The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

This came up last time around too. Shinki is indeed classified as a deity, and the wiki puts her on the same list as the Moriyas et al, and evidently the same kanji or whatever is used for her and the rest. The twists are as follows: first, we don't have an official profile for Shinki, so her divine status depends on whether you believe her or not. And the second point is as Hylarn pointed out, ZUN's idea of a god(dess) in the PC-98 continuity might not be the same as how he conceptualized them following Touhou's regenesis.

The fact that Shinki (allegedly) created Makai and its inhabitants, rather than working her way up the divine hierarchy by starting out as a local spirit or even human, does suggest that she's a higher class of deity than some who shall go nameless. Indeed, she seems a bit dismissive of both Reimu's shrine maiden status and the gods she serves. This could imply that she belongs to the same tier as the deities featured in mythologies' creation myths... or maybe it doesn't, and Makai's primordial cotton candy was more malleable than Earth's primordial play-doh.

At any rate, if deities could sustain themselves and grow from the faith of creatures they created, that'd certainly be considered... precisely what the most powerful deities are doing already. Human existence is a ploy for already unimaginably powerful beings to become even more so, how 'bout that.

But... well, it depends what Shinki knows. If you go by her willingness to believe(?) Mima's claims of being the goddess of the human world, or the apparent thoughtlessness of Shinki's actions regarding the tourism experiment, you could conclude that Shinki doesn't know much about humanity or Earth. And that begs the question of how you become a goddess who rules a magical realm without interacting with humans at any point beforehand. You might conclude that Shinki can be called a goddess in the same way that her creations can be called people, or Makai's miasmic atmosphere called air. You might think of Shinki as something from an outer realm, something powerful that can take a human shape, something you only call a goddess because you don't have the language to properly describe her.

Or maybe not, your choice.

edited 9th Jun '14 11:24:35 PM by Tacitus

The idea of Shinki as a completely foreign, alien being is intriguing. I mean, Makai's implied in UFO to be nontrivial to reach. Perhaps that's because it borders more on another realm than Earth. Like... maybe it's the Gensokyo of Venus or something to that effect.

In terms of her godhood, well, spoilers for my fic, if anyone cares, but it is something I considered. (And not all of this is even written in my fic, come to think of it... and I might have some details wrong It's merely the backstory of Shinki, which I mostly glazed over and never completely wrote down.)

In A Satori's Tale, Shinki was the goddess of magic. Specifically, of Majutsu/Mahou ('magic', for the rest of this writeup since I'm not sure if there's a difference between the two). So, when the first person (and they weren't necessarily human or even earthly) managed to use this strange poisonous force to achieve what they wanted, they believed in its ability to do more. Knowledge of magic spread, as did belief in its powers. After a time, enough people had enough faith in magic to create Shinki. Then, she started expanding much more ruthlessly, stealing faith from other gods and realms by encouraging people to become Magicians. Since every Magician was basically a faithful, she became very powerful, very quickly, which in turn made magic more and more powerful.

Eventually, she gathered enough power to (with great effort) create a realm all to herself. After a while longer (now able to fully indoctrinate people into a 'Magician' lifestyle easily, what with a realm that greatly facilitated learning, she had enough power to create actual life, souls included. This is where Demons came from. She eventually finds a ritual that turns life into magic, which she uses to basically absorb life into herself/her power base. Then, from there, she basically just keeps expanding more and more, consuming everything in her path, until she reaches the Lunar Capital. What she finds there leads her to become interested in Gensokyo... Cue the story beginning.

Basically, Kanako gone far, far too right. 'Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely'. Alternatively, kinda like the Zerg.

edited 10th Jun '14 7:14:58 AM by Antimatter625

A Sacred Hope:

Long ago, in a realm filled with intense turbulence and chaos, stood a low-level demon who struggled to live. Over the course of her life, she had to watch powerlessly as her family gradually disappeared from that world. She sometimes wondered why she was born in such a realm. Why is her life the way it is? Why did this have to happen?

This world is...cruel...

