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holding everyone's hands with two hands and reminding you all that hong lu wrote sign of roses' abnormality log.
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People are really confused over Sinclair getting a Middle ID like bro Sinclair craves violence. He has a latent violent streak he wants to rip things apart and kill them. He was getting melted and did not care because he was crawling towards Kromer so he could tear her to shreds. Of course he belongs in a gang where they deal with any perceived slight or offense with extreme violence.
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figured out something Iโve been idly spinning on for a long time while assigning pokemon to the sinners, of all things
Itโs about Meursault
I believe his Canto will be about dehumanization. Again. Even though weโve already seen it multiple times and will probably see it even more. But hey, Limbus Company is a game about the experience of living in this bitch of a world despite it all and dehumanization is a struggle that comes in many forms.
It might be obvious that his canto would do that, considering the murder, but I actually think the discussion of how his victim, whoever it may have been (since The City seems to be over our version of racism and colonialism in favor ofโฆ other shit + Classism EX), was not treated as an equal class of citizen as Meursault (this is actually false. more on that next paragraph), will be secondary to Meursaultโs own dehumanization.
In his source, he, a settler in French Algiers, kills an unnamed Arab. It is clear that any other white settler would have gotten away with it with a slap on the wrist- the court expected his trial to go quickly and for the main event of the day to be a different trial- but Meursault in particular is not afforded that privilege because the court believes him to be inhuman for- you guessed it- not crying at his mother's funeral. And also being an atheist and going out with his girlfriend the day after that funeral and asking for a cigarette when he wasn't supposed to and only a tiny bit the part where he shot the corpse 4 times, the point is it's over the stupid stuff not the stuff that matters
โ[The prosecutor] said that he had peered into [my soul] and that he had found nothing, gentlemen of the jury. He said the truth was that I didnโt have a soul and that nothing human, not one of the moral principles that govern menโs hearts, was within my reach.โ
In other words, this is a narrative about how quickly someone who you might think is part of the in-group can be cast out. Heโs The Stranger, if you will.
N Corp is the Wing that values the concept of "humanity" perhaps the most in the entire City and I'm certain he has history with that view working to his detriment.
What's actually more important than what's happening within the story is "the cold, uncaring gaze of the anonymous masses"- the real world, that is- not that it's not all happening in-universe too.
I'm pretty sure jokes explicitly calling Meursault a robot have fallen to the wayside (though I don't exactly look for them so I'm not sure) in favor of the joke that Meursault can do literally anything if he is ordered to. He can become S Tier. He can manifest EGO. He could, I don't know, defeat Goku if Dante told him to. And so the tone changes, but... the sentiment doesn't. He's superhuman now, not subhuman, but he's still not a normal human.
The same goes for how the other sinners treat him. He's a wonderful source of information, almost like an encyclopedia. He can run fast with perfect breathing and he's strong and he can give massages. He is the perfect man- something I have seen said on a few of my Meursault posts. The easy solution to any physical problem.
Even his quirk of not being a good judge of when he should be taking action or telling people about things doesn't really matter anymore, since it has an easy "fix"- just telling him exactly what you want to be done. Goodness knows he's capable of it.
Even Vergilius seems to add to this view of him- Meursault gets one of the very few positive special voicelines from him in the announcer booth.
And the only announcer line of his to individual sinners that can't be read in a backhanded way.
He is less than human, or he is more than human. How does Meursault himself feel about any of this? Does he care? His input is valued more than before, which is great, but he still really just expresses observations and recites objective facts, not opinions and personal values.
...They don't actually like his personal values very much. Of the three occasions I can think of where he talks about what he thinks, Heathcliff in particular reacts negatively and loudly to all of them- the first is seen above, from Canto III; the third is in Canto VI, when Meursault had to go "hey I'm not finished talking yet", and though Heathcliff was Going Through It I think he also had it in his mind that he and Meursault do not tend to agree on courses of action; and the second is this one from Canto IV
(Heathcliff's words after Dante says they're going to help)
Keep an eye on this Meursault reaction. When Canto X comes out next year I'm sure we'll find out what those ellipses mean.
I believe that in his canto, the incredible, flawless image of him that the sinners have all built up in their minds will be torn down and they'll all have to contend with that. Heavy speculation, but maybe they'll even turn on him for a little bit, unable to cope with the shock that he's done something so terrible.
You know, how parasocial relationships and cancel culture works in real life.
