Rin

Rin
Land	None associated
Location	N/A
Role	Protagonist, Player Character

Rin (リン) is the protagonist of Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong-Nou and its sequel, Chu-Teng.

Personality

Rin has no listed entry in neither the Tong-Nou Illustrated Book nor the Chu-Teng Tablet, leaving their personality widely unknown. Much of Rin's backstory and personality is shrouded in mystery, perhaps so the player can see themselves in him.

In both games, Rin is only seen in a chalk-like art style in the prologue. In Eastern Mind, Rin is portrayed as perpetually frowning, only smiling once in the prologue, with an empty hole in their chest. In Chu-Teng, they are smiling instead, with a red Magatama in their chest, presumably representing their soul.

Very few pieces of in-game text are written from Rin's perspective, and mostly happen to be in immediate reaction to in-game events, such as immediate reactions to death. A select few lines exist outside this circumstance, which paint Rin as a fairly light-hearted and neutral character.

Quotes

Official Japanese	Official English	Literal English
動かない。死んでいるようだ。	Frozen? Looks kinda dead.	Not moving. Seems to be dead.
モグモグ。ああ、なんて美味しいんだろう。	Munch, munch. Ahhh, it's so delicious I can't believe my taste buds!	Munch, munch. Ahh, how delicious.
ンムムム。素晴らしい味だ。	Mmmm. Splendid.	Mmmm. Wonderful flavor.
ペチャペチャ。なんて新鮮なんだろう。	Gobble, gobble. How fresh. I'm amazed.	Slurp, slurp [as in eating something up]. How fresh.
ズルズル。凄い。	Slurp, slurp. Wonderful.	Slurp, slurp. Great.
天井が頭上に落ちてきた！	The ceiling is falling!	The ceiling overhead is falling!
あ、何かが開く音がする。	It sounds as if something were opening.	Ah, the sound of something opening.
ぺっ、ただの水薬だ。	Ewww, it's only water medicine.	Peh [as in spitting something out], just water medicine.
うっ、毒薬だった。	Uggg, it's Poison.	Ugh, that was poison.
く、くるしい。毒がまわっていく。	Uggg, h, h, help!	P- painful. Poison is flowing around [my bloodstream].

Eastern Mind

Mission

Rin's mission is to get their soul back from Tong-nou.

Walkthrough

Rin must reincarnate as all 8 characters to acquire their Nameplates, then use the nameplates to remove the stamp seal on the gate of the Central Mountain Tong-nou. They must also collect the five Magatamas and later the five Katana Gems. After going up the stairs of the mountain, they must enter Par-fang, use the Katana powered with all five gems to release their soul, and place the Magatama into it.

Chu-Teng

Mission

Rin must reconstruct the face of Nan-shu and protect Chu-Teng from darkness.

Walkthrough

Rin must go through the three palaces of Chu-Teng, the Star Palace, Moon Palace, and Sun Palace, in order to acquire the treasures of each palace, the Seven Stars, Seven Pearls, and Seven Mirrors. These treasures must be used to fight the Sun of Darkness Chi-tou and the Moon of Darkness Ru-hou in order to save Nan-shu from Ge-Teng.

Character

Rin's name comes from the 臨 (to face, to confront, power) kanji, a part of the Kuji, a series of nine japanese syllables whose symbols are used for ritual or meditation purposes.