Crimson Butterfly

This page contains spoilers for a recent release.

Crimson butterflies are the central visual motif in Fatal Frame II. Residents of Minakami Village believed they were the souls of the sacrificed twins, returned as guardian deities to watch over the village. They were created during the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual, arising from the red marks of strangulation left by the hands of the Remaining twin, so each butterfly represented one pair of twins who had taken part in the ritual. The village is full of butterfly imagery, including the family crest of the Kurosawa Family and the doors of the Kureha Shrine.

In the game, butterflies lead an entranced Mayu deeper into the village, and show Mio where to look next for clues. Although they often act as helpful guides, their assistance ultimately aims to bring Mio and Mayu to the Hellish Abyss, where they can perform the ritual and save the village.

Butterfly Symbolism

In Fatal Frame II, the butterflies are often associated with symmetry. The developers refer to Mio and Mayu's back-to-back pose in promotional material as their butterfly pose, and the image of twins holding hands, or linked by a red cord, is also said to evoke a butterfly. Conversely, broken symmetry, the image of a butterfly with one wing torn off or deformed, is also used powerfully. The bloodstains on Sae's kimono resemble a single butterfly wing, forever incomplete; the headless Twin Shrine Maiden on the Twin Deities Statues are another example of asymmetry. This ties back into the theme of the twins growing apart as they grow older, turning into different people who can no longer fully understand one another. In an interview with IGN, Keisuke Kikuchi says, "The head director of the game, Makoto Shibata, described the basis of the scariness of Fatal Frame 2's story as 'the sadness that results when two things that must be together in order to complete a whole are pulled apart'. In the case of the twins and the wings of a butterfly, the whole entity is complete only when the symmetric halves are opposite each other. When that symmetry breaks down, tragedy is the result. Tragedy also results from each entity's need to be whole again. This is the basis of the story in the new game."

In Japanese seasonal imagery, butterflies represent spring or summer, and frequently appear in paintings and kimono patterns. They are a popular motif in Japanese family crests (mon). In poetry, they are often used to evoke religious sentiments, especially resonant in Buddhism; their clearly delineated life cycle, from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly, may be seen as representing the journey of the soul through life and reincarnation to enlightenment or the afterlife. They are also often associated with lightness and fragility, which again leads to them being associated with the spirit: weak and inconsequential, yet flying free from the burden of sins and suffering. In some folklore, they are even said to carry recently departed souls. They may also reference a quote from the Chinese philosopher Chuang-tzu, who famously dreamed of being a butterfly, and asked upon waking, "Am I a man, dreaming I am a butterfly; or a butterfly, dreaming I am a man?"

Butterflies also symbolize happiness within marriage. The traditional origami designs, ocho and mecho (male and female butterflies) are an auspicious design on a wedding kimono.

Butterfly imagery in Fatal Frame II

• The red ribbons Mio and Mayu wear
• The black butterfly sewn into Mio's black top
• Yae's obi
• Kurosawa family crest
• Dressing screen in the Kurosawa House
• Dressing screen in the Kiryu House
• The blood on Sae's kimono is shaped like a butterfly wing
• The cloth behind the altar in the Kureha Shrine
• Two small boxes in the Raised Tatami Room in Tachibana House
• On the save lanterns

Butterfly imagery in Deep Crimson Butterfly

• The lanterns in the Family Altar Room in Kurosawa House now have a butterfly pattern
• Banners with a butterfly crest can be seen in the background during the Shadow Festival Ending

Fatal Frame III

In Fatal Frame III, a Crimson Butterfly aids Kei Amakura as he searches the Manor of Sleep for his neice Mio Amakura, who has fallen under the Tattooed Curse. Some fans speculate that the butterfly is in fact Mayu Amakura from Fatal Frame II, and that she came back to help save her sister.

Fatal Frame II Remake

The remake of Fatal Frame II introduces the idea that crimson butterflies are not only created in the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual, but can be the manifestation of a powerful emotion or wish.