Author Topic: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating  (Read 196532 times)

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #630 on: March 13, 2017, 12:27:44 AM »
I just read about this Lampad, there (google first page lol) they said Lampad are a kinds of Nymph, who are more of a Divine Spirit rather than just Spirit, which should mean they are closer to God rather than Youkai (Well, they are a follower of goddess).
That makes it Clownpiece are of higher "grade" than Fairies of Gensokyo, i think?

Tho Clownpiece as a Lampad, seem to act like youkai and normal fairies. doesn't give a vibe of divine, from how i view her.
Or maybe because her "nature" are hell so that Clownpiece rather than Divine Spirit class, she actually a class of vengeful spirits? (make her a fitting allies for Junko i think).
And she also life away from hell, which makes it seemingly that fairies or maybe just lampad at least, can life away from their "nature".

Are there anything saying Gensokyo fairies can receive or process Faiths(from human or youkai) and make it possible for fairies to even become gods (and become "unbound" from their "nature")?
I do read most of printwork and some game dialogue, but i don't have reliable memories.

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #631 on: March 14, 2017, 05:20:00 AM »
I know that it's been discussed before (probably), but I'm utterly confused about the plots of about 13.5 to 15.

So what the hell happened in the backstory that eventually led to LoLK? How tangled is this multi-game plot?
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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #632 on: March 14, 2017, 05:52:09 AM »
In 13.5, the youkai made from the original collection of Noh masks made by Prince Shoutoku, Hata no Kokoro, lost her mask of hope, destabilizing her (as in, giving her emotions) and sending her into a quest to find it. After getting beaten by everyone, she gets a pep talk from Mamizou and decides that she doesn't need the mask anymore and will live as she is now.

In 14, the amanojaku Seija Kijin, who was (ostensibly) bullied by stronger youkai, convinced the inchling Shinmyoumaru Sukuna to use the Miracle Mallet (which can only be used by inchlings) to cause a revolution in Gensokyo to make it so that the weak would rule over the strong. Messing around with the Mallet creates a bunch of tsukumogami, including Reimu's purification rod, Marisa's mini-hakkero, and Sakuya's knives, which's what tips the heroines that something's wrong. They beat everyone and things go back to normal (well, Reimu's purification rod still seems to be alive but no one cares it seems).

In 14.3, Seija is being hunted by everyone because there's a price on her head due to her actions in 14. People use impossible spell cards against her, and she uses stolen items to survive. She escapes everyone, and ends up alone and friendless against the world. Which's how she likes.

In 14.5, a bunch of Urban Legends start becoming alive in Gensokyo due to the power of mysterious Occult Balls. Many characters use the power of these balls for their own purposes. Most importantly, Kasen uses it to go to the outside world to search for her arm, and a girl from the outside world, Sumireko Usami, uses it to enter Gensokyo. Nothing is really resolved at the end of this, but Sumireko starts regularly visiting Gensokyo afterwards.

In 15, Lunarian vehicles are spotted in Youkai Mountain purifying the land (ie, utterly destroying everything). Eirin makes a special medicine, the Ultramarine Orb, for the heroines, so that they can properly fight the amaaaaazing Lunarian forces (the medicine makes them sort of see the future, which's why you have infinite lives; the protagonist "sees" how they'd get hit, so they can avoid it properly). The heroines arrive on the moon (using a secret passage through the spirit/dream world), where they discover that the Occult Balls where created by the goddess Sagume Kishin as part of her backup plan to relocate the Moon Capital to Gensokyo (through the materialization of the urban legend that says that NASA discovered a civilization on the moon), which is under attack by a mysterious force who is using fairies (embodiments of life) to bring life to the moon and, as a consequence, death, filling it with impurity (which will make the Lunarians not be ultra special immortals like they like to be). The protagonists then defeats that enemy, Junko, who was attacking the moon because of her grudge against Chang'e, whose husband killed her son. After defeating her, the protagonists also fight her co-conspirator, Hecatia Lapislazuli, who was keeping the Lunarians from waking from their emergency sleep (in which they were put by the higher ups of the Moon so that they wouldn't know about the attack). They defeat her and Junko once more and everything goes back to normal (urban legends are still around because I guess Sagume couldn't be assed to make the Occult Balls stop working)

I wrote all this off the top of my head so some stuff is probably off, but I think the basics are there.
As you can see, Touhou 13.5 has nothing to do with 14; 14 only has to do with 14.3; and 14.5 only has to do with 15. The mangas deal with the urban legends too, but there isn't any ultra relevant info there iirc.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2017, 06:02:19 AM by Sagus »
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MANoBadAssGar Jr.

