#ch.115

Ch.108 Yor being the "demon of death"

The Edda has continued to be inspirations for modern culture, such as Tolkien's The Hobbit, and Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. And I mean, Wagner. Germany. War. *cough cough*

C. The Sleeping Beauty, the Eddas, and Greek mythology

Of course everything is related to the Greek mythology and the epics. Some claim that the good and bad fairies in Sleeping Beauty are based on the Moirai and the Norns. Not only because of the spindle, but also because they are there to "tell" the fate of the princess. Brynhild also has the ability to prophesy.

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Other than Melinda, the Shopkeeper actually has all three symbols of the Moirai on him: the spinner (the needle), the apportioner (his role as the Shopkeeper), and the one who cut the thread (the scissors on his button).

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It is also suggested that the bad fairy is based on Eris, the goddess and personification of strife and discord. She has initiated the Judgement of Paris by dropping the golden apple. Eris is "the rouser of armies", but she "does not participate in active combat, nor take sides in the war." (source) There's a theory suggesting that the soccer game between Westalis and Ostania is a metaphor for the conflicts and competitions between the SSS and WISE. By refusing to join the soccer match, it could be a way to show that the Garden doesn't want to take sides.

We do have tonnes of sxf characters which seemingly have been linked to some sort of Greek culture. We have Anya's chimera, the Desmonds' griffin, Sugmund Authen's "Eureka!", Barbara's and Demetrius's name, etc.

Yor's name has its Greek origins too. Endo originally wanted to name her Yolanda and it's later shortened to Yor. The Greek form of Yolanda is Iolanthe. There is an opera titled Iolanthe, and if you go to Wikipedia, literally the first sentence describing the first act says, "The beloved fairy Iolanthe [...] committed the capital crime (under fairy law) of marrying a mortal man." Interesting.

D. The Garden and the Beauty Sleeping in the Woods

Let's circle back to the story of Sleeping Beauty. The other Japanese name of the story of The Sleeping Beauty is 眠れる森の美女 (The Beauty Sleeping in the Woods). Where is the Garden located? In the woods. In Lin's tweet about M115, he calls the meeting "a secret meeting deep in the woods" (森奥の密会).

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For Yor's character, we could interpret the transition of "being more human" to be "being awaken". However, it seems like there's another "thing" that is "sleeping" in the woods.

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According to the story, when the princess falls asleep, the whole kingdom falls asleep with her, too. The good fairies try to reverse the effect of the curse - as a result, the princess won't die. She will only be asleep for 100 years.

Remember the theory about how once upon a time Westalis and Ostania used to be of the same country/nation/empire, but there's a split? If that is really the case, is the unification sort of an "awakening"? And frankly, that's probably how the Forgers can stay together without further complications? Anyway.

E. Others

Endo is from a prefecture called Ibaraki-ken 茨城県. Yep, the same ibara as Ibara-hime. His hometown, Koga-shi 古河市, is known for garden roses バラ/ばら "bara". Some think that "ibara" (thorns) is a transliteration for "bara" (roses). It's common to use the Chinese words 薔薇 to name/call the roses, too.