ADA GOTH 3: THE WUTHERING FRIGHT

ADA IS BACK IN SPAIN THIS WINTER!!!

Look up to the entourage of Lord Goth.

THE HALL IS VAST AND FULL OF AUTHORS...

It's Christmas in the Regency countryside in which Ghastlygorm Hall is situated. Sleigh bells ring in the crisp winter air, snowflakes twirl around, and Lord Goth hosts a Literary Show which fills his estate with renowned authors of the historical period. Though ominous howls echo throughout the Hall, and thus, Ada and friends, with their newfound club members the Brontë... er... Vicarage siblings, find themselves entangled in another sinister, addictive, and thrilling Regency mystery...

Inventor Charles Cabbage is now finished with his difference engine (a device that will surely make a difference!), but he also has time to invent a new remarkably simple toy he calls hooligan hoop (we now call it hula hoop), as his children William and Em return from their respective boarding schools for winter break having made the acquaintance of the Vicarage siblings: wannabe writers Charlotte, Emily, and Anne in their sonnet bonnets, and their awkward, shy brother Bramble (Spoiler alert: Bramble is a werewolf, since he was wounded in a gorse bush and injected with some drool from werewolf typographer the Hound of the Baskervilles.), aside from Rugby School bully/jock Harry Flushman (the scourge of Bramble Vicarage and William Cabbage!), eldest son and heir to water-closet tycoon Josiah Flushman...

The authors who visit Ghastlygorm include historical novel writer Sir Walter Scott... er... Splott (not in a kilt, but tartan trousers will do); romance novelist (Ada's handmaid's favourite) Jane... er... Plain Austen; balletic wordsmith (female in men's clothing) George... er... Georgie Eliot; sharply dressed society satirist William Makepeace... er... Timepiece Thackeray... Foreign authors are present as well: representing the former Thirteen Colonies, poetess Emily... er... Homily Dickinson; and, straight from Scandinavia, Danish fairytaler Hans Christian... Hands Christmas Andersen and Swedish Countess (slender though super strong, able to lift two horses, sporting twin braids but blond and freckle-less... an ancestor?) Pippi Shortstocking (it would be Kortstrump in Swedish). 

What's more, renowned British illustrator Sir Christopher Riddle-of-the-Sphinx R.A., founder of the Arts and Crufts Movement, also makes a stellar appearance (yes, the author has placed himself, drawn in his own style and Regency clothes, in his own novel!!). Just like Velázquez in Las Meninas, Sir Christopher crosses the fourth wall to literally live among his characters.

After all, Zacharias Topelius opens his Surgeon's Stories (Fältskärns berättelser) with a preface, adscribed to the titular Surgeon, the third-person narrator of the epic historical saga, from which I stress the following quote:

"Därför - har du förmågan att lida eller jubla med släkten som varit, att hata med dem, att älska med dem, att hänryckas, att beundra, att förakta, att förbanna, såsom de gjort, med ett ord, att leva bland dem med hela ditt hjärta och icke blott med ditt kalla betraktande förstånd, välan så följ mig! Jag leder dig ned i dälderna; min hand är svag och mina tavlor ringa, men ditt hjärta skall leda dig bättre än jag, på det förtröstar jag - och begynner. "

"Therefore, if you have the capacity to suffer or rejoice with the generations that have been—to hate with them—to love with them—to be transported—to admire, to despise, to curse as they have done—in a word, to live among them with your whole heart and not alone with your cold, reflecting judgement, then follow me. I will lead you down into the veil. My hand is weak and my sketch humble, but your heart will guide you better than I. Upon that I rely - and begin."

These words, a real creed for readers of historical fiction and fantasy, make me reflect upon what Riddell has done here in this book. Literally lived among his creations with his whole heart and soul, for who knows Ada and her friends better, or who would take the plunge head first into their Regency estate and take to its ways like a fish takes to water? Which is what makes his appearance far more interesting than any other simple author's cameo, comparable to Velázquez is Riddle's endeavour.

There are more references scattered all over the pages of The Wuthering Fright:

The inventor Cabbage has got three monkey assistants, dressed in Oz-style fezes and waistcoats, but without any wings, called William, Heath, and Robinson.

What's more, Marianne Delacroix (who still covers her tits under a blouse) is revealed to have a little son called Eugène, with a remarkable artistic talent.

And also that she taught Ada needlework (think Mme. Defarge...)

Hebe Poppins, married to her chimney-sweep Bert, has also become a mother, but of a daughter (Eugène's age), called... Mary, of course!

Nanny Darling guards a kindergarten in Kensington Gardens.

Jane Ear once overheard a pupil of hers, one Charlie Dodgson, as he drew a comic strip in his Maths textbook, say: "And what is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?" Jane Ear liked to repeat those words as if they were her own, and she passed the sentence on to Ada Goth.

And the ghosts of Tudor queens Anne Bowl-in and Anne of Peeves, both of them killed during a cricket match, also make a cameo...

Charles Cabbage's hooligan hoop was inspired by two unruly child workers, Noel and Liam (read: Gallagher), who, fortunately, when they came of age, became musicians instead

Lord Goth keeps busts of Trajan, Domitian, Vespasian, Julius Caesar, Hadrian, and Augustus on a shelf. And he's also writing a narrative poem titled The Pilgrimage of Harolde the Kid!

The local roadhouse has got a room full of Pickwicks (all of them bald, beer-quaffing, bespectacled, jolly, and overweight) reading newspapers. The Pickwick Snug.

Andersen, who here wrote a story about a mermaid barmaid called "The Little Barmaid", has got a flying trunk which came all the way from Turkey in a hot-air balloon, decorates the Ghastlygorm Christmas tree topping it with a (rather Elsa-like) Snow Queen figurine, and a snowman is made in his likeness by Ada and friends.

Furthermore, here's an excerpt of the opening of a Plain Austen novel, Miss Ambridge's/Fancyday's (Ambridge is the Spanish translation surname, Fancyday the original one) (Ada's new handmaid's) favourite read: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a talented singer in possession of a good voice must be in want of a musical production." The novel, Prompt and Prejudice, is all about Elizabeth Bonnett, a simple country girl with a song in her heart who meets a dashing dancing master, Mr Darcy-Bussell.

Plus, like every other Ada Goth book, this one has a little tie-in booklet for an Easter egg: here it is an illustrated summary of Bramble Vicarage's stage career, featuring portraits of him in costumes and also portraits of the authors of the plays, operas, and musicals he has starred in: works of Mozart (The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro), Jack London (Call of the Wild), Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest), Lady Baa-Baa (101 Dalmatians, done by a Lady Gaga parody), and the Lieder of my soulmate Franz Schubert.

The first Ada delighted me with one historical or literary allusion at every turn. So did the second. The third surpasses both of them exceedingly (the Scandinavian characters [I LUV both Andersen stories and Pippi Lângstrump], the Brontë... er... Vicarage siblings, all of the authors at the literary show, the mystery of the ominous howls that echo round the Hall, Harry Flushman already a jock and a bad boy in his teenage years at Rugby School [foreshadowing his expulsion!], the children of Hebe Poppins and Marianne Delacroix...) Here, Riddell really ups the ante, tripling the allusions and the British humour, and even featuring himself in the third installment of this richly-illustrated and highly intertextual Regency fantasy series. Addictive and intoxicating, even more than its predecessors, this third Ada Goth book is truly the jewel in the Snow Queen's icy crown!

And thus...

LET US POP A CORK OF MOËT CHAMPAGNE AND DRINK IT ON ICE! TO THE HEALTH OF ADA GOTH AND TO THAT OF SIR CHRISTOPHER RIDDLE-OF-THE-SPHINX, R.A.!

