True, but the Romulans on Picard never displayed the kinds of excesses described in those notes, at least not on-screen.
Spoilers Chabon's Notes on the Romulans
- Thread starter Tuskin38
- Start date
No, which is why I have no issue with these notes. Notes, at least in my writing, usually start with very broad sketches, designed to give a feel for an overall species, race, power, etc. Then, sitting down with the individual characters and they will become different. Then the actors will bring their own flavor, and onward they go.
That's why notes don't bother me. In broad strokes I would expect it.
Room for variation, yes. But while human societies are complex and defined by many goals and desires, alien Trek cultures have only one major drving force and defining feature. Vulcans - logic, Klingons - honor, Trill - protecting the symbionts, and no, Romulans - secrecy. It's lazy writing.
I'd tell you what I think of Chabon's notes about the Romulans, but it's a secret.
Others have said it's a lie that it's a secret, but they're free to idlily speculate about whatever they like.
Others have said it's a lie that it's a secret, but they're free to idlily speculate about whatever they like.
A symbol on Vulcan would have little excuse for gripping two planets. It preexisting, but then evolving to do this, could be what Chabon "actually" talks about.
But of course he doesn't. Instead, he talks about plumage. Which then would be the thing that evolves, despite the bird itself having been the one innately Romulan thing for thousands of years previously.
...I love the idea of Romulans necessarily getting married to an informant. Although that puts a kink to the idea of the True Name, as the very point of threesomes here is to take confidentiality away from intimacy, by turning a cabal into a crowd.
Timo Saloniemi
I love it. Makes the Romulans even more interesting and fascinating than before.
I still like the idea of the QM being really secretive, plus the idea of a very different marriage tradition (except for the fact that this, too, is rooted in distrust and secrecy).
If you read the notes as if they were for a Terry Pratchett novel or similar, they are a fun read.
If you read the notes as if they were for a Terry Pratchett novel or similar, they are a fun read.
If Qowat Milat decide their names through name dice, then:
Also, I was hoping for some coverage of the Northerners and their crazy foreheads.
why is Gabrielle known as Sister Gabrielle? Is she not a true Qowat Milat because of her humanity, in much the same way Elnor was not a true Qowat Milat because of his gender? That wouldn't explain why she was treated as such by the Romulans, Vulcans, and Romulo-Vulcans.
Also, I was hoping for some coverage of the Northerners and their crazy foreheads.
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I read his notes. What is the takeaway?
Romulans are secretive and and it permeates their culture. Seems legit.
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Now that you raise the point...my grandparents - on both sides of my immediate family - were the same way for decades.
Because the people who decide such things within that order decided that Gabrielle Burnham met the requirements they had for membership in that order at that time. As far as they're concerned, she's in the order by right of merit and deed.
I mean, yeah, the episode clearly had her as a full member in every way except one: Her name. If Chabon is correct, Gabrielle should've been given a new open name. I guess they changed their policy on names over the past 800 years, even if their policies on clothing and behavior are the exact same.
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Some traditions change; some don't.
Some traditions change; some don't.
That's... what I said.
Ah, I misread then.
Personally, I figure that it changed when they faced loss of membership due to the whole planet destruction thing and adjusted accordingly since figuring out names while trying to survive may have seemed counterproductive.
Really, it's because Chabon didn't care or worry about what Discovery later established about the Qowat Milat, and Discovery, of course, didn't have access to his notes, that he just published yesterday, when developing Sister Gabrielle. 800 years explains away everything. Or we could just say "Sister Nianda" adopted her old name Gabrielle for the sake of her daughter.
In-universe, though, it's a fun plot thread to pull and theorize on, but has no bearing on either show, I thought. Not meaning to be nitpicky at all. I didn't bring it up when I commented on the Medium post itself, where I successfully got Chabon to edit out the references to "canon", which was much more nitpicky. The Medium post is concerned with Star Trek: Picard lore, and later Star Trek shows are free to ignore and adjust as they always do. We could also say that Starfleet Intelligence dropped the ball here (Chabon's excuse for anything too contradictory in the post), and there is an added nuance to how Open Names work, or multiple Qowat Milat cultures with multiple rules on names.
I'm not going to be losing any sleep tonight.
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If it's from another show and it aired under six months ago, it is. It would also help to include the name of the series that you're spoiling, so people don't think it's a Picard spoiler.
I know about the six month rule, I was just trying to be cutesy. I fixed the lack of tagging, though. My bad.
