This is an attempt to establish what sort of personal relationships might have existed between our three goddesses and Peorth before she joined the story in the Fourth Goddess arc. While not of any real importance right now at the Dark Horse release point, this question is going to assume more weight down the road and will become essential to understanding events and conversations in the chapters currently being released by Kodansha (185 and up). That's what got me going back to the Fourth Goddess arc to look at what was being said there and see if it fits with the current situation.

Required Spoiler Alert And Disclaimer

If you're familiar with the Fourth Goddess and Velsper Arcs there shouldn't be any real spoilers here, as actual references will be limited to those two stories. But I am looking at things from the perspective of what's been happening in the future, and some conclusions are based on unreleased material. Thus the focus of this commentary will be on whether these are supported by the earlier stories.

So be warned.

Most of the following are conclusions I've reached after multiple readings of the stories involved and close examinations of the facial and body language of the characters in them. As such it is almost wholly my opinion and not to be considered canon in any way. So take them for what it's worth. Keiichi and Bell's world is whatever Mr. Fujishima says it is, even when he contradicts himself.

The Fourth Goddess Arc

These are observations drawn from the chapters of the Fourth Goddess arc. They're roughly listed in the order they appear in the story and are drawn from both the Dark Horse/Studio Proteus and the Nekomi Kodai/Ed Chang translations. In some cases I've included the quotes that support the observation, in others you'll have to check them yourself. When quotes are included, they might be from either source, or both if the translations seem fundamentally different. In any case I am not implying that either of these translations is more valid. Two different (and highly talented) translators have tackled the tricky task of converting Japanese text into English from their own different perspectives and sometimes came up with slightly different results. Comparing the two versions can often provide a better insight into what Mr. Fujishima was actually trying to say, or more importantly, imply. In other words, it's hard enough turning Japanese TEXT into understandable English, I'm trying to read between the lines here and need all the clues I can find.

Fourth Times A Charmer

Peorth is waiting for a call and believes she knows what it's about. "Ready when you are. I'm already prepared. I've been waiting for your call. Hearing the call from your heart." (Okay, so this one's obvious.)

Peorth and Urd know each other on sight, and are both surprised to see each other. Their exchange of words is that of people familiar with each other.

Peorth can identify Skuld by her voice alone. Skuld can also recognizes Peorth on sight. Not much chance of them having worked together like Peorth and Bell may have, so they must know each other from some other situation.

Not only do Peorth and Belldandy know each other by voice and sight, Bell is absolutely thrilled to see her and welcomes her as a long absent friend. Bell's shocked when Peorth rebuffs her, indicating they haven't seen much of each other lately (not since the debugging incident, at least) or she'd know how Peorth feels about her.

Again, Peorth implies she "knows" Keiichi's wish.

When Keiichi comments on Peorth's ego (Nekomi Kodai trans), Urd agrees like she knows Peorth's personality. When Peorth asks if Belldandy's contract is true, Urd replies as someone who's familiar with the person she's speaking to.

Peorth is pretty sure she knows Keiichi's wish and that he'll tell it to her. "Perhaps I heard it, ...suppressed in that body is a hidden desire. I......will grant that wish no matter what it takes! I heard it all too well..."

There is no doubt Peorth knew she was being sent on a mission involving Keiichi, (though maybe not his name) and it is equally certain that she had no idea about the situation she was getting into. (The sort of thing that's done if you want an agent's investigation to be unbiased in anyway.)

Again, Urd seems to know Peorth very well and how obsessed she can get when pursuing her "duty". The gist of Urd's advice to Peorth is that "Keiichi is that kind of guy" meaning he'd never willingly hurt or disappoint Belldandy.

Peorth decides that it's Bell's fault that Keiichi has become sexually frustrated and that's why she received this mission to rectify the situation. Peorth: "Because the duty hasn't ended... That kind of wish got through."

I'll Do Anything For You

Peorth seems to know just what buttons to press for maximum effect on Skuld and Urd, and pushes them with the sort of confident amusement that only someone who knows the effect they're having would do. (Older kid teasing younger ones.)

