>'Cause, based on my reading, I reckon one of the critical things about
>Reimu is that she's never had to try. Her position is
>hereditary, and so are her powers. Hell, one of her key abilities is
>"things just work out for her".
> <...>
>The problem--well, a problem, we are uncovering a lot of
>problems with this particular plotline tonight--is that I don't have
>any readily evident way to convey any of the above in the narrative.

The Force is strong with her.

Seriously, "good at things without having to try" and "things just work out for her" are two of the big things that I assume Jedi Masters watch out for. (It was really nice of George Lucas to come up with an actual explanation for protagonist syndrome.)

And this ties everything together in a bow. Gryphon can actually put up a fight because he too is a powerful Force-user. Marisa reads the book during the fight and goes, "This stuff just sounds like what you talk about on the few occasions you've actually discussed theory with me." And whivhever way the battle winds up going in the end, the outcome is the will of the Force.