Okay, a few questions - I know the words mean "Great Benefit", but what's the source for that? And two, is there any relation between the Gah-Julan armor and Gah Julan, the Argonian slave outside Dren Plantation? Finally, are we to assume that the words "Gah Julan" are Argonian in origin? Bonemold armor certainly isn't Argonian, but if there's an Argonian with that name, it seems to imply that the words are. (This would also make him one of only two Argonians for whom we know both the English and Argonian translations of his name, the other being Kud'Ei/Hides-His-Eyes.)

There's also a minor discrepency with this name, in that the armor has it hyphenated "Gah-Julan", while the Argonian's name lacks the hyphen "Gah Julan". However, in the "Note to Hlevala" which gives a list of some of the Dren Plantation slaves, his name is spelled with the hyphen. That I'll crack up to a typo in the game - wouldn't be the first by far. But it does seem odd that the same name was used for a style of armor and a random Argonian slave with no relevance to any quests or unique dialogue or anything. Just another case of the random name generator going awry, or intentional reference?

The armor set could have been named after the one who originally made/came up with the idea for it, and perhaps that one happened to be Argonian. When you think about it (or at least look at it in the CS) the helmet looks a bit like an Argonians head-shape, and there is no boots for it either.

I have no idea where the translation comes from, but doesn't 'Great Benefit' sound like a great affectation for a useful and loyal slave?

Perhaps, but why in "argonish"?
Unless it is a sarcastic insult or taunt used by the other slaves.

EDIT: oh, and there are no mentionings about it meaning "Great Benefit" in the CS, at least not any I could find.

Gah-Julan sounds Dunmer, so the slave took a slave-name from his master instead of a name like Hauls-Rope-Faster.

Could be the slave was named after the armor?

Somebody calling a slave Great Benefit doesn't sound so odd to me.


http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/morrowind_armor.htm
Bonemold
Also known as 'Great House' armor in Morrowind, bonemold is a medium weight armor affordable only by Dunmer nobles. Each piece is assembled from many pieces of softened shell, molded into shape, then bonded and reinforced with resin glues. The example shown here features a distinctive House Redoran gah-julan ('great-benefit') helm with the protective cowl deployed for ash wastes travel.

Well, there's at least official source on the "great benefit" translation. Odd that it doesn't appear anywhere in the game though. (I also did a few text-searches in the CS and turned up nil on that.) Still doesn't explain the Argonian slave. And another point that's been brought up by this - Gah-Julan armor is prefered by House Redoran, while Dren Plantation (where the Argonian lives) is quite firmly in Hlaalu territory. The Hlaalu of course prefer Armun-An (as do the Telvanni, but that's beside the point). Thinking about it, though - "Gah-Julan" does sound like an Argonian name. (More than it sounds like a Dunmer name at any rate). Is it at all possible that this armor has its roots in the Black Marsh? The Argonians DO have a known proficiency with the crafting of armor (see "The Armorer's Challenge"), and the story that discusses the origin of bonemold armor ("Bone") does involve slaves in a very prominent role (particularly in Part II), though admittedly, it never says the slaves are Argonian. (It also doesn't say they aren't, but who knows?)

I considered Bonemold with Argonian origins, and it was an interesting thought, but bonemold is just way too... Dunmer.


Beyond that, meet my good scaly friend, Reads-Too-Much-Into

Besides, there is a book which details the invention of bonemould and it specifically notes that the inventor was Dunmer.

So really, it should be "Shell-Mold" then?

Where did the bone come into it? Perhaps the Dunmeri fascination with having the bones of their dead relatives lying aorund everywhere has something to do with it? Hearth and Heath.

Shell as exoskeleton?

Actually, the book never mentions the race of the armorer. Though one thing's for sure, he couldn't have been Dunmer, because there were no Dunmer at the time - the book specifically says it was "when the Dunmer were Chimer". The name of the noble in the story is Arslic Oan, which I guess lacking many other Chimer names to compare it to we might assume is Chimer (though it's not much like Dunmer names - and we've got lots of those to look at). But the inventor of the armor was not Arslic, but one of his slaves: "Arslic Oan went to talk to his armorer, one of his few slaves with specific talents and duties." His name was Gorkith, which could be anything, really.

But remember, in Bones, everyone who knew how to make the armor dies, and thus the method is forgotten until later, where it was reinvented, as mentioned by the storyteller himself.

That was tall-tale, IRRC

Gah-Julan style Bonemold armor is used by the Redorans. The helmet and the cuirass seem to be designed for protection from ash storms, evidenced by the cloth around the head and neck areas.

True, and of course the whole story needs to be taken with a grain of salt in terms of lore accuracy, because, well, if everyone who witnessed it died, then they have no way of knowing if ANY of it was true - although I suppose somebody could have found the armor later on - I mean, it's made of bone, and bone preserves pretty well, especially in dry climates like the Ashlands.

The other iffy part about this book (and the others in the series: "Hallgerd's Tale" and "Vernaccus and Bourlor") is that it's a story within a story (within yet another story for us folks outside of the ES universe). So who knows how much of the detail is supposed to be made up by Hallgerd, how much made up by Tavi Dromio, and how much based on actual (in-universe) events? When of course, all of it is made up by whichever Bethesda dev wrote these particular books...

None of which brings us any closer to figuring out if there's a connection between the armor and the Argonian slave, of course. It seems to me like they wouldn't have given them the same name if it weren't for a reason though. And the fact that we do have a translation from an official source (even if it's not in the game) does tend to draw more attention to it - though of course the source doesn't say what language it is, but we do know (from Haj'Ei/Hides-His-Eyes) that the common English-language Argonian names are just translations from their Argonian counterparts, though I'm pretty sure there are no other cases where we know both the English and Argonian names for a single individual.

If he was born in MW he may have been named by Dummner in a Slave market as a marketing ploy.

The massively recurring names of the Dunmer suggest otherwise.

The book is iffy - Bonemold is made from insect shells, or so the Bethesda website says in its Morrowind section.


Personally I think it's highly unlikely that House Redoran would have named their traditional armour style after an Argonian. I consider the term to be Dunmeri. I doubt that there is any connection between the armour and the slave other than that they're sharing names. The term 'Gah Julan' isn't a technical one, it just means 'Great Fortune' and so it's abstract, so there's no problem with two different things having that name.

Well just because the Redoran call there style armor "Great benefit" doesnt mean that they are the only ones that can use the term Gah-julan. Just sounds like the Argonian was given a Dunmeri name.

Historically, slaves have usually been given names by their master in their master's own tongue, both as a mark of ownership ("Even your name belongs to me!") and to avoid the master having to try and pronounce some wierd foreign name (and potentially embarassing himself).

The Romans' slaves, regardless of their origin, were given Latin (or occasionally Greek) names. African slaves in America were given 'Christian' names. And so on.

I also seriously doubt any Argonian slave would ever allow his 'master' to learn his true Argonian name.

There's also a certain Argonian in Oblivion that he's called as he is because the 'soft skins' can't pronounce his Black Marsh name.

But i don't know if that's the case for more Argonians than just that one.

Ah, yes. Hauls-Ropes-Faster. I think that is the case for about 90% of the Argonian population. Only the easy names are unchanged, like Kud-Ei and Amusei.

Right.



Probably BY a Dunmer though - I can't see Argonians giving themselves Dunmeri names. As others have said, probably a name given by the slave's master.