How do I refer to King Kazuhi in my story?
In English, the normal way to address a king is something like "Your Majesty" (though I swear, I cannot think of that phrase without thinking of Sebastian saying it to King Triton).
There are a lot of similar ways to refer to someone of high birth. Like Your Grace, Your Eminence, etc etc.
Except when you think of the meanings of those words, they feel so dramatic.
Majesty can mean amazing splendor and size
Grace: elegance, smoothness, and beauty
Eminent: high up and easy to see
There's nothing wrong with them. I mean, they exist because that's how kings and leaders want to be viewed.
But they just don't really mesh into the cultures of my world.
And when I'm using these words to refer to my own characters, I just can't take them seriously.
Especially with Kazuhi, who has two very distinct sides. Sure, he can be lordly and formal, but he also quite enjoys doing things that he knows full well will get him in trouble with some of his stiffer subordinates.
I love Kazuhi, and he's is my favorite character in the story. But "majestic" is not a word I can hold up to him. He's strong and wise, but not really majestic.
I've been overthinking this whole thing for the past two nights, wondering how people would refer to him. I've been through my synonym book too.
Luckily, those new Steven Universe episodes just came out, because they presented me with a different solution. They don't use "Your Majesty." They made up their own. They refer to the diamonds as "Your Clarity."
So I think I'll end up making my own.
I'm pretty close to an idea.
No wonder I suck at detailed rewrites. It takes me two freaking days to get a single phrase down...
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