Hells Bells

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1. #1Clownpiece

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   Clownpiece (クラウンピース Kuraunpīsu) is a fairy of Hell.

   Clownpiece is similar in nature to many of the other fairies in Touhou: she is playful, mischievous, childish, and a little bit dumb. She enjoys the aesthetics of Hell, often leading to strange looks from others; however, this is because it reminds her of home. She enjoys pranking anybody she can, friends included. She often joins the Three Fairies of Light in their own schemes, pranks, and adventures, and has a little bit of a rivalry with Cirno over the title of the "strongest". Generally, she is a fun-loving person who's also a little bit ignorant of her surroundings: she's set fire to the Hakurei Shrine by accident on more than one occasion.

   With the flame of her torch, Clownpiece is able to drive others insane. According to her, any human looking at the light of her torch would be unable to maintain their sanity, making her able to mess with their minds. In the Human Village, she used this ability to make villagers extremely irritable and short-tempered, attacking each other for trivial reasons. According to her, going crazy means bringing out one's true strength. Clownpiece claims that, while this may seem like an unusual power for a nature spirit, it's nothing strange in Hell where "nature" consists mainly of the souls of the dead. The torch itself is made with the lifeforce of those that fell in Hell.

   Clownpiece wears leggings and a shirt with the pattern similar to the American flag. As she resembles a jester, she has a frilled collar and a purple, polka-dotted jester's hat. She has long, blonde hair and pink eyes. She also has a pair of fairy wings and carries a torch.

2. #2Junko

   Keys: Junko

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   As a Sagacious Spirit who has purified her grudge towards Chang'e, Junko is described to be a being made out of pure fury. Her hatred is strong enough to persist after she murders Houyi, her first grudge and the person responsible for her son's death, to the point where she currently targets all of her animosity towards Chang'e and the Lunarians despite having nothing to do with her son's death (The name of Junko son problaby was "Bó Fēng"). Junko doesn't seem to care for intricateness, preferring to do things with a straightforward attitude. This is shown through her spellcards as they are purely designed for murder, instead of beauty, which is the standard factor for spellcards. Because of her antagonism and ruthlessness to achieve her goals and desires, she has been described to be unique compared to many of Gensokyo's inhabitants.

   Despite all of her intense, uncontrolled wrath, Junko has demonstrated a variety of surprisingly good cognitive functions. Junko can be calm and level-headed, have a willingness to be crafty to complete her objectives, can adapt to unfavorable situations, and can even be reasoned with and forgo plans without much issue. Junko also has standards to some degree, not wanting Gensokyo to be caught up in the crossfire, and calls the Lunarian's method of taking Gensokyo captive "inhumane".

   Junko is also shown to be melodramatic, comparing her feud with the Lunarians to a "revenge drama" and being boastful when displaying her Danmaku, Exclaiming lines like "Are you watching Chang'e?" before fighting Reimu Hakurei, Youmu Konpaku, and Marisa Kirasame.

   Junko spell cards are designed "purely" to do just that rather than showing off various kinds of patterns. Most of her spell cards use circle danmaku shapes, which is significant as circles are widely viewed as "pure shapes".

   Her spell cards violate the spirit of the spell card rules. While the rules were in part designed to prevent bloodshed, Junko has multiple spell cards made to kill.

   Junko wears a Chinese outfit of a red and yellow tabard with a 9-tailed fox pattern with a red sash over a wide-sleeved black dress and a black traditional Chinese crown called a dalachi (大拉翅). She has long, orange hair and red eyes. Behind her are seven light-purple flame-like tails. Although not visible in her in-game appearance, Junko's portrayal in Visionary Fairies in Shrine shows her wearing dark-colored shoes and legwear.

   Junko seems to be based on Xuán Qī (玄妻) a figure who is mentioned in the ancient Chinese historical narrative Zuǒ Zhuàn and the Tiānwèn poems, noted for her dark hair and incredible beauty. Her nickname, Chún Hú (纯狐, lit. "pure fox"), is written using the same characters as "Junko." She was married to Hòu Kuí (後夔), the leader of the Xia Dynasty, and bore him a son, Bó Fēng (伯封).

