I know I haven’t been around much (this project has been on a bit of hiatus, because I got hired to do a 20-page manga for Otakuthon), but in the meantime please do check out a side project I’m working on!
No, Mamo-chan. Stop crying..and wearing pink!
It’s no surprise I stalk fyeahsailormoon’s tumblr, : P I could reblog almost everything there out of extreme enthusiasm, but that might be a bit much, haha. THIS however, I could not resist! <3
You are so right - I really should have been clearer on that! Yeah, “prehistory” is “pre-writing” in the actual definition, but what I really meant was that it was pre-prehistory. Like, BEFORE EVERYTHING EVER~
Queen Serenity states that after the war, Earth had to “re-evolve” from the very beginning. So… there was life on Earth, it was à la Grecian times, but with very advanced technology (the Moon Kindgom, for instance, was in a biodome). And then shit blew up, and the entire planet had to start all over again, from the simplest of unicellular organisms.
Sorry about the bastardization of “prehistory”. Thanks for pointing the mistake to me, :D I hope that clarifies things! <3
As shown in my previous post, SailorFailures gave me her input on the Greek naming convention. (She has an amazing tumblr and SM webcomic by the way. Be sure to check it out.)
I really like what SailorFailures had to say! It both falls in line with what I was already thinking and brings some other interesting thoughts to the table.
[Earth people] may have come up with [the Greek names] themselves, they may have been a corruption via a “Chinese Whispers” effect, or it might have been that Earth + other places gave them names according to their own pre-existing mythology (since we don’t know when the Silver Millennium is meant to have happened)…
I was thinking about this further, and so I went back to double-check through the scene in the manga where Queen Serenity calls herself Selene… The subtlety is a bit lost in the English translation, but upon looking at a more direct translation, I noticed earlier today that the Silver Millennium is actually prehistoric. (And by that I mean before everything ever, not just before writing.)
It seems that after the war took place, Earth was completely wiped out and had to re-evolve all over again. I mentioned this (very briefly) in my previous post about the Greek names. Now that I’m thinking about SailorFailures’ take on the issue more and more, I really can’t help but wonder if this idea of Greek mythology existed before the reset, if it’s a vestige after being reset, or some combination of the two…
I also really like what SailorFailures had to say here:
I think that other places in the solar system, including Earth (which - even though it was closest - had very strenuous relations with the Moon and not many Earthlings would’ve ever gone there), who didn’t have intimate knowledge of the world there, would have called them by other more ‘mystical’ names.
This is the concept I want to run with in my script. It tickles me pink that other people think along the same lines, even though her final answer was that maybe the Greek names really are the girl’s names at that time (like how “Minako” is her name in the present, “Aphrodite” was her name in the past).
I think that SailorFailures’ final conclusion is a great one and well worth considering, if not just out right considering to be canon. I think I want to stand by my opinion though, and keep it so that the Earth was just calling them by more “mystical” names, as SailorFailures put it. It’s a more interesting sort of view point, at least from a literary perspective, I feel.
While I did say that I want this script to seem more like “fact” than fanfiction, I suppose I do have to just outright make shit up sometimes! Wuhoh!
I think that other places in the solar system, including Earth (which - even though it was closest - had very strenuous relations with the Moon and not many Earthlings would’ve ever gone there), who didn’t have intimate knowledge of the world there, would have called them by other more ‘mystical’ names. They may have come up with them themselves, they may have been a corruption via a “Chinese Whispers” effect, or it might have been that Earth + other places gave them names according to their own pre-existing mythology (since we don’t know when the Silver Millennium is meant to have happened) - names which the Sailor Soldiers eventually adopted in addition to their planets.
But that’s just my two cents. Truth be told I haven’t thought about it that often. They could just be the alternatives of their ‘civilian’ names; like when not transformed, Sailor Venus is called Minako, so maybe back then, when she wasn’t transformed/acting as a Princess, her name was Aphrodite? I suppose that makes sense, as the title of ‘Sailor Mercury’ or ‘Sailor Venus’ are merely titles, and not their actual names. There would have been other Mercuries and Venuses before them and, if they had lived that long, probably after as well.
