Amaterasu

Just leave it in the tree and I shall receive it in due time~

Amaterasu is literally a goddess--the sun goddess of Shinto myth, specifically. She has all manner of abilities at her disposal and tends to use them fairly often.

One major thing about Amaterasu is that her appearance is dependent upon the viewer. She is a goddess; therefore, if you don't believe in her, you will see her as just a simple (if talking) wolf or human, depending on which form she's in. This generally does not affect her abilities, but it will affect how your character is going to see her which is why it is important that I know which characters are going to see what when they look at her.

So! To make this easier for everyone, here are a few questions. If the answer is yes to any of them, they congratulations--your character will see her as the goddess she is (see here for appearance descriptions). If the answer is no to all of them, your character will see her either as a normal white wolf or as a normal Japanese woman (albeit with white hair) depending on which form she's in at the time.

1. Does your character believe in the power of gods/goddesses/creator spirits?

2. Is your character psychic, telepathic, or have other similar mental skills?

3. Does your character generally have an open mind?

Leave a comment here with the answers. Everyone can determine for themselves what their characters will see when they see Amaterasu.

Thanks a bunch~!

ETA: ALL OF THIS STILL APPLIES EXCEPT FOR WHERE IT REFERENCES SCENT. AMATERASU CAN NO LONGER SMELL LIGHT AND DARKNESS IN A PERSON (UNLESS IT IS QUITE LITERALLY "THE DARKNESS" OR DEMONIC ETC.) AND THAT ABILITY HAS BEEN RETCONNED.

So it has occurred to me that Amaterasu's standards of light and darkness (in a metaphorical sense) might not be particularly clear. This is kind of a big deal, because the light and darkness in a character determines how Amaterasu is going to perceive and interact with other characters. So! Think of this as both a sort of explanation, and something of a permission meme.

Amaterasu, being the goddess of the sun and of life, has a rather particular view of light and darkness in a person. She will never refer to these things as "good" and "bad," and in fact rarely uses those terms to describe things (except maybe in a "this tastes good/bad" respect). Light and darkness are just that--light and darkness. The best way to think of it as "creation" versus "destruction." Amaterasu would therefore be described as a goddess of creation--as the sun (metaphorically) she brings life, makes things grow, etc. Yami, though it's debatable whether he could be called a god, is a force of darkness, and thus a force of destruction.

However, as a goddess, Amaterasu has a view of the "big picture," you could say. She recognizes the fact that the universe requires both creation and destruction--things are born, live, and die, and their deaths make way for new life.

Here's a metaphor for you--a rainforest. A rainforest is arguably one of the most lively and diverse ecosystems on the planet; lots of different plants and animals, all interacting and living off one another. If any of you have ever been near a jungle of some kind, you'll understand it when I say that not a single inch in a rainforest is without some kind of life. However, what some people don't know is that the only reason rainforests do so well (until people come along lol) is because the soil is constantly enriched by dying plants and organisms. This super-enriched top layer of the soil is called humus, and it is basically nothing but decaying plant and animal matter. It is absolutely essential for the rainforest's continuation. And without the rainforest itself, you don't get the humus--which is why if you cut down the rainforest, the soil quickly becomes really quite crappy and can't really sustain anything. It's cyclical--a balance, you see!

So, what was the point of that little biology lesson? Well! To Amaterasu, balance is more important than anything. Balance between life and death, creation and destruction. The world needs to be in balance or you have chaos--too much creation is just as bad as too much destruction. But this balance also needs to apply to an individual. Think of yin and yang, or of the Five Elements in Chinese mythology (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). If a person is not balanced, they can't live a complete and fulfilling life.

So, in essence, Amaterasu prefers a person to be balanced internally in terms of creation and destruction--light and darkness. If a person has slightly more "light" in them than "darkness," then that's good too, so long as the light doesn't completely overwhelm the dark.

But here it gets a bit complicated. For one thing, Amaterasu herself is slightly biased toward the lighter side of things. For another, in judging a person, she starts from the total balance. This can be a bit confusing--what I mean is, that when she says "There is a bit of darkness in you" she does not mean "You are mostly a light person with some dark." What she actually means is that "There is a bit more darkness in you than there is light." I know--it's confusing. The easiest way to think about it is just that Amaterasu is thinking from a purely balanced position, and anything that offsets that balance in terms of darkness is viewed as a negative thing.

But there's also another issue--what exactly do "light and darkness" mean in terms of a person's psychology and personality?

Well, here we have to step out of the realms of the metaphysical, otherwise we'd just confuse ourselves further. In essence, light means creation, so any sort of personality trait that could be described as "a force for creation" is seen as a "light" trait. This includes compassion, kindness, benevolence, helpfulness, understanding, enlightenment, thoughtfulness, that sort of thing. Any personality trait that could be described as "a force for destruction" is seen as a "dark" trait. This includes destructiveness (obviously), hate, anger, malevolence, indifference, wanton murder, psychopathy and sociopathy.

Even the terms "creation" and "destruction" are relative, though. You could "create" a war machine intended to kill thousands of people in one fell swoop. Would that then be considered light or dark? The answer is that it would be seen as dark. Creation does not equate creativeness. Some other terms I listed up there are similarly relative. You might ask "What if you're angry at a social system that leads to destruction in one way or another?" Or "What if you kill someone in self defense? What if you're drafted into a war you don't want to be in? What if you're in a war for a cause you do believe in against someone deemed as 'evil'?"

All of those are very good questions! And you see here also that the answers depend on more than rigid definitions of light and dark, but rather context, motive, and things like that. And in that case, it would be best to talk things out to determine how Ammy would perceive those things.

