Touhou ~ The Shinigami's Rowing Her Boat as Usual - Ch. 4

[MangaDex]

 

[justforthelulz]

^{YUKARI HAS JOINED THE SERVER}

 

[Noir4241]

What kind of “incident” that can kill these two incident solving humans? Infight.

 

[gouder]

Fuck yukari, I bet she's gonna give some dumb lecture about the beauty of life and death or something

 

[ADT555]

@gouder

Funny how in Touhou those speeches always come from immortals who never have to deal with the death part themselves.

 

[pavel94]

@ADT55

You're free to correct me, but only Kaguya, Mokou and Eirin are immortal since they drank the Hourai elixir. The rest have finite lifespans, even the Lunarians will die eventually. Not sure how you'd qualify Yuyuko and other ghosts.

 

[ADT555]

@pavel94

Finite lifespans? No, I don't think that was ever stated that Youkai, Lunarians, Ghosts, Fairies or Gods had those, maybe there are a few outliers. Should things keep going smoothly they will live indefinitely.

As for why the Houri are singled out in canon it all depends on how you choose to define immortality. Never aging is considered biological immortality, Magicians have that. Fairies have Resurrection Immortality in that they re-animate after death so long as there is nature. Some Youkai have regenerative immortality so long as you don't have their one weakness like a stake through the heart for vampires they'll self repair. Akyuu does it through a reincarnation cycle(as do most others but they don't remember it). Gods keep existing so long as there is faith and many Youkai are often the same when it comes to fear.

Where Touhou chooses to make the distinction is that for the above entities, given infinite time something will likely kill them eventually like being forgotten, being sealed away forever, having their weakness exploited, the sun going supernova ect. Houri on the other hand have complete immortality, they live no matter what happens to them period. This is achieved not through regeneration or rebirth but through Kaguya's time manipulation, simply put what is done to them is undone.

So Houri are the only canon immortals in Touhou because ZUN uses the strictest definition of Immortal. I was using the more expanded definitions, like the type you see in scientific articles about stopping aging.

 

[Grimmycoffee]

@Noir4241 Well, they are still human after all. A simple fall could kill them if something happens.

@ADT555 Didn't Yukari lost og!Yuyuko before? Does that not count?

 

[Swifft]

ZUN uses "immortality" as is commonly used, and actually distinguishes Hourai immortals specifically. Most immortals in canon are those who have removed the three worms (things inside of you that report your lifespan and health to the yama, letting them know when you're to die) from their bodies, or they have circumvented death through other means. Byakuren is an immortal who uses magic to extend her lifespan indefinitely; Patchouli is an immortal who removed the three worms from her body (Alice may be this as well); Miko and Futo moved their souls into new bodies, and actually did die, but fled death's consequences; Seiga successfully removed her worms and became an ageless being; all Celestials are legitimately immortal. Lunarians are indeed not immortal, but they live for an absurdly long time. Celestials and hermits have to fight to keep their immortality, and if they lose against the shinigami/kishin sent to reap them they die for good. Magicians are exempt, apparently, but this has never been noted or brought into question or addressed or anything.

Hourai immortals are distinct because they aren't even really... yeah, as ADT555 said it isn't right to simply call them "immortals". It isn't just that they can't die, they permanently exist. They basically remain as-is presumably until existence itself collapses, and the reason they don't die or change in any way is since their bodies are in a single, eternal state. Like if they change at all (through damage or whatever) they load a save state and return to that state.

Yuyuko and other ghosts are "dead" and their un-life is limited in the sense that theoretically at any time they can pass on. Yuyuko will only pass on if the seal on her corpse is removed, which will never happen--too dangerous. She'll likely "live" forever, naturally at least.
@ADT555 @pavel94

 

[pavel94]

@Swifft
Thanks for the informative post. It's been years since I've read ZUN's works and I should refresh my memory. Do you know in which work the three worms are mentioned? Was it in Symposium of Post-Mysticism? I have only some vague memories about them and from what I can recall they're connected with Tenshi. Might be even from the games.

 

[Swifft]

>Was it in Symposium of Post-Mysticism?
Yes, Miko's article. It's also sort of referenced in the magician entry of Perfect Memento in Strict Sense. The magic that magicians use to become full magicians is "abandon food" followed by "abandon worms". If you're born a magician, you have "abandon food" naturally, but every magician needs to research immortality themself.

I dunno about Tenshi, but she can smell "death".

That reminds me that vampires are technically immortals too, IIRC, and a few other youkai as well. Not sure about gods. Gods may be technical immortals (ageless).

 

[Epic_cool_sans_undertale]

Wait, Haven't Reimu and Marisa fought each other like ten times now? Why would this time be any different?

 

[Epic_cool_sans_undertale]

@Grimmycoffee well, they can survive getting cut by 1,000 knives, getting hit by mini suns, and getting ran over by a train if you consider the fighting games.

 

[Grimmycoffee]

@Epic_cool_sans_undertale Danmaku works in a mysterious way...