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #633 on: March 14, 2017, 06:11:59 AM »
Isn't it only the Lunar Capital occult ball that were made by Sagume?
I don't know about the original text, but the english were worded as if it's like that.

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #634 on: March 14, 2017, 08:52:00 AM »
Yes, that's the only significant thing I'd bother correcting. Sagume only created the Lunar Capital Occult Ball which happens to be really powerful; the rest are basically "natural" ones.
EDIT: Oh yeah, Reimu's purification rod had stopped moving as reported in FS 12.

As far as I can tell, the explanation for the Urban Legend Incident is that by using the Occult Balls' lack of "common sense" to disrupt the Hakurei Barrier and get through, the urban legends were carried from the Outside into Gensokyo, which is why they all came from the Outside's rumors. How they're actually connected doesn't seem to be explained besides the Lunar Capital ball helping materialize them. Sumireko was also spreading rumors herself about what the Balls could do in order to get people to collect them. However that was only a kick-start to the incident, and now it seems like anything goes.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2017, 09:35:52 AM by Drake »

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MANoBadAssGar Jr.

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #635 on: March 14, 2017, 09:42:20 AM »
Sagume didn't pass up the chance to have her ball riding along the party, hehehehe lol
sorry

Since she used the Occult Ball, does that mean she have some control over it? even the natural ones too?

Drake

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #636 on: March 14, 2017, 09:51:51 AM »
Her profile says she created Lunar Capital ball and that it was what could materialize urban legends. This is why the urban legends materializing wasn't strictly a part of Sumireko's plan, and it also falls in line with the observation in ULiL that the Lunar Capital ball was more powerful than the rest.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2017, 09:56:44 AM by Drake »

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #637 on: March 14, 2017, 08:25:02 PM »
This is a dumb question as I already have a feeling about the answer. I need to know the context of the interview with Zun where he apparently said that Hecatia was the strongest.... Yeah one of these dumb things.

Someone was asking about strong characters and someone mentioned the other wiki about Hecatia. (it doesn't even cite the interview so i find it very suspect...) I basically said that talking about power is useless in Touhou as it's like power levels in DBZ at this point, i just need to know if that was a accurate statement or ZUN just saying misleading things like he's done from time to time.

(Sorry to even ask, trying to convey to them that it's worthless to talk about anything like that.)

EDIT: Managed to finally find it on the forum so no longer need the interview but still unsure why he says that with no context to anything really. why is she above someone like Flandre's ability, or Yukari's even. See where I'm coming from? This is the dumbest question I swear.

Your free to skip (or delete) this, a question like this probably don't have a definitive answer beside "ZUN said so" and it would create more problems since power talk is not welcome.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2017, 09:06:32 PM by Colticide »
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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #638 on: March 14, 2017, 09:55:26 PM »
Character abilities are very vague, and don't always have clearly defined limits. That doesn't mean limits don't exist- we just don't know what they are. For example, the thing I just love referencing, Yukari can't gap herself to the moon except in very specific circumstances, and she can't gap herself to the top of youkai mountain in one go. Even though she can manipulate boundaries, that doesn't mean she can absolutely manipulate any boundary in any way she wants. So assuming Yukari is stronger than, say, Yorihime, based solely on their abilities would be a mistake.

On the flip side of that, Remilia's ability is to manipulate fate, which is vague and never seen. But that doesn't mean that's all she can do. She has all the generic vampire powers, such as extreme strength and speed, and the power to make devil's contracts. Judging Remilia solely on her ability, she would be pretty weak. But that's not all she can do.

Similarly, a god's power is heavily based on how much faith they have. In general, you would think a god of the sky would have at least as much power as a god of the sea. But because Kanako doesn't get as much worship as, say, Susanoo, she'll never be able to match him despite being gods of similar concepts.

