This makes it even more confusing, at least to me. When you live for fifty generations or so, how in the world do you know if you are dating your grandmother's great-great-great etc. grandmother? Especially if everyone looks young for almost a thousand years? How would Carthoris, if he had been captured, for example, by Black Pirates, and held captive for twenty years, and later ran into a pretty girl called Llana of Gathol, instead of Thuvia, know that this was his sister's daughter?

As much as I loved Barsoom, this naming thing is confusing. On the other hand, the names are great. Still, when it came to dating and marriage, this must have been a nightmare to figure out, with fifty generations of a family existing at the same time, not to mention the sisters, brothrers, neices, nephews, etc. of those direct descendents. Maybe that's why they finally just gave up in frustration, and some of them headed for the Valley Dor, to cut down the risk of inbreeding and feed the plant men at the same time.

I thought that with the way ERB seemed to map out worlds, etc. Porges or someone would be able to explalin how the names, wonderful as they are, didn't create mass confusion just about everywhere. Is it Tara of Gathol now? I hope not. The name "Tara of Helium" is just magical to me, as is evident from my posts. I suppose as a teenager I regarded Dejah to be older, and of course in love with JC almost from the first second. Tara was near my own age, and I apparently just fell in love with this fictional character. I liked the book, the creatures, etc.; but most of all I was just enraptured with everything about Tara of Helium. Apparently I was't dating anybody seriously at the time or something. In any event, I think I fell in love with her, and probably for that reason she has always been my favorite ERB female. I am a pretty emotional barbarian, and probably still love to some degree just about all the girls, real or otherwise, I've ever loved. My other favorite ERB females tend towards the bloodthirsty cave-girl types, although I liked just about all the Barsoomian Princesses, too.

And of course fair Princesses in hidden African Kingdoms with honey tongues and flashing eyes.

Did anyone ever post as to their favorite 5 or 10 characters, male, female, and beast/species, from a series or from all together? I might find this interesting.

The thing that I found so odd was the Dejah called JC by both names so much. I'm still trying to think of a time when she didn't. Probably the next post I read will do so.

I think it's pretty pompous to always to have the "of" stuff, Tara of Helium, Hadron of Hastor, Gahan of Gathol, Thuvia of Ptarth. Who do these people think they are?

Tarak of Aantor