The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

Well, in fairness, ogres probably don't have a lot of flashes of aggression and anger that they fail to act on.

Sometimes honesty is another way of saying "no impulse control."

But let's give satori a break from our intrusive thoughts. Soon we'll be going through the cast of Hidden Star in Four Seasons, followed by the Yorigami sisters. But first, some triple trouble:

Sunny Milk, Luna Child, and Star Sapphire

Stages: Most of Great Fairy Wars
BGM: "The Refrain of the Lovely Great War"^note This is the first stage theme. This song was once recorded for the Three Fairies tankoubon. I'd originally planned to use it as a stage one theme, so this song must be satisfied to finally have that wish granted. Game music is perfected when listened to during game play. Some people probably get impressions different from those they got by listening to it on CD., "Year-Round Absorbed Curiosity"^note This is the stage 2 theme. The atmosphere changed from that of stage 1, to that of an evening. This song has the title screen theme's melody. I think it has a much more mysterious and nostalgic feel. After all, evening is very mysterious and nostalgic., "A Midnight Fairy Dance"^note This is the stage 3 theme. The melody is a little jazzy and adult-y. Night is the time for adults. Or the time of youkai. It's the time when good children are in bed and the youkai come out to whittle away the night. Or when adults come out. Well, they come out undoubtedly.
Themes: "Staking Your Life on a Prank"^note This is the first and second stage boss theme. This is the theme for battles with the Three Fairies. It has a very boss-ish feel to it, but it's also very liiight. Maybe it's a cute feel that accompanies the enemy's attacks in your little argument., "Great Fairy Wars ~ Fairy Wars"^note This is the third stage boss theme. It is for the last boss battle, but players can reach it quickly, so it was hard to decide how heavy the song would be. Starting with max power is too wearing, so I made it have a slow and happy feeling in the beginning, and a fast and hot feeling in the ending. The tone is fairy-like, but the song itself is rather hot-blooded.

Spellcard Motif: Sunlight / Moonlight / Starlight
Sample Spellcards: Sunny Milk, Luna Child, Star Sapphire
Sunny Milk - Rainbow Light "Prism Flash," Light Fairy "Cross Diffusion," Sunlight "Sunshine Needle"
Luna Child - Moon Sign "Lunatic Rain," Hindering Light "Moonlight Wall," Moonlight "Silent Cyclone"
Star Sapphire - Shooting Star "Comet Stream," Starlight "Star Storm," Star Sign "Red Star"

Write-up:
A trio of fairies who derive their powers from different celestial sources. Sunny is the energetic one who can bend light to turn invisible or see around corners, Luna is the cranky, clumsy one who can dampen sound and move about in silence, and Star is a living motion sensor who's occasionally smart enough to cheese it before her comrades get punished for something. Like most fairies they like to play pranks on people, and like most fairies they occasionally get blasted by their would-be victims.

These three mischievous fairies have had enough adventures to fill several manga series and a video game, though so far their greatest success was probably getting defeated and befriended by Gensokyo's premier Incident-resolver - which does not mean they plan on stopping their attempts to prank Reimu. They may not be the most important figures in their homeland, but they tend to bump into Gensokyo's movers and shakers, from heroines to deities to the very forces behind Gensokyo's creation, so these three fairies are worth keeping an eye on, if only to see who they'll meet next.

Relations:

• Cirno (frenemy)
• Clownpiece (accomplice?)
• Reimu Hakurei (current neighbor)
• Marisa Kirisame (previous neighbor)
• Nitori Kawashiro (business partner?)

See also the previous two compendiums.

I still think there's something suspicious about them, and I'm not referring to Luna's coffee bean pilfering or their history of pranking. We have here three fairies based on similar celestial phenomena, with complementary power sets. I know fairies are supposed to be spontaneously-generated spirits that represent an aspect of nature, but there's something awfully convenient about how well these three fairies fit together, as if they were predestined to be a unit. Makes me suspect an intelligent design at work.

I mean, it's not like Cirno's hanging out with a fire fairy, earth spirit and wind sprite, or Lily White rooms with the fairies of the other three seasons. The most organization we've seen among the fairy folk is when the nameless rabble flies in formation to harass whoever's trying to solve the latest Incident. So what's so special about these three, and how did they get started? And if, as I suspect, they were intended to be a trio from their genesis, who was doing the intending and the genesis-ing?

Not Yukari

That narrows it down a little

Well, perhaps as one fancomic implied, the three fairies were first created when the sun, moon and stars formed.

Perhaps these threee count amongst the oldest life on Earth?

Though I doubt it.

The Three Fairies of Light:

A triumvirate of playful fairies based on the sources of light that brighten the sky. Sunny's very energetic, being the initiator of all their prank plans, Luna's quite clumsy and seems to catch a lot flak, and Star's very wise, being smart enough to avoid impending doom most of the time.

Together, these three are the ultimate trackers, infiltrators and security protocol. Most have a hard time escaping their gaze, which is to be expected of fairies based on natural light.

