of the Vord War. His new name contains elements of tradition (Magnus and Gaius) but also ushers in the changes by going from a number based name (septimus, octavian, etc) to the name given him by their traditional enemies now frenemies. It signals a new way of doing/looking at things.