yes this is the dante theory list for those who liked this post but im also making it my pinned
First; Hi, I'm Md (they/it/anything, really) and welcome to my autism hole. Boops you. HERE is my art blog, HERE is my eldritch sideblog, HERE is my berserkerlot sideblog, and HERE is my photoblog, HERE is my and a buds FGO askblog, HERE is my AO3, HERE is my Flight Rising, HERE is my BlueSky. HERE is my Toyhouse. Okay, now back to the actual post. FGO NA fc is 086,711,305. Limbus FC is C092709920.
Md's hot hot list of Dante limbus theories that I've been sitting on since I started playing (and occasional not that)
ONE OF THESE WILL BE RIGHT. MAYBE. cut for length. discuss in the comments. contains ruina and lobocorp spoilers. maybe even leviathan spoilers. assume spoilers for the newest content. pinning so i can keep adding to it in the future. (edited 4/16) (post 9.3.5/1)
Correct theories first:
**T18. 5/16- Dante's clock hands are made from a Golden Bough. ez. LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOO canto 5.2
**T56- The Sinners are using Dante's time CONFIRMED jfc i JUST added this one too. and then tkt just confirms it like a minute later.
**T29- Dante navigator skills IM SO FUCKING HAPPY I WIN FOREVER MOM HOLY FUCK
I didnt have it written but Sign confirmed. Also, a sense of smell re-confirmed in 9.1.
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Theory 1, from early march 2023- Dante has the option to get their head back, takes it. Human Dante is shown. except clearly hiding unfamiliarity with the sinners. The clock head is still alive. A clock doesnt need a body to live. Human evil dante uses the golden whatever to cause Problems and has the sinners chained to them. vergil is free tho so he can beat down evil dante. (this now works with a canto 5 tidbit where vergil said he'd only step in if "all sinners dead, dante is beaten, and the hands of the clock are about to be torn off".)
T2, 3/12- 9 circles of hell, Dante, and a few subsections. Dante is sinner 10. Charon is also in the divine comedy so she'll get a section. Dante are u lucifer. who is the lucifer of the setting?? i'm saying pre-dante Dante until otherwise noted. (not personally fond of this one)
T3, 3/15- iori saw limbus going a certain way and guaranteed it by making sure Dante got factory reset by force. villain to cause heroism. (dont know enough about Iori for this one)
**T4- Backwards clock relation possible. (possibly canon validated) (even more possible connection as of 6.3)
T5- Saying Dante had a significant other named Beatrice is way too low bar but It's a necessary one. ech
T6- Dante IS Beatrice and given the name of someone else. (too ez)
T7, 3/17- future Dante guaranteeing the future changes by getting past Dante's head removed. issue solved. This one is based on the opening and reading the lyrics real goodly.
T8, 3/20- Dante's head has a lil bit of angelas ai in there. or ayin data. benjamin. any of them. carmen even. fuck whatever. maybe hokma bc ticking in ruina theme. (this one lead to some Better Ideas. see later) (4/7) POSSIBLY SUPPORTED BY 6.2. WHY DID THEY SEE THAT.
T9, 3/23- The three censored letters. B E A, S I N, E G O, A L I, who knows. v e r. could be anything this one is nothing
T10, 3/26- Faust VERY SPECIFICALLY says that brains cant be replaced-- so even if Dante gets their head back, it's incompatible now. (!! this is a Top Theory)
T11, 3/28- Beatrice or someone else died around Christmas, which makes Dante sad even without their memories. The pain exists but the context is missing. (They also seem to know Christmas music without any issue, able to sing along with Charon in their head. This is not addressed in canon.)
T12, 3/30- Beatrice was one of the orphans that died in Leviathan :) the time period matches up. It was around Christmas.
T13, 3/31- HARD LOBOCORP SPOILER. Thinking about In Hell We Live (Lament). "Each loop we live/die thru"? How many times? How many times has Dante done this? Or Pre-Dante, anyway. Faust is probably in on it. The new L corp took one look at what Ayin was doing and went "we can do that too lmao". Losing their memory was a base requirement to prevent madness. I rewrote this theory on 9/19 but added "to prevent a paradox". but i mean. Limbus is the new L corp. no doubt.
T14, 4/18- Less a HC and more a suggestion, just use F Corp's shit to Unlock Dante's memory. If we ever visit District F, you KNOW Faust is gonna keep them on one hell of a tight leash.
T15- Is the Star a Singularity? Did Dante STEAL it? Are THEY the singularity? The clock? This one's too easy too though.
T15.5- They're a Star. lots of credence considering Demian and Sanson.
