Hello guyss 👋 This post includes my guesses about what the casts are along with where I think they were referenced from (which might be wrong but I still want to share 😆)
Columbina
🩷 Combination of pink colored Columbine flower and a dove
🩷 From The Tradegy of Hamlet + Flower language
Ticket Taker
💙 Ungaikyō (mirror beyond the clouds)
💙 From Japanese folklore
💙 Who is that Pokémon? TT ver.
⭐️ Bonus: I think he can break the 4th wall because our screen is technically "a surface that can show reflections" as well
Harlequin
💚 Combination of the Serpent and apple tree 💚 From The Holy Bible
Pierrot
💛 A giant wolf with horns, combination of Skoll and Hati who devoured the Sun and Moon
💛 From Ragnarök (Norse Mythology)
The Jester
💜 Baphomet
💜 Not sure about the origin but usually related to occult
The Doctor
🩵 Matinta Perera
♥️ From Brazilian folklore
These stories might be related to tfc lore from the past, so they may help us understand the casts better.
What do you guys think? I'd love to hear your opinions (･ω･*)
I see here the Ticket Taker is neither holding his wrist nor Harlequin's hand directly while we just GRABBED him like that lmao (Who's the clown here? Of course, it's me and not him 🤡) No wonder he got so excited. I imagine Harlequin thinking something like "What!? You are so dumb. Don't you know it's dangerous to grab my hands like that?? But I like it anyway."
Animals are naturally scared of him. Humans are scared of him due to his inhumane appearances. And his own kinds also got scared of him including his family, except for Pierrot(?). Now almost everyone is scared of him when all he does is just... exist.
It's not surprising to see him look so starved and would take everything we have to offer just to feel warm again. I'm not sure what the rest of circus family will say about this, though. Even if they are secretly scared of him, they likely wouldn't admit it out loud. Maybe it is a hierarchy system thingy? Their claws and fangs seem to be the thing that indicates their position in society.
Apenas compartilhando alguns sketchs que fiz no fim de semana para relaxar haha! Um deles é um spoiler do AMA sem contexto.
Estou curioso, por que ainda tem pessoas que não acreditam que sou brasileiro pessoal? o.o
Tem muito conteudo incrível que vem daqui pessoal! A maior parte da fandom fala outros idiomas, então uso o inglês como ponte para todos, é bem legal ver que a fandom brasileira esta crescendo, assim como pessoas de outros países ainda mais distantes estão aparecendo! Bem-vindos pessoal!
English
I just wanted to share a few sketches I did over the weekend to relax haha!
I'm curious why are there still people who don't believe I'm Brazilian, guys? o.o
There's so much amazing content coming from here, guys! Most of the fandom speaks other languages, so I use English as a bridge for everyone. It's really cool to see that the Brazilian fandom is growing, and that people from even more distant countries are joining in! Welcome, everyone!
I love that, many people already did that scene from a old AMA!
Don't worry, guys, Doctor's mask doesn't actually open like that! I was just trying to be funny, haha!
Hi, this post is quite long and I combined 3 versions of the story told by the casts together + my own interpretations. Please don't hesitate to tell me if I missed something 🙏
⭐️ The Harlequin's puppet show
Okay so I'm gonna start from the Harlequin's show. This tragedy starts from here.
The monsters accepted the deal given by humans to feed them, I don't know what the details are beside that.
But after that it shows, "They applauded their pain". Of course it's an unfair deal. The shows they did were dangerous and harmful, but it's still better than surviving on their own. Or so they thought. They think they had a choice, but in reality, they don't at the moment they agreed to this scam.
Harlequin says while the monsters rotted in their cages, swallowed by the dark. So there are many cages, they are being locked away from each other. After that there are some dialogs.
Jester: "What if we became human"
Harlequin: "We could eat as much as we want"
Pierrot: "No one would hurt us ever again"
Columbina: "I can feed you, grow strong, become human and build a home for us"
It looks like they think them being humans can fulfill their other wishes. Now what do monsters have to do in order to become human? In this setting, it seems like you are what you eat. They have to eat humans in order to become humans. If I remember correctly Neko said that human flesh sustain them the "most". I believe this sustain is not about hunger because it was mentioned that the monsters can eat normal food like any human do as well. If this is about how they can sustain their human-like appearances. Then there should be something else that could sustain them too, just not as effective as human flesh. That something else is most likely the monster with human-like characteristics.
The text here is pink, I think it can be implied that Columbina was the one who realized what they need as a sacrifice, in order to be humans for Jester's suggestion. She is willing to be a sacrifice for her family, in order to make her hopes and dreams come true as well.
Everyone use the word "us" for their wishes, so it's not a personal wish but they are being considerate for their whole family. Pink columbine flower means platonic/ familial love, faith, hope, foolishness (the shape of flower looks like a jester hat). Maybe the Jester chose to play the role of the Jester because of this. I think these flower language explain her character well. She most likely see everyone in familial way. She got mistreated by humans for quite some times, likely with harsh comments and sexually implied ways, even though her family protected her. I personally think she doesn't want any romantic love at that point because of these bad experiences.
