EDIT: Title changed into something that might be more accurate
I have too much time on my hands.
Apologies in advance if everyone knows this already. I ran a search on this forum for the words "Yukari" and "Maribel" and as far as I know, the "Maribel is Yukari" thing is viewed primarily as fan speculation. Curious about this, I've looked into it myself, and I realized that ZUN already laid out the actual truth quite a while ago. I hope I can present it in a way that's legible. I tend to ramble. In fact, I'm rambling right now.
So let's begin.
Yukari Yakumo
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/YukariShe's a youkai that has the power to manipulate boundaries that's existed for at least 1,200 years. She's also a wierdo and is constantly pulling strings behind Gensokyo for unknown suspicious reasons. But she sincerely loves Gensokyo with all her heart.
Maribel Hearn (Yes, I'll stick with Hearn, not Han. ZUN always has symbolism in his names and "Han" doesn't have any symbolism that I can see)
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/MaribelShe's a human girl and her time is in the future (this is revealed in 53 Minutes as well as Magical Astronomy) where strawberries are artificial and children don't smile. She has the ability to see boundaries (but not manipulate them!). Oh, and she looks like Yukari, leading to many fan theories and guesses that she is Yukari in various ways.
Of course, this topic is here to prove that it's true. And not just that, but how. And... a whole lot more other things.
First off, I'll show the possibility that Maribel is Yukari. So don't expect hard-core evidence right off the bat. After setting up that possibility however, I shall then prove how it's true. And this will be done using only official sources and actual dialogue from the games and works written by ZUN himself.
Disclaimer: I am going by the translations at touhouwikia.com. I can't read Japanese. So it's possible I might be misinterpreting the translated text in front of me.
Let's start with the most obvious things.
Physical Resemblance.
Both Yukari and Maribel are blond and have long hair. There isn't much more to say about body shape since ZUN's art typically doesn't differentiate with body shape that much. ZUN does put a truckton of effort into the clothes when he designs characters, though.
The Clothes
Yukari Yakumo wears red and violet. This is meant to represent the border of visible light (and thus, by extension, borders in general). "Yukari" means violet, too, and it is officially confirmed in Curiosities of Lotus Asia Chapter (CoLA) 25 that this is one of the meanings behind Yukari's name. Obviously, Yukari likes violet, with a sprinkling of red. The two represent the colors of the border (officially confirmed in COLA 25). And some white here and there. She mostly wears violet, though. Her name also means 8 (explained more in depth in CoLA chapter 25 to mean "control over many", but that's besides the point), which is probably why you always see her wearing ribbons in the shape of an 8. Take a look at her various outfits (all two of them. That's twice as many outfits as everyone else, though) here:
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/YukariNow take a look at Maribel's various outfits here:
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Ghostly_Field_ClubMaribel is wearing primarily violet, but has a red teapot.
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Changeability_of_Strange_DreamMaribel is wearing violet, with a red ribbon in the shape of an eight.
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Retrospective_53_minutesMaribel is wearing violet, but has a white bowtie with red.
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Magical_AstronomyMaribel is wearing violet, but has red shoes.
Alright, alright. I have now proven that the two have the same taste in clothes. That doesn't prove that Maribel is Yukari. Let's move on.
The Name: Symbolism
Well, outside of the storyline, there's the symbolism here which Touhou Wikia spells out. I'll quote it:
Lafcadio Hearn the Western author of Japanese horror stories. Lafcadio Hearn was known as "Koizumi Yakumo" after he gained Japanese citizenship."
Lafcadio Hearn became Koizumi Yakumo.
Maribel Hearn became Yukari Yakumo.
Maribel has at least one more parallel to Hearn, too, which helps the theory that ZUN had Lafcadio Hearn in mind. Like Lafcadio, Maribel is an immigrant to Japan who gained Japanese citizen ship. We know she isn't of Japanese ethnicity because of the way her name is spelled (Renko can't even pronounce her name right and just refers to her as "Mary"). And we know she lives in Japan because. every story she's in takes place in Japan. Finally, Lufcadio wrote several stories decrying some of the evils of capitalism and other things that oppressed the poor, which is a theme of Maribel's for Magical Astronomy.
Yukari's Original Name:
Of course, in order to show the possibility that "Maribel = Yukari", I need to show official proof that "Yukari Yakumo" isn't her original name.
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Curiosities_of_Lotus_Asia:_Chapter_25Rinnosuke can tell the name of any object by looking at it, and then know the purpose of that object. Apparently, this extends to living things, too, and he can even tell why the name was chosen. In CoLA 25, Rinnosuke uses his special ability to realize that "Yukari Yakumo" is a name that Yukari chose for herself.
