Category Archives: Mandalorian to English

December 28, 2023 · 10:01 am

Fortune and Glory, Kid

This week, to end the year in style, let’s take a look at a pair of unexpected additions to SWTOR from Game Update 7.4, Chains in the Dark: two propaganda posters featuring none other than Heta Kol.

These new posters were a surprise to be sure for two reasons. First, these graphics, as well as some other Republic and Imperial fleet posters were unannounced additions, but it’s also odd that Heta Kol would be promoting herself on the Fleet hubs while the forces of her Hidden Chain invades the worlds of the Empire and the Republic.

Within the context of the game world, two explanations spring to mind. Perhaps the Hidden Chain sliced into the Fleets’ advertising systems to illicitly include their own propaganda as a form of digital graffiti. Another possibility is that the Republic and Sith Empire are so hard up for ad revenue these days that they’ll take credits from anyone. Frankly, that second explanation feels all too realistic and plausible.

But let’s take a close look at the posters themselves. The text of both uses the Mandalorian alphabet which was created for Attack of the Clones but continues to be used and refined in live action Star Wars including The Mandalorian. As with the Mandalorian language banners introduced in the Spirits of Vengeance flashpoint, these posters translate not into English but into the Mando’a dialect, which was first introduced in the Republic Commando novels but has also been developed in other media.

Because the text does not directly translate into English, the challenge in translation was two fold, and I decided to create both Mando’a and English language translations of the posters. Typically, my recreations feature letter-for-letter transcriptions whether the source is Aurebesh or another alien typeface, but in these cases the English language translations do not exactly align with the Mandalorian originals. Fortunately, the message of these posters is direct enough that the changes I made don’t feel like they have dramatically upset the posters’ original designs.

As for the translation itself, Mando’a is not a fully developed “conlang” or Constructed Language like Dothraki, Elvish or Klingon, and most of the usage we see is chiefly concerned with the kind of things Mandalorian are typically going on about anyway. Since the intent of the posters is to be propaganda that delivers a short, direct message, I don’t think I needed to look for nuance in my translations, despite the temptation.

The design of these images are similar to wartime propaganda posters that you might have seen in real life or scattered across SWTOR’s worlds and Strongholds. Both posters feature a powerful portrait of Heta Kol against a background that propels the viewer’s gaze upward to the sky, along either beams of light or launching spaceships.

The background of the second image features an emblem that is new to players with this update. This seems to be the symbol of the Hidden Chain, and it is also featured prominently on the swanky new red and bronze armor worn by Mandalorians of the Hidden Chain. I think the iconography of this symbol is worth exploring.

Let’s start in the center, that hexagonal shape has its origins in the breast plate of Boba Fett’s armor and has over the years come to be symbolic of the entire Mandalorian aesthetic from their armor and spaceships to their art and architecture, particularly as seen in The Clone Wars and Rebels shows. On either side of the hexagon, two shapes that appear to be links of a chain seem to pull apart the hexagon which is broken into two pieces. The symbolism is clear: the goal of Heta Kol’s Hidden Chain is to tear apart the traditional structure of Mandalorian culture.

I don’t think Heta just wants to be the next Mandalore. She truly wants a revolution that will remake Mandalorian culture into something else, for better or worse. This is why Shae Vizla has reacted so strongly and stridently to the Hidden Chain’s challenge. Heta isn’t being subtle in her intent as we saw when she destroyed the Clan Cadera banner on Ruhnuc for all Mandalorians to see. This perspective reinforces the central theme of SWTOR’s story over the last two expansions. Darth Malgus wants to break free of the endless cycle of conflict between the Jedi and the Sith, which has left him chained physically, mentally and metaphorically. Similar questions are on the mind of Sa’har Kateen and Shae Vizla as they try to make sense of their places in a new and changing galaxy that is still emerging from the ashes of the war with the Eternal Empire.

To me, this is all very cool. These graphics echo the themes of the story, and the story is connected to their design. Sure, they are neat posters, but they also enhance the player’s experience of the story within the game world. You don’t need to know the literal meaning of Heta’s propaganda to understand its intent, and that’s a mark of very good design.

