Ganymede’s “Great Pluto/Saturn Mix-Up Controversy!” Article

     This section contains my comments on Ganymede’s “Great Pluto/Saturn Mix-Up Controversy!” article.  I have decided to quote the relevant parts of the article here for the sake of convenience.

     Naoko Takeuchi and her characters do not claim that Setsuna’s powers of time derive from her being a Scorpio.  (Why must Setsuna’s powers of time derive from her being a Scorpio when Ami’s powers of water do not derive from her being a Virgo?  There is no need to commit special pleading.)

     The god Cronus was evidently associated with time because his name is similar to the Greek word chronos (note the h in there), which means time.  But Cronus was not always connected with Chronos.  Sometimes he was the tyranical titan who was overthrown by his son Zeus.  One of the reasons Cronus and his weapon are connected with destruction and mutilation is that he castrated his father Uranus (Ouranos).  Saturn became associated with time because of his connection to Cronus, but he was also a god of sowing and blight.

     It is wrong to say that Cronus was always a god of time.

     Naoko Takeuchi and her characters do not claim that Hotaru’s powers of death derive from her being a Capricorn.  (Why must Hotaru’s powers of death derive from her being a Capricorn when Makoto’s lightning-based powers do not derive from her being a Sagittarius?)

     Sailor Saturn does mention the term revolution is in her Death Reborn Revolution maneuver in the manga.  Hotaru says “The revolution is coming” in the anime.  However, it is Sailor Pluto, not Sailor Saturn, who is the soldier of revolution or the soldier of change (henkaku no senshi).

     Sailor Saturn’s association with the concept of rebirth is not particularly strong.  She mentions the term rebirth in act 33 of the manga, but we are shown that Sailor Moon is the one who revives the ruined world.  Hotaru is reincarnated in that act, but there is no indication that Sailor Saturn performed any powers of rebirth to make that happen.  Hotaru has the ability to heal small wounds, but her sailor soldier form has not shown that she can make herself be reincarnated.

     Actually, another god was also DIRECTLY associated with death in Greek mythology: Thanatos, the personification of death.  Hades was associated with the dead because he was the ruler of the underworld.  He was not the only god associated with death.

     Hades was not specifically associated with revolution.  The most important revolution that Hades was involved with was the revolution that was led by his brother Zeus against Cronus and the Titans.

     Sailor Pluto is associated with Pluto and Hades because the name Sailor Pluto contains the name Pluto.  She is the guardian of the underworld.  Setsuna’s surname is Meio, which means Dark King.  Her first maneuver is Dead Scream.  She refers to the planet Pluto as the planet of the underworld in the Death Busters part of the manga and in the Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn S series of the anime.  Those facts show that she is connected with Pluto and Hades.  Ms. Takeuchi and her characters do not claim that Pluto and Hades were gods of time.

     Sailor Pluto later refers to the planet Pluto as the planet of space-time, but we already know the origin of the space-time reference.  Ms Takeuchi and her characters do not claim that Hades and Pluto were gods of space-time, so the space-time reference must refer to Sailor Pluto’s connection with space-time.  The planet Pluto does not always have to be referred to as the planet of the underworld because the god Pluto was the god of the underworld.  After all, Sailor Uranus refers to the planet Uranus as the planet of the wind.  However, the Greek god of winds was Aeolus, not the god Uranus (Ouranos).  Nobody claims that Uranus (Ouranos) was the god of the winds, so the wind reference must refer to Sailor Uranus’ connection with the winds.

     Sailor Pluto is the daughter of Chronos, the god of time (and space).  All of her associations with time derive from her relationship with her father.

     Ms. Takeuchi and her characters never claim that Hades and Pluto were gods of time.

     On a related note, the ancient Greeks has an important word that connected death with time: moira.  Moira is often translated as fate or destiny.  According to Homer’s Odyssey, the immortals have appointed a proper time (moiran) for each thing upon the earth.  The Greek term referred to man’s appointed doom, i.e. death.  It also referred to the cause of death.  The earlier Greeks called the goddess of fate Moira.  Later, there were three goddesses: Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos.  Lachesis sings of the past, Clotho of the present, and Atropus about the future.  They became the goddesses of death: Moirai Thanatoio.  Furthermore, the three Moirai associated with Hades.  They determined when a mortal’s shade (his or her essence after death) will become a member of Hades’ kingdom.  Hades might not have been specifically a god of time, but he associated himself with the goddesses who sang of the past, the present, and the future.

