Dyesebel

This article is about the comic book character. For the 2008 TV series, see Dyesebel (TV series).

Dyesebel
Publication information
Created by	Mars Ravelo
In-story information
Species	half-human/half-mermaid

Dyesebel is a popular mermaid character in the Philippines. The comic book character was originally conceived by the Filipino comic book illustrator, Mars Ravelo. Dyesebel is a prominent character in Philippine cinema and television.^[1]

Plots

1953: Dyesebel

In the Philippines, the lore of Dyesebel began with the story of a girl born to a mermaid-obsessed Filipino mother. Whilst pregnant, Dyesebel 's mother obsessively looked at a collection of mermaid pictures from a calendar which eventually affected the infant's form when it was born with a fishtail instead of normal human lower extremities. Dyesebel's father, angered by his child's deformity, wanted to abandon the child, only to be hindered by a bolt of lightning during a typhoon. To avoid the stigma of having a mermaid child, the couple decided to leave their village and relocate where they can raise Dyesebel in secret, hidden from prying eyes. The mermaid Dyesebel eventually met other mermaids while spending time by the seashore, and through her sea adventures, she comes into contact with Diangga, a sea-witch who had the power to transform sea-creatures like Dyesebel into normal humans. Dyesebel fell in love with a normal human man. But after her secret of being a mermaid was exposed, it prompted the jealous former girlfriend of the man with whom Dyesebel was in love, to kidnap Dyesebel and place her in a carnival. Dyesebel was later saved by her human lover. Diangga, the sea-witch, eventually transformed Dyesebel into a permanent female human with normal lower extremities.^[1][2]

1964: Anak ni Dyesebel

After a decade, Gerardo de Leon reunited the cast of the blockbuster 1953 movie Dyesebel in a sequel based on Mars Ravelo's Anak ni Dyesebel. The movie introduced Alona (played by Eva Montes), the daughter of Dyesebel (Edna Luna) and Fredo (Jaime dela Rosa).

1973: Dyesebel

The 1973 Dyesebel movie directed by Emmanuel H. Borlaza was closer to Mars Ravelo's heroine mermaid. The character inhabits an undersea kingdom of mermaids, outcasted from the land of humans due to the belief that mermaids are the cause of misfortune. Dyesebel became attracted to a male human being and swore to find any means to be transformed into normal human woman, in order to be with the man that her heart desired.^[1][3] In this movie, Vilma Santos played the role of Dyesebel making her the only actress to play both Darna and Dyesebel, both classic Mars Ravelo creations. Romeo Miranda played Fredo.

1978: Dyesebel

Dyesebel (Alma Moreno) was a mermaid born to a rich couple. The husband claimed his wife had an affair with a merman. Still loving and accepting, they moved to their beachhouse where Dyesebel was kept in a wheelchair covered with a blanket to hide her tail. It was only her parents and her nanny who knew her identity as a mermaid. As she grew up into a lady mermaid (still on shore) the family hires Fredo and his dad as their gardener. Fredo and Dyesebel fall in love and after Dyesebel reveals herself to Fredo, they decide to get married (complete with Dyesebel wearing a wedding gown, in a fishtail). Shortly after they got married, Dyesebel's parents died in a plane crash. Then, Dyesebel discovered that Fredo is a womanizer. In full despair, she heard (after a long, long time) the ocean calling her and she joined the mermaid kingdom. Trying to be happy, she admitted that she misses Fredo and asks Banak (Nova Villa) how to be become human. She leads her to Dyangga (Bella Flores), a human octopus, where with the help of a merman friend, kills Dyangga to get the magical pearl on her head. She becomes human for an hour or so, only to break up with Fredo and decide to be a mermaid forever, and live in the ocean she was deprived from since birth.

1990: Alice Dixon's Dyesebel

Perhaps the most memorable Dyesebel movie to date, this version is common that makes Dyesebel of what it is now: it was the first Dyesebel to use the "orange-colored" fishtail, which is commonly used now. She used real underwater scenes, in the aquarium, showcased a combination of her life on the water and on land, thus having mermaid-human transformations, and to show a realistic storyline on love and relationships.

A couple found a wounded and stranded pregnant mermaid on shore, who died after giving birth. Being childless, the couple adopted the mermaid's daughter and named her Dyesebel, From Dyesebel's childhood through her teenage years, she and her family moved from place to place to get away from angry mob. The teen Dyesebel (Carmina Villaroel) starts to ask questions why she's a mermaid and shows signs of wanting to become a human. It was at this time that they decide to let Dyesebel go into the sea with the other mermaids (not shown on screen) where she has the chance to encounter with Edward (Robert Ortega) as a teen. Fast forwarding to the present day where Dyesebel is now a lady (Alice Dixon). She then sees Edward (Richard Gomez) again as an adult, then searches Banak, a sea witch this time, to help her acquire human legs through a magic shell. However, its only temporary, the shell has to be within her reach 24/7 or else she'll have her tail back.

