#venigni

----- LIES OF P AND LIES OF P OVERTURE SPOILERS -----

Back when we only had the base game, I always thought Venigni and Geppetto’s relationship was a good one.

The prince of high society only mentions Geppetto a couple of times in the game, and it always seemed like he had a good impression of him.

He even calls him “the man himself” and says that P and Geppetto are the only ones who can save Krat. To me, that made it clear Lorenzini held Geppetto in very high esteem.

He even trusted him enough to carry out the Grand Covenant with him. This was of utmost importance to Venigni, and he chose the Head of the Workshop Technicians to do it because he believed in his capabilities and genius, a trust that was, ultimately, betrayed.

All of this led me to believe that Lorenzini genuinely admired Geppetto while growing up. After all, Geppetto is the father of puppets. And while the Venignis were also inventors and creators of their own line of automated puppets, their work was unfortunately cut short.

Lorenzini clearly followed in his parents' footsteps, likely focusing entirely on puppetry after the tragedy that marked his childhood. That tragedy may have led him to look up to Geppetto, who was the puppet authority.

Starting his own company at 18 felt like a way to honor both of his role models: continuing the legacy of his parents while also paying respect to Geppetto’s work.

This is just my interpretation, but I truly believe Venigni never tried to outshine Geppetto or tear him down. He’s just an overachiever, and a genius. He was inspired by the man and wanted to bring his own version of the puppet boom to society.

And more than anything, he wanted to be deeply involved in puppet creation so he could help engrave the Grand Covenant into all puppets. I’m sure he felt incredibly honored to have worked on that project with the father of puppets himself.

So for me, reading Geppetto’s undelivered letter to Antonia broke my heart a little.

Geppetto really hated Venigni. He felt eclipsed by him. The only reason he didn’t go to full-on war against him was because of Camille. But even then, he still found a way to sabotage him, to hold something over him.

I don’t believe Geppetto installed Law Zero with the puppet frenzy in mind. I think it was just a failsafe, something to screw things up for Venigni if the time came. Just an ace up his sleeve. Because that’s the kind of man Geppetto is.

Then, when Carlo died, he repurposed it to help with the Ergo collection and the Carcass situation… but it all started because he wanted to come out on top of Venigni, who was a young man who admired him and looked up to his work.

And I hated that.

I will always choose to lie to Venigni about Romeo’s message and Law Zero. If you tell him the truth he’s not visibly heartbroken or distressed, in fact, he even finds a bit of light in the fact that there’s finally a reason behind the puppet frenzy. But I’m sure deep down, he’d feel betrayed and hurt. That someone he admired did him so dirty.