CONTINUITY
Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne appeared only in the Sailor Moon Manga. They had a very little "spotlight", making their first (and only) appereance in the Stars arc of the manga, in Act 48: Stars 6.

BACKGROUND & STORY
Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne are Sailor Senshi, affiliate in the manga with the Shadow Galactica. However, while all the other members of the Shadow Galactica were fake Sailor Senshi that got their Senshi powers from Galaxia's bracelets, Lethe and Mnemosyne were true Sailor Senshi, the only ones in the organization except for Sailor Galaxia herself. How could it be, then, that two Sailor Senshi decided to join Galaxia? What made them do that?

Lethe and Mnemosyne's story begins much longer before their first appereance in the manga. Before Galaxia's arrival, Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne are actually twin sisters, and were born on neighbor planets somewhere in the Milky Way: Lethe and Mnemosyne (as might be reflected from their names). Sailor Lethe was titled as "Senshi of Oblivion" and Sailor Mnemosyne was titled as "Senshi of Memory". Despite the two Senshi were twin sisters, their planets were considered as enemies, and were at war one with the other all the time. and the chaos resulting from it was uncontrollable. At that point Galaxia appeared, in attempt to conquer the two planets. Desperate, Lethe and Mnemosyne agreed to join Galaxia's organisation, because they felt like there is no other choice, that they just had to follow her. They also hopped that Galaxia would be able to bring a bright, better future for the galaxy, and for their planets in particular.

Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne first appear in the manga when Sailor Moon, the Starlights, Kakyuu and Chibi Chibi arrive to the Sagittarius Zero Star, the location in space in which the Galaxu Cauldron is. When just arriving there, they suffered an unbareable heat, as the entire area was a desert. As the group arrives a river, a mysterious boatman offers them to ferry them across it. It is a trap though, and Usagi sinks into the river, forgetting everything about herself and her goals. The boatman is revealed to be Sailor Lethe, which attacks Sailor Moon. It is then explained to the readers that in the Shadow Galactica, Lethe and Mnsmosyne's role was to guard two rivers - Sailor Lethe guarded the Desert River of Oblivion, while Sailor Mnemosyne guarded the Desert River of Memory.

However, just as Sailor Lethe was about to attack Sailor Moon, Sailor Mnemosyne stops her from doing so. She also heals Kakyuu's memories by making her drink from the Desert River of Memory. An argument arrises between the three. Lethe and Mnemosyne are convinced that Sailor Moon and the Silver Crystal is the source for all of their problems, and thus are willing to kill her. When Sailor Moon offers a simple solution to their problems - to kill her - they understand that Usagi came there to resolve the war, not to cause it. Their opinion about Sailor Moon was just about to change as Sailor Chi and Sailor Phi appeared and killed them, taking away their Sailor Crystals.

PERSONALITY & CHARACTER
While not much is said or described about Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne's personality in the act in which they appear, much can be inferred from their behavior and reactions. Their appereance is rather short, yet is loaded and dramatic, and thus a lot of emotions are revealed here.

Sailor Lethe appears to be the tougher between the two sisters, as well as the more active one. She is passionate, pertinacious, stubborn and irreconcilablel. An example to these traits of hers were when she killed Luna, Artemis and Diana in front of Usagi's eyes, in order to show her how futile her life was. Lethe has a strong belief that Sailor Moon and the Silver Crystal are the source for all of her and Mnemosyne's problems, and thus is decisive to kill her, at any cost. Though appearing very harsh, Sailor Lethe has one weak spot - her sister, Sailor Mnemosyne. This is well shown when Mnemosyne blocks Lethe's attack towards Sailor Moon: despite her sister has betrayed her Lethe is unable to harm her, she still loves her very much.

Sailor Mnemosyne is more passive and soft-hearted than her sister. She is delicate and gentle, and hates using violence, especially against other Senshi, which is expressed very well when she stops Lethe from attacking Sailor Moon. While she shares the same belief as Lethe about Sailor Moon and the Silver Crystal being the source for their problems, Sailor Mnemosyne is less stubborn and extreme than her sister. She is more moderate, asking Lethe to leave Sailor Moon's fate to Galaxia instead of messing with her on their own. Though betraying her sister's beliefs, Mnemosyne seems to care for her deeply.

