“Trivia 承: Love” & The Rose

Hello my lovely readers 😊

For those who have been following me from the start, first, thank you (x infinity) for all your support. It has just been amazing and I’m so incredibly grateful to each and everyone of you <3.

Second, you may already have read Part 1 and Part 2 of my theory on Trivia 承: Love and thus wondering what this post is going to be about. Don’t worry, I am not going to be repeating my findings in Part 1 and Part 2.

The purpose of this updated post is to:

• consolidate at a high level all the clues about Namjoon’s relationship with his lover told through Serendipity, DNA and Dimple in the lead up to Trivia 承: Love;
• show you how everything we’ve discussed so far is clearly linked to Rose – the first flower on the Love Yourself album covers;
• maintain order to my blog as Trivia 承: Love is meant to be the fourth chapter. (Oops for making it my first post!); and
• help guide any new readers (welcome!) reading my blog for the first time :). New Readers, I would recommend that after reading the post below, that you come back and start here.

Let’s get it.

1. Consolidating the clues

Already, Namjoon has given us a lot of clues about his relationship with his lover.

In this post, the process of identifying the pattern in the three Love Yourself albums revealed that:

• there is intentional structure in the Love Yourself albums;
• there are four story lines, each represented by a flower on the Love Yourself covers; and
• the structure suggested that a specific group of songs starting with Serendipity will reveal Namjoon’s story.
  
  Separately, in this post, I discussed why when Namjoon refers to a “Her” in his lyrics, he is referring to his lover.

Next, by analysing the lyrics of the first song, Serendipity, we identified that Namjoon:

• met “Her”, his lover, purely by chance;
• and “Her” are fearful of touching each other and holding each other’s hands, suggesting that their relationship is forbidden; and
• characterises “Her” as an “Angel”.

In the second song, DNA (Part 1 & 2), we identified that Namjoon:

• met “Her” around the time BTS first met each other and debuted, and it was love at first sight;
• characterises himself as a “Devil”;
• believes he and his lover are each other’s destiny;
• believes their love will transcend death, time and space; and
• calls “Her” his soulmate.

In the third song, 보조개 (​Dimple), we identified that:

• their relationship is dangerous and illegal because it is forbidden;
• Namjoon’s lover only has one dimple;
• Namjoon met “Her” when they were young; and
• they love each other so much that they have vowed to be with each other till death do them apart.

In summary, Serendipity, DNA and Dimple gave us a lot of clues about Joon’s lover and we can use them to figure out who he/she is.

The three songs also tell a deeply rich love story, akin to Romeo and Juliet.

2. Joon’s lover in Trivia 承: Love

Now, in the fourth song Trivia 承: Love, I explained (in Part 1 and Part 2) in detail the many reasons why I believe Namjoon’s lover is Jin. Personally, my favourite hint is this:

“Look, mine and yours also sound the same“
(봐 내와 네도 똑같은 소리가 나잖아)

Given the entire song is based on the play of the alphabets “I” and “O” morphing into each other, Joon and Jin are literally the alphabets “I” and “O” away from sounding the same.

This word play (and many others I identified and discussed in Part 1 and Part 2) seem too perfect to be a coincidence. Jin’s name is strongly hinted at in the lyrics.

In addition, the clues from Serendipity, DNA and Dimple also suggest it is Jin. For example, Jin only has one dimple.

I also realised a funny coincidence. As per my previous posts, I have always compared Namjoon’s forbidden love story to the story of Romeo & Juliet.

Romeo & Juliet = RJ

3. The symbolic meaning of the Rose

The Rose is the first flower in the Love Yourself album covers.

As per my theory, I believe each flower is meant to symbolise something – like a story line.

I observed that Namjoon is known to perform Trivia 承: Love in the following Rose robe:

This suggests to me that the Rose in the album cover is connected to Trivia 承: Love and therefore, Namjoon’s story line in the Love Yourself albums.

