CharactersStorys

Translator's Helpers

This page is intended to help Translators to figure out, how a character should be translated. Sometimes, you need some information about a figure, a race or a plot, that might influence the translation. Campaign designers may define their intention of a character and every translators may include his/her realization in his/her language (e.g. look for the "German" remarks in THoT). In case you are not the author of a campaign, please state where you got the background information from.

Campaign designers: Please supply us mere translators with the flavor of your campaign to keep the high standard in all languages. Characters that do not appear repeatedly in the campaign are excluded from the character list. If they are important for translation purposes, feel free to add them.

All of the campaigns have a wiki-presentation of their dialogues - started in 2009, a few details might change in future reworks of the po-files, but the overall story and characters should not have changed. Therefore, those pages are a good start to get a "feeling" for the characters. Storyline, Walkthrough and more are accessible via this page as well.

A page containing helpful shell scripts, e.g. to extract the speaker+text out of the po-file may be found here.

Northern Rebirth

Tallin

Description: The typical hero steryotype, and also the main character of this campaign. He originally starts out as a peasant but over the course of the campaign Hamel trains him up and he switches over to being a lieutenant. He is young - between 20 and 30, and has all that usual hero stuff around him - brave, intelligent, good looking, blah blah blah."

In German: An educated but not very "upperclass" language in the beginning, but starting to be much more "noble" when courting Eryssa.

Hamel

Description: An very wise, tough grizzled veteran Dwarvish Lord who till recently has been trapped in the caves of Knalga fighting an unending war with undead, trolls and orcs.

In English: He has a strong Scottish accent ( "In English-language folklore, the Scottish share many characteristics with fantasy dwarves. Both are tough, dour, canny mountain folk who are good at engineering and hold grudges forever; the similarity even makes sense to a Scot. This is why a Scots accent “feels right” for a dwarf.") (http://www.catb.org/~esr/wesnoth/campaign-design-howto.html#toc5)

In German: Dwarves are speaking "medieval", as no accent fits the "dwarf"-description above. It somehow fits in the German knight tradition, especially holding grudges forever :).

In Greek: Choosing a particular dialect was difficult, since I don't know greek dialects that well. I used "village" greek for making it rougher, and added ancient greek and byzantine terms whenever I needed to sound medieval or pompous, and for many "army" and "battle" terms.

Camerin

Description: A very powerful but crazy Arch/Great mage who loves to blow things up.

Father Morvin

(Name was changed from "Marcus" during Version 1.6)

Description: A wise experienced White Mage (Mage of Light) missionary who - until recently has been a prisoner to an Ancient Lich. He has traveled a lot, knows many people and has much experience on different lands. Husband to Sister Theta.

Eryssa

(Name was changed from "Anita" during Version 1.6)

Description: A beautiful, virtuous, brave, but at times snobbish and stuck up, elvish princess (Elvish Sorceress). Her father holds a high position with the north elves and she has been captured and held for ransom by the orcs.

Elenia

Description: Eryssas wild older sister. Elenia is a beautiful elvish Druid who had a strong desire to see the world and set off on her own. She was eventually captured and held prisoner by an Ancient Lich.

Hidel

Description: An elderly elvish marshal who is Eryssa's (Anita's) longtime guardian and mentor. Although he is very wise, he is at times inflicted with the typical elvish snobbishness and superiority issues. He was sent by Eryssa's father to rescue her from the orcs.

Sisal

Description: A lady elvish avenger, Hidel's second in command. She is brave and ferocious and will fight to the death if necessary.

Rakshas

Description: A powerful Orcish Sovereign that likes being called, "The Master". He has thrashed enough orcish Warlords into servitude that he poses as a serious threat to the entire northlands. He has a large imagination and delusions of grandeur and when combined with his power, makes him a foe to be reckoned with.

Malifor

Description: A powerful ancient lich with more delusions of grandeur. He wields vast power over any creature that has died and has been resurrecting the long dead defenders of Knalga to carve out an underground empire for himself.

Sister Thera

Description: The dedicated wife of Father Morvin (white mage of course). She does not quite fit the profile of a saintly subdued holy lady however, as she is very spirited and takes great pleasure in blowing evil creatures to pieces as well as occasional theatrical displays of drama.

Stalrag

Description: A Dwarvish Lord who is the leader of the Shinsplitters - a tribe of Dwarvish Ulfserkers (same guy from HttT, in the scenario Hostile Mountains). He has a long standing feud with the mages/liches Ro'Arthian and Ro'Sarthian (see below).

