Hello there! I've decided to hop on the horror bandwagon once again, care to join me? I sometimes get surges of spontaneous topics to write about, this is one of them. In case you don't know, I'm a horror fan, and I am absolutely obsessed with mythology. Today, I get to delve into my interests, while indulging my readers with some crazy and horrific knowledge, but it's not for naught because it helps with being a well-rounded person, all while having fun and reading something interesting. Before I start, I should say that some of the roots of these stories are pretty gory and have a theme of death, murder, and suicide. You have been warned. Also, I should also say that not all of these are from Disney or fairytales. I will cover some of the possible inspirations for Ghibli characters. If you have a strong stomach and can handle gore, proceed. If you can't, you can still proceed, but the experience might not be enjoyable for you. Other than that, I have no disclaimers and we can dive right into the origins of fairytales/movies. Enjoy!
(P.S.- Try to guess what character might be based on the figure on cover image! I'll tell you later😉.)
Pinocchio- "I want to be a real boy! Not hung from a tree!"
(This section has a heavy theme of death.)
Our first contestant is a familiar wooden puppet boy named Pinocchio. Before Disney was the woke dumpster fire that it is now, it made a loveable movie adaption of the story of the same name. Pinocchio was the story of a puppet's journey to become a real boy, while making several mistakes along the way, like running off to join the circus, or going to the island of alcohol and gambling (personally, I think he went to Las Vegas🤔) all while ditching school. Those details remain for both movies.
I prefer Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio instead of Disney's Pinocchio. It appeals to adults as well as children, though some things may go over their heads like the historical aspects of Italy in WWI, and that Geppetto lost his son because of a bomb falling on the church that his son was in. I think his rendition of the wooden boy's adventure is the best one yet, though I might be a bit biased. I am familiar with his works and love his fantasy themes. Biased or not, I thought the film was great and suited both children and adults, and added historical elements to it, which was the icing on the cake.
They both share the same roots, but are completely different, but they do have something in common: both endings are happy ones. The original story's ending was not so happy, and the events were a bit more brutal towards the wooden child. It all started with an Italian man named Carlo Lorenzini, who used the penname C. Collodi, after the town he lived in. He originally wanted to be a Catholic priest and joined the seminary as a young man. Journalism was his side job. He actually didn't have writing children's books as his job, he didn't even like children. In fact, Pinocchio is based on how he viewed children, which was gullible and easily carried off. "One of the most shocking truths uncovered by literature students that read the original Pinocchio story is that Collodi speaks ill of Pinocchio many times, often calling him a “disgrace” and a “confirmed rogue”."
These insults are delivered by none other than Jiminy Cricket. In the book, Jiminy is just referred to as the Cricket and only makes a brief appearance before being killed by Pinocchio with a mallet. However, he reappears as a ghost to offer Pinocchio advice. His cricket guide would often call Pinocchio a fool and a donkey, which is a pretty bad insult on its own. Donkey also means a child that doesn't apply themselves into school. Another difference is the encounter with Monstro the whale. In Collodi’s original story, Pinocchio never gets to the part where he saves Geppetto from the shark; instead, he actually ends up dying. Collodi originally planned to show that Pinocchio, as a result of his carelessness, loses his life to the sly and evil Cat and Fox who hang him and steal his gold.
In the book, he actually "dies" multiple times, in which the Blue Fairy (who is the ghost of a dead girl) saves him. Del Toro's movie actually portrays this element and how Pinocchio talks to Death and stays in the underworld for allotted periods of time, which increases every time he goes back. One of the times he dies he is suddenly, he is ambushed by the Fox and the Cat who try to rob Pinnochio of his gold coins. The Cat and the Fox then tie a noose around Pinnochio’s neck and hang him in a tree, waiting for him to suffocate to death.
That was supposed to be the end of Pinocchio, but he wasn't a real boy yet. Despite being a bit dark for children, the author was trying to give children a message to take from it. He practically conveyed that you must stay in school, and do what your told, or else the consequences could be bad. Suddenly Disney's rendition of Pinocchio doesn't seem so bad, does it?