My Hardcore Journey – Act Three

Finally, let me share the conclusion of my Hardcore Journey with the completion, just barely, of Act Three of the Jedi Knight story.

My biggest surprise about this challenge is that it turned out to be harder than I expected. My choice of Shadow for Combat Style turned out to be most fortunate; the ability to exit combat with Force Cloak saved me from certain death on multiple occasions. As I neared the conclusion of the Jedi Knight story, I barreled ahead at full speed, and took on the Emperor for the first time in years, with only a vague memory of the encounter’s mechanics. T7 was defeated quickly, and I would’ve followed soon after had I not hit Force Cloak to reset the encounter. A quick Google search reminded me what to do, but even so I only survived by the skin of my teeth.

Looking back at the experience, my main piece of advice is to take it slow. While within the level range of a planet and wearing only quest rewards for gear, a group of two or three enemies could be a lot more dangerous than I might expect, and my companions weren’t always as helpful as I would’ve liked them to be. “Kira! What are you doing?!”

One thing I would change is to fuss less with heroics, and do more side quests. I rate the experience gains from planetary side quests higher than the gear upgrades from heroics. Entering nearly every new planet while three levels lower than the mobs I encountered was usually fine, but led to some spicy combats that would’ve been trivial with a couple more levels under my belt.

As for crafting, I stuck with Artifice and it did eventually result in a steady supply of purple quality color crystals, but I found it more trouble and expensive than it was worth to craft level appropriate lightsabers or off-hands, and I suspect this would have been the case for any other crew skill I might have selected. That said, next time I go, I think I’ll give Biochem a try. My Jedi Knight never wanted for medpacks, but I wonder if a constant supply of stims could have helped out more.

I also want to remind readers that as of this post, there is still more than three weeks to enter my Act Three raffle. All you need to do to enter is to show me that you’ve completed Act Three of any class story on the brand new Shae Vizla server. I’ve received many entries already and it’s been neat to hear about folks’ journeys on SWTOR’s new home down under. It’s also been gratifying to hear that many of you have taken up my Hardcore Challenge as well. This raffle features the biggest prize pool I’ve ever offered, and there is still plenty of time to enter!

Finally, let me close out 2023 with thanks to everyone who has visited my little corner of the Internet this year. I strive to have a slightly different perspective on Star Wars: The Old Republic, and I’m looking forward to new adventures in the year to come, and I hope to see you there as well!

 

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Filed under Legacy of the Sith, Mandalorian to English

April 29, 2023 · 9:01 am

Showdown on Ruhnuk Review

This week, at long last, let’s finally take a trip to the newest world added to Star Wars: The Old Republic: Ruhnuk. SWTOR’s Game Update 7.2 Showdown on Ruhnuk revisits the Mandalorian conflict begun in Onslaught’s Spirit of Vengeance flashpoint and the challenge to Shae Vizla’s rule from the mysterious Heta Kol. If you’ve yet to check out the new update, don’t worry, I’ll be keeping this light on spoilers.

This is an addition to the game that I very much enjoyed. Ruhnuk from the air is a stark, stony environment, but once you settle into its lush river canyons, the world’s beauty reveals itself. The stories told on Ruhnuk do a nice job leading players across the world’s zones, and the planet’s various exterior and interior spaces feel different enough to keep things fresh as we progress.

This update further explores Mandalorian culture which is very much front and center in the most popular Star Wars lore these days. However, this time, our character, the Alliance Commander steps aside to let Shae Vizla take the lead in this adventure. I found it amusing that Shae’s seems to treat my character in a way that SWTOR traditionally treats our companions. I’m quite okay with that. Since Fallen Empire, SWTOR has so strongly focused on the Outlander/Commander as the key figure in the larger conflict that it is nice to see the narrative put the attention elsewhere for a bit. Shae is a character with ties so deep in SWTOR lore, that it doesn’t feel out of place to give her the spotlight for a bit.

