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Mnestic Experience seems to focus on the concept of Taboos and the violation thereof; the main image for it indicates it's going to center around Kim and Aeng-du (S Corp fugitives), Ezra and Meursault (N Corp fugitives), Yi Sang (T Corp fugitive), and... Faust. As such, Faust has likely violated some Taboo or other in the past.

MOTWE has Faust imply that she is under constant surveillance and has her every action scrutinized and controlled; while this could refer to the Gesellschaft, they seem to care a lot less about actions and more about knowledge and results - whether she does or doesn't collect the Boughs. As such, it's possible that Faust is also being surveilled by a third party.

Faust's characterization and appearance both draw heavily from Angela, an AI who by her very nature violates the laws of the Head; the Head's Beholders also seem likely to be one of the few factions of the City capable of placing someone under perpetual surveillance, and we see in LoR that they're willing to let certain Taboos slide so long as the person who violates them has the potential to un-violate them, with Angela being allowed to live in the City so long as she's on the path to obtaining the One True Book and transforming into a human.

In the latter half of Goethe's Faust, Faust dedicates himself to the project of creating a new country by pushing back the sea and creating more space for humanity to live. In the world of Limbus Company, this would likely translate to something like Faust pushing out the City's borders into the Outskirts, something that the Head as a pro-human faction would likely be extremely interested in the success of, explaining why they might then tolerate the continued existence of someone who has violated a Taboo.

Hello, everyone and today, we are here for the final (for now) analysis for Hong Lu's EGO!

I won't do a separate post for "To remain oneself" as it is mainly a collab EGO and that have no idea on what it represents for Hong Lu when I don't know much about Lin. From the title though, I can say it's about how one has to find the true self within oneself, how one's true nature must not be lost but affirmed...

Anyways, this is going to be a very long analysis concerning this EGO because there are lot of things to say and I'm not joking. I will possibly make another part if I consider it too long.

Anyway, this EGO has numerous themes like punishment, disgust over one's body, heaven, and much more.

But first, we will have to talk about the abnormality whose that EGO is extracted from!

■ Yinglong

Indeed, Tears of the Tarnished Blood is extracted from Yinglong, an big and enormous white-red dragon.

To have a more a concise and precise description, here's the one from the wiki:

"Yinglong possesses a quadrupedal white-scaled dragon-like form, with a coiling neck longer than its torso, long whiskers, a beard and a tail that appears to have been severed some distance from its tip. It has a pair of small antler-like horns with similar protrusions on its neck , as well as what appear to be gills. "

"Many of its scales appear to be peeling from its skin, while numerous open wounds are present on its body, similar to the fleshy parts of the Abnormality's nonfunctional wings, and the recessed area around its white eyes."

"Its torso appears to be impaled by multiple red double-headed pins. It's hind legs appear to be four-toed, though its front legs are three-toed."

So, from that description, we can observe multiples things, things who will be important to remember. First and foremost to note is its appearance. Often, Chinese dragons are associate with the divine, as a sort of benevolent protector or deity and Yinglong's appearance gives that impression of divinity.

The wings but primarily the color white, establish that sensation of a divine being. As we know, the color white is often associated, whether it be in western mythology or eastern mythology, with purity, innocence. We can also linked yhe color white to that idea of upper class and nobility (classicism) from the Chinese culture as well. But this color mainly represents mourning, death, in contrary to western culture though it doesn't matter much for us now.

Anyway, as we said, the color white is very present in its appearance as it is the color of its skin and eyes. But there is also another color and it's the color red, well more exactly blood. As seen and explained by the description of the wiki, its scales are being peeled from his skin and there are numerous wounds on his body.

Ans it's intentional! Rather than looking like a divine, mythical dragon, he appears more beast like. The blood makes it, tainted, tarnished as if it was stripped of its purity and nobility. The dragon is no more divine but simply an animal.

That vision is reinforced by the multiples red double-headed pins, piercing its torso, reinforcing that idea of it being stripped off of his nobility and divinity, as if it was persecuted, punished for some actions or act that it committed. Even the tail seems to be severed from its tips.

But that is the Yinglong who have undergone, Heaven's degree, Yinglong's state in the phase 3 of section 2 of RR6!

His original appearance is more divine, with it not being tainted in blood nor being pierced by those red double-headed pins:

As we can see, it is originally mostly white with its scales being white, in contrary to his state in phase 3 where it seems that it is in great pain...