COMMENTARY:

Even richer layers of allusion are reached when it comes to the referees of the ‘literary show," Hands Christmas Andersen, and especially Countess Pippi Shortstocking, who appears to be a complex melange between the title character from the beloved children’s series Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren and Princess Anna of Frozen fame. Riddell’s humorous metafictionality is taken even farther in Wuthering Fright by the introduction of the episodic character of ‘Sir Christopher Riddle-of-the-Sphinx R.A., ‘a founder of the Arts and Crufts movement’. This seems like a very ‘meta-meta-‘ gesture, but it actually leads back to a whole tradition of painters more or less subtly inserting self-portraits into their paintings, like Sandro Botticelli in Adoration of the Magi, or Diego Velázquez in Las Meninas, a gesture of auto-mimesis that acts not only as a signature, but also as a meditation upon authorship. This all sounds terribly academic, and whilst it may convince an adult readership that Chris Riddell’s book is full of intellectual goodies, why would a child be willing to read it?

PS. AND THE PIRATE QUEEN?
Ada Goth book 2.5, The Pirate Queen, was only released in the UK because it was a special event book (don't blame me, blame the publisher!)

DESDEMONA'S SORROWS

Today it's the 25th of November:
INTERNATIONAL GENDER VIOLENCE DAY
So I have written this little Othello poem to raise awareness:

DESDEMONA'S SORROWS
Once I was a flower, a pearl, a princess, a star,
and you were my sword, my shield,
the steady pillar that kept me to its embrace.
Now your heart seems frozen, poisoned, ablaze,
painful dark purple kisses stolen with rage
now brand my lily-petal skin...
I don't know what hurts more, if your fists or your feet
or your words, so cold and yet so irate...
is it the effect of war?
tears sear my strangely pale face, while my heart throbs to break free
from this hell of a life I am living...
I swear he is no more to me,
I love him like a good friend, or rather like the brother I never had.
And thus, it was my turn to speak for his sake,
but his kisses have always been warm, never as fiery as yours.
Is this my punishment for marrying a warrior?
And...
will all three of us make it through this darkest night
into the hopeful light?

OTHELLO RETOLD - NOVELIZATIONS

http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/shakespeares-plays/modern-othello/

http://www.wsrightnow.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/Othello.3115509.html

LA SPOSA USURPATRICE

La complessità e la difficoltà della vicenda sono da intendere in questa fiaba come l’arduo lavoro di elaborazione del lutto da parte della protagonista femminile, e la difficile umanizzazione nel protagonista maschile. Figure femminili disseminano ostacoli – la sposa usurpatrice, impediscono se intesi a dovere possono – figure femminili li rimuovono o li superano – 
E se escono tesori dalla nocciola, dalla noce e dalla mandorla ricevuti in dono lungo il cammino, bisogna sacrificarli senza esitare, anche se niente ci garantisce il successo: le galanterie se le prende la regina usurpatrice che alloppiando il vino del re gli impedisce di sentire la povera Ginevra. Ma cosa sono le galanterie? Tra il 2006 e il 2007 a Palazzo Pitti si è potuto vedere quel che resta della straordinaria collezione di galanterie di Anna Maria Luisa dei Medici, che da Düsseldorf le portò a Firenze, quando nel 1716 rimase vedova dell’Elettore Palatino. Oggetti preziosi per l’arte e i materiali, talora veri e propri gioielli, accrescono la loro magia nelle fiabe, dove escono da una noce e saltano autonomamente. La fiaba popolare custodisce spesso segreti tesori di cui nemmeno lo stesso narratore è consapevole, perché in un altro tempo qualcuno possa goderne. 

 La giovane continuò tristemente a piangere, a camminare... fino a riempire i 7 fiaschettini di lacrime, consumare i vestiti le mazze e le scarpe e raggiungere la piazza reale. Lì aprì la mandorla e, come consigliato dalla vecchietta le vendette alla regina guadagnando la notte con lo sposo.
    Quella sera i servi l'avevano ubriacato per ordine della regina e la ragazza quando entrò in camera disse: - Son Ginevra bella che per te ha consumato 7 vestiti di ferro, 7 scarpe di ferro, 7 mazze di ferro e ha riempito 7 fiaschettini di lacrime -
Lui non si accorse di niente perché stava dormendo. Il giorno seguente la Ginevra aprì anche la nocciola e ne uscì così splendore che la regina ne fu abbagliata e le comprò, la ragazza guadagnò di nuovo una notte con il suo fidanzato.
Quella sera lui era ancor più ubriaco della notte precedente e la ragazza quando arrivò ripetè le stesse parole ma passò inosservata senza ottenere niente. (Anonimo/a)

    Il re infatti veniva fatto addormentare con un sonnifero messo nel vino e la sera la ragazza era introdotta nella sua stanza e vigilata fino all'alba. In queste ore il re, nelle prime due notti non si svegliò e non poté così udirla piangere:

    "Sono la tua sposa
    che per ritrovarti,
    ho consumato 7 scarpe di ferro
    7 vestiti di ferro
    e ho riempito 7 boccetti di lacrime"
    (Anonimo/a)

    Il giorno seguente Ginevra schiaccia la noce, vengono fuori bellissime galanterie, tutte luccicanti e la regina le chiede: "cosa vuoi in cambio di queste galanterie?" e Ginevra: "una notte con il re" e la regina accetta.
    Un servo fedele aveva detto al re, quello che faceva la regina al vino, allora il re ordinò di non drogare il proprio vino. Infatti arriva la regina e ordina "drogate il vino del re", ma i servi drogano il vino della regina.
    La sera il re mangia, beve e va a letto, fa finta di dormire a mezzanotte arriva Ginevra che dice: "Sono io, Ginevra bella tua, ho consumato sette paia di scarpe di ferro, sette vesti di ferro...". In quel mentre il re apre gli occhi e Ginevra contenta dice: "Amore mio, ti sei svegliato" e nel mentre era la regina che si era addormentata. (S.)

    Il re si ricordò di lei e gli propose di fuggire insieme e di prendere tutte le ricchezze. Ginevra accettò, così se ne andarono.
    Quando la mattina seguente la regina si svegliò trovò tutte le stanse vuote e non trovò più suo marito e morì dal dolore.
    Nel frattempo il re e Ginevra arrivarono all'altro castello dove la mamma li aspettava con ansia e così vissero tutti felici e contenti.(El.)
Nessuna guardia aiuta a stare sveglio il principe alloppiato, legato a una figura femminile che accumula ricchezze, anziché donare per lui tutte le meraviglie che escono da una mandorla, una noce, una nocciola, ricevute nel cammino doloroso della perdita. Perché è così che sono le fiabe, che solo al nostro sguardo cieco e al nostro orecchio poco sensibile possono apparire storielle moralistiche o sempliciotte: è la speranza, che nasce dalla cura per il desiderio, a rendere possibile il cammino, non la certezza di realizzarlo. È il coraggio di lasciare tutto per camminare lungo la propria vita che fa muovere verso la meta, non una mappa disegnata da altri. E chi non abbia avuto una guardia che vigilava, un momento nella veglia, nella coscienza, capace di interrompere quel sonno alloppiato, avrà la percezione poetica, splendida, di Ginevra che lo chiama, ma come in sogno: la relazione eterosessuale ed esogamica che nelle fiabe è rappresentata dalle nozze regali gli resta inaccessibile. Giosuè Carducci nella sua poesia, come quasi tutti gli adulti e i vecchi, ricorda dell'infanzia il senso di verità e di bellezza, ma non apre alla speranza che l'eredità della cultura sia fonte di ricchezza e di gioia. La fiaba che il poeta ricorda si ferma prima del finale, nel canto struggente di Ginevra accanto al re addormentato. Ciò che la cultura rimuove per mantenere la sua infelicità è anche il finale della fiaba che nell'ascolto ci fa sorridere ed esultare.
Non è mai certa la meta per chi desidera e cerca: ma è impraticabile per chi, preso dalla sfiducia, non intraprende il cammino.
Come recita il frammento CXIX di Eraclito:

    nell'insperato
    chi non spera
    non troverà
    poiché non ha traccia
    né passo



Eine andere Art von Zwangsschlaf findet ihren Ausdruck regelmäßig durch einen Schlaftrunk, der verabreicht wird, und zwar in dem Motivzusammenhang der vergessenen Ehefrau des Typs 425 A. Dort hat die junge Frau ein Verbot übertreten, infolgedessen wird der Mann ihr entrückt, und er hat sie vergessen. Am Ende sucht sie sich dem Schlafenden wieder ins Gedächtnis zu rufen durch die nächtliche Schilderung ihrer Suchwanderung oder durch die Anrufung des gemeinsam Erlebten. In den ersten beiden Nächten vernimmt der Mann nichts; denn seine jetzige Braut reicht ihm, nachdem sie der ersten Frau gegen eine Kostbarkeit die Nacht verkauft hat, abends einen Schlaftrunk. Nur die Diener tragen ihm am Morgen eine verworrene Kunde zu von der nächtlich klagenden Frau. Am dritten Abend meidet er den Trunk, vernimmt selbst die Klage, die Erinnerung kehrt ihm zurück, und das Paar hat sich damit wiedergefunden.

