Meimu

Original illustration of Meimu's child and adult forms, as seen on AUER's website.

## Canon Information

### Species

Unknown, formless entity (AUER Original),
God (Touhou: Gensokyo Reloaded)

### Article on Touhou wiki

Meimu

**Meimu** is a Chinese fan-made *Touhou Project* character created by AUER, created as a result of the outcome of several Touhou Popularity Polls in which Reimu Hakurei lost each time, prompting the creation of the character.

## Character Biography (AUER Original)

Meimu was originally a formless entity that was neither human nor youkai, who was given her current physical form by Yukari Yakumo in the image of the shrine maiden, Reimu Hakurei. Due to her nature as a formless entity, Meimu is able to alter her physical form to either a child-like or adult appearance, with each form having their own distinct personalities; for instance, while child Meimu considers Reimu to be a close friend, adult Meimu treats Reimu with much more hostility and aggression.

## Character Biography (Gensokyo Reloaded)

While Meimu retains some of her original concept by AUER, in *Touhou: Gensokyo Reloaded*, she is reimagined as an eldritch deity who existed as a formless being long since the creation of the universe, having been given her current form by Yukari Yakumo at an unknown date in the future, in the hopes that Meimu would serve as a more permanent replacement for Reimu once the latter becomes deceased. Feeling animosity towards becoming the personal plaything of a mortal being, Meimu began to resent her existence, deeming it unnatural. Seeing herself as an extension of the primordial chaos, she began to view the form of the universe after the Big Bang event as unnatural as well. Wishing to restore both herself and the universe to their original forms, and having received tutelage from Yukari on how to master her own powers, Meimu formulated a plan that would bring the entirety of existence to its knees; the destruction of the known universe and reverting it back to the primordial chaos from which she (and what are presumed to be others of her kind) had initially spawned from. However, having spent time under Yukari's tutelage and studying Gensokyo's own history, she knew that such an incident would be prone to meddling, either by Yukari herself or by others acting under her manipulation. Thus, using the powers and abilities she learns from Yukari, she created a second incident by altering the boundary of the past, present, and future, causing the primary incident to repeat itself across time and space should her efforts fail. This fail-safe, however, had the unintended side effect of causing all of Gensokyo's incidents, both past and future, to repeat themselves across time and space, which drew the attention of Gensokyo's residents.

While Meimu does not alter herself into child and adult forms as she does in AUER's original concept, she does possess both mist and shadow forms that she is able to temporarily morph into; the former can be used for both instantaneous movement and flight, while the latter can be used to merging with physical surfaces for attack or to avoid attacks; she also morphs into both of these forms during her penultimate and final Story Mode spellcards, *Eldritch Sign "Magnum Tenebrosum"* and *Eldritch Sign "Magnum Innominandum"*. Her child form is reimagined as a separate entity known as Mini-Meimu, who takes on an appearance similar to Meimu's mist form; being a detachment of Meimu's own body, she possesses some of the same powers and abilities while being almost completely autonomous. Meimu is able to spawn as many Mini-Meimus as she prefers and is still able to exert some direct control over them, destroying them just as easily as she is able to create them.

Conceptually, Meimu's appearance in *Touhou: Gensokyo Reloaded* seems to take inspiration from various deities of the Cthulhu Mythos; her mist and shadow forms, as well as the spellcards that utilize them, appear to be based on The Nameless Mist and The Unnamed Darkness, respectively; Both The Nameless Mist and the Unnamed Darkness are two sibling deities that are the direct progeny of Azathoth, the central god of the Cthulhu Mythos who rests in an eternal slumber whose dream is where the universe resides. Meimu's ability to spawn various Mini-Meimus appears to draw parallels to Shub-Niggurath, a deity who is sometimes referred to as "The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young" and "Shub-Niggurath, the All-Mother", due to her countless numbers of offspring. Meimu's plan to create an incident that spans across time and space, as well as her limited ability to alter boundaries, may have been inspired by Yog-Sothoth, a deity in the Cthulhu Mythos who is able to control time and space as well as being able to see into the past, present, and future.

## In Touhou: Gensokyo Reloaded

*Main article: Meimu (Gensokyo Reloaded)*
*Main article: Touhou: Gensokyo Reloaded/Story*
Meimu appears as both a playable character and the final boss of *Gensokyo Reloaded*, serving as the game's main antagonist. While Meimu shares elements of her original concept and design by AUER, her backstory has been slightly changed.