I know this is from the Harlequin's pov but I see how he placed himself in the middle, and not facing anyone. (It seems to me that Harlequin feels like he doesn't belong there.)
But also the Jester's puppet is so suspiciously close to him compared to Pierrot, like he is whispering into Harlequin's ear. (Connect this to other versions of the story later)
Now look at the order and the wording used. For Pierrot and Harlequin's comments, they sounded more like answers to Jester's "what-if we become human". But from Columbina's line where she is the last one to speak, at least to me, sounds like a dying wish. It's a wish you entrust to someone else. When she says this, she is facing the Jester and Harlequin, so I think they were the one who got entrusted with her wish. (I'm not sure if Pierrot heard this, it seems like he passed out after he spoke) But there was no comments coming from the Doctor and Ticket Taker puppets, so they might not know about this "plan".
According to the story from TT's mirror. The sequence of them getting put in jail is Pierrot -> Jester -> Harlequin -> Columbina -> Ticket Taker & Doctor.
Columbina was seen talking to Harlequin when the scene went dark, so it means she got put in jail before the last two. TT and Doctor got put in jail later, so they didn't heard the previous conversation about the plan. Leading to them being shocked after Harlequin killed Columbina while asking "Why... did you do that?".
Next is the dialogues from Harlequin + TT's mirror story + Jester
From every version of the story told by casts, Columbina was looking towards Pierrot's direction, she is telling Pierrot that Harlequin wasn't laughing. (Also in what I see, Jester really really love his family. Of course he is so sorry about what he did. There's no way that he is not sorry 😭)
These scenes, I personally think it didn't really happen. But the casts were in distressed so they just imagined things on their own.
Have you heard this quote that says "If you are a Jester then I'm willing to be your fool"? I think this is why Harlequin refers to those darlings in pink as "the fools", because they are devoted to following the Jester's will just like how Columbina willingly sacrifice for his idea. But Columbina didn't only do it for Jester, she did it for everyone's sake including hers. Columbina already knows about all of that and she is still willingly choose to do it. To me, she is the wise fool who knows what she's doing.
She knows that their fate was cursed. If the end is inevitable then she'd rather choose how it ends. Also, I think she was the one who asked Harlequin to do it. Because his poison seems to be able to ease the pain/ has sedating effect, so her death would be a gentle one.
Then she regretted it, she didn't think the outcomes would be like this. She just wished for her family's happiness. So she think that she should have listened to him. To me there's 2 possibilities
Listen to the ring master, so he wouldn't harm her family
Listen to the Jester's other plan
I think it's most likely be the first one, because Jester said " We have no choice". He couldn't think of other plan either at that moment.
IDK what exactly can Harlequin's poison does but from secret scene here, Harlequin used his poison to stop Pierrot from going on a rampage. So having Harlequin be the one who did it made the sacrifice less painful.
⭐️ The Ticket Taker's mirror
Jester: I will, feed him.
Harlequin: ... Wait.
This one is, well I think Harlequin was going to suggest something else like let's go together or that he be the one to feed Pierrot instead of Jester. (Maybe he's secretly hoping that Pierrot will look at him if he save him like this) But Jester was reckless and got caught, followed by Harlequin.
What is saving someone? To put the end to their pain is one way to put it. If living is painful then ending it might be a way to "save". Her sacrifice can make them "become human" and make the previous wishes mentioned come true.
This scene, where Harlequin says "she is the weakest". What is "weakest" to the monster? To me, my answer is "resembles a human the most".
From how the Jester say no claws and almost no fangs. That's the main difference between Columbina and other monsters. To be or not to be. Columbina's answer is not to be. She chose not to be ended by humans' hands. "I don't want to die", in what manner? Is this a whole sentence or there was something more that got twisted? To someone, dying is being forgotten. That's why she chose to entrust her family to tell her story to the world, so she won't be forgotten and always live in their memories.
When they were being in jail, Harlequin is the closest one to Jester. This is my personal guess, Jester is referenced after Baphomet with hypnotic ability. If Jester really do have hypnotic ability that is similar to code geass where you have to look into the user's eyes then maybe he can't use it on anyone else because they're too far away. The other one located closest to Jester was Pierrot but he seems to be unconscious. Jester's ability most likely couldn't be use on someone unconscious because they can't look into Jester's eyes. Also, it couldn't be used on himself either, if he can then he'd already be already out of jail. Jester also said "I can't move. ■■■■■ is alive?" So Harlequin, who's still conscious had to do it instead of Jester, with Jester doing something to reinforce Harlequin's strength, resulting in him being able to break out of the jail. Or else they'll be all dead without any of their wish being fulfilled. They really had no choice.
⭐️ The Jester's stage play
Nameless doesn't mean that they don't have names, it means they are hideous creatures, loathed by the world.
I think this stage play is referenced after Hamlet. The "poison is his hand" is from the weapon Claudius gave to Laertes (Ophelia's brother) for revenge. When Hamlet is about to die from poison, his close friend, Horatio was going to join him in death. But Hamlet asks Horatio to tell his story to the world. That's what stopped Horatio from committing suicide and keep his promise to Hamlet. I do see parallel in this stage play where
Harlequin is playing the role of Laertes (Ophelia's brother).