Long story short, we can't really judge any character's power level except by what they say, by what ZUN says, and by the feats they've accomplished, or unless their powers (not just their abilities) are explained thoroughly. There are just way too many factors besides ability that come into play. I don't know exactly what makes Hecatia so powerful, but ZUN said she's the strongest, so that's all we have to go by for now.

(Also just to cover myself, I'm not discussing any specific character's power level. I'm just trying to explain how a person with a "weaker ability" could possibly be stronger than a person with a "more powerful ability", without referring to anyone specifically. I'm not insisting that anyone is more powerful than anyone else.)
« Last Edit: March 14, 2017, 10:03:33 PM by TresserT »
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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #639 on: March 14, 2017, 10:54:57 PM »
I say it should be appropriate to take into consideration a peculiar character's level of spirituality too :

In WaHH chapter 35 (iirc ?), Yukari mentionned how Sumireko's switcheroo power takes into account a similarity that is not only in mass but also in spirituality : point is, everything has a certain level of spirituality, from a rock to gods ie. I'd say spirituality's relevance has a lot to do with core elements to Gensokyo's setting : faith and how it empowers gods or allow to become a god, ascetic practice and how it empowers humans, the power of tradition, fear and how it empower youkai and so on...

Now then, if we compare different beings who are located on differents level of spirituality (ignoring the peculiar traits of the races while focusing on how things are in general), we can see for example that the ones with spirituality tend not only to have supernatural abilities, but are also less affected by common phenomons and notions : regular humans are... nothing special, but the more special ones with some spiritual power have some abilities, those who rised above humanity are less affected by aging, and so on... Basically, beings with lower level of spirituality < beings with higher level of spirituality, in more ways than one.

The difference is further stressed by the fact that the residents of pure lands (Celestials, Lunarians) are generally presented as vastly superior compared to the more impure ones.

Basically, there are some people who are so spirituality high up there they are actually ABOVE (or can ignore) the laws of physics, nature, and some more. Heck, the ones who are above others in levels of spirituality can even straight up ignore some things, such as other character's abilities (ie : Yukari on Keine back in IN ; the hourai elixir and the volcano on Sakuyahime's power back in CiLR) or death and time (ie : Mokou and Kaguya with hourai elixir)

Now then, for Hecatia, besides the obvious wordofgod in StrangeCoOW, she is a pretty high ranked Goddess who own her own hell(s(?)). There ain't a lot of characters like that even in Touhou, so yeah, it's fairly obvious that she is a being who, spiritually, is pretty much in another plane of existence.
And woo, dodged them powerlevels issues like i'd do a stage 1 spellcard
« Last Edit: March 14, 2017, 11:13:03 PM by Suspicious person »

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #640 on: March 15, 2017, 04:12:49 AM »
There is a lot about the characters that are overly exaggerated, I think ZUN said that its like a wrestling match in terms of danmaku battles. The sad thing that kinda started me talking about this was because the people I was talking to was using the touhou.wikia fun facts on Hecatia which says: According to an Interview with ZUN, she's the strongest Touhou character to date, stating: "Since she's an enemy that doesn't play by the rules, you can't even call it a proper match. It's just playing around. She's completely past the level of anyone in Gensokyo or the Lunar Capital."

Now upon looking at the interview on en.touhouwiki.net it says: Since she's an enemy that doesn't play by the rules, you can't even call it a proper match. It's just playing around. She's completely past the level of anyone in Gensokyo or the Lunar Capital. Though I ended up not doing it, I personally wanted to make it so that whenever she changed her hair color, her T-shirt would change too (laugh).

This this one it seems he wanted to make her all powerful but decided to change that focus on her (granted I'm sure she is since she is a god on all.)
I get the feeling that if anyone reads the wikia they might end up with the wrong impression like the people I talked to was.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2017, 04:29:11 AM by Colticide »
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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #641 on: March 15, 2017, 05:30:01 AM »
No, I'm pretty sure that's exactly his intention. The interviewer starts by saying the last time we've fought a goddess was Kanako, and ZUN is saying that she's completely different from Kanako and it isn't worth comparing them, since for Hecatia it wouldn't even be considered having a "match", as it might be with Kanako, it's just her playing around and not taking it seriously at all [even if you were putting forth your full effort, etc]. The point is definitely to highlight the difference in rank. The comment on changing her shirt is just a separate response to the other thing the interviewer mentioned, being how she doesn't speak outside of the Otherworld body so you can't tell if her personalities are different.