Cinderella- "Revenge is a dish best served cold."
(Slightly gory, but proceed with caution!)
The second story is about a loveable heroine. She started out a life of woe, losing her mother, having an evil mother replacement, along with her two evil children. Her father eventually dies, leaving her to be abused and treated like a slave in her own home. She then goes to the ball with the help of a fairy godmother and wins the heart of the prince. We're obviously talking about Cinderella. She is probably one of the most recognizable and famous Disney princess ever. By now we know that Disney had a reputation for cleaning up and sugar-coating fairytales with much more gruesome and traumatizing endings. Cinderella actually had a lot of adaptions, one of the first stories that had the same plot was printed in the "Varia Historia" in 1545. The author was a Roman man named Claudius Aelianus, his heroine was Aspasia of Phocaea, and this tale resembles the European tale we remember. “Aspasia of Phocaea loses her mother at birth and her father brings her up in poverty. She dreams however that she will be with a noble man. But she is disfigured by a growth on her face. In a dream a dove appears and changes into a woman; Aspasia is instructed to treat the growth with Aphrodite’s roses; her beauty returns. She is now compelled to attend at a banquet of Cyrus the Younger with three other girls. The others are dressed and behave as courtesans; Aspasia modestly repels the prince’s advances and so attracts him all the more.”
Another version of her tale was written by Strabo, one of the earliest versions we have. “When she was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid and carried it to Memphis; and while the king was administering justice in the open air, the eagle, when it arrived above his head, flung the sandal into his lap; and the king, stirred both by the beautiful shape of the sandal and by the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in quest of the woman who wore the sandal; and when she was found in the city of Naucratis, she was brought up to Memphis, and became the wife of the king.” (Below is an image of Strabo.)
Yet another version of Cinderella was an Italian story, with a very sinister plot. The first literary version of Cinderella is often attributed to Giambattista Basile, who included it in his book Pentamerone, published in 1634. The heroine is named Cenerentola, derived from “cenere,” the Italian word for ash. Servants in Italy at this time would often have ash on them from sitting close to the fireplace to keep warm. This story has a pretty crazy twist. We got the same evil stepmother, but in this tale Zezolla (Cenerentola's real name) has a kind governess that convinces her to kill her stepmother, and the governess gets to marry Zezolla's father instead.
Zenzolla plans it and executes it. She calls her stepmother to grab a dress from a trunk, and then closes the trunk, with her stepmother's head in it. Imagine dying by being decapitated by a trunk! That's sad. The governess marries Zezolla’s father but then produces six daughters of her own, and all of them treat Zezolla as a slave, calling her Cinderella. Not to mention when the father leaves on business, he nearly forgets to bring Zezolla a gift. Her father gives her a date tree!
"Yes Zezolla! I gave you a date tree!"
"But why do my sisters get jewelry and pretty dresses?"
"You don't need those! You are already beautiful, and this gift was totally not last minute."
With the date tree, she plants it on her mother's grave, and it houses a fairy. This fairy gives her beautiful gowns and helps her win the heart of the king.
"Thanks for being a better mother than my stepmom tree fairy!🥲"
Then the Brothers Grimm got a hold of the story... (They live up to their name might I add.) Their Cinderella was "Ashenputtel" the "ash girl." The tale is mainly the same all the way through except for a couple of things. In order to fit the slipper, the stepmother urges one of the sisters to cut off her big toe, because it wasn't able to fit. The dense prince doesn't know it until Ashenputtel's bird friends point it out to the prince, which happens when he is heading towards the castle. It happens twice, but the other sister cuts off some of her heel, the prince needs the help of talking birds to notice a puddle of blood in the carriage. Long story short, ash girl and the prince get married, but prepare for more gore. (That rhymed.)
Apparently ash girl's bird friends take revenge on the stepsisters by cursing them with eternal blindness. No, they're not witches, they literally pecked out their eyes. This is the paragraph:
“When the betrothed couple went to church, the elder was at the right side and the younger at the left, and the pigeons pecked out one eye of each of them. Afterwards as they came back, the elder was at the left, and the younger at the right, and then the pigeons pecked out the other eye of each. And thus, for their wickedness and falsehood, they were punished with blindness as long as they lived.”