Columbina as Hamlet.
Pierrot as Ophelia (Hamlet's love interest).
Jester as Claudius (Hamlet's uncle).
Ticket taker as Horatio (Hamlet's close friend), witnesses to this tragedy.
Doctor as the Guard -> I'm not,sure about this lol, but he isn't saying anything so his role is watching, I guess?
The flower is his hand resembles a red pansies to me.
And from Ophelia's Bouquet:
"There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.
Pray you, love, remember.
And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts ...
There’s fennel for you, and columbines.
There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me.
We may call it “herb of grace” o' Sundays.
- Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference.
There’s a daisy. I would give you some violets,
But they withered all when my father died."
Pansies that Ophelia described can mean many things, but in this case it's red. So I'd like to think it symbolize passionate love, remembrance, admiration, "I am thinking of you". But Columbina on stage play didn't say anything back nor extend her hand to receive that flower that represents "romantic love", in the same time, she is not looking away as well. I think she sees Pierrot as a family member and love him in her own ways.
From Hamlet: It was given out by Claudius that a serpent had stung him (the previous king). But it turns out that the serpent was actually Claudius himself.
Now look at the narrator, it's the Jester himself too was the one who said "A monster with venom in his voice and in his hands" to describe the Harlequin it is similar to the words that were used to describe the culprit by Claudius. I interpret this is Jester believes he is the evil mastermind behind it. He was the one who made the Harlequin use the poisoned weapon (his claws) on Columbina. All the blames should be on him instead of Harlequin. But Pierrot already saw it so he can't make any excuses for Harlequin. Then when Columbina is dying, she asked all of her family to live on and tell this stories to the world just like what Hamlet did to Horatio. This is what makes the casts tell their stories in the circus, each in their own point of view. As a way to mourn and as to keep their promise. TT resembles Horatio's role the most, for he is the one who promised he would make a true report, as one that was privy to all the circumstances. If you combine this with "I just wanted to tell someone, Obrigada" from Columbina in TT's mirror then it's clear that this was Columbina's wish for her whole family to keep living on in her stead.
(Pic from wikipedia lol)
This is my interpretation on this whole stage play. As I said before that I believe the Jester is referenced after a Baphomet, they also represent balance, equilibrium, duality. The performers' white&black socks should symbolize duality. Duality is when contrast between two contradicting aspects at the same time. For example: light&dark, love&hate, hope&despair, etc. Harlequin probably feel really guilty about it, but in the same time he also feel at ease when he finally have Pierrot's eyes on him and not on Columbina anymore, even though he doesn't want to do it. Then in Baphomet's figure, they usually comes with white moon (chesed) together with black moon (geburah) to signify equilibrium. There is only white moon (full moon) in the Jester's show, indicating that the story is unbalanced. You have to combine it with black moon (moonless night) in order to reach equilibrium (the balanced truth).
Thank you again for reading! I'm so high on caffeine. To anyone who reach this point, you deserve a shining crown 👑✨️
I just continue reading Lord of Mysteries today then I realized that I forgot to add one more thing lol -> I love this novel, it's definitely worth a read if you are bored 🥺 IDK if Neko referenced from this too or not but I just added this to the post, enjoy!
Do you know of "The Fool's Gambit"? It is referring to "The Fool's Mate" in chess. This is a quickest checkmate in 2 moves. It is a reckless, high-risk, irrational, and self-sacrifice strategy done by Klein Moretti (the protagonist). With the famous quote
"I won't lose too much, just myself. There are always some things that are more important than others"
To highlight ultimate self-sacrifice, meaning the sacrifice is a worthy price to protect the others, loved ones, or achieve a higher purpose. I think that's what Columbina decided to do.
Hi, this post is quite long and I combined 3 versions of the story told by the casts together + my own interpretations. Please don't hesitate to tell me if I missed something 🙏
⭐️ The Harlequin's puppet show
Okay so I'm gonna start from the Harlequin's show. This tragedy starts from here.
The monsters accepted the deal given by humans to feed them, I don't know what the details are beside that.
But after that it shows, "They applauded their pain". Of course it's an unfair deal. The shows they did were dangerous and harmful, but it's still better than surviving on their own. Or so they thought. They think they had a choice, but in reality, they don't at the moment they agreed to this scam.
Harlequin says while the monsters rotted in their cages, swallowed by the dark. So there are many cages, they are being locked away from each other. After that there are some dialogs.
Jester: "What if we became human"
Harlequin: "We could eat as much as we want"
Pierrot: "No one would hurt us ever again"
Columbina: "I can feed you, grow strong, become human and build a home for us"
It looks like they think them being humans can fulfill their other wishes. Now what do monsters have to do in order to become human? In this setting, it seems like you are what you eat. They have to eat humans in order to become humans. If I remember correctly Neko said that human flesh sustain them the "most". I believe this sustain is not about hunger because it was mentioned that the monsters can eat normal food like any human do as well. If this is about how they can sustain their human-like appearances. Then there should be something else that could sustain them too, just not as effective as human flesh. That something else is most likely the monster with human-like characteristics.
