#sesquipedalian loquaciousness

[morallyinept]

A full character analysis on EZRA from the film PROSPECT.

I've created this as a point of reference when writing for Pedro's characters, and I hope you find it useful. Even if you just want to learn more about the character. 🖤

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO'S CHARACTERS ANALYSED

FULL CHARACTER STUDY:

Basic Details:

Full Name: Ezra (surname never disclosed)

Nickname(s): None mentioned

Appears in: Prospect, 2018 (voice heard at approx. 22:15, first appearance on screen seen at approx. 23:04)

Age (if known): Unconfirmed in film, however original Prospect script states Ezra to be 45 years old.

Sexuality: Unknown/not confirmed officially in the film. "Opportunistic" as answered later by director Zeek Earl (see bottom of post)

Nationality: Not confirmed. Suspected American - Southern, possibly Louisianian or Texan

Family: Mention of a brother in the deleted scene, unnamed and unconfirmed if older or younger than Ezra

Spouse/Partner: Unknown/not confirmed

Relationship Status: Unknown/not confirmed

Current Living Status: Alive, as answered later by director Zeek Earl (see bottom of post)

Languages Spoken: English, Sater language

Education: Unknown/not confirmed, although judging by how Ezra speaks, it would be prudent to assume he is educated

Occupation:

Job Role/Title: Aurelac Prospector/Miner

Special Skill(s): Mining, self defense, use of firearms, negotiating

Notable Colleague(s): Number Two, Cee

Distinguishing Features:

Tattoo(s): Bullseye tattoo on left hand between thumb and forefinger (Pedro's own)

Piercings: None

Scar(s): Scar under left eye, origin from falling on his face as a kid, as answered later by director Zeek Earl (see bottom of post)

Other Markings: Missing right arm, freckles on neck

Prominent Feature(s): Blonde patch in hairline on right side, facial scruff, moustache, eventual missing right arm

Injuries: Right arm amputated at the transhumeral (above elbow), due to being shot by Cee and the wound becoming infected with spores. Ezra is later stabbed in the coastal margin area of his sternum, slightly left side from centre, by one of the Mercs

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: Brown, with blonde streak on right side front

Personality:

Traits: Smart, ruthless, cunning

Ezra has a thick Southern accent. He is classified as human and although Earth is not mentioned in Prospect, it could be assumed his heritage is either from Earth, or a planet like it in the Fringe, based on his accent. However, it is never confirmed exactly where Ezra is from.

Ezra's speech is presented as flowery and loquacious, often elaborating or using more words than needed in a sentence. His language has been referred to as 'Sesquipedalian,' 'Shakespearean,' or 'archaic' by movie critics/fans.

Ezra is a Prospector stranded on the Green Moon of Bakroma after he lost his ship in a fight with his fellow Prospector crew over Aurelac, and he is looking for any opportunity to leave. "Can’t say I was pleased to find your mare all black and cockways as she was supposed to be my redemption as well." 

Morally grey, Ezra is presented as a dangerous, charming, unpredictable and uncouth man, who won't hesitate to kill for advantage. When Cee tells him he is a murderer, he simply replies "I am, indeed." This is evidenced when he puts Damon out after he's been shot by Number Two (although, one could argue he did it to stop Damon from suffering), and when he kills the Mercs.

Despite losing his arm, Ezra still maintains his physical strength. He can shoot one-armed with a precision shot, and also manages to subdue the Mercs despite his missing limb.

Ezra's character cycles through the typical 'redemption arc' as he starts out as a would-be villain, and transitions into a character with heroic qualities, such as ensuring Cee's safety and protection, at a detriment to his own.

Fashion/Outfits:

Outfit 1 - (Most scenes with Ezra) Brown/olive green nuke suit, equipped with helmet and breathing apparatus, leather look gloves, black army style boots, black utility belt, backpack, audio headset and mic.

Outfit 2 - (Amputation scene) Black long-sleeved sweatshirt, grey/cream wide leg soft pants, black socks and appears to wearing some kind of black slip-on slippers, or soft backless plimsolls.

Accessories: Headset mic, gloves, utility belt, filter, breathing tubes, backpack (later traded for a smaller pack), bolt pistol, case of Aurelac, Bitz Bars, Slurry packs. Ezra's tent is equipped with bunks and Aurelac mining paraphernalia.

Weapons Used:

Weapon(s): (Exact weapons pictured below)

Ezra has his own Bolt Pistol.

