Philosopher

Ariadne

Okay, so, in my previous theories and lives, I have discussed Ariadne and the role she plays in the stories of Theseus and the Minotaur. Please check out the previous chapter for those stories if you have not yet, for I will be directly referencing them for this part. 

For quick context, Ariadne is a princess of Crete and the daughter of the King Minos. She is technically the half-sister of the minotaur through her mother. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, Eros causes her to fall in love with Theseus, our hero who will go onto found Athens and kill the Minotaur. 

As Theseus goes into the Labyrinth, Ariadne wants to ensure he will survive, so as Mistress of the Labyrinth, she devises a way for Theseus to find his way back to the entrance. She produces a thread that he can leave along the path and follow after the Minotaur is dead. Theseus does this and he and the sacrificed children get out of the Labyrinth safely. 

However, instead of reuniting with his lover and living happily ever after Theseus abandons Ariadne on a beach. Eros did not make him love Ariadne back and in some accounts, he wasn't overly fond of her in the first place. However, Athena did play a role in this and made Theseus feel it urgent to leave. The island she is abandoned on belongs to Dionysus who eventually who takes pity on her and eventually marries her (yes, the Dionysus connection solidified her in my mind as part of the BU and overall important).

As I began thinking about Ariadne and her story, I wasn't sure where she fit in. There weren't really any girl characters in the BU except for the highlight reels and none of them were fleshed out enough to fit her importance. Initially, I believed that she may be the god/ spirit that is leading Jin in his conquest to save the members. This would make sense since as I theorized earlier, I think Jin represents Theseus and therefore, it would make sense the spirit is Ariadne. However, this spirit has evil undertones and as readers of the Webtoon and consumers of the BU, I felt like we aren't supposed to trust this omnipotent presence.

Back at square one, it took me weeks to put together my following theory. It came to me gradually, and then all at once. My next theory was that Ariadne represents Army. However, I didn't have much to support this other than the relationship between BTS and Army and they often credit Army with "saving" them in their songs and such. 

Then, comes the album names (from the Love Yourself era):

Love Yourself: Her

Love Yourself: Tear

Love Yourself: Answer

These titles seem to roughly correspond with the story of Theseus and Ariadne. 

Love Yourself: Her: The initial love and meeting between the two who (even if Theseus wasn't always fond of her) were lovers. Ariadne becoming smitten with him and choosing to help him get out of the Labyrinth safely

Love Yourself: Tear: Ariadne helping Theseus and the children escape (Love Maze), however, upon Theseus' abandonment discovering that he did not love her back, or at least in the same way she did (even without Athena's interference) (Fake Love). 

Love Yourself: Answer: This one seems to simply wrap up everything (which also fits because it is a compilation album). It is Ariadne's realization and eventually marrying Dionysus and becoming a goddess essentially.

This led to me becoming more curious. Song names from both Her and Tear seem to directly relate to Ariadne. Outro: Her/ Her: obviously a reference to an important female figure, Pied Piper and DNA: her unconditional love of Theseus that wasn't of her own making/ will (remember Eros is responsible for making her love Theseus), Best of Me: could relate to her helping Theseus even when it goes against her family, Fake Love: an obvious reference to abandoning her her and the discovery that she never truly loved him in the first place, Singularity: being left alone and becoming "singular" with Theseus' departure (and therefore the departure of her love for him), 134430 (or Pluto): this song has a ton of meeting and could go into it more, but Pluto is equivalent to Hades and the mention of Eris in the song symbolizes the strife she feels and is experiencing. 

Finally, the Love Yourself album covers consist of simplistic imagery and use one line curved in various ways to make a picture (for Her it was a flower, for Tear a tear, and for Answer a heart). I think this imagery represents Ariadne's thread that she gave to Theseus to lead him out of the Labyrinth. 

So, essentially, while Ariadne seems absent from the narrative aspect of the BU, her existence is in all of Army, the song titles/ songs, album names/ covers, and all of us.