One final thing to keep in mind is where Amaterasu is coming from. The time period of Okami is arbitrary, but I generally consider it to be circa 12th century Japan. They had different values then, and Amaterasu generally shares those values. She is not some liberal Sixties flower power goddess who is all about peace and whatnot. Certainly she's about peace, but as some of you have noticed, she is not above using violence herself to accomplish what she believes in. Canonly she kills thousands and thousands of demons and has been known to reprimand people for being lazy, dishonorable or cowardly. She's a goddess of action, not of inaction. Which is why, if she perceives someone to be more dark than light, to the point that their destructiveness is a threat to others, she will try and put a stop to them.

So! The TL;DR is this--a lot of you must be wondering "What does Amaterasu think of my character?" And frankly, I'm probably wondering the same thing! The point of this post is to find out. Based on what I've just written, and what you know of your own characters, what do you think your character is? Balanced? More light than dark? More dark than light?

Leave a comment here to let me know what you think your character is, and I'll respond with what I think Amaterasu will think. If you don't agree with me, that's perfectly fine! That's the whole point of this post--things are arbitrary and relative, and with complicated things like these, it's best to discuss and talk things out. Even if you don't know whether your character is light or dark or balanced, leave a comment anyway and maybe we can come to a conclusion.

I know this has been a long and rather heavy spiel, but thanks a lot for reading and for your comments~

I figured I should post this separately. These are all of Amaterasu's Celestial Brush techniques, and what they will look like to a character who can actually see it.

Sunrise—ruled over by Amaterasu herself, this technique gives her the ability to bring out the sun, no matter if it’s day or night. To use it Ammy draws a simple circle in the sky, which pulls the sun a bit closer (not literally of course).

Rejuvenation—ruled by Yomigami, the Dragon God of Restoration, this technique allows Amaterasu to restore things that are missing or broken, and also allows her to heal things, to some degree. To use it Ammy draws a thick stroke or simply fills in the area that is missing/broken/injured.

Power Slash—ruled over by Tachigami, the Rat God of Severance, this is exactly what it sounds like; a powerful slashing technique that can cut anything in half, from trees to rocks to enemies. The stroke is a quick, horizontal slash.

Greensprout—ruled over by the Hanagami triumvirate of Sakigami, Hasugami, and Tsutagami—the Monkey Gods of Blossoms, Lotuses and Vines, respectively—this allows Amaterasu to create and manipulate trees, flowers, lilypads (on which she can walk) and vines. To create trees, Amaterasu simply puts dots of ink on the ground; a similar stroke on the ground will bring forth grass and flowers. Flower buds can be opened and trees can be made to bloom by drawing a circle around them. Lilypads spring forth with a circle drawn over water. Vines are made by drawing a line from a Kohohana Blossom (enormous floating pink flowers) to whatever Ammy wants the vine to wrap around.

Cherry Bomb—ruled over by Bakugami, the Boar God of Explosive Force, this is a powerful technique that allows Amaterasu to create a bomb. Yes, you read that right. The stroke is a simple circle with a small stem, much like a cherry, drawn near whatever Ammy wants to blow up.

Waterspout, Whirlpool and Deluge—ruled over by Nuregami, the Snake God of Water, these techniques allow Amaterasu to manipulate water, whether it’s from a river, a bucket or the rain. However, she is not able to simply call water into existence; the water needs to already be present, unless she is summoning rain. To draw water, Ammy makes a brush stroke from a water source to wherever she wants to move the water to. Whirlpools are created by drawing swirls over water. Rain is made with two parallel, vertical dashes in the air.

Crescent—ruled over by Yumigami, the Rabbit God of the Moon, this is like the Sunrise technique in that it allows Amaterasu to call out the moon. This is another technique she will not be able to use on the Astral Plane. The brush stroke is a simple crescent drawn in the sky.

Galestorm, Whirlwind—ruled over by Kazegami, the Horse God of Wind, this allows Amaterasu to manipulate and summon the wind to do her bidding. The brush stroke to summon wind is a loop drawn in the air. To create whirlwinds, three horizontal slashes are drawn in the air.

Inferno, Fireburst—ruled over by Moegami, the Rooster God of Fire, this allows Amaterasu to manipulate fire. Fireburst in particular allows her to create fire from nothing. To manipulate fire, Ammy draws a line from a fire source to her target. To create fire from nothing, a wide, sideways figure-8 is drawn in the air.

Veil of Mist, Mist Warp—ruled over by Kasugami, the Ram God of Mist, this technique actually has little to do with literal mist. Veil of Mist allows Amaterasu to slow time for everyone nearby, while still allowing her to move at her normal speed. Mist Warp allows Amaterasu to teleport. To slow time, Ammy draws two horizontal lines parallel to each other in the air. To teleport, a simple X is drawn.

Catwalk—ruled over by Kabegami, the Cat God of Walls, this technique lets Amaterasu literally walk up walls. This requires a Kabegami statue to be present, and the stroke is a simple vertical line up from the statue.

Thunderstorm, Thunderbolt—ruled over by Gekigami, the Tiger God of Lightning, this allows Amaterasu to manipulate lightning and electricity. Thunderbolt in particular allows her to summon lightning from nowhere. To draw lightning, Ammy makes a quick brush stroke from a source of lightning or electricity to her target. To create lightning, Ammy draws a jagged lightning bolt symbol.

Blizzard, Ice Storm—ruled over by Itegami, the Ox God of Ice, this allows Amaterasu to manipulate ice. Ice Storm lets her summon a hailstorm. To call ice, Ammy draws a line from a source of ice to her target. To create an ice storm, Ammy draws an X with a horizontal line through its center in the air.