So from what we can gather from the abnormality's description, are sensations of divinity with color of white, showing the nobility and a sense arrogance from looking down from above. But in its other phase, its appearance appears more monstrous than divine with his purity and so divinity being tainted by blood, with his skin peeling and wounds revealing everywhere on his skin.

There is also that idea being punished, to undergo punishment and suffering with the double red double-headed pins piercing its torso.

So those two ideas, "punishment" and the idea of being "tarnished", "tainted" are mainly expressed through that abnormality but let's see in more details our confrontation against the dragon. It should give us more details about it and its story.

■ Yinglong's fight

Rather than the fight itself, what interests me more are his sins as they reflect the meaning behind his behavior but also his feelings as well!

So let's begin with the least important one, the one who appears one time, Pride

So, Yinglong having pride as a sin is interesting because as we know, the sin of pride is described in-game as:

"Wheels. Symbol of technology and the vector of humanity's ultimate pursuit. The wheel, in its boundless pride, rolls on and on in search of the perfect circle, something unconquered even by nature."

"Yet... it remains uncaring for the flesh it rends nor the grass it tramples in its path."

"One might even say that pride is but another name for overconfidence. ltoft claims trailblazers or those who have never tasted failure."

Pride can also be considered as the ignorance of the consequences of one's actions or the act of burdening everything by itself but for Yinglong, it seems more akin to overconfidence but not in himself but in Heaven, in Heaven's degree.

At first, a form of arrogance is observed by most sinners. As the abnormality is looking down on them from above As if it was loathing them. According to Hong Lu, it seemed to be the case.

"Thinking back, maybe the Dragon thought we were bad people because we kept refusing to accept its divine punishment."

"In every story I know, the dragons on high always seem to loathe the wicked."

As remarked once again by Hong Lu, in the observation log,

"Every so often, the Dragon would let out a great roar and lift its head high toward the sky."

"And when that happens, red stakes would come falling down from the sky, almost as if heavenly retribution were raining down on us..."

And Dante later in the observation log when Hong Lu asked about the wedge,

"When we'd been outside before we were swallowed, the Dragon didn't have any huge stakes driven into its body."

"So I asked Dante, who'd remained outside the whole time without getting swallowed along with us."

"Dante said it was an enormous wedge that came down from the layer of the heavens even higher than the one the Dragon had been floating in."

Those wedges called "Flower-burying pin" seemed to be attacks used by Yinglong

Considering that this attack appears only when the "The Descending Pin" is not countered successfully, it's fair to assume that all of his arrogance and pride can be understood through the success of the heavens' will and decree, showing in one way, it's superiority and authority.

But because this attack appears only once, and is the only attack who has pride has a sin, I consider it as mostly superficial to understanding Yinglong. Those attacks are still from it, so that arrogance is also its.

His arrogance, overconfidence is the first thing that can be seen or observed at first glance from seeing the dragon. But it does not allow us to understand him well enough. So let's go the next sin and attacks.

▪︎ wrath

Here is the images its skills which had wrath has a skill (click on the phrase like for pride)

"Peccatula Irae'—red Peccatulum of Wrath."

"The nature of fire is to burn and burn until there is nothing left to be burned."

Well, not a lot is said about what is wrath except this in-game, but wrath can also be seen as a act of self-righteousness. It is the act of bringing justice by himself for himself for things that we deem as unjust for us.

But there is also an interesting meaning of wrath, as how the wrath of God is seen as rightful compared to humans' wrath, as not sinful.

So, we have to distinct of all of those different meanings for each attacks. To be more exact, there is one meaning for two attack and another meaning for the,last two wrathful attacks.

Let's start with attacks concerning the "inverted scales". First and foremost we must describe what is the inverted scales and how important it is for a dragon.

Well, its origins is tied to a Chinese philosopher, Han Feizi, which talks about the difficulty of convincing or advising leaders. It describes dragons as friendly creatures that are easy to approach when they are relaxed. "would even let people ride on their backs." At the dragon's throat, there is a scale that points downward. Anyone who touches this scale will face immediate anger and a quick death, with no exceptions.

Originally, it worked as a metaphor, to imagine one's boss as a dragon.

But nowadays, in several medias including dragons that metaphor became literal! So touching causes inevitably the wrath of the dragon, the wrath of Yinglong.

