Rose Princess
Rose Princess (野ばら姫 Nobara Hime) is one of the seven actresses from the album, Märchen, who sings of her grudge under Märchen von Friedhof's conducting and takes revenge upon Alte-Rose, the witch who cursed her as a babe. Her vocals and dialogue were provided by Mikuni Shimokawa. She is based on the character Sleeping Beauty (German Dornröschen) from the fairytales collected by the Brothers Grimm.
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Appearance
Akin to her name, Rose Princess wears a pale pink gown with a rose-lined cape; the entire outfit gives off the likeness of a rosebud ready to bloom, fitting for the age at which she falls under the curse. She also wears a band of roses in her blond hair.
Like the other actresses, Rose Princess wears a black and red feathered mask after her "death", complete with the lion brooch set in the middle to symbolize pride.
Role
Rose Princess appears in three songs: Yoiyami no Uta where she first sings as part of Märchen von Friedhof's choir, Gyoukou no Uta where she makes a brief appearance, and Bara no Tou de Nemuru Himegimi where her full story is shown. Her song is the fifth of the seven actresses under the sin of Hochmut or Pride.
Bara no Tou de Nemuru Himegimi
Her story is based off the original Grimms' version[1], albeit with some variations to the tale. After a frog announces her conception, Rose Princess' delighted royal parents throw a grand feast to celebrate her birth. However, they neglect to prepare a golden plate for the thirteenth wise woman, Alte-Rose, let alone invite her. This prompts Alte-Rose to place a curse on the infant Rose Princess, fating her to be pricked by a spindle at the age of fifteen and die. Another wise woman, Aprikose, is quick to interfere and alters the spell so that the princess will merely sleep for a hundred years.
Rose Princess grows up with little incident, and on her fifteenth birthday she climbs up a tower, eventually reaching the top room where an old woman is spinning thread. She expresses great interest in the spindle the woman uses, presumably because her parents had ordered the destruction of all such tools in the kingdom after Alte-Rose's announcement. The princess ends up pricking herself on the spindle and falls asleep.
At this point, Märchen von Friedhof bids her to wait for a Prince Charming to awaken her from her sleep. After a hundred years, the red prince arrives and easily passes the wild roses that have grown around the castle, finally coming upon Rose Princess' sleeping form and kissing her. She wakes up, the rest of the castle along with her, and takes her revenge by exiling Alte-Rose. However, the former wise woman manages to leave Rose Princess with a second curse, and the story closes with the princess abandoning her newborn child in the forest.
Live Portrayal
Mikuni Shimokawa plays Rose Princess in the live performances. The portrayal generally follows the song, although Rose Princess is shown to be singing of her own rumor which bids the prince to find her. After she is cursed by Alte-Rose for the second time with a spell aimed at her abdomen, Rose Princess and the red prince draw close together as the song ends. There is no live portrayal of the abandonment of the newborn child. In the final day of the concert tour, Rose Princess is also shown to be wearing her revenge mask all throughout the song.
She reappears in Gyoukou no Uta, sometimes with the red prince and other times with some of the wise women.
Theories
The Abandoned Child
| Thick and overgrown trees of dark green, the eerie chirping of birds The infant was abandoned in woods far away from human dwelling |
El no Ehon 【Majo to Lafrenze】 (El’s Picture Book【The Witch and Lafrenze】), 4th Story Elysion. Translation by Defade. |
It is commonly theorized that Rose Princess' child is Lafrenze. Described as possessing features that would usually be associated with albinoism, albeit also being said to be chillingly beautiful, Lafrenze's condition may have been the reason for her being abandoned. Whether this is due to a mass fear of these uncommon features or the mother being unable to take her own child (possibly due to her own pride) is unclear.
Additionally, the melody used during the narration is one shared with El no Ehon 【Majo to Lafrenze】, further establishing a link between the two songs.
Related pages
References
- ↑ J. and W. Frimm, "Little Brier-Rose, (D. L. Ashliman, Trans., 2009). Retrieved 31 December, 2011.
