The Little Mermaid is not the only mute heroine in all of Andersen. She is joined by Elisa, the heroine of The Wild Swans, who, to save her brothers, transformed into swans by evil magic, must not utter a sound until she has finished handweaving them shirts from nettles. Like the Mermaid, Elisa is burdened with unspeakable pain throughout her journey – if you’ve ever brushed a stinging nettle, you can imagine how horrible it must have been for her to pick, spin, and weave with them. You may also notice that Elisa’s name is remarkably similar to that of Lara’s sister, Lisa – both, in fact, come from the root name Elizabeth. I do not think this similarity is a coincidence.

This week we finally learn Lisa’s story, and while Lara’s hasn’t been sweetness and light – her time in the 18th century was a tragedy, after all – Lisa’s has been worse. Lara was already gone when the undersea kingdom began to fall, but Lisa had to witness it. In her attempt to save herself and her family, she was separated from them, captured by humans, and spent at least one hundred years as a circus freak, doubtless a reference to the infamous Fiji (or Feejee) Mermaid. Lara’s encounter with the worst of humanity was personalized, a bad ending to a story. Lisa’s was enduring, a century of torment as she was kept in a tank and treated like an object, gawked at and made fun of for someone else’s profit. We see Lisa grow more and more despondent the longer she is imprisoned, watching her turn into Elisa before our eyes. Her voice is silenced, and her hope of saving her family slips away.

Lara’s original story is sad. Lisa’s is desperate, and unlike her youngest sister, she’s never gotten the chance to stop moving forward. Lara spent two hundred years resting before returning to life, but Lisa has been fighting for the entire time. This, too, is symbolic of the difference between the Mermaid and Elisa: yes, the Mermaid feels she’s walking on knives with every step, but she can sit down. She can make the pain stop. Elisa can never stop her work if she wants to save her six brothers, and so her pain is constant, and she can’t even complain about it, because if she opens her mouth, it will all be for naught. If Lisa has come across as cruel, sending Kota (thankfully not dead) to kill Mari and her family, it’s because she’s been forced into that role. If you’re in pain long enough, the pain overwhelms you until it becomes all that you can think about. If not for Kota’s presence, it would be all that Lisa has.

It’s at this point that I begin to wonder about Grace’s directives to Lara. According to the Sea Witch, Lara must find true love to save herself and her family. This is the same warning she was given in the late 18th century, and we saw her turn to sea foam when she failed. But is that different for each merperson or fishfolk who drinks the potion? Because I’d argue that Lisa already knows true love, as does Kota. Their feelings for each other, whether platonic, familial, or romantic, are clearly true love. Kota would never have come to find Lisa if they weren’t. Arguably, Lisa’s drive to save her family is also true love, because she’s putting it above everything else in her life, and not because she feels she must – it’s because she wants to. Yes, rage at Grace is also a motivating factor, but does the existence of anger invalidate feelings of love? I suppose it’s possible, because both Kota and Lisa begin to bubble foam upon their skin multiple times in this episode. And after all, even if Lisa is Andersen’s third mermaid, the most adventurous of the Little Mermaid’s sisters, she’s more properly Elisa of The Wild Swans, and the parameters of her quest are different from the Mermaid’s.

Both do, however, involve true love. And both Elisa and the Mermaid are rewarded (the latter in very Andersenian fashion). But I’m beginning to wonder if Goodbye, Lara is asking us whether the pain is worth the price.

Grace has never stopped watching Lisa through her mirrors, equating her with not only the witches of both The Little Mermaid and The Wild Swans, but also the Snow Queen herself. Mirrors feature prominently in many cultures’ folklore (Japan’s absolutely included), and they play a variety of roles, from granting wishes to reflecting what you least want to see to transformation. What does Lisa see in the mirror? What does a reflection do to Grace’s perception of Lisa’s actions? And will the mirrors ever just reflect the light the merfolk so desperately need?

Maybe. But the prince has just returned to the story, and if anyone’s going to throw things for a loop, it’s him.

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Recommended Reading: The Wild Swans by Peg Kerr. Alternating between 17th-century Europe and 1981 New York City, Kerr’s fantasy novel uses Andersen’s fairy tale to explore themes of love, loss, and the AIDS crisis. This book still haunts me.

Goodbye, Lara is currently streaming on
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