Wasted-Domain Wishlist
merovingian.com
3 June
2003
Movies :: Obscurities
We just saw The Matrix Reloaded, in case you couldn't tell. What do we want? What do we always want? Wasted domains. But for those of you who want more than The Matrix alluded to — who want allusions explained:
The Merovingians were a fifth- through seventh-century dynasty founded by one Merovech who ruled over the Franks and drove back the Roman Empire's hold in Gaul. The Franks, in the course of time, gave their name to France and the French language, which The Merovingian, the Wachowski brothers' bad-boy "trafficker in information," loves to curse in. This is undoubtedly how the movie's character got his name.
But is there more to it? One historian's description of the historical Merovech could apply also to Reloaded's fictional Merovingian:
...Merovech is surrounded by mystery. Our only definite notices of him are derived from...legend, and they hint at some curious secret about his origin (Bury, The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians, 220).
And here's a line from the eleventh edition (1910) of the Encyclopædia Britannica which also has resonance within The Matrix Reloaded:
[T]he Merovingian kings displayed considerable energy, both in their foreign wars and in the numerous wars against one another in which they found an outlet for their barbarian instincts.
Do the Wachowski brothers know all this — or are they just lucky? At any rate, don't these people sound intriguing? Don't you wish the domain weren't wasted?