Honestly I would wager that the main reason Hecatia is such a weirdo in the first place is because ZUN wouldn't feel comfortable adding in a character of this extreme without giving them a reason to not care about anything that happens in regard to the rest of the setting. Rather than very powerful meddling or scheming characters, she's just an unfathomably powerful character that acts to her whimsy, but those whims are always weird stuff so it doesn't massively interfere with other things.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2017, 05:37:16 AM by Drake »

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #642 on: March 15, 2017, 06:35:15 AM »
I see, thanks for clearing that up. Honestly it's even hard to imagine what she can do, but that kinda feels like the point as well since she's beyond anything we've seen. Sorry for bringing this up.
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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #643 on: March 22, 2017, 03:15:31 PM »
Speaking of that, how was that interpreted in the eastern fandom? A dude on danbooru (here) says that according to some jap people it was supposed to be read in another way.

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #644 on: March 22, 2017, 06:56:51 PM »
Well, to start, it's a comment on a Zounose panel, on Danbooru. Forgive me if I'm going to be biased against any discussion stemming from that context.

I don't think their explanation is very good, but I do agree that the context of 「幻想郷とか月の都とかいうレベルを完全に超えている」 could refer instead to cheating, and in that case would be more along the lines of "it's a whole different story from the kind of play you'd expect from Gensokyo or the Lunar Capital". My issue is more that, Hecatia isn't breaking rules? If you read her dialogue she definitely has no qualms with fighting unfairly (2v1, 4v1, etc) and would probably kill you if she cared enough to, but the whole ordeal is so much of a game that she doesn't care that much, it just isn't as fun playing fairly. When Junko tells Hecatia to fight fairly, and when Junko cancels the plan once you beat them, Hecatia has no problem with that; the whole plan was never hers, she just wanted in on the revenge. Her threat of death is just as playful as anything else, as should be evident in her attitude even after you beat her.

If this were about the main story and Junko instead, then this would be totally different because not being content with mock duels is the danger in the main story, where Junko intends to end you out of rage and you're given the medicine so she doesn't do that. In this situation, I would say that the above would be translated under this context. But this isn't the case in Extra. Additionally, I don't think it makes sense to say this when the quote is supposed to be a comparison to fighting Kanako. "This is the first time we've fought a goddess since Kanako, isn't it" doesn't lead to "yeah but Hecatia [is cheating] so it isn't the same". The core point, as I said above, is that you were "fighting" with Kanako but Hecatia is merely "playing" with you.

Personally, I don't put stock into "powerlevels" in the first place, and we don't even have any real measure of what Hecatia can do, so the label of whether Hecatia is "stronger" or not still doesn't matter regardless of validity. Whether ZUN says she stronger than everyone else in the series doesn't matter, because being "stronger" is not important.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2017, 07:01:08 PM by Drake »

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #645 on: March 22, 2017, 07:53:27 PM »
I'm curious about the relationship between the moon and the afterlife. Is there anywhere I can find out more about this?

To be more specific, I'm confused about what happens if a Lunarian dies. The existence of Hecatia's Lunar Hell implies that Lunarians do go through the afterlife process just like everyone else. But would that imply that the Yama etc have, like, some kind of jurisdiction over the Lunarians? So the Lunarians wouldn't be the absolute leagues above-everyone-else gods they're treated as, politically speaking?

