You’ll find a brand new article, by one of the authors of Rule of Rose, in which official explanations are given to mysteries not explained in the “Once Upon A Time” chapter!

I’m happy to learn that I had figured out some of them. But other explanations come as a big shock to me!

I need a little time to digest it all. Then I’ll give my reactions in some blog-posts as soon as possible.

—This was an April Fool’s Day post—

~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~

See “What’s Going On in the Corner of the Play Area of the Orphanage? (Part 1)” for relevant screen-caps of the Play Area.
~

On the map (top picture) the room labeled (26) is the Play Area, and the area labeled (25) is the Balcony. This, it seems to me, makes the window in the corner of the Play Area—that we’ve been examining during this series of blog-posts—the same window near which we see Jennifer and Eleanor standing on the balcony (middle picture).

Notice how the three ropes that hang down from the balcony rail line up with the window. Those ropes hang down toward the strange objects arrayed in front of the “Legend of Stray Dog / Stray Dog kidnaps kidz” drawing (bottom picture).
~

~

Does what’s going on in the corner of the Play Area relate to the Balcony, the ropes, and the area beneath? Let me know what you think in the comments-thread.
~

Thanks, Jay, for the high-resolution screen-caps.
Thanks, Lussh, for the map.

The above screen-capture from the “Rag Princess Sews” chapter reveals to us a pig imp as being merely a costume worn by a generic-type imp. I think that this is just a further fantasy/dream distortion of Jennifer’s emerging (previously repressed) memories of the imps as the orphans wearing costumes.
~

~
See also:
“Olivia Imp”
“The Imps Mystery, and Orphans-wearing-bags (Part 1)”
“The Imps Mystery, and Orphans-wearing-bags (Part 2)”
“The Imps Mystery, and Orphans-wearing-bags (Part 3)”
“The Imps Mystery, and Orphans-wearing-bags (Part 4)”
~
Thanks, Jay, for providing the screen-cap.

Jay’s high resolution screen-captures have cleared up the ambiguity of the view we get—during the “Once Upon A Time” chapter when Jennifer comments at the table—of the hanged doll in the Cell of Bliss.

One shape that had been proposed (I’ve forgotten by whom) to resemble a bird’s beak turned out just to be the outline of a hatchet. But is there still a bird’s beak (with bird nostrils) to be seen on the doll?

Tell me what you think.
~

~
Thanks for providing the screen-caps, Jay!

There are two reddish damp spots associated with the table in the Cell of Bliss.

One spot, the smaller spot, centers under the hanged doll, and looks redder near the spot’s center than at the spot’s edges.

The other spot seems, by its shape, to be divided: partly on the table and partly on the floor.

There is a reddish tinge to these damp spots. Could the red be from blood? It doesn’t seem to me to be red enough to be blood, unless those damp spots represent blood stains that have been imperfectly washed up with water. Could that be what they are?
~

~
Notice the dark spot on the front of the torso of the hanged doll. (See the pictures of this blog-post for a cleared view: Rabbit Doll Hanged In The Cell Of Bliss?) It seems to me that this might also be dampness. It seems to me that the pattern of dampness suggests blood having poured from the neck of the doll, down the front of the torso, and pooling below (as if the doll had been hanged with a slit throat, or the noose had slit its throat). But dolls can’t bleed, right?

There are two hatchets on the table. The handle of one of these hatchets forms the gallows for the hanged doll.

I don’t see any blood stains on either hatchet, but might the hatchets relate to the damp spots, even so?
~
Thanks, Jay, for providing high-resolution screen-caps!

From the perspective of these screen-captures, it looks like the doll hanged in Cell of Bliss might be a rabbit doll.

If so, does the rabbit doll represent Wendy’s pet, Peter the rabbit? Or does the rabbit doll represent Mr. Hoffman as Sir Peter?

At one time, I thought this doll had been scribbled on with red crayon. In these pictures, we can see that there is no such scribbling as the type we saw on Jennifer, and saw on bagged-Martha, but there are some mysterious red dots and red rings. Any ideas about the significance of these red dots/rings, anybody?