Her initial attitude is that of professional disinterest (she has more important things to do), but then allows herself to be easily drawn into a silly challenge with Urd and Skuld, something she'd do only if their opinion of her and/or the chance to score meaningless ego points against them was of some value to her.

"If you're scared I'm going to take him from you, then compete with me." Please note that Peorth is making a personal challenge to Bell, who responds by backing off and acting as if the challenge hadn't been made.

The Battle For Keiichi

(Note, this is the first time wings are shown coming from the back of a goddess (Belldandy and Peorth) within the manga story. An earlier drawing of heaven in System Force Down shows a winged figure in the background, but it appears more fairy-like than goddess.)

Peorth is familiar with Urd's potions and can identify them by sight. Also she can modify them, although not with the certainty she thinks she can. "Messing with my potions is not a game for amateurs." (Note, Peorth hides the "Seed of Love" in her bosom. Shades of a romance novel.)

Urd is shown as feeling comfortable taking revenge on Peorth (almost matter-of-factly), far more than she would be if it was some stranger she was after.

A Goddess Never Forgets

It's raining, a sure sign of some sort of deep emotional thought process going on in a manga.

"You haven't changed at all from what you used to be." "I have never forgotten that moment..."

"What moment? I don't remember at all!"

Bell can't conceive of what Peorth was referring to, but is so concerned she feels drastic measures are required. Bell's attitude is that of grim determination. Her relationship to Peorth is personally important to her.

Both Skuld, Urd, and Peorth act like people who know each other fairly well during the attempt to force Peorth to take the truth serum. (Forgive me, Peorth. It's for sister! Stop it you medicine fetish injection maniac freak!)

"I, as the eldest, shall sit in judgment." (This is the first appearance of angels in the manga.) This statement would at first seem to indicate that Urd is older than Peorth, but it more likely means Urd's the oldest goddess present not involved in the contest. Peorth could still be older than all of them.

The fact that Peorth uses the triple challenge of the goddesses might even be a clue to her age. Urd implies it's a very old method of competition that no one uses anymore. If Peorth turns to it automatically in a moment of stress, she may be old enough to remember when it wasn't out of date.

Peorth knows about Belldandy's weakness for cute things.

Peorth both accurately reads Urd's thoughts about cheating, and shows great maturity in admitting her loss.

"I shall help you remember"

Peorth has received a Yggdrasil maintenance assignment. It's implied this is not a routine problem and that dealing with it will be tricky. Peorth's attitude here is that of a troubleshooter.

Peorth is surprised but pleased that Belldandy is to assist her in the assignment. Again, it's shown that they've know each other personally, but this is the first time they've worked together. Peorth however seems very confident that Bell will be a help not a hindrance, implying she has first hand knowledge of Belldandy's abilities in this area.

THE CRIME!

Peorth has tremendous pride in her abilities and accomplishments because she knows she's earned them on her own terms. To have someone give her credit for something she didn't do cheapens her real accomplishments and therefore is a terrible insult.

When the bug/virus invaded Peorth's digital component, thereby knocking her conscious mind "off-line", it was cut off from the rest of the system, severely restricting its options to evolve or evade further attempts to erase it. This enabled Belldandy to finally destroy it, thus in her mind making it a joint effort.

Men are from Earth, Goddesses are from Yggdrasil

Urd is purposely precipitating Keiichi into a crisis and she may suspect more than she's letting on. That's a pretty smug & knowing smile she has after she gets Keiichi all riled up over Bell.

Belldandy is still concerned with "making good" with Peorth. Peorth again claims knowledge of what Keiichi's "hearts desire" is.

She also seems genuinely surprised that Keiichi honestly doesn't have any idea of what she thought he wanted (the Japanese version is less confusing).

While purposely meant to be confusing, what I think Peorth's statement of love for Keiichi was supposed to mean was, "So, all you need is for me to announce that I love you and then everything would be alright?" This is not a lie.

