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The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

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shiroimahotsukai White Mage with a Twist from Somewhere Since: Oct, 2010
White Mage with a Twist
#1101: Apr 3rd 2014 at 11:41:14 PM

Maybe that's why Yukari hates it there? Maybe heaven is only for you if you enjoy peaches.

The eyes are the windows that let us gaze upon the soul.
GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#1102: Apr 3rd 2014 at 11:52:45 PM

Yukari must really hate peaches.

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
Impostermetaknight Grand Practitioner of Fairy Logic from Studying crop circles Since: Jul, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishing you were here
Grand Practitioner of Fairy Logic
#1103: Apr 4th 2014 at 2:26:46 PM

If Bhava-agra was a location in Pokemon it would be the Hall of Origin?

Tacitus Since: Jan, 2001
#1104: Apr 4th 2014 at 2:47:36 PM

I hope not, I'm not comfortable with the notion of Suika meeting whatever force created the universe. It'd probably lead to a wrestling match, and any outcome would be disastrous.

Now, after this we've got Kurumi, Yoshika, and it looks like... wow, number 104 of 104, the Scarlet Devil Mansion! But first, let's chill out for a bit.





Youkai of Winter
Letty Whiterock

Appearance:

Stage and Music:
The Spring of Silvery Snow
BGM: "Paradise ~ Deep Mountain"*


Boss Theme: "Crystallized Silver"*

Spellcard Motif: Cold and Snow
Spellcards: (PCB, GoM, StB)
Cold Sign "Lingering Cold," Winter Sign "Flower Wither Away," White Sign "Undulation Ray," Mystic Sign "Table-Turning," Cold Sign "Cold Snap," Winter Sign "Northern Winner"

Write-up:
A yuki-onna only seen in Gensokyo during winter. Although Letty Whiterock can only manipulate and amplify cold, not generate it herself, if she ever went all-out with her power she'd be worthy of an Incident.

Fortunately Letty seems to be holding back, though to what extent is a matter of debate. Her original profile indicates that Letty is never serious with her wintery attacks, while Akyuu gives her a reputation for ensnaring and freezing humans caught in the cold. Likewise, Letty supposedly accepts that every season must come to an end, but during the Spring Snow Incident attacked investigators for trying to dispel the unnatural winter.

Fanon at least provides a semblance of consistency, and Letty is usually depicted as a motherly or big sisterly figure for everyone's favorite ice fairy. This is despite Letty's canonical dislike for getting lumped with such small fry, but that doesn't make for good tooth-rotting fanart.

Relationships:

  • Cirno (unclear)

See also the first two Compendiums.

edited 4th Apr '14 2:47:56 PM by Tacitus

Grounder Main Character Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: All is for my lord
Main Character
#1105: Apr 4th 2014 at 2:53:33 PM

I've come to accept that Akyuu is something of an Unreliable Narrator, and that ZUN has made characters change with no real rhyme or reason before.

That out of the way, canon!Letty probably eats babies or something, and is just a gigantic lying hypocrite in general.

edited 4th Apr '14 2:53:49 PM by Grounder

Antimatter625 Baring hearts for years from my secret place Since: Jan, 2012
Baring hearts for years
#1106: Apr 4th 2014 at 3:22:49 PM

So, the Yuki-Onna.

Here's a not-so-quick personal anecdote. When I first heard of Letty, I was like "Ok, so she makes people get lost in the snow. I'm not really sure how someone could get lost anywhere near their home... even in a snowstorm there are plenty of landmarks around, generally." You can probably guess where this is going.

So one time in the middle of winter, I was set for a blood donation. Figuring it'd be some good exercise to walk the 3 blocks to the donation center rather than drive there (And the roads were terrible because there was a recent snowstorm; several feet of standing snow, still), I bundled up in a snowsuit and got there in about 20 minutes. About an hour and a half later, I start on my way back, unconcerned about the cold because of my snowsuit, and therefore not at all worried about the fact that another snowstorm had started.

After a while, I come across a railroad. 20 minutes after crossing it, I recalled that there's only one railroad around here and I was pretty sure it wasn't anywhere near the path to my house from the donation center. Still, it must have been -that- one, so I used it as a reference to point me back on track.

