#unless you want to headcanon that he's much softer in the past life era

[daeva-agas]

Casually lurking in Sailor Moon fandom and when I see posts mentioning the Shitennou's knightly titles, I think the translation are off. I don't know if those are just fansubs being wonky, or if even the official ones are not entirely correct...

I've also seen some posts say that "I don't understand what these means". The knightly titles are based on the image and properties associated with each gemstone in Japanese (so, if it has different meanings internationally, it's quite beside the point).

Jadeite: Knight of Resilience 忍耐 and Harmony 調和

忍耐 is often translated as "Patience" in fanworks. 忍耐 is better translated as "resilience", "perseverance", or "endurance". Even when colloquially used to say "be patient", the connotation of it is more along the lines of "endure this". The Harmony one is correct.

"Resilience" is because jadeite jade is the harder jade. "Harmony" because of its traditional usage in spiritual matters, so jade in general has the image of "peacefulness".

Nephrite: Knight of Wisdom 知恵 and Peace 安らぎ

This one makes me kind of laugh because of what Nephrite is like as a character/person. I almost always see 知恵 translated as "Intelligence". It's not wrong per se, but this term here refers to something deeper than just brain smarts, thus "wisdom". Things like wisdom that come from age, or innate perceptiveness, and so on.

安らぎ is peace, as in "inner peace". Basically, "serenity", though it's probably not a good idea to use this word in Sailor Moon for obvious reasons.

Nephrite being the native jade of China, it has been given very sagely meaning to it that persist even in Japanese symbolism. That's why it's like this, for somewhat similar reasons to jadeite's "harmony".

Kunzite: Knight of Virtue 純潔 and Benevolence 慈愛

純潔 can also mean Purity or Chastity. 慈愛 is sometimes translated as Affection, which is also not entirely wrong. It's just that the standard meaning is benevolence or mercy. "Affection" tends to be used in the context of parents and children. In this context probably not the best meaning to use.

This gemstone is associated with the Holy Mother Mary, of all things, that's why it's got very saintly imagery associated with it.

Zoisite: Knight of Purification 浄化 and Healing 癒し

The most straightforward one so I've never seen any wonky translation with this one. Those who are into healing crystals might already know this, but this title is based on the healing and purification qualities that a blue zoisite/tanzanite supposedly have.

[belcvas]

⸻ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ.

ꜰɪʟᴇ: ʙᴇʟᴏᴠᴀ, ʏᴇʟᴇɴᴀ. ᴄᴀᴛᴇɢᴏʀʏ: ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴᴀʟ.

ɪᴍᴘᴏʀᴛᴀɴᴛ ᴘᴏʀᴛʀᴀʏᴀʟ ɴᴏᴛᴇꜱ ʙᴇʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴜᴛ. ʙʟᴀɴᴋᴇᴛ ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ʀᴇᴅ ʀᴏᴏᴍ-ʀᴇʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴛʀᴀᴜᴍᴀ.

( ooc. ) this is the heavier content that may factor into my portrayal of yelena, depending on if our plot takes us near any of these topics. in roleplay, these will likely only be briefly mentioned or depicted unless a scene demands a specific confrontation with these subjects.

yelena was a child soldier--the most accomplished red room graduate. an elite assassin before the age of twenty. the successor to the black widow. as such, her story contains depictions of abuse, violence, death, and murder, and will often allude to past trauma.

she struggles with intense abandonment issues and, in post-endgame & thunderbolts* era stories, is still actively grieving the death of her sister, as well as processing the complicated, violent relationship she had with natasha in life. she fiercely loves natasha in a way that often borders on idolization--but she also struggles to divorce her affection from their upbringing. her entire life, natasha was her standard--be better. be her. be better than her. and after natasha dies, yelena is forced to reckon with the fact these issues can never be resolved.

yelena is a black widow. she struggles with a lot of unresolved trauma and disordered eating patterns. she sees casual sex as purely transactional. a quick distraction at best, the cost of information at worst. even in post-black widow (2021) narratives, she struggles with physical connection and can be touch-averse. after the starkovsky incident, yelena finds it particularly difficult to open up to men—however, once you’ve earned her trust? it’s unbreakable. she doesn’t hand it out lightly. she would have to trust someone with her life to talk about any of this.

i write yelena as bi and demisexual, because that is what makes the most sense to me. if you are interested in why i see her this way instead of any other way, here is a blog post from yelena's creator, devin grayson, on how he defines yelena's sexuality (tl;dr - he sees this as an open conversation & affirms all headcanons. his personal interpretation is that she doesn't know - and if she did, she would keep it private).

with so much of her life bound up in conformity and using sexuality as tool, yelena often does not know what she likes or wants. that's not to say she doesn't feel desire--it's more so that she's used to her desire never factoring into the picture. she’s friendly and flirts easily, but flees emotional connection. with safe lovers, she's something close to a switch. her default mode is arrogant and mean. control is important to her. so is feeling safe and taken care of. gentle doesn’t come naturally to her, but break down her walls enough and you’ll find that she’s much softer than she lets on. if she’s really comfortable? she’ll start talking back.

as former property of the state, yelena is used to an extremely regimented life. in the post-black widow (2021) era, yelena finds herself adrift without a rigid schedule and falls into mercenary work with valentina for a semblance of control. she has ptsd, is prone to compulsions, is extremely reckless, sleeps lightly, suffers from nightmares, and drinks. a lot. if it can numb her mind enough for her to get four hours of sleep, she's tried it.

and finally... yelena cracks jokes about everything here. her primary coping mechanism is self-deprecating humor--if she makes the joke first, no one can use it against her. and maybe if she gets a laugh, it will at least have meant something. this is a depiction of the character based on her mcu personality and is not mun making light of any of these subjects.

in post-thunderbolts* narratives, she is working on some of these behaviors and will be more approachable.

if you have questions about this lore or would like to discuss it prior to writing together, please reach out. ♡