The text here is pink, I think it can be implied that Columbina was the one who realized what they need as a sacrifice, in order to be humans for Jester's suggestion. She is willing to be a sacrifice for her family, in order to make her hopes and dreams come true as well.
Everyone use the word "us" for their wishes, so it's not a personal wish but they are being considerate for their whole family. Pink columbine flower means platonic/ familial love, faith, hope, foolishness (the shape of flower looks like a jester hat). Maybe the Jester chose to play the role of the Jester because of this. I think these flower language explain her character well. She most likely see everyone in familial way. She got mistreated by humans for quite some times, likely with harsh comments and sexually implied ways, even though her family protected her. I personally think she doesn't want any romantic love at that point because of these bad experiences.
I know this is from the Harlequin's pov but I see how he placed himself in the middle, and not facing anyone. (It seems to me that Harlequin feels like he doesn't belong there.)
But also the Jester's puppet is so suspiciously close to him compared to Pierrot, like he is whispering into Harlequin's ear. (Connect this to other versions of the story later)
Now look at the order and the wording used. For Pierrot and Harlequin's comments, they sounded more like answers to Jester's "what-if we become human". But from Columbina's line where she is the last one to speak, at least to me, sounds like a dying wish. It's a wish you entrust to someone else. When she says this, she is facing the Jester and Harlequin, so I think they were the one who got entrusted with her wish. (I'm not sure if Pierrot heard this, it seems like he passed out after he spoke) But there was no comments coming from the Doctor and Ticket Taker puppets, so they might not know about this "plan".
According to the story from TT's mirror. The sequence of them getting put in jail is Pierrot -> Jester -> Harlequin -> Columbina -> Ticket Taker & Doctor.
Columbina was seen talking to Harlequin when the scene went dark, so it means she got put in jail before the last two. TT and Doctor got put in jail later, so they didn't heard the previous conversation about the plan. Leading to them being shocked after Harlequin killed Columbina while asking "Why... did you do that?".
Next is the dialogues from Harlequin + TT's mirror story + Jester
From every version of the story told by casts, Columbina was looking towards Pierrot's direction, she is telling Pierrot that Harlequin wasn't laughing. (Also in what I see, Jester really really love his family. Of course he is so sorry about what he did. There's no way that he is not sorry 😭)
These scenes, I personally think it didn't really happen. But the casts were in distressed so they just imagined things on their own.
Have you heard this quote that says "If you are a Jester then I'm willing to be your fool"? I think this is why Harlequin refers to those darlings in pink as "the fools", because they are devoted to following the Jester's will just like how Columbina willingly sacrifice for his idea. But Columbina didn't only do it for Jester, she did it for everyone's sake including hers. Columbina already knows about all of that and she is still willingly choose to do it. To me, she is the wise fool who knows what she's doing.
She knows that their fate was cursed. If the end is inevitable then she'd rather choose how it ends. Also, I think she was the one who asked Harlequin to do it. Because his poison seems to be able to ease the pain/ has sedating effect, so her death would be a gentle one.
Then she regretted it, she didn't think the outcomes would be like this. She just wished for her family's happiness. So she think that she should have listened to him. To me there's 2 possibilities
Listen to the ring master, so he wouldn't harm her family
Listen to the Jester's other plan
I think it's most likely be the first one, because Jester said " We have no choice". He couldn't think of other plan either at that moment.
IDK what exactly can Harlequin's poison does but from secret scene here, Harlequin used his poison to stop Pierrot from going on a rampage. So having Harlequin be the one who did it made the sacrifice less painful.
⭐️ The Ticket Taker's mirror
Jester: I will, feed him.
Harlequin: ... Wait.
This one is, well I think Harlequin was going to suggest something else like let's go together or that he be the one to feed Pierrot instead of Jester. (Maybe he's secretly hoping that Pierrot will look at him if he save him like this) But Jester was reckless and got caught, followed by Harlequin.
What is saving someone? To put the end to their pain is one way to put it. If living is painful then ending it might be a way to "save". Her sacrifice can make them "become human" and make the previous wishes mentioned come true.
This scene, where Harlequin says "she is the weakest". What is "weakest" to the monster? To me, my answer is "resembles a human the most".
From how the Jester say no claws and almost no fangs. That's the main difference between Columbina and other monsters. To be or not to be. Columbina's answer is not to be. She chose not to be ended by humans' hands. "I don't want to die", in what manner? Is this a whole sentence or there was something more that got twisted? To someone, dying is being forgotten. That's why she chose to entrust her family to tell her story to the world, so she won't be forgotten and always live in their memories.
When they were being in jail, Harlequin is the closest one to Jester. This is my personal guess, Jester is referenced after Baphomet with hypnotic ability. If Jester really do have hypnotic ability that is similar to code geass where you have to look into the user's eyes then maybe he can't use it on anyone else because they're too far away. The other one located closest to Jester was Pierrot but he seems to be unconscious. Jester's ability most likely couldn't be use on someone unconscious because they can't look into Jester's eyes. Also, it couldn't be used on himself either, if he can then he'd already be already out of jail. Jester also said "I can't move. ■■■■■ is alive?" So Harlequin, who's still conscious had to do it instead of Jester, with Jester doing something to reinforce Harlequin's strength, resulting in him being able to break out of the jail. Or else they'll be all dead without any of their wish being fulfilled. They really had no choice.
