The language of scholars. Various characters spoke Latin on Knightmare.

The Latin spoken by Hordriss for magical purposes was rather impure. He got infinitives and imperatives mixed up ("Abesse"), mispronounced words, and frequently made them up, e.g. "Elevator Revelantum" in Series 7.

Brother Mace spoke Latin on several occasions, even when he knew that a dungeoneer couldn't speak it themselves. He sometimes greeted dungeoneers with "pax vobiscum" (peace be with you), and in warning some of them to make sure that the "iocus" is not on them, revealed the Latin word for joke (See: iokus). Actor Michael Cule, when interviewed by James Aukett in 2012, revealed that he 'did Latin 'O' Level, and some of [Brother Mace's Latin] is me - the rest is [Tim Child] digging stuff out of a Latin dictionary.'

Lord Fear jumped on the bandwagon in Series 6, freezing dungeoneer Matt of Team 1 of Series 6 with a Latin-sounding incantation along the lines of "Epacifum vedelum!"

The French version of Knightmare, Le Chevalier Du Labyrinthe, included a Latin charm called Fiat Lux: meaning 'let there be light', it would illuminate a gloomy chamber when cast, not unlike FLARE.

In an interview with RetrogamesMaster in 2016, Knightmare illustrator David Rowe revealed that at school, he had 'wanted to opt for art, but was pushed into Latin instead. This wasn't a bad thing as it started the pressure build up of frustration that later exploded into the many outpourings of work that came when I left.'

See also: dominus, alma mater, VIM, UNITAS

[Original version: 2004-10-27 17:55:36]

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