About a half hour later, I notice there's an awful lot of street names I don't recognize. Then a school? I didn't know there was a school within 7 blocks of my house, even... This is when I began to suspect I'd gotten a little off track. Through a miracle, I saw a bus come by and asked for directions to the local Main street, knowing I could get to my house from there for certain. I got directions and found my way to the street.

I was on the wrong side of the street. I found my way home soon enough after that (making the total time for the return trip about 3 hours instead of the ~20 minutes it ought to have been). Somehow, in my confusion, I had failed to notice that I had changed course 90 degrees (heading north when I thought I was going east) and crossed a 6 lane street. I nearly fainted from exhaustion when I finally made it home, and never again will I mock Letty's abilities.

Walking several miles through 3 feet of snow while missing blood has taught me my lesson. It may have been the closest I've come to death recently... the snow was bad enough that I'm not sure an ambulance would have reached me in time (read: the same day), even if I'd had the good fortune to pass out on a sidewalk instead of the middle of the road (Which was more likely, and would have made getting run over by a bus likely.)

To this day, I still don't know how I got so far off track, and several of the places (street names and such) I very clearly remember didn't seem to be there at all when spring came, so I may have been hallucinating or something...

So yeah... Do not underestimate Letty, folks.

I write some fanfiction. Satori's Tale is done... but I'm not.
GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#1107: Apr 4th 2014 at 3:42:52 PM

Letty and Cirno have almost the same pwoer. I wonder if Letty does eat children...

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
Clarste One Winged Egret Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
One Winged Egret
#1108: Apr 4th 2014 at 3:47:06 PM

Cold and ice are completely different.

Otherarrow Since: Jul, 2010
#1109: Apr 4th 2014 at 3:51:30 PM

Letty Whiterock is a yuki-onna! A youkai of winter, she appears in Gensoukyou during the cold season and manipulates the cold causing the cool weather to become freezing and the breeze to become a chill. One might say that she is an embodiment of winter.

Letty spends most of her days...basically being a youkai. She terrorizes folks by freezing them solid and weakening them with her chill, but is otherwise a fairly even tempered sort who knows that winter is destined to come to an end, and doesn't act seriously because of this.

Letty cannot create the cold and snow, but only manipulate and amplify it. However, this alone can make her a deadly threat, after all, it only takes a winter breeze for her to amplify it to a fearsome blizzard, so despite being held back my nature's whims, Letty is more than capable of causing an incident if need be.

She just never does because she doesn't really see the point. All it'd get her is a yin yang to the face. She is fine with things as they are now.

Don't associate her with Cirno. She doesn't like that.

edited 4th Apr '14 3:54:38 PM by Otherarrow

Don't PM me. We don't like being PMed.
Lightblade Since: Jan, 2001
#1110: Apr 4th 2014 at 4:13:06 PM

Walking several miles through 3 feet of snow while missing blood has taught me my lesson.

Yes, the blood loss was probably a contributing factor, too. The last time I donated blood was years ago, back when I was in college. I ended up fainting because I thought "I'll eat lunch after I go donate". I haven't done it since. Then again, more recently I also fainted from having a blood sample taken for a cholesterol test.

So, getting back on topic, I like Letty, mainly because I like cold-and-ice-themed characters in general. I was kinda disappointed that Touhou's more famous ice-slinger was someone like Cirno. My first thought on learning about Letty was "Ooh, An Ice Person who isn't an idiot! Yes!"

On the other hand, this winter's been the harshest my corner of the world has seen in years, so I'm kinda mad at Letty right now.

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#1111: Apr 4th 2014 at 4:14:30 PM

Unless you live in Japan there's probably someone else at fault though.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Prime32 Since: Jan, 2001
#1112: Apr 4th 2014 at 5:01:35 PM

My first thought on learning about Letty was "Ooh, An Ice Person who isn't an idiot! Yes!"
I imagine most of the smart ice-users are dead. That powerset can't be good for your immune system.