Schläferische Taubheit, vernehmendes Wachsein gegenüber den Erinnerungsworten sind in dieser Weise ganz sachlich verknüpft - der Sinn dieses Ablaufs aber scheint doch verborgener zu sein. Mit unwiederbringlichen Kostbarkeiten erkauft sich das junge Weib die Nächte von der zweiten Braut - statt auf eine praktische Weise entweder selbst dem Manne aufzulauern oder ihm in Gestalt von Worten oder Zeichen Kunde von sich zu übermitteln, ein Dienst, den sie ja ebenfalls leicht hätte erkaufen können. Auch sollen es ohnehin die Diener gewesen sein, die ihm den Hinweis auf die Klagende gegeben haben. lhre absonderliche, dem Anscheine nach umständliche oder unzweckmäßige Verfahrensweise muß auch einen sachlichen Grund haben, und der liegt eben darin, daß der Appell an den gemeinen Tagesverstand des Mannes sein Ziel nicht erreichen würde, was in der oben Seite zitierten irischen Fassung auch klar zu Tage liegt. Die Frau muß versuchen, durch die Nacht den Zugang zu seinem auf jeden Fall, ob mit oder ohne Trunk, schlummernden Gedächtnis zu finden, muß suchen, die in umnachtete Tiefe abgesunkene Gemeinsamkeit der Erinnerung wieder ins Tagesbewußtsein zu heben. Indem die zweite Braut, die dämonische Gefährtin in der Entrückung, den Mann absichtlich in Tiefschlaf versenkt, verhilft sie sogar dazu, den sinnvollen Vorsatz der ersten Frau zu verwirklichen. Auch die horchenden Diener könnte man als eine Teilkraft im Helden selbst auffassen, als ein Bild für sein Ahnungsvermögen, insofern sie dem im Tiefschlaf scheinbar gehörlos Versunkenen eine erste ferne Witterung vermitteln von dem, was in ihm aufdämmern will. - In dieser Szenerie wäre daher der durch den Trunk hervorgerufene Zwangsschlaf alles andere als ein Verschluß für das Miterleben, sondern vielmehr ein Zauberschlaf, der gerade zum Aufschließen der verkapselten Erinnerung verhilft.

Sehen wir uns veranlaßt zu behaupten, daß die Suchwanderin notwendigerweise die Verbindung zum Nachtbewußtsein ihres Mannes herzustellen sucht, dann erinnern wir uns daran, daß die Nacht für das Märchengeschehen uberhaupt eine bedeutsame Rolle spielt. Gewiß geht in den Märchen vieles auch unterm Tageshimmel vor, und wir haben schon gesehen, daß dies nicht etwa bedeutet, es verliefe das Geschehen in leibhaft-nüchterner, alltäglicher Weise. Auch im Sonnenschein, gerade auch am hohen Mittag vermag das Geschehen unter den Spiegel des Bewußtseins hinabzutauchen. Aber symbolisch für diese Nachtseite der Natur ist eben auch die Erdennacht, in die das märchenhafte Erzählen manches höchst Wichtige hineinlegt.

THE HOT SAUCE EXPERIMENT

Picture yourselves in a university campus in the United States, at the close of the past century.

The vast lawns and well-warded garden paths, the faculties and dormitories, and other infrastructures of the university, as red brick neo-gothic or white neoclassical edifices scattered across these lush verdant lawns, hopeful young students chatting to one another as they walk along the paths on their way to class or read in the shade of the tall redwoods and buckeyes... This European writer is already conjuring up the quintessential 1980s/1990s US campus in her mind's eyes, as she types about the setting for what she considers one of the most relevant psychological experiments on young university students like she.

Psychology professors Solomon and Greenberg wondered if thinking about death would manipulate the minds of people in a similar way today that the depictions of the slain enemy as demonized has traditionally done in the creative arts.

So they conducted this unusual experiment to find out.

They started by dividing a group of students from their campus according to their ideology or political allegiance. Half were strong Democrat Party supporters, while the other half supported the Republicans.

The students were asked to dole out a portion of unbearably spicy hot sauce for someone to eat. First, they were told to do it for a fellow supporter of their favourite political party (the sauce would be served to an ally), and then, for a supporter of the party they opposed (the sauce would be served to an enemy). The students served on average the same amount of hot sauce, about 12 grams, regardless of whether it was intended for political friends or adversaries.

The psychologists then took another group of students, with a 50/50 ratio of Republican and Democrat supporters as well, but this time, the subjects were asked to read a series of questions designed to make them think of their own death. For instance:

"PLEASE BRIEFLY DESCRIBE THE EMOTIONS THAT THE THOUGHT OF YOUR OWN DEATH AROUSES IN YOU."

"JOT DOWN, AS SPECIFICALLY AS YOU CAN, WHAT YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN TO YOU AS YOU PHYSICALLY DIE."

When these students measured up the sauce for their political allies, nothing changed: once again, the portion average of 12 grams. But when they doled out the sauce for their political opponents, something extraordinary happened: this time, they measured out an average of 27 grams of hot sauce, more than twice the previous amount.

So, reminding people of their own deaths seems to drive them towards supporting those who share their values and opposing those who don't. And the experiment suggested that this is a universal human instinct, as relevant to modern-day students as to warriors, rulers, courtiers, and scholars through the ages.

"These results suggest that, when people are reminded of their own mortality, they are going to lash out at those who have a different belief system than their own, the idea being that when we think about our own death, we become more invested in our own belief system, and someone with a different belief system becomes psychologically threatening, and so we're gonna lash out at them, often with violence."

Across the centuries, disturbing images of death have been used to bind people to a cause.

So how does this instinct relate to Westeros, to Othello, to zealotry, to totalitarianism, to repression by both organized religion and state authorities, to the deaths of Elia Martell and her children, of Renly Baratheon, of Gustavus Adolphus, of Hypatia, of the countless victims of totalitarian regimes...?

MERCURY MY ARSE!

Not long ago, I happened to hear a recent theory that MERCURY causes Asperger's syndrome.

And I don't mean THIS kind of MERCURY...

...or THIS OTHER kind of MERCURY...

...but THIS kind of MERCURY. You know, the wild silvery liquid. Atomic number 80, symbol Hg.

It's so dense that a one pound sterling coin floats in mercury.

It happens to be a poison that produces insanity even by inhaling its fumes. 

Yes, mercury was what made the Mad Hatter mad.

And where does Asperger's fit in?

Luna Lovegood

Rita Mordio

Lloyd "Earl of Pudding" Asplund

(my favourite three fictional aspie characters)

So what has mercury got to do with AS? How do we get it inside us, if most thermometers are digital nowadays?

The answer is that the mercury which allegedly causes Asperger's enters the system through vaccines.

Well, I believe it's a HOAX, a massive hoax, and I would never, ever buy it.

Moreover, it's been scientifically proven that the theory of mercury in vaccines causing Asperger's is a hoax from the start, so I say it's a hoax and don't pay much heed to it.