Let's just say they weren't having nearly as much fun as the girls above. I think the Grimm Brothers' version of Cinderella is actually pretty cool. That's the movie adaption we want to see Disney! That would be the only acceptable reboot, at least I think so.
Snow White- "Goodness gracious, what's with all the terrible mothers and oblivious/absent fathers?"- Inky Rose, 2023
(Mentions poisoning, and a torturous death.)
I swear, not all of the characters/stories on my list are Disney Princesses. It just so happens that Disney buried the figurative bodies of the past. Snow White's story is pretty morbid on its own. This young girl is too beautiful and makes her stepmom jealous to the point of attempted murder. The Evil Queen even goes as far as posing as a beggar woman and gives her a "magic wishing apple." Snow White is practically the reason that we say, "don't talk to strangers, or take their magical wishing apples."
In the original story, the Queen does want Snow White dead, but she doesn't just want her heart. She tells the huntsman to bring back her liver and lungs too. For what? Those would become her dinner for the evening. Ah yes, no Germanic fairytale is complete without cannibalism.
The huntsman doesn't have the heart to kill the 7-year-old girl. (Yes, she was 7 in the original.) Instead, he brings the body parts of a boar. The Queen braises it in salt and then eats it.
The Queen tricks Snow White three separate times in the Grimm version, first making her try on a tight corset, causing her to pass out. The second time, she sells Snow White a poisonous comb, which the dwarves remove from her hair.
The third time the Queen tricks her with the same poisonous apple we see in the Disney film. But, in the original story Snow White spits out the apple while being carried into her coffin and is immediately revived, without the prince's kiss.
Folklore surrounding the story states that Snow White and the prince do fall in love, and they invite the Queen to the wedding. Remember my article on history's worst plagues and pandemics ? The first one on the list being the dancing plague, in which people in France took 'dance 'til your dead' seriously. Yeah, that's what happened here, but that was no mystery illness that lead the Queen to her demise.
The Queen is given a punishment for her evil deeds, as any child who nearly got killed by their mother would do. The Grimm version reads: “They put a pair of iron shoes into burning coals. They were brought forth with tongs and placed before her. She was forced to step into the red-hot shoes and dance until she fell down dead.”
Pretty intense... Though this has nothing on the next one.
Ponyo- Mainly based on The Little Mermaid, but have you ever heard of this Japanese legend?
(This is where the real gore comes in, reader's discretion advised!)
Now I must say, this segment is going to be about a possible inspiration for Ponyo. I know that she is mainly based on The Little Mermaid, but I realized that she resembles another legendary figure. Meet the Kingyo no Yurei:
If you knew what the cover image was, props to you! Bonus points if you figured that Ponyo might be inspired by it. Right off the bat, you notice that this looks like a very creepy mermaid mutant thing. That's kind of what it is, but the folklore behind this creature is just as creepy as this creature. It also has the name Monohana no Onryo, which translates to Monohana's ghost. But who's Monohana? That question shall lead us into this legend.
There once was a great samurai named Karakoto Uraemon and he had a wife named Kakehashi, they lived together in what is currently the Nagano Prefecture. Uraemon also enjoyed breeding fish. He would create many fish of many colors and kept them in a crystal tank. The couple was happy together, but they were sad because Kakehashi was already in her 30's, and they had not been able to conceive a child yet. They decided to ask for the help of a mistress. They found a lovely, well-bred girl from Kyoto named Monohana, who was only 17 at the time. She got along with the couple, and they were thrilled when they found out she was pregnant. They all got along great, and there was no ill will or contempt towards one another.
One day, Uraemon was called away to Kamakura for work. He would be gone for months and miss the birth of his first child. He left the care of his household–and his beloved goldfish–in the care of his wife and his mistress. Here comes the main antagonist of this tale, a man named Furutori Sabunta. He lived near the Karakoto household. He was 21 years old and was supposedly charming and good looking. He was also pretty greedy and had a gambling addiction, which left him in a state of poverty. This made him jealous of his neighbors, so he devised a plan.
