Anime Archives

The Golden Apples Yu-Gi-Oh! Card: How Is It Related To The Golden Apple Of Discord?

Thursday, July 24, 2014 No comments:
The Golden Apples Yu-Gi-Oh! trap card, apple of discord, greek mythology
The Golden Apples is one of the cards from the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game. What is so interesting about it? How can it be related to the golden apple that appears in Greek Mythology?

You can see an image of The Golden Apples card to the right. This is actually a Trap Card. The single apple shown in the art of this card can be related to the golden apple that appears in Greek Mythology.

This apple is also known as the Golden Apple of Discord or simply the Apple of Discord. This fruit actually started or was the cause of the Trojan War.

What exactly happened? How can a single piece of fruit start a war? And what's the relation of this apple to the Yu-Gi-Oh! card in question?
the golden apples, apple of discord, yu-gi-oh trap card, greek mythology
All this began during the wedding of the parents of the hero named Achilles. Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding of Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons, and Thetis, a Nereid (a sea-nymph), but she came anyway.

She brought a golden apple with her. On it was inscribed 'for the fairest'. Understandably, all the women present at the wedding wanted the apple. This caused everyone to quarrel and argue amongst themselves.

Eventually, the rightful owner of the golden apple came down to a choice between 3 goddesses- Athena (goddess of wisdom), Hera (queen of the gods and goddesses) and Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty).

greek mythology, goddess, gods, athena, aphrodite, hera, trojan war, golden apple of discord, judgment of paris
Since no decision could be made, the 3 goddesses agreed to let Paris, the son of Priam and Hecuba (king and queen of Troy), be the one to judge and choose which one of them was the fairest and most beautiful.

To help him choose, they resorted to bribing him with Hera offering him power (she said he could be the king of Europe and Asia), Athena offering him wisdom and skills in war and Aphrodite offering him Helen, the most beautiful mortal woman in the world.

Paris awarded the golden apple to Aphrodite. He did get Helen, but this started the Trojan War because Helen was already married to the king of Sparta (Menelaus). Thus, the power and capability of The Golden Apples Yu-Gi-Oh! card can be explained or likened to the power of the golden apple that started the Trojan War.

One single fruit led to a fight between goddesses, which eventually caused an all-out war that lasted for years. In the same way, one single Trap Card can allow you to gain life points and even special summon a token with attack and defense equal to the life points that you gained.

aphrodite, greek goddess of love and beauty, golden apple of discord, mythology, paris, trojan war
So if the battle damage you got was 3000, then the life points you'll gain will also be 3000.

In effect, you don't lose any life points, but you do gain a powerful Malus token, which you can use to defend yourself and attack your opponent.

However, The Golden Apples isn't without its limitations. There is a catch, of course, in the same way that the golden apple in Greek Mythology didn't start the Trojan War right away.

It's also like how the 3 goddesses needed Paris to decide which of them should get the golden apple. But in order to get him to decide, they had to resort to bribery. This can be likened to how the Trap Card cannot be activated even if you take battle damage as long as you still control a monster on your side of the field.

Once your field is empty and you take battle damage, you're free to activate the card, which can be likened to how Paris finally chose to give the golden apple to Aphrodite. Being able to special summon a Malus token thanks to fulfilling all the card's requirements can be likened to how Paris was able to get Helen thanks to choosing the goddess of love and beauty.

- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki based on the image by Sandro Botticelli (Public Domain) from Wikimedia Commons
- Pic shows the Judgment of Paris
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget

PallaPalla / Sailor Pallas Sailor Moon Trivia

Friday, July 11, 2014 No comments:
sailor moon supers, anime, manga, sailor mercury, pallapalla, sailor pallas
Who is PallaPalla and what is so interesting about her? What trivia is there about her name? What does it mean and where did it come from? Who was she named after?