     None of that seems to be relevant to why Ms. Takeuchi decided to give Hotaru and Setsuna their respective astrological signs.  Since Hotaru is Sailor Saturn, and Saturn rules Capricorn, Hotaru is a Capricorn.  Since Setsuna is Sailor Pluto, and Pluto rules Scorpio, Setsuna is a Scorpio.

     Actually, the planet Saturn has also been associated with death and destruction.  “Its traditional meaning equates it with the most dire of events and circumstances.  Hell on Earth.  Satan.  Destruction.” -- Sydney Omarr, New Millennium Guide.

     The term saturnine can mean taciturn (habitually silent), and it derives from Saturn’s name.

     That shows that both Capricorn and Scorpio are associated with death.

     She is the horobi no senshi (soldier of ruin or soldier of destruction), the chinmoku no senshi (soldier of silence), and the hametsu to tanj no senshi (soldier of ruin and birth or soldier of destruction and birth).  The phrases shi no senshi (soldier of death) and saisei no senshi  (soldier of rebirth) are not used to refer to Sailor Saturn.

     You admitted that “Cronus/Saturn is connected to death and rebirth in that he is a harvest god and thus tied to the harvest cycle,” so nothing is necessarily wrong with Sailor Saturn’s death associations.

     She is the daughter of the god of time, which is relevant to her rule as the guardian of the Door of Space-Time and guardian of time.

     Her time associations are significantly explained.  Her associations with the underworld and the dead are significantly explained.  What is the problem?

     All of that can be explained because of her connection with her father.  Ms. Takeuchi and her characters do not claim that Pluto is the god of time.

     The official name of her staff is Garnet Rod.

     So?  In classical mythology, it was Poseidon/Neptune who was DIRECTLY connected with the sea and other waters, not Hermes/Mercury.  (Neptune was the god who presided over the salt and fresh waters.)  Sailor Mercury, not Sailor Neptune, is the only sailor soldier who is called the soldier of water.  (Sailor Mercury is associated with water because the eastern element water is the element of the planet.)  A sailor soldier, whose name mentions a particular deity, can be associated with one particular idea for whatever reason even if a different deity was DIRECTLY connected with the idea.  For example, Hades and Pluto might have been DIRECTLY connected with such things as death, but that does not mean that only Sailor Pluto can be associated with death.  Sailor Neptune does not have to be the only sailor soldier who is connected with water.  The Roman god who was widely associated with fire was Vulcan, not Mars.  And yet Sailor Mars controls fire.

     Someone could argue that Sailor Mercury and Sailor Neptune had their soldier names “switched” to some degree.  The god Mercury was well-known to be graceful and elegant, but the god Neptune was not as graceful.  But when Sailor Neptune and Sailor Mercury are compared, the former is remembered as the graceful and elegant one.  Both sailor soldiers are associated with water, but the god Mercury was not particularly connected with water.  The arguer would say that the two sailor soldiers seemed to have switched some of their mythological associations.

     I could say that Sailor Mercury represents more than water, Sailor Neptune represents more than refinement and elegance, Mercury (the deity and the planet) represents more than refinement and elegance, and Neptune does not have to be the only deity to represent water.  Of course, I would be right.  The “Sailor Mercury and Sailor Neptune were switched” theory is doing what the “Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn were switched” theory is doing.  Both theories take into account only certain associations of the planets, deities, and sailor soldiers.

     Ms. Takeuchi and her characters do not claim that Sailor Saturn, Saturn, or Cronus are connected with the underworld.  Only Sailor Pluto is the guardian of the underworld, not Sailor Saturn.

     A more accurate conclusion would be that Ms. Takeuchi wanted to connect Sailor Saturn to the “Grim Reaper” motif (which derives from Cronus and Saturn as scythe-holding deities who are associated with death), and she wanted to connect Sailor Pluto’s father to the “Father Time” motif (which derives from the Cronus-Chronos connection).  The “Grim Reaper” motif conveniently explains Sailor Saturn’s association with death, and the “daughter of Father Time” motif conveniently explains Sailor Pluto’s association with time.  Furthermore, since Hotaru is Sailor Saturn, and Saturn rules Capricorn, Hotaru is a Capricorn.  Since Setsuna is Sailor Pluto, and Pluto rules Scorpio, Setsuna is a Scorpio.