In the Sailor Moon manga, we find out that the Amazoness Quartet are really the Sailor Quartet or the Asteroid Senshi who are actually Sailor Senshi just like Sailor Moon and her friends. As a member of the Sailor Quartet, VesVes is known as Sailor Vesta. The name "VesVes" is derived from the name "Vesta".
Sailor Vesta is supposed to be the counterpart of or is supposed to correspond with Sailor Mars, which explains why both have red themes though in different shades. The red theme is actually very appropriate for VesVes and it's more than just because of her association with Sailor Mars.
But before we discuss that, let's first look into where the name "Vesta" came from. Sailor Vesta was said to have been named after an asteroid called Vesta. The Vesta asteroid is one of the major asteroids in the Asteroid Belt.
Upon the discovery of Vesta (the asteroid, not VesVes), it was thought to be a planet and was initially classified as one before it was instead deemed to be an asteroid.
Aside from being the name of an asteroid (and VesVes, of course), did you know that Vesta is also the name of a goddess?
Vesta is the name of the Roman goddess of the hearth (among some other things like home and family) and the Greek goddess Hestia is her counterpart. Since the hearth is the floor of a fireplace, it makes sense why VesVes is red-themed and why she is the counterpart of Sailor Mars who is also associated with the color red.
In fact, in the Dead Moon Circus, VesVes in known as the Magician of Beasts because she is the animal tamer and she even wields a whip as a weapon, which is rather apt for her aggressive nature.
Being an animal tamer could also be associated with the goddess Vesta because, as the goddess of the hearth, Hestia was tasked to take care of the fires of the hearth on Mount Olympus (where the gods and goddesses resided).
It is interesting to note that there are actually not that many stories or myths regarding the goddess Vesta in mythology. One of the stories about her is regarding her birth, her parentage and her siblings.
In Greek Mythology, Hestia was said to be the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. She was the sister of the goddesses Hera and Demeter and the gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hades.
According to legend, when Cronus' children were born, he proceeded to swallow all of them except for Zeus, the youngest (thanks to his mother tricking his father).
Hestia was said to have been the first one that Cronus swallowed, which would indicate that she was the eldest child. However, she was also said to be the last one to be thrown up when Zeus made Cronus bring back his siblings.
This thus seemed to indicate that Hestia was the youngest child. If we went with that, it would fit with how VesVes is the youngest member of the Sailor Quartet.
So, what do you think of VesVes or Sailor Vesta? Is she your favorite member of the Amazoness Quartet? Do you think her name suits her?
*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by Greenwaves31 (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Said image is meant to symbolize Sailor Vesta since the figure has red hair and is red-themed, just like VesVes
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget
