What do you think of the term "monument to non-existenc

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beneficii
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22 Feb 2014, 2:18 am

Near the start of the final battle in FFVI, in the original Japanese version, Kefka says "ゼ~ンブ破壊して死の世界をつくるのだ!" meaning literally, "I will destroy EVERYTHING and make a world of death!"

In the SNES English version, since Nintendo of America disallowed mention of the word "death" in its games at the times, the phrase was translated a little differently. In this version he says, "I will destroy everything! I will create a monument to non-existence!"

It's clear "world of death" was changed to "monument to non-existence." Now, these kinds of translations, designed to play down the mention of "death" are derisively known as Woolseyisms, named after the translator Ted Woolsey.

Nevertheless, I like the term "monument to non-existence." "World of death" comes across as too plain and hits you too hard with the meaning. "Monument to non-existence," on the other hand, contains a bit of mystery. It's a term I have not seen in any literary context. It makes you wonder what such a monument would even look like resemble. Does it mean just a world where no-one exists, or perhaps something more concrete and representative of a monument. What would a monument that captures the essence of "non-existence" look like? What did Kefka have in mind for a monument to non-existence?

Does anyone have any ideas?


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