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lunareiitic · 1 year

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CANTO 4 SPOILERS BE WARNED

I think it's really interesting (and clever) that we're a third of the way through Limbus' plot (theoretically. 12/4 = 3 after all) and we've split the focus characters in half based on who is actually growing because of their Canto and who isn't, while also showing multiple narrative ways to show that progression (or lack thereof).

Gregor and Rodya have already done their growing. Gregor's a war veteran whose traumatic past should be long behind him, and his character didn't shift after his Canto. His refusal with regards to the whole Yuri thing wasn't a shocking twist, it was the culmination of years of rejecting the life that his mother made for him.

Rodya rejects the idea that she has to develop as a character entirely. Canto 2 is mostly a celebration of Rodya- she makes her own luck and doesn't require these things like "character growth" and "dynamics". She was a one woman wrecking crew then and she's one now, plans and friends be damned. It's why she's able to reject Sonya's olive branch: he's predicating his entire plan on the idea that Rodya would have learned from the Tax Collector Incident. But she didn't, and she knows that.

Sinclair's Canto 3 marks the first Canto where we're actually examining the failings of a member of the team. Sinclair's immaturity, fawn response and unwillingness to take responsibility did directly lead to all of the bad shit that happened to him. Even if Kromer would have done it anyways, Canto 3 takes Sinclair to task for what he did, but in the end, he can't follow through. It's beautiful and tragic that he needs Demian to bail him out of what should have been his cathartic moment of triumph. Sinclair's growing is actively still happening. Canto 3 is only the beginning.

Which brings us to the most recent Canto and Yi Sang. Yi Sang in hindsight is the perfect character to follow up Canto 3 with because Yi Sang is essentially Sinclair if Demian wasn't around. Yi Sang's narrative is about apathy and passive suicidality- he doesn't care what happens to him because life has lost all meaning to him. Sinclair still has some fight in him, all Yi Sang has is ashes. Or so he thinks. Dongrang and Dongbaek are characters who will never move on from their past, despite what both of them think. Yi Sang, through mirroring them, ends up with the most radical character development we've seen so far: true catharsis. Unlike our three previous characters, Yi Sang's Canto manages to get down to the core of his issues and he's able to understand what he must do to get better and does. He conquers Dongbaek (embodiment of rage) and Dongrang (embodiment of despair) and ascends to a place of healing away from them. This is a very conventional, classic character arc structure seen in fiction since the dawn of time, it's classic because it works. But it feels so refreshing and new here in Limbus Company because we waded through three quagmires of difficult regrets, abuses, and traumas that refuse to be handled so easily. Given that our remaining characters are based on murderers (Hell Screen, The Stranger), self-saboteurs (The Odyssey, Moby Dick, Don Quixote, Faust), and the legacy of racism (Wuthering Heights), I'm betting that Hong Lu's might be our brightest spot moving forward. (But who knows. They could give us another goofy Canto out of nowhere like they did in Canto 2. Limbus Company contains multitudes.)

#limbus company #canto iv spoilers #unrelated but it was also so so so funny that yi sang is canonically some kind of heartthrob for toxic science men like. gay helen of troy #I haven't read dream of red chamber because holy shit its long and in a language I can't read but I know it's much less hardcore than-#-hell screen or the stranger or crime and punishment etc

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staryarn · 1 year

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Long ass text below so. Beware

Each of the sinners (ppl you bring back) are referenced from a book. Gregor samsa is there. Ishmael is also there. Odysseus is an old woman war criminal

The actual chapters go metamorphosis (Gregor samsa) , crime and punishment (rodion), Demian (Emil Sinclair), wings (yi sang), and the stuff that has yet to come out (Moby dick -> Ishmael),(Wuthering Heights -> Heathcliff) , (Don Quixote-> Don Quixote) , (Dream of The Red Chamber -> Hong Lu), (Hell Screen -> Ryōshū), ( The stranger -> Meursault), (The odyssey -> Odysseus), ( faust-> faust )

Actually kinda references to actually people bwcause for Wings (yi sang( it is partially based on the creator of the book. But primarily based on the books and the plots (Gregor samsa being heavily alienated and turned into a mutated cockroach soldier against his will. A lot of apple trauma. Other soldiers also turned Roach just more mutated. Having to scavenger after the war ends), rodion (straight up kills a tax collector. Also heavy gambler who likes money), Emil Sinclair (between two worlds. As in world between prosthetics (and also forced prosthetics) and them being 'heretics' and also just. Finding his own path and being his own person. There's a good song about the boss fight), and yi sang (I'll be honest it's been a bit and I don't remember the plot but there is actual in game dialog that says he lost his wings / will to show off on his own / be his own person. The actual book is abt a guy who's fed and given money from his wife but doesn't know where she gets it until one day he finds out)

Same goes with the other characters it's just their stories haven't come out yet (Ishmael has heavy survivors guilt, mentions looking for a bastard. Heathcliff does mention Cathy and also stepping on people's feet during balls. Don Quixote heavily idealists Fixers (hired mercanaries) and thinks they're heros when more or less they aren't. Faust has some sort of bargain and mepisopholes is the bus they all ride on. Vergilius does travel with Dante through (the city) hell as a guide. Etc etc)

There is so much roach stuff and also sad apple stuff (forced to cut an apple as a like. Child experiment soldier to see of his Roach arm is working correctly. Two bosses with apple themes are shown in his chapter and one of them straight up kills beloved early introduced npc. There is a Roach skin (that can be gacha'd or like. Eventually purchased with in-game stuff that you get for free)

The bus is called the mephistopholes (demon faust makes a contract with. In game faust is the creator of the bus)

Vergil is only the like. I don't remember what he calls himself but tour guide bc he made a deal with faust (the reason is. Charon lost her memory and was previously called sapphire. A young fixer by the name of garnet essentially dies trying to save her but before he dies and like. Straight up becomes a crystal cocoon that breaks he has to go through the mirror stuff / different identities (the way limbus has different aus that actually fit the characters and lore in game) )

I will say the references are kinda heavy handed in game

(Gregor samsa being a war veteran, Apple trauma, one of his egos is. Straight up him throwing an apple. Another is called suddenly one day. Straight up has roach modifications and stranded his place in the war (guilt)

Rodion / rodya just in game kills a tax collector. Like in a cg. I don't know enough about crime and punishment so rip. Gambler also

Sinclair is literally torn between two worlds (heretics and also just. Living his life). There is a song called between two worlds that plays during the boss fight. Stuck between two opposing characters

Yi sang (wings) says that he lost his wings a long time ago. Very closed off and has a mirror (as if he only looks at himself and doesn't know the world around him)

Ishmaels ego says she's 'looking for that bastard'. Her weapon says hearse which is a car that carries the dead. I think there's a coffin mentioned somewhere but I don't remember. Has the same sorta survivors guilt Gregor has

Heathcliff mentions stepping on people's feet. His vg that his character art showed up with (og art) has a bunch of Graves in the rain. In one of his identities he mentions Cathy and in the ttgs teaser it shows a women (and others) at a funeral.

Don quixote is obsessed with "heroic" Fixers (hired mercenaries) and dreams of becoming one. In the start of sinclair's story we see her shove her Lance into a glass wall because a child was forcibly separated from their parent (like border control). Though her actions are 'just' they cause the sinners to get killed like. A lot.

Hong lu is shown in a red chamber in the tgs trailer. It's very hard to summarize dream of the red chamber because it's hard to translate and incredibly long. Rich and sheltered boy who seemingly doesn't know about the world (he does its just not very forward because he pauses in chapter 4's dialogue which he normally does not do)

Ryōshū is seen as portraying violence as art (in hell screen an artist is tasked by a noble to show art of hell. And to experience the traits of hell the artist (moreso forced by the noble) is forced to do horrible deeds in the sake of art (one of which is to burn his daughter in a carriage). In her og art it's shown that the five fingers (syndicates of the backstreets) are shown. She makes a statement in ch2 after braking a chandelier only for the sake of art)

(Meursault is from the stranger. He says that he doesn't talk because it's too troublesome but he does get incredibly to the point. Does things for the sake of being asked and not for his own pleasure (yknow. Like a stranger)

As far as I remember Outis's name literally means nobody. A heavy handed bootlicker to Dante that is shown incredibly odd to the other sinners (to the point of like. Making horrible insults to the sinners (like abt Sinclair calling for his dead parents before he dies or dying she should've got shot for Dante while Ishmael is straight up turning into slime) and immediately backpedals once Dante voices opinion.

There's a lot about Faust. Knows everything (made contract for the price of knowledge in book so. Makes sense. She shows up in the precursor story to make a deal with verg (already works for limbus). In her ego she's the only one who isn't wearing her striped clothes and isn't chained. She's casting an odd shadow (all of the other sinners supposedly have weird shadows casted on them). Her ego shard is a homunculus in a flask (also referencing her book)

In Gregor like. Backstory reveal they are shown in a battlefield. One of Gregor comrades straight up morphs into a roach hybrid. A giant hand (multiple actually) tries to squish everyone. Like a bug

Gregor is too scared to retrieve the golden borough (via slicing it with his arm) because his 'mom' (lady who turned him into a roach at the tender age of 15) shows up

Also note he fought in the smoke war (thing from lobotomy corporation. Basically the smoke war happened because A (guy who made angela in the image of his dead friend and was mad she wasn't like Carmen. The lady who makes everyone distort. Because he (and his good buddy Benjamin who gets turned into a robot via angela later. And like. A knows about this because he planned for it. Wanted to overthrow the old L Corp to make lobotomy corporation. Roland from library of ruina also fought in the smoke war and also like. Wasn't allowed to move into a nest (safe city) so he had to live in the backstreets and his wife got killer bc of it. It's all connected)

#i said last night id slap all of my shit on anylizimg / making a summary of this #NOT easy to digest because i refuse to edit it (0 braincells rn + allergic reaction)#also some stuff could be weong bc i havent revisted ch1-3 to like. read th3 chapters again so its going after my memory #and im.still trying to soak up ch4 #that and there are a couple books (the stranger) that i am not too familiar with #i remember a lot about hell screen despite never reading it tho #shiko speaks #lor

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