⭐️ The Jester's stage play
Nameless doesn't mean that they don't have names, it means they are hideous creatures, loathed by the world.
I think this stage play is referenced after Hamlet. The "poison is his hand" is from the weapon Claudius gave to Laertes (Ophelia's brother) for revenge. When Hamlet is about to die from poison, his close friend, Horatio was going to join him in death. But Hamlet asks Horatio to tell his story to the world. That's what stopped Horatio from committing suicide and keep his promise to Hamlet. I do see parallel in this stage play where
Harlequin is playing the role of Laertes (Ophelia's brother).
Columbina as Hamlet.
Pierrot as Ophelia (Hamlet's love interest).
Jester as Claudius (Hamlet's uncle).
Ticket taker as Horatio (Hamlet's close friend), witnesses to this tragedy.
Doctor as the Guard -> I'm not,sure about this lol, but he isn't saying anything so his role is watching, I guess?
The flower is his hand resembles a red pansies to me.
And from Ophelia's Bouquet:
"There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.
Pray you, love, remember.
And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts ...
There’s fennel for you, and columbines.
There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me.
We may call it “herb of grace” o' Sundays.
- Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference.
There’s a daisy. I would give you some violets,
But they withered all when my father died."
Pansies that Ophelia described can mean many things, but in this case it's red. So I'd like to think it symbolize passionate love, remembrance, admiration, "I am thinking of you". But Columbina on stage play didn't say anything back nor extend her hand to receive that flower that represents "romantic love", in the same time, she is not looking away as well. I think she sees Pierrot as a family member and love him in her own ways.
From Hamlet: It was given out by Claudius that a serpent had stung him (the previous king). But it turns out that the serpent was actually Claudius himself.
Now look at the narrator, it's the Jester himself too was the one who said "A monster with venom in his voice and in his hands" to describe the Harlequin it is similar to the words that were used to describe the culprit by Claudius. I interpret this is Jester believes he is the evil mastermind behind it. He was the one who made the Harlequin use the poisoned weapon (his claws) on Columbina. All the blames should be on him instead of Harlequin. But Pierrot already saw it so he can't make any excuses for Harlequin. Then when Columbina is dying, she asked all of her family to live on and tell this stories to the world just like what Hamlet did to Horatio. This is what makes the casts tell their stories in the circus, each in their own point of view. As a way to mourn and as to keep their promise. TT resembles Horatio's role the most, for he is the one who promised he would make a true report, as one that was privy to all the circumstances. If you combine this with "I just wanted to tell someone, Obrigada" from Columbina in TT's mirror then it's clear that this was Columbina's wish for her whole family to keep living on in her stead.
(Pic from wikipedia lol)
This is my interpretation on this whole stage play. As I said before that I believe the Jester is referenced after a Baphomet, they also represent balance, equilibrium, duality. The performers' white&black socks should symbolize duality. Duality is when contrast between two contradicting aspects at the same time. For example: light&dark, love&hate, hope&despair, etc. Harlequin probably feel really guilty about it, but in the same time he also feel at ease when he finally have Pierrot's eyes on him and not on Columbina anymore, even though he doesn't want to do it. Then in Baphomet's figure, they usually comes with white moon (chesed) together with black moon (geburah) to signify equilibrium. There is only white moon (full moon) in the Jester's show, indicating that the story is unbalanced. You have to combine it with black moon (moonless night) in order to reach equilibrium (the balanced truth).
Thank you again for reading! I'm so high on caffeine. To anyone who reach this point, you deserve a shining crown 👑✨️
So shorter summary of my interpretation from previous post is that Columbina loves everyone in familial way. The situation was dire, so she realized a sacrifice is needed for them to get out of the cages they were locked in. Then she willingly feed her family with the cost of her own life, wishing for their happiness. She entrusted her dreams of building a home, being happy, telling her stories to the world. But she didn't think about the negative outcomes after that, which leaves all of her family traumatized.
Jester was the first one who think about "what if we become human". Even though Columbina willingly sacrificed, he still feel sorry and guilty for everyone especially Columbina and Harlequin. Where he knows Harlequin didn't want to do it but were forced to. So he did the best to prevent the same thing from happening again. (tbh I don't think anyone is "wrong" here beside the humans who locked them up like this)
Pierrot was half awake and he only got a glimpse of what's going on. He's being delusional about Columbina who got painfully killed by Harlequin, seeing it as Harlequin who's fully in the wrong when in reality he mercifully killed her.
Harlequin also think it's the consequences of his actions. He knows that it has to be done but it also make him feel he himself is disgusting and doesn't deserve to be loved after what happened.
IDK about Doctor, he and Harlequin both seem to be really fascinated with us if we act like a fearless lunatic(?).
Ticket Taker got scared and wary of humans but still carry on Columbina's wishes. That's why he seems on edge if we are not "obedient". If he can't control us then we might do something unpredictable, resulting in their loss once again.
