paq'batlh: The Klingon Epic

The paq'batlh (pronunciation: S) was originally referred to as a "series of ancient Klingon scrolls and religious texts" in Star Trek Voyager. (1)

Printed book

In real life, it is a book based on the script of the klingon opera 'u'. It was released at the 10th anniversary of the qepHom Saarbrücken on 12 November 2011. A revised second edition was published on July 19, 2022.(2) A German version was published shortly after, on July 25, 2022.(3) (4)

The second edition is published with the same publisher, but they have changed their name. The first version book was published by a company simply named "uitgeverij", Dutch for "publisher". The new name is "punctum books", a non-profit, public benefit corporation registered in California, USA.(5)

Synopsis

From the publisher's page: (6)

paq'batlh: The Klingon Epic is the definitive edition of the grand Klingon epic of the Kahless the Unforgettable (qeylIS lIjlaHbogh pagh). The story of Kahless is a tale of legendary proportions comparable to those of our own ancient heroes Hercules, Ulysses and Gilgamesh. Betrayed by his brother and witness to his father's brutal slaying, Kahless is pitted against his bitter enemy, the mighty tyrant Molor. To regain his honor he must travel into the Underworld, create the first bat'leth, and unite with his true love, Lady Lukara, to fight many epic battles. Through this awe-inspiring adventure Kahless redefines what its is to be truly Klingon.

Reconstructed from several sources, this bilingual Klingon/English edition provides a keen insight into the nature of Klingon culture and mythology, and features the first publication of Ancient Klingon (no'Hol) fragments. Meticulously translated by the world's leading Klingon language expert, Marc Okrand, this classic epic is a must have for anyone interested in Klingon culture and language.

Chapters

1. Prologue - lut cherlu'
2. Ground Book - paq'yav
3. Force Book - paq'raD
4. Impact Book - paq'QIH
5. Epilogue - bertlham

Second edition

The first edition of paq'batlh was definitely considered being canon, but it did contain several obvious errors, like typos and incorrect suffixes (see ➞ paq'batlh mistakes), but also unusual grammatical constructions that led to lengthy discussions (see ➞ paq'batlh new rules). Some grammarians preferred to avoid using examples from paq'batlh, considering them to be poetic exceptions.

Due to that negative image of the paq'batlh, Klingonist David Yonge-Mallo (De'vID) started a long work with Marc Okrand in 2021 to fix and improve those questionable phrases. This led to some major grammatical clarifications and also some new words. For details, see ➞ paq'batlh news and ➞ paq'batlh canon for a summary. The second edition has an additional chapter about ancient Klingon (no' Hol), written by DeSDu'.

Parallel to the publication of the revised 2nd edition, the work was published with a German translation as well, translated by Lieven L. Litaer.

Details

• Written by Floris Schönfeld et al. (eds.)
• translated by Marc Okrand
• ISBN: 978-90-817091-2-5

Presentation speech

This is the speech which the publisher of paq'batlh Vincent Van Gerven Oei read at qepHom wa'maHDIch in 2011. It was transcribed by Felix Malmenbeck. It is unclear who wrote it, but Marc Okrand is a likely candidate, since they did the presentation together. (7)

tlhInganpu' quv - Dear Klingons,

tlhIHvaD paq chu' wImuch 'e' bochaw'mo' chequvmoH 'ej chebelmoH. lut'a'raj Dun laDlaHmeH tera'ngan, tera'Daq tlhIngan lut'a' paq wa'DIch wIchenmoHta', lut'a' 'oH paq'batlh'e'.

It is a great honor and pleasure that you have allowed us to present you with the first Terran edition of your glorious epic, the paq'batlh.

nughraj Dun lurDechmeyraj Dun je DIvuvta' 'e' lutul HaDwI'pu' 'ej vItul jIH. lIbelmoH paqvam 'e' vItul.

The editors and I hope to have respected your rich culture and tradition, and we hope that you will be pleased with the results.

DaH DIvI' Hol vIjatlhchoH. 'oy' HughwIj.

"Now I will start speaking english. My throat hurts." [untranslated]

See also

• operas
• new words from paqbatlh released at qep'a' 18
• new rules discovered in paq'batlh

References

1 : http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Paq%27batlh paq'batlh at Memory Alpha

2 : product page at Punctum Books, retreived on July 19, 2022

3 : paq'batlh: Das Epos Der Klingonen on the publisher's homepage, retrieved July 25, 2022

4 : paq'batlh: Das Epos Der Klingonen on Amazon.de, retrieved July 25, 2022

5 : https://punctumbooks.com/

6 : paq'batlh: The Klingon Epic, retrieved on July 19, 2022

7 : Message to the mailing list on 21 April 2012

External links

• Video of paq'batlh presentation at qepHom: http://player.vimeo.com/video/32050802
• Download original paq'batlh as PDF: https://punctumbooks.com/downloads/paqbatlh-the-klingon-epic/