Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Batavia

Connections

  • Caspian was the prince of Batavia (son of the Mad King of Batavia)
  • Diana is the national hero of Batavia (probably for killing the Mad King of Batavia thrice)
  • Volkov (likely the Mad King's father, and Caspian's grandfather) was once king of Batavia 

Context


Believe it or not, the Batavian Republic was a real place. Well, technically "Batavia" could refer to several places, but if we assume Diana and Caspian lived in Europe in the 19th century, then the Batavian republic (present-day Netherlands) makes the most sense. The real-world Batavian Republic didn't last long (1795-1806), but even if he lived in the late 19th century, would it not make sense for "the Mad King of Batavia" to be so mad and crazy that he didn't acknowledge that his kingdom even existed in a practical, functioning sense? In any case, the Mad King (and his son, Caspian) claim the rule of Batavia.

Why was it named "Batavia," though? Well, maybe BMG just thought it was a cheeky "bat" name for a "spooky" European country (Dolche, a former member of the BMG lore team, seems to pronounce the country's name as "bat-AY-vi-ah" instead of "bat-AH-vi-ah"). But the name for the real country comes from the old Germanic Batavi tribe. Their region (again, present-day Netherlands) was occupied by the Roman empire for a time, then claimed by other nations during the medieval times, until the Dutch people wanted to revive their old, pre-medieval Batavi culture. This revival led to the short-lived Batavian Republic. The name Batavia was also taken up by a region in the Dutch East Indies, in present-day Jakarta (the Indonesian capital city, on the island of Java).

Anyway, when I first saw the name "Batavia," I was certain the developers at BMG just made up a Slavic- or European-sounding name for a fictional nation. So I was quite surprised to discover how real Batavia really was! It was this discovery that, in part, inspired this entire Brawlhalla Lore & Context project. :)

For more information about Batavia, check out the Mad King of Batavia's page, which includes some extensive research into the history of the nation's rulers by another lore nerd, Troonk. :)

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