Touhou Characters #1 - Hakurei Reimu
Entry posted by Kaguya
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Image by Kieta
Reimu. The main character of the touhou series and the current miko of the Hakurei shrine, carrying the burdens of managing the Hakurei Border and exterminating dangerous youkai.
The personality of touhou characters is generally decided by the fandom, while the characters themselves only have the minimum amount of phrases needed for people to have a line on what they're thinking. This leads to, of course, several differents interpretations of how they are.
In the most dark and serious works, Reimu is portrayed as a reluctant hero who is regularly forced into nigh-impossible battles against eldrich-like abominations wearing the face of humans, capable of bending concepts to their will, armored with nothing but her yin-yang floating orbs, flying power and aptitude with magical barriers.
She will be portrayed as the only sane, trustable force fighting for the sake of humanity- her only allies being the only person she could call a friend, an unreliable, insane cleptomaniac witch fighting for the sole sake of finding treasures who is essentially a youkai in mind...
And a totally green miko from a different shrine more occupied with swindling humans into worshiping her gods than actually protecting anyone. Wild and horned hermit suggests she's bitter about losing her parents (through the quote: "Believe not they will be around for you always: parents and daylight" [which is a modification of some haiku I forgot, by the way])
In comedic works, she's a poor miko going around looking for donations with a bunch of youkai friends who keep spooking humans away from her shrine, preventing her from getting any money.
All in all, Reimu is a very well-known figure in the touhouverse that can be used in several different ways, and it would be impossible to cover them all. As the Hakurei miko, she is also arguably the most important character in the whole project- And definitely one of the most interesting ones, too.
I leave you with a song about Reimu by Alstroemeria Records - Highly Responsive to Prayers.
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