SOLEIL ☀︎

This is a post reuploaded to be independent in hopes to keep those I've previously addressed anonymous & comfortable. Exampled screenshots of Lei Heng's dialogue above are mine, other more detailed ones are not and are reuploaded from a Twitter user by the name of aolinyijiang. Wording from my original post has not been altered aside from this brief explanation and small parts that related to other users changed to include a wider and more indirect range in their phrasing. Despite this being quite an old controversy now, just over a year old since the release of Canto VIII, I'm aware that there are still people who don't know and I'd like to bring a smidge of attention back to it to clear things up.

In posting this, I, of course, mean no disrespect to people previously attempting to bring awareness to issues regarding Lei Heng's characterization as a misogynist in the translation as everyone was clearly very well-intentioned, but I would like to (attempt to) make it known to those who are still unaware that Lei Heng's English dialogue has been grossly mistranslated. Pictured above are examples of these mistranslated lines of dialogue that have understandably lead to his character being misunderstood & severely disliked, and I'd like to make it clear in a bigger independent post that this isn't the case at all.

I ask that English-speaking fans who have never researched the original Korean translations, or those who are not a part of the Limbus Company (and by extension, Project Moon) fandom who have seen such things said about this character, Lei Heng, to take a moment of their time to read and understand what I will explain below, as this completely alters—dare I say ruins—his intended characterization.

To preface: Lei Heng is obviously still a villain who has done bad things in the story and self shipping should be executed with care and without disregard to his actions. Those that ignore his actions clearly have no regard for his character past his looks, and that is disappointing. His character should be enjoyed critically, although of course I can for sure say as much for any character in the Project Moon universe.

Those who feel uncomfortable with it or still dislike his character despite these things being mistranslated owe no one an explanation, simply because these characters are fictional and this is the internet, I believe no one needs to explain or worry themselves over something like this whether they enjoy this character or not. Despite this, I feel that it is unfair to those unaware to keep them in the dark about this, so I felt an update to this (now quite old) controversy was needed as people whose work I enjoy have been misinformed without any way of confirming.

While the English translations still remain in game and presumably will continue to exist in Canto VIII, of course giving Western (or any) fans the right to be uncomfortable with his portrayal, especially those that have been victimized by sexual harassment and/or misogyny, Lei Heng is absolutely not portrayed in such a way in his original characterization. He is not truly a perpetrator of sexual harassment in the original Korean dialogue, nor is he intended to be a misogynist.

Below are images of in-depth explanations for the mistranslated Korean dialogue, what went wrong in their wording, a somewhat brief explanation of the dialect Lei Heng speaks in (Jeolla-do, or 전라도), how these relate to him and his literary source, and direct translations and explanations for his dialogue with Ryōshū.