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“I am the Prince, and the Prince rules!” announces Wendy-as-Joshua in “The Unlucky Clover Field” chapter of the Rule of Rose game. We see Wendy-as-Joshua sitting on one of the throne-chairs during “The Little Princess” chapter and during each of the chapter-interludes that occur between the airship-chapters of the Rule of Rose game.

Wendy-as-Joshua wears a green neck-tie. This connects her, costume-wise, to the Joshua-the-bear doll which has a green ribbon tied around his neck. In the “shared diary of J and W” (see links below) we are told a “fairy tale” in which the Joshua-the-bear doll transforms into a human “Joshua”. I propose that we see the end result of a similar transformation “fairy tale” in “The Funeral” chapter of Rule of Rose where we see the “The Little Princess” doll replaced by Wendy dressed in clothing that resembles “The Little Princess” doll as she descends from her royal place upon the throne-chair. Wendy is the Princess at this time.

If I recall correctly, only once do we ever see the two dolls together on the throne-chairs. At that time we see the two dolls bound together with rope. I propose that this symbolizes that the Prince and the Princess are metaphorically “bound together” by Wendy, who is the single person who is both of them. This relates to the Gemini twins/duality theme associated with Wendy (see my previous bog-post Trying to Understand Wendy (Part 1): Gemini Symbolism?). See the YouTube video clip of the two dolls tied together on the throne-chairs here.

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See also:

Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 2)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 3)

(1) “Joshua” is actually Wendy herself, as the alter-ego of her split-personality.
(2) “Joshua” is actually Jennifer.
(3) “Joshua” is the original and genuine Joshua Wilson.

Lets look at each of these possibilities as they relate to the question:

Why a shared diary?
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(1) “Joshua” is actually Wendy herself, as the alter-ego of her split-personality.
I find the idea very appealing and natural that a “split-personality” Wendy might use a “shared” diary for both sides of that split-personality. A diary is generally something used by just one person. The choice of a “diary” as the location of the communications between J and W might be a hint from the game-makers that the J and W of the diary are one and the same person.

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(2) “Joshua” is actually Jennifer.
We have to wonder why Jennifer and Wendy would communicate in writing via a shared diary, when all of their written communications, that we find in the game itself, are via letters. At the orphanage, both before May 1930, and after May 1930, they exchanged letters (see my Document-based Time-line: After Jennifer Arrived at the Orphanage). So, why would they also use a shared diary for communication?

One might propose that the shared diary was specially reserved for those communications between Wendy and Jennifer that involved Jennifer role-playing as Joshua (as we see Jennifer role-playing as Joshua—but not dressed as Joshua—in the E3 video, that is, the RoR pre-game video). But this role-playing could have as easily been done, it seems to me, via letters. Indeed, didn’t Wendy and Jennifer begin this role-playing during the exchange of letters between them before Jennifer ever came to the orphanage? See my Document-based Time-line: Before Jennifer Arrived at the Orphanage. Why switch to the use of a shared diary?

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(3) “Joshua” is the original and genuine Joshua Wilson.
This is the favored solution of many comment-makers.

[LATER EDITING: I should have re-read the shared diary before I wrote my first version of this section of the blog-post, because I forgot all about the transformation of Joshua-the-bear. That transformation invalidates what I wrote initially (which I have deleted).]

In this scenario, Joshua is role-playing that he is Joshua-the-bear transformed into a human Joshua, possibly Prince Joshua, in line with the fairy-tale theme of transformation. If this is the situation, then the month of May in the shared diary would be May 1929 at the latest (the original Joshua having undoubtedly died before May 1930). May 1929 would not make the diary the earliest dated document in the game. There is one earlier: a newspaper article in the game that is dated 25 April 1929.

Again we face the question of: Why use a shared diary instead of exchanging letters? It has the advantage of keeping these role-play writings bound together in one place, but it has the disadvantage of requiring more work to carry back and forth than letters would require.
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For the text of the shared diary, see:
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 1)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 2)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 3)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 4)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 5)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 6)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 7)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 8 )
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The similarity of the pictures above, of Wendy and “Joshua” together, should be obvious to everybody.

The top picture shows a drawing that can only be found in the sickroom of the airship during the “Rag Princess Sews” chapter of Rule of Rose.