THE RAINBOW OF HOPE

Go!Princess Precure, Episode 40
My Own Review

THE RAINBOW OF HOPE:
RETURN TO THE HOPE KINGDOM


Previously on Go!Princess Pretty Cure:

The Precures, in the eleventh hour, have hindered the Dysdarks from conquering Earth like they took over the HK. Also, Kanata, due to a heroic sacrifice, finally recovered from his exhaustion-induced amnesia and regained his powers of light, being even endowed with his own Dress-Up Key...

At last, the Hope royal siblings can embrace one another, reassured and finally reunited.

Yet, though the battle has been won, the war is still raging on...

A BRAND NEW VIOLIN

Soothing and elegant violin music can be heard in the woods around Noble Academy, blending with the chirping of sparrows and the trickling of a rill. 

It's Crown Prince Grand Kanata, his memories and powers reawakened not long ago, who is playing the violin outside the Nishikido luthier shop.

The Precures and pet-servants, and Kanata's old guardian Mr. Nishikido, listen in awe.

KURORO (happy): It reminds me of the Hope Kingdom!

MME SHAMOUR (happy): What a nostalgic sound...

But Towa is, after all, the one most elated by her older brother's recovery.

There he is, playing the violin like he had done before losing his memories...

TOWA (teary-eyed with joy): Brother...

If she were to die now, she would be most happy.

What could possibly go wrong now? Towa's vision is clouded with tears and her heart is finally at ease...

MR. NISHIKIDO: So Kanata got his memories back? Thank goodness.

(Kanata bows before his aged guardian in reverence)

MR. NISHIKIDO (kindly): But if you ever are in distress, feel free to come back here and stay at any time.

KANATA (surprised): But...

MR. NISHIKIDO (chuckles): Don't worry about it. And that violin is a present from me. Please take it.

KANATA (bowing low, courteously): Thank you very much indeed.

Mr. Nishikido's kindness here to his young guest can be comparable to Monsignor Myriel's in giving Valjean the silver candlesticks.

TOWA (elated, embracing Kanata): Brother!!

KANATA (a tad startled): Towa...

TOWA (to happy to believe it, a tad insecure): Uh... What should I start with...?

KIRARA (surprised): What's gone into her?

MINAMI (calmly, reassuring): She's just embarrassed. She hasn't talked to her brother like this since they were children.

The crown prince then lays his dark hand on the scarlet crown of his younger sister's head.

KANATA (courteous): I'm sorry for making you worry. You've also turned back to normal, right?

TOWA (listening in awe, then nodding, sincerely, hands on heart): Yes.

KANATA (sincerely): I've been keeping you close at heart... Towa.

The red-haired princess's bright eyes fill with tears as she hears these words of love.

TOWA (clasping Kanata in her arms, crying tears of joy on his chest, sobbing): Brother!!!

Later on, inside the workshop, Towa shows her brother the most relevant things she has done in his absence.

For instance, her functions when studying calculus at Maths class (it pleases me that Towa makes sign errors as well, it makes her appear more human and identifies me with her even more.)

TOWA (excited): Look! I've been studying!

TOWA (happy): I drew this scenery during class.

She also shows her brother the drawings she's made in Art class and her pink slippers...

TOWA (excited): I wore these ballet shoes, too!!

Pink slippers? Maybe because the Noble Academy dresscode says all female students' slippers must be pink and Towa is the stick-to-the rules kind of person. I would have her wear ruby slippers in ballet class as a reference to Dorothy and to Gerda, and also to single her out...

Kanata watches attentively as Towa shows him her accomplishments in needlework (to be honest, another thing that reminds me of Sansa Stark!)

TOWA (still cheerful): And these are pajamas that I made during home economics class...

YUI, PUFF (shocked): She's going all out!!

KANATA (sincerely): You've done your best here in this world.

(PS. The word he used, "ganbatte", translates to "doing one's best" or "giving it all". Why must the fansubs often translate it as "work hard"? A lot of the meaning is lost...)

TOWA (sparkling with joy): That's not true at all!!

KIRARA (savvy): Towachi's just sooo cute! (She and Minami chuckle)

Well, at least, like Desdemona, Towa is modest...

TOWA (coming to her senses, embarrassed): What am I saying?

KANATA: Towa... 

TOWA (surprised): Huh?

KANATA (courteously, sincerely): Have you been practicing the violin?

TOWA (sincerely, still light-hearted): Yes, of course. 

She shows her brother the Scarlet Violin.

The crown prince is surprised by the instrument's appearance.

KANATA (wondering): That's...

HARUKA: Your violin, Kanata. You entrusted it to me.

KANATA (surprised): Is it?

HARUKA (as a flashback to Towa's first transformation into Cure Scarlet unfurls): It changed form and has been protecting Towa ever since.

KANATA (realizing, surprised): I see. 

HARUKA (excited): Now the dream of you two performing a duet together can come true!

KANATA (surprised): Dream?

And he remembers his childhood in the HK with Towa striving to become a Grand Princess and learning from her older brother by her side...

 Those days when he reassured and encouraged her at every faux pas...

I love to see Kanata and Towa as children, their dynamics and their faces are adorable.

TOWA (elated): With my brother!

KANATA (giggles kindly in response)

Suddenly, his Royal Key begins to glow scarlet and to soar in the air above everyone's heads...

THIS IS NOT THE HOPE KINGDOM ANYMORE (OR IS IT?)

Everyone stands aghast, staring at the scarlet-glowing, soaring Royal Dress-Up Key.

TOWA (surprised, wondering): A s-scarlet light? 

She reaches out and inserts the Royal Key in her own Perfume, and the liquid within begins to glow scarlet as well, and an inscription comes to view on the glass flacon.

TOWA (reading the inscription): Royal... Majesty... (The light begins to shine brighter) What was that?

The light shines brighter and brighter, searing everyone's eyes.

KANATA (dazzled): This light is...!

Then everyone, Princess Towa the most surprised of them, is absorbed by the dazzling scarlet light.

And, when it fades away...

When Towa slowly opens her hurting eyes, she is shocked upon finding herself in a twilit landscape all covered in purple thorns.

TOWA (shocked, breathing heavily): A Forest of Despair!? Where are we!?

KANATA (serious): I'm afraid to tell you, Towa. But... This is the Hope Kingdom.

EVERYONE (shocked): Eeeeh!? No way!!

Yes, the whole HK is occupied by Thorns of Despair. (Must resist to make that Fire Nation reference!!!)

MINAMI (looking around, shocked): It's completely different from before!

KANATA: The Royal Key summoned us here to show us the gravity of the situation.

KURORO (looking ahead into the endless tangled thorns): The rainbow... is gone...!

What's more, the pet-servants spot the Door of Despair in the stem of the Dysdark fortress.

HARUKA (worried): So this place is really the Hope Kingdom?

What's more, Madame Shamour reveals what lies beyond that locked door...

It's all a crimson wasteland, in which the denizens of the HK are trapped in Despair Prisons, their dreams leaving their bodies as bright balls of light that exit their chests.

MME. SHAMOUR (determined): The dreams stolen from the Kingdom's subjects are trapped behind that door!

TOWA (shocked, in a cold sweat): Our parents' dreams... are locked in there...

Kanata is in a state of shock as well.

And Kuroro... Imagine you've been away from your home country for a while and wish to return there as soon as possible, only to find it all overrun due to a war.

KURORO (wincing): No... (angry and crying at the same time, throwing a tantrum): This place isn't the Hope Kingdom!

Imagine you've been away from your home country for a while and wish to return there as soon as possible, only to find it all overrun due to a war. And you will understand how Kuroro is feeling.

Sobbing, without looking back, Kuroro runs off into the unknown, into the woods of thorns of despair.

EVERYONE ELSE (BUT KURORO): Wait!! Kuroro!

He keeps on running and pays no heed.

As the others look for the stray kitten, Towa can't take her eyes off the looming fortress. And fond memories of her childhood awaken, of once when it was a palace on a shimmering lake...

