I had expected to take this week off on account of some travel and the delay to Game Update 5.9, but I came across a thread on the r/swtor subreddit asking about one of the face paint customization options available to Human Bounty Hunters. The user was curious about their meaning, and I thought I’d offer my two credits. I recognized the writing as Huttese and took a crack at translating it. It turns out this is a rare case of Huttese that can be read in English. Moreover the translation seems appropriate for the bounty hunter class for which it is intended. Confident in my translation, I figured I might as well follow up with a recreation.
I’ve discussed the challenges of interpreting the Huttese font before, and this sample is not without its own idiosyncrasies. The process of transforming the words into tattoos and textures distorted many of the letters, and the “o” in “destroy” is particularly mangled, but I think it’s a safe choice based on the context.
While preparing screen shots I noticed this face paint option also includes on the neck a third word whose translation was trickier. I did some poking around and came across a post on SWTOR’s forums which beat me to the punch in translating these tattoos by four years. This is not an uncommon occurrence, but it’s nice when my interpretation is confirmed by someone else.
I basically agree with my fellow translator, since “spacer” makes more sense than anything else I’d suggest, but the Huttese letters are so distorted that I’d almost say that it could also be read as “shader.” However, I wouldn’t bet on it.
As for The Nathema Conspiracy, hopefully I’ll be able to avoid spoilers until I get back next week. Wish me luck!
That’s really cool; I’d never even seen that customisation before. I love still learning new things about this game six years later.