The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

Resentment

—Act One—

A man had grown discontented with his current, as occasionally happens from time to time. He felt oppressed by his wife and children, and sought relief from their presence. And, as is so often the case, he met Another Woman. This woman was a few years younger then he was, and—

You can probably guess the rest of the story.

The man and this new woman began a secret affair. In time, they fell in love. And so it came to the day where the man told his wife that he was leaving her. The wife, naturally, was broken by this news. She cried and pleaded for her husband not to leave her. But he was adament, and walked out of her life.

But this story's not over yet.

The wife, desparate, followed her former husband to the house he has started with this other woman. Perhaps she already had planned her dreadful scheme already. Perhaps she just wanted to meet the woman who had broken her family apart. It is not important. She knocked on the door of the house, probably contriving a false reason that will allow her entrance. Once inside the house, there was an altercation. The details are unclear, but the fight ended with the second woman dead.

Yes, you've guessed the end, haven't you?

At the wife's trial, the whole affair was revealed to the greedy ears of the press. The wife was either imprisoned or excecuted. The man was publically humiliated, and lost himself to drunkenness. The children were destroyed by the revelations, and were broken apart and sent to live with different foster families.

And that's how this story ends.

—Act Two—

We shall focus now on a certain student at a certain school. This student, and I'm sure you are familiar with his type, is seemingly perfect. Handsome, talented, intelligent, kind, humble... Many admire and adore him. But where there is adoration, there is also resentment, and sure enough, there are those who hate and resent him for the fact that he seemingly has everything.

Can you see how this story will end yet?

One of those resenters is the second character in this little drama. Whatever went through his head, I do not confess to know, but he embarked on a little quest of his own to destroy the first student's happiness. He wrote vile poisonous letter to the student (anonymously, of course), he devised torrid little schemes to turn other people against this student, he stole books and papers and tore them up, he sent atrocious little e-mails to other people filled with scandalous lies...

I'm sure you've heard a similar story to this.

The campaign continued until the first student, seeing no escape from the poison, took his own life.

Yes, a sadly familiar tale.

It did not take long for rumours to circulate about the reason for the suicide. And all eyes were turned on the second student.

And it did not take long for the truth to reveal itself. And the second student suffered for it. His life was marred by a large black mark, and he never recovered from it. Some years later he too comitted suicide.

And that's how this story ends.

—Act Three—

A man had grown discontented with his current, as occasionally happens from time to time. He felt oppressed by his wife and children, and sought relief from their presence. And, as is so often the case, he met Another Woman. This woman was a few years younger then he was.

The man and this new woman began a secret affair. In time, they fell in love. And so it came to the day where the man told his wife that he was leaving her. The wife, naturally, was broken by this news. She cried and pleaded for her husband not to leave her. But he was adament, and walked out of her life.

But this story's not over yet.

The wife was heartbroken. This woman was everything she was not. Young. Pretty. Loved.

And so she planned her vengeance. And she asked the gods for power.

And they gave it to her.

They changed her into a monster fuelled by envy and unhappiness. She gained the power to incite resentment and jealousy in the hearts of others. And she used this power to destroy the happiness of her husband and his new wife. And she got her revenge.

But this story's not over yet.

The wife felt only misery and envy in her heart. She saw others, saw their joy and success, saw thier beauty and popularity, and she hated it. She hated it and desired it for herself, and knew that because of her power, she would never feel joy again. So she resolved to destroy the happiness of other people.

She whispered in the ear of the wife: 'He's leaving you for someone younger, more successful, more beautiful. He loves her more then you. It's not fair, is it?'

She whispered in the ear of the young student: 'He's good looking, intelligent, hard working. People love him. And they hate you. And it's not fair.'

And this story's not over, not until everyone feels as miserable as she does, because they're happy and she's not and it's not fair.

Everyone holds envy deep within them, that unsatisfied little desire that wants what others have.

It's not fair.

PARSEE WRITE UP! It's long and kind of wangsty. Read at your own risk.

"It is said that whosoever the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. In fact, whosoever the gods wish to destroy, they first hand the equivalent of a stick with a fizzing fuse and Acme Dynamite Company written on its side. It's more interesting, and doesn't take as long."

Is the first thing I thought.

I was kinda neutral on the whole thing right up until the end, to be honest. The "it's not fair" line was really well-placed, though.

I really liked that! I wondered how it would all link together, and I think it did very nicely. Though the third case (Parsee's case) was a little too much like the first one. That was probably intentional though, so no fault, though I thought you were accidentally repeating yourself at first.

[1]

Ability:
To listen to and hold a conversation with up to ten people at once. She can also use it on spirits of desire to hear people's innermost desires. It helps that the spirits are attracted to her on their own. Because of this, she already knows more about everyone in Gensokyo than they know about themselves.

History:
A 1400 year old saint. Better known to history as Prince Shoutoku. Prince Shoutoku is still popular enough to have been on the the Japanese 10,000 yen bill as recently as the 20th century, for reference. History notes that Miko was integral in spreading Buddhism throughout the country as well as establishing the foundations of the central government. The Touhou version of it first of all makes him a girl and secondly adds that she was greatly skeptical of death. "Why must humans be forced to accept their own death?" So she didn't. Rumors of her search for immortality reached Seiga, who contacted Miko and began teaching her the secrets of immortality through Taoist alchemy. Ironically though, the very alchemy that she studied to achieve eternal life ended up giving her mercury poison from handling the ingredients. Becoming desperate, she came upon the idea of becoming a shikaisen, which is presumably a step down from what she had hoped for, but is still immortal. However, she wasn't sure if the process would work and tested it on Futo first. Satisfied that Futo wasn't rotting, she proceeded to spread Buddhism in order to pacify the population while she was gone and applied the shikaisen process to herself. Unfortunately for her, her mausoleum ended up being sealed by a Buddhist temple and the temporary measure of spreading Buddhism turned out to have a lot more persistence than she had anticipated, so she stayed sealed until modern times. However, recently historians have called into question the various legends of Shoutoku, leading to Miko being transported into Gensokyo as fantastic things are wont to do. And as Byakuren hadn't quite finished setting up her temple, there were no Buddhists in Gensokyo to keep up the seal and Miko could finally awaken and presumably start ruling the country as an immortal saint-king. She has a grudge against Buddhists for sealing her, and as a proud human isn't particularly fond of youkai either, making Byakuren her natural rival. Currently lives in Senkai, an artificial world that she and her followers created that can house infinite space in any crack and can open a door to wherever they please instantly. The point of this was to distance themselves from Byakuren's temple.

