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I have no idea what I'm typing either.
Apr. 30th, 2012 06:41 pmFrom what I'm getting from the new information slowly pouring in from the new Touhou Book, Byakuren is a lot less of a saintly-super compassionate perfect Youkai-Jesus as many people pegged her down to be. Now, I don't think pegging her as such is necessarily wrong however, due to that music you hear the moment she comes into screen where her bombastic theme starts blaring out in absolute glory. It is not a song of menace, like that of Utsuho's or of sheer power like that of Kanako's. The song as ZUN described it, was a piece of music he worked "perhaps a little too hard" on and where he thought it was a song that'd make you want to sing. I agree as I especially find the vocal remixes of Emotional Skyscraper to be brilliant and some of the best music I have ever been privileged to hear.
However as all those lovely doujinshis and fan videos come out and about, the main interpretation of Byakuren becomes clear. She is good and she wants to do good, to save those oppressed youkai who are losing that conflict of race, still a fight going on thousands of years later in the fantasy land that is Gensokyo. There have been those who have chosen to interpret her the opposite, one of a rather sinister and foreboding person who would save the life of a youkai long before even taking a glance at a mere human. Either way, I think the results and the new revelations from the book give a good indication that she is not one extreme or another, but too a flawed character with demons she must cope with. No human or youkai or any creature perhaps except those of the highest Gods (and even then!) can go about in life without an ounce of bias. If you were attempting to reach such an ambitious goal that is the equality of human and youkai alike, and one of those factions throws you into another dimension similar to hell for a thousand years where you can do nothing but mingle or perhaps bring about the creation of a powerful scroll, would you not feel great emotion? Great emotion of anger, for being betrayed after you believed to have been trying to help each one and another?
Well granted, it is not as if Byakuren began her mission with good intentions, at first wanting to do what she did for her own gain and purposes and yes, that's pretty downright selfish and vain of her. Tell me though, how many other characters in Touhou have not been vain or at least selfish at one point or another? I do not see one at all, and yes there has been great debate back and forth from time-to-time since this incident was even written about, that is the peculiar method of which Byakuren saved Murasa.
Now let us backtrack here a bit. Before Symposium of Post-Mysticism came out, there were a lot of things I and probably many others had to assume of certain characters and backstories due to the lack of any proper information in the first place. One would assume, due to the practice of Buddhism and its messages and ways, that killing is quite a bad thing. And if a youkai who previously spent her days ending the lives of many innocent humans were saved of someone who preached the ways of Buddhism, they would logically stop, since their eternal damnation to the seas has finally ended? There is no reason anymore to continue that act of mass-murdering, is there? However that thought process only applies if we again, assume that the reason the ghostly Murasa did whatever she did was due to pure rage. If she has become a youkai whose entire purpose was to kill, then I would think that her motive has grown beyond just rage, has it not?
The large debate is about how Byakuren came about saving this youkai. Murasa is, especially after this lovely book came out and pretty much confirmed that she has not ceased her murderous lifestyle, one of the most morally ambiguous characters of the series. We've always been wondering how, exactly, dark Gensokyo was supposed to be. When you play the games and reach the endings, the enemy and the protagonist time and time again always sit down for a cup of tea as if what happened before wasn't something to make a deal out of. The incident is over and the perpetrator has been punished. All is well. There is a human village where the humans remain safe, and if any youkai do feast on a human it is usually of one who has committed suicide beyond the border, somehow brought inside the fantasy land either by a convenient gap or some other special circumstance. Nonetheless, while the atmosphere of the land is not exactly ideal, it does not appear to be one of utter despair either, like an air of eccentricity, an air of whimsical non-seriousness.
But Murasa is perhaps one of the few youkai explicitly said to kill. There is no way around interpreting that to be of a more optimistic result. She does not only kill, but her purpose is to kill. She may pick her victims far more carefully this time around, but that doesn't erase the fact that she indeed kills. Other youkai may too, such as Yuuka or perhaps an undergrounder but whether they do or not isn't concrete. It is only speculation, theory, or even implication, never outright stated. And the only reason one would emphasis so heavily on this fact is if it is either of great importance to the character, or the plot, which it is...at least to that whole situation where Byakuren saved Murasa. At that time, the humans knew she was a nuisance for many fathers or husbands or brothers were lost at sea, all by that damned youkai. Byakuren, as we will have to presume either offered or was asked to help with the extermination of such a monster. She had her own plans however.