Keiichi remembers that a first class goddess cannot lie, but being confused by how Peorth said it, tries to make sense of it all. Peorth realizes that her words could be considered misleading, but decides it might help things along.

Keiichi, grimly faces the situation and, mostly worried about Belldandy, comes up with away of phrasing a wish that meets Peorth's requirements without his actually knowing what he's wishing for. It works, scaring the heck out of poor Keiichi who starts to realize what he's just done.

The following chase involves Peorth still thinking her mission is to relieve K-1's sexual needs and Keiichi wisely knowing this ain't a good idea. Bell who still has no idea what's going on, assists Keiichi as they flee just because it seems like the right thing to do at the moment. There's no signs of stress or worry in her actions.

Keiichi reviews his desires (trying to be honest with himself) and decides that while he wants "it" (and Bell might to), for some reason it just doesn't feel right yet. (Which is essentially where Belldandy's thoughts seem to have wound up when she was pondering the same thing while doing the laundry.)

Peorth arrives and the moment of crisis occurs. Bell announces she's not there because of any contract, restraint, or sense of duty, but solely because she loves Keiichi of her own free will. Keiichi's heart responds, and suddenly Peorth realizes that Keiichi's deepest wishes are for Belldandy - and no one else.

The statement, "you've granted my hearts desire" is compared to and confirmed against Keiichi's heart, so Peorth realizes her mission is accomplished. In rapid retrospect (hindsight being 20-20) she realizes she was always aware of the true nature of Keiichi's desires, that's what Urd was trying to tell her. She's a little wistful at this turn of events as she'd come to care about Keiichi herself and was actually looking forward to granting what she thought was his wish, but that's how it goes. (She's also a bit jealous of what Belldandy has in Keiichi, goddesses are addicted to love in all its forms and K-1 is a pretty strong source.)

Keiichi wants Belldandy's love on all emotional levels, including physical, but knows he can never possess her. So he will wait as long as it takes for her to make the right moves. Belldandy is more concerned about other aspects of their love, such as can she make a lifetime commitment to Keiichi without breaking it and, while sorta aware of it, really hasn't considered the physical part of it to be all that important, so far.

Peorth can only shake her head in amazement when she realizes this, but it isn't her place to interfere.

System Manager (System Operations, Sys-Ops) - Urd vs. System Administration (Operations, Sys-Ad) - Peorth

Thanks to my sister (who is a system administrator) for explaining all this to me.

Urd has been described as both the System manager and Sys-Ops (System Operations Supervisor) for Yggdrasil. In I.T. terms that means she's in charge of the hardware and general operations of the central computer system that makes up Yggdrasil proper (the mainframe system as it were). She'd be in charge of the physical maintenance of the processing units themselves and the main programing elements (such as BIOS and the central system clock) to make sure the system is always "on-line" and "backed-up".

In this position she'd oversee a select staff of technicians (such as Skuld) that would do the actual work, so Urd probably wouldn't have to do much herself (which would probably suit her just fine). In fact, since most of this would be routine procedure and done by assigned personnel, she could leave overseeing daily operations to her senior staff and not even be in the control room very often. She could even be punished by being exiled on earth and have her license suspended and not lose her position, if she was really suited for it.

Of course, she'd still be on call for emergencies and would be expected to have the answers to whatever problems or questions about the system arose, either internally or externally. That would require an encyclopedic knowledge of the system's hardware, central programing, external connections, and how they all related to each other. And to do this well would require an innate, almost physical ability to be one with the system and sense how its running, something a Norn might have (and Urd's been described as having in "Urd's Fantastic Adventure").

Note...
Subsystem programs (like the "Ultimate Force") would not be her direct problem (although she would have access to them). So it's believable for her to say, "Yeah, Skuld's chasing down a bug in the system. I haven't a clue when it'll be fixed." in response to Bell's question about the System Force breaking down.

As one of the technicians working under Urd in Systems Operations, Skuld would be involved in debugging the main system's programing. (In other words, she'd be spending all her time inside Yggdrasil's mainframe, which is where we see her in the manga and OAVs.)