Me too, XD Haha~ I hope I can get through it!! Thank you for the support, :D
For starters, an explanation of the story: my main goal with this project is not so much to make it a “fan fiction”, but instead to tell the story in its entirety. Takeuchi gives snippets of the Moon Kingdom story here and there, sort of randomly; sometimes there are entire chapters dedicated to explaining the story, and sometimes she waits until several volumes later before revisiting the idea. For example, the story of the Silver Millennium is brought up again during the storyline with Mistress 9, and it’s even briefly (and I mean briefly) mentioned in the Sailor V manga!
I’ve been working on the script on and off for a good six months or so, and I keep running into problems! For now, let’s focus on the Greek mythology aspect of the Silver Millennium…
Sleuthing around in Takeuchi’s stuff is a nightmare. In the Sailor V manga, for instance, Artemis tells Minako that her name was Aphrodite. This explicit reference to the Greek gods is never brought up in the Sailor Moon manga from what I understand, save for one line that Queen Serenity says:
“On Earth, I am called Selene, Goddess of the Moon.”
Selene, huh? But she also specifically states that she is only called this on Earth. The other planets don’t seem to reference her as such.
So what the crap is this about? Takeuchi doesn’t expand on this further. Maybe it’s just another simple nod to Greek mythos. Endymion, for example, is named after an astronomer who fell in love with the Goddess of the Moon, Selene. In Takeuchi’s retelling of this love story, Queen Serenity and Princess Serenity both have the same name; so it’s very likely that mother and daughter are both referred to as Selene by the people of Earth, therefore fitting in with the mythological love story we have.
Okay, so that’s simple enough, right? The ignorant Earth people somehow don’t know the real names of the people ruling/watching over them, so they just called the royalty of the moon Selene.
What’s with the name Aphrodite, then? Was Minako’s name really Aphrodite during the Silver Millennium? Or is this again just something that the Earth made up?
It makes sense for these Greek names to be an Earth-born naming convention. If that’s the case, then Mars must have been called Ares, Mercury must have been called Hermes, and Jupiter must have been called Zeus, right? (I’m sure you can extend the analogy to the Outers, too.)
I suppose the reason why these Greek names don’t actually coincide with what we consider to be the character types of the Greek Gods is because something was lost in translation among the Earthians. After all, it’s stated vaguely at some point that travel between the Earth and Moon was forbidden. I assume that travel between Earth and all the other planets was forbidden, too. Why? Well, that’s for another time…
So, maybe the royalty of the Earth called the royalty of the other planets by these Greek names, and then the people of Earth made up their own versions of the “gods” watching over them. This could account for the distrust Takeuchi mentions; apparently the Earth people were a bit uneasy about all these powerful gods/goddesses/princesses hovering around in space. I mean, can you blame them? If they think Princess Jupiter is actually some huge guy that bones everything and throws lightning bolts and has children pop out of his skull, then I’d be worried too.
It’s also possible that the character types we know the Greek gods as could have been born much later. Say, once everything blew up and the Earth had to re-evolve? Seems like a pretty opportunistic time for new cultures and religions to be made.
The problem is, as far as I understand it, we’re never given a clear explanation on this Greek naming convention… I suppose it’s up for interpretation.
I’ve got my ideas, which I’ll integrate into the script, but I’m curious about what you guys think!
Hi there, o . o
I felt weird making my first post be something other than an introduction, so here’s a little bit about me, if you’re interested:
My name is Kris, but my username most places is KrisRix. I’m 22 years old, engaged, and in my senior year of college. My major is Biology Education, so I plan to teach high school. You can see my deviantArt here and you can see my other Sailor Moon related project, Sailor Moon Abridged, here.
I’ve been drawing since I was 5, which is incidentally the same time I fell in love with Sailor Moon. Fancy that! I’ve been drawing ever since, and I’ve been obsessed with Sailor Moon ever since, as well. It seems the two are tightly linked for me. As such, it only makes sense that I finally try my hand at making a Sailor Moon doujinshi!
This project is going to be a big one, and I’m not entirely sure how successful it will be, to be honest! But I really do want to give it all I’ve got, and I’m hoping that creating a little community here will help inspire me and give me strength! XP
I’ll be using this place to post script-snippets, sketches, thumbnails, pencils, full pages even! You name it! I’m also going to post my inspirations here, where I’m drawing my source info from, etcetera!
I hope you guys enjoy~