What is highly contested is how she saved Murasa. Yes, she created a boat of remarkable resemblance to the captain's own Palanquin, of which it was named. But she brought along with her several sailors to do said exterminating and on the youkai's profile it states that they were flung into sea. There was no information of what had happened to these anonymous sailors. Some believed they had drowned, others thought it was ridiculous to not assume that Byakuren fetched them up afterwards. To ZUN, this part of history was not necessary to be written, it was not important what happened to these unknown humans, whether they died or not. Yet this one small fact in the backstory one supposedly insignificant youkai, is the debate of whether or not Byakuren is as good as many people interpret or if she had double standards of the colossal variety. After all, we've all heard that old story of the hypothetical situation where you must save one group or another, forcing you to weigh each distressed parties' value. But here it seems at first glance, the decision to save one or another should be quite obvious.
Who would you pick, your voyaging companions suddenly flung into sea, who are of greater number than that single sea creature who has already killed thousands before? Byakuren chose the latter, and if one assumed those sailors died....then she knew what she was doing the entire time. Of course her choice is questioned.
But let us play devil's advocate.
How long does the average human live? To a youkai, they are like mice or bugs, only a fraction of their own. Yes, you could go ahead and exterminate the youkai, but did Byakuren have capacity to? After all this entire time she had not been exterminating youkai as the humans had thought, but freeing them from whatever mishap they had been in. Finally, if Murasa were exterminated, where would she go? The afterlife, and what is in the afterlife, especially to a Buddhist monk, especially in their eyes where one who has committed such sins as that youkai would go? Endless millennia of suffering, of damnation, and even if someone may think that monster deserved it, what was Murasa before she was Murasa, the youkai who sunk ships? What was she?
A normal human who died in a tragic accident.
Such is Touhou. To think in such paradoxes, to think that Gensokyo exists because we do not believe. It is interesting the discussions that come about thanks to the lore. Byakuren may not be that faultless, impeccable, perfect and good saint some may have saw her as, but what we do know is that there was once a ship flying in the sky, which a young human witch attempted to plunder. Where they drifted and flew straight into Makai and saved a human-turned youkai with an ambitious goal, all through the purity of their hearts.
However as all those lovely doujinshis and fan videos come out and about, the main interpretation of Byakuren becomes clear. She is good and she wants to do good, to save those oppressed youkai who are losing that conflict of race, still a fight going on thousands of years later in the fantasy land that is Gensokyo. There have been those who have chosen to interpret her the opposite, one of a rather sinister and foreboding person who would save the life of a youkai long before even taking a glance at a mere human. Either way, I think the results and the new revelations from the book give a good indication that she is not one extreme or another, but too a flawed character with demons she must cope with. No human or youkai or any creature perhaps except those of the highest Gods (and even then!) can go about in life without an ounce of bias. If you were attempting to reach such an ambitious goal that is the equality of human and youkai alike, and one of those factions throws you into another dimension similar to hell for a thousand years where you can do nothing but mingle or perhaps bring about the creation of a powerful scroll, would you not feel great emotion? Great emotion of anger, for being betrayed after you believed to have been trying to help each one and another?
Well granted, it is not as if Byakuren began her mission with good intentions, at first wanting to do what she did for her own gain and purposes and yes, that's pretty downright selfish and vain of her. Tell me though, how many other characters in Touhou have not been vain or at least selfish at one point or another? I do not see one at all, and yes there has been great debate back and forth from time-to-time since this incident was even written about, that is the peculiar method of which Byakuren saved Murasa.