Belldandy, while knowledgeable about Yggdrasil's systems, is more of an end user than systems technician. She accesses Yggdrasil to grant wishes or to help people, acting as a connecting link (antenna) between it and our world. But that wouldn't exclude her from having her own special expertise with the system itself.

Comparing the Mythological Norns to the Goddess Sisters.

Interestingly, Norse mythology goes along with this interpretation of the three Norns functions. Their first and primary responsibility is the care and healing of Yggdrasil, reversing the damage caused to the world tree by the dragon Neidheg down in Niffleheim. (If the demon realm wishes to ever take over Yggdrasil, it must first neutralize the Norns. That's one possible explanation for Mara and all the other demon activity around the sisters.) But beyond this obvious duty to take care of Yggdrasil, the three Norns have individual functions in determining the path of fate that also fit in rather well with the OMG versions.

Urd (Urda) the eldest, spins (or selects) the threads of life at the base of Yggdrasil, or in a better version, writes or carves the runes of history on strips of bark or wood taken from Yggdrasil itself.

Interpretation - The past, utilizing what has already come to exist in the world, creates the raw material for what's about to happen.

Belldandy (Verthandi) the middle sister, weaves the threads into a cloth or cord, or in the other version, reads the runes Urda's written out loud. In either case, her actions make what has been woven or written become reality.

Interpretation - The present, exists only for the moment and is formed from what's been provided by the past. While seemingly the weakest sister, Verthandi is in fact the most powerful. Without her contribution the past is powerless to affect the present and the future cannot happen. She controls both where they meet.

(The symbolism of Belldandy reading the runes for Urd is still the most direct use of Norse mythology in the world of OMG, all the knitting and monster names in the earlier chapters not withstanding.)

Skuld (Skuld) the youngest, watches what they do and gathers the cloth, cord, or rune staves from Belldandy. Then, when she decides its time, tears them up, breaks the sticks, or tosses them onto a fire, ending that life (or chain of events).

Interpretation - The future takes note of the past and present, gathers what they've done, then reduces it into the formlessness of uncertainty and death.

Put into less mythological terms, Urd runs the system, Belldandy uses the system to affect the outside world, and Skuld watches and learns from her sisters, while destroying aspects of what the system creates (such as bugs). And not always benignly.

So What's Peorth Doing In The System Manager's Chair At The Start Of The Movie?

It's simple, she isn't. In any large information system (and Yggdrasil's certainly the biggest) there are two overseeing authorities; System Operations (Sys-Ops), which handles everything inside the system, and System Administration (Sys-Ad), which takes care of anything dealing with the outside world.

Sys-Ad is the gatekeeper to the Yggdrasil system, deciding who can access what in the network, and what the system can release to the outside world and under what conditions. In this capacity System Administration's function is to oversee all of Yggdrasil's external functions such as individual goddess connections (the reason they know its Belldandy who's had her system hacked so quickly), sub-routines and linked sites that effect aspects of our reality, data transmission points (satellite six), and other outside links. The control center for
this authority would be larger than the one for operations and require a large staff organized into many departments. (Some of which might have overlapping duties and could be considered as "rivals" within the big picture. i.e. - FBI - CIA)

So essentially, whoever sits in the command chair of the System Administration control room is the webmistress for the Yggdrasil network. Something senior System Administrators would be called on to do as one of their responsibilities. (Urd's job is to make sure there's a Yggdrasil to connect the network to.)

Peorth works for System Administration and would seem to be a senior administrator. It's her job to deal with any problems coming from outside the central system, such as unresolved open contracts (a possible reason for K-1's second wish), chasing hackers, external terminal interface troubles and subsystem failures, reporting on problems or reporting on progress to higher-ups and in general being a system trouble shooter. She'd also be involved in managing the Sys-Ad control room, which is what she's doing in the movie.

In this scheme of things, Belldandy would also be working in System Administration, though in her case she's specialized in handling wishes. This might be the explanation for her working with Peorth that time.

