Dude.

The empathetic Ryoshu has been right in front of you the whole time! I wouldn’t be so quick as to apply this style of behavior to Ryoshu in the story (especially since we’ve seen what it looks like when she’s looking out for others), but then again… the stakes haven’t been like this, either. She’s taking the well-being of her subordinates very seriously here, and when Heathcliff shows up, she instantly dismisses them all to handle him herself. Not only is she adept at handling the butlers, she’s shown to be selfless, which is something she’s never gotten close to displaying in the main story.

Now, this is the interesting part.

Never has Ryoshu ever been afraid of dying or being injured, so that can be ruled out immediately. No, it’s regret. I know, I know she’s not the one with the gloom skill, hold on! The whole reason she has wrath instead of gloom is that here, she’s quick enough to squash her momentary weakness and turn it into the fury she needs to go against Heathcliff. Despite Heath not being her biological child, she still was responsible for raising him in this universe. If it were her child, though? No way it wouldn’t be gloom instead.

Both of these aspects, from the way she’s trying to save all of the other butlers to her regret when facing Heathcliff, makes the maternal reading pretty simple. In fact, I think it’s possible that this might be a microcosm of what coming face to face with her child in her canto will be like. Maybe it’s a stretch, but… it’s not too outlandish for me to rule out.

Now for Red Eyes and Penitence. Here’s that gloom skill!! Since lust is a staple for Ryoshu identities, we can ignore it. It’s her envy and gloom that’s interesting. This ID is special because she’s using EGO gear here, which are known to heighten the emotions of the users.

We’re right up front with the themes of motherhood this time. The focus on Red Eyes in her uptie makes sense. It’s an abnormality all about defending and caring for its children. So, I think her envy skill represents Red Eyes (Spiderhead, the weapon, specifically). Envious of something whose family is so close at all times, so well cared for. 

Not even an abnormality’s definition of family is good enough for her, it seems… That’s all from her story.

Before we continue, it should be noted that she treats her weapons like children to be taken care of as well.

Alright, so there’s all that, but what of Penitence? She would’ve worked perfectly fine with only Red Eyes, but no. That’s where the gloom skill comes in. Unlike the regret that was quickly subdued in Chief Butler, it’s front and center this time thanks to the heightened emotional connection to Penitence. Her gloom, her regret, has only surfaced when in contact with EGO or EGO gear (REaP, soda).

It’s hard to say just what it is that she regrets, but it’s clear that it’s something she’s buried deep down and tries her best not to acknowledge. There’s absolutely no way it isn’t about her kid. Just keep it in mind for the future.

Now, her EGO.

I’m so serious when I say her Soda EGO is deathly important. For one, it’s one of the TWO instances of gloom she has, ever. Plus, her corrosion is wildly different from Honglu’s Soda corrosion.

Ryoshu’s is on the left and Honglu’s is on the right. When he corrodes, Honglu turns into one of the shrimp working the boat, his human form gone completely. But Ryoshu’s gone and turned into a can of Wellcheers. They make extra sure to show that she’s NOT a shrimp like Honglu, with her shrimp hat still having its stitching and all. I was already concerned when I saw Soda was gloom for her, but seeing her corrosion makes it even more heavy-handed. It’s all about the kidnapping.

If you don’t know, this abnormality is based on a rumor that if you drank an already opened can of Welch’s, you’d get drugged and kidnapped and sold to work on a fishing boat. The fact that this is something that’s making her actually sad for once is alarming, especially with them going so hard on the kidnapping aspect of it for her.

There’s no way to know how this relates to her for sure right now, but it seems to imply that either her child was kidnapped, or she had a hand in kidnappings in her time in the Fingers. Right now, I’m leaning more towards it being her own child that was kidnapped, since from Lei Heng’s interactions with her it sounds like her kid is still alive somewhere. But then again, he didn’t seem to know. Here’s where he mentions it.

This EGO doesn’t have much else to say besides that, and is the only one to give a real hint as to what might be going on with her. Excited to find out just what it’s referencing.

THORACALGIA

I think that Thoracalgia, for her, might represent futility. For Faust, it’s freedom, but Ryoshu seems weighed down by guilt that she keeps deeply hidden. Regret is a recurring theme for her.

Her awakening line states that BOTH resentment and penance are futile. “I was only reaching out to grasp something, anything.” I think she might be lost for how to really approach her kid. Obviously, she has her whole giddy sadistic deal, but she’s not a lunatic. She cares for the people around her. She’s aware of her behavior, and she knows when it’s not appropriate. She’s SO on edge in current Limbus, not smoking and all that. I think it’s cause she’s lost on how to bridge this gap, an uncrossable distance, but she wants to. She wants to and doesn’t know how - perhaps already knows what’s going to happen.