These three are very close-knit, but they sure have a knack of making new fairy friends; chilling with Cirno, teaching Clownpiece the way of Gensokyo^note the best a fairy can teach, anyway., and most recently enjoying some eternal time with Eternity. Makes me wonder if Lily White will eventually be caught in their festive olive branch.

...I wonder if these three were always together, or were they drawn to each other one day and decided to be rambunctious bedfellows.

And whether there's any other light-based fairy out there, feeling like her life is missing something. Maybe fairies based on the light shining off planets visible from Earth? It'd be unfair to lump Venus and Mars under Star Sapphire's purview if the Moon gets its own fairy.

Now I'm imaging a bunch of primitive fairies flitting about in fur dresses as they're chased by dromaeosaurids they tried to prank. And Cirno picking fights with a T. rex, because of course she would.

Cirno: "I'm the strongest!"
Rexie's genetic ancestress: "<The fuck you say>"

@Tacitus

Do you believe that the three fairies are a lot more sinister than we give them credit for?

Hmmm... well, the thing about fairies is that they just sort of spontaneously spring (or ice, or sunlight, etc.) into existence in order to express some aspect of nature. For whatever reason they do so in the shape of a young human female, with enough modesty to wear a frilly dress, enough intelligence to communicate, and a natural tendency to fly backwards in front of a protagonist and spray them with magical bullets in a running aerial engagement.

Now, humans are social creatures, and a lot of being human is learned from others. Nameless Fairy #16 from Perfect Cherry Blossom Stage Four presumably didn't have a real childhood to properly socialize her, much less a parental figure to teach her things like empathy and not being inadvertently murderous when it comes to pranking a human so they fall over a cliff. So with a fairy you've got something that looks human but definitely isn't, and a childish sense of mischief and selfishness without any real restraints on those impulses.

"Sinister" might be the wrong word to use, I don't think there's much real malice to a fairy's actions*, but it'd be easy to present them as somewhat unnerving, even creepy, and of course dangerously stupid.

But do I think the Three Fairies Light in particular are sinister? No, not really. They're mischievous, occasionally obnoxious, and pretty curious, but if they were more than that I don't think Reimu would tolerate them living right next to her shrine. Which raises the question of what sets those three apart from those more dangerous fairies that Akyuu warns about, or Nameless Fairy #16 from PCB Stage Four. The answer might be that they are the Three Fairies of Light, nature spirits that act as a unit, live together, work together, fail together. This might have tempered their worst tendencies and fostered the values that let them get along with others better than most fairies.

* Clownpiece's desire to invoke madness in humans and that time she almost burned down the Hakurei Shrine makes her somewhat of an outlier, but she's a lampad from Hell, which is as good an excuse as any.

And meanwhile there's a philosoraptor wondering why these fairy things look like the hypothetical descendants of the hairy pests that steal eggs from nests instead of like proper feathered bipeds.

Unless fairies always look like the dominant life-forms of the current era, in which case holy shit.

edited 15th Feb '18 1:15:10 PM by Tacitus

AMAZE

You could take it another way and posit that humans look like fairies, rather than the other way around.

They Golgafrinchamed!

The Three Fairies don't have as much fanart as I was expecting, maybe because so many stories have been told about them in the official manga? And naturally most of it is of the three of them as a group. When it comes to individuals I was expecting Star to get the most art, but to my surprise she came in last and Luna had the most pages of search results. Go figure.

Unofficial art by the official artist (featuring Clownpiece)
Unofficial art, but smoller
Sunny showing you who's boss
A red fairy in autumn
Wait, isn't the sun just another star?
Will the world end in fire or ice?
"Tanned Sunny" didn't turn out too well
Okay, yes, but...
Sassy Sunny
Realistic Sunny
She's the serious one
Luna and a leaf
She in a cave?
Luna tries to Halloween
Greeting the fish lady
Getting some rays
I love this, it's such a child/fairy thing to do
If the real thing's not available, make your own
Artsy Luna
If your stash is bigger than you are, it's time to admit you have a problem
Star has some class
The heavens whirling above
The stars fall to earth
Greeting the darkness
More monochrome
Can't tell if tired, exasperated, or checking for acne
Star's opinion of her teammates
Being the smart one has its perks
Sparking a frenzy of costume switches
Star may be best fairy
Sunny's in charge because of that Fang of Leadership
Detached sleeves are all the rage
Scarfs are just as seasonal
Little girls, big drinkers
Cheeky girls
Chamaji's distinct take on them
This is getting too cute, get in here Mazeran
Gothic lolita style
Still an underrated artist
We can only speculate
Fey lineup
Meiling's Perfect Tai-Chi Class
Someone wants more screentime
Sanae learnin' them some smarts
Three Houseguests of Light
It's nice to think they made a friend out of the one person who can nullify their powers
Eirin just wants to play a game
At least it's not Luna faceplanting for once
On that day, religion found the fairies
Fairies at home
With their powers combined, aurora
Nice watercolor
Fairy fruit caper
Fairies of the orient
There's probably a proper name for this sort of thing and it bothers me that I don't know it
I am surprised and delighted by the "in_the_face" tag
They're fine, most of their body weight is their heads
They just can't handle it
The Three Moeblobs of Yume Shokunin
Only a fairy would think that's a good idea
Onward, ever onward

Do you think the three fairies are pure hearted like Reimu is?

