Love at First Sight… or Love At First Photoshop?

In this scene, Tamino falls head over heels in love with a picture of Pamina, the Queen of the Night’s daughter. According to the plotline, the Queen gave him the picture after she had dragged the moon a few hundred thousand miles (boy, that must have been quite a workout), all of this in the hope that Tamino would accept the quest to rescue her daughter from a man named Sarastro, who had apparently kidnapped her. I think this is faulty logic on her part; would you ask a prince who had just miserably failed in slaying a dragon and had to be rescued by three damsels to save your daughter? Also important to the plot is that Papageno was freed soon after this whole episode, and became friends with Tamino, which, given their first encounter, was kind of strange… Anyway, back to the picture. I mean, love at first sight is one thing, but falling head over heels in love with a picture that a floating person on a giant celestial body gave you…well, that’s a bit different. Besides, the picture could just as easily have been painted or drawn or photoshopped or something. Filters can work wonders, you know. And of course, because Tamino casually fights serpents/dragons, is friends with a lying bird-catcher, and hangs out with people who drag moons a few thousand miles, he accepts the quest. Afterwards, the three maidens of the Queen give him a casual magic flute and Papageno received random magic bells (which also keep with the plays consistent habit of making things appear out of nowhere), and they both set out on the quest, making the Queen Tamino’s celestial buddy—for a while at least.

• Foreword
• Point One:
  Tamino Casually Fights A Random Dragon
• Point Two:
  Hey Diddle Diddle, A Cat and a Fiddle, A Queen of the Night Jumped Over the Moon
• Point Three:
  Love at First Sight… or Love At First Photoshop?
• Point Four:
  Tamino Takes Advice From Twelve Year Olds
• Point Five:
  Love at First Sight… I Guess?
• Point Six:
  Tests and Queens and Confusion, Oh My!
• Point Seven:
  Random Things/People Showing Up Out Of Nowhere Cliché… Again
• Point Eight:
  Lightning. Just Lightning.