He also uses a Raylon Crusader Laser Scalpel to kill two Mercs. He uses it to slash the Achilles Heel of the first Merc, and then to stab the throat of the other.

Ezra also uses a Thrower to shoot one of the Mercs.

Modes of Transport:

Vehicle(s):

Ezra previously had a ship known as a Testing Screamer.

Ezra is a passenger in the Merc's ship when he and Cee leave the moon at the end of the film.

Dialogue:

🗨 See Ezra's full dialogue from the film, including deleted scenes.

Further Character Links (if any):

Check out my Writing For Ezra Guide, Ezra Deleted Scene, Prospect Behind The Scenes, Your Guide To Prospecting On The Green Moon, Prospect Trivia

3D Print your own replica of Ezra's pistol

Director & creator Zeek Earl did a couple of Q&A's on Reddit a few years back around the initial release of the film and it being aired on Netflix. Here are few answers he gave in regards to Ezra specific questions he was asked:

Reddit Q&A with Zeek Earl & Chris Caldwell - Initial Release

Reddit Q&A with Zeek Earl - Netflix Release

Ezra's initial entrance and description, with his age confirmed as 45, in the original Prospect script:

FULL MASTERLIST OF PEDRO'S CHARACTERS ANALYSED

[random-autie-fangirl]

Hey, Do you have any Chara headcanons?

So technically I already have a reblogged post of Chara headcanons. Right here, within the tags. (99+) Chara neutralist squad on Tumblr

However, I most certainly have not run out of things to talk about and so...

I now present Chara Dreemurr headcanons 2: Electric Boogaloo

1. Yes, so as I said before, they have been spotted reading the dictionary cover to cover multiple times and reads english grammar books for fun. It is like they have to use one word literally nobody understands at least once a day or they will figuratively die. And of course, they would be the one to say figuratively every single time they use a metaphor or hyperbole or turn of phrase and they would get genuinely annoyed with anyone who says literally when they don't literally mean literally. Chara is the kind of kid who if someone says "can I", they will say "I don't know, can you?" like an english teacher because it's supposed to be "may I" for allowances. And, Azzy, it's supposed to be "Chara and I" not "me and Chara" ...no-one cares.

2. Something vocabulary related is that Chara absolutely, categorically refuses to swear! Apparently, contradictory to popular belief given that they're an "edgy" character, they think they are far too intelligent, high-class and mature for such gauche and vulgar words (did I mention they're a loser yet?), you see, and they would definitely consider using words that mean almost nothing to be a grave insult to their extensive vocabulary.

This doesn't mean they don't have certain stock phrases they use as exclamations or insults, though, of course. "asshole" or "bitch" becomes "you complete and utter ingrate", "what the fuck/hell?" becomes "What on this good earth/What in the Angel's name?" and "fuck you" becomes "may the angel smite you dead" or "may you burn in hell forevermore" (except that since Chara Dreemurr has proved themselves able to dish out much, much worse insults than "may the angel..." (stuff like "you look horrible, why are you even alive" for example) this might just be more annoyance than genuine hatred.)

So basically, while a normal person might say "Ow! Fuck!" when they stub their toe on something, Chara "Sesquipedalian loquaciousness" Dreemurr starts up an anime villain speech at nothing in particular while Asriel giggles and possibly records in the background. (Because of Asriel's apparent love for anime, he'd probably find his sibling's way of speaking to be the coolest thing ever as well as thinking it makes Chara some sort of uber-genius (note: it does not))

3. Okay so, since they tend to fixate on being impeccable in every way, even for the smallest of things, they can get embarrassed very easily and...very dramatically. Not finding the best word for every situation (particularly if they end up saying something wrong), not getting a perfect score on the test, anyone (who isn't the Dreemurrs) seeing them when their appearance is anything less than completely spotless.

They shall freeze and go completely blood red, they shall squeal and run off to their room. They will lie face down, not making a sound, and stay there for...hours. They will not respond, they will not be consoled. They have recently learnt they're not literally the best at everything ever and no, nothing will ever be okay again.

...They'll be back to normal within a day, though, boastful and eager to impress as ever. I think at some point they do learn that maybe not being perfect isn't the end of the world...eventually. Anyway, heard someone saying that hell exists for Flowey and it is minor inconveniences and that is true but hell also exists for Chara and it is minor embarrassments.

(Yes, I am aware this is very exaggerated, it's just more fun that way)

They have an equally dramatic, though positive, reaction to praise and compliments. Giddily skipping around and smiling ear to ear for hours, they tend to preen and straighten up, and it turns out they were lying and can cry, (a lot) just not out of sadness or fear. Though, they do get somewhat good at downplaying how much they care in front of acquaintances or strangers (even if they are nice and polite about it). Technically, only the Dreemurrs are allowed to know that Chara feels emotions.