She finds shelter by Marina (Malou De Guzman) and Iday (Judy Ann Santos) who later on discovers her identity but still remain true to her. She also found Edward's wallet washed from the shore. Still having Edward's wallet that was misplaced on the water (similar to Splash) Dyesebel and her friends look for Edward and becomes a famous model by a friend of Edward's. Dyesebel and Edward finally meets and become lovers, however, Malou, Edward's almost-stalker-like-girlfriend-wannabe tries to break their relationship, at the same time, Dyesebel has a hard time keeping her identity a secret to Edward. Until she finally admits it to him, and shows him her true self, where they broke up for sometime. Edward realizes he cannot live without her, they are about to become closer and Malou accidentally finds out, and exposed Dyesebel's mermaid identity in a birthday party for Edward. The media and the government took interest on her, as a display on the country's underwater museum. Edward rescued her, and Malou discovered Dyesebel's magic shells, steals it and breaks it. However, it only turned Dyesebel into a human permanently and Malou into a mermaid, permanently.

1996: Dyesebel

Dyesebel is a 1996 film version Charlene Gonzales played Dyesebel with Matthew Mendoza as Fredo. It was directed by Emmanuel H. Borlaza.

On-screen actresses

In the movies, Dyesebel was portrayed by Filipino actresses, Edna Luna, Vilma Santos, Alma Moreno, Alice Dixon, and Charlene Gonzales. In television, she was personified by the actress Ara Mina in a cameo appearance in Mars Ravelo's Darna (2005 TV Series) and portrayed by Marian Rivera in Mar's Ravelo's Dyesebel, year 2008. Vilma Santos and Marian Rivera are only the two actresses who played two of Mars Ravelo's komiks characters respectively, namely Darna and Dyesebel.^[1]

Chronological list of actresses who played Dyesebel in the movies and on television

Year	Actress	Role	Title
1953	Edna Luna	Dyesebel	Dyesebel
1964	Ruby Abucot	Dyesebel	Anak ni Dyesebel
1973	Vilma Santos	Dyesebel	Dyesebel
1978	Alma Moreno	Dyesebel	Sisid, Dyesebel, Sisid
1990	Carmina Villaroel	Teen Dyesebel	Dyesebel
1990	Alice Dixson	Dyesebel	Dyesebel
1996	Richanne Suarez	Young Dyesebel	Dyesebel
1996	Charlene Gonzales	Dyesebel	Dyesebel
2005 TV Series	Ara Mina	Cameo appearance of Dyesebel	Mars Ravelo's Darna (2005 TV Series)
2008 TV Series	Kirsten Jane Singrit	Young Dyesebel	Mars Ravelo's Dyesebel (TV Series)
2008 TV Series	Marian Rivera	Dyesebel	Mars Ravelo's Dyesebel (TV Series)

Chronoligical list of actors who played Fredo in the movies and on television

Year	Actor	Role	Title
1964	Jaime dela Rosa	Fredo	Anak ni Dyesebel
1973	Romeo Miranda	Fredo	Dyesebel
1978	Matt Ranillo III	Fredo	Sisid, Dyesebel, Sisid
1990	Richard Gomez	Fredo but in this version he was named Edward	Dyesebel
1996	Matthew Mendoza	Fredo	Dyesebel
2008 TV Series	Arkin Luciano Magalona	Young Fredo	Mars Ravelo's Dyesebel (TV Series)
2008 TV Series	Dingdong Dantes	Fredo	Mars Ravelo's Dyesebel (TV Series)

2008 TV series

Main article: Dyesebel (TV series)

GMA Network had announced that they will be doing a TV series of Dyesebel for 2008,It begins airing on April 28, 2008. They are eyeing Rhian Ramos for the title role but it ended up with Marian Rivera.It was also said that Dennis Trillo had the part of Fredo but turned out to be Dingdong Dantes, Marian's leading man in MariMar. The same network has earlier made a TV series of Mars Ravelo's works like Darna and Captain Barbell.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Dyesebel (1953, 1973, 1978 and 1997), MarsRavelo.Tripod.com (official website), 2005, (Notes: According to the Mars Ravelo official website, the first Dyesebel film was in 1953 and that the latest movie version was in 1997; not 1950 and 1990 as indicated in IMDb.com, respectively), retrieved on: August 13, 2007
2. ^ De Leon, Gerardo (director) and Pierre Salas (screenplay). Dyesebel (1953 black-and-white film), Premiere Productions (producer), Geocities.com, screening time: February 26, 2006 6:00 PM^{[dead link]}, retrieved on: August 8, 2007
3. ^ Borlaza, Emmanuel H. Dyesebel (1973 movie), 114 min Alice.it and Divisoria.net, 2002, retrieved on: August 8, 2007

See also

• Panday (comics)
• Zuma (comics)
• Philippine mythical creatures

External links

• Mars Ravelo's Dyesebel
• Dyesebel illustrations, photographs and screenshots in Philippine comics, film and television at MarsRavelo.Tripod.com
• Dyesebel (1950) at the Internet Movie Database
• Dyesebel (1973) at the Internet Movie Database
• Dyesebel (1990) at the Internet Movie Database
• Dyesebel (1996) at the Internet Movie Database