Thought it was tough to beat Daenerys Targaryen when it came to absurdly lengthy formal titles? Well, her most Imperial Majesty, Mother of the Fatherland, Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Kronos, Regina Andor, Emperor Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius on Star Trek: Discovery just might. But this being Star Trek, there are reasons for every one of those fancy names.
Image: CBS
Discovery writer Jordon Nardino – who penned the episode Mirror Georgiou’s titles were rattled off in, which aired earlier this week – took to Twitter to break down the in-universe reasons for the barrage of honorifics. The first few are easy, as they’re the titles granted from the Terran Empire’s conquests: Earth first (of course), then Vulcan, the Klingon homeworld of Qo’noS, and then the Andorian’s homeworld Andoria. But there are even more specifics behind each of those:
So into her titles:
– Father of the Fatherland is easy, we turned that into Mother of the Fatherland (even tho we de-gendered Emperor, it felt right)
– Overlord of Vulcan: an early conquest of the Terrans, they see themselves as their protectors. It’s paternalistic / delusional.— Jordon Nardino (@jnardino) January 23, 2018
– Dominus of Kronos: Terrans are very proud of conquering Qo’noS. Dominus is a harsher title the Emperor at the time took as a result (and Georgiou kept for herself). “We OWN them.” Qo’noS mispronounced out of cultural chauvinism.
— Jordon Nardino (@jnardino) January 23, 2018
– Regina Andor: Andoria is a jewel in the Terran crowd. Subjugated warrior race. Early Terran conquest, pre-Sato. The title was created to celebrate this achievement.
Now as for Georgiou’s many names…— Jordon Nardino (@jnardino) January 23, 2018
What follows Georgiou’s name turns out to be an interesting bit of Terran Empire worldbuilding, heavily inspired by the old Roman Empire – and, as it turns out, how Georgiou links herself to the legacy of the former Empress, specifically the Mirror Hoshi Sato from Star Trek: Enterprise‘s “In a Mirror, Darkly”.
“Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius”
Philipa Georgiou: her given name and her family name, just like Prime.
Augustus: the Terrans see themselves as inheritors of the Roman Empire so their Emperors take the title of its first Emperor.— Jordon Nardino (@jnardino) January 23, 2018
Iaponius is Latin for Japanese. This (in my fever dream) is a title Hoshi Sato adopted when she named herself Empress, to honor her homeland.
“So is Georgiou descended from Hoshi!?”
Well…— Jordon Nardino (@jnardino) January 23, 2018
Hoshi was Empress.
100 years later, Georgiou is Emperor.
Georgiou took one of Hoshi’s titles as her own to connect them. So Hoshi’s legacy as Empress must be good and Georgiou must either be connected to her in a chain of succession or might want to create that connection…..— Jordon Nardino (@jnardino) January 23, 2018
But they have different ethnic backgrounds. Hoshi is Japanese, Philipa is Chinese-Malaysian. So I don’t think it’s likely Philipa is a direct descendent like a great-grandchild. Cousins is possible. More likely tho…
— Jordon Nardino (@jnardino) January 23, 2018
…whoever inherited Hoshi’s throne was someone she adopted as a child & heir, the way most Roman emperors did. And that Emperor adopted his/her heir, and so on, until we get to Georgiou.
And she is proud of the connection and flaunts it with the title Iaponius.
But…— Jordon Nardino (@jnardino) January 23, 2018
…it’s not canon until it’s on screen so that’s just one writer’s opinion.
As for Centaurius, I figured it was the first system colonized by the Terrans since it’s closest to Sol so it was a title the Emperor at the time took in tribute.
Hope someone found this informative!
END— Jordon Nardino (@jnardino) January 23, 2018
So there you have it, a bunch of intriguing Trek lore doled out in the good 15 seconds or so it takes to list off Georgiou’s full name. Don’t get it wrong, or you might find yourself served up alongside the finest cuts of Kelpian by her chef.
[CBS]