As much as I like the idea of him having some connection to distortion (Carmen as the sun from the book is just too good), I think if he's anything but 100% human it cheapens his story. He's the perfect specimen by N Corp standards, and he's still not good enough, by metrics he could never hope to understand.
That is how I think The Stranger will be adapted.
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Thoughts on the new Jia candidate? They seem to be at the very least related to Iori, considering their execution of that one guy and the red snake skin wrapped around himself and his companion(?). Makes me wonder if Iori or her disciples are going to make a physical appearance in the Canto.
Alright, let me put things under the cut for the spoiler warning for literally the last two cutscenes in this Intervallo.
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Anonymous asked:
sweeper intervallo finally arrived! curious on what you think about. All Of That
I have a lot of thoughts that I need to. Categorize in some way. I might have more to say if I'm asked about a specific thing but until then I might not yap a lot immediately.
But, still, here's some general overview thoughts on all of the Intervallo:
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Anonymous asked:
'If asked about a specific thing' you say? Well, if possible could you tell your thoughts about 7.5-22, Witnessing? Or to be even more specific - the conversation between a (very much trying) Dante and Hong Lu?
I also must concur on the needing him dead bit. Gonna send him to be chased by an animal of some sort.
Oh boy do I have a lot of yapping to do about that particular scene.
Spoiler warning and all that.
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Anonymous asked:
So the new Vergillius announcer has personaized, specialized quote for each specific Sinner, and it's a fascinating mixture of praise and burns. In order, (so Yi Sang first and Gregor last):
"Impressive, Sinner #1. You seem to have a surprisingly high aptitude for Identity and E.G.O usage." "Ms. Faustโฆ You knew that enemy part would eventually cause trouble, didn't you?"
"โฆ What did Sinner #3 do this time? Haahโฆ"
"Hm, your battle sense is just as excellent, even as a Sinner. Now, is there something you can do about your incomprehensible speech quirk, Sinner #4?"
"Excellent, Sinner #5. I hear that your quick actions have prevented many a disaster."
"โฆ Don't think you can smooth over your terribly ineffective attack with an innocent smile, Sinner #6."
"Sinner #7. I thought you'd finally learned how to use that head of yoursโฆ It has been a while since our last consultation, hasn't it?"
"So I hear that you're the class president now, Sinner #8? Then it's time you took to the helm."
"I do appreciate how easy you are to please, Sinner #9. You may expect sweets should you perform well in this battle, of course."
"You've got blood on you again, #11. โฆ Hm, I suppose you have indeed grown somewhat as of late. I thought you'd be bawling on your knees by now."
"What's this, miss lieutenant? How come you've let yourself be sliced to pieces like this? You're going to be the biggest burden to your Executive Manager dearest."
"This is no time for your defeatist attitude, Sinner #13. Get on your feet and soldier on. Where's your usual disposition, hm?"
I'm don't think this is a uniform scan of how Vergillius views each Sinner, but there are some fascinating nuggets-Rodion straight up getting bribed, a hint of Yi Sang having the best synchronization rates with IDs and EGO, and the possibility of Vergie knowing about Faust's psychic knowledge link deal.
It's, naturally, the Hong Lu one I'm coming to you with-I wonder if it's as innocent as it looks (Hong Lu did an ineffective attack and tried to laugh it off, Vergie Ain't Havin' It), or if Vergie can legitimately see right through Hong Lu's act (or knows his Deal all along).
Anon, you have no idea how perfect your timing is. Since I have recently done an attempt at analysis of all those lines in a random Discord server. So instead of dilly-dallying, I'm just gonna mostly repeat what I said then.
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Anonymous asked:
Seems a popular theory now going around is that Hong Lu is a homunculus/something similar to that/or that there are multiple versions of his body with the original mind "the eye". I think it's a fair theory to believe since its been revealed H Corp is based on life + his previous musings on the connection with consciousness, mind and body. Any thoughts on that? :o
I have. Complicated feelings about it to say the least. I personally think it's an example of people finding and correctly identifying clues and patterns, but ending up with incomplete or wrong conclusions.
The idea of Hong Lu's body being one his consciousness doesn't originally belong in is one I've been using as one of the major elements of my Two in One theory even before H Corp's full name was revealed. I agree that it's very likely that Hong Lu or Baoyu's consciousness is being stored in his eye and that it can and has been transferred to a different body.
I also think this theory is very much onto something regarding the possibility that Hong Lu's being is sort of "engineered" to become the perfect heir. Fitting for the nature of H Corp as well as the Jias' implied overly controlling attitude, and explaining why all of Hong Lu's siblings hate Him in particular - because his existence as someone the Elders are specifically molding into the perfect successor means their own chances at becoming proper heirs are heavily limited.