Hi, this post is quite long and I combined 3 versions of the story told by the casts together + my own interpretations. Please don't hesitate to tell me if I missed something 🙏
⭐️ The Harlequin's puppet show
Okay so I'm gonna start from the Harlequin's show. This tragedy starts from here.
The monsters accepted the deal given by humans to feed them, I don't know what the details are beside that.
But after that it shows, "They applauded their pain". Of course it's an unfair deal. The shows they did were dangerous and harmful, but it's still better than surviving on their own. Or so they thought. They think they had a choice, but in reality, they don't at the moment they agreed to this scam.
Harlequin says while the monsters rotted in their cages, swallowed by the dark. So there are many cages, they are being locked away from each other. After that there are some dialogs.
Jester: "What if we became human"
Harlequin: "We could eat as much as we want"
Pierrot: "No one would hurt us ever again"
Columbina: "I can feed you, grow strong, become human and build a home for us"
It looks like they think them being humans can fulfill their other wishes. Now what do monsters have to do in order to become human? In this setting, it seems like you are what you eat. They have to eat humans in order to become humans. If I remember correctly Neko said that human flesh sustain them the "most". I believe this sustain is not about hunger because it was mentioned that the monsters can eat normal food like any human do as well. If this is about how they can sustain their human-like appearances. Then there should be something else that could sustain them too, just not as effective as human flesh. That something else is most likely the monster with human-like characteristics.
The text here is pink, I think it can be implied that Columbina was the one who realized what they need as a sacrifice, in order to be humans for Jester's suggestion. She is willing to be a sacrifice for her family, in order to make her hopes and dreams come true as well.
Everyone use the word "us" for their wishes, so it's not a personal wish but they are being considerate for their whole family. Pink columbine flower means platonic/ familial love, faith, hope, foolishness (the shape of flower looks like a jester hat). Maybe the Jester chose to play the role of the Jester because of this. I think these flower language explain her character well. She most likely see everyone in familial way. She got mistreated by humans for quite some times, likely with harsh comments and sexually implied ways, even though her family protected her. I personally think she doesn't want any romantic love at that point because of these bad experiences.
I know this is from the Harlequin's pov but I see how he placed himself in the middle, and not facing anyone. (It seems to me that Harlequin feels like he doesn't belong there.)
But also the Jester's puppet is so suspiciously close to him compared to Pierrot, like he is whispering into Harlequin's ear. (Connect this to other versions of the story later)
Now look at the order and the wording used. For Pierrot and Harlequin's comments, they sounded more like answers to Jester's "what-if we become human". But from Columbina's line where she is the last one to speak, at least to me, sounds like a dying wish. It's a wish you entrust to someone else. When she says this, she is facing the Jester and Harlequin, so I think they were the one who got entrusted with her wish. (I'm not sure if Pierrot heard this, it seems like he passed out after he spoke) But there was no comments coming from the Doctor and Ticket Taker puppets, so they might not know about this "plan".
According to the story from TT's mirror. The sequence of them getting put in jail is Pierrot -> Jester -> Harlequin -> Columbina -> Ticket Taker & Doctor.
Columbina was seen talking to Harlequin when the scene went dark, so it means she got put in jail before the last two. TT and Doctor got put in jail later, so they didn't heard the previous conversation about the plan. Leading to them being shocked after Harlequin killed Columbina while asking "Why... did you do that?".
Next is the dialogues from Harlequin + TT's mirror story + Jester
From every version of the story told by casts, Columbina was looking towards Pierrot's direction, she is telling Pierrot that Harlequin wasn't laughing. (Also in what I see, Jester really really love his family. Of course he is so sorry about what he did. There's no way that he is not sorry 😭)
These scenes, I personally think it didn't really happen. But the casts were in distressed so they just imagined things on their own.
Have you heard this quote that says "If you are a Jester then I'm willing to be your fool"? I think this is why Harlequin refers to those darlings in pink as "the fools", because they are devoted to following the Jester's will just like how Columbina willingly sacrifice for his idea. But Columbina didn't only do it for Jester, she did it for everyone's sake including hers. Columbina already knows about all of that and she is still willingly choose to do it. To me, she is the wise fool who knows what she's doing.
I don't know if Neko referenced from this or not, but it was from Lord of Mysteries.
Do you know of "The Fool's Gambit"? It is referring to "The Fool's Mate" in chess. This is a quickest checkmate in 2 moves. It is a reckless, high-risk, irrational, and self-sacrifice strategy done by Klein Moretti (the protagonist). With the famous quote
"I won't lose too much, just myself. There are always some things that are more important than others"
To highlight ultimate self-sacrifice, meaning the sacrifice is a worthy price to protect the others, loved ones, or achieve a higher purpose. I think that's what Columbina decided to do.
She knows that their fate was cursed. If the end is inevitable then she'd rather choose how it ends. Also, I think she was the one who asked Harlequin to do it. Because his poison seems to be able to ease the pain/ has sedating effect, so her death would be a gentle one.
Then she regretted it, she didn't think the outcomes would be like this. She just wished for her family's happiness. So she think that she should have listened to him. To me there's 2 possibilities
Listen to the ring master, so he wouldn't harm her family
Listen to the Jester's other plan
I think it's most likely be the first one, because Jester said " We have no choice". He couldn't think of other plan either at that moment.
