‘True Detective’: The Meaning of Navarro’s Name, Explained

‘True Detective’ Season 4 aired its last episode, and what started as the best season yet ended with an underwhelming revelation of the mystery that was haunting us for the past few episodes. The supernatural ghost story ended up being completely earthly in nature, however, some supernatural aspects remained until the end, notably Navarro’s meeting with her mother during the snowstorm during which she found out her birth name – Siqiññiaqtuaq. Let’s see what it means.

Evangeline was native to Ennis but she grew up in Boston

Back at the beginning of ‘True Detective’ Season 4, we found out that Evangeline’s mother was from Ennis originally but she moved to Boston when she was 15 and met Evangeline’s and Julie’s father there and quickly married him. However, as it turns out Navarro’s father was an abuser who frequently beat both her mom and the girls. Evangeline’s mom took them up north and that’s pretty much the whole backstory.

It turns out that Julie inherited schizophrenia from her mom, Evangeline’s mother frequently suffered from episodes and heard voices, one day she ran out and never returned she was supposedly killed according to Evangeline but the person who did it was never found. This is probably why Evangeline is so sensitive when it comes to victims of domestic abuse and why she seemingly can’t contain herself when there is a guy around who likes to beat women. Something we witnessed when Navarro shot William Wheeler point blank in the head after she and Liz found his wife dead, beaten by him.

Due to everything above, Navarro never truly connected with her native roots and she never knew her real birth name, her Iñupiaq name. She was also constantly being deemed by her people because she worked in law enforcement, seemingly taking the side of their oppressors, Well, that changed in the final episode.

What is Evangeline’s Iñupiaq name?

Navarro suffered from voice and episodes just like her mother and sister for quite some time, the worst episode being when Liz and she found Otis at the dredge. Ever since then, Evangeline felt that she was losing control, and she lost it at Tsalal. The mental shock and stress her mind had gone through, pushed Evangeline over the edge, after hearing her name being called, and whispered into thin air she walked out of Tsalal in the middle of a snowstorm and ventured across the ice fields.

Luckily, Liz noticed on time that she was missing and went to find her. During the episode, Navarro found herself in the same scene she always found herself in during hallucinations but this time there was someone with her in the scene, and it wasn’t Holden. It was a woman and the woman revealed to Navarro her birth Iñupiaq name Siqiññiaqtuaq. This snapped Evangeline out of her trance and she noticed that Liz had fallen through the ice after witnessing hallucination herself, seeing her deceased son Holden under the ice.

After Liz and Navarro figured out what happened to Tsalal’s men, they returned to Ennis and went to find one of the cleaners from Tsalal. There Evangline found out that the meaning of her name was Siqiññiaqtuaq, which means “the return of the sun after a long night.”

It’s such a beautiful and poetic name, and it seemingly put Evangline’s mind to rest. Well, that and the fact that she finally managed to close Annie’s case after several long years of feeling guilty for not doing enough.

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