Rule of Rose Mysteries

In my previous blog-post, Some Thoughts About Aristocratic Rank in Rule of Rose (Part 1), I wrote that Wendy’s position as the Princess seemed to stand apart from the other rankings with respect to the “expected” values of children dominating each other by way of age, or height, or strength. Diana is older, taller, and stronger than Wendy. Diana seems to have a more dominating personality. How did Diana ever allow/accept Wendy outranking her?

I don’t think that there are many clues to find in the Rule of Rose game that address this question. But I think there are at least SOME clues for us to consider.

Clue #1:

Eleanor : Greetings, Princess Jennifer. From now on, you’ll be our new Princess.

Meg : Now, Princess… Please think up a new game.

Eleanor : Please lead us.

Diana : We are yours to command, Princess.

Amanda kneels on the ground.

Amanda : Princess, go ahead! Guide us! We need you! We don’t know what to do!

What is NOT made absolutely clear, in this scene, is exactly what the old game was (or what the old games were, if multiple), why the old game no longer serves, and exactly why it is important that there be someone to lead in “a new game”. If we knew more about the function(s) of the game(s), we would know more about the functions of the Princess. And that would help us to understand why Wendy was the Princess.
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Aynelle asked:

I mean to say that, is the hierarchy ranks important? o_O;;
like, how is it important for that person to have that rank— what does it do, and how it benefits her?

There isn’t much evidence, that I can think of, upon which to base speculation about this.

If we consider the hierarchy that we see in the game before we discover that Wendy must be placed into it, the ranking seems quite understandable. Diana (Duchess) outranks Eleanor (Countess). Both outrank Meg (Baroness). Diana is the tallest, and seems to be the oldest (she is the only one of the three girls with obvious post-puberty physical features). And Eleanor is taller than Meg. Age and height are rather common factors of dominance among children, I think, so this “pecking order” isn’t surprising. The older and taller girls will generally tend to dominate the shorter and younger girls, all other factors being equal.

Amanda, although heavy and broad of girth, appears to be shorter than Meg (see the scene by the coffin in “The Little Princess” chapter), although Amanda’s hunched-over posture is a factor that lowers her height below what it would be if she stood up straight. And whatever Amanda’s age actually may be, she acts far more immaturely than Diana, Eleanor, or Meg. Also, it may be that her awkwardness and lack of beauty may be important factors working against Amanda with regard to gaining respect from other girls. Perhaps some of my female readers will have more insight than I to share about how social dominance arises among young girls.

If the Prince and Princess were only figureheads, only dolls (Joshua-the-bear and the Little Princess doll), then it would be Diana who was truly at the top of the hierarchy. And this seems to be the position that one would expect of Diana.

So far, I am suggesting that the Aristocrat Club hierarchy just seems to reflect the natural factors of social dominance among girls.

The effect of this ranking upon the day-to-day lives of the girls, upon their duties and privileges, is not something, however, that I’ve found the game to show us. [edit: I now think that there is something about this that is shown to us in the game, and will address this in Part 2 of this series of blog-posts]

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When we factor in Wendy as Princess, the hierarchical order is harder to understand.
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Does Diana sometimes emulate Hoffman?

Comment-maker on this site, Mokgrok, explores this question in her video.

I think it is a very well-made video, and Mokgrok’s observation that Diana’s touching of Amanda resembles Hoffman’s touching of Diana is a new and original observation.

See the video on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfeOy8veZm4

(LATER NOTE: Mokgrok shut down her YouTube channel for some undisclosed reason)

Hopefully we’ll see more good videos from Mokgrok analyzing Rule of Rose.
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There is no witch in the “Mermaid Princess” storybook. But there is a witch playing an important role in “The Little Mermaid” fairy tale, which the “Mermaid Princess” storybook seems to echo. And there are also some puzzling references, in the “Unlucky Clover Field” chapter of Rule of Rose, to the idea that Martha is a witch.

When Jennifer finds Martha’s hat in that chapter, we see the text:

The hat worn by Martha, who was accused of being a witch.

And later in the “Unlucky Clover Field” chapter of Rule of Rose, when Jennifer finds a dirty rag, the voice of Martha (her invisible ghost?) says:

I was a mighty witch. Yet now, I am but a powerless wretch. Rubbish and dust.

It isn’t at all clear why Martha should be depicted as a witch in the Rule of Rose game. Could it be that we are meant to associate Martha, in some manner, with the witch of “The Little Mermaid” fairytale? And if so, what might that association be meant to tell us about what happened in the orphanage during Jennifer’s forgotten past?
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I constructed a theory, to explain the dolls on the table in the Cell of Bliss, in my blog-posts:

The Cell of Bliss Mystery (part 1)
The Cell of Bliss Mystery (part 2)

By this theory, the dolls on the left side of the table represent Jennifer, Diana, Eleanor, Meg, and Amanda during the event shown to us at the end of “The Little Princess” chapter of Rule of Rose wherein Jennifer has water poured on her and goes into a coffin.

I think that the dolls on the table, because we see them depicted in the “Once Upon A Time” chapter when Jennifer’s memory has returned to her in a clear manner, should be something that actually existed during Jennifer’s forgotten past. Which means that, in my opinion, the water pouring incident in which Jennifer went into a coffin should be more than just a dream-event, it should also be something that occurred in some fashion during her forgotten past. My explanation for the context of this occurrence during Jennifer’s forgotten past is found in my blog-post:

The Mystery of Jennifer in the Coffin

By my theory, the dolls on the right side of the table represent a threat to Jennifer that she will be hanged if she doesn’t do something that is demanded of her by the Aristocrats.

