The Stories and Symbolisms behind the Garden Codenames (1) The Sleeping Beauty, its origins and its symbolisms
[Manga spoiler alert: Spoilers after the keep-reading line]
Since Endo has given us new details about the Garden and its members (*cough* to be honest that one member), maybe it's time for us to attempt to connect the dots.
A. Dornröschen KHM50 and the Thorn Princess
Let's start with the obvious.
Yor's codename comes from the title of the Grimm/German version of Sleeping Beauty, Dornröschen (Dorn ["thorn"] + Rose [“rose”] + -chen [diminutive suffix used to make people, animals and things cute and small]). Dornröschen is translated to be 茨姫/いばらひめ (ibara ["thorn"] + hime ["princess"]) in JP, and Little Briar Rose in English. The princess is named Rosamund. The image of Yor, or to be exact, as the Thorn Princess, has always been associated with roses, too.
(Source)
B. The Eddas and the warrior goddess
While I was trying to reverse-engineer things and google いばら姫 (Yor's JP codename), I found this essay about the origins of Brothers Grimm's on the first page. Something on P.2 caught my attention: "戦死者の霊をヴァルハラ天堂に導く戦いの乙女" (the warrior maiden who guides the souls of the fallen soldiers to Valhalla, "the Hall of the Slain".) Guess who's also interested in 戦うヒロイン (heroines who can fight)? Endo.
(Source: Eyes Only, P.199)
The Sleeping Beauty has its origins in Nordic mythology and Germanic heroic legend. There is a similar scene in the Eddas where the hero, Sigurd, wakes up Brynhild from a magical sleep and marries her. Except the more interesting fact is that Brynhild is a valkyrie, a warrior goddess/maiden. Brynhild's story does remind me of Yor: "Odin stuck her with a sleep thorn and declared that she must marry." (Source)
The other thing about valkyries that are quite Yor-like is that with the connection with Odin, valkyries "existed in an earlier role as "demons of death'", but as they "became popular figures in heroic poetry," they "were stripped of their 'demonic characteristics and became more human, and therefore become capable of falling in love with mortals […].'" (Source) In the most recent Jump+ exhibition, Endo has said that Yor is the character that has the most character development since the start and he uses the exact same phrase - "she has become more human". (Source)
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.
Ch.108
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).
Ch.115
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).
Ch.115
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.
Ch.115
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.
Now we've finally come full circle. Do you remember what the JP title of Dornröschen is? 茨姫/いばらひめ Ibara-hime. Some scholars think that Ibara-hime is a confusing translation - the ibara here doesn't mean only the thorns, but the rose bushes with thorns. (source) And therefore Yor's codename is not about the thorns, but the roses.
(Also warning if you don't like weebs trying to cope dumbass theories)
So, ch.115.
Read these quotes:
"If we only focus on making the best moves, we will never get the better of our opponent. When necessary, we must be willing to take big risks, and be prepared to lose everything. Unless we change how we fight, we cannot win." -Erwin Smith
"If you begin to regret, you'll dull your future decisions and let others make your choices for you. All that's left for you then is to die. Nobody can foretell the outcome. Each decision you make holds meaning only affecting your next decision." -Erwin Smith
"I don't know which option you should choose. I could never advise you on that... No matter what kind of wisdom dictates you the option you pick, no one will be able to tell if it's right or wrong until you arrive to some sort of outcome from your choice." -Levi Ackerman
Isayama planned to kill off Levi from the start, and he told us too. And by the sounds of it Erwin knew as well.
