The mers were also designed to reproduce only at long intervals, in order to maintain the natural balance of the environment in which they were placed.

And so The Snow Queen also became a story about the need to seek equilibrium, in our own lives, with the natural world, even within the universe at large.

Humans are upsetting a fragile balance that their own human ancestors established.

Everything born has to die, in order to make room for the future.

Moon is also a naive native girl when she sets out for Carbuncle.

Humans may be the only creatures on Earth who spend significant time thinking about the fact that someday their lives will end.