IDK what exactly can Harlequin's poison does but from secret scene here, Harlequin used his poison to stop Pierrot from going on a rampage. So having Harlequin be the one who did it made the sacrifice less painful.
⭐️ The Ticket Taker's mirror
Jester: I will, feed him.
Harlequin: ... Wait.
This one is, well I think Harlequin was going to suggest something else like let's go together or that he be the one to feed Pierrot instead of Jester. (Maybe he's secretly hoping that Pierrot will look at him if he save him like this) But Jester was reckless and got caught, followed by Harlequin.
What is saving someone? To put the end to their pain is one way to put it. If living is painful then ending it might be a way to "save". Her sacrifice can make them "become human" and make the previous wishes mentioned come true.
This scene, where Harlequin says "she is the weakest". What is "weakest" to the monster? To me, my answer is "resembles a human the most".
From how the Jester say no claws and almost no fangs. That's the main difference between Columbina and other monsters. To be or not to be. Columbina's answer is not to be. She chose not to be ended by humans' hands. "I don't want to die", in what manner? Is this a whole sentence or there was something more that got twisted? To someone, dying is being forgotten. That's why she chose to entrust her family to tell her story to the world, so she won't be forgotten and always live in their memories.
When they were being in jail, Harlequin is the closest one to Jester. This is my personal guess, Jester is referenced after Baphomet with hypnotic ability. If Jester really do have hypnotic ability that is similar to code geass where you have to look into the user's eyes then maybe he can't use it on anyone else because they're too far away. The other one located closest to Jester was Pierrot but he seems to be unconscious. Jester's ability most likely couldn't be use on someone unconscious because they can't look into Jester's eyes. Also, it couldn't be used on himself either, if he can then he'd already be already out of jail. Jester also said "I can't move. ■■■■■ is alive?" So Harlequin, who's still conscious had to do it instead of Jester, with Jester doing something to reinforce Harlequin's strength, resulting in him being able to break out of the jail. Or else they'll be all dead without any of their wish being fulfilled. They really had no choice.
⭐️ The Jester's stage play
Nameless doesn't mean that they don't have names, it means they are hideous creatures, loathed by the world.
I think this stage play is referenced after Hamlet. The "poison is his hand" is from the weapon Claudius gave to Laertes (Ophelia's brother) for revenge. When Hamlet is about to die from poison, his close friend, Horatio was going to join him in death. But Hamlet asks Horatio to tell his story to the world. That's what stopped Horatio from committing suicide and keep his promise to Hamlet. I do see parallel in this stage play where
Harlequin is playing the role of Laertes (Ophelia's brother).
Columbina as Hamlet.
Pierrot as Ophelia (Hamlet's love interest).
Jester as Claudius (Hamlet's uncle).
Ticket taker as Horatio (Hamlet's close friend), witnesses to this tragedy.
Doctor as the Guard -> I'm not,sure about this lol, but he isn't saying anything so his role is watching, I guess?
The flower is his hand resembles a red pansies to me.
And from Ophelia's Bouquet:
"There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.
Pray you, love, remember.
And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts ...
There’s fennel for you, and columbines.
There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me.
We may call it “herb of grace” o' Sundays.
- Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference.
There’s a daisy. I would give you some violets,
But they withered all when my father died."
Pansies that Ophelia described can mean many things, but in this case it's red. So I'd like to think it symbolize passionate love, remembrance, admiration, "I am thinking of you". But Columbina on stage play didn't say anything back nor extend her hand to receive that flower that represents "romantic love", in the same time, she is not looking away as well. I think she sees Pierrot as a family member and love him in her own ways.
From Hamlet: It was given out by Claudius that a serpent had stung him (the previous king). But it turns out that the serpent was actually Claudius himself.
Now look at the narrator, it's the Jester himself too was the one who said "A monster with venom in his voice and in his hands" to describe the Harlequin it is similar to the words that were used to describe the culprit by Claudius. I interpret this is Jester believes he is the evil mastermind behind it. He was the one who made the Harlequin use the poisoned weapon (his claws) on Columbina. All the blames should be on him instead of Harlequin. But Pierrot already saw it so he can't make any excuses for Harlequin. Then when Columbina is dying, she asked all of her family to live on and tell this stories to the world just like what Hamlet did to Horatio. This is what makes the casts tell their stories in the circus, each in their own point of view. As a way to mourn and as to keep their promise. TT resembles Horatio's role the most, for he is the one who promised he would make a true report, as one that was privy to all the circumstances. If you combine this with "I just wanted to tell someone, Obrigada" from Columbina in TT's mirror then it's clear that this was Columbina's wish for her whole family to keep living on in her stead.
(Pic from wikipedia lol)
This is my interpretation on this whole stage play. As I said before that I believe the Jester is referenced after a Baphomet, they also represent balance, equilibrium, duality. The performers' white&black socks should symbolize duality. Duality is when contrast between two contradicting aspects at the same time. For example: light&dark, love&hate, hope&despair, etc. Harlequin probably feel really guilty about it, but in the same time he also feel at ease when he finally have Pierrot's eyes on him and not on Columbina anymore, even though he doesn't want to do it. Then in Baphomet's figure, they usually comes with white moon (chesed) together with black moon (geburah) to signify equilibrium. There is only white moon (full moon) in the Jester's show, indicating that the story is unbalanced. You have to combine it with black moon (moonless night) in order to reach equilibrium (the balanced truth).