*Flashback begins*

The HK palace reminds me of Rapunzel's birthplace, Corona, in Tangled, also with château architecture and located on an island in a lake. Yet the rainbow bridges that connect it to the other islands and to the mainland, through which countless subjects cross, may be a reference to Norse myth, in which the rainbow, or "Bifröst", was the bridge between Earth (Midgard) and the Realm of the Gods (Asgard).

TOWA'S RAINBOWS

And within a hall of the palace we find adorable little itsy-bitsy Princess Towa, looking at herself in a mirror with a golden frame, and with a look of insecurity on her face.

HOPE KING (serious): Our subjects will be worried if you have that expression on your face. 

Towa, startled, turns around to see her parents standing behind her.

TOWA (surprised): Gasp! Father! Mother!

Here they are, dressed in seventeenth-century inspired Hope Kingdom court dress and with hairstyles in between the seventeenth century and Westeros. 

Notice their hair and skin colour, and elf ears: and look at their children in the pictures above: this is genetics in the pure style of Game of Thrones (all Lannisters are golden-haired and green-eyed, all Baratheons are raven-haired and blue-eyed, all Tullys are redhaired or auburn and blue-eyed, all Targaryens are platinum blond and violet-eyed, all Tyrells are either dirty blond or nutbrown... the list of phenotypes in Westeros goes on), but mixing traits from both parents in the children (in Westeros, we have Tyene Sand, Reachish-looking but elusive daughter of Oberyn and a Reach septa; Tyrion "Lannister", platinum blond with dark streaks and odd-eyed, hinting at his true parentage...).

HOPE KING (seriously yet kindly): Listen, Towa. Just like the rainbow watches over us, we must greet our subjects with smiles. Your duty is to bring them hopes and dreams.

As these words are spoken, we are treated to see how happy the elf-like residents of the HK were before the Dysdark invasion.

(!THEN EVERYTHING WOULD CHANGE WHEN...")

HOPE KING (kindly): That's because you are the Hope Kingdom's princess.

TOWA (gasping, surprised, in awe...): The Hope Kingdom's... princess...

HOPE QUEEN (kindly): When we smile, our subjects smile as well. When we shed tears, so do they. Keep that close to your heart.

TOWA (surprised, in awe): Yes. I will.

Suddenly, Towa feels a little warm hand the colour of cinnamon on her right shoulder. And she turns her face to behold her brother's cheerful smiling face.

TOWA (slightly startled): Huh?

KANATA (reassuring, smiling): Just be yourself, Towa.

TOWA (wondering): Just be myself?

And thus, a reassured Towa bursts out into her cutest giggle ever.

HOPE KING (pleased, smiling): Yes, that's great. Come, the crowds are waiting.

Then, it is revealed that the hall where the royal family is gathered is lined with a red carpet and ends in a balcony.

The palace courtyard is crowded with throngs of loyal HK subjects, all of them cheering wildly. Because this is a very special day...

HOPE KING (coming out on the balcony alone, addressing the crowd, proudly and confidently): Thank you all for gathering here today for my daughter's birthday!

HOPE KING (friendly, to Towa, as she comes out on the balcony): Come here, Towa.

TOWA (cheerful, confident, addressing the crowd): Everyone, thank you all for coming here today. (She curtsies, as the crowd cheers louder and with more excitement than before).

HK SUBJECTS (cheering louder and louder): Princess Towa!!!

The two remaining members of the royal family have come out on the balcony as well.

Do you see how packed the courtyard is?

*End of first flashback*

Towa's eyes fill with tears, her eyesight is blurred, her face is strangely pale, her arms become limp as she remembers...

TOWA (sobbing, steeling herself, facing the Dysdark fortress): Father... Mother...

In the meantime, Minami, Kirara, and Yui are looking for Kuroro in the company of the pet-servants.

MINAMI (concerned): All of these rose thorns grew by the power of despair.

AROMA (mournful): Yes. The dreams of all of our friends (nakama) have turned into despair.

Apparently, either only the dreams (the balls of light) that keep the people conscious are locked beyond the Door of Despair and all of the bodies are trapped in Despair Prisons outside, scattered all over the Kingdom... or the fortress dungeon can't hold all of the bodies, there are some of them within, and the rest of them, the surplus, are scattered outside.

For discussion on the two words usually translated as "friend/s" in this story, "nakama" vs. "tomodachi", I advise you to read the review of the previous episode.

And now begins the pet-servants' trip down memory lane to their Kingdom's days of glory...

Madame Shamour remembers herself as an overseer at a palace hall, where Puff and some elf maids are cleaning the windowpanes...

MME. SHAMOUR: Allons-y tous! Let's work hard today.

(Note that his was translated well, in the original, she said NOT "ganbaru" but "shikkari!!)

  

An aged cupbearer and a young serving-maid pass by, the former carrying a platter with tea and cups, the latter pushing a food trolley).

SERVING-MAID (cheerful): 'Morning, Puff.

PUFF (happily): Today the rainbow looks so pretty!

SERVING-MAID (cheerful): A nice day when we can see the rainbow means it will be a great day!

Now I have this theory that the cupbearer and the maid here are the pre-invasion selves of Close & Shut and of Stop & Freeze. 

In a series where, like in The Cloven Viscount, the light and darkness (id est, the selflessness and selfishness) of the same person can be parted and become separate, different individuals (Aguri and Regina in DokiDoki!), why should not the case be here as well? The old manservant has got (a less outrageous version of) Close's hairstyle and is sharply dressed like Shut, so the former Dysdark would be the expression of his yearning for self-expression and breaking free of courtly etiquette, his repressed dark side, while Shut would represent the cupbearer's loyalty, courtesy, and sense of beauty/elegance, the virtues within him, somehow corrupted for evil aims. Both of them are also significantly younger than their (?) original self, so

let's see if this theory is true...

A WILD AROMA APPEARS!

AROMA (savvy, sparkling): The rainbow is always pretty.

PUFF (nodding): Yes!

CUPBEARER: Yes.

SERVING-MAID (represses a giggle).

All four, the pets and the humanoid servants, chuckle at once, as a detached and aloof Mme. Shamour contemplates them from a certain distance.

MME. SHAMOUR: Ever since Princess Towa disappeared, this country has wept endlessly.

Towa is seen walking into the thorns and the fog all alone.

Likewise, the Hope Queen is brokenhearted, her husband trying in vain to soothe her.

With the Queen thrusting herself forward and seeming to be in so much pain... Is she sobbing or is she... coughing and dangerously ill? It appears to be consumption, or pneumonia, or some other fault in her lungs, which the loss of her favourite daughter has somatized.

The Hope Kingdom still looks bright and Reach-like, and the Queen slowly raises her head and opens yer eyes, though still consternated. Mme. Shamour then thinks of her fellow pet-servants and of herself being cheerful and busy.

MME. SHAMOUR: But everyone did their best and looked forward to tomorrow. (Goodness, "ganbatte" as "to work hard" once more? The core of the expression is lost!) Even so... This is the end result.

*End of flashback*

KURORO'S START OF DARKNESS

Elsewhere in the Hope Kingdom, a teary-eyed and sobbing Kuroro is running away as visions of the past haunt his conscience. And thus, the third memory flashback begins...

*Kuroro's start of darkness - flashback*

Kuroro and two of his kitten-like friends are running across a meadow towards the same red rainbow's end.

KURORO'S FRIENDS (cheerfully): Kuroro! Over here!

PINK KITTEN: Happiness awaits beyond the rainbow!

BLUE KITTEN: Let's go!

KURORO (lagging behind, short of breath): Wait for me!

Suddenly, the rainbow is obscured by dark clouds....

...and black tendrils completely wrap Kuroro's friends in cocoons (like what happens to the owners of faulty star seeds in Sailor Stars)...

KURORO'S FRIENDS (frightened): Meoow!

...to wind up, as the tendrils unfurl, trapped in purple Despair Prisons, as Kuroro, powerless, can only watch.