I would say that this is corresponding to the first definition, the in-game one, where one is wrathful when they are literally burning with rage, outraged, burning everything to ashes. It is also the second one that we gave, as the sin of wrath can be seen as the expression of self-righteousness, the belief that one has been wronged and refused to stay back, bringing justice by oneself.

So, from that point of view, that is the personal wrath of Yinglong. It was touched on a part considered as sensible and fight back directly, hence the counter in the first place. As said by Ishmael in the observation log,

"Well... There was this scale on its neck, pointing upside down. Figured it might be a weak point, so I took a swing at it." (Ishmael)

"And when I did, every stake that'd been floating up in the sky just started coming down at us like a loose cannon..." (Ishmael)

It is clearly the case here. In the contrary, the other wrathful attacks, "Gathering rain" or "The Descending Pin", aren't the personal wrath of Yinglong. When attackong with those skills it is using the Flower-burying pin are things but those things can also be used by Heaven itself. To be more exact, the Flower-burying wedges are used by Heaven and the pins' by Yinglong.

So, those things clearly comes from Heaven, with Yinglong able to use it.

Thus, I suggest that the reason as to why those attacks are considered wrathful, comes from Heaven's wrath itself and the wrath expressed in those skills are more impersonal and not really tied to Yinglong itself, as he is used as the instrument to bring divine punishment to those below.

In the observation log, this idea of bringing divine punishment is brought by Hong Lu, thinking at first that it is the dragon that wants to bring that divine punishment,

"Thinking back, maybe the Dragon thought we were bad people because we kept refusing to accept its divine punishment."

"In every story I know, the dragons on high always seem to loathe the wicked."

But we have already seen how Yinglong is not absolve from Heaven's wrath or more exactly its decree.

"Dante said it was an enormous wedge that came down from the layer of the heavens even higher than the one the Dragon had been floating in."

[...]

"Perhaps the Dragon isn't even allowed to die even if it wanted to."

"At least not before Heaven's decree is canceled... not before the wedge is removed"

Therefore, Yinglong like said previously, works as the instrument of that wrath, inflicting divine punishment, representing heavens' wrath.

And so it does correspond to the idea of the wrath of god, a wrath who is seemingly more rightful and just than humans' wrath. The punishment is a divine nor a mortal one, hence just.

▪︎ Gloom

(Gloom attack skill)

But from suffering the heaven's decree and so its punishment, the abnormality isn't allowed to die as said earlier by Hong Lu in the observation log of the abnormality. It is forced to enforce the rules and order of heaven until its decree is done and finished or canceled.

So, the relationship between heaven and Yinglong is interesting as it occurs that the heavens holds the power in the dynamic, being able to order, submit and forced Yinglong to do thing, it inherently does not want to do.

He is punished, pierced by red double-headed pins to continue.

So it makes sense for the abnormality to feel gloomy, right? As explained in-game, to be gloomy is to be unable to rise up to the surface, unable to rise against the currents of the sea,

"Have you ever immersed yourselves in deep waters? Quite easy to sink to the depths, no?"

"However… the deeper one sinks, the harder does it become to rise again. The pressure suffocates you from all directions—no matter how much you thrash around, desperately looking for something to grab onto, all you find is futility. Such is gloom."

And I do think it is a great definition that fits Yinglong's situation. What is most important though, is how he accepts the Heaven's decree even if it hurts it, that punishment is received.

Hong Lu once again, gives us more context as he said that "when the Dragon directs its gaze up toward the heavens, it may seem angry at first glance, but look a little closer and you can tell its eyes are actually really, really sad."

Showing how Yinglong does not resent the one who punishes it. Interestingly, once it is able to fly away when all the stakes are smashed, it does not continue to fight or imposing its wrath, showing that it does not feel wrath against the sinners, those below.

"Mhm! Soon as we smashed all the stakes, it went away just like that~ Didn't even look back. No regrets, nothing clingy, just went fwoosh~" (Hong Lu)

Though it is hard to understand why heaven attacks Yinglong. It is because he is failing to realize Heaven's decree? Because Hongyu, the crimson jade inside him has been broken? Nevertheless, what remains important is that Yinglong is punished and so forced to go through Heaven's decree, not allowed to die... Though one sin remains and one question remains. Gluttony and why does it follows so closely Heaven's decree even at the cost of itself?

▪︎ Gluttony

(Gluttony attack skills)

To understand that question, we must understand what is gluttony. I'll use what I already said in one of my previous analysis on this subject.