The picture below that is from the shared diary of J and W, provided to us by comment-maker Pennywise who obtained it from the game-disc using Codebreaker. This shared diary is not seen during game-play.

In my previous blog-post, Wendy’s Drawings (Part 3): Wendy and Joshua, which was written before the shared diary was known to me, I proposed three possibilities:

(1) The “Joshua” drawn by Wendy is actually Jennifer.
(2) The “Joshua” drawn by Wendy is actually Wendy herself, as the alter-ego of her split-personality.
(3) The “Joshua” drawn by Wendy is the original and genuine Joshua Wilson.

In upcoming blog-posts, I will argue the best case that I can for each of these possibilities (as relates to the drawings above).
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For previous blog-posts about the shared diary of J and W, see:
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 1)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 2)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 3)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 4)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 5)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 6)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 7)
Help Us Read This Shared Diary of J and W (Part 8 )
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Offer your suggestions in the comments.

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The text of the May 8 entry is very difficult to read. So I thought it might be a good idea to temporarily skip over it and go directly to the May 9 entry of the shared diary in hope that an understanding of the May 9 entry might help us to read the May 8 entry when we come back to it.

As I think that the drawing found on the page of the May 8 entry might relate to the text of the May 9 entry, I have included that drawing above.

I propose that the text of the May 9 entry reads:

May 9

Please, Oh please,
may they guide us true!

W

I think that sense may be made of this reading of the text by referring to the May 8 drawing. In that drawing we see some sort of trail of black dots extending from the rose garden to some labeled thing(s) that is(are) red colored. Can you read (or make a guess at the reading of) the label?

At any rate, I think that it might be whatever-it-is-that-the-black-dots-represent that W hopes will guide them (W and J) true so that they will successfully reach (or find) the labeled thing(s). Or perhaps help them (W and J) to go successfully from the labeled thing(s) to the garden at night?
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Please help us figure this out if you can.

If you have an alternative reading or interpretation,

I propose that the text of this page reads:

May 7

Our own secret flower garden, hidden behind the gingerbread house.

W

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What bothers me about the reading I’ve proposed above is that it seems that the reading doesn’t give a proper sentence (unless we assume that there is something like an implied, “This is…”, that refers to the garden in the drawing). Does that mean the reading might be wrong? Do you see an alternative reading?

I propose that the text of this page reads:

May 6

After everyone’s asleep,
walk out into the moonlight
and meet me behind the gingerbread house.

J

I propose that the text of this page reads:

May 5

Let’s play together again in secret.
W

I propose that the text of the left page reads:

May 4

My name is Joshua.
You have freed me from my curse.
I am no longer a bear.
And so I shall be your faithful servant.

The accompanying picture is of a “Joshua” who, previously shown as a bear in the May 1 entry, and having received a “magic kiss” from the May 2 entry, now has magically transformed—with a burst of radiant energy—into human form. This event is reminiscent of the fairy tale in which a prince, who had been cursed into frog-form, has that magical spell broken when he receives a kiss from a princess.

I propose that the text of the right page is:

Now, let me kiss you back.
J

The most uncertain word, in my opinion, is the word “curse“, on the left page, which I came up with mostly from the context of the fairy tale role-play between W and J.

For these pages I propose that the text reads:

May 2

My name is Joshua.
I shall be your faithful servant.
You need only give me a kiss.
J

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May 3

Yes, I shall give you a magic kiss.
W

The line by J, written on the page dated May 2, “My name is Joshua,” appears to be an answer to the request from W, written on the page dated May 1, “(Do) tell me your name.”

There is a drawing of Joshua the bear as part of the May 2 entry, and a drawing of kissing lips (like a lipstick kiss-mark) as part of the May 3 entry.
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It is worth recalling, I think, that the very first letter from Wendy that was ever received by Jennifer (when she was a captive in Gregory’s cellar) was addressed: “To Mr. Joshua, the bear in distress“.

Recall also that at the end of the E3 video (a.k.a. the pre-game video) Jennifer and Wendy are shown together in the rose garden, and Jennifer says to Wendy:

“My name is Joshua. I will serve you, Princess. Just kiss me, please.“

See that scene by watching the following YouTube video from 5:30-5:40:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obfxV0MqpeQ