Malice

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Origin: Hell Gate[1], Hellish Abyss[2], the Rift[3]
Area Affected: Himuro Mansion, Minakami Village, Kuze Shrine/Manor of Sleep
Associated Disaster: The Calamity, The Repentance, The Unleashing
Notable People Affected: Kirie Himuro, Himuro Family Master, Mourners

Malice (瘴気, shouki), or miasma in Fatal Frame III, is foul air from the Underworld. In places where the boundary between worlds is thin, Malice can spill out and affect the world of the living. Spirits touched by Malice are trapped between life and death in endless suffering, unable to pass on or rest peacefully.[1] The sacrificial rituals of the first three games are concerned with preserving the barrier between life and death and keeping the Malice contained.

Fatal Frame

The Himuro family considered it their duty to perform the Strangling Ritual, sealing the Hell Gate and preventing the Calamity.[1] However, Kirie's ritual failed, and Malice poured out from the Hell Gate. The Holy Mirror was broken, and 1,347 souls perished. Those that were not killed by the initial wave of Malice were killed by the Himuro Family Master - driven mad by the Malice, he searched the mansion for survivors and decapitated them, including the four Family Priests. Kirie herself was split into two entities; a malevolent spirit possessed by Malice, and a benevolent, younger version of herself that remained untainted, wanting to stop her older self.

When Miku reaches the Hell Gate at the end of the game, she will remark that she cannot get too close to it because of the Malice.

Fatal Frame II

When the time of the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual approached, Malice would seep from the Hellish Abyss, affecting anyone who came into contact with it. During the year after Itsuki Tachibana's failed ritual, it became strong enough to drive several Mourners mad, causing them to commit suicide by jumping into the Abyss.[4]

After Sae Kurosawa was sacrificed, her spirit was tainted by the Malice, and she, along with the Kusabi, massacred the inhabitants of the village.

Fatal Frame III

Whenever the Last Passage was opened, a miasma would fill the Rift. The spirit list includes the ghost of a shrine carpenter who was sent to repair a bridge in the Last Passage, but was unable to endure the miasma and drowned himself.[5] Residents of the Kuze Shrine developed the Purifying Light, a special candle that could cleanse the darkness and temporarily dispel the miasma.[3] After the Unleashing, the miasma spread beyond the Last Passage, and the Engraving Shrine courtyard was sealed by Shrine Carpenters to contain it. When Kei enters this area, and again when he reaches the Chamber of Thorns, where the miasma is thickest, he remarks that the air feels heavy.

Gameplay

From Hour X onwards, the miasma becomes a gameplay element. When your condition becomes miasmatic, the screen turns monochrome, and hostile spirits will appear more frequently. Purifying Lights can dispel the miasma, but only for a short time.

During the final battle, the skull-like form floating above Reika will sometimes fly at Rei as if to attack her. This induces a brief but powerful miasmatic state, during which movement is slowed down and the field of vision is reduced to a small circle around Rei.

In the Real World

In Japanese and Chinese, 瘴 means malaria or the climate that produces it, and 瘴気 refers to noxious air which was thought to cause illness. For centuries before the discovery of germs, miasma theory was one of the main theories used to explain how diseases spread. A remnant of this theory can be found in the name malaria, which comes from the Italian words mala aria meaning "bad air". While incorrect, this theory did encourage improved sanitation practices as a way to ward off sickness.

The English word 'miasma', the standard dictionary translation of 瘴気,[6] comes from the Ancient Greek word meaning pollution, as the Greek physician Hippocrates was one of the first people to propose a link between air quality and health. In Greek mythology, a miasma was a kind of contagious curse caused by particularly heinous crimes, which lingered on the family of the evildoer until some restitution was made (usually a sacrificial death).

'Malice' is a more general term meaning wickedness or ill-will. The concept of a harmful energy called Malice (マリス, marisu) also appears in the Japanese RPG Shadow Hearts, a contemporary of Fatal Frame.

