[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: ma'to'vor

[Rohan Fenwick]

ghItlhpu' Voragh, jatlh:
> The ritual appears in the {paq'batlh}

Actually, not quite.

The ritual in the paq'batlh is the Heghbat, which allows a warrior to kill themselves without tainting their honour when too injured to continue to stand against their enemy, or when some other matter of honour demands it (in Kahless's case, in order for him to fulfill his word to Kortar that he will accompany him back to the underworld). The ma' to'vor, by contrast, requires that the warrior already have been dishonoured; ritual execution at the hand of another, usually a tuqnIgh "Housemate", is what restores the honour in that case.

jang loghaD, jatlh:
> In the book, this event is referred to as qeylIS Heghbat, although a ma'veq
> is used. Perhaps this term refers to any form of ritualized consensual death
> - or at least perhaps it did in Kahless' time - and as such is appropriate to
> describe the ma'to'vor.

Hm. In both KGT and Sarek, the Heghbat and Heghba' are both explicitly described as ritual *suicide*, as it is in the paq'batlh (paq'QIH 3:16-18):

DaH wanI' potlh taghlu'
tIqDu'Daj DuQqu'meH qeylIS
ma'veq cha' 'etlhmey jop

By contrast, DeCandido's description of the {ma' to'vor} seems pretty clearly to include another person as the agent of the death. I think the two are distinct, though they may both rely on the ceremonial ma'veq.

QeS
 		 	   		  
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