Her corrosion line  is “I breathe in and out, but it won’t stop hurting”, again, expressing futility. The one thing that puzzles me is that it’s a Pride EGO, and costs 1 wrath, 1 lust, and 5 pride to activate. Makes her weak to sloth and gluttony, too. As always, looking at the specific sin affinities used for each part of the EGO is important. They’re clues as to how the user is feeling in relation to the EGO.

If Thoracalgia represents a feeling of overwhelming confinement and suffering, of being haunted and trapped by an overgrown pain, a defensive reflex allowed to get out of hand… where’s the pride in that? She’s clearly feeling prideful more than anything else here. Assuming my angle about it being her regrets is true, then… Maybe the pride comes from continuing despite the pressure commanding you to stay still, perhaps despite knowing that resistance is futile. 

Apart from maybe being about her relationship with her kid, it might also be referencing the completion of the Hellscreen… which, in this case, I think is her sword. For one, Ryoshu doesn’t make literal art like Yoshihide does, now substituted for violence. They’re putting a whole lot of attention on her sword, with how it’s never been unsheathed and is implied to have an extreme power if it were to be. The sword being the equivalent to the painting of hell is the only thing that makes sense. What with the Hellscreen in the story being Yoshihide’s greatest work, and also what takes the life of both him and his daughter in his arrogance (which he knew even prior to finishing it), well… I’d be surprised if this wasn’t what ends up being revealed.

Anyway, Thoracalgia. Yeah, it could be about her knowing deep down that what she’s doing is harmful, and continuing anyway. It’s a theme across her other EGO as it is. I’m not 100% confident on this, but it feels like this is the best I can get a handle on it before the canto comes out.

CONTEMPT, AWE

I think this one is meant to call back to story Yoshihide, specifically highlighting his extreme arrogance. Because, like, yeah, Ryoshu is arrogant. But it’s justified, she’s capable. And I wouldn’t say she’s, like, EXCESSIVELY arrogant in the story. Contemptshu though? 100%. This is a Ryoshu that’s a nasty unpleasant self-aggrandizing twat, going full throttle on the “I’m wayyyy better than you” angle. Here’s some of her lines.

Like, this is still recognizably Ryoshu’s speech, but turned up a notch. **NOTE: If I catch you writing regular Ryoshu like this, especially canto 5+ Ryoshu, I’m gonna tar and feather you. She does display some arrogance like this (not even to this level) towards the Sinners in the first chapters, but it’s not present anymore.

There’s an intentional parallel being drawn with Jia Huan here, and I understand why she was given both the EGO and the identity mimicking him. Jia Huan, in the story, became vicious, hateful, and arrogant after his little brother died, donning contempt. But all of the Contempt, Awe content in the game has emphasized how futile and phony this hateful attitude is. It looks intimidating and even divine, but it’s nothing more than flimsy gold in the end. Jia Huan acts like a holier than thou asshole but isn’t able to mask his care for Honglu completely, even being called out by his unique panic type called Soft Goldcasted Heart. This EGO is all about a rejection of empathy in favor of arrogance, while also showing that rejecting empathy is a weak and foolish choice. Contemptshu is a total loser, tldr.

BLIND OBSESSION

Alright, you ready for this? Blind Obsession is my favorite out of Ryoshu’s EGO, not only for what it says about her, but also what it’s saying on its own. There’s a whole other facet to the abnormality I don’t think gets acknowledged in favor of the literal “blind obsession”.

In the mirror dungeon event, it’s convincing you to sink because there’s salvation waiting at the depths. Right away, it looked like an allusion to the kind of twisted comfort you might feel in giving up, or in pursuing something you know will harm you. It really comes off to me as suicidal ideation to me, because of the tone, the comforting tone. “Chasing the light in the deep darkness” already has suicidal undertones to me, but there’s more. Siltcurrent is depicted underwater, and the thing about water in Limbus is that Kim Jihoon has said that the color and nature of the water, when coming from an abnormality or distortion, matters a lot. 

And this isn’t just the ocean, it’s the ABYSS.

Just take a look at what Siltcurrent says when you fail one of its checks in the event.

This sounds exactly like someone who has made themselves comfortable with the idea of dying, and is gently reassuring the failed sinner. 

