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About her name- a Parsee is a follower of Parsi, a sect of Zoroasterianism in India (either that or the words are interchangable, i'm not entirely sure). In Parsiism, the bridge to the netherworld (or afterlife, or underworld, i'm not sure of this either) is called Cinvat bridge, or the Bridge of the Requiter. Parsiism may also explain her dress, describing it as "very weird" isn't really satisfying. As for the bridge, this is where it gets kind of fuzzy. The symbolism dictionay I used (Dictionary of Symbolism, Hans Biedermann,ISBN 0-452-01118-3) directly says this bridge is from Parsiism, not mentioning Zoroasterianism, but other sources either say it's from both or use the terms interchangeably.
As for the bridge itself, my dictionary describes it as
"no wider than a HAIR. The unjust plunge from it into HELL."
Some other sources say the bridge gets narrower and eventually impossible to stay on if you have been unjust, where you will then plummet to hell. The fall is either described as falling into hell, falling into the mud of the abyss, or just an abyss that is also hell. If you have been righteous in life, you will cross the bridge easily and at the other end, you will either be tested further or pass to the afterlife(i'm not sure about this one either).
But either way, isn't this Komachi and Sikieiki's job? I guess it depends on your faith, so it is their job only if you follow Buddhism (at least ZUN's mixed-up version of it). I haven't really played SA (I vowed to unlock extra on MoF or at least beat Kanako before playing SA, but I guess this is kind of hopeless), so I don't know much of the story, and my knowledge of Zoroaster(ian)ism is pretty weak, so I need some help here. Definitely, this profile needs changing at some point. Somebody, please pick up where I left off...
71.246.250.130 22:07, 22 October 2008 (UTC)A Nameless Fairy who can't believe no one's identified Letty's gold pendant thing after how long PCB has been out and doesn't think it's Argentum
Now that I think of it, they could all be integrated. When you die, you go to Parsee's bridge. If you make it across, you're in the Underworld. If you fall, you must cross the Sanzu no Kawa, where Sikieiki will judge you. If you're lucky, you may end up in the Netherworld (not the underworld) with Yuyuko. Or if you're not, you may go wherever Sikieiki judges you. Or maybe, If you die just anywhere then your spirit goes to the Sanzu no Kawa, but if you actually go over to Parsee's bridge then you will fall straight down to it. Then again, you might as well just die while falling. The Sanzu no Kawa is supposed to be located somewhere in the world, right? And since everybody crosses the bridge in SA, they must be somewhere. I don't know much of the story in SA, but they do cross the bridge. Maybe I'm just overthinking this. Maybe Parsee was just an afterthought(she is a stage 2 boss). Still, I wouldn't put it beyond ZUN. You could at least add some fun facts to the wiki, you know.71.246.250.130 15:06, 25 October 2008 (UTC)A Nameless overcalculating Fairy
Now that I've played the game, I can say Patchouli was definitely right, Parsee is an underground Persian person driven by jealousy. Zorastrianism originated in the middle east and the Parsis have a Persian family origin, although they consider themselves Indian. The Parsis don't bother proselytizing and so their religion is only passed on through inheritance. This also explains their overall lack of Faith- Zorastrianism today makes up only a very small religious minority, both in India and globally. Perhaps they should consider just giving up here and moving to Gensokyo? 71.246.250.130 21:52, 6 November 2008 (UTC)A Nameless Little Devil