Soon, Sabunta approached Kakehashi with a lie. He told her that Uraemon and Monohana were having an affair long before she was hired as their mistress. He also told her that the pair was planning to poison her and kill her. Kakehashi did not believe Sabunta, but Sabunta insisted he had proof. He told her that the postman had mistakenly delivered a message from Uraemon to his home which proved what he had said. The message was, of course, forged, but it was enough to convince Kakehashi. All of her good will towards Monohana gave way to hatred and jealousy. Before long, Sabunta and Kakehashi had become close friends. Sabunta toyed with Kakehashi’s heart and manipulated her into developing a plan to murder Monohana.
The plan was put in motion when Monohana was 8 months pregnant. Kakehashi told Monohana to come upstairs. When she went upstairs, Kakehashi let all of her rage loose and hurled many insults at the poor girl. Kakehashi stuffed a cloth into Monohana's mouth so she couldn't scream. Kakehashi stripped the girl naked, bound her with rope, and hung her from the rafters of the house. For the record, these are rafters:
Kakehashi completely released everything she had on Monohana. Kakehashi beat Monohana's face with a bamboo pole until it became swollen up like a balloon, and her eyeballs bulged out to a point where she was unrecognizable. Kakehashi left Monohana to hang there for about 3 days. The poor girl couldn't scream and was left starving. Her hair became matted to her face with tears. Her white skin was stained deep red from the rivers of blood running across her naked body. She was very weak and emaciated, and looked like a gaki, because of her bulging stomach. (A gaki is another yokai. It's known for its thin appearance, and it has a swollen belly. Below is an image of a gaki.)
Monohana managed to free herself from her bonds. She crawled down the staircase and, overcome with thirst, made her way to the crystal fish tank where Uraemon’s goldfish were swimming around. Monohana dipped her head into the fishbowl to drink, and after slaking her thirst she inadvertently let out a sob.
Sabunta and Kakehashi heard her sob and walked in. They burst into the room and furiously began to kick Monohana. They kicked her until her belly split open, and a baby boy spilled out from her body onto the floor. In her rage, Kakehashi grabbed the baby boy and strangled it. (This part made me sad.) This was too much for poor Monohana to handle. She screamed one last violent breath, vomiting a fountain of blood into the fish tank, and died. Her blood mixed with the water and seeped into the skin of the goldfish. Their cheeks puffed out and their eyeballs swelled, resembling Monohana’s face. Their abdomens inflated and hung from their bodies like Monohana’s pregnant belly. Their tails fanned out and split, like Monohana’s shredded skin. And they began to swim about erratically in the tank, gulping water and vomiting it out like one confused and delirious.
The pair were suddenly afraid by this conclusion and fled into the night. This news reached Uraemon and he immediately returned home. He buried Monohana's body and prayed for her soul. Seeing the fish was too much to bear for Uraemon, so he released the fish in the temple pond of Chosenji, where they remained and multiplied. It then became a living memorial to her suffering. (Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anything on this temple.)
The story doesn't end there, at least not for Kakehashi and Sabunta. They were wanted for murder, so they hid away in the mountains where they stole to gain wealth. Kakehashi was tormented by the vengeful ghost of Monohana.
(Above is an image of a Onryo, a type of Yurei that changes in behavior because of intense emotions like hatred or jealousy.) She suffered terrible dreams in which she was attacked by countless goldfish which bit her all over. When she woke up, she was covered in painful bruises in all of the places she dreamed the goldfish had bit her. Kakehashi put ointment on the wounds, but it only caused the pain to increase. Eventually, the pain was so great that she became bedridden.
Eventually, Monohana's curse began to affect Kakehashi's physical appearance. Her face became swollen, her eyed bulged out, she has oozing pustules and blood coming from her skin, her lips and nose rotted and fell of, permanently exposing her teeth.
