#iago lcb

In the meantime I want to show you an unfinished art I made of Iago back in February.

Dialogue sprite for Iago! The antagonist of Othello and new member of N Corp.

His design is based on Shun, my headmate. It was cathartic to put ourselves in this villain's mind. He is obsessed with ruining Othello's life, and stops at nothing to achieve it. But he is also rational to a frightening degree, when he silences anyone after using them to carry out his plans. A careful coward if you will. He never took the surefire way of just outright killing Othello himself, instead he wanted that person to stoop to his level and be so disgusted by what they were made to do that they choose death at their own hands. Iago is my schizo voices personified. It's kind of comforting to be hated so relentlessly. I also feel bad for him, as his inferiority complex to Othello is so pathologic. Hating someone else to live is still depending on them to give yourself value. I wonder if there will ever be a point for he and the rest of N corp experience a genuine change of heart and work on setting themselves free.

Been thinking of the Wuthering Heights mirror world for my Sinners.

Shou <- Heathcliff

Desdemona <- Cathy

Emilia <- Hindley

Cassio <- Mr Earnshaw

Fajie <- Linton

Ermine <- Nelly

Sirin <- Edgar Family Butler

Othello <- Josephine

Thrones <- Matt

(FYI: Desdemona, Emilia, Cassio and Othello are characters that make up Sinner 12’s story)

Here’s the silly part.

When they returned to U Corp, the guide took them straight back to the Killer Whale Office. They haven’t come back home since they were lost at the lakes and rescued by Limbus Company, but instead of releasing them, Limbus Company employed them to travel with the Dream Tram. But as usual, they never protested.

When they returned, they didn’t know how to feel about their past home, before they became a whale. Their bodies still stored the memories, and they would sit down on the office desk like it was any other day. But now someone else is there, replacing their position. It was Cassio, their oldest employee who was fired right before the Whaling incident.

Cassio recognised them immediately from the hat, but she couldn’t understand why they were in that miserable state. Then Cassio started to doubt them of being an impostor, as they couldn’t even remember if they were Othello, Desdemona or Emilia. Cassio wailed in grief for those three, and casted Othello out of their Office.

When I think of how to define their relationship together, it’s hard to say for sure. But as Cassio puts it, they were like childhood friends who found each other as adults. Cassio came to Othello’s Office after the Smoke War, being older and way too injured to be working at other Offices, looking for a job as the assistant, anything. But instead he found Othello just doing everything on their own, from designing the Office to contacting potential employers.

It made him feel safe even though the favour was too great to return. But still Othello just let her stay in the Office and feed her whatever they were able to scavenge from the lakes. To Othello, the fact that Cassio is scared of death reassures them too, that this person would never risk her life for them. As long as that remains true, then Othello would let her stay as much he wishes.

Until he got severely injured at the hands of Iago. But he didn’t know that, so when he reported to Othello that pirates of the Middle attacked him and he retaliated, seeking shelter from them again, Othello got afraid and ran away from her, choosing the Office and all their employees over her. All of that was a part of Iago’s calculations, to drive them apart and force Othello into a deep instability. That’s why they went to the Lake in a hurry to escape the Middle and ended up being swallowed by the Whale instead.

Iago had planned to frame Othello from the start and have the Middle chase them across the Lakes. (…is that why Ricardo was sailing out?) But instead Othello ended up doing something with the Resonance Tuning Fork that fused their identity with Desdemona, Emilia and the Pallid Whale. So the Middle would never be able to find Othello. Not even Othello could find themselves anymore. That’s why in all of their IDs, they are lost, wandering and asking if anyone remembers.

And who remembers? Only Cassio and Iago… Their memories were also overwritten, one with hatred and one with love. Iago sees all of them as a monstrosity that this world was better off with, while Cassio saw them as home. So even if she didn’t recognise Othello, she recognised that orca tail hat as the Office’s insignia. The insignia that Othello had designed themselves… even if they are gone, somebody still made that, so Cassio clings onto the remnants of the Office, waiting for news of someone to return everyday. Just like Othello, living without asking for anything and receiving anything they were given, but she couldn’t be happier with that life.

It brought reality back to Othello and reminded them that they were never happy with just submitting to the waves, even if they told themselves that. They wanted, even if it hurts their pride to admit that. They were always charting a future for everyone beneath, even if they were convinced they could never amount to anything. And worst yet, because they had believed in their affectlessness, they didn’t see the pain they caused those who beneath them.

And I know in their ego wounded state they would’ve said they never asked for anyone to follow them. But that’s just a lie. They did invite others under their wing and took care of them. They did employ people who were loyal to them, but acted like it was nothing. That’s what hurts and drove their relationships to fall. Iago wanted to prove himself to his father figure, but said parent always only ever looked at Emilia, who was considered an ideal student so nobody else mattered. So since he couldn’t have the approval he wanted, he discarded all of them. It was awfully entitled of him, but as he was the youngest, it was bound to happen.

And Cassio wasn’t clean either. He was the oldest, but he never parented any of them. Only ever choosing to see them as this vague fluffy idea of home, unchanging, always welcoming him. Even a space that presents so lovingly could be smothering and toxic. Everyone was only ever looking at themselves and what they wanted out of this relationship. Meanwhile, the ones who are being bullied like Desdemona could only speak to the wind.

One way to break the generational curse is to start caring for the things you neglected to care for. That’s why I want to make Desdemona the key character in Othello’s mirror worlds. She didn’t deserve to be dragged down by them and treated as a monster just because they were. Being involved with a bad family doesn’t make you a bad person. It’s a family that taught her to be grateful for any crumbs of kindness that life throws at her. But that’s not a good way to live. She never got to know any other life because they robbed it of her. It’s a tragedy.