Showdown on Ruhunk’s story of feuding Mandalorian clans is the most epic in scope we’ve seen since Fallen Empire, and I had fun watching it all play out. This chapter also integrates lost Jedi Padawan Sahar Kateen and her brother Ri’kan into the narrative, so it also successfully keeps SWTOR’s main story in motion as well, and our trip to Ruhnuk doesn’t quite feel like the distraction that the events on Manaan did.

I have not yet played Showdown on Ruhnuk with a character who saved Torian during Knights of the Eternal Throne, but it was nice to see Akaavi Spar involved in the story’s events. I think Akaavi is an under-rated companion, and I’ve come to appreciate my characters’ interactions with her even if they don’t always see eye-to-eye. Likewise I enjoyed the interplay between and with the Ordo brothers, both of whom I’ve become quite fond of since their introduction. Akaavi, Jekiah and Rass are three very different characters that do a good job showing the range of personalities that those who call themselves Mandalorian can still have.

To my great surprise, the end of the main story was not the end of my time on Ruhnuk. It was, in fact, only the beginning. A second story, which I cynically assumed was meant only to introduce the daily area, once again had me criss-crossing Ruhnuk on an entirely new adventure. And then there was the “Relic Hunt” which has the players exploring the world’s hidden corners for power-ups and eventually the game’s latest Datacron.

I always take things slow, and it took me a few weeks on Ruhnuk before all I had left to do there was the daily quests. If this is to be the model for new additions going forward, I highly approve!

Daily Dally

Before I talk about Ruhnuk as a daily area, I should describe my approach to dailies these days. I mostly avoid daily areas now. To be honest, I’m bored with Conquest. Outside of Galactic and PVP Season objectives that also score Conquest points, I am not particularly motivated to do the same objectives I’ve been doing for years on end. With one odd exception I have not visited CZ-198 or the Black Hole since last fall. I know they are good sources of credits and Conquest, but I feel like I’ve done that content more than enough and I want to spend my time doing other things for a while.

I have never measured my playtime by the metric of credits-per-minute. This probably explains why the dailies I prefer are on Ziost and Iokath, two areas with unusual mechanics and less emphasis on traditional combat. During Legacy of the Sith, the majority of my daily questing has been during once a week visits to the Manaan Invasion Zone and most recently, Ruhnuk. In both cases, I progresses my reputation at a slow and steady pace, and once I capped out the reputations associated with both zones, I haven’t revisited either since.

As a daily area, Ruhnuk definitely tends towards the Iokath side of things. You can’t zip over to Ruhnuk and expect to blaze through it like CZ-198. While I was working on the Mandalorian Trat’ade (“Forces”) on Ruhnuk reputation track, I’d set aside an hour or so of time to complete the weekly quest and heroics.

And here’s the thing: I had fun doing it. I’ve often written about how I enjoy the exploration aspects of the MMO experience. I don’t mind getting lost or turned around; I like figuring out the best ways to traverse a zone, and it did take me a few weeks until I felt like I always knew where I was when on Ruhnuk.

My time on Ruhnuk was not without hitches. Looking back, I wish I’d completed the Relic Hunt quest chain before focusing on the dailies and reputation track because having access to the Jump Pad shortcuts really make a difference when questing there. In my final weeks doing the dailies with the perks unlocked, I felt comfortable on the planet and cleared the dailies at a pace that felt good to me.

Do I plan to keep going back every week? Nope. And I’m fine with that. I don’t think whether Ruhnuk should be deemed a success should hinge on how fast it takes to do the dailies or how efficient it is as a source of Conquest. If I want quick Conquest points, there are dozens of things to do in SWTOR that I’ve done dozens of times to score those points. I’d rather judge a zone by how I felt exploring it and what nooks and crannies I discovered on the way.

Because it doesn’t feel like we’re done on Ruhnuk. The second story involving Lane Vizla and Clan Ha’rangir certainly feels unfinished. And there are interactable objects and extra areas all over the world that seem like they might be relevant to adventures to come.

