Remilia Scarlet

General Information Remilia first appeared as the Final Boss in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. She later became a playable character in Immaterial and Missing Power, Imperishable Night (along with Sakuya as a duo) and Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. She was also a Stage 7 target in Shoot the Bullet and a Final Day boss in Impossible Spell Card, along with been in the background of Hopeless Masquerade. Due to being a vampire, she usually appears at night, indoors or under a parasol when the sun is out. She is seldom seen without a parasol on a sunny day outdoors.

While her appearance (and often speech and behavior) may portray her as childlike and non-threatening, she has fearsome magical powers and a reputation to match. According to Akyuu she evaporates when exposed to sunlight (although Hieda no Akyuu mentioned that she can reabsorb the lost residue). However, it was shown in Silent Sinner in Blue that she only begins to smoke under sunlight, and didn't suffer any lethal injuries after being hit with Amaterasu's light. Regardless, she typically remains inside the Scarlet Devil Mansion (which has few windows to prevent light getting in) during the day and emerges during the night. While she is naturally known to drink human blood, with a particular preference for B-type blood, her light appetite means her victims rarely die from their wounds. However, since she tends to stain her clothes a deep scarlet from the blood, she is also known to be called the Scarlet Devil (紅い悪魔 Akai akuma).

Personality While she tries to cultivate the image of a mysterious and frightening vampire aristocrat, she is surprisingly polite. Her long lifetime has only served to make her prone to boredom and as a result she prizes anything she finds novel, frequently indulging her own childish whims in order to create entertainment for herself. In Silent Sinner in Blue she allows herself to be manipulated by Yukari Yakumo, simply because the alternative would have been boring. The other residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion spend much of their time catering to Remilia's odd whims (including numerous parties), though she does make an effort to appreciate and respect their patience.

Remilia is respected by most youkai of Gensokyo and so she's said to have a charismatic personality. However, in reality this is only because of the fear they have for her kind. While she can act in an overblown and grandiose fashion, she usually only does it during incidents or for important matters. Otherwise, she tends to exhibit childish behavior[1]. She enjoys novel things and isn't above playing along in silly games[2] or allowing herself to be manipulated if it means staving off boredom.

Her behavior may be due to the fact she actually has the wisdom of a 500 year old being with the whims and patience of someone who has yet to fully mature. Yet, it remains to be said that she has an overflowing and charming personality that even makes most fairies stick around as employees despite their freedom to leave at any time.

Abilities

Remilia in Red the Nightless Castle, as illustrated in The Grimoire of Marisa. Abilities as a vampire Remilia has tremendous physical abilities (superhuman strength and speed) and magical power. According to Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, vampires have tremendous physical abilities and magical power, that allow them to uproot a thousand-year-old tree single-handedly and to run through the Human Village in a flash. While the true extent of these capabilities is unknown, Remilia's profile in Immaterial and Missing Power describes her as being "faster than the eye can follow, and strong enough to crush boulders"[3], and in Silent Sinner in Blue she claimed that she was able to fly around the Moon (or at least around its "fantastic" version) in an extremely short period of time. Vampires also have the ability to summon and manipulate a great number of devils with a single shout[4][3], and to turn into a swarm of bats or even mist to escape or dodge an attack. Additionally, as long as their head remains intact they can regrow the entire body in just one night. Because vampires possess all of these capabilities, they are among one of the strongest species in Gensokyo.[4]

Vampires like Remilia are also immortal, as they forfeit growth and maturity in exchange for eternal life.[5]

Manipulation of Fate In the current world view of Gensokyo, there isn't detailed information concerning this ability nor an instance where Remilia clearly used it. Consequently, what this ability actually entails is quite uncertain. If the power is as potent as it suggests, then for any enemies that she confronts, she should be able to change fate to her advantage so that she would always win. \

Character Design

Remilia in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense. Name Her full name is Remilia Scarlet (レミリア・スカーレット) which, unlike most Touhou Project characters, gives a strong western feeling, likely French or British. The name "Remilia" is likely made-up by ZUN as a variant of "Emilia", which means "Rival; Emulating". "Scarlet" refers to a bright shade of the color red with a slight hint of orange and is a variant of "Scarlett" as a surname. The middle dot (・) in the middle of her name is used in foreign names to show where the next word begins.

Despite having a name, she is more commonly known as "the vampire", "the Scarlet Devil" (紅い悪魔) and sometimes "the mistress". It's actually quite uncommon for other residents of Gensokyo to refer to her proper name. However, Patchouli calls her Remi (レミィ).

Design In Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, Immaterial and Missing Power and Scarlet Weather Rhapsody's official art, Remilia has red eyes, short light-blue hair and a light-pink mob cap with a red ribbon decorated with white stripes. She wears a light-pink dress with a red ribbon on both sleeves (is seen with red trimmings in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil), a large red ribbon behind her waist with white stripes and a necklace featuring a Caduceus-like centerpiece. She also has a pair of large black bat-like wings on her back with a wingspan wider than her height. In Imperishable Night, she is seen without the necklace.

She is said to be about as tall as a girl in her early teens (10 to 14 years old).[8]

Alternative Outfits Her alternate outfit in a palette from Immaterial and Missing Power and Scarlet Weather Rhapsody has her dress red instead of pink and her hair blond. This color scheme looks similar to her sister's, Flandre Scarlet.

Relationships Residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion Flandre Scarlet

Remilia and Flandre, as illustrated in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red. Flandre Scarlet is Remilia's younger sister. Flandre is stated to respect her sister, and Remilia cares for Flandre as shown where she is considering getting her a good tutor in Imperishable Night, but it is unknown how often the two interact. Perfect Memento in Strict Sense states that it's rare (but not nonexistent) to see Flandre and Remilia together. However, they are seen depicted together many times such as in Forbidden Scrollery chapter 7 when they were looking at their pet Tupai and in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, which also shows that Remilia will at least allow Aya Shameimaru to interview Flandre in the first place. They also show up together in The Grimoire of Usami, Violet Detector, and Foul Detective Satori. The interview shows that although Flandre might respect her older sister, it's to the extent you'd expect a snarky child to. She is willing to outright state when she thinks Remilia is just spouting nonsense, at which point Remilia comes in with a comment that she shouldn't be talking about her older sister like that.

Sakuya Izayoi Sakuya Izayoi serves Remilia Scarlet as the Head Maid without question, a servitude with which no one knows why either trusts each other so much (Perfect Memento in Strict Sense gives the most popular theory). She is often assigned to run errands relating to the current incidents, as Remilia cannot go outside without an umbrella. Sakuya follows Remilia's requests even when she knows it won't work, such as catching Lily White to catch Spring in Strange and Bright Nature Deity, because that's what her mistress wants. When Remilia playfully criticizes Sakuya for her failure to catch spring, she takes it in good stride and doesn't disagree. They are shown to be close friends, as Remilia forgives Sakuya even though she is not always competent in keeping away unwanted visitors, seen through her defeat by two humans in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. She will also do things for Remilia if Remilia doesn't even ask, like accompanying her in Imperishable Night and Immaterial and Missing Power. Despite her absolute subservience to her mistress, Sakuya is not afraid to lightly speak out on occasion, such as when she chastises Remilia in her Scarlet Weather Rhapsody and Immaterial and Missing Power victory quotes for sneaking out food or playing around too much.