Akyu's Perfect Memento in the Strict Sense can Rinnosuke up.
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Perfect_Memento:_Yukari_Yakumo"Historically, there is an article the Youkai Encyclopedia from Aichi's (*2) Gensokyo Chronicle seems to be describing her. She is said to look the same now as she appeared back then."
"Seems to be describing her?" Aichi's Encyclopedia was written 1200 years ago. So apparently, 1,200 years ago, Yukari didn't have her name yet, because Aichi wasn't able to give her a name back then. We know she was named Yukari Yakumo by the time she invaded the moon 1,000 years ago, though. Or rather, that she had named herself Yukari Yakumo. After all, this is the incident that made her famous, and furthermore, Rinnosuke discovers a device the youkai built in preparation for the moon invasion where the author signed with the name, "Yukari Yakumo" (Curiosities of Lotus Asia, chapter 21).
The symbolism of Maribel's name is that she'll become Yukari, and the possibility is open because Yukari isn't Yukari's original name. This means there's the possibility that Maribel will one day change her name to Yukari.
Let's move on to Maribel's stories, finally. I'll link to each of them for you to read. Perhaps you will realize the possibility that Maribel is Yukari from these stories without me even having to point anything out, if not completely convinced she is. Still, if you do, I hope my proofs will show other things you may not have spotted.
Note: These stories occur in the order ZUN released them. There's always at least one sentence here or there which shows beyond a doubt that the latest story takes place after the previous one.
Ghostly Field Club
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Ghostly_Field_Club:_StoryQuick Summary: Maribel and her best friend Renko try to find the entrance to the Netherworld in a graveyard, but aren't able to. Afterwards, Renko gets a new lead on a special place and suggests they go to the Hakurei Shrine instead.
The important part of this story is that it shows Maribel went to the Hakurei Shrine. This further supports the possibility that Maribel named herself Yukari (CoLA Chapter 25 shows that one meaning behind Yukari's name is that she will control the Shrine Maidens)
Sadly, we don't know what Maribel saw at the Hakurei Shrine. Still, whatever she saw there is not important to keeping open the possibility that she is Yukari. All we need to know is that she went to the Hakurei Shrine, which opens up the possibility that she named herself Yukari Yakumo (and also opens up the possibility of her realizing where Gensokyo's physical location is in the future.
Whatever the heck she saw at the Hakurei Shrine, afterwards she started dreaming about Gensokyo (Changeability of Strange Dream takes place after Ghostly Field Club, and Maribel's only been dreaming about Gensokyo recently once it starts). Considering that she didn't dream about Gensokyo before, logic implies that something at the Hakurei Shrine caused her to start dreaming about Gensokyo (and possibily more...)
Off-topic (because it is speculation:
Three things about the Hakurei Shrine that may help you speculate what Maribel saw at the shrine:
1) From Perfect Cherry Blossom's prologue, the original barrier surrounding Gensokyo was made by priests, not Yukari. Yukari merely strengthened it and changed it into a border of reality and illusion later on (which is what made it become almost impossible for anyone to go in and out of). So the border can exist even if Yukari had never existed in the first place (which is important because Maribel hasn't become Yukari yet)
2) The outside world Hakurei Shrine is probably a lively place with many people. Akyu speculates that it's desolate in Perfect Memento. Aya speculates that it's desolate in Bohemian Archive. These are probably LIES. Rinnosuke actually visits the outside world in CoLA Chapter 2: Purple Transcending Light, and comes to a shrine with a LOT of activity in it, but Yukari boots him back into Gensokyo before he can learn more. Yukari editted Perfect Memento, and Yukari is the one who likely gives people the stories of the outside world in the first place. And in Changeability of Strange Dream, Renko mentions a desolate Hakurei shrine as one of the things that showed up in Maribel's dream, not the real world. So for whatever reason, Yukari appears to be LYING and claiming that the outside Hakurei Shrine is desolate even though it's really very crowded and bustling. It makes you wonder what the heck Maribel saw at the Hakurei Shrine that would make her go to such lengths to lie about it later.
3)
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Music_Columns#Introduction As shown by the link, ZUN is the head priest of the outside world Hakurei Shrine. Maybe Maribel met him and he said "Hey, I'm going to use my author god powers to make you into a boundary youkai so you can create Gensokyo and make the Touhou Games take place." *shrug*
Enough speculation! This topic is about proof (or rather, at the moment, showing the possibility that Maribel is Yukari. The proof will come after that). Let's move on.