   After Hòu Yì (后羿) forced Hòu Kuí into exile and took over the Xia Dynasty, he killed Bó Fēng and forced Xuán Qī into marriage. In revenge, Xuán Qī conspired with Hòu Yì's minister, Hán Zhuó (寒浞) to kill him. She later married Hán Zhuó and bore him two sons.

   In addition to this Hòu Yì, there is a more notable figure from Chinese mythology of the same name. Initially, instead of just one sun, there were ten suns (in Chinese, the word for "sun" and "day" are the same, and the ancient Chinese week was ten days long; hence, ten suns.) Normally, they would rise one at a time, one after another. However, one day, the ten suns all rose at once, threatening to purge the entire Earth in fire. The mythical archer, the hero Hòu Yì, shot down nine of the ten suns in order to save the world. He is also the husband of the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e, who drank the elixir of immortality and floated away to the moon.

   The relationship between the two Hòu Yìs is unclear. The conflation of various historical figures named Hòu Yì has been the subject of at least one contemporary academic paper.

   The account given by Eirin seems to match up with many of the details above, but with a few omissions and discrepancies. First, there is no mention of Hòu Kuí or Hán Zhuó, and the diagram that Eirin shows seems to imply that Bó Fēng is Hòu Yì's own son rather than Hòu Kuí's. This change makes the Hòu Yì a significantly more monstrous figure.

   Junko's power to purify anything, not to be confused with the Lunarian and Shinto concept of purity, refers to the refining of substances to remove impurities, such as in the refinement of metals. She used this power on her own grudge, strengthening it such that she became the embodiment of her resentment as a divine spirit, without even a need for an identity anymore, and on Clownpiece and other hell fairies, transforming them into beings of pure lifeforce that would threaten the Lunar Capital. She also claims to be able to kill the heroines unconditionally if they didn't use Eirin's drug and got hit at least once before facing Junko.

   The terms used to refer to Junko's ability, junka (純化) or junsui (純粋), differs from the terms for the Shinto concept of kegare (穢れ) referred to as "impurity", and kiyome (清め), its "purification". So, they can be understood to mean two different things. In fact, Junko refining the hell fairies into pure embodiments of life supercharged their capacity to spread impurity.}}

3. #3Hecatia

   Keys: Hecatia

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   Hecatia Lapislazuli (ヘカーティア・ラピスラズリ Hekātia Rapisurazuri) is a Goddess of Hell.

   According to Eiki Shiki, Hecatia is eccentric but relatively less evil compared to most denizens of Hell. She seems capable of being caring and compassionate, especially towards her underlings (namely Clownpiece). Additionally, it might be possible that her personality changes when she switches between her three bodies.

   Hecatia has an unwavering desire for personal freedom and dislikes authoritarians of any sort (somewhat matching her "unconventional" appearance). In particular, she has a strong distaste for the Lunarians, considering them to be the antithesis to her ideology. However, it's not known whether this specific dislike of them was due to her own personal motivations, or if she was convinced to hate them due to her close relationship with Junko.

   Hecatia's ability allows her to exist on Earth, the Moon, and the Otherworlds all at once with different bodies, while her core soul resides in Hell. As places like Gensokyo and the Dream World are Otherworlds, Hecatia can access these as well. She can switch between them by wearing the respective astronomical objects on the top of her head. She can also summon them to essentially give herself clones.

   Hecatia appears within the Dream World with red eyes and hair. She is fairly modern looking, wearing a short, three-colored, plaid skirt, and a black t-shirt with "Welcome ❤ Hell" written on the front, worn off her shoulders. She also wears a collar, with chains attached, each one leading to an orb of the Moon, the Earth, and an orb representing the Otherworlds, the last of which sits in her hat atop her head. During the course of her fight, her hair and eyes turn blue or blonde as she switches the Otherworld orb with the Earth or Moon orbs respectively. As it mentioned in the liner notes to her theme, her outfit is inspired by Death Metal.

4. #4Eiki

   Keys: Eiki Shiki, Eikishiki, Shikieiki, Yamaxanadu

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   Eiki Shiki, Yamaxanadu (四季映姫・ヤマザナドゥ Shiki Eiki Yamazanadu, given name "Eiki", surname "Shiki") is one of the Yama who judge the dead and decide whether they go to Heaven, Hell, the Netherworld, or get reincarnated. She currently resides in Hell. Whether it's because she simply has a habit of lecturing or because she genuinely wants others to change for the better, she's become well known in Gensokyo for lecturing anyone and everyone about their faults. The souls of the dead are brought to her by Komachi Onozuka, who ferries them over the Sanzu River to Higan. However, not every soul makes it all the way across without being tired out from the journey or being extinguished by Komachi.

