Rule of Rose Mysteries

Masq says:

I can’t help but still support the theory that the Orphans hated Jennifer because of her association with Wendy and made things hard on her because of it.

I mean, think of it from a child’s perspective. “Filthy Jennifer, the new girl, is best friends with the Princess of the Red Rose we’ve all been trying to please!?”

R says:

I think that Jennifer sees the doll instead of Wendy because she up until then either a) doesn’t remember yet -or- b) can’t handle it. Much like how she can’t handle seeing the dead kids (hence the clothes lying there without an occupant like the Joshua-bed-thing), or when she sees Brown dead, she firstly sees him then the dog doll. I don’t really blame her on some of this, because it’s all so traumatic! I even wonder if the imps are really imps doing these awful things, or if it’s really that Jennifer kind of blanks out that the other orphans do it and fills in the orphans as imps for Halloween (because she was scared of them).

Masq says:

I have a question, though.

How did Wendy become princess if Diana was originally the ringleader? Why would Diana believe Wendy’s lies just because? I highly doubt that early in the game Wendy could produce enough “evidence” to scare Diana into becoming second in command. Diana isn’t easily frightened, from the looks of things. Especially not by other orphans.

I believe Wendy stepped forward with the idea of Stray Dog and the offerings first. (this is IMO)

I believe this way because it makes the most sense in my mind. From what we see, Wendy calls herself a princess long before she rescues Jennifer. She also has the emblem of a red rose and she also has the “job” of bringing in roses from the rose garden. Really, Wendy does fit the storybook persona of a princess. “Quiet, fair and weak.”

I kind of think that the Sir Peter “Please rescue Mr. Bunny!” was a plea for attention, not so much that it didn’t happen. Some part of Wendy KNEW Jennifer couldn’t save him. He was required for the sacrifice to prove Stray Dog was real to Wendy. But, if she had Jennifer’s sympathy, Jennifer would “take care of her” and “cheer her up” afterwards, hopefully forgetting pitiful Brown. Jennifer was straying from Wendy at the time that Peter had become her pet. It just seems to me that most girls who are used to or want to be the center of attention like Wendy (lets face it. She does love attention. Why else deem yourself the all-necessary-princess-who-can-satisfy-the-murderous-stray-dog-with-such-and-such-an-offering?).

Also, if Diana was originally the leader, I don’t see where her power would come from. The Rule of Rose, handed down by the rose princess, states that you can punish the unfaithful. That’s the clause that gets Diana her way. That coupled with the fear of Stray Dog. I think if Wendy hadn’t brought these things forward and made her play for power, there wouldn’t be any power. Which also makes me think they were playing a “club game” which is one of those kinds of kids games where a group comes together and says “We’re special. We’re part of the club. You’re not. So sad!” before Wendy came forward with her tales. However I don’t think it was nearly as serious as the do or die game that Wendy plays; the stakes would be much lower. But, as I’ve stated before, Wendy is probably a child that loves attention and wants to be adored. Lets face it, that’s what every little girl wants. Since she’s not the best or brightest, she has to use other tactics. (I hold she’s not the brightest because her spelling is horrible. I hold she’s not the best because she is always sick or pretending to be sick… whichever.)

However I do also believe we are only seeing things from Jennifer’s point of view. Seems like she kept a pretty unbiased veiw of most things in the end, but as a child you don’t turn bias on and off.

When she first comes to the Orphanage, she’ll be very fond of Wendy. When children love or respect someone, they’ll never “see” the things they do wrong; or as wrong, whichever you prefer. Also, I’m thinking she starts out very very gullible… Hoffman’s a good teacher… Wendy’s a good princess… Clara is mean because she doesn’t want me hanging around… The orphans are mean to me and say I’m filthy… Martha is a mean old witch… All these things we see in the beginning and by the end we find out they are one sided statements. Hoffman actually has a taste for young girl’s flesh… Wendy isn’t as sweet as she seems, Clara may be protecting Jennifer by keeping her out of Hoffman’s favor/line of sight, the orphans are merely attempting to solidify their right to be loved in the main body of their lives; the orphanage and the club, and Martha as a shitty job and probably was responsible for teaching Jennifer cleaning habits.

What all that blabbering was about was that just because we see something through Jennifer’s eyes at first we have to keep it in perspective. You can’t tell an entire story from one page. You can’t tell a person’s entire geneology by their haircolor. AND you can’t tell the story of the Rule of Rose without taking into account that at one time Jennifer wasn’t really paying attention to their stupid rules except the basics. Let’s face it… this society was probably based on more rules than:

Stay Dog Kidnaps Kids,
Give a Gift every (however long to keep him at bay… I’m betting 2-3 weeks.)
Love thy neighbor and punish the unfaithful.

We already know Jennifer didn’t really want to play the orphans’ games. Especially those pertaining to the “Grand Aristocrats on a Grand Airship” idea. I’m betting she kept the mindframe that most kids keep when being forced to do something they don’t like.

“If I just do enough to keep them from screaming at me… that’s good enough for me… I don’t wanna do this anyway…”

Really this would actually cause more problems for her because of Wendy’s friendship… Think about it… “Slacker’s hanging out with the princess again! She doesn’t do ANYTHING! What’s the Princess see in her!?”

I can see Diana as being particularly prickly about this as she seems to take pride in having the top of every form of pecking order from Hoffman’s “Bedtime List” to “The Red Crayon Aristocrat Club” rankings. Hence she comes down on Jennifer the hardest. Squash the compititon.

As for Wendy being knocked down easily, she was probably becoming overbearing. Beyond that, I dont’ think Diana planned to play Second Fiddle for very long to begin with. She doesn’t seem the type able to stomach it.

We see that Meg was already suspicious of Wendy’s attention seeking ways, researchign the Imps and Stray Dog. Diana woudln’t like being pushed out of power by Meg either, which I hold that may be the reason she tore up Meg’s notebook more than some loveletter ordeal; then afterwards maybe she claimed that if the goat who “ate the notebook” was given as a sacrifice it would be Meg’s saving sacrifice. But back to the point…

Wendy wasn’t mature enough or strong enough to hold things together after the adults were gone. Things on the dream airship to neverland started to fall apart. I don’t think that Diana would’ve been able to hold them together any better or Jennifer either however Diana’s normal line of thought is “I’m in charge.” When things aren’t going good… she grabs on to her power crutch. That’s part of the reason I think when Wendy’s lie was revealed she let go so easily. It’s not that she didnt’ know it was a lie, but she needed the power that lie gave her as a crutch. Once the crutch has been revealed as a lie, it’s time to switch models of crutch.