Hello my lovely readers 🙂

I’ve created this page to explain the point of the Smeraldo flower story, and to summarise what I believe are the key bits of information that will help us understand the meaning behind some of BTS’ songs.

Because of the number of available resources out there explaining and translating the original Smeraldo blog posts, and the fact that each of the blog posts are extremely content heavy, I will not be translating or covering all of the details from the the original Smeraldo blog posts in this page.

Therefore, I have written this page assuming that you are up to date with the stories posted in the Smeraldo blog. If you’re not, please kindly read at least one of the links below before proceeding.

• The Smeraldo Story – By the BTS Effect
• The official Smeraldo Blog – By “Testesso” (aka BTS)
• Legend of the Smeraldo Flower – By Indrachapa J

Alright everyone, let’s get it!

1. What is the Smeraldo flower and why is it important?

The Smeraldo is a fictional blue and white flower that BTS created. This flower was introduced to the world on 9 August 2017 when Jin tweeted a photo of it, around about a month before the first Love Yourself album (Love Yourself 承 ‘Her’) was released.

Jin’s tweet led to the discovery of the the Smeraldo blog on Naver which was created on 4 July 2017.

The Smeraldo blog is owned by a florist named “Testesso” (aka BTS) who writes about how he discovered the Smeraldo flower and wants to open up a Smeraldo flower shop.

The Smeraldo is important to the Love Yourself series because the flower is referred to in at least one of the songs in the Love Yourself albums.

In other words, to understand the true meaning of the songs in the Love Yourself albums that reference the flower, we need to understand the meaning behind the Smeraldo flower.

2. How is the Smeraldo Flower related to the Love Yourself Albums?

Through the Smeraldo blog, BTS tells us that the “flower language” of the Smeraldo is “non potevo dire la verità” in Italian.

There are three main English translations of “non potevo dire la verità” floating around. They are:

• “The Truth that couldn’t be Told”;
• “I’m unable to tell the truth”; and/or
• “The sincerity that could not be delivered”.

The first translation of the “flower language” – “The Truth that couldn’t be told” is a direct reference to the song 전하지 못한 진심 (The Truth Untold) in the second Love Yourself album (Love Yourself: 轉 Tear).

3. What is the point of the Smeraldo flower?

The Smeraldo story as you would have read, is incredibly elaborate.

BTS have clearly invested a lot of time and effort into creating its backstory, the legend, the blog content etc.

We can infer from this that it must be because the story told in 전하지 못한 진심 (The Truth Untold) is of particular significance.

However, I believe that a lot of the details, including the Smeraldo Notes are simply part of BTS’ storytelling brilliance, aimed at captivating us through the use of magic realism, and the never-ending sense of anticipation.

Let me explain what I mean.

I have mentioned a few times in my blog about how and why I believe BTS were particularly inspired by Murakami’s work in Kafka on the Shore and 1Q84. Murakami’s work is also particularly known for its magic realism.

Hence, similar to Murakami’s work, I believe what EXACTLY happens in the Smeraldo story isn’t always what is important.

What is important are the themes, concepts and messages BTS are trying to convey.

To explain what I mean by that, let’s take Kafka on the Shore for example:

In Kafka on the Shore, a spirit takes on the form of Colonel Sanders (aka KFC man) to meet a random truck driver, who decided out of pure spontaneity to quit his job and follow an old man he just met on a quest.

This old man used to be able to speak to cats, was potentially abducted by an alien when he was a kid, is somehow able to make fish rain from the sky when he opens his umbrella, and is on a quest to find a stone that he knows nothing about.

Colonel Sanders tells the truck driver that he knows the location of this mysterious stone, but before he can tell him the stone’s location, he must visit his brothel first.

….Wait… What??????????

Believe it or not, the little snippet I’ve provided to you above about Kafka on the Shore is by far not the strangest thing that happens in the book.

Kafka on the Shore is overflowing with the weirdest of events. However, as intriguing and fun it is that Colonel Sanders from KFC is taking a guy to a brothel in exchange for the location of a mysterious stone, and that there is an old man that can make fish fall from the sky by opening his umbrella, these events are not the important points of the story.

The important point of the story is that the characters in Kafka on the Shore accept these incredibly bizarre and ridiculous sequence of events because of their unwavering belief in fate.