From Ed Chang's Nekomi Kodai translation (edited down somewhat)....
(Studio Proteus - Dark Horse version is essentially the same.)

Peorth: I guess today's bug-catching in the subsystem...
Peorth: Today there's one more person there, huh.

Peorth is reading an assignment sheet, her comments imply this is either not her normal duty or just one of many she does on an irregular basis. She also implies that having a second goddess to help her is unusual.

Peorth: Belldandy?
Belldandy: I'm so glad! We can work together now.
Peorth: So the other person was you? .
Belldandy: Today's bug looks a bit difficult, so...
Belldandy: Let's try our best.
Peorth: Yeah!

Bell and Peorth comment on how the bug they have to deal with is a bit difficult (it proves to be strong enough to evade both their efforts and take out Peorth), which might be why two goddesses have been assigned to the project. It can be assumed that Belldandy, as a Norn, has some special abilities as far as Yggdrasil goes. So if there were a serious problem it would make sense for the central authority to take her off a less-critical job and pair her up with another debugger to get rid of it.

"Your Agency and mine are rivals."

While similar in their functions, the Earth Help Center and Goddess Technical Help Line (Goddess Relief Office) seem to have one fundamental difference that helps explain Peorth's attitude and actions compared to Belldandy and the others.

The Help Line is passive for the most part. They wait for the calls to come to them and then deal with the wish situation as it is presented to them. While they may have a role in determining who deserves it, essentially they just wait and provide assistance/help/relief to those whose needs are great enough to get through to them. [Urd is just idly sitting by the phone waiting in Together For Never (DH issue V-7, TPB-10, March 1998, K chapt. 54, Vol. 9, Feb. 1993) and Bell implies that's what she was doing when Keiichi first calls. Another time Bell says that they just handled the calls as they come in.)

The Earth Help Center is more proactive. They're a special assignment organization, alerted (or assigned) to problems as they occur, or even before, and while its agents may wait to act, they're prepared and ready to deal with situations ahead of time. In other words, it's agents are troubleshooters, dispatched to deal with situations and handle problems outside of the ordinary by the higher authorities. (Peorth is anxiously waiting for a call she knows is coming.)

This leads to how the two agencies get their assignments. The Goddess Technical Help Line seems to have its calls routed through a dedicated selection system. How you get selected is still a mystery, but it's a routine procedure requiring a goddess to be standing by the phone waiting at all times for when an assignment comes through. The Earth Help Center probably gets its assignments from a dispatcher. They might have to wait for a phone call to get started on a wish assignment, but they know when one's coming. And if one of their staff gets sent on a wish call, it's because the situation is tense and needs to be dealt with quickly.

That's why Peorth is so aggressive in trying to motivate Keiichi, she's got a job to do and she's going to do it, or ELSE! It's an elite force attitude of an elite force member. It also explains her rather disdainful attitude toward those she sees as "leisure goddesses" (they have no real duties) and why she would be involved in pursuing Velsper after he hacked Yggdrasil and was fleeing toward earth space. It also explains why she might be handling special maintenance projects involving Yggdrasil (I guess today's bug catching in the subsystem...) or acting as an operations manager for the system. They are special agents given difficult assignments by the high authorities because they can handle them!

(It also poses room for speculation if one of Peorth's bosses might be someone's mommy or daddy. No evidence for it, but it is suggestive.)

So How Old Is Peorth?

While we'll probably never know (a woman's prerogative) certain things can be inferred. She's at least as old as Urd and probably older (see comments under "I, as the eldest, shall sit in judgment.") How much older isn't certain, but her relationship with Urd is that of the older, more experienced wild child with a younger one. She and Urd share many personality traits, which might be what attracted Peorth to Urd in the first place. They're soul sisters, as it were, only Peorth has learned how to control her inclinations toward lying. meddling, and general over-enthusiasm in the pursuit of her goals to within acceptable levels for a first class goddess.