Researching the meaning of The Rose

Given BTS’ love for Greek Mythology and Latin (e.g. the meaning of “Trivia” is Latin means 3 ways as discussed in this post), I’ve researched the meaning of Roses in Greek Mythology and Latin and observed it perfectly fits with what we know about Namjoon’s story so far.

Greek Mythology and Roses

Based on this source:

Red Roses are the symbol of love and passion between two people.

They symbolise the feelings of love, passion and beauty because the majority of legends about red roses are related to Aphrodite, who according to Greek mythology is the goddess of love, beauty, desire and reproduction.

Aphrodite was so beautiful, like red roses, strong and alive, and it’s said that each one of the thorns on a rose bush represents the pain that the Greek god felt for each one of her loves.

Besides the obvious connection to love and passion, if Jin is indeed Namjoon’s lover, then the fact that the Rose is related to Aphrodite is doubly fitting given Jin (Worldwide Handsome) is particularly known for his beauty.

Latin history and Roses

Based on this source:

The rose is a symbol of secrecy and has an ancient history. The Latin phrase “sub rosa” means “under the rose”, and is used in English to denote secrecy or confidentiality.

The rose’s connotation of secrecy also dates back to Greek mythology. Aphrodite gave a rose to her son Eros, the god of love; he, in turn, gave it to Harpocrates, the god of silence, to ensure that his mother’s indiscretions (or those of the gods in general, in other accounts) were not disclosed.

In Christian symbolism, the phrase “sub rosa” has a special place in confessions. Pictures of five-petalled roses were often carved on confessionals, indicating that the conversations would remain secret.

In addition, based on this source, in Rome, a wild rose would be placed on the door of a room where secret or confidential matters were discussed.

The Rose is the symbol for secrecy and secret confessions.

The symbolical meaning of the Rose in Namjoon’s love story

Assuming that “Her” is indeed Jin, then given what we know about Namjoon’s relationship from Serendipity, DNA and Dimple, Namjoon’s Rose robe and the Rose featured on the album covers are incredibly fitting:

• The symbol of the Rose reinforces the deep passion and love between Namjoon and “Her” as told through Serendipity, DNA and Dimple;
• The Rose is symbolic of the secrecy Namjoon and “Her” need to uphold and the confidential nature of their relationship;
• The Rose supports our interpretation in Serendipity that Namjoon and “Her” can only talk and act freely with each other behind closed doors, and whatever they say or do behind closed doors must remain a secret;
• Namjoon’s declaration of his love in Trivia 承: Love while wearing the Rose robe is a literal symbolical act of a love confession. A love confession, confessed many times in plain sight but has remained a secret. Quite literally the truth untold.
  • This is doubly fitting as the “secret confession” meaning of the Rose comes from Christian symbolism.
    As we have seen in Serendipity, DNA and Dimple:
    • these three songs are filled with lyrics with religious (Christian) connotations; and
    • Namjoon characterises himself as the Devil, and his lover as an Angel, two beings symbolic to Christianity.

In short, the Rose represents Joon’s secret confession and symbolises the nature of Joon and Jin’s relationship in every way as their love is one of deep passion and utmost secrecy… in plain sight.

Authors Note:

Irrespective of whether you agree or disagree with my interpretations (it is ok not to ship NamJin), I sincerely hope we can agree one one thing: That being in love with someone and not being able to show it sucks.

It sucks even more if your relationship with your soulmate is forbidden to the extent that you are worried about holding hands and touching each other in public… and something tells me it is not just because they are K-pop stars.

Hence, even if you don’t agree with my observations, I sincerely hope that you may at least share the same resolve as me to continue to fight for everyone’s right to be able to love freely without fear of discrimination or persecution.

I did not start this blog because I’m a Namjinist, I started this blog because I observed that there are so many connections… elegant connections that I feel are just too coincidental given Namjoon’s IQ and the praises (e.g. “I love your sexy brain”) he gets from BTS.

Thus, I write so that I can hopefully help us make sense of the connections, and at the same time, highlight the fear and challenges Namjoon faced from loving “Her”. I hope this may inspire change.

Love is love. It doesn’t discriminate and therefore, neither should we.

x G