In Limbus Company, gluttony is seen as such:

"Roots of plants dig through the dirt in search of nutrients. What distinguishes them is, however, that they are not satisfied with satiation alone; the roots continue to grow, seeking increasingly greater supply of nutrients."

But we have to be more precise, as people might conflate with greed. In reality, gluttony is the sheer inability to let go once possessed by an overpowering desire for something, even when that something loses its objective value, as in perishable food.

It might looks like greed but greed is more akin to an intense selfish desire for more power, material gain and for an higher social stauts. It is looking at what one doesn't have, to see what the others possess and so, one starts to crave to have more and more...

While gluttony is “desire” in indulgence.

Gluttony is an insatiable appetite or attitude. We do not merely want more and more, we also want to keep "eating" again and again, even if we throw out.

So it is best understood as an impulsive overindulgence in something which is otherwise normal or necessary.

Because it is hard to follow the definition given to us by Hohenheim, I will use the other one asa complement.

As we know, every Heishous including Lordlu possess gluttony skills. Heishous follows the orders of the one holding their leash until the very end, even if they can be hurt or punished. It is definitely seen more with the Mao branch but still. They even protect him if there is an unopposed attack:

Though Heishous also possess gluttony skills based on other factors like Youcliff being a bloodthirsty maniac, always wanting to fight and fight endlessly, burning in rage, isn't that similar to Yinglong following earnestly the orders of its superiors even at the cost of its own self?

Whether he is punished or not, it keeps enforcing the heaven's decree. I mean, even its defense skill who appeared in his last phase, is a gluttonous skill and has a link to the Flower-burying wedges that we said are possesed by heaven in contrary to the Flower-burying pin, possess by Yinglong.

It is that overindulgence in following Heaven's decree no matter what, that is gluttonous.

To conclude, basically, its pride and arrogance is superficial only appearing at first glance because that is the impression that the dragon gives to the owe who sees it above the sky. We can push it further in saying that its feeling of overconfidence comes once its Flower-burying pins aren't countered, assuring Heaven's will.

Next, is its wrath which can be said to be either personal with touching its inverted scales, infuriating the dragon as it directly counterattacks but also impersonal, more like divine punishment. Though Yinglong attacks with its Flower-burying pins, it feels less personal, just using its power to follow and enforce the wrath of heaven.

To follow, the creature is also gloomy as observed by Hong Lu, it feels a deep sadness, looking at heaven who are forcing it, as if punishing it, to achieve its decree no matter what, causing him to be restrained and unable to die until heaven's decree is canceled or achieved. And what's more interesting is the fact that it is accepting but that acceptance can also be seen as gluttonous, as the creature is following it even at the cost of being unjustly hit and punished.

Talking about gluttony, the dragon can be seen as gluttonous because it is indulging excessively in following the orders of heaven, creating a dynamic where the dragon is extremely submissive to the heavens who are able to control and dictate to do things that he might not wants to. Nevertheless, that sacrifice is made by the dragon.

■ Origins

Finally, we arrive at the end, with its origins. There are many sources for this abnormality which complicates for us to pick which is the one took by pm. But we can guess!

But first all, let's talk about Yinglong. Yinglong, originally, is a winged dragon considered as a rain deity in ancient Chinese mythology. The name means responsive dragon, which could reinforce that idea thar the abnormality is responsive to heaven, following its will, even when that will is imposed on it.

Talking about myths, like said previously, they are numerous but one who is popular are myths of Yinglong helping the yellow Emperor.

"Chiyou made weapons to attack the Yellow Emperor; thus, the Yellow Emperor ordered Yinglong to attack him in the plains of Jizhou. Yinglong gathered water, and Chiyou summoned Fengbo and Yushi to unleash a great wind and rain. The Yellow Emperor then sent down from heaven a female deity named Ba. When the rain stopped, they proceeded to kill Chiyou."

(https://ctext.org/shan-hai-jing/da-huang-bei-jing/zh)

"In the northeast corner of the great wilderness there is hill named Xionglitu Qiu. Yinglong resides at the southernmost point, where it killed Chiyou and Kuafu, and could no longer ascend."

(https://ctext.org/shan-hai-jing/da-huang-dong-jing/zh)

From those myths, we might understand more about Yinglong being sullied and tarnished. From what I can understand, Yinglong descended on earth to help the yellow Emperor to kill Chiyou and Kuafu and when succeeding with the help of other people, he couldn't longer ascend, towards the heaven.

