[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: QaD

[Felix Malmenbeck]

> So tell me, who is this "fearless warrior" who "climbs out of the blood onto dry land"

> and why is he in the river in the first place?  And why should modern Klingons wish to follow it?


The fearless warrior was none other than Kahless, so certainly an example worthy of emulation :)

He had followed a cave within the volcano Kri'stak (QIStaq), into the realm of the dead, thrown himself into a chasm and ended up in a blood-colored river, where he boards the Barge of the Dead to save his family from Gre'thor.


That being said, I think that the example noted in KGT does point more towards the river Skral, or perhaps a more general, metaphorical river of blood; a river colored by the literal blood of one's enemies, and/or the figurative blood of great deeds.


For one thing, the blood-red river Skral goes further back in Star Trek canon (1995, as opposed to 1999). So, although both came after the first mention of "the river of blood" (in 1989), the river Skral was at least mentioned early enough to influence KGT and TKW, whereas the Barge of the Dead only showed up a few years later.


For another, while the idea that the Barge of the Dead travels on a river of blood was established in VOY: The Barge of the Dead, it is only depicted as being the way to Gre'thor; when Miral is released to Sto-vo-kor, she vanishes from the Barge of the Dead. As such, traveling this river of blood is not particularly desirable.

In paq'batlh, it seems that the river of blood goes to both Gre'thor and Sto-vo-kor, so it is a river that every Klingon will travel, whether honorable or not.


//loghaD

________________________________
From: Steven Boozer <sboozer at uchicago.edu>
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2023 10:32:08 PM
To: tlhingan-hol at kli.org
Cc: Felix Malmenbeck
Subject: RE: [tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: QaD

Felix, thanks for checking this for me.  It seems I was confusing the River of Blood {'Iw bIQtIq} with the River Skral {SIqral bIQtIq}.  From the verses you posted it appears that the former is a river of actual blood leading to the gates of Grethor in the underworld.  A Klingon version of the River Styx, as it were.

The River Skral OTOH is a river of water on Kronos where Kahless defeated Molor.  Okrand refers to that famous battle in KGT:

    Doq bIQtIq bIQ.   ("The river water is red.")
    Doq bIQtIq.          ("The river is red.")

(KGT 123):  This expression, heard in both variants, means that something momentous has happened, perhaps a major victory. One might say {romuluS yo' wIjeyta'} ("We've defeated the Romulan fleet" [...] "We have succeeded in defeating it") and then add, to point out the significance of the occasion, {Doq bIQtIq bIQ} ("The river water is red"). The phrase can be traced back to an old drinking song that commemorates the slaying of the tyrant Molor by Kahless. On that day, according to the song, the River Skral ran red; that is, it was filled with the blood of Molor. As noted earlier [...] the Klingon word {Doq} ("be red"), which occurs in the song as well as in the idiom, really means much more than "red." It refers to a rather wide spectrum of colors ranging from deep red to bright orange and includes pink. Nearly all Klingon bodily fluids, including blood, can be described as {Doq}.

I must have assumed that the River of Blood referred to the blood-filled water of the River Skral after Molor died, cut to pieces by Kahless with the first bat'leth.  Thus to say "I travel the River of Blood" during your Rite of Ascension was to say that you stand symbolically with Kahless and faithfully follow his ways, even if you have to wade through a river of blood to do so. (Nobody ever said being a Klingon warrior was easy!)

But it appears I was wrong.  Travelling the River of Blood seems to refer to this underworld episode in the paq'batlh.  So tell me, who is this "fearless warrior" who "climbs out of the blood onto dry land" and why is he in the river in the first place?  And why should modern Klingons wish to follow it?

--
Voragh

------------------------------Original Message------------------------------
From: Felix Malmenbeck <felixm at kth.se>

> I don’t have a copy of paq’batlh, just various extracts.
> Can someone check the original (and the second edition).

This takes place towards the beginning of the story, as Kahless is making his way to Gre'thor.

I suspect the "river of" bit may have been omitted for the sake of brevity, and because the rivery nature of the blood had already been established in the previous canto:

ghIq pum 'e' mev
    bIQtIq Doq legh
    bIQtIq nguvmoH 'Iw
Then he sees bright red
    At the end of his fall
    It is a river, blood-colored.

ghe'tor lojmIt'a'Daq
    'Iw bIQtIq ghoS
    naDevvo' chegh pagh
The blood streams carry him
    To the great gates of Gre'thor,
    The land from where none return.

(This is from the first edition.)

_______________________________

From: Steven Boozer via tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol at lists.kli.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2023 5:10:11 PM

Here’s what I have in my notes:

'Iw bIQtIqvo'
   toS SuvwI' yoH
   puH QaDDaq paw
The fearless warrior
   Climbs out of the blood
   Onto dry land.    [paq'raD, Canto 1, Stanza 4]

If “river of” wasn’t accidentally omitted from the English, the image may be there’s more blood than water in the River of Blood after this confrontation.

I don’t have a copy of paq’batlh, just various extracts.  Can someone check the original (and the second edition).  Thanks.

Voragh

____________________________________________________________

From: Will Martin via tlhIngan-Hol

The English translation omits the word “river”. Shouldn’t that be, “The brave warrior climbs out of the river of blood onto dry land.”? It seems to lose the sense of scale in terms of the horror to not mention that there’s enough blood there to fill a river. I mean, if the Klingon were in a pool of blood up to his neck, one would expect him to be relatively comfortable, aside from being wet (“Do you mean we’re just supposed to SIT here?”), but he proves his fearlessness by actually swimming across a river, presumably weighted down with weaponry and armor. THAT takes ENDURANCE.

        On Feb 16, 2023, at 10:11 AM, Steven Boozer via tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol at lists.kli.org <mailto:tlhingan-hol at lists.kli.org> > wrote:

        ...
        'Iw bIQtIqvo' toS SuvwI' yoH puH QaDDaq paw
        The fearless warrior climbs out of the blood onto dry land. (PB)
        ...

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