Ro'Arthian

Description: A Great Mage that refuesed to die and reincarnated as an Ancient Lich instead. He and Ro'Sarthian are powerful liches that have the ability to control gryphyons, ogres and trolls. Although he and and his brother are good at heart they have no qualms about using dark and evil means to achieve their ends.

Ro'Sothian

Description: The brother and side kick of Ro'Arthian. He was an Arch Mage until he was killed and reincarnated as a Demi-Lich. Pretty much the same profile as his brother.

(name changed from Ro'Sarthian somewhen before 1.8)

Abhai

A ghost of a former Lord drawn into half-life by Malifor. May be especially important in the "dark tallin"-path of NR, that, unfortunately, is still under construction.

The Hammer of Thursagan

Campaign specialties: About noble titles in the Northern Alliance [1]. Cave-related vocabulary in 13 languages may be found here

Aiglondur

Description: A dwarf, the guard captain of the Eastern Gate. Young, intelligent, related to the clan chieftain. Dwarven society doesn't have a noble class as such, but Aiglondur is from one of its leading families and will have war-gear of the best quality. If weapons are in the portrait, his will be your standard Dwarvish double-bitted axe. Great-nephew of Lord Hamel and Captain of the east Gate. Unusual diplomatic type of dwarf.

Angarthing

Description: A junior loremaster. Young but self-conscious about being an authority figure; will dress to look older than his actual age. Very intelligent and rigidly honorable. Should be sagelike or priestly in appearance with an especially long beard. If weapons are in the portrait, he uses a bolas and a morningstar — neither of them heavy as he is not a line fighter (he will wear only partial or light armor).

In German: I let him cite "Stabreime" from time to time to introduce an old fashioned feeling. In the beginning (in Hamels court) he will stumble over the rimes but in the end he gained full authority. The biggest problem was to translate "I am a Witness" as there is no German equivalent having both flavors of jurisprudence and religion. I decided for introducing "Der Fels" -> "Ich bin Skalde - ich bin der Fels", as the mountain/rock is something set in stone.

In Greek: His translation was not as deliberate as the german one, since Middle-Age greek poetry sounds rather not-wesnoth. However his vocabulary is extended and more formal compared to the other characters. As for the "witness" part, it was a nightmare. I resorted to using an ancient greek term for witness (Προΐστωρ, Proistor) as a title (you know, like Steelclad, or Loremaster),which sounds really majestic, but translated the "I am a witness" part as it was, since the whole point was that, err, he was actually witnessing things.

Ratheln

Description: Mage, sarcastic. A human mage and teacher of magic. A scholar but a very tough and experienced one — not someone to cross lightly. Good at heart but gruff and a bit irascible.

Perrin

Description: The master of a school of magic. Wise and kindly. An Albus Dumbledore in Wesnoth, basically.

Ollin

Description: Human peasant, refugee.

In German: He may sound like a bondman/villain using a lot the term "Herr", which sounds VERY servile and is not used any more nowadays but in posh haberdashers.

Dulcatulos

Description: The dwarfish captain of Kal Kartha's guard at the West Gate, a good dwarf unknowingly working for an evil master. Aiglondur's counterpart, but a few years older and not as intelligent. Dwarvish soldier, battling through the ranks to become Captain, not born to be one.

Karrag

Description: An evil dwarf-lord who uses a mask and spells of illusion to conceal the fact that he has in fact become a lich. The wrongness in this portrait should be much clearer.

Pelias

Description: A human knight who serves effectively as a royal courier, even if Tallin doesn't have the title of king.

Elurin

Description: An Elvish Rider of high rank.

Marth Tak

Description: An allied orcish chieftain, member of the Northern Alliance

Hamel

Description: The same person as in Northern Rebirth, but a bit settled.

Locations

A particularly difficult point in the greek translation was the name of the city "Dwarven Doors". I finally went for Θυρόγαια (pronounced Thy-ró-ge-a), a word comprising of θυρα, ancient greek for door, and Gaia, greek for earth, soil. It should mean something like Doors of the earth, and it is the coolest-sounding word that still resembles an actual city name.

An Orcish Incursion

Erlornas

Description: "he's a dandy, yet dangerous."

Linaera

Description: "Not real old, but grown-up and experienced, so she'll get a tad older in the process but not much."

Lomarfel

Description: Elvish Rider, "looks really surly."

Sceptre of Fire

Rugnur

Description: Dwarf fighter."Relatively young and not of especially high rank. Not particularly bright and talks in a pretty informal manner to everyone. Not greedy or very interested in gaining status, riches or fame; probably he just wants to do his job so he can go home and work on a miniature collection or something. That is, not a very exciting protagonist but more like the average joe who gets sucked into a big mess.