They believe so strongly in something that despite all these bizarre events, they persist with their actions and all end up fulfilling exactly what they believed they were destined for. The characters in 1Q84 also suffer the same fate.

I have previously discussed this connection, between Destiny, Fate, Kafka in the Shore and BTS’ lyrics in my DNA analysis here.

Hence, I believe that similarly to Murakami’s work, some details of the Smeraldo flower story are important, and some are not.

For example, I personally don’t think the identity of the person under the umbrella looking into the Flower shop is of any importance. At least for now.

4. So what are the important points of the Smeraldo story?

I’ve listed below what I believe are the key bits of information from the Smeraldo story that will help us make sense of BTS’ lyrics.

They may not make sense yet, but hopefully they will once you read them in conjunction with my song analyses:

1. BTS have given the Smeraldo Flower multiple meanings:
   • “The Truth that couldn’t be Told”;
   • “I’m unable to tell the truth”;
   • “The sincerity that could not be delivered”
   • Testesso states that one reason why he works with Smeraldos is because he wants to “help others deliver their true feelings.”
     In other words, the Smeraldo flower can also symbolically represent “true feelings.”
   • The Smeraldo card has the meaning “fruition” and “bloom” and the reversed meaning of “fall”, “end” and “new start” .
2. It was “discovered” on 13 June 2013 (or 12 June for some countries) – the day BTS debuted;
3. The Smeraldo is specifically connected to Jin. This is because:
   • Jin is the first person to tweet about the Smeraldo;
   • Jin is the one carrying the bouquet of Smeraldo in promotional materials;
   • Jin appears in the Smeraldo story as the “young man” that the Testesso feels he has met before.
     In the story, Jin purchases some Smeraldo and says to Testesso that he is purchasing Smeraldos “because I want to be a good person.”
   • No other BTS member has appeared in the Smeraldo story.
4. The Smeraldo story contains two parallel story lines:
   • The Smeraldo Flower legend where the grotesque man in the castle never got to express his feelings to the girl who picked his flowers; and
   • Testesso the florist who never got to tell his crush from the playing card event that he likes him/her;
     
     The two stories share the following similarities. Both of them are:
     • love stories;
     • about the lack of courage; and
     • about regret;
       
5. The two stories also end with the grotesque man in the legend and Testesso being alone, and their respective persons they love, dead.
   In other words, the protagonists’ relationships with their respective loves are dead and gone.
6. Italy is the home of the Smeraldo flower.

One more important point

There is one more important point that requires a little more explanation.

It is about the significance of Testesso feeling that he has met Jin before, and Jin purchasing the flowers. I will discuss them in two parts below.

Testesso’s feeling

In the Smearldo story, when Jin visits the shop, Testesso feels that Jin is someone he has met before and that there is an unexplained connection.

The story seems to hint at the possibility that Jin may be the reincarnation of Testesso’s lover that died.

In my DNA analysis, I’ve previously discussed the concept of reincarnation (e.g. Miss Saeki is drawn to Kafka because he seems to be a reincarnation of her boyfriend), and about how Namjoon and his lover’s destinies are written into their DNA, to the point that their love transcends death.

I said in my DNA analysis: “This also means that no matter what they do, even if they try to leave each other or die, it doesn’t matter because they would have simply done what they were always fated to do in order for fate to bring them back together again.”

Similarly to Kafka in the Shore, 1Q84 also deeply explores the concept of reincarnation, and the potential re-meeting of previous “dead” relationships.

As you may hopefully be able to see, we can easily draw parallels between Kafka in the Shore and 1Q84 to what is happening with Testesso.

Jin’s purchase

In the Smeraldo story, Jin visits the shop to purchase Smeraldos “because I want to be a good person.”

We can infer from this interaction that Jin is purchasing the flowers for someone. He has decided to purchase the Smeraldo because he wants to be a good person and give the person he is buying the Smeraldos for a second chance.

The common theme between these two specific parts of the Smeraldo Flower story is that they are about second chances.

From Testesso’s point of view, it is about having the possibility of a second chance to be with the person he loves, and from Jin’s point of view, it is about being “a good person” by forgiving and giving someone a second chance.

Given that this entire Smeraldo story is centred on two parallel love stories, BTS is exploring the concept about having and giving someone a second chance at love.

Thanks everyone, please feel free to leave a comment below and stay tune for my next analysis on Fake Love 😊.

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