Alright, it's once again time for those bright-hearted fairies to pull off some great feats of trickery.

The Greatest Joke
Playful Fey
Grand Fey Battle
Twilight Festivities
Eternal Curiosity
Peaceful Reign
Serious Investigation
Good Pranks Today, Greater Pranks Tomorrow
Midnight Tea
A Prank Like No Other

Huh, that trance remix of "Fairy Wars" is somehow simultaneously fast-paced and relaxed, and that chilled "Fairy Dance" is strangely appealing. Good finds.

Pure what? Pure mischief? Pure childish enthusiasm? Pure pint-sized puissance?

The Three Fairies are probably like Reimu in that they're not exactly deep and sophisticated characters, but I'd say they don't share her motivations. She just wants to slack, they want adventure, excitement, the occasional war to shake things up.

Which I suppose begs the question of why she puts up with them setting up shop within easy striking distance of her shrine. Maybe she subconsciously wants to balance out the serenity she seeks with a bit of unpredictability, to keep things from getting boring? Maybe she'd rather have three easily-defeatable fairies cause problems than a proper youkai in their place. Maybe she just can't be bothered to drive them away.

Any remaining thoughts on the Three Fairies before we start moving through the new guys?

Mine is to appreciate what their reaction to an explosion tells you about them.

I meant pure in ow they are unaffected by anything even death.

That's ... not how kegare and purity function though.

Whatever aspects of nature they're representing seem to be intact, at least. Which I guess is the advantage of being tied to celestial phenomena, your expected life span is in the billions of years.

I guess we'll see more from these three in April, when we learn how their "fire festival" at the Hakurei Shrine turns out. Until then, let's say hi to the new guys:

Eternity Larva

Stages: A Midsummer Day Beyond the Morning Mist ~ Miracle Blue Sky'
Midsummer Skies
BGM: "A Star of Hope Rises in the Blue Sky"^note This is the Stage 1 theme. I tried to bring out an "introductory" feeling, along with the exhilaration of summer. It's a pretty light theme, even by Touhou standards. Did I manage to express a feeling of speed, I wonder? With all said and done, it goes well with a beer.
Theme: "A Midsummer Fairy's Dream"^note This is Eternity Larva's theme. I went for a feeling of "a fairy with something mysterious hidden within her. I think butterflies that appear in video games are definitely a symbol of mysteriousness. I mean, she's just a fairy, so her head's empty, but still.

Spellcard Motif: Being a Butterfly
Sample Spellcards: HSiFS
''Butterfly Sign "Minute Scales," Butterfly Sign "Swallowtail's Scales," Butterfly Sign "Fluttering Summer," Butterfly Sign "Midsummer Wingbeats"

Write-up:
A rather unusual fairy with a question mark, since she looks more like an insect youkai, and for reasons that will be discussed shortly. When Gensokyo's troubleshooters are trying to figure out what's got the seasons out of whack and has left the fairies stronger than normal, Eternity readily picks a fight with them since she's also feeling the energy in the air. This doesn't work out too well for her.

It turns out that the forces behind the Incident were using Eternity, among others, to unwittingly spread seasonal energy throughout Gensokyo. But in Cirno's scenario at least Eternity gets the last laugh, since she helps the ice fairy re-enter the domain of Okina Matara to give her a final beatdown, leading Gensokyo's hidden sage to suspect that Eternity might in fact be a god and one of Okina's historical enemies. Which doesn't seem to have stopped Eternity from palling around with "other" fairies afterward.

Relations:

• Cirno (longtime acquaintance, apparently)
• The Three Fairies of Light (more recent acquaintances)
• Okina Matara (the Hata no Kawakatsu to her Tokyoyo no Kami)

edited 24th Feb '18 12:55:53 PM by Tacitus

Could anyone explain to me why everyone thinks that Eternity is a god in disguise and not that said god simply disguised himself as Eternity so Cirno would listen to him?

edited 25th Feb '18 2:47:38 AM by Druplesnubb

My guess is that it's simpler. Like, it could be a case where there was a Tokoyo god who took the form of a swallowtail caterpillar, got defeated by an aspect of Okina, nursed a grudge for over a thousand years, happened to see Okina cause trouble in an isolated magical valley, happened to see an unrelated swallowtail butterfly fairy that was friends with an ice fairy who got involved in that trouble, and then disguised itself as that fairy to prepare the ice fairy to be the instrument of its revenge on Okina. Or you can cut out some steps and say that the caterpillar god became a butterfly fairy? and did the same thing.

You could also argue that since Cirno has evidently been off-screen friends with Eternity since before HSiFS and didn't notice anything wrong with her when she was prepping Cirno for the EX-Stage, she must have been the real deal. Except, well, it's Cirno, who didn't notice the changing seasons when she was flying around that same game.

But when will we learn whether Wriggle can control her

I'm sure there's a BDSM doujin about that somewhere.