Isn't that reminding us, of something? It is similar as to how Yinglong, the abnormality, seemed unable to return in heaven. It seemed to be sullied. Perhaps, the abnormality descending on earth is what made him tarnished, to have sinned, meddling with the secular world, hence explaining why it is forced to endure punishment by the very heavens but also why his insides are filled with a pool of blood too. Instead of raining water, it is raining blood instead.

The parallels with Hong Lu's base EGO can be explained too. In its second phase, we enter its insides which are eerily similar to Hong Lu's EGO except for the blood filling and coloring the place and the vegetation.

Here's an image of Hong Lu's EGO:

If symbolically, the opening of the door, flooding the entirety of Hong Lu's EGO can be seen as his own tears, finally opening his true self to the true world after being burried for so long, we can do the same for Yinglong.

Those flood of blood, can represent his tears and so his sadness, being rejected by heaven and by being tainted by the secular world...

It makes blood raining instead of water. In his last attacks, it is also hitting us with its blood with his final attack, "Tides Born of Dragon's Tears" and as we already said just now, the blood represents his tears, falling from the sky...

Hence explaining why the EGO extracted from Yinglong is called "Tears of the Tarnished Blood".

Here the second part of this analysis! If you haven't seen the first one, here's the link:

https://www.tumblr.com/abadsmile/818697658794475520/hong-lus-ego-analysis-n%E2%81%B08-part-1-tears-of-the?source=share

Anyway, as we have already explained the reason of its name, we have to see and understand how Yinglong is extremely similar to Hong Lu. As we can understand, Hong Lu forms an higher degree of connection with EGO. The same for Sinclair:

Both EGOs are WAW, showing Indeed that big connection between the EGO and them.

What is interesting here, are the sins for Hong Lu. Reserving gluttony, the skills here are gloom and envy.

Let's start with his envy. Envy is described as tied with jealousy in-game. I won't add the full quote as it is too long to be put here, simply the end of it:

"Now, do imagine—what sort of emotion would you feel for the fellow fan who received the final autograph, immediately before you were to receive yours, ere the chance was robbed?"

"Well, 'twould be quite the jealousy burning within mine heart, a painfully tingling sensation in my—ooh!?"

It is best understood as static shock according to Hohenheim.

From various other sources, envy can be seen as the sin of retribution.

One has to be provoked in some ways to act with envy and in contrary to wrath, envy is more controlled and focused. In other words, to be envious is also to be influenced by another person, whether it is because of jealousy and wanting to get even, of provocation, or even being ordered. One's identity became heavily tied and defined by someone else through that influence.

Hong Lu having envy is more difficult to explain but it might be tied to him wanting to be free from his circumstances, to flee them. I already spoke about this in my previous analysis, on Soda but it is still complicates to make that link with Hong Lu. Like Yinglong, he wanted to rise again and to not be influenced by his attachements.

Next, from what we understood from the abnormality and how similarly Yinglong is to Hong Lu, gloom is expected. Firstly, it is the sin of his base ego, showing how important that sin is to Hong Lu.

His gloominess can be understood through many facets. As explained by Hohenheim to be gloomy, is to sink in deep water, wrestling to try to rise up to the surface but at the end, all it remains is futility as that struggle only made one sinking further into the abyss.

"However… the deeper one sinks, the harder does it become to rise again. The pressure suffocates you from all directions—no matter how much you thrash around, desperately looking for something to grab onto, all you find is futility. Such is gloom."

It is fitting for Hong Lu as he did fight indirectly, through his own nature, against Jia Mu and the Elders. His kindness was his way to rise up to the surface, to not sink further.

His care for the people who couldn't be saved, his worries for those who underwent pain, his willingness to keep continuing those acts of goodness despite being at each time repressed by his own grandmother, Jia Mu.

The currents of the sea are embodied by Jia Mu and the Xianren who keep pressuring him, repressing any attempts of him showing kindness to someone, keeping him from being attached to the secular world.

They refuse him to let him rise up to the surface. Doesn't that make you remind of Yinglong and how it was forced to stay in earth? How it was punished and hurt with Flower-burying wedges piercing his torso?

Letting him drown, continuously until he gives up, surrendering to them. Hence, Hong Lu in burying his own emotions in his burial-mound of flowers, let himself be burried deep underground, never seeing the lights.