(Also they have the same reaction to realising they are in fact the prophesied angel in the murder run, despite not being a praiseworthy accomplishment in any way, they're just happy to be, well...special. They always knew the prophecy was about them! Of course they were the angel, they're the best person in the world after all, finally they have the title they always deserved! Oh dear...)

[knights-unwelcommentary]

Things I'd wish to see more often

Dave being bad-tempered

Karkat cracking jokes

Rose dropping the sesquipedalian loquaciousness to land some refrances

Kanaya casually making sick burns

The players doing something important and getting distracted the second their chat notifications go off

[optiwashere]

Sepspidallion Louquatiousness?!?

Sesquipedalian = "a word with many syllables"

Loquaciousness = "talks too much"

Add these together and you get: "Uses too many complex words too often in order to sound intelligent." It's just a humorous name for it since the wording is itself needlessly complex by design :)

[wilygryphon]

The Key to the Miraculous - Character Dynamics

Sora befriends Luka early on, since he's placed in the same class as the latter. Luka invites Sora to hang out at Kitty Section rehearsals and teaches him to play guitar. When Sora learns that Luka knows Marinette and Adrien's secrets, they joke about the absurdity of the situation and try to nudge the two together. Rather than groan at their obliviousness, Sora reflects on times when his friends found him to be oblivious.

Sora and Alix would get along great (they would sass everybody), but Sora is not looking forward to the day when Alix will get the time travel Miraculous.

Sora's athletic competitive streak reawakens with his friendship with Kim (although he would tone his display down to "normal" levels, for obvious reasons). And their confidence mixed with their shared tendency to be oblivious to social cues would be nothing short of chaotic.

Max initially confuses Sora when talking science due to his sesquipedalian loquaciousness, but when Sora asks him to "explain it like you would to someone with a less than basic understanding", Max adapts and Sora learns a lot.

Kagami views Sora as a worthy sparring partner, very impressed with his skills with a blade.

He is quick to clap back against Chloé antagonizing the group, but since he does not have the built-up hostility that the others do, he is more willing to go easy on her and call the others out when they take their reprisals too far. He also does his best to understand her (even directly asking why she hates everyone and Marinette in particular) and offers advice in hopes that she may improve herself.

[pharahsgf]

I HATE the way lan wangji speaks in fics, I gave up on trying cql fics pretty quick and one of the (many) reasons was because his speech was always clipped to the point of informality/rudeness, which is contradictory to how he actually speaks. It's strange that people can't write more elevated dialogue for him because usually the more literary a person is, the less words they use anyway. "he doesn't show his feelings" vs "he is reserved"--they mean the same thing but the more "literary" sentence uses less words. he's a well-read and well-educated person who (usually) thinks carefully before he speaks (plus I got the impression that it's difficult for him to speak at all sometimes. autistic king), but so much of the fan dialogue makes him sound rude or lazy when it's actually natural that his more literary dialogue would result in less words spoken overall.

hmm i do feel like the way 'literary' speech in english is generally associated w long, intricately structured sentences and (ugh) sesquipedalian loquaciousness is a contributing factor; lan wangji's short, concise, well-considered sentences are - iirc - much more in line with classical chinese and poetic language than the 'normal' style of speech employed by other characters, but when people translate this literally, it scans as gramatically broken (eg null-subject sentences and deferential third person) or - like you said - just lazy and plain rude, lacking the linguistic padding added to sentences to make them sound smart or polite in english. you'd think people would try to get around this problem by like, idk, aiming for a proper if antiquated style of speech that utilises economic language like you outlined in this ask, but instead everyone's decided to just ignore the fact that lan wangji is one of the most eloquent characters in the whole damn story in order to instead portray him as someone who doesn't know how to talk because it's "cute".

