To preface, Soh and Yoshiro are roles and ancestors are worshiped as deities.
There are twelve masks of the ancestral deities.
Soh is number twelve. But whose mask is she wearing?
To walk the Path of the Goddess is to become defiled. Because the Goddess herself is defiled.
Cursed Soh is Defiled Yoshiro because Soh was once Yoshiro. We see Soh's Spirit Stone in the opening.
Cursed Soh means Cursed Ancestor. Cursed here seems to mean defiled as well.
Through the journey on the Path, Yoshiro's body begins to resemble Cursed Soh's.
This is the Path of the Goddess's end result.
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| Skin white like Cursed Soh |
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| Her skin looks white and withered |
Yoshiro, as an acting Goddess, is dressed as this goddess.
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(In the play's script(Google bootleg translation), it says Soh is the Messenger of the true goddess. Is this the true Goddess?)
I thought the Birth of a Goddess was Soh ascending into being a Goddess but the appearance of said Goddess is the appearance Yoshiro takes when she's the acting Goddess.
So in actuality, it's a pre-existing one.
I changed my mind. This Goddess is the Maiden as a Goddess after ascending. It's the result of the story.
Cursed Soh, an otherworldly being, governs from the heavens.
Yoshiro and Soh(the roles or the Maidens in the roles) descend from above and govern this world of chaos that the people of the mountain reside in.
This means the two of them have the Goddess acting through them. These two roles.
Cursed Soh is actually the Defiled Goddess.
Is said 'Goddess' replaced every generation? The Messenger of the Goddess is really the spirit of the last Maiden who walked the Path. The Spirit Stone everyone prays to at the summit is the last Maiden's defiled body.
The Path is the Maiden becoming the Goddess.
So, the 'Goddess' actually sends herself to guide the next Maiden into becoming Her?
Soh and Yoshiro have to be the Mountain Goddess. Or rather, the spirit within them is.
Does the Goddess move through Maidens?
Soh guides the Maiden on the Path of becoming the Goddess. That is the role of the Messenger who was once the Maiden herself and acting Goddess.
But what was the first cycle like? Who guided the Maiden? What is the Maiden? A descendant of the Goddess?
Was the very first Messenger the Goddess herself?
Were they actually 7 Maidens or are these two reincarnated and switching places because they're the Goddess, split up? But I insist these are roles that a Maiden plays so these two are really nameless and the roles are filled by Maidens.
Yoshiro and Soh are connected. If she's incapacitated, Soh loses their physical form.
Does her body act as a conduit for Soh's spirit's ability to take action within the world? Without her, we can influence the villagers but not doing anything else.
Yoshiro's role is guidance and without our form, we basically revert to a variation of the Yoshiro role.
Yoshiro seems to be alike to 'yorishiro' which I touched on in my 'most plausible theory' post. She's what allows Soh to inhabit physical space. Yoshiro appears to be regarded more like an object as her ultimate destiny is to become the Spirit Stone which is what houses her spirit as Soh in the future generation.
If you were to destroy Soh's Spirit Stone, the same effect as Yoshiro becoming incapacitated would probably occur. Which means Yoshiro is, was and will be the Spirit Stone.
Not our Yoshiro specifically but the role of Yoshiro.
Soh does not die if Yoshiro dies. She just loses her physical form, you can still move her before game over hits when Yoshiro has been killed already.
Soh's mask is the only mask that lacks the strange stone that moves. Even Yoshiro's crown and veil have it. What is this implying? The Veil and Crown is a mask and role of an ancestor? Then the Goddess is her ancestor because that's what she's dressed as.(incorrect)
But what about Soh? What mask is she wearing?
The end of the Normal Ending, our Yoshiro inherits the mask. This is the same way our Soh must've, from her Messenger when said Messenger fulfilled her duty. Then Soh wears the mask given to her by the Goddess(herself as Yoshiro/the former Soh) and returns as a Messenger.
All the villagers with roles can fight but Yoshiro cannot fight. Soh fights in her stead. They dance the Kagura together, hand in hand. The role of Messenger is to protect the Goddess's body.
What happens to Soh in the Normal Ending? She disappears and our Yoshiro inherits the mask but what happens to the spirits of Maidens who completed their role as Messengers?
Why don't we see Soh's face in the true ending?
Is it really 7 Maidens or is it 7 cycles with these two switching roles?
In the beginning, the Mountain Goddess was defiled and so the Seethe, her underlings, come and seek to steal(or reclaim?) her power. Why do they attack Yoshiro if they're the Goddess's underlings?
The cycle is broken once Cursed Soh is purified. But why does she emerge in the 8th cycle?
Why does she lead the two to into 'the Unknown Land' to fight her? Why does she have a different outfit to Soh in her shadow form?
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| Symmetrical shoulder pads |
Why can Yoshiro actively affect Cursed Soh's power? Because she wields the power of the Goddess or because Cursed Soh is actually her future body and time itself has become defiled? (Doubt this...)
It's established gods can be ancestors. Or rather, ancestors eventually come to be worshiped as gods.
It's said the ancestors of the Maiden cultivated the land and brought defilement during their times as gods of the mountain which brought a curse upon humanity. Was the Mountain Goddess one of the twelve deities?
At some point, Maiden(s) would devote themselves to the Goddess, gain her power to purify the land but in doing so become defiled? Is it because when gaining Her power, they are destined to suffer the same fate?
What is actually happening in the story of Kunitsu-Gami other than the metaphorical themes? (purifying oneself, breaking cycles, living with one's vices in harmony, compassion for others, etc)
We need a DLC to give us more lore or updates to add lore to clarify what's going on.
If the end result of walking the Path of the Goddess is resembling Cursed Soh, then Cursed Soh is the Mountain Goddess and possible ancestor of the Maiden because of the lineage.