   Eiki is a yama who belongs to the Ministry of Right and Wrong located at Hell.[2] Although there are many yamas, Eiki is the one in charge of Gensokyo. She, like the other yamas, holds the Cleansed Crystal Mirror that lets them look into a person's past, learn anything they want to know about him/her, and then use that knowledge to make fair judgements.

   Eiki does have work breaks, but even during these she doesn't pass up chances to lecture people in the hope that they will change for the better and so she won't have to send them to Hell. For people with particularly bad karma, she will go directly to that person to warn them, sometimes by exaggerating the punishment that they would receive. It's implied that youkai tend to avoid her because of this habit.

   Eiki was not always the Yamaxanadu. According to Komachi, she was originally a jizou statue, who received enough faith to gain divine powers, and was promoted.

   As the Yama who judges people after they die, Eiki is impartial to anyone when lecturing them, whenever they are human or youkai. Since she is very preachy and is never mistaken about anything, this makes her hard to approach. Despite her stern attitude and seriousness at her job, Eiki has a teasing side, smiling even when revealing the shortcomings of the people she's lecturing. She's described as being polite and patient when lecturing.

   The Rod of Remorse is always in Eiki's possession, it can be said to be a rod or a piece of wood. Upon writing the charges on this rod, the weight of the rod changes according to the weight of the sins, and the number of times to beat the sinner is also decided, after which Eiki proceeds to do the beating. This is one of the necessary items for use by Yama for punishment. As explained in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, she carries this rod with her everywhere.

   In the past, each rod was used for one person, and thrown away after its usage was finished. However, for the sake of the environment, it seems that they've been changed to use new material that can be erased and reused.

   The Cleansed Crystal Mirror is also an item meant for Yama to perform judgement. When a sinner is reflected in the mirror, it reflects all of the sinner's past deeds, though it is tiring to use. It is a dreadful tool for which privacy is even less than worthless, but perhaps because it does not show up in Eiki's sprite, it has a tendency to be forgotten. It can be said that the mirror of the Yama can change shape as they please, but Eiki's mirror takes the form of a hand mirror.

   [Eiki Shiki ability of Establishing as clear good and evil (black and white)= This is as literally stated. With this power, in order to hand down judgements, the charges that have been established once as clear good and evil cannot, no matter what measures the judged person takes, be overturned. The reason why Yukari Yakumo is not good at dealing with Eiki is probably not just because she dislikes preaching, but also because the Yukari that loves chaos and disorder can be said to dislike things to be established as clear good and evil.]

5. #5Komachi

   Keys: Onozuka, Komachi

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   Komachi is known for being a slacker. She has a lazy, carefree personality and loves to talk, especially to the departed spirits she ferries across the Sanzu River. As a shinigami, Komachi is mildly antagonistic to people who outlive the regular life span (hermits and celestials for instance) and very antagonistic to those who destroy souls, phantoms, and other spirits.

   Since Komachi is just a shinigami ferryman, it is not in her jurisdiction to take another person's life. However, she won't hesitate to threaten them with her scythe while issuing a warning, as seen in her interactions with Kasen Ibaraki and Tenshi Hinanawi.

   Komachi magic ability of "manipulation of distance" is literally the ability to manipulate the space between her present location and the destination she's heading. She uses this ability to carry out her duty of ferrying spirits of the dead across the Sanzu River (although it is unknown whether other shinigami ferrymen also possess this power or not). This ability may be used to affect both literal distance (for example, changing the physical distance that exists between two points) and apparent distance (for example, making it seem like you never get any closer to, or farther away from, a location). The effects of this ability can be seen in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody incident, where Komachi uses it to restrict the enemies' movements.

   Probably because of her status as a shinigami, Komachi is able to control departed spirits, and even talk with them.