Thank you again for reading! I'm so high on caffeine. To anyone who reach this point, you deserve a shining crown 👑✨️
Born to be a bottom, forced to be a top. Loves to be the one getting chased than the one doing the chasing. Would really love it if you are the one who boldly take whatever you want from him without being scared of him. He is fully aware that his body is dangerous to the others, so he is always being careful. After all, no one knows better than he does how frightening he can be. Even so, he loves it too much that he couldn't remain his usual façade anymore when you choose to be the one approaching him first.
Being born as a snake-type monster, I guess he has no family that grow together with him since the beginning. Snakes basically don't have the same concept of family and friends like mammals do, he most likely learned about these things after he met his circus family. He had to learn how to survive alone by relying on his instincts, making it hard to understand how emotions, feelings, and relationships work. Humans and animals alike mostly fear him by instinct. It's a natural reaction so he had to always make a first move by himself. He's prepared to be rejected, always. And if someone accepts him, he think they only had eyes for his disguise. "Who would be crazy enough to love me? No way, are you actually insane?? Of course it's because of something else. I'm obviously attractive so that must be it!" was probably what he was thinking.
It seems like he is fully aware that they are playing a 'role'. He actually wants you to see, desire, love and accept him as ■■■■■, not 'The Harlequin'. For he is him and no one else. He wanted his real self to be seen, not just his well-crafted desirable outer shell. But in the same time, he is also scared of being truly seen and get rejected by being indifferent towards him. He wants you to choose to stay with him no matter what kind of that relationship may be. Deep inside, he yearns for love as well. But he think no one would be able to truly love him, so he pursue desire and hatred instead. As desire is the closest thing he knows to love. Then love and hate are two sides of the same coin.
If you want the Jester to be interested in you. Supposedly you are already aware of the things they had been doing. Be persistent, oppose him even if you already realized the odds are almost zero. You choose to fight back not because you think that they are dangerous monsters that needs to be eradicated but the things you do, you did it to protect someone or something because of love/ belief/ etc. Something so human that is hard to understand for the monster who lives with different moral and culture.
It would fascinate him to no ends. Seeing you, a weak human fall again and again yet still stand back up with that look in your eyes, full of determination and hope. He would not end you, but he would test you to see if you are too weak or too strong or not. But don't use underhanded method like hurting his precious family, he would be utterly disgusted.
If you are too strong, I don't mean only physically strong. He will most likely see you as a threat and find a way to deal with you. He wants to see how long will it takes for you to give up and surrender to your human nature. If you proved yourself to be trustworthy and he is willing to talk, offer him your help for their dreams. Even if they deemed themselves as freaks, deep in their hearts they just hope to be loved and live peacefully. Something so simple and gentle yet hard to achieve. Help them build a home, offer them a way to coexist even if it sounds too optimistic. Show them a way to end this endless cycle of pain and hatred, even if it will take a long time and effort.
Romance with the Jester? Well, it can be after they have already settled down. What they are doing right now is surviving, not living their life. Relationships are built on trust. Trust are built over time after all.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this (^-^)/
Hi, since there haven't been any revealed details about where the casts were referenced from beside the Doctor from brazilian folklore so I'll have fun guessing 😆
So, I think TT's design was based on a yokai named ungaikyo (mirror beyond the clouds) from japanese folk lore.
(Here is Ungaikyo from Onmyoji game.)
If my guess is correct, then that pointy thing on his head is supposed to be like a cloud. There is also some story that says if you pour water into a crystal/quartz dish to reflect the light of full moon, you can trap the reflected yokai into the mirror. (This might be related somehow? They did talk about the moon quite often)
For TT's mirrors, I think it's a part of himself. So that's probably why he growled at pierrot for throwing knife at him. (There is a growl sound after the mirror gets broken here.)
Let's say mask symbolizes yin and yang (balance) where yin -> darkness (what we choose to hide) and yang -> brightness (what we choose to show). I'm guessing that if this is not balanced then the reflection would balance things out by showing too much of what's hidden in the dark.
The mirrors are supposed to reveal the hidden truths/ forms on the surface. But ungaikyo can also manipulate what is being shown as well so what's being shown might not fully be the truth. He also mentioned "you'll see things you might not want to, whispers from your heart, or maybe warnings from beyond".
For Pierrot and Harlequin's reflection, maybe Pierrot is going to bite us too, just like Harlequin. His claws are already digging into us, and there's also a bite mark on our neck. (Maybe this is how they 'mark') But Pierrot doesn't want us to be scared of him, so he just break the mirror so we won't see it.
For Harlequin, I think he just lets us see it and thinks we will get scared and run away like anyone else. But he might secretly hope for us to be fully aware of what he is and still choose to stay despite it all. That's why he just stares at our reactions. Thank you for reading until this point. I might write more if I have time, bye 😆👋
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