Also through the lens of being a system, sometimes you only break through your worst habits because it’s hurting someone else within you. Like you would have been fine hurting yourself, until you feel just how much it hurts to live with you. Then it’s a harsh reality check that forces you to rethink your life choices.

This bit was strange to me, until I thought about deeper. I felt like we were condemning Cassio way more than Iago, which is part of Othello’s blind spot. Iago made her doubt Cassio and Desdemona, while taking advantage of her trust for Emilia to make him steal the Resonance Tuning Fork…

But because she didn’t know that, all this time she kept thinking that Iago is still the kid she took in when he was just old enough to be a fixer.. So when she saw Iago dragging injured Cassio back and reported that he got in trouble with the Middle, she obviously blamed the older adult here.

But the interesting thing I want to talk about is how even after realising the betrayal, she’s not angry, she’s just confused. Like she couldn’t comprehend what would drive Iago to do all these things, so she keeps trying to reach out to him for an explanation. Othello’s own “Answer me, Jia Baoyu” fight. Serious parallels here 😭 except the part where Iago did do bad.

Iago’s character doth interest me lots 👁️👁️ if you ask a racist why they’re racist, they’ll just tell you what they believe in instead of why. And it may be pointless to even ask, because they will materially hurt you regardless of what they believe in. Like what Iago did, regardless of what Othello did to raise him, he still harmed her and the rest of Killer Whale Office. But really for what?

It pisses him off that she kept trying to pry into his mind after everything, but her wish to know is the thing that resonates with the golden bough the most. Her base EGO foreshadows this discussion btw. Pre Canto, the line was “Chi di gatta nasce, sorci piglia.” which means something like it’s only natural for a cat to catch mice. Implying its innate instinct to hunt, and also reflective of the self hatred Othello has for herself.

After confronting Iago, that might take on a new meaning with him. He has a guttural hatred beyond reasoning for Othello, that he lauds as just inherently his nature. But is it true? Is it nature or nurture that makes him hate Othello? We know of Iago’s character as an exceptional racist in Shakespeare’s play, but is he inherently eviler than everyone in that society or just motivated enough to do what they wouldn’t do?

That’s what I keep thinking about… 🤔 more than anything, he hates being challenged like that. He will lie and tell you he’s the most evil person in the world, but all of that is just an act meant to keep your eyes lingering on him a little bit longer. Because in reality he’s most definitely insecure and worried that he’ll be replaced constantly. That’s why he would discard Emilia first…

He hated that a Black person had more power than him and withholding that currency of attention he craves so much. He hates that it was given to Emilia, who he will try for any reason to deny the validity of his praise. And he hates Cassio too, for doing nothing and still standing equally with Othello.

I heard that to be jealous, you need to feel possessive over what you’re jealous about. Otherwise it’s envy, when you want what you don’t have. Iago is jealous of what he thinks he deserves, even if he would never achieve it with his current level of skill. But still instead of being open minded, he just keeps feeling entitled instead, letting his resentment fester when he could have just talked it out with Othello.

He should have, because Othello was his parental figure here… but he didn’t trust her. Once again, he’s just acting on his feelings and refusing to care about anyone else. Not to demonise anyone with NPD though, I really wanted to explore his psyche because he is like this.

Discussion about race in writing below:

I want to talk about some ideas I have for better characterisation of them. Othello is a cautionary character, one of the ways it shows up is just how willing they are to do horrific shit first, and think about it later. (They don’t parallel Outis for no reason 😭)

The racial aspect of the original play is most important to me. Othello is Black, and on the Tram they repeatedly put down their own people in favour of other races. It’s a subconscious bias I see especially from my parents that like “you’re my kid, you should endure suffering like I have. Other kids have it easier but that’s no excuse for you.” I’ve made Othello’s relationship with Iago, Desdemona and Emilia specifically parental because of that.

I also made Desdemona Black to highlight that point even more. Othello thinks they’re entitled to abuse Desdemona because she’s dark skinned and supposed to be loyal no matter what. I based this dynamic from what I’ve seen of Black men to Black women, but Othello doesn’t have to be a man necessarily to make this work, they just have to have power over Desdemona to justify abusing her while also claiming to love her. This love isn’t romantic in my adaptation.

The racial aspect Iago has with Othello is kept, although I don’t need to spell it out. Iago planned all of that life ruining schemes to feed Othello to the whale just because he thinks Othello keeps him back from where he should be. That is surely entitlement that the source Iago shows. I didn’t make him white though because he’s not actually at the top of the food chain (so to speak).

The only white person here is Emilia. Not beyond just visual representation but in text. He is propped up by Othello every chance they get, he demands fair pay for himself while others stay quiet and accept what they get dealt, and in general he’s always just ?? Never letting himself get held back by the shit others endure. Not to say any of that is a bad thing, but there is clearly a large gap here between all of them.

Iago cozied up to Emilia the most, and he didn’t question it, but Iago actually hated his guts because Iago wants all of that attention on themselves, not Emilia. 😭 and while Emilia doesn’t think Desdemona deserves the flack she’s getting, he rarely expends his energy into defending her either. It’s exactly that lack of questioning that’s rewarded by Othello.

This loops back to discussing Othello. It can be frustrating at times to see how they always charge in first and figure it out later. While their survival is commendable, it’s clear just how much they only look ahead, because anyone who can’t keep up with them gets ruthlessly left behind. That lack of reflection and accommodation is why they continue to everyone in their care (if you can even call it that). That is their personal flaw, a deep seated problem made worse by their age. Othello is 60 and a veteran‼️

I wanted to get these blorbos out of my head so bad, they escaped containment.

Left to right, Desdemona -> Emilia -> Othello -> Iago.

Long story below if you fancy a reading-