   Komachi possesses a scythe, which, aside from being a weapon, serves another, more subtle purpose. When the spirit of a recently deceased person arrives on the shores of the Sanzu, one of the first sights they behold is a figure carrying a large scythe. The spirit realizes, thanks to that tool, that they are looking at a shinigami; somehow, realizing that shinigami really do match their traditional image seems to reassure them, put them at ease, and come to terms with their fate more easily.

   Coins is the hallmark of Komachi's danmaku. This money comes from the spirits of the dead, who pay the shinigami a toll to ferry them across it into Higan. The money for this toll comes about due to the connections they had with others while they were alive. More specifically, the toll is the total sum of the money used by others for one's sake during one's lifetime.

   The boat that Komachi uses (which she calls the Titanic) to ferry souls is a special rowboat that can cross the Sanzu River, and is provided to her by Hell in order to carry out her duties. It is old and worn, but she is perhaps unable to procure a new one due to Hell's current poor financial situation. Yet, a few of her spell cards make use of this boat on land.

   Komachi is tall woman that has large breasts, red eyes and short pinkish-red hair with two ponytails tied by two double hair beads. She wears a white dress underneath a blue vest, and has an obi with a large coin tied in the center. She also carries a scythe with a wispy ripple at the end of its blade.

   [Komachi is Eiki's subordinate and is often scolded for her laid-back lifestyle and work ethic.]

6. #6Sanzu River

   Keys: Sanzu River

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   The Sanzu River (三途の河 Sanzu no Kawa, literally "River of Three Paths", also in British English translation River Sanzu) is the mist-shrouded river that dead souls must cross in order to reach Higan, where they will await judgment. Part of the riverbank is accessible from Gensokyo, even though the river's source, mouth and opposite bank lie outside it. Only the dead can cross the river on a shinigami's boat if they can afford to pay; everything except shinigami and their boats will sink. The river is populated by the phantoms of extinct marine life, including those from prehistoric times.

   Komachi Onozuka may be seen ferrying souls here when she isn't slacking off. In Japanese Buddhist tradition, the Sanzu is said to have three crossings which vary in perilousness depending on the amount of sin a soul committed during his or her lifetime (hence the name). However, this concept is not used in Touhou: instead, Komachi uses her power of distance manipulation to vary the width of the river according to the souls' sinfulness.

7. #7Hell

   Keys: Jigoku, Shin Jigoku, Hell, New Hell

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   Hell (地獄 Jigoku), also New Hell (新地獄 Shin Jigoku), is a collection of realms separate from Gensokyo where sinful souls are imprisoned. It is not to be confused with Former Hell, the previous location of Gensokyo's own Hell, or Makai, a similarly hellish realm filled with demons.

   Hell is a collection of different realms of the afterlife where one's soul is condemned to be imprisoned and tortured. Avici is one of many such realms, as was Former Hell in the past. Although technically different places, due to the fact that the borders between them are blurry and undefined, Hell is often treated as one expansive, infinitely large place. Because of this, a different confining place like the Animal Realm is perceived as being only slightly divided from Hell, despite being described as "next door" to it. Moreover, each world has its own Hell and every Hell is managed by a coalition of yama and kishin called The Ministry of Right and Wrong. Hell is one of many realms of the afterlife one may go to after being judged by a yama at Higan, with the other two major realms being Heaven and the Netherworld.

   The hell of Japanese mythology (地獄 Jigoku lit. "Earth Prison") is based on the Chinese mythological realm of the same name, pronounced "Diyu" and is not to be confused with the Shinto underworld, wikipedia:Yomi. Both hells are syntheses of the Buddhist Naraka, itself based on the Hindu Naraka, with traditional, pre-Buddhist beliefs. In Japan's tradition, souls must cross the Sanzu River to be judged at Higan. Souls are judged by ten judges known as the Ten Kings of Hell and are accordingly sent to whatever realm their lives' actions deserved. The main paths of the afterlife one may be sent to are called the Six Realms. Hell is the lowest realm, being succeeded by the Preta Realm, Animal Realm, Human Realm, Asura Realm and Deva Realm, also known as Heaven. There are many Hells within Hell in Buddhism, with each having a specialized torture suited for every particular kind of sinner. One's time in Hell, as in the other five realms, is not eternal, however. It may take many millennia but souls eventually burn up all their negative karma and are reincarnated in a new realm, as is the eternal cycle of Samsara.

