Use of こそ. What words is it replacing here?

Question

OK , so I am a huge fan of Kill la Kill, and I looked up how to say "Fear is Freedom, Control is Release, Contradiction is Truth". The whole line in Japanese is:

「恐怖こそ自由！君臨こそ解放！矛盾こそ真理！それがこの世界の真実だ！服を着た豚ども！その真実に屈服せよ！」

Now, this Japanese is pretty simple, and I totally get the meaning (obviously, since there's a translation, but I mean that I understand how the language here works). However, I'm not sure what こそ is doing here. I know that it emphasizes the previous word, but is that enough to form a statement? Can someone explain what it's doing here, and the proper use of it?

Also, secondarily, I'm wondering why ども is required here. I was pretty sure that it was used to mean "both", so why is it needed here, where she is not addressing both pigs in human clothing, so much as a whole crowd of them?

Answer 1

こそ is appended to a word to emphasise it. It can replace particles は or が - you can form a sentence using the pattern 「AこそB。」. It has similar meaning of equivalence as「AはBだ。」but gives the statement more emphasis:

恐怖こそ自由。 (emphatic)

恐怖は自由だ。 (normal statement)

(Note: this is not the only pattern of こそ usage.)

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One of the meanings of ども is "(derogatory) second or third person plural (implies speaker is of higher status than those referred to)" (source WWWJDIC). 「豚ども」 in this case is plural - "pigs", giving it derogatory meaning.

Answer 2

AこそB sometimes means B matches A the best or A matches B the best. Both A and B might are something you might already know.

When you emphasize the last part, it's often something unusual. When you emphasize the former part, it's often something mistakable. You can also say こそが and こそは to make it clear, but because of the nature of こそ, both が and は can be omitted and こそ often has a dual function.

Saying 恐怖こそ自由 is something like 自由 is the best description of 恐怖, 恐怖 is what we called 自由. They are exactly the same thing.

I'm surprised that dictionaries don't cover this frequent usage. More examples:

太陽こそは、あらゆる生命の源泉
かわいいこそ正義
こちらこそすみません
この俺こそ伝説の勇者だ

I know that it emphasizes the previous word, but is that enough to form a statement?

As I explained, は or が after こそ is often dropped. だ is often omitted in many situations, for example, in tittles, slogans or definitions. Without だ, it's still a complete sentence.

かわいいこそ正義 is equal to かわいいこそ正義だ. You can also say かわいいは正義 or かわいいが正義だ, etc. They are still complete sentences.

Szymon has explained ども.