Now have a Super Touhou Wars (Music)

edited 4th Apr '14 5:12:48 PM by Prime32

Impostermetaknight Grand Practitioner of Fairy Logic from Studying crop circles Since: Jul, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishing you were here
Grand Practitioner of Fairy Logic
#1113: Apr 4th 2014 at 6:28:18 PM

I wonder if Letty does eat children...
Well I mean she is a Youkai, a yuki-onna no less, so I'm sure she does eat people and it's quite possible that some of those are children.

Back onto the subject of Pokemon (since that's what I know best) Letty would be a Froslass, but that's not exactly an alternate character interpritation. Instead consider this, Snorunt can evolve into either Froslass (female only) or Glalie. Glalie is used on the team of Glacia who bears a passing resemblance to Yukari due to having blonde hair and wearing a purple dress, Yukari is the phantasm level boss in the same game that Letty is the stage 1 boss bringing my whole irrelevant, off the rails, 2:26 am, non-point full circle... I should get some sleep.

edited 4th Apr '14 6:30:02 PM by Impostermetaknight

Diamite Rainy Echoes Since: Jul, 2013
Rainy Echoes
#1114: Apr 4th 2014 at 7:25:48 PM

Letty Whiterock:

The avatar of Winter. Fittingly manipulates anything cold. Very cold.

Letty's at her strongest during Winter. Outside of it, she's a sitting duck. She hibernates in the summer, so, in Spring, she must be preparing for the deep sleep. While avoiding the sunlight. It's said she has a special residence where no sunlight can touch her. So...other sources of light won't bother her? Living in the dark outside of Winter sounds very troublesome. And in Autumn, she's preparing for Winter. What do these preparations involve? Can't put my finger on it...tongue

She's known to freeze humans. Given the inspiration behind her name, it's not really surprising.

Don't mock her, she's capable of causing an incident. She just doesn't want to. Controlling how cold the environment gets is scary...

Letty's manipulation of the cold can either be a deadly offense, or a deadly tactical defense.

TrueShadow1 Since: Dec, 2012
#1115: Apr 4th 2014 at 10:22:40 PM

It's my headcanon that Letty is one of the strongest youkai in Gensokyo, up there with Yuuka, Suika, EX-Rumia, etc. Like Yuuka however, she prefers being alone in her natural habitat instead of causing havoc or making her own faction.

Lightblade Since: Jan, 2001
#1116: Apr 5th 2014 at 9:59:40 AM

Here's something interesting.

Letty hibernates during the summer. Yukari hibernates during the winter (or so she says). I wonder if they could have some kind of time-share thing going on?

GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#1117: Apr 5th 2014 at 12:28:57 PM

[up] Seems most likely to me. We all know Yukari 'hibernates' during the winter and time share would be the most likely to occur.

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
Tacitus Since: Jan, 2001
#1118: Apr 5th 2014 at 10:33:05 PM

Hmm. Yukari tacitly supported Yuyuko delaying spring. Could she have not-so-tacitly used Letty to extend the winter to give her friend more time to work?

It's my headcanon that Letty is one of the strongest youkai in Gensokyo, up there with Yuuka, Suika, EX-Rumia, etc.

Well, she's pretty strong if she's in her element, and theoretically her ability to amplify winter's chill could be pretty devastating. Yet Akyuu's advice regarding countermeasures is to simply wear warm clothing, indicating that Letty is no more dangerous than wandering in the snow without your coat.

Obviously she's holding back. Wonder why, though, where did her self-restraint come from? Is it the simple logic of a predator who knows that wiping out her food supply all at once would be a bad idea? Or is Letty fettered by something else? Is she in service to the powers that be, or are the forces that govern her more primal?

Cold and ice are completely different.

Weird thing is that Akyuu (or the wiki's translation of her) puts Letty's power down to "manipulation of cold" and Cirno's to "manipulation of cool air." Functionally they're pretty different, but it's not expressed very clearly.

shiroimahotsukai White Mage with a Twist from Somewhere Since: Oct, 2010
White Mage with a Twist
#1119: Apr 6th 2014 at 4:34:48 AM

I always thought it was simply an issue of scope. Things can be cold without producing cold air, but their can't be cold air if there's no cold. I'm not even sure if that's a difference or not though.

