: Lila or Leela is the name for "divine play" in Hinduism, the idea
: that all the cosmos is a game or playful creation of the gods, with the
: exact interpretation depending upon the school of Hindu thought. It's also
: a somewhat common, if old-fashioned, female name. Given the player's
: god-like status and Leela's tendency to help the player throughout the
: original game, perhaps the reference to the Hindu concept was intentional?
: I certainly see it as quite a bit more applicable than the Dr. Who
: character!
Lela is also the name of the Dax symbiont's first host in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Unfortunately nearly all the information we learn about Lela comes out after Marathon was released, but there's one exception: in the episode "Playing God", Dax assures a nervous initiate "I'm not Curzon, or Lela." It seems that the previous Dax hosts had a reputation of requiring rather demanding tasks of initiates...