T16, 5/8- WAT IF THE STAR IS LUCIFER. MORNING STAR. CAN MANIPULATE SOULS IN HELL. (weak but proj moon loves their Christian imagery. this will come back repeatedly) not this one. maybe
T17, 5/10- Dante is either connected to whitenight OR a jesus figure (12 apostles, sin, not dying when killed, revives people, etc. the christianity again. it will continue. i already drew plague doc dante.) (4/7, possible but carmen is the lucifer adjacent if 6-34 is anything to go by. jesus is still open.)
T19. 6/16- This has 0 canon basis but what if Dante was a Bloodfiend, would that be cool or what? They already don't need to eat, but is that from the clock or something else? Do they get IVs with nutrients? How does this work? Idk. I just want Dante to cut their hand open, make giant claws and rip a man apart before eating dirt. Dante can chew on a Sinner as a treat. c: I just want this one. it's not canon especially with c7 and post warp but like. man
T20- Wouldn't it be fucked up if Dante found their head and it had either Distorted or was an Abnormality??
T21, 9/29- Religious Bastard Dieci Dante Aligheri.
T22- Dante has gotten Very Attached to the Sinners as their only form of contact while they've gotten themselves together. They recently realized many Sinners are doing this for the end goals, not to be a team. This seemed to upset them. UPSET THEM MORE. DISTORT THEM. DANTE REALIZES THEY'LL ALL LEAVE WITHOUT A CARE IN THE WORLD. Carmen! Come get this bitch. This one is getting less and less likely.
T23- Actually, Dante should distort for any reason. I Absolutely Understand the Mechanics (lying). Got too depressed, hit -45 SAN and decided they're just a useless tool instead of a person? Absolutely. You're now a piece of equipment. (when Heath asks if they're okay in canto 5 bc they got injured, dante responds "the clocks fine so who cares?") (I now understand the mechanics but want it anyway) They won't.
T24- Building off the previous, they're really starting to believe they're just a tool like how Gregor thinks he's a bug. That Is Not Good For Your Mental Health (garry ib icon.png)
T25- Putting this here just before my fav one, their skin. We never see it, so a list of potential possibilities excluding Being White bc that's BORING: Any POC, ashy skin (like vergil), dark ashy (charon), pure black or close to (a lot of people do this, me included), dark and covered in stars, very tattooed, very mechanical, just outright a robot, bloodfiend again, scarred, frankensteiny, bough roots, fucked up censored, ETC. Based on the few images we have that show anything, it's just pitch black under there unless it's a skinsuit. the rest of them may be any of the above but for now most of these are defunct.
T26- Dante is an AI. They have never been human, just machine. At least one of their creators cared enough to do better than Ayin ever fucking did, fostering curiosity and a desire to live in the little AI. Thing is, after Angela, AI became Very Illegal. There's no way their creators survived. L Corp New got them. Old AI Dante was, at their core, still an unfeeling machine that made decisions based purely on cold logic. New Dante is a person that is learning and growing, refusing to follow the colder path at times.
Is the clock part of them? Unsure. That can work either way.
But they're definitely becoming a person who doesn't want every encounter to end in bloodshed and death. Good for them. (this part is correct)
T27- Dante is not Ruina Dante. they didn't get booked. I think they'd throw hands on sight.
T28- Verg/Dante that's all glory to yxxiville
T30- I missed one! Their eyes with a human head. This has a few that rotate. Red eyes, Gold eyes, Gold with the star, heterochromia with only one gold/star and red, pitch black (pre-d), or night sky/star. mix and match. who cares?
T31- I personally like the idea of Dante being a redhead (real red not ginger like ish) but realize it doesn't make much sense. Black hair works too, esp smoky, but they need more color. maybe fire streaks? if POC, maybe dreads?
T32- I am now also accepting heathcliff/dante post canto 5.1 he care so much.... actually just sinner polycule is valid. so is sinner family. both work. the only part I dont like is dante/faust. doesn't feel right. Charon excluded. that is our child. sinner x any other sinner. dante x anyone. including vergil. not charon.
T33- Forgot an old one where I figured Dante was a hacker that got into a Lot of trouble and being sinner #10 was meant to be a suicide mission.
T34- Dante being an ai part 2, having been planted in a body. maybe even a body they knew.
T36- Memory loss being fully intentional to kill their previous self and only carry over the necessary. A new start.