KURORO (shocked): Everyone... (shudders and sobs)

As Kuroro despairs, he hears the familiar voice of an adolescent boy sounding coldly...

VOICE OF LOCK: You will do.

A frightened Kuroro looks up to see a ruby-eyed demon with a frog-like face looming ominously behind him...

LOCK (coldly): We'll be borrowing your body.

KURORO (turns around, then scocked and frightened): Gasp!!!

Lock laughs ironically and swallows the motionless, shocked Kuroro.

Now let me clarify: the frog-dragon-evil spirit behind Kuroro is Lock's true, disembodied form.

You know the age-old story. A weak-willed young person somehow came across an evil spirit in search of a meat suit. And a bargain was made, as soon as the latter seized control over the former's mind. This is the story of Quirinius Quirrell, of Durza, and (maybe) of Judas Iscariot himself, among many others. And I have loved possession narratives ever since I was a child (growing up in a bourgeois Catholic environment with a devout grandmother who hushed me whenever I said Satan's name... may have played a part). Here we see how a frog-dragon evil spirit, who looks like Lock (he is the original Lock, a disembodied entity) chose the suddenly-no-longer-innocent and shell-shocked li'l young Kuroro for a vessel. Easy pie. Since then, all this time at the Dysdarks' service (until purified), Kuroro had been channeling Lock.

Then, we see Lady Dyspear's shadow closing in on the royal couple, the Hope King taking a stance to protect his queen...

The shadow of the villainess falls on both the Hope Royals...

Then we see Lady Dyspear having plunged the kingdom into endless darkness...

...the residents' loss of their dreams....

...and the dreams being kept under horned lock and key beyond the Door of Despair.

*End of flashback*

Kuroro, in tears, regrets his powerlessness back in the olden days.

HOW THE CROWN PRINCE LOST HIS MEMORIES

Meanwhile, in the throne room, Her Ladyship is informed of the war's latest progress...

CLOSE (bending the knee before the throne): I'm truly sorry. I was this Close...

DYSPEAR (coldly): I did not think Prince Kanata would appear again.

*Flashback to Dyspear vs. Kanata battle two arcs ago*

During the battle in the flashback, Kanata's light powers shatter the large ruby of his sceptre head.

DYSPEAR: He should have disappeared into the darkness.

*End of flashback*

DEVASTORG

Suddenly, Her Ladyship has an intuition that the white prince is coming towards her.

And not alone, but in the company of his turncoat sister...

TOWA (full of resentment, irate, determined): Dyspear... I will never forgive you.

DYSPEAR (coldly): The two annoying siblings are here.

SHUT (surprised by hearing mention of siblings): Siblings? Twilight?

DYSPEAR: That's perfect. We can get rid of both of them at once.

The keyhole on her heart grows crimson and flashes with purple lightning, as the sorceress takes out something in a purple ball from the keyhole, while holding back her pain.

When she has taken the object out, it is revealed to be a dark padlock with Dyspear's ram horns and a keyhole shaped like the mouth of The Scream.

DYSPEAR (as the padlock flies off out of the fortress): Go forth, my clone. (Noblewoman's laugh.)

Before the eyes of the Hope siblings, the padlock transforms into a big cat made of blue fire, with ram horns and a cyclopean keyhole eye, that roars as loud as these things go.

DEVASTORG: ROOAAR!!! Devastorg.

DYSPEAR (telepathically contacting the Hope siblings): Long time no see, Prince... and Twilight.

TOWA (Gasp!)

KANATA (worried): That voice...

TOWA (determined): Dyspear!

The rest of the team, sans Kuroro, soon storms uphill to reunite with them.

TOWA (determined): Let's go.

EVERYONE ELSE (unison): (nods)

Precure Princess Engage!

The princess of scarlet flames...

CURE SCARLET!!!

DYSPEAR (talking through the devastorg, like a ventriloquist through the dummy): I will lock all of you beyond the Door of Despair.

CURE SCARLET (determined, storming ahead of her friends and headlong towards the devastorg): Dyspear! I will never forgive you!

OTHER CURES (unison, shocked): Scarlet!!

The devastorg pins Cure Scarlet to the ground, but she hops up with a somersault to kick him time after time, both of them evenly matched.

In the end, the devastorg disappears and then teleports itself behind Cure Scarlet...

CURE TWINKLE: Behind you!

CURE SCARLET (turns around, gets a lash of the devastorg's tail, and falls to the ground)

KANATA (storming towards his wounded sister, trying to get her up): Are you okay, Towa?

THE OTHER THREE CURES (unison): Scarlet!

In the meantime, Yui and the pet-servants look for the estranged Kuroro in the forest of thorns.

YUI (worried, running): Quick! We have to find Kuroro quickly!

AROMA: It's too dangerous here!

In the meantime, the other three Cures attempt to take on the devastorg...

DYSPEAR (talking through the devastorg): It's useless.

Cure Twinkle uses Meteor Humming in vain.

And then, the devastorg nails all three Cures to the ground at one fell swoop.

DYSPEAR (talking through the devastorg): It's too late. This country is already in the depths of despair.

CURE SCARLET (wearily getting up, determined): I will never let that happen!

KANATA (concerned): Towa!

CURE SCARLET (standing up, determined): Give them back! My parents! Our subjects! (In tears.) Give me my beloved kingdom back! (Storming up towards the devastorg, ready to attack, in tears): Right now!

DYSPEAR (talking through the devastorg): What a pointless struggle (spits blue fire right at Cure Scarlet)

CURE SCARLET: (screams in agony as she is sent flying through the air)

The lash of blue flame pins an unconscious Cure Scarlet to the ground.

CURE SCARLET (in tears of pain and of sorrow): Give them back...

Yet she is suddenly awakened by another sobbing voice, this one sounding like a child's...

KURORO (sobbing, drying up his tears): I want to go back... to the Hope Kingdom I know...

CURE SCARLET: Kuroro...

KURORO (sobbing, still in tears): I want to go back...

Right then, the devastorg breathes blue fire once more...

CURE SCARLET (shielding Kuroro in her embrace): Kuroro!

Suddenly, a rainbow force field appears over and around the princess of fire and Kuroro, driving away the blue flames.

I AM WHO I AM

A surprised Cure Scarlet looks around, astonished... This force field...

It can be no other than her older brother, sceptre held in hand.

KANATA: Towa...

KANATA (transforming into his royal garb): I feel the same.

As the force field shatters, the crown prince falls reeling, exhausted, on his knees.

CURE SCARLET (shocked): Big Brother!

KANATA (serious): Remember what they said that day...!

The princess of scarlet flames looks, concerned and shocked, at the kitten in her arms, and she remembers her parents' words of wisdom...

*Flashback*

HOPE QUEEN (kindly): When we smile, our subjects smile as well. When we shed tears, so do they. Keep that close to your heart.

HOPE KING (serious): Our subjects will be worried if you have that expression on your face. 

*End of flashback*

And thus, it dawns for Cure Scarlet. She has an epiphany.

CURE SCARLET (teary-eyed): Father... Mother...

She looks at Kuroro sleeping soundly in her arms and gently wakes him up.

CURE SCARLET (gently): Kuroro...

KURORO (opening his green eyes, full of wonder): Roro?

KURORO (curious): Princess Towa?

CURE SCARLET (reassuring, warmly): Don't worry. We will definitely return the Hope Kingdom back to normal. (Setting him down on the ground and drying up his tears) So please don't cry anymore.

KURORO (wondering still): Roro?

Cure Scarlet replies without words, with a reassuring and sincere smile.

KURORO: (smiling, in tears of joy, no spoken reply)

KANATA (smiling): Towa!

MME. SHAMOUR (proud of her pupil, in tears of joy): Princess Towa!

DYSPEAR (talking through the devastorg, advancing towards Cure Scarlet): This kingdom has already met its end.

CURE SCARLET (determined, advancing towards the devastorg): Not yet. Because I am still here! I, Cure Scarlet. Princess Hope Daylight Towa.

