Hecatia Lapislazuli

Hecatia Lapislazuli, the eccentric and phenomenally powerful Goddess of Hell. stands as one of the most uniquely fascinating and canonically formidable entities in the entire franchise, drawing her conceptual origins from the ancient Greek goddess Hecate, a deity historically associated with crossroads, magic, the moon, and the underworld, which directly translates into Hecatia's unprecedented dominion over three distinct realms: Earth, the Moon, and the Otherworld (Hell). This tripartite rulership is visually and literally represented by the three miniature, floating planetary spheres attached to the thick, golden chains draped around her neck and head, serving not just as bizarre gothic accessories but as the core mechanic of her reality-bending ability to possess three separate bodies simultaneously, allowing her singular consciousness to exist, perceive, and operate independently across all three worlds at the exact same time without any division of her mind. Depending on which realm she is actively drawing power from or manifesting through, the primary planet rests on her head like a crown, Her physical design is notoriously unconventional and deeply modern, famously conceptualized by series creator ZUN to look completely alien compared to the traditional, historical garbs of Gensokyo's residents in order to emphasize that she does not belong to their world, resulting in her wearing a punk, casually eccentric outfit consisting of a short, tri-colored skirt mirroring her three planets, a spiked choker, black boots, and most infamously, a black off-the-shoulder T-shirt boldly emblazoned with the phrase "Welcome ♥ Hell," an aesthetic choice that perfectly encapsulates her surprisingly laid-back and informal personality. Despite her terrifying title as a supreme deity of the underworld and ZUN's own explicit out-of-universe confirmation that her power is completely past the level of anyone in Gensokyo or the Lunar Capital—making her widely accepted as the absolute strongest character in the entire Touhou canon— Hecatia is far from a typical, brooding dark lord; she is incredibly casual, often uses modern slang, treats her subordinates like the hell fairy Clownpiece with genuine care and indulgence, and is generally agreeable, though she possesses a fierce, uncompromising loyalty to her friends and can become terrifyingly vengeful when they are wronged, which ties directly into her lore and her involvement in the events of Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom. Her deep background reveals that she harbors an intense grudge against the Lunar Capital and the moon goddess Chang'e because Chang'e's husband, the legendary archer Houyi, shot down the suns to save the Earth, but one of those suns was an Apollo-like celestial body whose radiant light was actually essential for illuminating Hell and maintaining the underworld's balance, the loss of which severely weakened Hell's shadows and deeply angered the goddess, ultimately leading Hecatia to sympathize with and ally herself with Junko, a nameless divine spirit consumed by her own tragic, pure hatred for Chang'e. Utilizing her immense influence, Hecatia lent Junko her subordinate Clownpiece and the fairies of Hell to spearhead an overwhelmingly successful, impurity-driven invasion that forced the supposedly untouchable Lunarians to flee their home in terror, and even after the protagonists of Gensokyo intervene to thwart this invasion, Hecatia views the confrontation more as an amusing test of their strength than a desperate battle, ensuring her immense presence remains a lingering reminder of the vast, unfathomable hierarchies of power that exist outside the borders of Gensokyo, as she continues to observe the multiverse with a cheerful, eccentric demeanor that belies her ultimate status as an absolute, multi-planetary sovereign whose very existence bridges ancient mythological underworlds with the vibrant, chaotic cosmology of the Touhou Project.