She couldn't swallow her food, so she eventually began to starve. She looked like a bag of bones, apart from her stomach, her stomach bloated out. She ended up looking like a grotesque goldfish, just like the Kingyo no Yurei. She knew that Monohana was afflicting this on her and wished for death. Monohana wanted her to suffer, just like Kakehashi made her suffer those 3 days.
Her pain and insanity subsided, but she was cursed with this disfigurement. After that, Sabunta returned home less and less often. Kakehashi became increasingly jealous. She was terrified that Sabunta would leave her because of her disfigurement.
She decided to look for him and found him at a pub, embracing two women. Kakehashi was furious. She stormed over and grabbed both women by the hair and snarled at Sabunta, “Wherever you hide, don’t think I won’t find you!”
Without hesitation, Sabuta drew his sword to Kakehashi’s neck. He revealed the truth to her: “Everything I said to you was a lie. Your husband never betrayed you; I forged those letters just to manipulate you. I never loved you; I just used you to get Uraemon’s money. You are the one who killed Monohana. How dare you begrudge me for your sins! Everything that happened to you is your fault, because you were dumb enough to believe my lies!”
Her eyes flared with anger. Her fangs snapped in her lipless mouth. Her long hair flew about wildly. Gripping the two girls by their hair, she screamed. “If you kill me, I will find you. Alive or dead I will find you. I will hunt you down you across the six realms and the four directions. And I will have my revenge.”
He then cut off her head. Kakehashi’s severed head shot up into the sky. Her eyes burned white-hot and stared at Sabunta. Flames leapt from her mouth. The screaming head spiraled around him in circles. And then, it suddenly vanished. He cut off her arms to free the girls from her grasp, but they were already dead.
From then on, the ghost of Kakehashi haunted him and drove him into madness and tortured him endlessly. He became diseased, which emaciated his appearance, thought Kakehashi never let him die. His misery ended when Uraemon's brother took revenge upon him for his evil deeds.
This is a pretty woeful story, and I would have never guessed that a cute little fish girl was somewhat based on such a tragic tale. The story of Monohana is often regarded as the birth of the Ranchu breed of goldfish. Honestly, I see the resemblance.
Fact: Kingyo no Yurei translates to "goldfish ghost."
It is also said that Ponyo is based on the Ningyo, the Japanese counterpart to the mermaid of Western culture. Keep in mind they are more fish than human, not split in half like Ariel. They can have anything from ugly, deformed fish-like faces to entire human torsos with long, bony fingers and sharp claws. Ningyo range in size from a human child to a large seal.
"The first recorded mermaid sightings in Japan are found in the Nihon Shoki, which is one of the oldest books of classical Japanese history and dates back to 619 CE. The flesh of a ningyo is believed to grant eternal life and youth to those who eat it, and thus it is the subject of many folk tales. However, this meal carries a danger that most people unwilling to risk; ningyo can place a powerful curse on humans who try to wound or capture them. Some legends tell of entire towns that were swallowed by earthquakes or tidal waves after a foolish fisherman brought home a ningyo in one of his catches."
Asian merfolk are often less-than beautiful. They are usually more fishlike. There are many kinds of these seafolk like Kojin, Umi-Nyobo, Nure onna, and a couple of others.
No-Face- Just a spirit passing through, who is also a fan favorite.
On the topic of beloved Ghibli characters, we are going to talk about No face. He has become popular with Ghibli fans, so I figured he should be mentioned. The first thing you notice about him is his mask. His mask is actually based on Noh theater masks.
They are a little unsettling to look at, but also beautiful. There is actually a yokai that has no face. I'm not sure that it is a huge inspiration, but it is a worthy mention. Meet Nopperabo, the faceless ghost. They can be men or women and are known for their lack of facial features.
They are generally harmless but give a bit a fright and can entirely blend into human society without issue. They usually aren't malevolent, but they like to prank people. Another similar yokai is the gaki. I'm sure you remember it.