CURE SCARLET (determined): Princess of the Hope Kingdom!

DYSPEAR (talking through the devastorg, lunging at Cure Scarlet): How cheeky!

Luckily, Cure Twinkle steps in just in time with a Full Moon Humming shield.

And Cure Mermaid to trap the devastorg in a bubble.

CURE SCARLET (surprised): Everyone!

CURE TWINKLE (cheerful): Because we feel the same way you feel!

CURE MERMAID (determined): We want to see the kingdom where you were born and raised!

CURE FLORA (cheerful, determined): We all will take back the Hope Kingdom together!

CURE SCARLET (tears of joy): Everyone... (Determined): Okay! 

SCARLET PROMINENCE

CURE SCARLET (She takes out the Sun Key and puts it in the centerpiece of the Princess Palace.) 

CURE SCARLET (Determined): Dance, flames!

The lace mandala Cure Scarlet has thrown into the air twirls around and becomes a large sun.

PRECURE SCARLET PROMINENCE! 

Cure Scarlet throws a huge ray of sun at her opponent, and, in the end, only the devastorg padlock remains.

CURE SCARLET (surprised): Is that its true form!?

NOW ON TO BREAK THAT LOCK

The Cures then proceed to use Grand Printemps on the devastorg padlock...

The lock can apparently only be destroyed by Grand Printemps.

And we get to see the whole epic attack in action once more...

PADLOCK: Dreaming...

CURE SCARLET: Farewell. (Gokigenyó).

Her Ladyship is obviously not amused.

CLOSE (before the throne): Your Highness! 

DYSPEAR (coldly): Curse you, Precures.

THE MOST HEARTWARMING DUET EVER SINCE MASTER AND COMMANDER

Elsewhere in the Hope Kingdom, what appeared to be a hill or a barrow of tangled thorns unfurls to reveal, before the whole Precure team, a shrine covered in thorns concealed within.

And the Princess of Flames is shocked by seeing, right before her eyes, the shrine where she took her Perfume.

CURE SCARLET (shocked): This place is...!!

*Flashback to Twilight finding her Perfume in the Scarlet Shrine*

*End of flashback*

Cure Scarlet then turns her back to the shrine and her gaze to the fortress where her parents and subjects are held captive.

After a while, she walks away from her friends and towards the Dysdark fortress on her own, as everyone else stands back and gasps.

Then she stops, shouldering her violin and her bow, and begins to play her warm yet mournful leitmotif.

Everyone is astonished, her brother being the most astonished one.

The mournful melody echoes around the wasteland on which the shrine stands.

All of a sudden, Kanata's violin and bow begin to glow golden for a while...

...and then, both brother and sister, prince and princess, finally play their heartwarming duet.

Anyone else noticed that Towa/Scarlet can play the violin right-handed?

Well, I think she is ambidextrous, a born lefty taught to use her dexter/"proper" hand to respect court etiquette.

And they suddenly find themselves transported to the Hope Kingdom of before the Dysdark invasion.

Little by little, more and more pleased HK subjects flock around the royal siblings.

Every single adult and child of their elven kin with a smile on their faces.

All the denizens of the HK are either animal-like fairies or (the majority) humanoid elves.

Even the crowned parents advance, gracefully walking, towards the crowd.

The Hope Kingdom royals are still alive... but still trapped. Nevertheless, their children feel tugs at their heartstrings...

Towa is elated by seeing her parents once more...

Daybreak once more, music, happiness...

Is this but a dream... or a premonition of things that will be?

Returning to reality, the princess of scarlet flames swears a solemn oath she is hell-bent on keeping...

CURE SCARLET: I hereby swear, the next time we play this melody, it will be when the Hope Kingdom revives. For that to happen, as princess of this kingdom, I will bring back everyone's dreams!

Then, suddenly, after she has taken the violin off her shoulder, Cure Scarlet's Keys begin to glow...

PUFF (surprised): Princess Towa's Keys!

Cure Scarlet then looks determined and exchanges glances with her brother...

AT LAST, THE RECONQUEST BEGINS

Thus, Cure Scarlet inserts all of her Keys into the Palace at once.

CURE SCARLET (determined): Burn bright, flames of hope! 

Thus, a ray of firelight springs from the Palace...

... and pervades the whole shrine...

...returning it to its pristine original state.

The thorny vines around the shrine also dissolve into star-like light.

The rose window in the façade shimmers with rainbow light...

...and every firelight within is suddenly kindled, one by one...

...the last one to be lit being the beacon in the watchtower.

The crown prince can't believe his eyes.

KANATA (astonished): Gasp! The castle... returned anew!

MME. SHAMOUR: Princess Towa's dreams have breathed new life into the castle!

Suddenly, a scarlet rainbow springs from the beacon tower, crossing the night sky with a trail of bright light.

TOWA: The rainbow?

The elated Hope siblings watch these miracles unfurl.

The shrine/castle suddenly glows with a green light...

...that stops the writhing, tentacle-like dark purple Dysdark vines.

MME. SHAMOUR (pleased): Seems like we've at least gotten this place back.

KANATA (sincerely): Yes. This Castle of Flames will be the start of the Hope Kingdom's revival.

AROMA (elated): We can once again see our beautiful kingdom!

KURORO (tears of joy in his eyes): So pretty!

A door to Earth suddenly opens wide before them...

....and this door leads straight to Earth, to Noble Academy!

MME. SHAMOUR: It's a door connecting the two worlds.

Before crossing the threshold, the princess of flames renews her oath.

CURE SCARLET (determined): Dearest Father, Dearest Mother... I will definitely bring back the beautiful Hope Kingdom.

The end card for this episode features the Keys of Cure Scarlet along with the Royal Key.

And, obviously, the solo in the theme tune is sung by none other than she...

Kanaetai mirai he no michi (The path to the future you want to make true)
Sore wo "yume" to yobu no nara (You may call that your "dream")
Nakama to hashiri daseba ī yo ne (Just take off with your friends)
Let's Go! (Go!) gokigen'yō (Let's go, go, have a nice day!)
Let's Go! (Go!) Sukāretto! (Let's go, go, Cure Scarlet!)

Doko kako mo ikiru chikara ni (No matter what happened in the past, the power to live on)
Watashi no honō dare mo kesenai (exists in my eternal flames.)
Tsunaida te towa ni shinjite (I believe in these hands held tight, forever)

Yūki tamesu kyō wa kitto (Because I have the courage today,)
Ashita kaeru tame ni aru kara (tomorrow I will definitely change!)

Goran purinsesu! Guran purinsesu! (Take a gander, princess! Grand Princess!)
"Yume" wa hate shinaku tsuzuite (Your dreams will continue on...)
Hora ne! Minna wo matte iru no yo (See! Everyone else is waiting for you!)
Goran purinsesu! Guran purinsesu! (Take a gander, princess! Grand Princess!)
Sharara sekai ni wa shiawase ga niau yo (Shalala, the world deserves more happiness, so...!)
Kibō no kagi de tokihanate! (Set it free with the key of hope!)
Let's Go! Purinsesu Purikyua (Let's go, Princess Precures!)

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION

"Reunited At Last"

A picture of Kanata in royal raiment and Towa by his side, wearing their hearts upon their sleeves, which just had to appear here to celebrate their heartfelt reunion. 

To begin with (all of my fiery feelings about this episode): We're back in the Hope Kingdom! And we get to see more of its denizens' glorious past pre-invasion (the whole royal family, Dyspear's invasion, Kuroro's start of darkness, and so much more)! And Cure Scarlet hones in all the spotlight of the battle du jour and gets some new attacks! And thus... at least one region of the HK looks like the Reach once more! I'm literally, and never better said, on fire!!!