Until then the reputation track offers a ton of cool decorations (not to mention the dozens I looted while questing), a fun mount and one of the best looking Legacy armor sets in the game. At the very least, the Legacy titles unlocked along the way “Be’mand’alor Tomad”/”Mandalore’s Ally” and “Par’jilla Gehat’ik”/”A Tale of Triumph” are cool for anyone roleplaying a Bounty Hunter. I don’t feel like my time on Ruhnuk was wasted.

Well, mostly. I farmed up the two items necessary to unlock the “Wraid Night” achievement and discovered that the drop rate for one, the Fresh Dewback Corpse, is way, way too low. I told my guild-mates we’d complete the achievement on our fun run night, and in preparation I spent hours upon hours over three days mindlessly killing dewbacks. This reminded me of those truly awful vanilla World of Warcraft quests with horrible drop rates, and what should’ve been a fun and funny achievement left an extremely sour taste in my mouth.

My other wish is that the power-up perks unlocked by the Relic Hunt quest should be Legacy wide, especially since the hunt ends with the discovery of Ruhnuk’s Datacron whose benefit does apply to my entire Legacy. As I mentioned earlier, those perks make questing on Ruhnuk easier, and I think it’s fair that alts have convenient access to them since there is no need for them to hunt down the Datacron.

Clan Ha’rangir

Finally, let’s take a look at a brand new Mandalorian banner, which we discover on Ruhnuk and can be also unlocked as a stronghold decoration. The banner belongs to Clan Ha’rangir, the latest erstwhile Mandalorian clan to have joined Heta Kol’s crusade. This banner is interesting to examine because there are elements of its design that directly relate to what kind of clan Ha’rangir is.

Most obviously, the writing on it is not Mandalorian at all. It’s the ancient script that SWTOR players first encountered on Ossus, and is typically associated in Star Wars lore with the Jedi and Sith. But not in all cases. After seizing control of Jabba the Hutt’s palace, Boba Fett sits on a throne engraved with this ancient form of writing. I think we can conclude that both the Hutts and Clan Ha’rangir chose this “language” to establish and connect themselves to something that is not just old and traditional, but something ancient and immemorial.

Likewise, the clan itself is named after the Mandalorian god of the underworld Kad Ha’rangir; indeed, its clan leader Kur Ha’rangir claims to be a descendant of the god himself, a bold claim to make in any era, but especially in one where the Mandalorians don’t seem to be particularly religious. It does do a lot to suggest that the goals and methods of Clan Ha’rangir aren’t just old fashioned, they’re positively medieval.

It will probably not come as a shock to learn that the symbol emblazoned on the banner is not a traditional Mandalorian Mythosaur skull, but a helmet that matches the only known depiction in Star Wars lore of Kad Ha’rangir who is shown wearing armor festooned with barbs, spines and spikes, and that is reflected in its symbolic appearance on the banner.

I am no expert in Mando’a, the Mandalorian language, but my best guess for a translation of “Ha’rangir” would be something along the lines of “Hell Fish” which suggests to me that Kad Ha’rangir is decked out in armor inspired not by a Porcupine as it might appear at first glance, but rather a Puffer Fish. I’m certain Kur Ha’rangir would condemn me as a heretic for such a assertion, but I stand by my interpretation.

As we discover on Ruhnuk, Clan Ha’rangir’s focus is on restoring a mythical past that probably never really existed while ruthlessly consuming whatever resources it takes to make their vision of Mandalore a reality. The motto on their banner speaks of tradition, but it’s a hollow promise, nothing more than a flimsy excuse for more war and conquest without regard for the future of the Mandalorian traditions they obliterate along the way.

 

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Filed under Ancient Jedi Runes, General Star Wars, General SWTOR, Legacy of the Sith, Mandalorian to English

August 3, 2021 · 9:01 am

Didn’t We Just Leave This Party?

