#also I know jack shit about latin and am relying on others' translations/interpretations. so like

[neversetyoufree]

I've talked to death on this blog about VnC and Vanitas's relation to the meaning of "vanitas," but on the topic of latin phrases, I'm also really intrigued by the name of Jeanne's gauntlet: Carpe Diem.

I'm guessing most of y'all have a general idea of what "carpe diem" means (sieze the day), but the original phrase in full is super interesting when applied to Jeanne. It's "carpe diem quam minimum credula postero." Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next one. Or in other words, make the most of today because you don't know whether you'll have tomorrow.

Originally, Marquis Machina gives the gauntlet this name when he first gives it to Jeanne, and he makes it pretty clear what he means by it. He tells her to "rampage to her heart's content." Bourreaus don't tend to survive very long, so "carpe diem" in this context is him telling her to make the most of her little remaining time. She could die tomorrow, so she ought to go as wild as possible in the meantime, and her super-powerful weapon Carpe Diem is the medium through which she can achieve that wildness.

Of course, she can't actually "seize the day" in any meaningful way while she's a bourreau, because she isn't allowed to have any desires of her own. Killing as much as she can for her masters does not a full life make. However, her arc so far has in large part been about rediscovering the agency and personal desires that she's been denied, and now her biggest motivation/assurance is kind of a curious reversal of the full carpe diem phrase.

The original message is that, because you don't know whether you'll have tomorrow, you ought to live fully. Death is an uncertain quantity on the horizon, and the threat of its arrival is motivation to make the most of yourself before it catches you. And Jeanne has lately been able to live her life more fully because of the specter of death on her horizon! It's just that for her, death is not a threat, but a comfort.

Since her promise from Vanitas, Jeanne has been able to let go a little bit and make more of her life because she knows that she can die. If she loses control, she knows that Vanitas can kill her. Seize the day, trusting that if the seizing goes wrong, you will not have to face self-made horrors in the next one. The thought of looming death motivates her to live more fully not because she wants to fill her life before she dies, but because the knowledge she can be killed makes her less afraid to fill it. Death becomes not a caution but a safety valve.

It's such an interesting twist on the role and philosophy that were originally assigned to her, and it makes me really curious about where her relationship to this idea might go next.