Karen had asked me what my take was on the appearance of the  Lyra constellation in Episode 11. My gut reaction was this: the Greek mythology behind the Lyra constellation is not as important as the Chinese folktale associated with the same group of stars.

I’m sure the Hong sisters and director are acquainted with the myth of Orpheus because they purposely drew the Lyra star constellation in the sky for the viewers to notice.

The Lyra constellation was named after Orpheus’ musical instrument, the lyre. Orpheus was famous for his ability to move both gods and humans with his music.

On his wedding day, his bride, Eurydice was bitten by a snake. She died before they could start their marital bliss. To get his bride back, Orpheus traveled to the Underworld and he so deeply moved Hades, the god of the underworld, with his music, that he was allowed to return with Eurydice from the dead. However there was one condition: he shall walk ahead of her, WITHOUT LOOKING back once at her, until they both reach the surface of the earth.

Wellll…Orpheus reached the exit, but since he had been walking in front of her and had only been hearing her footsteps, he worried that she might not have been really following him. So, he looked back.

The moment he turned around, she disappeared from his sight. (Bummer! Lol)

Personally, my take-away lessons from this were

1) the Greeks gods were sadistic SOBs,
2) happiness is ephemeral,
3) Orpheus should have trusted Eurydice to follow him, and
4) Eurydice should have reassured Orpheus that SHE could be trusted to follow behind him.
5) Orpheus and Eurydice should have been talking to each other or singing Kum-ba-ya together — or humming OhGoong’s Chireunde taunting song — as they traveled through the Underworld.

No, Hades, I don’t want to, why would I, how much would you give me?

If I wanted to relate this Orpheus’ story to OG and SM’s situation, I’d say that, for the OG and SM to SURVIVE their ill-fated journey, they should TRUST each other to do the right thing for each other. Already, we can see them learning step-by-step to trust each other.

For instance, SM realized in Episode 12, that calling OG’s name could gravely hurt him, too. After 25 years of being unable to call his name, and a few weeks of enjoying him at her beck-and-call, she was only NOW discovering what great and TERRIBLE power she possessed in simply being able to DECLARE his name. Song Oh Gong, the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven.

We’re well aware that OhGong gave her dominion over him when he gave back her memory of her name. Her memory, plus the Geumganggo, made her his overlord. She could force him to do anything under pain of death. But from the start, rather than rejoice or gloat in her power, she wanted to call on him sparingly because she didn’t want to be a burden, knowing that she was an unwanted imposition on him. That was why HanJoo mistook OhGong as a slacker bodyguard. Lol.

Then, in Episode 12, we see that she avoided calling OG’s name out of fear of hurting him more. See that? She could be trusted to think of his well-being when she called on him, in the same way, she could be trusted to think first of his safety when entering a third dimension (like the 1930s film) lest Mawang trapped him in an alternate universe again. And I think OG is realizing that SM doesn’t intend to do him harm; there’s no MALICE in her.

And I think this scene when they met at the elevator confirmed that.

She hurt him but he saw that she was hurt too.

That’s why he didn’t bear a grudge or resent that she made him vomit blood. He could see that she was frightened too by the whole thing and needed comforting.

I like that he patted her on the back as if she was the one injured party, not him.

In the same manner, OG could be trusted not to con her again into releasing him from their contract. For me, he had been testing to see whether she’d waver and undo the Geumganggo precisely because he did NOT want her to be tempted by him in the future. It was for her good and protection that she became immune to his cajoling and pleading.

You see, a demon might possess him and the bracelet was the only way OG could protect her from being harmed by his “inner” demon. He didn’t want SM tricked by him again, like he fooled her when she was a kid and like when he fooled her recently with the cellphone/hot soup flask. He said back then that SM was too gullible.

Inasmuch as SM was the only one capable of killing him, he too was the only one capable of saving her. If her mission was to kill him, then his mission was to protect her “even if the world breaks,” so she could fulfill her mission. Once she accomplished her mission, then she was freed from being SamJang, and he was released from the GGG.

Now, this approach, the Greek mythology approach, is one way of interpreting the star constellation that showed up in the night sky. But that same constellation also includes the fifth brightest star at night, Vega. It’s the star on the upper right side of the constellation.

source: solarsystemquick

Because the star is so visible in the night sky, other cultures have their own stories revolving around it. In Chinese mythology, this star represents the Weaving Girl. In fact, the ill-fated story of the Weaving Girl is so popular among Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, that they celebrate an annual festival of the meeting of the Weaver Girl and her lover, the cowherd. To the Chinese, this festival is called Qixi festival or the Chinese Valentine’s Day. The Japanese call it Tanabata while the Koreans name it Chilseok.

According to legends (and feel free to correct me because I’m only recollecting what I was told), the Weaver Girl was the daughter of the heavenly Emperor and she fell in love with a cowherd.

Reminds me of Mawang and his doomed romance with a goddess, right? Mawang would have been the cowherd.

The Weaver Girl and the cowherd were punished for their love affair and were ordered to live apart. Yet, they found a way to get around this imposed separation. In anger, the goddess of the heavens had the Weaver Girl kidnapped and returned to her celestial home. Then to further prevent her husband, the cowherd, from chasing and following her, a great river was created between the two lovers.

According to legends, the river became the Milky Way galaxy, forever separating the Weaver Girl’s star, Vega, from the cowherd’s star, Altair, in the night sky. Later on, the heavens took pity on the two lovers, and allowed them to meet on the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar (of course, not the Western Gregorian calendar). Birds would create a bridge to span over the river or the Milky Way so the two lovers could reunite for that day.

The Koreans celebrate this day as Chilseok. For me, this “Korean approach” to interpreting the constellation which appeared when SM was stargazing, made more sense (but only slightly more, lol) than the Greek mythology because it’s rooted in their culture. But we can’t discount the fact that the Lyra constellation WAS spotlighted by the writers and director.

Either way, the lesson I take from the both star mythologies, ESPECIALLY the Weaver Girl and Cowherd story, is that the stars represented stories of star-crossed lovers, and they reminded me that the stargazers, OG and SM, are themselves star-crossed lovers.

“I see the stars and the stars see me.”

When OG lifted his hand here, the image made a strong impact on me.

He was looking from afar at his SunMi perched high up on a stool, with the night sky in the background. Visually, Sunmi became one of the night stars.

He then raised his Geumganggo between them. It reminded me that his wristlet functioned as both their bridge and divider. The bracelet created their connection at same time that it created their separation. After a few moments of OG reflecting on how he was like SM, being fooled too by GGG into falling irrevocably in love, he told himself that it was better that she stayed up there, apart from him, so he wouldn’t make an even bigger fool of himself confessing these things to her.

Then, the constellation appeared beside her….

So there you, Karen, my take on the Lyra constellation. At first, I was reluctant to talk about this because when people talk about stars, usually they’re starry-eyed themselves, meaning they have an optimistic and romantic view of the situation or future. But in discussing the legends of these particular stars, I was worried that I’d put a damper on everybody’s happy endings.

So take this for what it is… my 2-cent opinion and nobody else’s.

*****
I know. I know. I’m late with my review on Episode 11. I keep on seeing connections with Episode … and I must pick and choose what to focus on or I’ll bore you to death with details. So come back in a bit and I’ll see what I have.