The Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

Probably both. She doesn't use her darkness sphere at night because the light doesn't bother her. If electricity becomes widespread and people leave lights on at night, Rumia will have to use the darkness orb more often. Plus, there will be more obstacles for her to run into.

I was thinking more on the latter. If Rumia thought trees were bad, she's in for quite a shock <<;

edited 7th Jun '10 8:29:27 AM by Servbot

Ah, I have a bit more info on Orin after beating SA and seeing Good End 01. Spoilers follow:

So, while Orin wasn't responsible for creating the geysers, she's the reason the evil spirits were flowing out: she sent them up the geyser as a way to ward people off; a sort of warning to keep away from Utsuho. Also, she may indeed have a habit of carting away innocent people: there were a few incidents where dead bodies went missing after Yukari brought Orin aboveground.

Uh.. the first part of that is in the manual's description of her.

Oh.

Uh... I guess I really gotta start reading translations of the manuals...

Much like a cat, Orin seems to have adopted the Hakurei Shrine as a second home, with or without the owner's approval, in the Reimu endings of SA.

I'm not sure if that violates the pact that the underground youkai have with the surface or not.

^ Well, in Ending 1, It's Yukari herself, the one who made that pact with the underground Youkai, who brings Orin aboveground. So yeah.

In that same ending, Reimu seems OK with having Orin there, since she helps to attract visitors.

It's a very cat thing to do though. I also remember Okuu being interrogated above ground in some of the endings and of course Koishi wanders about freely on the surface in the extra stage. I wonder if this will mean a loosening of the pact that keeps surface youkai out of the underground and the underground youkai in.

Fanworks tend to take that as granted so the SA bosses can interact with the rest of the cast. Depending on how long ago the "hated" youkai were forced underground, it might be time to allow limited visitation. I mean Yamame is a ground spider, a type of youkai hated even by other youkai, but she doesn't hate humans and is very careful with her power. The oni voluntarily exiled themselves underground so I don't know if they want to come out but other youkai might. Although, the fact that the SA bosses use spellcard rules shows that there was some kind of cultural exchange going on.

^ However, Yamame is popular among the youkai that live underground. I guess she's fine once you get to know her.

Seem to be finished with Orin. Have we done Flandre yet?

Pretty sure we haven't.

Obligatory "I thought there would have been more to talk about with [INSERT CHARACTER]."

I wouldn't mind doing Flan next. I think we started some impromptu discussion on whether or not she's batshit earlier in the thread.

A couple people mentioned wanting to do Sakuya at some point too.

Of course, there was that huge populist movement a short while ago to do the unnamed giant catfish that swept the boards and instituted a new reign of terror.

Also, she may indeed have a habit of carting away innocent people: there were a few incidents where dead bodies went missing after Yukari brought Orin aboveground.

Hmm... has Orin ever been aboveground before? May have just been force of habit if not. After all, down in Hell, the only corpses she would have carted off are either those who are meant to be there (and thus, should be carted away to their punishment) or those that, uhh... shouldn't be there (And are thus reckless intruders who should be carted off to their punishment. Hey, they knew the risks. <<)

I think we're obligated to do a running gag where we never actually get around to doing Sakuya.

She's manipulating time to escape scrutiny.

They're former hells. Heaven either abandoned or sold them. They guilty aren't sent there anymore. And you don't have a body by the time you've been judged.

Oh, I suppose it's possible that Orin could wait a bit before she picks up someone's corpse. If they make it to the Sanzu no Kawa before she grabs their corpse they'd be safe.

Well, yeah. If you're going to hang around all day and be a restless ghost you're fair game. You got to get to Higan or Hakugyokurou while the getting is good. Plus, since she works mostly underground, I think she'd specialize in youkai corpses and I don't even know how the afterlife works for them.

They're former hells. Heaven either abandoned or sold them. They guilty aren't sent there anymore. And you don't have a body by the time you've been judged.

Well, the situation may be like what some others have mentioned, that while they're not a part of the Hells anymore, they still have a huge surplus of corpses to burn through. I mean, if both the Netherworld and Heaven were having population problems, why not Hell? <<;

Also, I think that while you're not judged with a body, a corpse still somehow gets sent down there with you. After all, underground youkai like Orin weren't allowed to go aboveground before SA, so she had to be getting the sinners' corpses some other way. Maybe you're given a brand-spanking new body after you're thrown to hell to better torture you with, or maybe the sinner's body automatically materialize in some form or another down there after their physical body is cremated or eaten by youkai.

By the way, if they've been separated from the actual hells, does Orin's corpse burning still have an affect on the soul of the corpse's owner?

edited 10th Jun '10 7:12:00 AM by Servbot

I'm dreadfully sorry for not delivering Flandre yet as I had planned. The past few days have been marked by excessive heat, hay fever, and a strangely tight schedule... There was just no way for me to get this done properly. I definitely will do it tomorrow.

Uhm... feel free to start discussing her now if you want to?

Seems like we're still talking about Orin actually.

The afterlife overpopulation refers to the souls. The only meatbody you're going to find in the netherworld is Youmu, and she still complains about it being crowded.

Orin doesn't seem to care if the corpses she grabs belong to sinners.

Orin taking the corpse results in the person becoming an evil spirit, but the burning has no known effect.

I was rereading Orin's profile and apparently she was friends with Utsuho before Satori adopted them. Which helps explains why Orin sided with Utsuho and didn't tell Satori. Plus, Orin thought Satori would hurt Utsuho and she wanted to protect her friend.

She was also afraid that the oni would hurt Utsuho if they discovered her plan to scorch the surface. I'm not sure why she thought a surface youkai would be more gentle but there you go. Tragically, this means the world was deprived of a truly epic Utsuho vs Yuugi fight.

Also, Orin can "converse freely" with corpses and spirits. If the Chireiden crew ever get together for Dn D, Orin could play a cleric.

The oni would probably just smash Okuu's head in, instead of settling it by a spellcard duel.

Also, Orin can "converse freely" with corpses and spirits

Orin: ...and then I was like, "You're sitting in it!" Can you believe her?!
Corpse: ...
Orin: I know, right? There's just no helping some people.
Corpse: ...
Orin: Oh, hush. That was uncalled for.

Maybe her enthusiasm for collecting corpses isn't so much out of duty as it is a cat thing. You know, their instinct to leave "gifts" by the door? I think that weird "Utsuho adopts a baby" comic nailed it:

(Orin serves tea)
Yuugi: You poisoned this, din'cha?
Orin: Ah, I just really want your corpse, so...
Yuugi: (drinks it anyway)

And now, Tacitus will use his incredible powers to tear time itself asunder and respond to a post from last week!

Anybody who was here for the Utsuho discussion should check out Muffin's latest comic if they don't read it already.

I mentally read the yatagarasu's dialogue in the voice of Ragnaros the Firelord and couldn't stop laughing. It'll be interesting to see just how far the idea of an aware yata' spreads, if someday on Utsuho's Touhou Wiki profile there'll be a bullet point under the trivia section mentioning it.

edited 10th Jun '10 5:19:28 PM by Tacitus

^^^^ But where would Orin get the corpses? She can't just go aboveground to collect due to the arrangement with the aboveground youkai, unless...

Did the arrangement cover the outside world too, or was it only limited to Gensokyo?

edited 10th Jun '10 5:29:27 PM by Servbot