Changeability of Strange Dream
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Changeability_of_Strange_Dream:_StoryQuick Summary: Maribel dreams she is in a strange world (obviously Gensokyo). She is aware she is in a dream while she's dreaming it. It's so real, that Maribel wonders if that's the actual reality instead of her current life in Japan. She asks Renko for advice, and to prove she isn't lying, gives Renko the objects she found in her dreams (Cookies from the Scarlet Mansion, Bamboo Shoots from the Bamboo forest, and a piece of paper from the Bamboo forest). Maribel comments that the dreams are bad dreams because they always end with her being chased by monsters. However, if she could make it into a good dream (IE, one where monsters stop trying to eat people like her), it would be better than her current reality. Apparently, according to Changeability of Strange Dream, the future is a place where kids don't smile (Part 1) and all the food, such as bamboo shoots, artificial (Part 4). There are a lot more details like her meeting Mokou and Sakuya in those dreams, but we can look into that later
Anyways, Renko dodges Maribel's question about if the dreams are real or not (Part 5). After Maribel leaves, Renko has some time to think for herself. She believes Maribel somehow crossed into another world (and even wonders if Maribel's powers are evolving to be able to manipulate borders instead of just seeing them), and realizes Maribel is in danger where she might get trapped there forever or be eaten by a Youkai.. Renko decides there are two ways to help her.
"First, throw the stuff away and make her recognize she's in a dream or an illusion.
By doing this, she wouldn't wander into the world of dream again. Dream and reality are different.
And the another way is...
Waking her up from her dream by making her strongly recognize she's not in the world of dream but actually exists in another world.
Still... she wouldn't come back to this world again."
Renko then asks which is better for Maribel, and which is better for her. The two are apparently mutually exclusive. In the final part, Part 11, she meets Maribel again. Maribel is oblivious to the seriousness of the situation. We then see Renko's private thoughts. She thinks the world in Maribel's dreams are a wonderful magical world, but can't stand the thought of Maribel enjoying it alone. IE, without her. This shows which choice is better for Renko (throw the stuff away, so that Maribel can stay with her instead of go to Genskyo). She doesn't say this outloud though, and reveals that she didn't throw the objects away after all, revealing that she chose what's better for Maribel (enjoying a fantastic world where children actually smile and the food isn't artificial). She tells Maribel that dreams aren't real just because you think they are. You have to make them real. And they should work towards making Maribel's dreams a reality.
...it has nothing to do with proving that Maribel is Yukari, but I find the fact that Renko says this to Maribel knowing that Maribel will enjoy this wonderful dream world without her to be very very sad
That was a long summary. And now, let's take some parts from it that prove the possibility of Maribel being Yukari.
From Part 1:
"It doesn't matter to me at all.
By the way, I have a great power. It's because our clan has had a kind of inspiration since ancient times...
I have the ability to see every boundary all over the world, in other words, a border.
Our true scheme is to seek for the gaps of the boundaries and to dive into another world. It's what they call "Spiriting Away", isn't it?"
As we can see, Maribel can only see every boundary, but her clan hopes to become capable of spiriting away. This can be seen as foreshadowing, as Yukari's title in Perfect Cherry Blossom is "The One Behind the Spiriting Away". I imagine that a little foreshadowing probably isn't enough for most people, but how about this line from Renko?
From Part 10, in regards to Mary entering a new world in her dreams:
"It's because Mary changed the ability of seeing the boundary to that of manipulate it? No, it's impossible."
...so yea, now THAT'S foreshadowing! Renko is starting to think Maribel's power to see the boundary is changing into the power to manipulate it! This is very nice support to the possibility of Mary being Yukari. So nice in fact that it convinced me that she was Yukari, already, but I decided to look further anyways.
From Part 9:
"And, this is the scrap of paper I found after the big mouse and the girl left."
Maribel says this about a piece of paper from the bamboo forest. One she apparently wrote on. It's likely this piece of paper:
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Perfect_Memento:_MemorandumThe paper and the dream reveal that Maribel's dream ability includes time slipping. That is to say, her traveling to Gensokyo can make her time travel back in time. This is important because Magical Astronomy's story reveals that Maribel is from the future, and we all know that Yukari existed over 1,200 years ago.
This thus opens the possiblity that Maribel is Yukari, despite the fact that Maribel is from the future (revealed in Magical Astronomy and 53 Minutes) and Yukari existed long long ago.
Of course, it's impossible for Maribel to have this piece of paper and Akyu to have it, too. It breaks the law of conservation of mass, for example.
" If some objects in a dream show up, we'll be confused. It's against the law of conservation of mass. Besides, how's the entropy?" ~Renko, Changeability of Strange Dream
...right.