On Towa's other name: Is it Delight or Daylight? Livejournal calls her Delight Towa... While the fansubs say Daylight Towa... The official Precure Wiki goes with Daylight, and this is my choice as well, for the name is pronounced "Déraito" with a long "ay" sound, the Japanese pronunciation of "daylight" ("delight" would be "deraito" with a short "e" sound). It is surely both a contrast with her evil name Twilight and a reference to the Victorian fairytale "Little Daylight", a version of Sleeping Beauty (with elements of Lady Ragnell) in which the dark fairy curses the newborn princess with health and age varying according to the phase of the moon, i.e. she is a decrepit crone when the moon is new, ages down and recovers as the moon waxes, becomes her usual young and healthy self by full moon, then ages up and declines as the moon wanes. The spell is broken when the prince charming du jour confesses to Daylight that he loves her even in her hideous and ailing crone form (a parallel to Lady Ragnell). As Twilight, Towa did not age into seniority, but at least become slightly older, more mature (physically, mentally, emotionally), and silver-haired. I think the fairytale relates to her redemption arc.

More on Kanata's amnesia: it was caused by exhaustion. Not by drugs, not by injury, not by getting kissed by the Snow Queen. The cause seems not that convincing to me, and thus, my theory is that Dysdark power like that of Lady Dyspear was what erased Kanata's memories.

On Towa's and Kanata's parents, the Hope King and Queen: Before I saw them in last week's "Next Episode" trailer, I had taken for granted that the royal siblings were orphans, Kanata being Towa's guardian. No. Their parents are still alive and imprisoned by the new regime (The Hope Queen may or may not be the vessel of Lady Dyspear [Only time will tell if I'm wrong]), under lock and key, beyond the Door of Despair, where apparently there is nothing but a crimson wasteland.

Here they are, dressed in seventeenth-century inspired Hope Kingdom court dress and with hairstyles in between the seventeenth century and Westeros. 

Notice their hair and skin colour, and elf ears: and look at their children in the pictures above: this is genetics in the pure style of Game of Thrones (all Lannisters are golden-haired and green-eyed, all Baratheons are raven-haired and blue-eyed, all Tullys are redhaired or auburn and blue-eyed, all Targaryens are platinum blond and violet-eyed, all Tyrells are either dirty blond or nutbrown... the list of phenotypes in Westeros goes on), but mixing traits from both parents in the children (in Westeros, we have Tyene Sand, Reachish-looking but elusive daughter of Oberyn and a Reach septa; Tyrion "Lannister", platinum blond with dark streaks and odd-eyed, hinting at his true parentage...).

The Queen is coughing violently, as if she had consumption (TB), her more sensible husband soothing her... What can it mean? Or is she simply sobbing?

On the HK and its royal family pre-invasion: The idyllic calm before the storm, merely shadowed by Towa's self-confidence issues. The loss of the princess, though it gave her parents and their subjects despair, also gave them the will to carry on. And everyone was happy and at ease... Until the Dysdarks struck. Love how idyllic and heartwarming everything was before the war, not merely for seeing Kanata and Towa as children once more, but for everything else in the flashback. The royal children already learning the ropes of statescraft and/or realpolitik. Madame Shamour doing her duty like a professional. And the "Dyspear is channeled by the Hope Queen" theory may or may not be true, due to the first appearance of Her Ladyship we have is this shadow cast on the royal pair... looking for someone to possess, just like Lock...

On Kuroro's start of darkness (and possession by Lock): You know the age-old story. A weak-willed young person somehow came across an evil spirit in search of a meat suit. And a bargain was made, as soon as the latter seized control over the former's mind. This is the story of Quirinius Quirrell, of Durza, and (maybe) of Judas Iscariot himself, among many others. And I have loved possession narratives ever since I was a child (growing up in a bourgeois Catholic environment with a devout grandmother who hushed me whenever I said Satan's name... may have played a part). Here we see how a frog-dragon evil spirit, who looks like Lock (he is the original Lock, a disembodied entity) chose the suddenly-no-longer-innocent and shell-shocked li'l young Kuroro for a vessel. Easy pie. Since then, all this time at the Dysdarks' service (until purified), Kuroro had been channeling Lock.

On Kuroro's two captured friends (are they Shut [pink kitten] and Close [blue kitten] pre-brainwashing?): There are fans who support this theory, but allow me to disagree. Kuroro's friends were trapped in Despair Prisons while Kuroro himself, still free and conscious, was possessed by Lock. Ergo, those kittens are not Close and Shut pre-face-heel-turn. My conjecture states that the other two Dysdark cadres shared the same fate as Kuroro when becoming Lock. Id est, once they were free denizens of the Hope Kingdom whom disembodied Dysdark spirits possessed to do their bidding.

Another theory on the Dysdark cadre generals' origin: I have this other theory that the fiftyish cupbearer and the young maid in Madame Shamour's flashback are the pre-invasion selves of Close & Shut and of Stop & Freeze. In a series where, like in The Cloven Viscount, the light and darkness (id est, the selflessness and selfishness) of the same person can be parted and become separate, different individuals (Aguri and Regina in DokiDoki!), why should not the case be here as well? The old manservant has got (a less outrageous version of) Close's hairstyle and is sharply dressed like Shut, so the former Dysdark would be the expression of his yearning for self-expression and breaking free of courtly etiquette, his repressed dark side, while Shut would represent the cupbearer's loyalty, courtesy, and sense of beauty/elegance, the virtues within him, somehow corrupted for evil aims. Both of them are also significantly younger than their (?) original self, so

let's see if this theory is true...

On this new kind of... Devastorg: Does Munch's picture The Scream creep you out? It surely gives you the willies like it gives to me. And it's largely because of its depiction of angst and/or despair with a Nightmare Face, marked by huge-sclera eyes and a wide open vertical mouth. This mouth, which also inspired that of the Scream film masks, is what the new devastorg padlock takes after, and is it scary! And said padlock appears to be rather die-hard (though, hopefully for us, this lock is not destroyed by throwing it into the fires of Mt. Doom, but rather by means of Grand Printemps).

On Scarlet Prominence: This attack consists basically of throwing a huge sun at the opponent. And, though a star of our Sun's magnitude produces a high amount of nuclear fusion energy (so much that we Earthlings are planning to use the same process, but artificially created, as the clean and reliable power source of the future!), it happens to be insufficient to destroy a devastorg padlock (which gives an idea of how die-hard the lock is).

On what I righteously call the most heartwarming duet ever since Master and Commander: It freaking is. The one between Towa and Kanata. Not only does it bring back memories of their estranged countrymen, and of their estranged parents, and of a time when skies were blue and fields were green, but also give them the determination to carry on with their crusade. Definitely, Kanata and Towa share a first place for me with Aubrey and Maturin.

On the liberation of the Castle of Fire and the beginnings of the reconquest of the Hope Kingdom: The first battle has been won, the first outpost has been taken, but the war still rages on. At least this final arc has been kicked off with the Cures getting down to business to defeat the Dysdarks...

Shut nearer heel-face turn? He still calls Towa "Twilight", but he expresses genuine concern towards her. Which makes me believe even more in the hope that the series finale will witness his heel-face coat turn.

To wrap it up: WHAT. AN. EPISODE. Not only an arc opener and one with a round number... But one following the past of the Hope Kingdom and its characters before the Dysdark invasion. It opened with this great right-in-the-feels interaction between the royal siblings, and then it got better and better, like a cask of good brandy or a season of GoT. We got to see their crowned parents who are trapped there somewhere, got a new type of monster of the week, Cure Freaking Scarlet usurped the whole spotlight in battle against this firecat, we discovered Kuroro's possession/start of darkness, and at least a region of the HK was freed from Dysdark rule (the reconquest has at least begun). And Cure Scarlet has sworn the oath of her lifetime, hell bent on keeping it. To crown it all (literally), we get her rendition of the ending theme. My favourite episode of the series so far is DEFINITELY this one. Though we'll have a few weeks more to find out the Dysdark point of view...

IN NEXT EPISODE (41):

Egged on by Minami, Yui Nanase enters an art competition to close in on her dreams as an illustrator... But suddenly she suffers from illustrator's block (is there such a thing?) and loses her muse. Will she be able to make it through?