Now let us backtrack here a bit. Before Symposium of Post-Mysticism came out, there were a lot of things I and probably many others had to assume of certain characters and backstories due to the lack of any proper information in the first place. One would assume, due to the practice of Buddhism and its messages and ways, that killing is quite a bad thing. And if a youkai who previously spent her days ending the lives of many innocent humans were saved of someone who preached the ways of Buddhism, they would logically stop, since their eternal damnation to the seas has finally ended? There is no reason anymore to continue that act of mass-murdering, is there? However that thought process only applies if we again, assume that the reason the ghostly Murasa did whatever she did was due to pure rage. If she has become a youkai whose entire purpose was to kill, then I would think that her motive has grown beyond just rage, has it not?
The large debate is about how Byakuren came about saving this youkai. Murasa is, especially after this lovely book came out and pretty much confirmed that she has not ceased her murderous lifestyle, one of the most morally ambiguous characters of the series. We've always been wondering how, exactly, dark Gensokyo was supposed to be. When you play the games and reach the endings, the enemy and the protagonist time and time again always sit down for a cup of tea as if what happened before wasn't something to make a deal out of. The incident is over and the perpetrator has been punished. All is well. There is a human village where the humans remain safe, and if any youkai do feast on a human it is usually of one who has committed suicide beyond the border, somehow brought inside the fantasy land either by a convenient gap or some other special circumstance. Nonetheless, while the atmosphere of the land is not exactly ideal, it does not appear to be one of utter despair either, like an air of eccentricity, an air of whimsical non-seriousness.
But Murasa is perhaps one of the few youkai explicitly said to kill. There is no way around interpreting that to be of a more optimistic result. She does not only kill, but her purpose is to kill. She may pick her victims far more carefully this time around, but that doesn't erase the fact that she indeed kills. Other youkai may too, such as Yuuka or perhaps an undergrounder but whether they do or not isn't concrete. It is only speculation, theory, or even implication, never outright stated. And the only reason one would emphasis so heavily on this fact is if it is either of great importance to the character, or the plot, which it is...at least to that whole situation where Byakuren saved Murasa. At that time, the humans knew she was a nuisance for many fathers or husbands or brothers were lost at sea, all by that damned youkai. Byakuren, as we will have to presume either offered or was asked to help with the extermination of such a monster. She had her own plans however.
What is highly contested is how she saved Murasa. Yes, she created a boat of remarkable resemblance to the captain's own Palanquin, of which it was named. But she brought along with her several sailors to do said exterminating and on the youkai's profile it states that they were flung into sea. There was no information of what had happened to these anonymous sailors. Some believed they had drowned, others thought it was ridiculous to not assume that Byakuren fetched them up afterwards. To ZUN, this part of history was not necessary to be written, it was not important what happened to these unknown humans, whether they died or not. Yet this one small fact in the backstory one supposedly insignificant youkai, is the debate of whether or not Byakuren is as good as many people interpret or if she had double standards of the colossal variety. After all, we've all heard that old story of the hypothetical situation where you must save one group or another, forcing you to weigh each distressed parties' value. But here it seems at first glance, the decision to save one or another should be quite obvious.
Who would you pick, your voyaging companions suddenly flung into sea, who are of greater number than that single sea creature who has already killed thousands before? Byakuren chose the latter, and if one assumed those sailors died....then she knew what she was doing the entire time. Of course her choice is questioned.
But let us play devil's advocate.
How long does the average human live? To a youkai, they are like mice or bugs, only a fraction of their own. Yes, you could go ahead and exterminate the youkai, but did Byakuren have capacity to? After all this entire time she had not been exterminating youkai as the humans had thought, but freeing them from whatever mishap they had been in. Finally, if Murasa were exterminated, where would she go? The afterlife, and what is in the afterlife, especially to a Buddhist monk, especially in their eyes where one who has committed such sins as that youkai would go? Endless millennia of suffering, of damnation, and even if someone may think that monster deserved it, what was Murasa before she was Murasa, the youkai who sunk ships? What was she?
A normal human who died in a tragic accident.
Such is Touhou. To think in such paradoxes, to think that Gensokyo exists because we do not believe. It is interesting the discussions that come about thanks to the lore. Byakuren may not be that faultless, impeccable, perfect and good saint some may have saw her as, but what we do know is that there was once a ship flying in the sky, which a young human witch attempted to plunder. Where they drifted and flew straight into Makai and saved a human-turned youkai with an ambitious goal, all through the purity of their hearts.