"You can't allow yourself to be trapped by common sense in Gensokyo!" ~Sanae
(alternatively, maybe Maribel is just giving Renko a random piece of paper. Whatever)
Oh, and here's a small one from Part 8:
"Still, It had a strange shape.
I mean... on its face were two eyes, like yours.
Humans are mostly like this.
The size of its face was same as that of human.
Or rather, was it a human's face? Yes, it was. It was a human's face, I believe.
Do you know some big mouses that have a human's face?"
Apparently it's to the point where Yukari gets annoyed about monsters masquerading with human faces, as shown in her dialogue to Keine in Imperishable Night's Border Team story:
Keine: I'm a human when the moon isn't full.
Yukari: Not much different from a human-faced dog or human-faced rock, then.
Keine: Why does everything except my face have to change? It's a complete transformation.
Yukari: Oh, but you could have a cow-head or a horse-head. Just transform only your head to that of a beast if you want.
Keine (clearly insulted): ...Fine. If you're going to say that, I won't allow you to take it back.
I'm still only showing possibilities here. But I think that it's pretty darn possible Yukari's dislike of beasts with human heads comes from when she got chased by such beasts in her dream as Maribel.
From Part 5:
" Dreams usually end when I'm chased by some youkai.
If you say it's a bad dream, maybe it's right..."
" Though, if I could change a bad dream to a good dream, it would be nicer than the reality..."
If you've already accepted that Maribel is Yukari, then the entirety of Changeability of Strange Dream takes on a whole new light. This isn't the story of a girl who would one day become Yukari. This is the origin of Yukari's entire motivation for almost everything she does! Think about it. Like that time Yukari first invaded the moon, and "It is since this incident that youkai usually do not choose to attack beyond their territory." (Perfect Memento). Or Yukari's agreement with the Oni (described in Perfect Memento's Oni article as " They are the strongest enemies of humans in Gensokyo. Their livelihood is to kidnap humans") which made the Oni live underground where they'd stop attacking humans (Yukari's conversation with Yuugi when you play as Reimu with Yukari shows the agreement was Yukari's agreement). It even goes as far as Yukari writing up the spell card rules (There's TONS of evidence that indicate Yukari is the one that did this. I wrote up a general synopsis in the "Injustice in Gensokyo?" spell card thread) which finally led to a golden age where humans and youkai are friends. Clearly, Yukari has been doing a lot to attempt to change Gensokyo from a bad dream where youkai attack humans to a good dream. She even subtly tries to discourage passerby youkai from doing it when she can, apparently.
"Really. You seem to be a night sparrow. If you attack humans too often, there won't be any more left around here." ~Yukari to Mystia in Imperishable Night
Of course, that's if you've already accepted that Maribel is Yukari. If you haven't, then let's just say this merely proves it's possible that Yukari got her motivations for what she does from her experiences in her dreams while she was (possibly) Maribel.
As for Maribel meeting Sakuya and Mokou in her dreams., I'll get into that later, because it involves present day events. I'm trying to focus on Maribel's story right now.
Of course, Changeability also answers why Yukari (Maribel) is around in the Touhou games but Renko isn't. In Part 11, Renko reveals that she knows that Maribel will be enjoying this fantastic dream world without her. But she helps Maribel find it anyways, because Renko knows that's what's best for her friend.
...poor Renko ;_;
Retrospective 53 Minutes
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Retrospective_53_minutes:_StoryEh, this one is mostly filler story about Renko and Maribel discussing the nature of dreams and illusions, etc. Honestly, I personally believe Maribel's story was supposed to end with Changeability of Strange Dream, but maybe ZUN liked Maribel and Renko too much to be finished with them just yet. ZUN himself states in the afteword this story "has neither processes nor punchlines". He also states that in that way, it's a happy ending. ...well, I suppose a story without processes or punchlines is a much happier ending than one that ends with Renko knowing that she'll eventually be left behind and never get to see Maribels Gensokyo.
Still, this story is the first time it's revealed that Maribel lives in the future (The 53 subway stations of Japan are referred to as a thing of the past). I'm pretty sure that wasn't brought up in Ghostly Field Club or Changeability.
And now, the grand finale to Maribel's story, Magical Astronomy.
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Magical_Astronomy:_StoryQuick Summary: Maribel and Renko hear about moon tours being held. Maribel has seen the boundary on the moon where a special hidden world exists (The Moon Capital, with the lunar rabbits, etc), and she and Renko really want to go in order to check it out. They discuss several things about the moon and other concepts such as the moon's immortality elixir (Renko states that she'd totally drink it, explaining that it's really just removing your own boundary between life and death and thus not the curse people make it out to be), before finally realizing that moon tours are expensive, and they won't be able to afford to go. As the two look at a fountain's lake, and see the moon reflected in the water, Maribel comes up with an idea.