So that’s awesome and all, but am I trying to say Ryoshu is secretly suicidal? Naw. You have to look at both halves: the idea of “blind obsession”, and the resigned ready-to-die tone. Reading Hellscreen makes it immediately obvious why this was chosen for Ryoshu. Yoshihide is characterized as someone who will go any length for art, and demands that he needs to see a recreation of the subjects he’s painting. This includes studying a corpse up close for hours, releasing dangerous animals on his apprentices, and the burning of his own daughter in the carriage, of course. Despite Ryoshu’s art being violence, she is no less enamored by bloodshed, and the same applies to her.

This EGO says that Ryoshu is pursuing something terrible to the ends of (presumably) completing the Hellscreen, in whatever form that’s going to take. It describes the chasing of even the faintest light (artistic inspiration) down willingly into the depths of hell, knowing it will kill you, and chasing it all the same. In a way, the singleminded focus she has that will surely fall on her child as well is suicidal. Her awakening quote, “Only I move in these waves”, is another nod to the self-aggrandizing attitude she and Yoshihide share.

4th MATCH FLAME

4th Match Flame stumped me for a bit. It’s simple on its surface, but it felt like there had to be something more. At least this is another she shares with other Sinners. Looking at how it differs for them can give clues as to the intent behind it all.

Okay, think about Rodya and Yisang’s real quick, especially their corrosions. The theme of destitution and suffering ties in to both of those. Rodya was herself a poor starving girl once, desperate for the comforting matchlight in a cold world (which may be why she’s the one fully aflame). Yisang is totally smouldered, barely an ember left - no bright dream could hold him anymore. The fire consumed him, its empty promise of warmth stripping the flesh from his bones. Alright, yeah, that was simple.

Then, Ryoshu… Here, I want you to see hers.

She’s burning yet unlike Yisang, but not as brightly as Rodya, her face covered in flame and her bones visible. She’s also in the same upright posture as her Awakening sprite. Disillusion, maybe? The dream is crumbling but still she walks. It hurts her yet, but clouds her vision even now. The fire covers her eyes - wrath, a blind rage, needing revenge despite the physical toll? Pride keeps her upright, walking her path of destruction despite being a dead man. She isn’t done until she says she’s done.

Being a Wrath EGO, this is likely referencing how bad she wants to kill those who took her child away (presumably). Just look at how pissed she got when Lei Heng showed up. She was going for that sword instantly, and Faust had to stop her. Literal blind rage. For this one, I think I need to not overthink it. The fire and wrath is tied to her general all-consuming rage, while also showing that it’s killing her (yet she stands proud, unwilling to fall).

Hey, it’s almost like that’s what Blind Obsession was talking about. Hmm. Also note that she attacks with her odachi in this one.

SPIDER BUD

There should be something real important about all of her Red Eyes connections, right? Two whole EGO and an identity. Thankfully, Spider Bud is extremely straightforward.

It only comes down if its babies are hurt. Like. That’s it. Just a fierce, protective mother. Easy. It really seems like there should be more here, but Spider Bud is just one of those abnos with not a whole lot of characterization. Either the deeper meaning for this is hidden in her canto or it’s as simple as it looks. She’s been likened to spiders multiple times, there’s spider’s house Lei Heng mentions, etc… 

FOREST FOR THE FLAMES

Alright, maybe this is a bit disappointing for some of you, but I have just about no leads on her base EGO. Since it’s not tied to any abnormality, it’s a lot tougher to piece together what’s going on in these. The most I can say is that it supports my sword = hellscreen theory. Just look at the way she’s cuddling it, almost looking like she’s about to draw it, kinda. Plus, the sword itself is wrapped in red bandages, perhaps seals? The Fingers are visible in the background, which isn’t anything new. Yeah. Sorry, thought it’d be better to end on a fizzle. 

Finally, with everything we’ve discussed behind us…

I really think now that canto 9 will be of the pain of seeing your child disown you, of your child growing twisted in your absence, of harboring this deep love for them that cannot ever be expressed because they do not want to be around you. I think that Ryoshu’s kid might’ve been separated from her and has been trained as a highly skilled syndicate member in the meantime. But when we get there, I think her child will have no words for her. And I think Ryoshu knows this. She’s avoiding her regret as much as humanly possible, but it IS within her.

It could be that the funny carriage times already happened in her backstory, but I really doubt it. There’s no way she’d be acting like that if her kid was already dead. Either way, she’s awful apphrensive about SOMETHING right now, either finding out the truth or not knowing how to bridge that gap.

Plus, would they want a Canto 6 rerun? We already went through “ohh I finally get to see this person I care about again, just kidding they’re actually dead” like no way we’re doing that again. Her kid’s gonna be alive and it might actually be the worse outcome for Ryoshu. At least when someone’s dead, you can cope and say that there’s no way to know now. It would be so easy to be furious about it, wouldn’t it? Easier to want revenge for their killer instead of finding a way across such a divide.