   Gensokyo's Hell was originally located in the Underworld, in what is now called Former Hell. At an unknown time (possibly before the events of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil), it was under Zanmu Nippaku's proposal that Gensokyo's Hell moved into a new location due to overpopulation, given its age and how paralyzed its functions were.[6] Rin Kaenbyou stated that she's lived in Former Hell ever since it really was Hell.[4] Because of the existence of Former Hell, the Gensokyo's current Hell is sometimes referred to as "New Hell". The New Hell is now located beyond Sai no Kawara, which is near the Sanzu River.

   Gensokyo's current yama is a former Jizo statue named Eiki Shiki. Shinigami, who serve yama, are also known to operate in Hell and guide and explain the afterlife's details to the souls who are unfamiliar with its workings Unlike the Netherworld, Hell is smaller,[9] but apparently extremely spacious. It is also desolate and far from being calm. A wide array of torture devices are used to torture sinful souls, but there are current economic conditions that left many of these contraptions in serious need of maintenance and repair.

   Hell's facilities naturally must be expanded in order to accommodate the increasing population. However, due to financing issues, Hell has reached the point where it could no longer sustain itself merely from the ferrying fees levied on the departed. Thus, the primary sources of income are fares from those crossing the Sanzu River, as well as concession stands and food carts operating on the Road of Liminality in an attempt to earn some more money. Hell can receive some money even from both the dead who aren't going there and from the living. However, those who run the stands are all criminals who were sentenced to Hell, so it's said many fall victim to their tricks. But as soon as they're discovered, they're sent back to Hell. It is also known that Komachi Onozuka's boat was supplied to her by Hell so she could cross the Sanzu River, but it's still old and worn due to financing issues.

   Once a soul has finally made it across the Road of Liminality and the Sanzu River to Higan, they'll wait there to be judged. Once they've been finally judged by the yama and are sent to Hell, the soul will fall outside the cycle of reincarnation temporarily. On their journey, the kishin chiefs will take charge as the souls fall down to Hell and will command the lesser oni to torment them. Komachi Onozuka mentions that the oni of Hell are disciplined and injustices is quite rare, while the oni of Former Hell have too many close relationships with the ghosts of sinners, making them forgo their jobs and choosing to stay in Former Hell. Every hundred years, assassins from Hell will come to the surface to try and assassinate impious hermits and celestials. This is because extending life past normal mortality is considered a sin. It's necessary for those extending their lives to perform pious acts to compensate for it. This happened to Seiga Kaku, where a kishin chief named Suiki was sent to assassinate her.

   In order to avoid going to Hell in the afterlife, one must simply not commit sin during their life. Even committing suicide will send you to Hell. Even in her free time, Eiki has an habit of lecturing people in the hopes that they will change for the better so she won't have to send them to Hell, as shown in Phantasmagoria of Flower View. It's suggested from the game that even though you've sinned, you can still redeem yourself by changing your lifestyle, thus not going to Hell. Eiki says that Hell doesn't exist to punish sinners, but to ensure that nobody sins.

   Yuyuko Saigyouji's ability to manipulate departed souls enables her to control ghosts and spirits, making her able to let those from Hell stay eternally in the Netherworld. However, Yuyuko could also send a soul from the Netherworld to Hell by commanding her servant Youmu Konpaku to sever the circle of transmigration with her sword, sending it back to Higan, making it very likely that the soul will go to Hell.

   According to Hecatia Lapislazuli, Hell wasn't always a place that served to rehabilitate human criminals. It was originally created by people unaccustomed to living virtuously, people with hearts of pure evil, and valorous people who seek true freedom, and was meant to be a place for them to live however they wanted, with no concept of being a bother to others. Things like the Lake of Blood or the Sea of Fire were used for personal pleasures like drinking and roasting meat rather than as a punishment. This changed when the yama and kishin took over, trying to create order in such a chaotic world, saying they'd bring Hell back to its former glory. Despite this, Hell continues to be what can be considered a world of pure freedom run by an absolutely meritocratic system, where it doesn't matter who one is as long as they have the power to back it up, making it possible for even fairies to become important if they get the job done. Likewise, this also makes it possible for even kishin to become irrelevant with just one failure.

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