#mub

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In this post, I would like to talk about the meaning of the names of the characters from the movie Epic.

Either people think long and hard about how they are going to name their children (or anything for that matter), while others just pick a name that they like without looking any further.

Names are especially important in stories like books and movies.

While in the real world you can have 6 girls named Olivia in the classroom (something that really happened to me), writers can give every character in their story a different name to avoid confusion.

It can be as simple as ''This character is from Japan. Let's give him a Japanese name.'' or ''My movie takes place in the 80s in the US let's give characters names that were popular at the time.''

Sometimes names can give you an insight into what is character's personality, talent, etc. Some are more subtle than others. (Dr Evil or Dr Doom)

Let me start by saying this, names in Epic are all over the place. Let's get the simple ones out of the way.

Susan comes from Persian and it means lily flower. In modern Hebrew this also means rose and a flower in general. It's a standard name for the setting and the time period, modern times (the 2010s) somewhere in North America.

Professor Radcliffe Bomba, his title is supposed to explain how he knows all this ‘’scientific’’ stuff. Bomba means bomb in most Slavic languages. It's supposed to showcase how wacky, clumsy and does things that are detrimental to his own safety. Radcliffe derives from the place-name Radcliffe meaning “red cliff.” I didn't even know he had a name but fandom has spoken and it won't kill me to include it.

Mary Katherine is named after the daughter of the author of the book the movie is based on. Mary means Star of the sea/Drop of the sea ; Bitterness; Beloved. Meanwhile, Katherine means pure. Mary Catherine is a name that signifies a freedom-loving and free-spirited individual.  

Bufo is just an American bull frog. Bufo is a genus of true toads in the amphibian family Bufonidae. Bull + Frog = Bufo

Grub and Mub. I put them together because they're a comical duo and that's why their names rhyme. Common thing. Grub is the larva of an insect. To grub is to dig or poke about in the soil. I couldn't find what Mub means, just a bunch of acronyms to stuff. Their names are supposed to sound funny and disgusting.

Nim Galuu is weird. Nim is a game in which two players alternately take one or more objects from one of a number of heaps, each trying to take, or to compel the other to take, the last remaining object. Galuu means to enter and the main characters go into a tree to meet him and even deeper into the tree to see the scrolls. Also, Nim reminds me of The Secret of NIMH. It's probably just a coincidence.

Then there's a bunch of other characters that are just names of the species/plant they're based on. Dandelion, Pinecone, Stickman, Marigold Girl, etc.

Now we get to the interesting names!

Nod, in Biblical Names the meaning of the name Nod is: Vagabond, fugitive'. At first, I thought his name, Nod, is referring to the action of nodding, agreeing with someone. Because he's a rebel, his not doing what he's told, so he's not nodding. Irony! Him being a vagabond or fugitive shows in his concept art a lot more. In the movie, he deserts the army for like 5 minutes. I'm going to go into detail about it in another post.

Ronin, is  a wandering samurai who had no lord or master. This goes with the samurai-inspired design of the Leafman. Tara is the master that he lost. Again, not executed to its fullest potential. Also, there's a huge difference between a ronin and a samurai. Many times when movies portray samurais or cowboys they're more like ronins.

Tara, in South Asia, such as India and Nepal, Tara is a word originating from Sanskrit, meaning star, and it symbolizes the light of the soul. Tara is the soul of the forest.  

Mandrake, a Mediterranean plant of the nightshade family, with a forked fleshy root that supposedly resembles the human form and which was formerly used in herbal medicine and magic. It was alleged to shriek when pulled from the ground. Mandrake lets out a loud shriek to alarm his army.

Dagda, (Celtic: “Good God”) also called Eochaid Ollathair (“Eochaid the All-Father”), or In Ruad Ro-fhessa (“Red [or Mighty] One of Great Wisdom”), in Celtic religion, one of the leaders of a mythological Irish people, the Tuatha Dé Danann (“People of the Goddess Danu”). Highly skilled and wise beyond measure, he was not only the god of life and death, but of seasons, agriculture, fertility, magic, and druidry as well. There is so much lore behind this guy's name. He had so much potential! I'm going to rant about it in another post.

I think the naming system really shows the problems with this movie. It's all over the place and there's just too much.

Inspiration from the Bible, Slavic countries, Japan, India, Scotland, Ireland, and many more.

There are so many things that nothing gets enough focus. We got:

Romance

Tara and Ronin

MK and Nod

Mub has a crush on MK

Parent-child relationship

Ronin and Nod's father-son relationship

Mandrake and Dagda's father-son relationship

MK and her father's relationship

Deaths

Nod grieving over his dad

Mandrake grieving over his son

Ronin grieving Tara 

Ronin grieving Nod's father, his friend

MK grieving over her mother  

Magic

Plant manipulation

Shrinking and biggering people

The Rot

Anything involving this stupid bud

Resurrection?

Dark Prince?

Scrolls in the oldest tree 

Other stuff

Nod not following orders and not being part of the team

Bird racing  

Gambling? Some criminal stuff

Random song number

Shenanigans with the dog

MK's parents being divorced

MK running away from home

Believing in what you can't see

WAR!

Queen dying and finding her successor

Pointless fight with a mouse

Grub wants to become a Leafman 

The people behind this project wanted to make this movie awesome, deep and mature but they wanted too much too fast.