As the girl approached her limits of living in such a cruel world, she discovered her family's well kept secret. She found a scroll that depicted a method on absorbing the chaotic magical essence of this realm. Absorbing all of that magic is said to give one the power to create and destroy. The girl remembered her parents telling her stories that involved demons gaining power, but in the end, they were unable to control it, and were destroyed. Now that she's thinking about it, perhaps the stories were about her ancestors trying this method and succumbing to all the chaotic magic they built up within themselves. Perhaps her parents were warning her to never do this, for she will surely die...

But how can she not attempt this!? This world is painful to live in! If this procedure kills her, then it's better than waiting for the world to crush her with its despair! And so, the girl performed the ritual. The chaotic magic flowed into her at a merciless pace, the onslaught tearing into her mind like never before. Such a rapid increase in power... A demon will surely lose his/herself, becoming mindless drones, destroying everything in the way before self-destructing. So this is it, the end of her life...

...

...

...Then she remembered seeing something on the scroll. It stated, "If you have a strong will, a desire that is even greater than the chaos you're being bestowed with, the power will be yours." ...Yes, the girl had such a desire. A desire that she buried long ago. She once wanted to create a world in which uncontrollable chaos was not the order of the day. A world in which demons can live without worrying about falling into despair.

AND SO, the ritual ended. And the girl was a brand new demon, her sanity still intact. Using her new power, she created a new dimension which will never connect with her home realm. She then melded the dimension to her liking, and could not be happier. She named this place 'Makai'. She also decided to change her name, to forever break away from that unforgiving, lightless realm.

Her new name: Shinki.

edited 13th Jun '14 3:17:11 PM by Diamite

A theory I find very intriguing is that Shinki was originally a human, back when Humanity had just started, making her basically as ancient as Eirin. She may have ascended into a god and became the all-powerful goddess we know today.

Actually, with how little we know about the PC-98 era, it makes it really fun to speculate.

Oh, and I'm totally on the "shinki is Alice's mom/creator" theory.

I do think that Shinki is Alice's mom/creator, but Shinki doesn't show Alice any more preference than she shows, say, Louise.

As I said, Yumeko is the favorite.

The proof, such that it is, that Shinki is Alice's mom is that Alice exists in makai and that everything in makai was created by Shinki.

Of course, later info about makai says that magicians just go there to chill and inhale some miasma.

Alice and Shinki being related predated this reveal, I believe, and is based on the persuasive argument that it is more interesting for Alice to be related to a god.

Black Tewi supports you if you follow this line of thought. Black Tewi also supports you if you think she was just an unrelated magician chilling out inhaling vapors and unfortunately fell into the indiscriminate path of destruction from the PC.

Black Tewi also supports you if you read between the lines and realize the subtext that proves that Shinki becomes Kisume down the line.

Black Tewi is a dirty flip flopper.

PC-98 Alice is not human, and refers to the natives of Makai as "us".

Windows Alice is significantly older than PC-98 Alice, but is said to have been human until recently. Also one of her themes is "The Dollmaker of Bucharesti", so take from that what you will.

PC-98 was a weird time but still I like to think that Shinki is some sort of god or devil creature. Byakuren is Shinki's expy after all.

edited 12th Jun '14 4:13:44 PM by GAP

The theory that Shinki becomes Kisume intrigues me. Please enlighten us, oh Bocaj.

They have similar hair decs.

But when Shinki evolved, she gained another tail.

I swear, I'll read it in full once I get the next chapter out of my own fic. Which has taken me almost a year for Chrissakes.

That's a neat angle to use, gives Shinki a good excuse to be an aggressor. Plus I think it builds upon some of the themes surrounding Marisa as a secular magician, which has a lot of potential for future plots.

Also a cool idea. Maybe she's spent so much time in Makai that she's forgotten how the human world works, hence all those hilarious misunderstandings. Maybe she's spent so much time in Makai that she's forgotten she was once a human. That'd be a twist, that all those Makai folk are magicians who have stayed to long in the miasma.

Argh, this makes me want to go further into the history of Makai, but that should probably wait until the topic formerly comes up. And maybe I should use my ideas in a 'fic first.

But yeah, Shinki does feel very Lawful Something, the key holding Makai together, its creator and sustainer, the one bringing order to the raw potential of magic. Kinda like a mashup of Reimu and Yukari in terms of importance. Take her away, and... well, I remember gensoukoumuten's story set on Makai showed its decaying side, and was marked by Shinki's absence save for a statue.