That’s not to say I don’t think they’re going to work in the overarching theme of “excessive arrogance only hurts you and the ones you love” from Hellscreen, but, y’know. It’s Limbus, it’s not gonna be that simple. With how hard they’re drilling the maternal aspect of Ryoshu, I think we’re gonna get to know her kid for a bit before… evil happens.

Ryoshu won’t shy away from making her acronyms silly in nature. Think of OOF and WOWWIE. There’s got to be a more threatening way to convey the same information, but she decides not to.

Christ’s sake, she has a straight up “while you were partying, I was studying the blade” line in her Liu identity. Do I even have to mention the Dimensional Demon Edge? I’m sorry, but in real life, Ryoshu would be a mall ninja. She’s edgy as hell in a way that she knows isn’t very cool, but she loves it, and is genuine throughout.

This confirms that she’s performing. She’s being a little shit and she’s getting a huge kick out of it. From the outside, there wouldn’t be much of a way to tell what she’s actually thinking when she says these things, but this makes it clear.

Try looking at her Ryoshuisms now with this in mind. 

It’s one thing to notice them, but noticing their absence will also be important. We aren’t there yet, but it’s something to look out for when Canto IX comes out.

Ryoshu is highly critical of other’s concepts of family (It’s unclear how she defines it, as no mention of the term gets a positive reception from her)

Check these out.

As you can see, it’s always Ryoshu who has something to say whenever anyone mentions “family”, and it’s never positive. It reads as defensive to me. The only time she doesn’t immediately shoot it down is when Heathcliff says it, but they do draw attention to Ryoshu’s silence (possibly uncomfortable silence).

Ryoshu is capable of leading others when necessary, and cares for her teammates

At a surface level, Ryoshu seems like one of the worst people you could ask to be a leader. She only seems to care when there’s bloodshed, right? Our perception is skewed because there’s no way she’s leading anything in the main story, and most of her identities show her in a subordinate role. It’s true, she’s perfectly content to be a lackey as long as it means she gets to fight, but when necessary, she can lead surprisingly well.

It’s only present in her Chief Butler and Red Eyes and Penitence IDs, both of which I think are her most important identities for the purpose of understanding her better. I’ll be talking about both of them more in the second half of the essay, but the thread between both of them is that they’re likening leadership to motherhood. 

If you were already tuned in to this, you wouldn’t have found her performance in the Spring Cultivation intervallo surprising. Of course she’s a boss at handling kids. Despite her edgy, slightly self-serious behavior, it’s just one aspect of her that she can pull herself out of when she needs to. 

Caring for her teammates, though, may be more surprising. I knew she cared, but I didn’t know how much. She’s creating distance on purpose through her behavior, making it easier to mask what she’s thinking a lot of the time. Check this out, it’s the end of TKT where Rodya is all on the fritz after the Time Ripper scoped her ass.

(Long face). I’m so serious when I say this is the only instance in the game thus far of Ryoshu stopping and giving another sinner actual encouragement. You could maybe consider the conversation she has with Don after they survive the Sweepers, but I’m kinda eh on that one. This one’s irrefutable, though. Looking back on it, it may also be that the only reason Ryoshu chose to hold her tongue when Heath was calling them all family (despite her clearly wanting to say something). She knows him and knows where he’s coming from. 

Ryoshu is one of the most perceptive people on the team

This has got to be the point with the most evidence. I feel like we (extrapolating my experience onto all of you) just kinda glazed over Ryoshu whenever she pops up in the story. She never talked that much to start with, and when she did, it was usually just expressing interest in bloodshed. Easy to tune out, right? But going through all of her text in the game made me realize how omnipresent she is where it matters.

Ryoshu reacts faster than anyone else, sometimes literally,

sometimes figuratively.

And the thing is, she’s always right. There’s never been a Ryoshu hunch that ended up being wrong. She was suspicious of Dongrang super early, and clocked the kehzan guy right away. Just look at all of Timekilling Time. They would NOT have figured that shit out without her. She did so much heavy lifting there, it’s insane. 

Her edgy, hard-to-understand nature makes for a good smokescreen for just how damn smart and keen she is. It also helps to justify her behavior. After all, an ineffective edgelord is just pathetic, but she’s managed to wrap it all the way around to being cool by virtue of being genuinely awesome.

Like here, she’s the only one to catch the wording in Erlking’s speech, with Faust throwing out the “dude shut up you’re gonna spoil it” ellipses of doom.