Ishmael's outfit is based on the new merch :

so i'm about 1/2 of the way through moby dick and omg. its actually hilarious how obvious it is that hugo read moby dick and just thought. it was really cool. already there's so many details (mostly in a ballad of the salty sea) that seem like they were inspired by this story and it's making me giggle,, here are a few i noticed:

"pehee-nuee-nuee" is what tarao called moby dick when he was talking about it with caine. literally the ONLY other place I can find that word is in moby dick, where it is listed as meaning "whale" in erromangoan (sye). not only is tarao maori and not erromangoan, that word just. doesn't exist. (at least according to the only erromangoan-english dictionary i could find). what does exist though is "netortor" which means "weather that is too hot to do work" and personally i think all languages should have a word for that.

that quote from the bible that caine says is in the first few pages of moby dick too

cape cod / nantucket is where the pequod sets sail from, and that's where caine lives,, and allegedly where pandora, tarao, and corto end up eventually too

there was a character called "maltese sailor",, and I know it's probably just a coincidence but,, what if,,,

also bantam was mentioned soooo

both stories personify the ocean as lowkey murderous

ishmael and corto both muse about fate, free will, and reality

the general vibe of sailing around the world and the somewhat diverse cast/crew is also similar between the two

and ofc the gay ass sailors

(^^ me anytime I see a word or name in moby dick that was also in corto maltese)