The two sisters love each other deeply, which is expressed in the reason why they followed Galaxia in the first place - their planets were in a long war with each other and they thought that following Galaxia might put an end to this and make their life better. Though having a hard belief towards Sailor Moon, that belief started to shatter when Sailor Moon offered them to kill her, they started to understand that she's right and were about to change their mind about her before Chi and Phi killed them.

POWERS & ABILITIES
Not much is known about Lethe and Mnemosyne's powers as Sailor Senshi. However, due to being Sailor Senshi, there are certain details we can infer about them. Lethe and Mnemosyne were the guardians of their respective planets, and thus had certain amount of power that was related to them. The source of their power was their Sailor Crystals, which were later taken by Sailor Chi and Phi.

During their service in the Shadow Galactica, Lethe was the guardian of the Desert River of Oblivion and Mnemosyne was the guardian of the Desert River of Memory. These two rivers had affection on the memory, as was shown in the manga: if someone drank from the Desert River of Oblivion (like Usagi did), they forgot everything, and drinking from the Desert River of Memory would cancel the former river's affection (likw happened with Kakyuu).

In addition, Sailor Lethe was shown to have one attack, Galactica Myosotis Alpestris, which appeared as an energy blast that was sent towards her enemy. This attack might be based on Sailor Lethe's true attack, before becoming a part of Shadow Galactica, but that is not confirmed in the cannon. Myosotis Alpestris is a variety of the flower Forget-Me-Not.

MYTHOLOGICAL ORIGINS
In the Greek Mythology, Lethe and Mnemosyne were two rivers located in Hades, the netherworld. The two rivers were associated with forgetting and remembering.

Lethe was the river of forgetfulness, and once drinking from it the person who drank its water would forget everything. In the Greek Mythology it was said that all the dead people in Hades were forced to drink from the river Lethe, in order to forget their past life. Lethe was also a name of a naiad who was an anthropomorphism of forgetfulness.

Mnemosyne was the river of memory, and once a person drank its water he'd know anything. Mnemosyne was also the name of a titaness who was an forgetfulness of memory, and the river Mnemosyne was named after her.

Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne's motif of memory and oblivion, as well as the rivers of forgetfulness and memory as they appear in the manga, are based on these Ancient Greek myths.

MANGA GALLERY

MATERIAL COLLECTIONS

FANART

A PERSONAL WORD
Ever since I've got to know the Sailor Moon Manga I fell in love with Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne. I love their mysterious theme, I find it absolutely cool, and their tragic story is always touching me. I also like how they are'nt a classic bad guy - they followed Galaxia only because of their innocent hope for better days for their planets. I also like them because, you have to admit - they're soooooooo pretty!
I kinda wish they had a bigger role in the manga, and I think they should have appeared in other continuities as well!

CREDIT
Soul Hunter

Wikimoon

Wikipedia

DeviantArt

ZeroChan

I really like these two's design :3

*Miki collapses at being unable to talk about myu in this thread*

UndergroundSources wrote:

I really like these two's design :3

*Miki collapses at being unable to talk about myu in this thread*

LOL!!!

Yeah, they appear only in the manga, unfortunately... Though they should have been in the Myu and the Anime too! They have so much potential!
They could have an emotional song like the one of Uranus and Neptune's betrayal, can't remember it's name.. ><

well the one in Kakyuuouhi was called "Uranus and Neptune's Betrayal" XD

(Uranus to Neptune no Uragiri)... it was a new version of "Orleans no Sei Senshi ~ Uranus Neptune no Uragiri)

XD I made signatures of these two a while ago... I'mma dump them here! xD



yes. it is the same picture. The End.


Oh! And another quote:

Lethe wrote:

Those with life are born to die

Note: her philosophy of life is not one to follow.

Sorry for the HUGE delay, my life made me busy..

But these look wonderful Kyralih chan!!

Also that quote, scary... But it sure sounds Lethe-is! xD

So this thread is SUPER OLD but I was thinking about these two at work the other day.  Despite their very short amount of time in the story, they have always stood out to me.  I think they are two of the most relate-able members of Shadow Galactica, because we see their true personality and reasons for joining.

Also, their fuku is so unique and pretty (if I cosplayed I would probably be one of them)

You know, IF SMC were to get to the Stars arc, I would look forward to seeing some of the manga only characters (if they were to include them) like Lethe and Mnemosyne. I always liked them, they were so sad...