#touhohoustuck

[sagaciouscejai]

Reimu in Touhoustuck is interesting because like, as weird and nuanced as Reimu is through her multiple depictions within the games and manga, she is absolutely a unchanging character overall. They even make a point of that early on in WaHH with Kasen trying to train her.

Because shes also this miraculously gifted individual who can very easily pick up a lot of different spiritual and mystical arts with little effort on her own self, she feels like a dead wringer for a Mage, which is usually portrayed as a notably proficient and knowledgeable individual in a certain aspect despite their relative age. Not to say there classes couldn't work here too, but its a distinction between Dave making good music cause he’s a Knight of Time, whereas a Mage would probably be comparable to a Beethoven in their notoriety in that regard, an prodigy of a young age.

This does raise the question of which aspect would fit to that regard. Mages are limited in number and scope within Homestuck to dissect and discuss, but afaik they seem to be based around old wise mentor figures in mythology, and generally seems to deal with the hypocrisy inherent in these players to their aspect. Despite their abilities and proficiency with it, Mages usually have a notable lack of it within themselves, leading them to act in contrast to what their aspect may imply otherwise. Sollux is a can of worms in and of himself since Doom is a very rarely seen aspect and tends to be weirdly ableist with the whole mental disability stuff, but Meulin is more clear-cut as a very notable relationship guru and matchmaker, but is in a really fucked up relationship with Kurloz that literally removes her agency and independence. Clearly the goal was to embrace herself and really embody Heart in a ways that she hadn’t before.

So like, where does this leave Reimu? If we are to assume she’s a Mage in this way, we need to figure out what Aspect embodies her skills and understanding the best. I usually point to her floating ability as a clear-cut sign of a Breath connection, but in a lot of ways that's just one fringe thing that the THwiki can exposit upon because there's writing about it. Hope is another one, seeing as she is very much this surprisingly competent and powerful religious channeler, overseeing the fantasy land of Gensokyo where all the creatures that exist due to imagined concepts of fear and specifically faith reside and thrive.

This also works well with that internal lack of aspect within herself, as Breath would imply that she is much more attached and sensitive despite her more detached skills. With Hope, it’s most likely cynicism and pessimism that she’d erroneously internalize, which feels like her fanon interpretation as the cranky impoverished shrine maid that's popular in doujin works. Maybe here that could be a sort of jaded attitude towards her life and work that she needs to work past? Sort of becoming much more like and idealistic shrine maiden who would spare all her enemies and go to tea with them? Possibly something a bit more in line with some form of canon Reimu, despite all of them still feeling at least slightly snarky to some degree.