During “The Funeral” chapter, we see a “gift of the month” warrant for Jennifer which shows her being hanged by the neck. The dolls on the right side of the table, showing a figure hanged by the neck, surrounded by “spooky things”, is—according to my theory—a depiction of the threat of that.

But could it be that, like the dolls on the left side of the table, the dolls on the right side of the table depict an event that actually occurred during Jennifer’s forgotten past?

Obviously, Jennifer herself was not hanged by the neck during her forgotten past, so, if it is not Jennifer that is shown hanging, who could it be?

We have recently been discussing the matter of whether or not Hoffman was hanged. See my blog-posts:

Was Mr. Hoffman Hanged? (Part 1)
Was Mr. Hoffman Hanged? (Part 2)

But let’s open up the discussion to include Martha and Clara as well. Could all of them have hanged?

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I think that I have found some strong evidence against the theory that the forest scene at the end of the “Sir Peter” chapter of Rule of Rose might actually be the occasion of the hanging of Mr. Hoffman (see Part 1 of this series of blog-posts, and the comments there, for discussion of that theory). This evidence also argues against the “Mondays pea…etc.” chant being about Hoffman, Martha, or Clara.

At the end of that final scene, in the forest, of the “Sir Peter” chapter, Jennifer sticks a maggoty dead rat in Amanda’s face.

In Amanda’s diary, the following entry was made:

Sunday, June 1

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
Those awful things got into my mouth!
She’ll be sorry the next chance I get.
But why me again?
What have I done?
(Working Class Luggage, “Rag Princess Sews”, Amanda’s Diary)

If the statement, “Those awful things got into my mouth!”, can be safely assumed to be a reference to the maggots getting into Amanda’s mouth when Jennifer thrust the maggoty dead rat into Amanda’s face, then we must date the forest scene to June 1, which is long before the time when Hoffman, Martha, and Clara disappeared (they were all present in the orphanage as late as November).

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The following blog-post was based on my identification of the head of the seamstress as being that of a bear. Thank you Pandora for the alternative (correct?) identification of pig (comment #6). See links to images, scattered throughout the comments-thread.
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The animation that begins the “Rag Princess Sews” chapter of Rule of Rose is described by TheSinnerChrono’s “Rule of Rose Game Script” as follows:

A girl works at a sewing machine. Her hand gets punctured by the needle; the wheel continues to spin and she’s pulled through the machine, becoming flattened by cloth.

TheSinnerChrono failed to mention a very important feature of this “girl”: she has the head of Joshua-the-bear!

As the only person who we see sewing in Rule of Rose is Amanda, this establishes, it might seem, some sort of co-identity between Amanda and Joshua-the-bear!

What could THAT possibly be about?

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The “Rag Princess” storybook of Rule of Rose tells us:

One day.
a fairy godmother came,
cast a spell on the girl, and said,
“Sew yourself an ash-grey dress.
Then you can go to the ball like your stepsisters!”

The accompanying illustration in the storybook shows Joshua-the-bear as the fairy godmother.

How does this section of the storybook tale relate to the events of Jennifer’s forgotten past?

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I have stated before that I believe that the months ascribed to the chapters of the Rule of Rose game are unreliable.

The airship chapters are ascribed the following months (in 1930):

April_________The Unlucky Clover Field
May__________Sir Peter
July__________Bird of Happiness
August________Mermaid Princess
September____The Goat Sisters
October_______Rag Princess Sews

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If we take note of the progression in the number of Wendy’s drawings posted on the wall of the Sick Room, we find the following pattern:

April_________The Unlucky Clover Field__________2 DRAWINGS
May__________Sir Peter______________________3 DRAWINGS
July__________Bird of Happiness_________________________(no access)
August________Mermaid Princess________________________ (no access)
September____The Goat Sisters__________________________(access; but no drawings at all on the wall)
October_______Rag Princess Sews______________4 DRAWINGS

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Now let’s look at the height progression of Amanda’s covered-up sewing project in the Working Class Luggage area:

April_________The Unlucky Clover Field____________________(no project present)
May__________Sir Peter________________initially SHORTEST-SIZE,
_______________________________________then MID-SIZE later in the May chapter (at which time Amanda says: “It’s almost ready.”)
July__________Bird of Happiness__________________________(no project present)
August________Mermaid Princess__________________________(no project present)
September____The Goat Sisters___________________________(no project present)
October_______Rag Princess Sews______________TALLEST SIZE

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In both of the above progressions, the pattern breaks after the “Sir Peter” chapter and then resumes again in the “Rag Princess Sews” chapter.

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I’m going to start our discussion of Amanda’s sewing project by posting the entire text of the “Rag Princess” storybook here for reference:

Once upon a time,
there was a girl who sewed rags,
day in, day out.
The stench of the rags seeped into her clothes.
Her stepsisters wore beautiful dresses and went to the ball.
The girl stayed at home and her jealousy festered.
One day.
a fairy godmother came,
cast a spell on the girl, and said,
“Sew yourself an ash-grey dress.
Then you can go to the ball like your stepsisters!”
The girl patched together the sooty rags,
and that’s how she became the Rag Princess.
A very stinky princess indeed.
She stunk up the whole town, in fact.
No girl who stunk so would be allowed into the ball.
I’ll make that girl wear this awful dress myself!
And thus, the Rag Princess and the girl in the rag dress became play pals.

In the “Rag Princess” storybook, the Amanda’s sewing project begins as a dress for herself:

“Sew yourself an ash-grey dress.
Then you can go to the ball like your stepsisters!”

But it is a project that fails:

No girl who stunk so would be allowed into the ball.

Some entries in Amanda’s diary seem to relate to this sewing project.

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