Thursagan

Description: Dwarf runemaster. Thursagan is THE runemaster. He's the best and he knows it. He's a hermit living in the wilderness so his outfit should reflect that (gryphon feathers, wolf fur or something like that would fit nicely), and while his equipment should include some smithing tools, he shouldn't look like he's just been hammering away in his forge like the core runemaster portrait. And, of course, he should have a big gorgeous hammer. Karrag's portrait in The Hammer of Thursagan should feature the same hammer, so you might take inspiration from that. Having faintly glowing runes on its side would be nice. Note worthy of interest: As a general note regarding the dwarves, it seems like their clan is a relatively small one and not very rich either, so I'd suggest being rather conservative with their bling.

Durstorn

Description: Dwarf lord. He's the leader of the clan, so he should have the most bling on him. He's pretty greedy and hasty, maybe even crass. Generally not a very pleasant person, but apparently not a terribly incompetent leader either (at least until the ruby corrupts him).

Alanin

Description: Human dragoon. He's the guy Haldric sends to go with the dwarves as his personal representative of sorts, so he could have some special regalia, although of course it'll have to be something other than the sceptre symbol used in later times. The whole campaign is said to have lasted 15 years, and in the epilogue Haldric tells him he's old enough to retire, so that's a hint towards his age.

Baglur

Description: Dwarf stalwart. As he himself says, he's "a retired warrior" so a bit older than the other dwarves (except perhaps Thursagan).

Haldric II

Description: Human King.

Krawg

Description: Gryphon - intelligent, but hard to understand (Its sometimes even hard to get the meaning - check CampaignDialogue:SOF for an proper english version). For translating Krawg long for "speaking raven" rather than "Long John Silvers parrot".

Glonoin

Description: Dwarvish Lord.

Kuhnar

Description: Dwarvish Steelclad.

The Rise of Wesnoth

Prince Haldric

Description: He is not the educated type of prince - not a stupid brute as such, but certainly not very knowledgeable and calm either. Haldric has always seemed more like this eager hack-and-slash-fellow-made-leader than a contemplating strategist. He bears a certain hot-headed, arrogant attitude.

Lady Outlaw

Description: A pretty kick ass/bad ass lady.

Lady Jessene

(had been changed from "Jessica" to "Jessene" during 1.6)

Description: She appears rather calm and waiting - she is very intelligent.

Burin the Lost

Description: Burin is pretty nutty. He's been travelling and living alone for a long, long time. A hot-headed dwarf, half-crazed comic reliefed, although, he's also a bit of a whiner.

Commander Aethyr

Description: A man who gets in the thick of melee.

Minister Edren

(had been changed from "Edmond" to "Edren" during 1.6)

Description: A white priest, battling the dark forces. So, he is not too passive. He's a minor character and basically all his dialogue is in the vein of "No you won't, you soldier of darkness!", so a little bit more restrained anger or some other kind of tension would be good for him. He has a psychorigid vibe which is a nice change from the usual wise-and-holy look of priests. After all he's more country priest than archbishop.

Lich-Lord Jevyan

Description: In TRoW, Jevyan is basically this posturing super-aggressive overconfident lich brute over half of whose spoken lines end in an exclamation mark. Jevyan never really has a deviously cunning plan or does anything subtly. He is the most powerful lich in of his time, he would probably try to show that.

King Eldaric IV

Description: Eldaric is the king of a small backwater kingdom and introduced as a sovereign who'll rather be in the thick of melee than parading behind his soldiers. Therefore, my take is that regalia and embellishment should be toned down as much as possible in favor of a more practical gear. I might even get as far as denting it here and there.

Lord Logalmier

Description: The local elvish warlord. He is mostly guided by prejudices and survivalist instincts, which don't take much more than a grouchy "the elves are for the elves" answer to all situations.

Lady Dionli

Description: It seems like she's the highest ranking one of the elf lords, and seems pretty well rooted in reality instead of being one of those elves who just daydream of faerie stuff and talk like a poet all the time. She is more like the underling that is trying to get things done in the absence of wise or strong leadership. She actively seeks cooperation and discussion between the different races, but can still be sat on by the rest of the lords, led by Logalmier, in breaking the pact.

Lich-Lord Lenvan

Description: He's the one who's been sitting in a little cave under the Oldwood for a long time with the ruby, so the old and frail look would suit him - secretive and cunning.

Lord Typhon

Description: A mighty sea king.

