Helldivers 2 is full of good gags—some accidental, such as 82,000+ players democratically voting to name a city “Gun” and, well, all sorts of overtly political lore. Arrowhead’s tongue is firmly lodged within its cheek, which doesn’t seem particularly safe.
As part of its newly added city maps, Arrowhead’s been committing all sorts of mischief with what these super-cities are actually called. There’s Gun, of course, but there’s also Shed, Free Trade, Filibuster, Democracy Always, Birth, Administrative Center O2 (Sector 4), New Newtonville and Ol’ Oldham.
Players, however, have recently started noticing the shining beacon of democracy that is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch… 2! The second Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, based on the real-world village, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. (Author’s note: Goodness, this paragraph looks terrible on our site. What have I done.)
If you’re wondering how that’s pronounced, here’s a video that went viral of Channel 4 presenter Liam Dutton close to a decade ago absolutely nailing the syntax.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is actually a bit of a gag in real life, too—the exact origin of the name is uncertain, with the actual name of the village being the far more reasonable Llanfairpwllgwyngyll. Most theories place it as a publicity stunt designed to drive tourism to the town started in the 1800s.
In Welsh (Cymraeg), the longer version roughly translates to “The church of St. Mary of the pool, of the white hazels, near to the fierce whirlpool and the church of St. Tysilio, of the red cave.”
Which means Helldivers 2’s variant is presumably translated as: “The church of St. Mary 2 of the pool 2, of the white hazels that are also here, near to another fierce whirlpool and the 2nd church of St. Tysilio, of the hey-would-you-look-at-that there’s also a red cave here, what are the chances.”
That, or poor ol’ Llanfairpwllgwyngyll was obliterated in the Terminid invasion of Super Wales. RIP to a real one.
Anyway, it’s clear that Arrowhead is having a Wales of a time (sorry) naming all of its many super-cities. Such joviality will be needed, given these super-cities are now playing host to the Automatons, as well—but hey, we pushed them back on Super Earth, and we can do so again.
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