And, does anybody have an idea to explain the large dark spot on the front of the doll’s torso?
~

~
Thanks, Jay, for the high resolution screen-caps I edited these pics from. I’d like to get a screen-capture of the doll, please, from the “Once Upon A Time” chapter, using the special view one is given when Jennifer gives her comment. My only pics of that view are very confusing in appearance.

But who does the snowman represent?
~

~
Is the scene a foreshadowing of the hanging threat directed at Jennifer, related to becoming the “gift of the month”? Or does it depict the hanging of Mr. Hoffman as Sir Peter? Or the hanging of another “disappeared” person?

The structure of the gallows as two vertical posts, connected by a crossbar at the top, resembles the gallows that we are shown during the animation of the hanging of Sir Peter, but could that gallows have been used (or threatened to be used) on more than one occasion?

Does the location of the gallows in the freezing room of the airship indicate that the actual place of this gallows in Jennifer’s forgotten past was outside of the orphanage during a time of snow? We know that Jennifer experienced snow during her time at the orphanage because she tells us, in the “Once Upon A Time” chapter, in the foyer, at the umbrella stand:

“We never used umbrellas. On snowy days, we’d go out for snowball fights. On rainy days, we’d go out and play in the rain, and get soaking wet. Every time, Xavier would trip and get himself all muddy and we’d laugh. It was so much fun.”

The freezing compartment has a foyer, and the comment above about snow is made in the foyer of the orphanage mansion… is this a coincidence or is it a clue?

It is perhaps worth noting that the steps under the gallows noose do not lead to a door. Using a map to be sure that I was at the right location, I checked the other side of that freezing compartment wall (there is a corridor on the other side) and there is definitely no door at that location.
~
Thanks, Jay, for providing the high-resolution screen-captures (via emulator).

I think this is a genuine case of symbolism, and that the symbolism is not hard to interpret.

The theme of “The Mermaid Princess” chapter is, in my opinion, Hoffman’s sexuality directed at Clara and Diana. His sexual bad behavior is what caused the metaphorical overturning of the (real, not the model) orphanage. The orphans, who had competed for Hoffman’s good opinion previously, turned against him and rebelled, and then he “disappeared”. The orphan revolution ultimately led to Martha’s disappearance as well, and the orphanage coming under the rule of an orphan (the Princess of the Rose). This, I propose, is the symbolic meaning of the overturned orphanage in “The Mermaid Princess” chapter.

What do you think?
~
Thanks, Jay, for providing the screencap that I edited for use.

Thanks to Jay’s new high resolution image (taken via emulator) of a wall of the Cell of Bliss, we can now read the writing on the wall. Here is how I read it:

Comes and comes
a dwarf comes

Came and came
the dwarf came

The dwarf behind you.

Now, now, it is the time of
cleaning up.

I will tidy up (the?) dark place.

Do you agree?

~
What is this talk of “a dwarf” and “the dwarf” about? If it refers to the “spooky things” (the “imps”) in general, why is it the singular form “dwarf” instead of the plural form “dwarfs”?

Could “the dwarf” refer to one particular orphan? If so, whom?

If I had to pick one orphan that comes to my mind when I hear the term “the dwarf”, I’d definitely pick Amanda.

If not Amanda, Meg?

What do you think?

Now that we have high resolution images (thanks to Jay) of the Cell of Bliss, we have more clues than previously about this fascinating and puzzling area. My previous hypothesis about the figures on the left side of the table in the Cell of Bliss had been that it represented the scene in “The Little Princess” chapter when Jennifer falls into the coffin. I am no longer confident that hypothesis is a viable one.

Previously, I thought there were five figures on the left side of the table. But higher resolution clearly shows there are six figures present. This means that the number of figures present does not match the number of people in “The Little Princess” chapter scene.

Previously, I thought the figures on the left side of the table were marked with a red rose symbol. But higher resolution clearly shows that the red symbol is actually an “X” with an “O” around it.

Can anybody think of a new way to interpret the meaning of these figures on the left side of the table?

~
A later edit (1/11/2011): I added the high-resolution picture of the figures in the big vice on the right side of the table, as these figures match the form of the figures on the left side of the table. As commenter HidingInTheShadows pointed out, there are four figures in the big vice (counting the spike-stands of the figures makes this easiest to see).