It's no secret that S. D. Smith is a Christian believer, and I do not wish to make it a secret of my Messianic beliefs-- we're all brothers and sisters in the faith, and many follow the scriptures and want to see them upheld. One of the biggest mysteries to me, ever since I first started reading The Green Ember, is why our Christian author chooses to name a great king after a false god. Why would he do that? Does he even know it's a pagan god? Is it supposed to mean something? I just wanted to throw this out here, in case anyone hasn't, and to hear your thoughts on this.
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Personally, we think Smith named it after the planet...and yes the planet is named after the god, but so are all the planets... we think it was a name that sounded good to him so he used it. And lest we judge too quickly, let us remember that, that part of the story, he came up with in his backyard. Maybe he looked up saw the stars, which made him think of planets and Jupiter was the first thing that came to mind.
Also, Smith himself is a strong believe... Names have meaning, but names can also be redeemed for good purposes. Maybe it had nothing to do with anything other than the fact that Jupiter sounded cool. Or maybe Smith has a reason we don't know. If you really want to know why he named him Jupiter than you could write and ask him....that is the only way we'll really know.
I understand, it's just that from my standing, names have power, and it is said in the scriptures to not say the names of the pagan gods, so for me and a small group of friends, we call him King Jujube instead 🤗
I'd always figured that Smith simply liked the name. *shrug*
CS Lewis used pagan elements in the Chronicles of Narnia. For example he uses naiads, dryades, Bacchus and Silenus, and the River God. Lewis added these elements because he liked them. I wouldn't read too much into it.
LOL! I had the same thought not long ago!
:P
I think he probably knew.
But I don't know, I tend to do the same thing. When I see a cool name, I'm like, "ooh! what does it mean?!" and if it means something...weird, then I'm like, "nah."
but I kinda feel like when you hear the name Jupiter, you kinda think "planet" and not as often "Greek god."
I like the planet NAMES, like Neptune, Mars, Saturn, I don't like the namesake, though. But, I don't know, does anyone even still worship those "gods"? Like I honestly wonder. I don't think they do, but maybe...?
?
like I think it's more now just myths and stories (it already was, lol!)
but I don't know if pagans still believe those gods, so I dunno.
That's just my thoughts.
I would guess he knows Jupiter is the Greek god of lightning and co., but I think he just picked because it sounds... majestic, perhaps? *shrug* It doesn't bother me, simply because he does not introduce any of the, shall we say, traits and/or interests of the fake and fabled deity.
Oops, I think I may have uploaded this twice... Oh well, too late now.