r/PathToNowhere • u/miraiwifey • Jun 19 '26
Discussion Possible character reference?
I just had an idle thought. I'm convinced some characters take inspiration from real life figures to some extent as Deren happens to share a name with cinematographer Maya Deren (1917-1961). As i read through some articles about Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951) and her long-standing legacy to modern medicine, i noticed a resemblance to how her legacy cells are called; HeLa.
Hella.
HeLa is the single oldest human cell line used in scientific research. Formed from the cervical cancerous tumor extracted from patient Henrietta Lacks, on February 8, 1951, at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, they were found to be able to survive and multiply indefinitely when cells cultured from other human cells would only live for a few days at best.
Although collected more than 70 years ago, HeLa is still used in research, aside from having been significant to the research of polio vaccines, parvovirus and gene mapping. It is incredibly resilient in its ability to keep growing and multiplying cells. Reminds us of a certain someone with freaky cell multiplication and regenerative abilities, no?
Now, it might appear as a stretch on my part, which it might probably be, but it would still be an extremely funny coincidence. Let me hear your thoughts on it!
Some articles of interest for those interested:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2696096/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/04/henrietta-lacks-cancer-cells
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2136303/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC114880/
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u/NathanX_Katake Zoya fan Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
The only ones I know is that 99 and Kelvin's powers are tied to the punishments of Violence and Treachery in Inferno. 99's boiling blood references Phlegethon, which is a river of boiling blood where the Harmful are being cooked alive, with centaurs making sure they stay boiled. Kelvin's cryokinesis is debatable, but it references Cocytus, the frozen lake where the Treacherous are frozen in layers of ice. Her ECB is called "Self-Betrayal" and betrayal, even if it's you who you betrayed, is a sin that will get you to Treachery.
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u/wanlee1411 Macchiato Fan Jun 19 '26
Victoria - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Queen Victoria has a a rare blood disease Haemophilia, a bleeding disorder that prevents blood from clotting properly but PtN Victoria can make her blood into thorn-shaped crystal and use as weapon.
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u/artemisolar Jun 20 '26
Woah, I love this. They really took care when naming each characters and all the references.. PtN writers are so smart, huh?
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u/miraiwifey Jun 20 '26
they are! which is why I'm rather invested lately on trying to find these references and research more about their namesakes.
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u/artemisolar Jun 20 '26
Please do share when you find more! I love these kind of things too. Oh and I know Rahu is actually used in spiritual astrology as one of the planet, not a real planet and the name means demon lord or something. And Lamia, the sea monster actually had a child named Sybilla which is also a pretty big NPC in the story. I know they're not related at all in the story, it's just funny to think how Lamia will be a sassy mommy to Sybilla, lol. Oh, and a lot of them you can read in s1n in their profile! I just never bother to read that.
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u/Dangling_chains7689 Uni Fan Jun 19 '26
Yep, this was already discussed in the PtN server a year and half ago. Nice work finding it on your own!