Forum - View topicWolf's Rain (TV + OAV).
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GalaxyPicnic
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GalaxyPicnic
Posts: 14 |
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So then there is the Nobles, and I think more than anything else this theory casts a lot of light on who the nobles actually are. With the exception of Darcia we barely spend any time with any of them, so it's hard to get a grasp on what their role in the story actually means.
If wolves show a psyche were the different aspects work together as a unit, and the humans show a psyche that's divided, then the Nobles portrays a psyche at war with it self. On top of that each Noble choses their own false paradise. First of all there's Orkham. He has maybe four scenes in the entire show tops, and it would be easy to write him off as nothing more than a mechanic of the plot, but by viewing him in relation to the other nobles we can see that he represents the aspect of Ego. In my diagram I chose to place Orkham outside the self. Like how the human forms represents the wolves persona, so does the noble's masks. Orkham is the only Noble we never see without a mask, and I think this might be symbolically representing narcissism. In my own understanding narcissism occurs when the Ego becomes to closely associated with your persona. You define yourself based on how other people see you, and thats the kind of person Orkham is. He steals Chesa not because he has any ambition to open paradise himself, but simply to lord it over Darcia. Orkham has chosen worldly pleasure over any dream of a greater paradise. When we see the inside of his palace we see all the nobles indulging their senses in what looks like sex and drugs. Last edited by GalaxyPicnic on Mon Feb 17, 2025 7:29 am; edited 2 times in total |
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GalaxyPicnic
Posts: 14 |
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Then there is Hamona.
Hamona represents the Inner Child and I would argue no one in the story is more of a child then her. It's really funny. As I reread this old thread I saw Jacob making the assumption that Hamona is not only a good person, but that she also somehow made her way to the actual real paradise. It's funny because I always made the same assumption, but when you really start to think about it... there really is nothing in the show that indicates that Hamona is what you might call good. She is innocent yes, but in a subtly sinister way. In the one scene she shares with Darcia she only talks about how good it feels to be in love, and how she wishes for this moment to last for eternity. This is a very relatable notion, but also a very immature one. Hamona portrays the shadow aspect of the Inner Child. She is someone who wants to feel good and to be taken care of. This is the same as Toboe at the very start of the story. He to seeks Lyra's attention in episode 2 and 3, only so he can find someone who will show him affection. But Toboe does a lot of growing throughout the story. By taking on the aspects of the Ego, the Trickster and the ID, he becomes someone who doesn't just seek affection, but actively practices compassion towards others. On a sidenote, I think we see one of the best demonstrations of this in a scene from Jaguras city. While walking around Toboe notices a disgruntled Quent. Toboe is ecstatic to see that the old man is alive, but Quent's immediate reaction is to threaten Toboe. Still Toboe extends compassion towards Quent, and doesnt hold it against him. The scene really gets to me is all. 
Hamona however remains a child. I believe that the Paradise Sickness that strikes her is in fact the exact same as the Garden of Eternity that Kiba is trapped in. There are three reasons I make that assumption: 1. The scene with Hamona from ep 7, looks very similar to how the Garden of Eternity is portrayed. 2. The owl that shows up in the Garden of Eternity is wildly believed to be the ghost of Darcia I, the progenitor of Paradise Sickness. 3. Mew has purple eyes.  That might seem like a reach, but I really think every single choice of eye color in this show is deliberate. I think the creators wanted us to associate Mew with Hamona is what I'm saying.
The Garden of Eternity represents a world that is perfectly still. One without consequences, and therefor without responsibility. In this world one can remain like a child forever. Kiba and Toboe rejects such a notion, but Hamona does not. Last edited by GalaxyPicnic on Mon Feb 17, 2025 7:32 am; edited 1 time in total |
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GalaxyPicnic
Posts: 14 |
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Jagura on the other hand is nothing like a child.
She is the shadow of the Trickster aspect. Someone who manipulates and controls other people. Her paradise seems to be the same as the Garden of Eternity at first, but there is a difference. The Garden is born out of emotions, but Jagura's Paradise is born out of thinking. It's a paradise where your dreams come true, and you get everything you ever wanted. The real world example of this is Maladaptive Daydreaming. To daydream is a fairly innocent thing, but if it becomes an excessive cooping mechanism it can be genuinely dangerous to our psyche. In the show Jagura refers to herself as the dark to Hamona's light, and I think this line is what gets people confused. Jagura is evil, so then Hamona is good right? But why would Jagura refer to herself this way? Whats really going on here has everything to with mr... |
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GalaxyPicnic
Posts: 14 |
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Darcia III.
He is one of the greatest villains of all time in my opinion, but like Hamona, when you see the show for the first time, you might catch yourself rooting for him early on. I mean he only wants to bring back his lover. That seems like a noble (haha  ) purpose right?
Well the devil is in the details. Darcia is truly a reprehensible and scary guy. Scary because he is both relatable and realistic. In her essay, Anne Lauenroth, describes Darcia as a Byronic hero. She couldn't be more on the money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byronic_hero A Byronic hero is a concept of the Romantic movement. A person who embodies all the ideals of Romanticism. Foremost the ideal to reject reason in favor of emotions. This is why Darcia outright rejects Jagura for Hamona. And it is perhaps this act that more then anything is responsible for throwing the psyche of the Nobles into disarray. Without the thoughtful Trickster aspect the emotions of the inner child cannot grow into empathy, and without the Ego Darcia himself is unable to relate himself to a wider world around him. As he suffers the loss of Hamona, he gives into despair, only to find his wolf's eye awakening. Like Kiba he becomes aware that he has a greater purpose, but unlike Kiba his view of life is so narrow and self-serving, that his search for paradise becomes twisted. Darcia has chosen a life of feeling, and when his happiness turns into despair he doesn't know how to rationalise it or relate it to others. Instead he choses to justify it. He begins to see his suffering as a purpose unto itself. "Why must I suffer so? There must a greater meaning to it, right?" This is why he tells Kiba that everything must be discarded in order to enter paradise. He sees his murder of Kiba's friends not as evil, but simply a necessary sacrifice they both must suffer, in order to be "Worthy" of opening paradise. By this point Jagura's poison has removed all of his pain, and he has become a cold and unfeeling psycopath. I think that if you were to distill Wolf's Rain into a single message, it would be the necessity to take and interest in people outside yourselves. At worst, failing to do so could turn you into something truly ugly like Darcia. 
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11521 Location: Frisco, TX |
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@GalaxyPicnic
I went through and adjusted all your posts to either show thumbnail previews for your charts, or to add some paragraph breaks for easier readability, since there's quite a bit of content to read through. Kudos on the effort. |
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GalaxyPicnic
Posts: 14 |
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Thank you kindly! That is very much appreciated!
Finally I just wanted to say that there are still many things about the show that I don't really understand. In my diagrams I placed Chesa as an Anima/ Animus figure, but I personally still struggle to understand what those concepts mean. I also struggle to understand what the moonlight crucible or the stone actually symbolize. Like I assume the stone is a reference to the philosopher's stone, but other than that... Maybe their just superficial references to alchemic concepts, or maybe there is a deeper significance there. Anyway I would love if these posts inspired more discussion of the show, and hopefully other people could develop the theory further.
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