#zumwhy rambles

[zumwhy-plays-minecraft]

So how are the evo fans feeling

[zumwhy]

Oh my gosh I just read your fic and I have to say AMAZING WORK. but I also have a question because as a fellow classical literature enjoyer im so curious to know what greek mythology nicknames equate to each character?

Hello hello hello anon!

I’m very glad that you like the fic, and I’m glad that people are liking my decision to bring the Syndicate naming system over, because I thought that was just the coolest shit ever ngl.

So canonically, we have : Tommy / Theseus, Techno / Protesilaus, and Phil / Zephyros. (We do also have names for Nikki and Ranboo, but as they’re not in the QSMP, I’ve sort of neglected them (apologies)).

Then in the fic, the two new names are Wilbur / Orpheus, and Missa / Euros! I wrote a little bit more about my reasoning for each name, and did a little bit of analysis about the canon names here:

hiii i just read the second chapter of "the gold" and it was very good!!!! but im kinda confused about a name mentioned so orpheus is wilbu

[zumwhy-plays-fallout]

Cass... are you feeling okay?

[zumwhy-plays-minecraft]

Watching parkour civilization. Thinking cube thoughts

[zumwhy-plays-minecraft]

Going through and watching all the limited life videos- I can’t believe Cleo and Etho are coparenting scar and bdubs

[zumwhy-plays-minecraft]

Kind of surprised Grian and pearl didn’t declare the buddy system to be in effect

[zumwhy-plays-minecraft]

OMG I THOIGHT CELLBITS VILLIAN ERA SKIN LOOKED FAMILIAR

ITS GODOT

FROM ACE ATTOURNEY

BUT WITG VROWN HAIR

[zumwhy-plays-minecraft]

hiii i just read the second chapter of "the gold" and it was very good!!!! but im kinda confused about a name mentioned

so orpheus is wilbur, theseus is tommy, protesilaus is techno... who is euros? is it missa??? whether it is or not pls tell me why youve chosen that name for whoever it is since you have so kindly tempted me to

!!!!! YES!

Omg I didn’t think anybody would actually come talk to me about these buckle your fuckinh seatbelt Nonny cause I Have Thoughts And I Must Scream!

But first I should probably tell you that you are absolutely correct in all of your assumptions! Well done on matching the names to the people they belong to! Im going to take that as a sign that they sort of make sense!

Because that’s the case with the names, right? They make sense! Each name has a purpose and a very specific meaning and connotation attached to it.

Take Tommy / Theseus. Theseus is a mighty hero, the “greatest hero of Athens”, the one who united the warring African city states underneath his banner, a great hero by all accounts, only to be banished by those he considered friends, abandoned, and ultimately murdered. The storyline sounds a little familiar, right?

But the parallels don’t stop there! Techno / Protesilaus! Protesilaus is an unsung hero of the Iliad, the one who leads the way for all of the other warriors to step foot onto Trojan shores and make their mark.

And of course we have Philza / Zephyros, with our lovely Western Wind- the only one of the four winds to have a wife, commonly depicted with wings, associated with spring and this the color green… I hope you’re picking up what I’m putting down!

Because there are other associations that you can make, other patterns you can pick out, if you look! (Like, for example, you’ll notice that of the lovely lovely characters that we’re looking at that have been canonically given these Greek names, the ones that tend to get into the most trouble are the ones with the names of mortals, whereas the ones who are less inclined to be dragged into conflict have the names of gods… but I digress, as that’s probably more of just a funny coincidence and/or me misremembering what happened, and, you know, when Theseus is the one doing the dragging into conflicts, the data is a little biased but what am I saying this isn’t an actual interpretation/statement about anything- I’m making claims but I’m not married to them you know? Im just Having A Good Time, feel free to tell me if I’m Completely Wrong LMAO-)

So I essentially just took these patterns that were already starting to form, and expanded them! Techno and Tommy were given the names of Greek heroes who had similar themes, so Wilbur became Orpheus. Why Orpheus? You ask. Quite simple! A musician who changes the world with his words, a poet, if you will, who could cause even gods to pause to listen to him, who has a habit of attempting to meddle with the balance of life and death… you see where I’m going with this?

Then Philza, a god, has three mortal ‘sons’ (depending on what sort of interpretation you’re using but again I digress I digress for the sake of the fic they’re like biologically related but yanno whatever fiction is made to be interpreted!! Just have fun with it!!), but he is not the only one who’s got kiddos anymore, no sir!

Now for the Missa / Euros connection, you do have to stretch a bit, I openly admit it, especially since Euros is not a very well documented god At All. Euros is the East Wind, associated with autumn and sunrise, and generally (please feel free to take this with a grain of salt, I’m a first year classics minor I Barely Know What I’m Talking About Please Feel Free To Correct Me) regarded as one of the gentler of the four winds. But! If we look at Philza’s connection with Death (Mumza), and we say ‘hey, maybe that’s the reason he’s all birdlike, which is one of the major reasons he’s one of the winds’, and we look at Missa, there are two very big connections with Death that we find:

1. Mans is in a platonic polyamorous relationship with Death. Good for him! This is the like SUPER explicit connection

2. I mean he’s a skeleton. Or dressed like a skeleton. Also there’s the whole ‘angel’ thing. Death connection.

So. If we claim that Philza is a wind because of his connection with Death, and Missa is also connected with Death (and Phil), it only makes sense that Missa is also a wind, hence, Euros.

Now I could go into my whole idea about the place that Death/Mumza (and by extension, the names) has in the Connected SMP Universe in my head but that would take For Fucking Ever, so instead I will just thank you Profusely for letting me ramble on about these silly little guys, and leave you with Two Fun Facts!

1! I do have Greek names picked out for our lovely lovely kiddos, just for funsies.

2! I also have someone who I think would fit Boreas very very well, but as he’s not in the QSMP he won’t be showing up! (But I’d be down to hear ideas for other people y’all think would fit as our fourth and final wind! I’m just like. Collecting. Bird MCYTers. LMAO.)