Descent into Darkness

Darken Volk

A very cold person, Darken Volk is also an excellent actor, easily able to deceive others with false sincerity, hatred, or affection. However, he is a singularly self-centered individual and does not care what, or who, gets in the way. And whatever gets in his way must be destroyed. He is well learned, and as such his speech should be one very precise and two have a very extensive vocabulary.

Drogan

Drogan is very, very loyal to that which he holds dear. Parthyn is one of these things, as well as Malin Keshar's father. He does not want anything to harm his loved ones, and so sees many an unpleasant duty as necessary for upholding the peace. His speech is plain and conventional, no long words or complicated sentences.

Malin Keshar

Malin Keshar is a young man who had his childhood and his father ripped away from him by the orcs. He now has only one goal in life: to make the orcs suffer. There is nothing he wants more and it has become his constant obsession. If he can do anything to harm the orcs, he will do so gladly, even if it harms other people. Still, he is a basically honorable person and does not enjoy the death of any save the orcs. Malin Keshar is a mix of the illiterate world of his former village and the literate world of the mages' islands. As such, he speaks almost like a reasonably educated person of today might, with a broad vocabulary but not overly complex sentence structure.

Foolish Hero

The proverbial knight in shining armor, who has come to vanquish the darkness. He is very brave, but also somewhat brash and arrogant, thinking that this is just one more battle to face. This should show in his speech as flowery and yet somewhat haughty language. He has bested many foes before, won many battles, and is very experienced. This darkness however, may be a little more than he can handle . . .

Liberty

Relana

(Became a female character in 1.9, was named "Relnan" before)

Son of the Black Eye

Kapou'e

Description: He is an young orkish Chief, more intelligent than his fellow orks, but as ruthless as they are. A natural leader.

In German: For Orks in general, I tried to stick to main clauses and tried to avoid subordinate clauses. Additionally, I aimed for ominous mystery-style-sentences (like "Wer Wind sät, wird Sturm ernten"). Of course, orcs are not "noble savages" (like Karl May's Winnetou), but the rest fits the "Böser Indianer"-stereotype (tribes, fighting each other, physical strength as important social attribute, brutality) from Karl May. Anyhow, this should not be overdone :).

Grüü

Description: Grüü is a young troll who decides to join Kapoue's quest.

In German, he uses a simplified and often wrong grammar that fits his simple approaches to reality, e.g. shown by Grüü in the scenario "Back home": "Of course. Squash elves, squash undead, squash dwarves, squash humans. Squash them all, very good plan!". He seems sometimes a little bit childish and simple, so the terms "tut/tun" and "kaputt" are used a lot.

Howgarth III

Description: "Big, fairly pot-bellied, but powerful. Bearded, something of a wild man. [..] Wielding a big greatsword or claymore. Possibly leather armour, or leather-with-plates - fairly simple. He's Northern Alliance, which (depending on which version of the history you're working from) means he's from a relatively poor group descended from slaves, and fairly far from civilisation." [2] "Howgarth. I was aiming for a slightly wild look, a bruiser rather than a thinker." [3]

Shan Taum

Description: "Arrogant, but smart orc with leadership qualities - opponent of Kapou'e and his late father; uses an offending and arrogant language."

Vrag

Description: A smart goblin rider, who favors evasive maneuvers over battles and is a counselor to Kapou'e.

Al'Brock

Description: "Flar'Tar came out tall and relatively skinny. I'd like Al'Brock to be short and dumpy, just for contrasting purposes =D" [4] "He looks like the 'GET OFF MOI LAAAAND' type =D" [5]

Vraurk

Description: A young orcish shaman

Pirk

Description: An orcish shaman

Gork

Description: An old orcish shaman

The South Gard

Deoran

Description: Young, of noble birth - therefore he may appear a bit naiv in the beginning and may use a higher type of language - anyhow, he is a soldier at least by heart.

Sir Gerrick

Description: Deorans mentor. An officer and hero - rather by deeds than birth; speaking blunt, if needed.

Urza Afalas

Description: An outlaw-leader forced into the forests longing to return to civilization, even with lying. Somehow a normal person having a peasant's cunning.

Ethiliel

Description: A big-headed female elf, disciple of Mebrin. Becoming more and more self-reliant and shakes off the elvish racist arrogance while living through its foul outcomes (Mal M'Brin, Itheldens War)

Minister Hylas

Description: A white priest - high language.

In German: There seems to be no good translation for the term "minister". Neither "Vikar", "Pfarrer", "Pastor", "Prediger" works properly imaging a fighting priest. I went for "Vater" / "Bruder" or "Pater" (as in "Bruder Tuck" or "Pater Brown") and put it terminological close to moncs.

