AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Shakugan no Shana Terminology and Metaphysics Discussion Thread

Kinny Riddle · 2007-10-13, 07:21

As the name suggests, this thread is used by users to provide information as well as post questions and answers concerning the terminology and metaphysics seen in the Shana-verse, as envisioned by series author Takahashi Yashiro.

This is more or less an "ad-hoc encyclopedia", as I have tonnes of stuff I can write about but not sure where to start.

I'll start with a few today then, my preference is to use an English equivalent name wherever possible, since most of the terms are just adjectives:

Crimson World (Guze)
A world that is adjacent to our own. Residing there are Crimson Denizens (Guze no Tomogara) and the more powerful Crimson Lords (Guze no Ou). The name "Crimson" is just a metaphor, coined by a certain Flame Haze ages ago, and does not necessarily mean the world is crimson in colour. Their world is not as "physical" as we would normally perceive ours to be. Overall, a very abstract world. For various reasons, Crimson Denizens and Lords decide to physically manifest themselves in our world. (See entry below)

Crimson Denizen and Crimson Lord
There are various reasons Crimson Denizens and their more powerful counterparts Crimson Lords physically manifest themselves. Some to fulfill all sorts of desire that they are not able to achieve in the Crimson World. Mostly it has something to do with love, or a twisted form of it, like Friagne and the Aizen siblings. Though there are others, like Bal Masque, whose purposes are entirely unknown.

In order to physically manifest themselves, they require Powers of Existence (Sonzai no Chikara) found in this world. Think of it like the MPs (Magic Points) of the Crimson World. It is the power that keeps this world in existence.

There are two ways to acquire PoE (I'll be using this abbreviation from now on): one is to "devour" a human being's PoE, causing his/her existence to be "forgotten" after becoming a Torch; another is to "borrow" the existence of a human being, i.e. living in "symbiosis" with that human, these humans are known as Flame Hazes.

The difference between the former and the latter is that the former acquires PoE indiscriminately just to fulfill their desires. If too many PoE have been extracted, then it could upset the balance between our world and the Crimson World. Some of the more concerned Crimson Lords decide to stop their own kind from going too far, hence they form contracts with Flame Hazes.

There are also certain Denizens/Lords who are neither and do not affect the overall balance of the two worlds. One example is Rami, the Bone Collector (AKA The Spiral Harmonica). He resides inside a Torch, hence he does not take away anybody's PoE, and he only extracts from other Torches, which does anybody no harm (from the "Balance World" PoV anyway).

That's it for now. Feel free to fire any questions you may have.

2007-10-13, 07:21	Link #1
Kinny Riddle Gone for Good Join Date: Apr 2004	Shakugan no Shana Terminology and Metaphysics Discussion Thread As the name suggests, this thread is used by users to provide information as well as post questions and answers concerning the terminology and metaphysics seen in the Shana-verse, as envisioned by series author Takahashi Yashiro. This is more or less an "ad-hoc encyclopedia", as I have tonnes of stuff I can write about but not sure where to start. I'll start with a few today then, my preference is to use an English equivalent name wherever possible, since most of the terms are just adjectives: Crimson World (Guze) A world that is adjacent to our own. Residing there are Crimson Denizens (Guze no Tomogara) and the more powerful Crimson Lords (Guze no Ou). The name "Crimson" is just a metaphor, coined by a certain Flame Haze ages ago, and does not necessarily mean the world is crimson in colour. Their world is not as "physical" as we would normally perceive ours to be. Overall, a very abstract world. For various reasons, Crimson Denizens and Lords decide to physically manifest themselves in our world. (See entry below) Crimson Denizen and Crimson Lord There are various reasons Crimson Denizens and their more powerful counterparts Crimson Lords physically manifest themselves. Some to fulfill all sorts of desire that they are not able to achieve in the Crimson World. Mostly it has something to do with love, or a twisted form of it, like Friagne and the Aizen siblings. Though there are others, like Bal Masque, whose purposes are entirely unknown. In order to physically manifest themselves, they require Powers of Existence (Sonzai no Chikara) found in this world. Think of it like the MPs (Magic Points) of the Crimson World. It is the power that keeps this world in existence. There are two ways to acquire PoE (I'll be using this abbreviation from now on): one is to "devour" a human being's PoE, causing his/her existence to be "forgotten" after becoming a Torch; another is to "borrow" the existence of a human being, i.e. living in "symbiosis" with that human, these humans are known as Flame Hazes. The difference between the former and the latter is that the former acquires PoE indiscriminately just to fulfill their desires. If too many PoE have been extracted, then it could upset the balance between our world and the Crimson World. Some of the more concerned Crimson Lords decide to stop their own kind from going too far, hence they form contracts with Flame Hazes. There are also certain Denizens/Lords who are neither and do not affect the overall balance of the two worlds. One example is Rami, the Bone Collector (AKA The Spiral Harmonica). He resides inside a Torch, hence he does not take away anybody's PoE, and he only extracts from other Torches, which does anybody no harm (from the "Balance World" PoV anyway). That's it for now. Feel free to fire any questions you may have.