This week, let’s take another look at the two Mandalorian posters that were introduced in the Spirits of Vengeance flashpoint and can also be found by players as stronghold decorations. In the most recent Game Update, the posters were revised and now no longer translate into English but into Mando’a, Star Wars‘ Mandalorian spoken language.

It seems that I may be inadvertently to blame for this change because of the translations of the posters I made earlier this year, something I learned to my surprise when I tweeted about the update a month ago.

I confess I had some complex reactions to this discovery. First, it’s honestly a very cool feeling to know that I got to have even a small effect on the game, but I was also somewhat abashed when I realized that my little blog led to extra work for someone on the art team at Bioware. For what it’s worth, that also meant that I also had to revise my recreations as well, so what goes around comes around. It’s like poetry, I guess; it rhymes.

If you compare the updated posters to their original versions, you can see that there were some additional changes made, especially to the banner from the Ash’ad ship, the Seeker’s Vigil. The revised graphic now features deeper and richer hues of the traditional Mandalorian red and green colors. While I can’t say if it’s intentional or not, this particular color palette specifically recalls to me the fresh coat of paint Boba Fett applied to his armor late in season two of The Mandalorian.

Despite a large number of weird alien texts seen in SWTOR and across Star Wars lore, Star Wars does not have a full Constructed Language or “conlang” like J. R. R. Tolkien’s Elvish, Star Trek’s Klingon or Game of Thrones’ Dothraki to call its own. The origins of the Mando’a language stretch back to The Knights of the Old Republic, but it’s been used frequently in both SWTOR. as any Torian stan can attest, and in many recent animated and live action Star Wars adventures.

For now, Mando’a vocabulary is mostly limited to the kind of things we can imagine Mandos most care about: honor, glory, battle, that sort of thing. It’s not yet at the point where you can have a conversation about the weather, your favorite Grav-Ball team, or how much better Hamlet is in the original Mando’a. It’s not unreasonable to think the language might be further fleshed out in future seasons of The Mandalorian and The Bad Batch.

The use of Mando’a, however, does present something of a dilemma for this humble translator. My recreations thus far have all been direct, letter for letter copies of the originals, even when they are not meant to have any actual meaning in English. However, in the future I may be tasked with not only transliterating Mandalorian letters in to English letters, but also translating Manda’o into English.

I’m wondering how far I should go. My goal for this project has always been to present SWTOR’s alien writing in a way that makes it feel as familiar to players as to their characters, but Mando’a is likely as unfamiliar to most folks as Aurebesh, and since Mando’a grammar is different from English, any full translations I make may lean towards my interpretation of the text rather than direct translation. This is a dilemma faced by any translator, of course, but I must admit learning to speak Mandalorian is not a skill I thought I would need when I started this blog!

For now, however, in regards to these two posters, we know exactly how they are meant to be translated thanks to their original iterations, but in the weeks to come, we might just get to find out how clever an alien linguist I am! Wish me jate’kara!

 

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Filed under Mandalorian to English

April 26, 2021 · 12:01 am

That Which Does Not Kill Us

With SWTOR‘s next game update “Dark Descent” arriving in just a few days, I figure it was high time to finally translate the third of three Mandalorian themed banners introduced late last year in the Spirits of Vengeance flashpoint.

While it was the last one I recreated, this will be the first one players encounter on their journey through the flashpoint on board the Clan Varad crewed starship, Champion’s Glory.

The sign is gold with purple and black accents and features a fitting slogan for the Clan. Described as “restless” by a Dark Lord of the Sith and bloodthirsty by most everyone else, Clan Varad served as the antagonists of the flashpoint Mandalorian Raiders and are likely already familiar to many players of the game.

The slogan is vague enough to appeal to the single-minded goals of Clan Varad, but it does beg the question: “Strongest at what?” I doubt Mandalorians who align with Varad have much interest in self-reflection so the question seems likely answered by whichever beskar-pot dictator shows up with the biggest blasters that day. Millennia later, these would go on to be the last words of the Deathwatch’s Pre Vizsla, so the slogan remains fittingly ironic.

When Is A Skull Not A Skull?

