Hong Lu's Torture Labyrinth

~*✨🔮✨*~

*~ I go primarily by Lu, I use He/They/It pronouns (slight preference for He/him).

*~ 25, transmasc, gay, alloaro.

*~ I struggle with memory issues and a bunch of other Neurodivergent Shit. Please be patient with me~

*~ Currently fixated on Project Moon, especially Limbus Company. I'll ramble about my theories and character analysis if prompted.

*~ Hong Lu x Yi Sang is my comfort ship. Yi Sang is my comfort character.

*~ Hong Lu is literally me. I don’t know how it happened but it did.

*~ My LCB Manager ID is P372226062. My Ko-fi is StriderFeather and my Commissions are open most of the time.

*~ I’m the person behind the LCB Swear Jar Doc. Link here! (currently not being maintained)

*~ I’m also the guy that can’t stop making In-Depth Analysis Posts. I’m like 99% sure whoever did the Analysis page for Limbus Company’s TVTropes took heavy inspiration from my Sin Analysis Guide and I think it’s really funny. Godspeed random person out there.

*~ If you’re here to ask what’s a good translation for Dream of the Red Chamber aka Hong Lu’s source, the one I’ve (partially) read and heard good things about is the David Hawkes translation going under the title The Story of the Stone. You’re welcome. o7

I enjoyed it for what it was!

Xichun's character development was nice to see, as was seeing all of the Sinners contributing something personal to them. I liked how some of them were a bit more out there, like Ishmael bringing out a TTRPG.

I was a bit more eh on them bringing back some of the NPCs from Canto 8, those guys seemed like they were made to be forgettable so bringing them back seemed a bit off to me.

Man, that's a hard question. There's so many of them y'know.

I suppose enough time has passed for this post to not need a spoiler warning.

Overall? I liked the Canto, but I felt like it could have been more. I wasn't exactly disappointed per se, but I do feel like something was missing that could have made it jump from good to great.

I loved Part 2 a lot, it was the best Part 2 out of every Canto, but I felt like the pacing on Part 3 felt off by comparison. It didn't feel as climactic compared to other Cantos if that makes any sense.

What do you think is the most Fucked Up scene in Canto VIII, since there are two in particular that really stuck out to me and I wanna see how many people are on the same wavelengths as me.

Oh man, there's a lot that is Fucked Up in this Canto, but if I had to choose one...

1: so it's revealed in canto 8 that his name isnt really hong lu (jia baoyu but we knew this) and he says when faust recruits him "Hong Lu. I want to be Hong Lu." now this is cool as i interpreted it as him finally doing something of his OWN will and not "surrendering" to what others want of him. now my question is why Hong Lu?? why that in particular. as far as i can tell theres no explanation as to why he chooses Hong Lu in specific, not even a mention to its meaning. i ask what your thoughts are

2: have you seen ishmael's xichun id uptie story yet? would love to hear your thoughts there too

Oh boy I really neglected my asks, let's fix that a bit huh.

Considering how early in the timeline that happens, I doubt the meaning of the name is that uplifting. Yes, he chose the name himself, but he also refused to name any wish of his own. My own theory is that it's him putting into words what he feels like he is. Hong(yuan)'s Jade. Hong Lu.

Do you like Project Moon? Do you like Pride Month and supporting the LGBTQIA+ community? Do you remember the Absolute Pride Resonance event from last year?

If you answered yes to any of these, you might be interested in the Absolute Pride Resonance 2: Absoluter Prider Resonancer. That's right, it's happening again this very June! With some returning faces, and some new ones!

For those uninitiated, APR is an event on YouTube where PM content creators come together to raise money for Outright International, a charity organization helping LGBTQIA+ people all over the world. There's plenty of fun events to go around, some returning and some brand new, alongside rewards for reaching certain donation goals!

Yes, Two in One is dead. Completely destroyed brain dead. And yet, Hong Lu's Daiyuisms continue.

The way Hong Lu's parents treat him like this frail, sickly thing reminds me more of Daiyu than Baoyu after all. Not just that, but the fact that he recites the extremely Daiyu Flower Burial poem in the intro of the Canto is still unaddressed.

So, what gives? Why is Hong Lu still seemingly having references to Daiyu? Well, that's what this observation is about.

I believe this isn't exclusive to just Hong Lu. I believe all of the main three - Baoyu, Daiyu, and Baochai - have had elements of them shuffled.

Baochai's introduction is a noticeable parallel to book Baoyu's introduction, both her energetic and inquisitive personality and the whole "shared jade" thing.

Additionally, Limbus Baochai lacks her book counterpart's golden locket, instead having a jade pendant more reminiscent of book Baoyu.

Then there's Daiyu. Her current motivation for serving the Xue family struck me, as book Daiyu has no real family left to care for as both her parents are dead. No, her motivation rather reminds me of book Baochai's motivation to marry Baoyu, that being to support her own family by marrying into a more prestigious one.

Additionally, whereas Limbus Baochai lacks a golden locket, Limbus Daiyu seemingly makes up for it by having golden accents in her primarily blue and gray design.

So here's what I think happened: we're dealing with what I'd like to call The ShuffleTM. The main trio of DOTRC have had their roles partially swapped in their adaptation into Limbus. Baochai parallels Baoyu. Daiyu parallels Baochai. Baoyu parallels Daiyu.