• Welcome to Touhou Wiki!
  • Registering is temporarily disabled. Check in our Discord server to request an account and for assistance of any kind.

Chang'e

From Touhou Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(じょう) ()
d͡ʑʲo̞ːɡ̃a̠
Chang'e
Chang-o, Jouga

More Alternative Spellings
Chang'e
Chang'e as depicted in Silent Sinner in Blue
Species

Lunarian (Goddess)

Abilities

Immortality

Occupation

Prisoner, previously princess/noblewoman

Location

Lunar Capital

Appearances
Official Games
Print Works

"My mortal enemy, Chang'e. Are you watching!? Look at the numerous lives and deaths, the impurities, this poor soul brings!"
Junko to Marisa Kirisame (Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom Stage 6.)

Chang'e (嫦娥 Jouga) is a Lunarian and Goddess who drank the Hourai Elixir, for which she was imprisoned on the Moon in the Lunar Capital. Like Eirin Yagokoro, her real name is unknown and unpronounceable to earthlings.

General Information

Chang'e is an enigmatic character. Little is known about her except that she lived on the Moon and was mistress of the moon rabbits before drinking the Hourai Elixir and becoming immortal, for which crime she was imprisoned for her now-eternal life. Today, the moon rabbits sing in unison when pounding mochi to atone for her sin of drinking the elixir.

It was unknown what happened to her until Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, when it was revealed that Junko and Hecatia Lapislazuli had a grudge towards her and that they intended on invading the Lunar Capital to reach her whilst she is still in prison.

Character Design

Origin

The Touhou character Chang'e is closely based on a lunar goddess of the same name in Chinese mythology. In most versions of her story, her husband Houyi acquires an elixir of immortality and comes home after an absence to discover that Chang'e has drunk it, after which she rises to the Moon. The circumstances of her drinking the elixir varies: in some versions, she drinks it to keep the gift of immortality from her despotic husband, whilst in others she is a selfish princess who drinks it because she herself seeks the power.

Name

Chang'e is the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of her name. According to the rules of hanyu pinyin romanization, the apostrophe is inserted for disambiguity: Change could be mistakenly analyzed as Chan-ge.

The Japanese reading of 嫦娥 is Jouga, and this is the pronunciation used in Touhou Project. However, the English translations of Silent Sinner in Blue and later works have used the more widely known Mandarin rendering of her name to make the cultural reference less obscure. In particular, the real-life Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, in Touhou referred to as the "Second Lunar Invasion", is codenamed "the Chang'e Project".

The first character of her name, 嫦, can mean "lady of eternity", whilst the second, 娥, means "beautiful/elegant". The former character was once written as , but was altered to the then-homophonous to avoid the radical , which occurred in the second character of the taboo personal name of Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Heng.

Relationships

Houyi

Houyi was Chang'e's husband, and also the one who killed Junko's son and shot down the suns, creating Junko and Hecatia's grudge. He was eventually killed by Junko. In Touhou, it is unknown which version of him exists: in one story, he is a loving husband who becomes helpless as Chang'e is forced to drink the elixir; in another, he is a despotic ruler who Chang'e is forced to stop by consuming the elixir in his place; in yet another, it is her to gives in to the elixir's temptation. They are sometimes known to represent the yin and yang.

Moon rabbits

Chang'e is the true master of all the moon rabbits. They pound mochi to atone for their master's sin of drinking the Hourai Elixir.[1] Although they are said to pound rice cakes, in reality they are attempting to create the Hourai Elixir.[2] Reisen Udongein Inaba also seems to serve under Chang'e as she refers to her as "Lady Chang'e" (嫦娥様), but it's unknown if Chang'e particularly knows her.

Junko & Hecatia

Junko has a grudge against Chang'e. This is because her husband, Houyi, killed Junko's son. Hecatia Lapislazuli hates Chang'e as well, because Houyi also shot down the suns taking away the light Hell needs to exist, as without strong light the darkness of Hell would also weaken. It is said that Hecatia's grudge against Chang'e is mainly due to Junko's influence. It is unknown to what extent Chang'e knows Junko, but she is at least aware of her existence.

Gallery

See Also