Patchouli Knowledge

Patchouli Knowledge is a character from Touhou Project debuting in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. She is a very smart, asthmatic magician from the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Although she has only been a boss in one game, and playable character in three others, she is still a very popular character, showing up in many endings and is referenced quite often. She spends most of her time in the mansion's library reading and writing magic books. It seems that she's capable of very powerful magic of all kinds, using many elements in a single spell, but due to asthma and general poor health she's often unable to recite her spells.

In Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, she attempts to stop the player from going further into the Scarlet Devil Mansion. In the extra stage, she tries again, and uses much more powerful magic, in part because she says she "felt better that day".

She rarely leaves the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but in Immaterial and Missing Power, she makes an exception to go investigate the recent strange events. In other character's scenarios, she's visited by several of them, thinking that she, of all people, must know what the strange mist is. However, getting a straight answer from her is anything but easy. In Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, she decided to find what was the cause of the weather disaster. In the events of Subterranean Animism, she noticed the abnormalities in the underground, and had Marisa go with the help of Yukari preparing Marisa's options.

During Silent Sinner in Blue, Patchouli constructed a rocket ship for the girls to fly to the moon.

Appearance

 * (Touhou 6) Her hair and eyes are purple, and has many ribbons tied to her hair and other body parts. She wears pajama-like clothing and a night-cap which are, according to ZUN, her daily wear.
 * (Touhou 7.5 and 10.5, alternate outfit) Her outfit is mostly lavender while her hair is a darker shade of violet.

Personality
She doesn't have a very proactive personality, but rather always walks her own path. However, she's always interested where knowledge is concerned and will proactively go and try to acquire it. She does everything by the book, but still makes a lot of mistakes. She's also described as very dark and taciturn. Dark doesn't mean "evil", it just means she likes to keep to herself and doesn't interact well with others. Taciturn means she's silent in expression and manner.

Relationships

 * Remilia Scarlet (Friend)
 * Flandre Scarlet (Friend's sister)
 * Sakuya Izayoi (Maid of Scarlet Devil Mansion)
 * Hong Meiling (Scarlet Devil Mansion's gatekeeper)
 * Koakuma (Assistant/Familiar?)
 * Marisa Kirisame (Ally)

Trivia

 * Her first name, "Patchouli," could be taken from name of a herb used in perfumes and incense. Her last name, "Knowledge," appears to be a reference to her amount of knowledge, though few other characters seem to have such literal surnames.
 * The actual Japanese pronunciation of her first name goes more along the lines of "Pa-chuu~ri" as is written out by the katakana, which is 「パチュリー」 ("Pachurii~") rather than 「パチョリ」 ("Pachori.") Thus, her abbreviated nickname is 「パチュ」 or "Pachu~," and more commonly, 「パチェ」 or "Pache-" (pronounced "pa-chae").
 * After being defeated in Marisa's scenario in IaMP, she utters "mukyu~". Since then, fan works have often depicted her using this sound as a sign of surprise or pouting.
 * She's also known as the "One-week Wizard" or the "Wizard of the Week" due to her elemental magics coinciding with the days of the week on a Japanese calendar.
 * In Immaterial and Missing Power, Patchouli refers to intruders/thieves (e.g., Marisa Kirisame) as "rats" and guards (e.g., Sakuya Izayoi) as "cats". She rates the catness/effectiveness of a guard on a scale of 1 to 96, because that's the highest number under 100 that is divisible by both 2 and 3. After defeating Sakuya in Immaterial and Missing Power, she gave her a rating of 24.
 * In IAMP, SWR, and Hisoutensoku, Patchouli's portraits' eyes are purple, however her sprite's eyes are red. They never become purple in any alternate palette.
 * Patchouli's Non-Directional Laser was ripped off and later used by Marisa as her normal B-type bomb in Perfect Cherry Blossom, and as a Spell Card in Imperishable Night and Hisoutensoku.
 * The crescent on Patchouli's hat could be the crescent in the Sanskrit "Hum", part of the Mantra "Om mani padme hum". In Buddhism, it stands for knowledge and purity and is associated with the color white—all the 7 colors combined.
 * She has waterproof books that Marisa finds interest in reading in the bath.
 * Patchouli was born with asthma, for approximately 100 years.
 * It's said that she wrote all the books in the library of Scarlet Devil Mansion.
 * As of Double Spoiler, Patchouli has had appearances in 9 of the 14 windows games (counting Hisoutensoku as a standalone). This makes her the third most featured character, behind Reimu and Marisa.
 * Patchouli's magic based on elements of Wood, Fire, Metal, Water, and Earth. In Chinese signs of the Zodiac there are five beasts: Azure Dragon, Red Bird, White Tiger, Black Turtle and Yellow Dragon. Each of the five beasts refer to same elements Patchouli use: Azure Dragon - Wood, Red Bird - Fire, White Tiger - Metal, Black Turtle - Water and Yellow Dragon - Earth.
 * Patchouli's weakness and ill health is caused by the build up of arsenic and mercury, which she has to use a lot in magic spells. This is stated in Wild and Horned Hermit Chapter 3, Page 23.