They are known for their insatiable hunger and thirst. Plus, the only food they can eat are excrements, corpses, or food that is blessed by monks. Nothing can satisfy their hunger though. "There are many kinds of gaki, each of which suffers in a different way related to the sins he or she committed in a past life. Some are unable to eat or drink anything at all. Whenever they try to eat, the food instantly bursts into flames and vanishes. These gaki are only able to eat food which has been specially blessed for them in Buddhist services. Some gaki are able to eat only unclean things, such as feces, vomit, corpses, and so on. Others have no trouble eating anything they please. However, no matter how much they wolf down, their hunger and thirst are never sated."
Though No face doesn't physically resemble these weird little goblins, his mannerism in the onsen (bathhouse) is similar to that of a gaki.
Afterwards, he becomes normal again. He basically altered his personality to resemble the establishment. Once he leaves, he eats like this:
Although, I have noticed that No Face also bears a physical resemblance to the Umi Bozu, or "Sea Monk." It is jet-black in appearance with no external features other than big round eyes. This yokai is aquatic and is thought to be gigantic in size. They mainly appear on calm nights, and suddenly waves and storms begin.
I can just imagine the fright these sailors felt. Imagine just minding your own business, and suddenly seeing a giant humanoid with black skin staring at you. How bizarre. The umi bozu will demand a barrel from the crew. It uses this to pour huge amounts of water onto the deck, quickly sinking the boat and drowning the crew. If given a barrel with the bottom removed, the umi bozu will scoop and scoop to no effect, and the sailors will be able to make a lucky escape. They can be pretty dangerous because of this habit.
Sleeping Beauty- Getting kissed by a stranger? It can't get any worse...Right?
(This section mentions a situation of assault, reader's discretion advised)
Unfortunately, we are reaching the conclusion of this article. I know! I had so much fun writing this, but I didn't want to keep you all waiting any longer! Maybe I'll turn this into a series, let me know in the comments if you would like a series out of this topic. Well anyways, our last fairy tale is Sleeping Beauty. So, she was cursed by a lonely fairy that didn't get invited to her birthday party. (Maybe her invite got lost in the mail?) "On her 16th birthday, she will fall into a deep sleep for 1,000 years. UNLESS! She is awakened by true love's kiss!" (Or something of the sort.) She gets kissed and lives happily ever after with her prince. Hahaha... Disney you rapscallion! That's not how the story goes! The story is much worse than being kissed by someone you just met.
The modern Sleeping Beauty is based on a tale penned by the Italian storyteller Giambattista Basile. This is the man:
His story tells of a beautiful young maiden lying asleep in a castle. She of course, could not wake up like a normal person. Instead of a prince, a king is riding by the castle and decides to investigate further. Instead of a mild kiss, the king picks up the sleeping girl, carries her to a bed, and rapes her. When I did my research on this story, I was appalled, but not surprised. Disney has once again successfully sugar-coated a morbid fairy tale. I swear, they sugar-coat these tales so much that we might as well be diabetic. (Joke of course.)
Nine months later, the princess wakes up. Why? Her sudden awakening was because she was giving birth to twins!!
This isn't the end of this nightmare though; the king was married when he assaulted the sleeping beauty. His wife, the queen, ends up hearing about his illegitimate twins and wants them not only killed but also tries to devise a way of making her unfaithful husband eat the dead babies. In the end, the evil queen’s plan is foiled, and the royal couple separate, and the king ends up marrying Sleeping Beauty. The pair live happily ever after, despite the fact their "first date" involved the rape of his future wife! Seriously what the heck?! That is the worst origin of a fairy tale I've of heard yet.
I don't even understand how the princess could even be with that sick man! That was just terrible! Fairy tales am I right?
Pushing that terrible story aside, we've reached the end of the article. Like always, I hope you enjoyed this article. I enjoyed the writing process of it, especially when I reached the point of researching yokai. I thought that was especially fun, and I hope you liked it as well.
There was no message behind this article, but maybe one:
Things aren't always as they seem.
Maybe I will turn this into a series. What do you think? Feel free to tell me in the comment section or in the Rose bush.
Thank you for reading and have a good day🏙️/night🌃!
(and P.S, I highly recommend checking out Yokai.com, it will be listed in the credits. Not sponsored!)
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Sources and Further Reading:
(🌹Inky Rose recommends🌹)
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