PallaPalla is a member of the Amazoness Quartet, one of the antagonists from the Sailor Moon anime and manga series by Naoko Takeuchi. She is the one with the blue hair and the blue-colored theme.

When it is revealed in the manga that the Amazoness Quartet are actually Sailor Senshi, they are collectively known as the Sailor Quartet or the Asteroid Senshi.

As a member of the Asteroid Senshi, PallaPalla is known as Sailor Pallas. The name "PallaPalla" was derived from the name "Pallas". But where did this name come from? What is Pallas?
sailor moon, anime, manga, naoko takeuchi, sailor pallas, pallapalla, amazoness quartet, asteroid senshi
Pallas is actually the name of an asteroid located in what is known as the Asteroid Belt, which thus indicates that PallaPalla, just like the rest of her sisters, was named after an asteroid.

The asteroid Pallas was named after the Greek goddess called Pallas. She is more commonly known as Athena (sometimes even Athene). Her counterpart in Roman Mythology is named Minerva. She is the goddess of wisdom and warfare (among many other things).

PallaPalla's blue theme isn't necessarily because of the goddess Pallas.

It's really more because she is the counterpart of Sailor Mercury who also has blue themes though it's of a different shade from PallaPalla's color.

It's rather fitting how Sailor Mercury is PallaPalla's counterpart because the former is actually very smart and intelligent. This is just like how Minerva can definitely be described with the same terms especially since Athena's mother is actually Metis who is the Titan goddess of wisdom.

On the other hand, at first glance, it doesn't seem to make any sense at all to have PallaPalla be named after Pallas, considering how childish she can be. In fact, with how she acts, she comes across as being the youngest of the Amazoness Quartet even though she is really the second oldest.

But don't let her childishness and the way she is wont to refer to herself in the third person fool you because PallaPalla can be capable and she definitely has a dangerous streak.

amazoness quartet, sailor moon, anime, manga, pallapalla
She has her moments of cleverness, which shows how she can be like her namesake in being smart.

An example of this can be seen in episode 153 of the Sailor Moon SuperS anime. In this particular episode, PallaPalla can be seen playing with her dolls.

Because one doll apparently had an unbearable tooth ache, she proceeds to rip this doll's head off as a cure for said tooth ache.

This shows that PallaPalla is not someone to be underestimated just because she acts childish pretty much all the time.

This action of hers can also be considered to be a clever way to get rid of a tooth ache (it's certainly unconventional and even revolutionary) though, obviously, no one would want to opt for this kind of cure.

PallaPalla's relation to the goddess Athena can also be seen in how she is wont to attack groups of people all at once in order to acquire their Dream Mirrors, a prime example of which can be seen in episode 158 of Sailor Moon SuperS.

This can be akin to how wars and battles involve many people and cause a lot to get hurt and even to die. Of course, a war isn't as simple as merely having people fighting and dying and one side winning and another losing.

greek mythology, pallas athene, athena, goddess
It's a lot more complicated than that and it's not all good and evil either. PallaPalla shows this by way of the dual natures of her summoned lemures.

It's also important to note that Athena isn't exactly the goddess of war.

She's related to wars and battle, but it's different from how Ares (his Roman counterpart is called Mars) is the god of war.

Ares represents the dark side of war (so to speak) with all the violence and the like whereas Athena represents the strategic side of things with the people involved making plans and not just rushing recklessly into battle.

This strategizing and planning also shows how crafty Minerva can be, which explains why she is also said to be good with crafts like building things and weaving.

This brings us back to PallaPalla who loves playing with toys. In the aforementioned episode 153 of the anime, she can be seen transforming her toys into a real dentist's building and her dolls into real people.

So what do you think of PallaPalla? Do you like her character? Is she your favorite member of the Amazoness Quartet or the Asteroid Senshi? Do you think her name suits her?

- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by ChibiTaryn (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Pic is meant to represent PallaPalla because the figure in said image has blue hair and even appears to look rather childish, much like PallaPalla