Also, since Celestials are pure like Lunarians, would that mean they're more or less equals? Tenshi's family were promoted to Celestials due to their good deeds- would Lunarians be promotable to Celestials too, or.......? Would that be more like a demotion.....?
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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #646 on: March 22, 2017, 08:27:24 PM »
Since Celestials are pure like Lunarians, would that mean they're more or less equals? Tenshi's family were promoted to Celestials due to their good deeds- would Lunarians be promotable to Celestials too, or.......? Would that be more like a demotion.....?
Lunarians achieved pure status through artificial means, unlike Celestials (which is also why they get boned in LoLK), so it should count as a promotion. But as a Society they are superior to Celestials in various other aspects (technology, weaponry, ...)

not sure if canon provides a decisive answer for this tbh

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #647 on: March 22, 2017, 09:57:15 PM »
I don't think that can really be talked about concretely.

Some Lunarians are the Heavenly Gods, and you can't really say if they can die or not? Traditional gods can't die but only because they persist on faith and don't necessarily have the whole religion backing them. Meanwhile when gods "die" they simply cease existing. Other Lunarians even if descended from the Heavenly Gods might not be similarly immortal, and so maybe they can die and reincarnate? But like there's a big issue with this just because it's the mixing of Shinto (gods) and Buddhism (afterlife) and also the fact that it's on the moon.

My wild guess would be that if it's ever addressed officially, there would be a separate jurisdiction for the Lunar Capital, or the system would be reinterpreted. But somehow I doubt that will ever be officially talked about.

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #648 on: March 23, 2017, 02:01:45 AM »
I have a question.
Is anything even said in canon about whether or not the characters get to keep their 'Impossible Spellcards' or not after the events in ISC?
If so, what purpose would the characters be able to use them for?

Drake

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #649 on: March 23, 2017, 03:19:36 AM »
It isn't really the spell cards themselves that are impossible, it's just the danmaku being shot that's made infeasible to dodge. The games interpret them as the character always doing the same set actions but "realistically" speaking they would just shoot more or fewer bullets as they want to.

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #650 on: March 31, 2017, 08:02:34 AM »
How does extermination works in Touhou? By extermination, I mean a scenario where Reimu really goes up to youkai and kill them. Do they go to the netherworld or simply just disappear? If they do go to the netherworld, how about ghosts and phantoms? Do they get kicked out of the reincarnation cycle or simply just disappear in thin air?

Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #651 on: March 31, 2017, 11:26:26 AM »
Her profile says she created Lunar Capital ball and that it was what could materialize urban legends. This is why the urban legends materializing wasn't strictly a part of Sumireko's plan, and it also falls in line with the observation in ULiL that the Lunar Capital ball was more powerful than the rest.

This is from a while ago, but it's implied in the comics that whatever Sagume did, it's way more far-reaching then just a single item that has an effect. She changed the very nature of Gensokyo at the most fundamental level. The analogy they use is that her poison has gotten into Gensokyo at the roots. To get rid of it, you'd have to chop down the entire tree, not just prune a branch or two. This is why the Urban Legend Incident is considered still ongoing and no one can do anything about it. If it were just the Lunar Capital ball then Yukari would just throw it away or something.

How does extermination works in Touhou? By extermination, I mean a scenario where Reimu really goes up to youkai and kill them. Do they go to the netherworld or simply just disappear? If they do go to the netherworld, how about ghosts and phantoms? Do they get kicked out of the reincarnation cycle or simply just disappear in thin air?

Youkai aren't outside the circle of reincarnation, so they should turn into ghosts normally. Killing ghosts does remove them from the circle, but only a few things are actually capable of doing that and anyone who's done so has been scolded for it. Not because it's cruel, but because it allows them to achieve Nirvana without going through the normal process of enlightenment. Dead ghosts have received a reward they don't deserve.

Most of the time when Reimu exterminates someone they just use it as a euphemism for "beat up" though.
« Last Edit: March 31, 2017, 11:48:43 AM by Clarste »

Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #652 on: March 31, 2017, 12:13:45 PM »

Youkai aren't outside the circle of reincarnation, so they should turn into ghosts normally. Killing ghosts does remove them from the circle, but only a few things are actually capable of doing that and anyone who's done so has been scolded for it. Not because it's cruel, but because it allows them to achieve Nirvana without going through the normal process of enlightenment. Dead ghosts have received a reward they don't deserve.

Most of the time when Reimu exterminates someone they just use it as a euphemism for "beat up" though.

Can you kill ghosts like Yuyuko that are outside of the circle of reincarnation?

Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #653 on: March 31, 2017, 12:52:00 PM »
Yuyuko isn't outside the circle, she's just anchored into one part of it. She's stopped moving within the circle. It should be possible to kill her, with anything that can normally kill ghosts. She's not special in that sense.

It's important to remember that the goal of Buddhism is to die a final death. Life is inherently filled with suffering, and therefore the only way to find true peace is through oblivion. I mean, it's way more complicated than that, but Yuyuko is definitely within the circle.

Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #654 on: March 31, 2017, 01:27:49 PM »
So if Yuyuko gets killed, she will achieve nirvana right? Am I correct to say that once someone has reached nirvana, he/she would ascend to heavens as a celestial and get to chill there forever? Also, how would the Saigyou Ayakashi be affected if Yuyuko dies?

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #655 on: March 31, 2017, 08:19:38 PM »
Nah, Celestials can still die, so that they can go back to the circle. Nirvana is beyond that. You can kinda call it non-existence, if you wanna oversimplify it.

Considering that Yuyuko's rebirth would lead to the destruction of the Saigyou Ayakashi's seal, I think that her achieving Nirvana would result in the same.
Not that it can do anything, since there aren't any humans in Hakugyokurou for it to feed on.
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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #656 on: April 11, 2017, 11:21:16 AM »
Youmu's Hakurouken is able to send phantoms to nirvana while Youmu's Roukanken is able to kill 10 phantoms in one stroke. What does it mean by killing phantoms? Do they get sent to nirvana too? I ask this because according to the information given above, killing ghosts send them to nirvana but I feel that it's weird that both of youmu's swords have the same ability. But then again, ghost and phantom are 2 separate beings but I believe their reincarnation cycle should be the same?

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #657 on: April 11, 2017, 04:20:40 PM »
It's all a bit confusing in-universe as well. As Akyuu says:

Quote from: Akyuu
The longer sword is Roukanken.
It's believed that Roukanken was forged by youkai, and it's too long to be used by normal humans.
It's said that it has the power to kill ten phantoms in one stroke, but as one cannot actually kill spirits(*4), it's unknown if this is true(*5).
The other sword, Hakurouken, is the ancestral sword of the Konpaku family, and it's said to have the power to dispel the confusion of those it cuts.
That is, using it on phantoms will send them to nirvana, and using it on humans will cause them discomfort and a bit of pain.
The exact details of its function are unclear, but it can only be handled by the Konpaku family.

(*4) Normally they are sent to nirvana or disappear.
(*5) Supposedly the things it cannot cut are next to none.

I just read the "kills 10 ghosts in one strike" thing more as a boast about the sword's cutting power than an actual ability, but eh. The long sword being able to send 10 ghosts to Nirvana at once while the short sword can only send 1 ghost to Nirvana at a time is a valid reading and to be honest I find it kinda hilarious.

When you need to open space in the Netherworld quickly, use Roukanken! When you can do it at your leisure, use Hakurouken!
« Last Edit: April 11, 2017, 04:22:58 PM by Sagus »
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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #658 on: April 11, 2017, 08:30:01 PM »
It's all a bit confusing in-universe as well. As Akyuu says:

I just read the "kills 10 ghosts in one strike" thing more as a boast about the sword's cutting power than an actual ability, but eh. The long sword being able to send 10 ghosts to Nirvana at once while the short sword can only send 1 ghost to Nirvana at a time is a valid reading and to be honest I find it kinda hilarious.

When you need to open space in the Netherworld quickly, use Roukanken! When you can do it at your leisure, use Hakurouken!

(*4) Normally they are sent to nirvana or disappear

What do they mean by disappear?
« Last Edit: April 11, 2017, 08:31:43 PM by Electroll »

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Re: Miscellaneous Questions 6: The Questionating
« Reply #659 on: April 12, 2017, 06:04:35 AM »
Annihilation, probably.  Either way, it is thought of as a great sin by the Yama.  Souls that have not earned Nirvana should not be given it, and the destruction of souls should be the very last resort, as even those sent to Hell may reincarnate in time.
Life and death are without purpose.  Our attempts to give them one are quite presumptuous of us.  But in the end, we exist, and that is enough.

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