T37- Yknow how we never SAW Dante being an upper torso and arm in canto 3? Why? What is being hidden that's so important? robot parts? are you a robot? are you a -
T38- Dante being an artist of any kind. musician, poet, painter, etc. even post amnesia. give em a hobby
T39- Somewhere else I discussed forms that'd be fun for a Dante Distortion but i cant find it so ill reiterate: coffin spider, all around helper clock, useless fucking thing. all of which have gold chains suffocating them and it doesnt fight back. give it morphine
T40- this one's insane but dante's og self being the Player/self-insert. thats why they were "Me" and not "Dante" we're not them. but we also are. (in tkt theres an npc names Mai so like. its close)
T41- This ones a joke but og dantes name actually just being "Me". (but not pronounced that way) (alternatively it was a nickname)
T42- Dante being an interviewer or reporter- A big name one. No wonder they keep secrets like K corps singularity. They can release that publicly later... if they choose to.
T42.5- Or a detective, if Spring event's dante section had anything to do with it.
T43- RECREATE CARMEN. DO IT PUSSY. That 5.5 Blade scene is Damning as all hell. That or the bough + the monolith had an Interaction. now feat hierarch ish uptie bc HUH.
T44- Dante's internal programming knows the City Lore but Dante isn't allowed to know. The fact so much of that scene was censored...
T45- Dante is Bongbong
T46- I haven't beaten Ruina so I don't know a lot about Constructs or Librarians but like. Maybe they were one of those.
T47- Dante is going to eventually explode (figuratively). Even they can only take so much abuse and bullshit. Self-esteem can only go so low. The feelings they get from extreme moments add to this (see: don sancho checkup)
T48- Dante being a disaster chimera of stuff. AI made of someone else's brain, in someone else's body, with other stuff installed, etc, etc, etc.
T49- The Star reminds me too much of Blue Star, talking about Sin and such. Maybe it's an abno relating to that. who knows. THIS THEORY HAS GAINED CREDENCE DUE TO ARKNIGHTS EVENT.
T50- Dante is an ID and there's a mirror in their head keeping them active. I hope they do a Charon/Lapis and totally overwrite the og bc the og's an asshole.
T51- Dante's the first successful "new human"
T52- Dante IS fucked up but something in their head hides the fuckedupness from everyone else.
T53- Dante is connected to that "ancient river".
T54- Dante was part of the 13th association.
T55- Dante stops keeping info to themselves so damn often. This is basically a bingo free space. They're getting better about this one. way better.
T57- Dante is a star. just straight up. OKAY HOLD ON POST C7. DEMIAN WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY FELL FROM THE SKY
T58, 7/7- Dante's name is Da'at or something similar. it's a hidden sephirot. iIT'S NUMBER 10. WAIT THIS FUCKS TO THE TOP OF THE LIST THIS GOES.
T59- They're gonna dance!! Listen. c2 too embarrassed. c7 they consider it. soon. i need them to be so good at it. its so easy pm please
T61- Dante is from X-corp. literal hellholes....
T62- DANTE is human. the SINNERS are demons now.
T63- Dante cannot be killed in this world. It's against the "flow".
T63.5- CAN THEY DIE IN NON CITY WORLDS???
T64- dante underwent memory loss so they weren't so depressed that the gate would stay open. It will eventually be open. Give us the demons, pm.
T65- OBTAIN CERBERUS
T66- I see. book dante had 7 sins engraved on his head. 7. 7 sin types. I understand.
T67- they did in fact write "im so fucking cool" fanfic. and now they gotta survive it.
T68- their name was Dis. as in lucifer from the inferno.
T69- We're looking in the wrong place. Dante is based on the actual man and not the fanfic character. Politician with the goal of being free from the pope, or in this case, the Head.
T70- OG Dante was blind. That's why we had 0 visuals until they swapped heads.
T71- Just because they had dialogue doesn't mean OG Dante had a real voice. Could be telepathy or somethin
T72- Dante was either a dieci Saint OR has a holy relic in them/their head
T73- This is the second time Dante is described as running on four legs. I don't think that part's a joke anymore. animal pre-dante.
T74- Actually hold on. There is no way Dante normal knows of ryoshu's sword, or hongs eye doing that, or kkomi's exact make. Danteh. Pre-danteh, nice to see you in there maybe.
T75- pinkie dante thats all bye. or some finger
T76- Dante is the wishgranter/maker. we the player are the observer.
T77- Carmen had a Kkomi hair pin. the red bear is very associated with her. Charon has a Kkomi plush. Charon has occasionally said 'we' instead of 'Charon' or 'I'. Midsummer's night was not a natural event. Charon and Carmen are connected somehow.
T78- I do have to add the dante = ayin theory here. legally. its far too valid. they can hear carmen speaking to complete strangers. distortions can hear THEM. very light associated. very soothing those running mad associated. im upset. i hate dante = ayin. but... it does work.
T79- Ayin is the star Dante contracted with.