[o5-10]

Assassination Plot Tropes

Ad Hominem – CI toward Ten

Adult Fear – Ten, My Greatest Failure/I Let Gwen Stacy Die/Survivor Guilt specifically, Nina as well

Agony Beam – The cognitohazards could arguably class

And I Must Scream – Self-inflicted by Ten

Asshole Victim – Ten

Became Their Own Antithesis – Ten’s regressions

Break the Cutie

Break the Haughty

Break Them By Talking/Armor-Piercing Question – Attempted by Insurgency, succeeded on accident

Broken Pedestal/False Friendship

Bullying the Dragon – Leading to the Insurgency attempting to Off the Annoyance

Change the Uncomfortable Subject – Ten tries this

Cold-Blooded Torture/Cruel and Unusual Death – The long death planned counts

Commonality Connection – Nina with Liu

Conflicting Loyalty – Liu

Cynicism Catalyst – Gino, among other things

Darkest Hour – Toward the end

A Day in the Limelight – Nina

Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit – Hazmi, subverted

Delivery Guy Infiltration

Despair Event Horizon – Attempted

Dramatic Irony – In spades

Driven to Madness – Attempted via induced Sanity Slippage, and then pushed past it

Emotion Bomb – Weaponized

Empty Shell – Acceptable end goal, if not outright death

Even Mooks Have Loved Ones – Liu

Evil is Petty – More specifically, Can’t Take Criticism and Disproportionate Retribution, this all started over a fail compilation

Face Death With Dignity – What Ten thinks they’d do, subverted, they don't

Fatal Attraction – Subverted between Nina and Liu

Gray and Grey Morality/Both Order and Chaos Are Dangerous

Hope Crusher/Despair Gambit – Heretic

I Just Want to Have Friends – Nina and Liu

I Know Your True Name/That Man Is Dead – "You sure about that, Emery?"

I'm Having Soul Pains – Ten experiences a version of this, I suppose

Inconvenient Attraction – Or attachment, at least, Liu toward Nina

The Insomniac – Up To Eleven for Ten

I Was Never Here – CI

Just Following Orders – Liu

Lured Into a Trap – By a Fake Distress Call

The Man Behind the Man – Heretic

Manchurian Agent – And, of course, the Trigger Phrase, via modified Ludovico Technique, involved Hypno Fooling Nina

Manipulative Bastard/Opportunistic Bastard – Liu, reluctantly, Heretic happily

Meet Cute – Subverted

Memory Wiping Crew – Madhavan, includes Laser-Guided Amnesia and Fake Memories

Mental Scars Are Forever – Reason Ten is vulnerable

The Mole – Liu initially was acting as this

Mood-Swinger – Ten

Mood Whiplash – From panicking to friendly conversation

Moral Dissonance – Liu

Morality Dial – Effect of the brainwashing on Nina

More Than Mind Control – What the cognitohazards amount to

Near Villain Victory/You Can’t Thwart Stage One

Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! – Almost certainly

Nightmare Fuel – Literally, albeit largely unintentionally

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished/Not Quite the Right Thing – Nina trying to help Liu

Nothing Is the Same Anymore – Almost guaranteed result

Not-So-Harmless Villain

Not-So-Stoic – Ten 

Not Themself – Ten

Oh, Crap! – "Doesn’t matter"

One of Our Own – The assassin must be

Passive-Aggressive Kombat – Where this mess started, and continued

The Power of Trust – Because You Were Nice To Me, Liu

“The Reason You Suck” Speech – Toward Ten

Regretful Traitor – Liu at least somewhat

Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness – Ten when melting down

Sympathy for the Hero – Liu toward Nina

They Look Just Like Everyone Else!

Thousand-Yard Stare – Nina when under

Torture Technician – Madhavan

Unintentionally Sympathetic – Liu could class as this

Unwitting Instigator of Doom/Unwitting Pawn – Nina

Visionary Villain – Heretic

Who’s Laughing Now? – At Ten

A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

Yank the Dog’s Chain – Liu and Nina run close enough

Your Worst Nightmare – Up to Eleven for Ten, see also: Personal Horror, Bad Dreams, Anxiety Dreams

[faustandfurious]

Okay but please link to that fic I gotta witness this sesquipedalian loquaciousness myself

To be fair I think that was in reference to Homestuck fanfic and not what I wrote, but here’s the story anyway:

[ettawritesnstudies]

24 & 33 for the oc asks?

Thanks for the ask! I'll answer this for the Laoche cast.

24. which ocs have the most common sense? which have the least?

Raiden 100% has the most common sense. Seth and Stephan are both noble so while smart in their own rights, they are a little out of touch with the "common" part of "common sense". Madelyn and Alric are both reckless academics. Weswin is functionally a ghost so who needs common sense when you're invisible and can't have any consequences to your actions? Raiden's job is to be a guide for idiots who venture into the wastes and so he has practical experience in spades and plenty of examples and cultural knowledge from his extended family.

33. which ocs can speak multiple languages? how many can they speak?