This required considerable maturity and self discipline on her part, and Kami-sama alone knows how long it took for her to achieve it. (And having done it herself, she may have hopes that Urd can achieve it too.) Also, even though she tries to act so much more mature than Urd (or her younger sister), Peorth always seems to be easily dragged down to their level (and doesn't seem to mind it that much when she is). She still loves fun and excessive behavior, just tempered with the sort of sense of duty and personal honor that age and experience gives you.

So what is Peorth's relationship with the goddess sisters?

The initial question of this overlong essay.

In the case of Urd, Peorth may have started as one of the Yggdrasil systems operators involved in her initial training. While they would have soon separated on a technical level, they'd probably found a great deal of common ground emotionally, understanding each other on a personal level that formed a natural bond. They've remained close acquaintances as their jobs would have kept them in touch, and might even have considered it a friendship if not for their age differences. (Urd has always been lonely deep inside and any understanding soul has been welcome. She just tries to hide it to prevent herself from getting hurt if it should fall through.)

Still, Urd is not in awe of Peorth, nor is she overly concerned about Peorth's opinion of her, other than in the usual ways, which I take to mean Peorth never had any actual authority over Urd. Urd considers Peorth an equal, both socially and professionally, in spite of the license class difference and isn't about to take any attitude from her.

(This might be support for the the idea of Peorth working for Urd's father, sort of a "we're both on the same level of importance to the system regardless of your status." point of view.)

Not surprisingly, Skuld also knows Peorth. They've both spent a lot of time around Yggdrasil and as debuggers would most certainly have encountered each other. (As part of System Operations, Skuld probably handled normal bugs within the mainframe. In both the OAVs and manga that's where we see her. Peorth would be called in for external system problems, troubleshooting peripheral interfaces and outside hacking. Her bugs probably weren't nearly as cute.

Again, while Skuld has a certain respect for Peorth as an older, first class goddess, she doesn't seem to think of her as an authority figure and doesn't take a submissive attitude toward her.

Belldandy's relationship with Peorth is a bit more complicated. She seems to worry about what the fourth goddess is thinking or saying about her lot more than I believe she would with just any other goddess. (Although Bell is sorta obsessive about not being disliked.) And for two goddesses who share the values and responsibilities of a first class goddess, they don't seem to understand each other very well (especially Peorth). Part of this could be because unlike Belldandy, who seems to adhere to these principles almost naturally, Peorth does it by means of hard work and self discipline. Hence the reason they have trouble relating to each other (unlike the situation between Urd and Peorth).

Like her sisters, Belldandy doesn't feel inferior to Peorth, but she does respect her opinions even if she doesn't agree with them. And she seems to take Peorth's criticism of her actions seriously to heart, spending long hours in self-examination. Bell also takes a very Japanese attitude of trying to avoid conflict with her important guest by not interfering with Peorth's actions unless what she's doing is upsetting someone else (like Keiichi).

Unlike her sisters, Belldandy's position in relation to Yggdrasil is similar to Peorth's, that of dealing with how the super computer's functions interface with the external world. (They both work for agencies that grant wishes (aka altering reality) for people. So it's possible that Peorth may have had some involvement with when Belldandy first came to work there. That would explain why they seem to relate to each other on a slightly different level than the other two sisters.

My personal explanation for this is that Peorth might have been Belldandy's mentor, allowing them to have first known each other in a hierarchical setting and letting Peorth feel comfortable with their later pairing up, even though they'd never "worked" together for real. This would also explain Belldandy's attitude, both in the flashback and present story. If Peorth had been a favorite instructor, Bell would be happy to see her again, thrilled at the prospect of now working together as equals with someone she respected, and terribly upset when her former teacher seemed to be finding fault with her.

I realize there's little to support this conclusion, but after reviewing all their exchanges and based on my own experiences, I believe the best way of describing Bell and Peorth's relationship is that of, "a former pupil who's transcended her teacher/mentor in skill and ability, but who still desires her approval." Peorth still sees Bell as someone who needs guidance and Bell respects Peorth's opinions even if she doesn't agree with them and defers to her somewhat as someone she owes respect to.