I'll be going over the theory of this blog post about Soh. It's a follow-up to the previous Fox post.
Some things I disagree with but I have also spent more time on this game so it's to be expected...
Who is So?
So is a Yamagami
So is a messenger of Yamagami, and is consistently portrayed as "not human".
So is cold to Generation
Generation is sometimes attacked by black smoke and suffers.
The villagers rush to Generation, worried about her suffering, but So shows little emotion and picks up the mask she has recovered.
The relationship between Generation and So is not as romantic as that of a samurai guarding a princess.
Yamagami only has So protect Generation because she has a role to play.
Gods don't have as many emotions as humans imagine.
However, since she is a goddess, it is Yamagami who sends the Ikoku, and Yamagami (messenger) who fights the Ikoku and protects the shrine maiden, making it a troublesome match-pump situation.
In the picture scroll "Gekka no Mune Gozen," Mune is looking at the moon without looking at Gendai.
However, Mune's torso and toes are pointing towards Gendai, which expresses his "outer attitude and true feelings being different."
A messenger of the Yamatsumi resides in Mune's mask, so Mune's head and the persona below his neck are different.
Soh is not cold. Soh is dutiful whenever she is on the battlefield. (Contrasting with Yoshiro who acknowledges Soh even during battle to sing to her)
I also believe Soh knows what Yoshiro is capable of and doesn't really 'baby' her. (Which goes against my very instinct...)
To get a better look at Soh's personality, you need to look at Yoshiro's animations in the tent. They are a response to whatever Soh is doing or saying. The tent interactions heavily imply a close friendship between the two. Soh is simply dutiful and focuses on the task at hand when it's battle. But when she can relax, there's a different side to her.
Yoshiro is seen smiling, listening to Soh, laughing, humming, dancing...
These interactions imply Soh makes her laugh and that the two have a friendly relationship. Soh is also the one who encourages her to eat the sweets because she gives Soh a look that quite clearly implies this.
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| the cutest... |
And this image:
There's a certain delight in such things and is reflective of Soh's personality.
The part about Soh under the moonlight is great! I never noticed this, how Soh's body faces Yoshiro. Soh's mask facing away is her dutiful nature, her body facing Yoshiro shows she has affection for the Maiden. Her hand is on her heart, after all.
But I had always believed this scroll is about Soh's feelings for Yoshiro. Whatever they are, they are deeply affectionate.
(It's also implied that Soh shows her face in the tent when talking to Yoshiro because Yoshiro responds to obvious interaction. And the hitchigiri image shows that she exposes her face when encouraging Yoshiro to snack. She does not wear the mask all the time.)
Relationship between Mune and the villagers
Mune never speaks to the villagers, and despite fighting together with them, he doesn't seem like a friend. The villagers' voices are distant, like they're strangers.
The villagers may not be able to recognize Mune, or they may hear him as instructions from Seidai.
Seidai only greets Mune or calls for help, but they don't really have a conversation.
As a god, he doesn't speak to people casually.
The villagers can't see Soh. Only Yoshiro can. Even when they wear their ancestral masks, they cannot see Soh.
I speculated this in another post of mine(X and X) that when we instruct the villagers, we are acting as 'Yoshiro' because that is her duty and it hints at Soh being a former Yoshiro. Perhaps it is the Maiden who gives them Soh's directions. Or perhaps Soh influences them somehow.
Yoshiro talks to Soh in the tent.
She says 'Good morning, 'Good evening', 'Take care', 'welcome back', 'this place is back to normal' and 'thank you for everything'. There's more I might have forgotten. She has an animations explicitly showing she's listening to something Soh is saying:
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| The eye contact makes it clear Soh said something |
They talk in the tent. We just don't get to hear it. (private girl talk)
He likes animals more than humans
Animals stare at Mune, and dogs follow him.
When they interact with him, Mune strokes the animals and nods, showing that he loves them.
One of the reasons Yamatsumi is angry is the damage caused to animals by humans. In other words, Yamatsumi thinks that the natural environment and living things are more important than humans.
A messenger of the Yamatsumi or the Yamatsumi himself?
In the game, he's a messenger of the Yamatsumi, but I'm on the side of the Yamatsumi himself.
To ancient people, gods actually appeared on the battlefield, or fought by possessing people.
It's not a prayer or a figment of the imagination, it's physical.
Soh even seems to be 'listening' to what they say! It's the cutest thing.
I myself have also believed Soh is the goddess. 'The Sent and the Sender are one'
But there's a strange relationship with Yoshiro, who descended alongside Soh. Even more interesting is that Cursed Soh looks like both of them.
Are they the goddess, split? I've already played with this theory...I am still unsure.
Where did Sou appear from?
I thought he might have been drawn to the sacred stone enshrined on the altar, but he came out from the shrine at the back left of the main approach, so I guess he's usually enshrined there.
The theory that Muneta was the previous shrine maiden
I'm of the opinion that humans cannot become gods (except for Tenjin-sama), so I don't really want to buy the theory that Muneta was the previous shrine maiden.
I think it makes sense as a game story, and fits the themes of generations and reincarnation.
A shrine maiden can become a vessel for a god and summon a god, but that doesn't mean that a human becomes a god.
Soh is enshrined in the previous Spirit Stone, the place the spirit of the Maiden goes once she walks the Path. One of the pieces of evidence to support she's the previous Maiden. The shadow of Cursed Soh also appears to be the previous spirit stone.
Yoshiro is possibly not human. She descended alongside Soh.
But if Soh and Yoshiro are roles, then once you enter the role, you are no longer human.
Either way, she might not be human.
Yoshiro's original title was the 'Spirit Stone Maiden'.
Let's not forget this:
要出典精霊は祖霊にさらに神に昇化するとする考え方もあり、そのような祖霊は祖神（そじん）や氏神（うじがみ）として氏族や集落などの共同体で祀られることになる。沖縄地方では7代で神になるとされていた。
There is also a belief that spirits can ascend to ancestral spirits and then to gods, and such ancestral spirits are worshipped as ancestral gods or tutelary gods by communities such as clans and villages. In the Okinawa region, it was believed that a person could become a god in seven generations.
This fits the game too perfectly.
About Yoshiro being human...I discovered something the other day and I want to make a separate short post for it but I will debut it here!
The Maiden is a flower on the map!
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| Here the Yoshiro symbol is the base |
It's also the symbol that becomes Yoshiro when we are out purifying.
(I discovered those things on the Yoshiro symbol are called 'gohei')
Notice how the color of their symbols change? Soh gains Yoshiro colors, implying she's also now fulfilling the role? That would support the 'Soh was once Yoshiro and can do what she does' theory.
But once you repair a base fully, Yoshiro will stand outside it and gain her own little symbol! A cute flower!
Could this support my theory it is nothing but a role a Maiden fills? That when she fills it, she is no longer human? But once her duty is done, she becomes human again?
It might explain why she gets spooked by Soh. She's just a Maiden now.
It would explain why to the gods she represents humanity but to the humans she represents the gods.
For she has two symbols.