All three of the posters featured in the Spirit of Vengeance flashpoint feature unique and truly very cool takes on the famous skull icon made famous by Boba Fett. Of the three new symbols, the skull on the Clan Varad banner is most similar to the classic Mythosaur skull, but this version has a hand-printed texture rather than a stamped one, suggesting that if nothing else, Varad is far more hands-on than most Mandalorian clans.

Next up, the Darmanda logo from the Fortune’s Folly is quite similar in shape to the skull, but more closely evokes the contours of the equally if not more famous T-shaped visor of the Mandalorian helmet, but with a sleek, futuristic flair.

I alluded to this in the post in which I translated the banner from Heta Kol’s ship, the Seeker’s Vigil, but I might as well put my tin-foil hat theory on the record sooner rather than later. I suspect that symbol is not a skull at all, but the hilt of a weapon. But what weapon? Now, the Darksaber as seen on the shows The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian was created well after the events of Star Wars: The Old Republic, but what if Heta Kol is looking to create or acquire a proto-Darksaber? While other weapons inspired by modern Star Wars lore have found their way into SWTOR, this distinct take on the lightsaber feels conspicuous by its absence. This addition could also firmly connect Shae Vizla to Clan Vizsla, which has also played a significant role in Star Wars stories recently.

Or maybe I’m overthinking it, and it’s just a fancy skull. Hopefully we’ll find out before too long!

 

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Filed under General Star Wars, Mandalorian to English, Onslaught

January 13, 2021 · 3:40 pm

Cherish the Past

This week let’s take a look at the second of three Mandalorian posters found in the new flashpoint Spirit of Vengeance. Beware! My comments on this poster, found on the Ash’ad ship, the Seeker’s Vigil, could be considered spoilers for the flashpoint’s story, so definitely check that out first.  Although the Mando’a spoken language has been frequently used in SWTOR, the Mandalorian font makes its SWTOR debut, I believe, in Spirit of Vengeance.

The poster is available as a Stronghold decoration that can drop from bosses in the flashpoint, although it seems to have been mislabeled as propaganda from the Dar’manda ship, Fortune’s Glory.

At first glance, the most prominent image on the poster seems to be the familiar Mandalorian skull symbol, but I don’t believe this is meant to depict the Mythosaur at all. The poster’s color scheme and design most closely recalls the flashpoint’s final boss, Heta Kol whose helmet shares a similar arrangement of horns and prominent dorsal fin. Whether it is meant to be an image of a specific creature, I cannot say. I’d actually suggest that the icon better evokes the shape of a dagger or sword or saber hilt.

If that is the case, then the visual design appears to be at odds with the written message of the poster which implies that whoever created it clearly does not believe that the pen is mightier than the sword.

The mystery of Heta Kol has become a hot topic of conversation since the release of the flashpoint, and the text might be a reference to Canderous Ordo, otherwise known as Mandalore the Preserver. Should we take this as a clue that she has ties to the brothers Jekiah and Ras Ordo, whose sister is presumed to be dead? Maybe!

Overall I like how the poster immediately evokes in its color and design classic Mandalorian imagery, but gives it an unexpected twist or two.

Sell the Sizzle

While it’s not unusual for news from SWTOR to dry up this time of year, Bioware has put the next game update on the PTS unexpectedly early. But the most dramatic news this week came from starwars.com which announced that future Star Wars games would now share the official identity of “Lucasfilm Games.” To mark the announcement, they showed off a “sizzle real” of clips from numerous Star Wars games including, The Old Republic! The news has already triggered announcements of more Lucasfilm property games from publishers other than EA. SWTOR has very often been relegated to the roll of the forgotten middle child struggling for attention whenever newer, hotter games come out. Nevertheless, SWTOR has remained a stalwart over the years, and it’s always nice to see it get some love from Mom and Dad at the official website as the game celebrates its tenth anniversary.

Fingers crossed that there is more excitement to come!

 

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Filed under General SWTOR, Mandalorian to English, Onslaught