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Oscar François de Jarjeyes

"I was born with a destiny of roses
to live in glory and passion."


At the age of 14, Oscar was a blond-haired and big blue-eyed beautiful young girl. She was raised in a wealthy, noble family and got a good education. She was a great piano(violin in manga) player and an excellent swordswoman. She was unaware of what life would bring to her in the following years.

It all started when Oscar was appointed as the royal guard of the recently arrived princess from Austria, Marie Antoinette. That was the first time she had to make a decision for life. By wearing the uniform of the royal guards, she knew that she would be a man all through her life. General Jarjeyes couldn't understand why she was hesitating for such a small matter and
asked André, to persuade Oscar to wear the uniform. André, however refused to do this, saying that it was Oscar's decision. In the end Oscar wore the uniform though she said she didn't do it for her father, but for herself. She took the burden of a difficult life with her own free will.

Oscar was a pretty popular figure in Versailles. Indeed people in the palace must have found a mysteriously beautiful girl dressed in men's clothes fascinating. However, she paid no attention to the frivolous women wanting to talk to her. At balls, she would lean against a wall, sipping slowly from her wine glass, watching people and keeping an eye on the queen. For this reason, she was thought to be a cold and ignorant person. But deep down, Oscar was very kind and loving.

Without a doubt her ambiguous sexuality was te greatest reason for her suffering most of the time. Her manhood was shaken by his love for Fersen and no matter how much she tried to forget it, she failed. And when Fersen found out about that she quitted her position in the Royal Guards to avoid seeing him. During this time, André, her caring childhood companion stood beside her, suffering silently to see her in pain but Oscar never realized that.

One thing Oscar couldn't stand was injustice. If she witnessed one, she would draw her sword immediately, ready to fight to restore it. That was one of the reasons that made her life hard. That's also the reason why she disobeyed her father and the queen. After she became the commander of the French Guards, she saw the misery the people of Paris were living in. Finally she made up her mind to join the Revolution which prepared to her death.

Oscar François de Jarjeyes died at the age of 33 just when she was thinking there was no reason left for her to live after André's death. In the morning of July 14, 1789, the day that marked the start of the French Revolution, she was killed by a shower of bullets while she was giving orders to her guards along with the other revolutionists to capture the Bastille Prison, the symbol of despotism of the aristoctrats. She lived a short life in great dignity and was so noble that she chose to give up her noble title to carry on her own beliefs.


RoV includes quite a few symbolisms that give clues for more about Oscar's personality, the most obvious one being the white rose. In the opening sequence of the anime, there's a big white rose that turns into red. Red rose doesn't symbolize love in this story. It symbolizes blood, trouble and loss of innocence. Oscar is a pure white rose that turns into red as the Revolution approaches.

The final episode of RoV exemplifies this symbolizm in the most beautiful way I think. In this episode we learn about the events that took place after the deaths of Oscar and André. We see Marie Antoinette in the Conciergerie Prison just before her execution. Thinking about Oscar, she makes a rose out of white cosmetic pieces she found in her cell. She gives it to Rosalie and asks her to paint it in Oscar's favorite color. Rosalie decides to leave it the way it is as she doesn't know Oscar's favorite color. And thus, Oscar stays as a beautiful white rose, so noble and pure.

To symbolize Oscar's firey nature, her selflessness and devotion to her ideals the portrait scene in episode 37 is very well made. Oscar has a portrait of herself made and in it she's pictured as the god of war, Mars wearing a red cloak and a shiny armor, smiling warmly on a white horse. After the painting is done the painter comments on the painting saying "She's calm as the surface of water, but she's a burning fire inside, heading to the battlefield. That's what I saw in her." The next day Oscar goes to Paris to fight on the the revolutionists' side never to come back again.

Another symbolizm is the color of Oscar's uniforms. They change in accordance with the colors of the French flag. White is the color of royality but also of Virgin Mary. So it represents innocence just like how innocent and pure Oscar was when she first started her duty. Red, I still can't figure out. Maybe it represents trouble as in the red rose. Blue represents justice just like how Oscar made her decision to abandon her noble title to join the revolution after becomingthe commander of the French guards. Blue also symbolizes her patriotism most obvious from her last words "Vive la France!"