Footnotes

Characters
Player Characters
Miku Hinasaki - Mafuyu Hinasaki
Major Characters/Ghosts
Kirie Himuro - White Kimono - Himuro Family Master - Kirie's Lover - Junsei Takamine - Koji Ogata - Tomoe Hirasaka - Ryozo Munakata - Yae Munakata - Mikoto Munakata
Minor Characters/Ghosts
Mr. Hinasaki - Masato Hinasaki - Miyuki Hinasaki - Tokitada Kyuki - Blinded Maiden - Bound Man - Broken Neck - Boy Hiding - Crawling Girl - Female Head - Floating Face - Floating Woman - Former Rope Shrine Maiden - Girl in the Well - Hands from Floor - Headless Priests - Long Arms - Long Hair Woman - People Killed - Wandering Man - Wandering Monk
Terms
Blinding Ritual - Calamity - Camera Obscura - Ceremony of the Ropes - Demon Tag - Demon Tag Children - Demon Tag Ritual - Flashlight - Folklorist - Himuro Family - Hinasaki Family - Holy Mirror - Kagome, Kagome - Laceration Rope - Malice - Munakata Family - Overexposure - Rope Curse - Rope Shrine Maiden - Spirited Aways - Strangling Ritual
Locations
Abyss - Backyard - Blinding Room - Buddha Room - Burial Room - Cherry Atrium - Demon Mouth - Doll Room - Dungeon - Entrance - Fireplace Room - Fish Tank Room - Five Gods Shrines - Grand Hall - Hell Gate - Himuro Mansion - Koto Room - Library - Mask Room - Moon Shrine - Narukami Shrine - Rope Altar - Rope Hallway - Square Garden
Gameplay
Camera - Save points - Films - Flashlight - Lenses - Functions - Fatal Frame Spirit List - Health items
More Pages
Items - Nights - Notes - Photographs - Costumes - Endings - Zero Novel - Pachislot Zero
Characters
Player Characters
Mio Amakura - Mayu Amakura
Major Characters/Ghosts
Sae Kurosawa - Yae Kurosawa - The Kusabi - Seijiro Makabe - Itsuki Tachibana - Dr. Kunihiko Asou - Chitose Tachibana - Miyako Sudo - Masumi Makimura - Akane Kiryu - Twin Doll - Ryokan Kurosawa
Minor Characters/Ghosts
Ryozo Munakata - Yoshitatsu Kiryu - Azami Kiryu - Mutsuki Tachibana - Veiled Priests - Mourners - Utsuro - Woman in Box - Fallen Woman - Limbo Man - Limbo Woman - Sunken Woman - Broken Neck Woman - Minakami Villagers - Children Playing Tag - Man In Dark - Woman in Dark - Escaping Twins - Hanging Twins
Terms
Altar Twins - Camera Obscura - Crimson Sacrifice Ritual - Crimson Sacrifice - Crimson Butterfly - Cutting Ritual - Folklorist - Hidden Ceremony - Kiryu Family - Kurosawa Family - Osaka Family - Outsiders - Remaining - Spirit Stone Radio - Spirited Aways - Tachibana Family - The Darkness - The Repentance - Tsuchihara Family - Twin Shrine Maidens
Locations
All God's Village - Cell - Earth Bridge - Heaven Bridge - Hellish Abyss - Kiryu House - Kureha Shrine - Kurosawa House - Minakami Cemetery - Minakami Dam - Misono Hill - Old Tree - Osaka House - Rope Temple - Storehouse - Tachibana House - Twin Houses - Twins' Room - Underground Passageway - Whisper Bridge
Gameplay
Camera Obscura - FPS Camera Obscura - Save points - Spirit Orbs - Spirit List - Lenses - Spirit Stones - Functions - Films - Flashlight - Health items
Music
Tsukiko Amano - Chou - Sacrificial Song
More Pages
Chapters - Items - Notes - Photographs - Costumes - Endings - Mio's Memo
Characters and Ghosts
Player Characters
Rei Kurosawa - Miku Hinasaki - Kei Amakura
Major Characters/Ghosts
Reika Kuze - Amane Kuze - Kaname Ototsuki - Yoshino Takigawa - Yuu Asou - Yashuu Kuze - Akito Kashiwagi - Kyouka Kuze - Hisame Kuze - Shigure Kuze - Minamo Kuze - Mio Amakura - Mayu Amakura - Mafuyu Hinasaki
Minor Characters/Ghosts
Ruri - Dr. Kunihiko Asou - Tengai Narumi - Naoya - Masumi Makimura - Miyako Sudo - Ozawa - Serizawa - Musubi Osaka - Tsuzuri Osaka - Makie Kuzuhara - Kozue Kuzuhara - Kiriko Asanuma - Shizu Amakura - Engravers - Men in White - Kizuna Himuro - The Kusabi - Stroller Grandma - Black Shadow - Engraved Men
Terms
Amakura Family - Asou Family - Boat of Passing - Camera Obscura - Crimson Butterfly - Echo Stone Earrings - Final Impalement - Handmaidens - Handmaiden's Song - Himuro Family - Impalement Ritual - Impaling the Sin - Indigo ink - Ink of the soul - Igushi Doll - Kushimi Doll - Kuze Code - Kuze Family - Lost Patients - Miasma - Outsiders - Piercing of the Soul - Red ink - Rite of Commandment - Sacrificial Pillars - Snake & Holly Tattoo - Spirit Tree - Spirited Aways - Tattooed Curse - Tattooed Priestess - The Rift - The Tearing - The Unleashing - Worshippers
Locations
Rei's House
Altar Room - Bathroom - Darkroom - Doorway - Kitchen - Living Room - Miku's Room - Rei's Room - Yuu's Room
Manor of Sleep
Abyss - Abyss of the Horizon - Bell Hallway - Blind Room - Book Storeroom - Chamber of Thorns - Doll Altars - Enclosed Room - Engraving Shrine - Futon Room - Grave Courtyard - Hall with Tatami - Hanging Prison - Hearth Room - House of Sleep - Kimono Room - Kuze Shrine - Last Passage - Library - Partitioned Room - Projection Room - Rift Shrine - Room with Blind - Shrine of Sleep - Spirit Tree Garden - Stained Corridor - Stairs Hallway - Tattoo Altar - Well Room - Wooden Figure Room
Himuro Mansion area
Confinement Room - Foyer - Great Hall - Preserve Room - Rope Hallway - Rope Palace
Minakami Village area
Confinement Room - Great Hall - Hearth Room - Kimono Room - Rope Temple - Twins' Room
Other
Kukaiji Temple - Minakami Dam - Myojin Village - Katsuragi Hospital
Gameplay
Camera Obscura - Save points - Films - Flashlight - Lenses - Functions - Special Abilities - Spirit list - Health items
Music
Tsukiko Amano - Koe - Handmaiden's Song
More Pages
Hours - Items - Notes - Photographs - Costumes - Endings - Rei's Notebook - Zero Shisei no Koe Comic Anthology