Relations:

• Mononobe no Futo: Vassal, test subject
• Soga no Tojiko: Vassal
• Seiga Kaku: Teacher, Adviser
• Byakuren: Rival?

edited 7th Oct '11 11:15:30 AM by Clarste

Didn't like the picture we have on our character page, so I decided the ZUN-art was good enough. I realize we discussed a lot of this stuff already, but Miko's history is the core around which all the other characters are based.

Some people were discussing her potential dnd alignment and were thinking about Lawful Good. I don't know if starting a religious civil war in order to gain power counts. Lawful Neutral, maybe. Lawful Evil more likely. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil.

And I think it'd actually be an interesting plot little bunny foo foo if she were to actually try to become the immortal saint-king of Gensokyo. Its almost more Touhouish if she were to just become yet another power faction with her own little parcel of land to rule. On the other hand, there's a sort of continuing plot thing element in Touhou recently so chances are she's going to be related to the next game plot.

She already had power when she promoted Buddhism, and the war was already happening without her. She ended the war by supporting one side, and she intentionally chose Buddhism to win because it's pacifist and she didn't want people killing each other while she was gone.

edited 7th Oct '11 11:21:15 AM by Clarste

ESTABLISHMENT! Miko is the Man!

It sounds like she worsened the war, actually. And any plan that has "a god am I" as an aspect, is somewhat suspect.

But more importantly, SHE'S THE ESTABLISHMENT! She's the Man keeping the man down!

edited 7th Oct '11 11:25:04 AM by Bocaj

Ah yes, I got confused by looking up stuff on wikipedia. It seems she did start the war. And it of course cannot be denied that she intended to keep power among the royalty.

I don't think she intended to become a god though. Defying the gods, perhaps, in not accepting the fate humanity had been granted.

You calling Futo's profile a liar?

Oh, I missed that part because it wasn't helpfully highlighted in bold. You really shouldn't trust me to do these things when I haven't got any sleep lately.

Yes! Miko wanted to become a god! Honestly though, people become gods all the time through various means. Sanae become a god through faith, and even Urashima Taro accidentally became a god because of Lunarian hijinks.

edited 7th Oct '11 11:38:02 AM by Clarste

Becoming a god is all well and good. I just don't trust any plan which has the steps "start religious war" and "become god." I don't believe it has the good of the people in its best interests.

Did she intend to start a war? Or was it those interfering Mononobes ruining her plot with their Shinto hijinks?

Well, they lost*

Interestingly, the war is characterized as being between "the lineage of the gods and human dignity".

That sounds like a Hollywood tagline. And not in a bad way.

Although I find that kind of funny since the Soga are also a lineage of the gods.

Ahem...*Announcer Voice*

This summer, coming to a theater near you
A country torn apart by war.
An ancient sect seeks the secret of immortality
Their goal: To rule Japan for all of time
And only the descendants of the gods
Can stop them
The war between the lineage of the gods and human dignity
Is about to begin
TEN DESIRES
13/08/2011

edited 7th Oct '11 12:06:29 PM by asterism

Well, claiming divine lineage as a justification for rule was a common theme in much of the world. And in places with monotheism or fewer philandering gods, just claiming divine mandate.

So, I guess the Sogas represented human dignity then?

Instead of a movie poster, I'm now imagining it like a boxing match.

"AND IN THIS CORNER, WEIGHING IN HUNDREDS OF YEARS OF DESCENT FROM GODS, THROWING IT ALL AWAY TO STAND UP FOR THE DIGNITY OF MAN: THE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGA CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

Well done.

edited 7th Oct '11 12:06:11 PM by Bocaj

Someone link me some dramatic trailer music.

This seems appropriate.

I do question Miko's good will. She did plan to ascend to Godhood, and even though her current state is more of a backup plan, she still did plan to rise up, overthrow Buddhism*

Of course, her backup plan has now failed now that she is in Gensoukyou. Will she be content with just being alive again with her followers? Or will she aim for Saint-King of Gensoukyou instead? First things first, she needs to get rid of those Buddhists, and those dirty youkai, and those vile Buddhist youkai, yes?

Or I could be seeing a sinister villain where there is, at worst, a Well-Intentioned Extremist.

EDIT: Derp, two right hands, not left. Way to ruin my bad, explained pun ZUN art.

edited 7th Oct '11 1:14:01 PM by Otherarrow

The "starting a war" and "becoming god" and potential well-intentioned extremism vaguely reminds me of Code Geass. Of course, Miko wasn't exactly fighting against some tyranny really. So, yeah.

She's got two right hands actually. Which makes her literally ambidextrous, ohohoho.

I think I read somewhere that having to watch the world on a giant IMAX screen and listening to people's inner desires has, bizarrely, mellowed her out somewhat.

'Now, attempt to defeat me! And bring harmony to this world!'

edited 7th Oct '11 1:06:42 PM by asterism