Well, Shinki says she's "of the highest caliber" and refers to Yumeko affectionately (and in some cases diminutively). And she lets Yumeko be her personal bodyguard, or at least closest to Shinki's home or something, and defers to the maid's thirst for vengeance. That's a lot of circumstantial evidence supporting a "favorite" claim.

On the other hand, which Makai person is encountered within her own Wonderland?

The resemblances are numerous, yes. Mother figures to "monsters," neither is particularly aggressive, doesn't see an inherent conflict between their followers and humans, probably a bit naive... and also a hint of something dubious, a story that doesn't quite add up, a darker nature.

And here I was gonna suggest Shinki's best modern counterpart was Yuyuko or something.

I will once I figure out what to take from it.

edited 14th Jun '14 10:28:03 PM by Tacitus

...I never noticed the potential Byakuren-Shinki parallels until now...

Devil's Recitation.

Aside from that I mean.

Shinki, the all-loving Destroyer of Dimensions. Try and survive her musical might.

Peace at The World's End
Silent Ordeal
A Perfect End
Lucifer Wings
Infinite Dream
Majestic Being
Infinite Legend
Infinite Power of the Ancients
Overcoming the Ordeal
Advancing Illusion of Terror
Ominous Being
Seventh Heaven Being
Infinite Illusion

Regarding Shinki and Alice's relationship, here's my head cannon. Might be a huge-ass spoiler to the fanfic I might someday actually write: Shinki created Alice for the purpose of one day succeeding her as the queen-goddess of Makai. The reason Alice was created as a human is because Shinki wants her grow and turn into a full magician just like she had.

That is also a spoiler for the fanfiction I'm roughly 36,000 words into!

However, I'm pretty confident that our takes on the idea will be very different.

Ah, sorry! But I guess it's inevitable, for every idea there are thousand more similar. I'd love to read it when it's finished, though. Probably be long before mine.

Haha, no need to apologize! I'd actually be interested in hearing more about your take on the situation, either here or via PM.

Ah, that feeling when you find out your brilliant and original idea is shared by someone else. Good that others acknowledge how awesome it is, bad that you can't take full credit for it.

Such a linear interpretation of time. Or perhaps you're being too literal, and Shinki "created" Makai in the same way Miko "created" Japan. At any rate, I'm sure I can weasel my way out of this inconsistency.

Interesting, interesting. Might explain Alice's accommodations. The obvious question is to what extent Mystic Square derailed this plan. Would Shinki approve of Alice's focus on puppetry, her aloof demeanor and secret fear? Or would she find value in Alice's experiences in Gensokyo, and how she's grown since leaving Makai? And if Alice isn't moving in the right direction, when and how will Shinki step in to correct her?

Well, in the last compendium, I put forward the theory that Alice was creating her dolls as practice - that the art of molding and directing lifelike forms is like the first step towards what Shinki does.

So Shinki's the creator of everything Makai. Which leads me to the dark side of the universe.

In the process of creating her people, she made sure she would give them all free-will. And made sure they would all swear fealty to her without fail. Like, if hard times were to come to Makai, no one would think to blame Shinki at all. Because hey, they love her, and she can do no wrong.

The love...is controlled...

Did she do that though? The only Makai resident who who refers to her at all is Yumeko who is, well, Yumeko.

For all we know, she just reigns over them as any overlord would.

We also aren't certain they have free will... But then, I guess we aren't certain we have free will.

Ok, wow, I'm leaving that philosophical debate behind while I still can.

It's possible that she gave them free will, but also just ensured that the idea of 'rebellion' got squished immediately and without mercy everytime some random person spoke of it, even hypothetically. Hard to get a rebellion going if no one knows that there's even the option to rebel.

Which I guess means she would be treating them kinda like slaves. Geez, what is it with me today?

"Awww, my little girl's a maid! I always knew you'd make it!"
"That was like 15 years ago, mom. I worked for Yuuka for like a month before I got the heck out of there."
"Oh. Well, I'm sure my little princess has made something of herself and isn't living alone in some woods or something still playing with dolls, at least. So what is it you do, anyway?"
"You know what? Sure, I'm a maid."