However, it's the conclusion of Hong Lu being a homunculus or straight up not human that I don't necessarily agree with. For multiple reasons.
For one, there is very little existing setup to that kind of reveal. We've had setups to Hong Lu's disconnect with his body and weird relationship with his Identity. We've had setups to a potentially dual nature of his self. Hell, we've had setups to the Jia Family being overly controlling and treating him like literal property. But there's nothing to imply he's not human, the way we had foreshadowing to Don Quixote being a Bloodfiend.
For two, I feel like that would overlap too much with other characters' arcs. Mainly, Don Quixote. Donqui's character arc already heavily revolves around her desperately reaching out towards the dream of becoming more human despite her nature as a Bloodfiend. Having another character so soon after her whose deal also is that he's not human and wants to be one is just. Not something I could see PM doing considering how much they've changed when adapting WH in Canto 6 for the sake of avoiding overlap with DOTRC in Canto 8.
And for three, and possibly the biggest gripe I have with this theory, is that it goes against the commentary that PM is setting up for Canto 8. The Jia Family and by extension H Corp are being set up to be people who heavily objectify fellow humans. They treat other people like objects, notably treating Baoyu/Hong Lu like a gem, a treasure they own. With such heavy themes of objectification, you know what would be the stupidest writing decision anyone in their shoes could do? To make that objectification justified by making Hong Lu not actually human.
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I was doing my usual round of replying entire story to look at all of Hong Luโs lines, as any sane individual would do, and noticed this:
Nothing crazy, I just thought that it was interesting how in both cases itโs Sinclair taking note of how chill Hong Lu seems about everything.
Mhm! Funny you bring this up, as Sinclair and Hong Lu do have an interesting rapport between one another.
Sinclair is shown to be one of the only people on the bus with the potential to call Hong Lu on his bullshit, as he's the only one whose upbringing is anywhere close to being comparable to him, as the two rich kids.
This is further explored through Sinclair being one of the very few people to show outward concern or doubt towards Hong Lu, like in the scenes you show. Most of the other Sinners tend to brush off whatever weird shit Hong Lu might say, with the first scene you sent in showing Gregor doing exactly that. Unlike Sinclair, the rest of the Sinners don't really know what to expect from wealthy Nest-born people, and so they just take Hong Lu at face value.
I find that interesting because it appears Hong Lu himself is aware of this fact.
There are multiple moments where Hong Lu, when sharing information, leans on what Sinclair says first and frames his knowledge as just a cultural difference. He never explicitly corrects him, but the information he brings up is always the actually right one compared to Sinclair.
In addition, there's that one moment in Canto 5 where Hong Lu scares off Sinclair while retelling a spooky story and in response seems to drastically change its ending. You can tell it's one that doesn't fit the rest of what he was saying based on everyone's reactions.
My interpretation of this scene is simple - Hong Lu fucked up and misjudged Sinclair's tolerance. So, when Sinclair ran off, he over corrected himself and changed the story to be more palatable to the person closest to him in class. Notably, he's doing so while Sinclair is already gone, so it's not something he's doing for Sinclair specifically, it's more so just the baseline he chose for the facade he wears around all of the Sinners.
In a way, you could compare this to how in Regular Check-up it was revealed that the Golden Bough brought everyone's power levels down to Sinclair's. Hong Lu, in a somewhat parallel to that, is making his facade at Sinclair's level - a rich kid who doesn't have much worldly experience, but isn't anything special.
...A big fuck off lie considering how knowledgeable Hong Lu has actually proved himself to be, and considering that it appears his Family has much closer ties to H Corp than his "shareholder of H Corp personally visited our household" anecdote implied.
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Hereโs something that was pointed out to me; none of Hong Luโs IDs have a counter defense skill
Thereโs the slight exception of Full-Stop Hong Lu, but he has a Clashable Counter, which not only is effectively just another normal skill, but he doesnโt even need to get hit for it to activate
As of currently, there is no Hong Lu that fights back when hit directlyโฆ
Indeed! He's one of now only three Sinners that are missing one base type of a Defense skill among their IDs!
Notably, Gregor also lacks a regular Counter, with his most recent ID giving him a Clashable one instead. However, there's a difference here in that Full-Stop Hong Lu's Defense Skill only turns into a Clashable Counter when he's out of bullets; otherwise he has an Evade.
Neat stuff.