What Is Smeraldo Garden? BTS’s Mysterious Lore Explained

The meaning behind the flower, and more.

“Smeraldo Garden Marching Band,” the pre-release single for BTS Jimin‘s upcoming second solo album, MUSE, is finally here!

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Jimin holding a smeraldo flower | @bts_bighit/X

Though “Smeraldo Garden Marching Band” takes inspiration from The BeatlesSgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, “Smeraldo” is deeply tied to BTS’s own lore.

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Jimin holding The Beatles‘ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album | Vogue/YouTube
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The Beatles‘ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album | Wikipedia

BTS have created many mysteries over the years, both real and fictional. One of the biggest ones was the legend of the smeraldo flower.

This imaginary flower was introduced in 2017, just before BTS released LOVE YOURSELF: Her, the first album in their LOVE YOURSELF series.

 

Since then, this flower has appeared as a motif in BTS’s music and videos, including “The Truth Untold.” The flower is said to represent a truth that cannot be told or sincerity that cannot be delivered.

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BTS’s Jin | HYBE

The blue flower your hand was picking
I want to hold it

— “The Truth Untold” English lyrics

There is also a mysterious Naver blog, Smeraldo Flower Shop, that was periodically active until 2020.

The blog would drop clues about BTS’s comebacks, the ongoing BTS Universe story, and the smeraldo flower’s lore. For instance, each time the shop reopened, the date coincided with a BTS release.

 

One particularly important blog post, entitled the “Ninth Story,” revealed the “backstory that has not been recorded in the Smeraldo legend.”

| HYBE Labels/YouTube

The blog’s author, Testesso, revealed that the man who first grew the smeraldo flowers burned down his castle in Italy and all the flowers growing in the gardens there.

Jin in the “BTS Universe Story” game trailer | Netmarble/Youtube.com

The flames grew large enough to devour the castle, but the man did not run away, and he remained in the flower garden until the end, watching the last Smeraldo burn out.

— Flower Smeraldo

As villagers scrambled to extinguish the flames, which had spread to their homes, the man disappeared, never to be seen again. “A man who burned all the flowers with his hands and left an indelible scar on his face.” 

Jin in BTS’s “Blood, Sweat & Tears” MV | HYBE Labels/Youtube.com
Jin in BTS’s “Blood, Sweat & Tears” MV | HYBE Labels/Youtube.com

“Where was the man leaving town to go to? Was there a purpose? Why was he making an unknown expression?” The blog posed these questions for fans to answer.

In addition to the blog, an X (formerly Twitter) account was created in 2019 called Smeraldo Books.

< Smeraldo Books > is named after Smeraldo, whose flower language means ‘unspoken sincerity.’ < Smeraldo Books > will do its best to convey the sincerity of the books it produces. thank you

— @Smeraldo_Books

The account, which was active from 2019-2020, teased excerpts from BTS’s webtoon Save Me and The Notes, companion novels that explore BTS’s fictional universe in more depth.

Now that the smeraldo flower is blooming again, fans are diving back into the BTS Universe. What are your theories about “Smeraldo Garden Marching Band”?

Source: Vogue, Genius and Smeraldo Flower Shop

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