The Twelve Kingdoms Forum

I think that it is curious that they tell us that Hou's Kirin has no ranka, yet we've seen the ranka for Kou's Kirin. Unless I'm mistaken (and I don't think I am) Hourin died a number of years before Kourin, yet the new Kourin will be born first!

I suspect that there must be some problem regarding the country of Hou which is preventing them from gaining a new Kirin. If I hadn't seen Hourin die right in front of Shoukei I would suspect that she was still alive somewhere... (perhaps we didn't see what we thought we saw?)

The Hakuchi dies when the emperor dies, not when the Kirin dies. We have no proof that the Kirin is actually dead. He might have staged the Kirin's execution because he knew the people resented her for carrying out the emperor's orders.

I'm pretty sure the Hourin got her head chopped off...

Maybe the whole emperial family needs to die off before a new Saiho/Taiho can be born?

No.

The 2 children of the late emperor of Kou are alive and well.

it's possible that the guy that killed the emperor did the same thing to Hourin as he did to the princess...

but that wouldn't serve a purpose, really.. if he knew the nature of the Kirin, that is..

on the other hand... if he DID know the nature of the Kirin, he'd definately not kill her.

considering that it would mean bad things for the kingdom...
it'd continue to decay.. and it'd take some years before the new Kirin would even be able to choose a new emepror/ess... and even given that it could, it might be several years after that that s/he found the emperor/ess..

*scratches head*

it sounds kinda smiilar to Taiki's case, except there's more information on what happened... she's still missing though, which is the same case as with Taiki.

*looks through ep 23 again* ... her head wasn't severed... but she was definately hurt badly by a blow like that... also she was shitsudo(ed?).

but... we don't see any blood.. we don't see her body.. we ...well.. let's just say it with all the finality that there is to be used in this case: "we don't know". =^.^;=

my guess is she's still alive.

Gekkei seemed to know what he was doing. So either Hourin is quite dead and something went terribly wrong because she was beheaded. Or Gekkei is secretly a power-hungry nut and keeping her prisoner until she decides to make him the Emperor.

But that seems unlikely because people would wonder why after Gekkei supposedly killed bout the Emperor and the Kirin, the old Kirin is still around. =/

Since all that wen't wrong in the kingdome is because of the emperor, maybe he's kipping the kirrin alive (but captive) so they won't be another emperor in the kingdom.

probably if you're using a normal blade... you have to go with beheadnig.

but with a touki, any ol' way will work.. as long as it's a mortal wound.
perhaps he wasn't using a touki?

but... he didn't behead the queen either, and I kinda feel she deserved it.

one thing we know for sure... there is no emperor there now.
otherwise the country wouldn't be darkened in the map-room.


... *ponders* but that also means there is no emperor in Tai...

erm... anyway, slight question to anyone who might know:
is ep 30 on the way? ... I've become addicted.

- lei

I think that as a Kirin she can only be killed by beheading or internal causes, even with a touki! After all, as you recall when the plotted to kill Yoko they felt they needed touki, if beheading would work with a normal weapon then they wouldn't have plotted to get so many touki. Without the need for so many touki, then their plot wouldn't have been detected and Yoko would be dead.

This means that it is probable that Kourin survived! That explains why their is no fruit growing on the tree. She must be in hiding for her life. I wonder where she is now...

The part I don't get is why Hourin would have to hide for her life. I mean, she's a Kirin. All she has to do is get across a border and go to another emperor. Kirins are sacred creatures after all. It's not like they're hunted or anything.

That's why I think if she is still alive, someone is holding her captive.

Maybe she is wondering around looking for a new emporer...

The only way to kill a higher immortal is to either behead them or gut them at the torso

We did see the immortals point to the tree, and say, look, there's the ranka of the next kirin or Kou. The immortals are probably smart enough to tell which kirin's being born.

Hum... the "we didn't SEE them die" argument is really good. But she was really sure she saw the guy kill everyone before her eyes...

I wrote a really ... well, not LONG message really.. but I gave it a lot of thought, frankly... and then my browser took a dive after I press submit

... but anyway...

I was thinking... how sure are we that the tree HASN'T given birth to the Kirin of Hou?


perhaps it has and the Kirin is out looking for the next emperor/ess?

my guess is they'd be a whole lot more distraught about this whole thing if there never came a fruit... like with Taiki. or perhaps Taiki was more dear to them? ... *shrugs sagely*


- lei.

It's been said that there can only be one Kirin being taken care of at Mt. Hou. So if the Ranka of Kou is there, then Hourin/ki is not there and I doubt that a 2/3 years old Hourin/ki is able to select an emperor.

I think it was not neccesary to kill Hourin anyways. But it's obvious that Gekkei still had a lot of remorse against Hourin & the imperial family and I think he really killed her.

Back to my last idea. Look at Sairin she has survived to three emperors. The first one was manipulated by Riyou and later killed, the second one strayed, lead her to shitsudo, and then abdicated. The third one is the current one, the granny in Kaze no Banri arc. Two bad emperors and still the people like her.

If I were an Emperor and see my Kirin suffer like in the case of Kourin, Sairin, Hourin. Of course I'd try to change my ways or abdicate to save her.

If there can be only one kirin at Mt. Hou at a time, I feel sorry for any country that happens to be third or fourth in line for a new kirin. "Ooookay, pick a new emperor so we can get on with the rest of the countries..."

Makes me wonder how many people would be able to eke out a living in a youma-infested country left to fend for itself for a hundred years.

That happened to En isn't it? The former emperor strayed, killed many people and almost destroyed the kingdom. Then the next Kirin of En couldn't find an emperor and died or something. Then the current Enki appeared, but it has already passed more than 20 years without an emperor of En.

I think you may be confusing Enki with.. well.. Enki =^.^=

first off, Enki's ranka was swept off by a shoku, got born in Wa...

then they found him after I guess around 8 or so years (I don't know how to judge an anime characters' age)

... then he got taught by the sages for I suppose quite a while...
then I don't know HOW many years it took till he created that rift he fell through...

but I get the feeling it was atleast more than a few. (vague, aren't I?)

add a few more years that he spend in Wa before he met the emperor.

I suppose if you round up, you could make that to around 20 or so. *shrugs*

although, I don't know whether he aged or not... could be a lot less than 20, too, of course.

</overanalyzing>
-lei