"Well, Renko. If the Moon Tour is too expensive to go, shall we consider going there by another way?"
And the story ends.
First of all, this story throughout has an anti-capitalist vibe, which also explains a lot about one of Yukari's viewpoints. However, there's something else that most of you probably saw when you read that story that's so big that I think I'll just skip to that, and explain why Yukari hates rich people later.
The ending, right? It's like, some super dramatic cliff hanger. I imagine you might have realized it already. What's so special about Maribel coming up with an idea to go to the moon just by looking at it's reflection on the lake? And what does that have to do with Maribel becoming Yukari? Well, have you read Silent Sinner in Blue? Don't you remember Yukari's preferred method of travelling to the moon? Did you see it when Akyu said how Yukari does it in Perfect Memento in the Strict Sense? I'll quote the latter:
" It is said that she once invaded the moon by modifying the boundary between truth and lie and plunging into the mirrored moon on the lake's surface."
Silent Sinner in Blue confirms that this is how Yukari actually does travel to the moon.
That's right. The ending of Magical Astronomy, the final story of Maribel and Renko, is Maribel's border powers fully awakening! Now she has the power to manipulate borders, just like Yukari. Or rather, I've shown the possibility that this is where Maribel's powers evolved to the point of being as strong as Yukari's (manipulating the border between truth and lie? That's strong stuff!), and thus shown the possibility that Maribel did gain Yukari's power (and going from that, the possibility that she became Yukari, herself)
Let's recap:
Maribel wears the same clothing style as Yukari.
The symbolism of Maribel Hearn's last name is that she becomes Yukari Yakumo. Yukari Yakumo's name, meanwhile, is confirmed in canon to not be her original name.
Maribel visited the Hakurei Shrine, and started dreaming about Gensokyo after that. This is what allowed herself to come up with the name Yukari Yakumo (where one of the names is about controlling the shrine maidens) as well as figure out where the land of her dreams was actually physically located.
Maribel dreamed of Gensokyo, and from there is shown that she can time-slip. This is how she'd later eventually travel back in time, which is why Yukari Yakumo was spotted as early as 1,200 years in the past.
Maribel wanted to change her bad dream (being chased by Youkai) into a good dream. This explains all the things Yukari's done in Gensokyo's history that eventually led to youkai being friends with humans.
The last we ever saw of Maribel, she was about to use border powers to travel to the moon, via the same method Yukari uses.
What happened after that? We don't know. The story just ends with Maribel's border powers about to awaken. After they did, she had to have hit a huge time-slip sometime soon after which sent her more than 1,200 years into the past, because we never hear about Maribel again (It's been more than three years since the last Maribel & Renko story! Ever since then, ZUN's switched to Akyu for musical CDs, instead.). We know that Renko didn't go with her (Renko herself knew she wouldn't be able to), and that it took Maribel a while to figure out what she wanted to call herself. The awakening of her border powers also probably resulted in her becoming a youkai (or maybe she simply manipulated her boundary between human and youkai). Given that Perfect Memento states she looks the same now as she did 1,200 years ago, Maribel probably took Renko's advice and removed her own border between life and death (giving herself immortality).
And after that? Well, she had her goal, and the motivation to do it. In Changeability of Strange Dream, Renko implored her to make her dream a reality. She figured out where her dream world was thanks to her previous visit to the Hakurai Shrine. She would take it and change it from a bad dream into a good dream. She would use it to "seal away the gods" (youkai) and the shrine maidens, and she was the youkai of boundaries who would be in control of the many. And this is the meaning behind the name she would give herself.
From that day on, Maribel was no more. Now she was Yukari Yakumo.
Well, I hope you enjoyed my proof that Maribel is Yukari. Thank you for reading! Perhaps next time I'll...
Oh, right, I've only shown the POSSIBILITY that Maribel is Yukari.
They like the same clothes. It's POSSIBLE Maribel is Yukari. Maribel's last name is Hearn POSSIBLY because she'll become Yukari. Maribel wanting to change Gensokyo into a good dream POSSIBLY explains Yukari's motivations. Maribel looking at her reflection on the moon POSSIBLY is when her border powers awakened for her to become Yukari. And all of Maribel's experiences in general POSSIBLY explains why Yukari chose the name "Yukari Yakumo" for herself.
But none of it actually does prove that Maribel IS Yukari,
How do I prove Maribel is Yukari? Why, by showing some aspect of Yukari Yakumo that could only be there if she was Maribel Hearn. For this, I'll have to go to something that would truly give a look into Yukari herself.