The eyes are the windows that let us gaze upon the soul.
Antimatter625 Baring hearts for years from my secret place Since: Jan, 2012
Baring hearts for years
#1120: Apr 6th 2014 at 7:30:18 AM

Yet Akyuu's advice regarding countermeasures is to simply wear warm clothing, indicating that Letty is no more dangerous than wandering in the snow without your coat.

Wear warm clothing and run away. She heavily implies that if you aren't booking it, you'll still end up dead. And if you aren't wearing warm clothes, you're just finished, because you're too cold to move and therefore can't run away.

Hmm... Letty's BAIJR article isn't that fulfilling. We learn that Youkai see Reimu as a sort of bogeyman or force of nature, which is kinda hilarious coming from bogeymen/forces of nature. Actually, we also learn that Letty's probably out of the loop; Reimu is a pretty distinctive and prominent figure, and Letty doesn't seem to have recognized her when they first met.

Also, Aya is as confused as we are with Letty's ability being different from Cirno's. Personally, I see Cirno's as 'ice' and Letty's as 'atmosphere/weather'. Although maybe Letty's just lazy and doesn't want to go out in that sweltering 40 F weather.

edited 6th Apr '14 7:32:18 AM by Antimatter625

I write some fanfiction. Satori's Tale is done... but I'm not.
Otherarrow Since: Jul, 2010
#1121: Apr 6th 2014 at 9:09:34 AM

Well, the distinction is made that Letty doesn't create ice and cold weather, but just amplifies and controls the cold already out in nature. She can't just conjure ice needles or whatever from nothing like Cirno can. (She can form them from cold air in winter time, but that's not quite the same thing)

So yeah, I do think you are onto something. Letty's powers are over the cold atmosphere/winter weather, while Cirno's are over just ice. To the uninformed, the end result seems awfully similar, but the process behind it is completely different.

...OK, to the really uninformed. I mean seriously, who confuses "can manipulate the cold in the winter air to make snow storms so cold that you lose the will to move...and then lose the ability to" with "can freeze frogs and stuff" anyway? Hacks like Aya. Don't be Aya.

edited 6th Apr '14 9:10:21 AM by Otherarrow

Don't PM me. We don't like being PMed.
Grounder Main Character Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: All is for my lord
Main Character
#1122: Apr 6th 2014 at 9:55:19 AM

[up]Cirno is canonically The Ditz, though.

Freezing things might only be the of the iceberg!

Otherarrow Since: Jul, 2010
#1123: Apr 6th 2014 at 10:04:36 AM

That's not the point.

Don't PM me. We don't like being PMed.
Antimatter625 Baring hearts for years from my secret place Since: Jan, 2012
Baring hearts for years
#1124: Apr 6th 2014 at 4:38:56 PM

[up][up]Part of why I think Cirno's affinity is for ice more than cold is because she demonstrates extreme control with it. See also: freezing the fish in a block of ice while keeping a pocket of liquid water within. Small scale, delicate touches... which is rather fitting both for ice (which can be quite delicate, as Cirno's fumbling and dropping of frozen frogs reminds us), and fitting of a fairy (the universal small fry).

Letty brings blizzards and magnifies them. Large scale, larger magnitude, less delicate, more frightening. Far more fitting of a proper youkai, no?

I write some fanfiction. Satori's Tale is done... but I'm not.
Prime32 Since: Jan, 2001
#1125: Apr 7th 2014 at 7:01:04 PM

Cirno's affinity is for ice more than cold
Or if you prefer: Cirno has Snow Warningnote ; Letty has Snow Cloak and can learn Blizzard. tongue Are we sure that BAiJR translation is accurate?

あ、名案? って言いたいところだけどぉ、私は寒さを操るの。冷気を操るどこぞの妖精なんかと一緒にされても困るわ

Oh, that's a good idea. Well, that's what I'd like to say, but I manipulate the cold. Don't confuse it with manipulating cold air like a certain fairy.

edited 7th Apr '14 7:13:57 PM by Prime32


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