Seth and Stephan both know multiple languages as part of their noble education so they can speak Proper Maaren fluently as well as being conversational in Argan and Isrian. Those are the three Big Languages in their part of the world, so they can generally get along with any noble or merchant, but they'd have a harder time with localized dialects, common street cant, or the Avian languages.

Madelyn basically grew up in a library and so she would natively know current Proper Maaren, and probably know a few dead languages of Old Maaren or Old Avian through her studies. Basically the equivalent of a modern Greek or Italian speaker being able to understand Latin or Ancient Greek. Despite a commoners status technically, due to her isolated childhood, she has an odd way of speaking that's borderline sesquipedalian loquaciousness (one of my favorite TV tropes)

Raiden knows Common Maaren which started as a pigdin of Proper Old Human Maaren speech and Old Avian that eventually became the modern lingua franca in the area, as well as a special avian dialect from the wastes he speaks with his family.

Weswin has travelled all over the world so he's conversational in just about any situation or he knows how to mime well enough to get what he wants. Maybe with his reflective magic that helps him pick up languages faster without realizing it.

I have a lot of thoughts about how language developed and is used in Laoche but I refuse to make a single conlang so you'll just have to take my word for it <3

[erkhyan]

Jesus Loquacious Sesquipedalian Christ, did I just really witness a post that’s 721 entirely lowercase words without a paragraph break?

[thefree-online]

** Sesquipedalian ******Loquaciousness

from thefreeonline on 24th Feb 2023 by – TV Tropes shared with thanks! Caption—Space to add clarification to the purpose of the image or add a meta-gag relevant to the trope’s definition. Elizabeth Swann: Captain Barbossa, I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal.Captain Barbossa: There are a lot of long words in there, Miss; we’re naught but humble pirates. What…

[gomer21xx]

Just a General Hospital/Steven Universe Crossover Thought

You think someone out there's taken the idea of Peridot meeting Spinelli and just ran with it?

[sheogayrath]

3 hours and 48 minutes into the witcher 3 game movie i have decided that the best character is actually johnny

[thevalicemultiverse]

Quite frankly I'm against people who give vent to their loquacity by extraneous bombastic circumlocution.

Marty: . . .Hey, Doc, this one’s for you!

[nightwingsaregoths]

Okay, but I’ve been having Farsight thoughts again (woo! She’s grown on me a lot. Gotta be one of my favorite characters)

I imagined that as Mastermind’s partner, he noticed her too and she was probably one of the few people that could understand his sesquipedalian loquaciousness so they bonded and years ago, i headcanoned that they designed the desalination machine that was seen in The Dark Secret, which was why Mastermind was promoted to Royal Scientist and Farsight was either an assistant or worked as partners with him (I like to imagine that they were partners :D)

That means that I could almost imagine Farsight tinkering around and she would probably take apart and put things together as a hobby if she had any free time. Anyway, Farsight was probably there to calm down Mastermind if he got too worked up and they built the desalination machine side by side and she liked him because he wanted to serve the tribe. 

But also: 

What if Farsight made her own contraptions? Like, what if she did small things, like notice how Mastermind always stayed up too late, so she built him a lamp so he wouldn’t have to strain his eyes?  (I would think up of so much more, but this is a new thought.)

Not to mention, Farsight and Secretkeeper were best friends so yes, Farsight would have been right there to let Secretkeeper rant about how Morrowseer chose his work over her. Secretkeeper was the taller one so of course Farsight rested her head on her shoulder (besties :D). 

But, Farsight would probably make a little contraption. It’d be simple, made out of scraps and probably had a very similar function to let a little light (Farsight didn’t want Secretkeeper to spend all her nights alone, waiting for her husband without any light, even if they were NightWings and had night vision, P.S. they were probably roommates before Secretkeeper got married) but Secretkeeper would keep it and I headcanon that she *still* has it, even after an eruption and to this day it’s burned out and a little battered, and even Moonwatcher doesn’t know the full story but Secretkeeper treasures a keepsake from her best friend and wouldn’t throw it out.

(I have descended into making things up for a minor character who died before the canon series started, but Tui never said it wasn’t a thing so yes I have chosen to accept it and those are my thoughts.)

[fremontvintagemall]

It’s National Word Nerd Day and #fvm40 has some cards for the word lover in your life! We’re not usually so sesquipedalian but figured today is the day for it! #wordlover #reader #readersofinstagram #sesquipedalian #loquacious #pluviophile #jabberwocky $3.49 each (at Fremont Vintage Mall) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7KAOGQg35t/?igshid=1gz8zregeis4m