Jarek

Description: A cavalry soldier.

Urza Mathin

Description: An outlaw-leader without the brain of Urza Afalas.

Queen Xeila

Description: Queen of a Naga-clan, hostile and speaking "snakish" with interfering "Hss"-sounds.

In German: The "Hss"-sounds translate quite nice by lisping - but go for "Harry-Potter-Parselmouth" rather than "Terry-Pratchetts-Igor".

Mal M'Brin

Description: An elvish sage gone rogue and undead.

Ithelden

Description: Elvish marshal, waging the "righteous war" against the humans.

Eliomir

Description: Elvish ranger, helping Sir Gerrick.

Two Brothers

Arne

Description: "Arne looks a little fat, but otherwise they all look cool to me... his weight and his expression fit his character perfectly...long hair ... Even Arne's horse looks a bit smirky."; leader of a small band of horsemen who hired out as guards to merchant caravans.

Bjarn

Description: Arne's brother, mage.

Delfador's Memoirs

In German: My primary goal was to create some sort of medieval sounding German without truly using the language of the german middle ages (middle high german). I tried to use so called "Archaismen" (words not or almost not used anymore) and played with the syntax; e.g. the genitive had been used a lot more in the middle ages than it is used today.

Delfador

In German: As for Delfador, in the beginning he hast just finished his apprenticeship and still is unsure of his powers and abilities. In time and through the hardships he has to undergo, he gains in self-confidence which is reflected by the way he expresses himself. Furthermore his education and literacy shows up in his phrasing and diction.

Methor

In German: He is teacher and good friend to Delfador and you can see this in his conversation with him. Towards other people he shows is wisom gained by a lifetime as a magician.

Iliah-Malal

In German: He thinks of himself as being without any boundaries and limits and that there exists nobody who has the power to stop him on his way. In his conversations with other beings you can see his inhumane age and his arrogance. He is very well spoken but depreciatory towards people he thinks are unworthy of his attention.

Leollyn

Description: Leollyn is a good man - honest, intelligent, loyal to his king, and a friend of Delfador's mentor Methor. He takes Delfador under his wing at court. He doesn't watch his back, though, and will be murdered by a conniving rival. I imagine a man in healthy middle age with a benign, open expression, someone who would both inspire trust and deserve it. I see him wearing simpler clothing than would be normal for a man with the kind of court position he has, well-made but unostentatious. (http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24805&start=0)

Kalenz

In German: He's one of the oldest of the Elves and bears the weight and wisdom of ages. He has very refined manners and knows how to deal with different kind of people. Both vocabulary and syntax are sophisticated.

Dead Water

In German, I felt the need to introduce some more vocabulary related to the sea; mainly, I used Gwabbo for this purpose.

Kai Krellis

Kai Krellis is the son of the King of the merfolk, who succeeds to the crown while being a child.

In German, I changed the writing to "Cai", as Kai is a common Christian name in German. But changing it to "Cai" looks old fashioned and it still sounds as an abbreviation to "Kaiser" (which is "Emperor" in German). So it fits quite nice.

Cylanna

A mermaid priestess and a counselor to Kai Krellis. Should speak a high language.

Gwabbo

A veteran of the merfolk fighters and a counselor to Kai Krellis.

In German I added some "nautical wording" and went for a little north-german dialect as this one is related to the sea.

Growloff

A weired person that tames sea monsters and argues resembling "Hagrid" from "Harry Potter".

Tyegëa

A mermaid high-priestess and the unknown grandmother to Kai Krellis. She is a bit unpredictable.

In German I gave her a snobby attitude. Discussing with Cylanna, I tried to assume that they both still remember having a long lasting tiff (tendency "mother-in-law", or "elder sister").

See Also

• Some introductory words on translation philosophy
• Mainline campaign hub for walkthrough, storyline and the developers discussion thread
• Central campaign dialogue page
• Background on Wesnoths races but see also Races and of course their Secret Lore
• History_of_Factions_and_Races but see also History_of_Wesnoth
• Detailed campaign analysis by the stalled (?) Lore Collection Project here or here - preliminary analyses exist for EI, SoF, DiD, TRoW.
• some technical help for translators might provide TranslatorShellscript
• TextdomainStatus will tell you, if it makes sense to translate a certain mainline campaign now, or to wait.
• Some entry points for forum discussions (from translators of different languages) about "how to translate (Wose, Naga, Merfolk, etc.)" can be found in the TranslatorsGuide or use the "search" function of the forum board.
• An IC-Counterpart of this page is WesnothFigures (stub).