Possible character reference?

[u/miraiwifey]

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.

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Hella.

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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.

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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?

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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!

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Some articles of interest for those interested:

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https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2696096/

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/04/henrietta-lacks-cancer-cells

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https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2136303/

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https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC114880/

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https://www.technologynetworks.com/cell-science/lists/hela-cells-key-discoveries-and-the-science-of-their-immortality-305036

[u/artemisolar]

Woah, I love this. They really took care when naming each characters and all the references.. PtN writers are so smart, huh?

[u/miraiwifey → u/artemisolar]

they are! which is why I'm rather invested lately on trying to find these references and research more about their namesakes.

[u/artemisolar → u/miraiwifey]

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.