Like said previously, it is very similar to Yinglong, with the idea that he was tarnished for descending on earth and that because it descended, it couldn't ascend anymore, as if it was punished. It was sullied ans thus cursed.

It helped people with its kindness so as to fight against evil (Chiyou and Kuafu) but it was punished for it, tainted by it. Similarly, Hong Lu always wanted to help people and during his childhood, he tried to do so constantly, even if it was futile but it was repressed constantly by the "heavens" who are represented by Jia Mu and the Elders, people who are the top of the hierarchy of Hongyuan, deciding who deserves their pmace and those who are greedy.

It is reminiscent as to how heaven's wrath can represent their disdain for those they consider insolants and greedy, just like how Jia Mu thought of the Kong Family and thus punished them.

Talking about similarities, Yinglong and Hong Lu are very similar as they both must be understood from who they are. Dragons are considered as nobles, as royalty. The chinese dragon was for many dynasties considered as the symbol of the Chinese Emperor and therefore its blood is pure and noble, untainted by those beneath it.

And so, Hong Lu can be considered as a noble due his family, being the Jia, one of the great 4 family of Daguanyuan, especially with his grandmother occupying the role of the Family Hierarch. To be even more precise, he is seen as "the precious jade of Hongyuan", someone who is untouchable, noble from birth.

Hong Lu belongs to those who were above, and was considered as arrogant by those who would seen him from below, just like the dragon at the first.

Indeed, Hong Lu is seen as arrogant by those who had to still fight, struggle, risk their life multiples times and that can be understood because of how Hong Lu is behaving. For them, he is beloved, protected and most importantly, doesn't have to struggle for most of his life at all.

He is not obligated to risk everything like them, so the fact that when he returned, he decides to pass the Family Hierarch Evaluation at the last minute as if it was simply more than a game, the fact that he is often forgetting the names of the other people are all acts that are seen as arrogants from the point of view of those below.

To all of those who have to passed the Evaluation, his presence is source of irritation and anger. He is the one privileged by everything while they are burdened to succeed in the Family Hierarch Evaluation, if not punishment have to come...

Continuing on the subject, about his resemblance to Yinglong, those similarities can be observed in how Hong Lu and Yinglong are kept, out of heaven, especially in Hong Lu base ego, where I already explained how the Tiekan temple can be seen as Heaven and how Hong Lu is trapped in their treasureship, as an object.

They both act as instruments of the Heaven, just like Yinglong is following the orders of Heaven, delivering its decree, Hong Lu by his very existence, exists as an instrument to that "heaven", as the Jade of Hongyuan. Hong Lu is forced to stay even if he doesn't truly want to.

But those similarities doesn't stop at this, we have to link them to Zàng Huā Yín

▪︎ Zàng Huā Yín

Indeed, the EGO is tied to that poem, especualky when observing its skills and the appearance of Hong Lu in that EGO:

His appearance is very similar to how Zàng Huā Yín, in its second strophe describes Hong Lu:

petals, tears, bloody petals and oloodstained tears are present. To be more exact. the lake of blood seen in the EGO represents those bloodstained tears. He is the garden's sorrow bearer.

And now that we have the boss fight of Yinglong, we can see that Yinglong is using "Flower-burying pin" to attacks the Sinners!

And as we can see there is a lot of emphasis on flowers and burial whether in the Zàng Huā Yin or even in the abnormality and that is normal considering how important those symbols are to understand how Hong Lu burried himself, figuratively, his true self, deep underground, grieving for his own burrial.

And those Flower-burying pins are interestingly not used in Hong Lu's EGO but in Sinclair's EGO!

It is a very important distinction because, it relates personally to each of them. In Hong Lu's EGO, what is used is the Flower-burying wedge, the one sent by Heaven itself. That's right, Hong Lu's EGO represents the Tarnished Blood of the dragon, its sacrificial nature and the acceptance of the punishment. It also represents more exactly, the willingness of the dragon but also of Hong Lu to follow orders from those above (Heaven for Yinglong, The Xianren and Jia Mu) even if at the end,they must get hurt, sacrificing themself to realize the decree of heaven...

And so, Hong Lu is forced to attack and to sacrifice himself, accepting it as he scarifices himself with the Flower-burying wedge whereas Sinclair is the one attacking with the Flower-burying pin which belongs to him and so Yinglong

Therefore, Hong Lu's EGO focus greatly, on the loss of autonomy that he is stripped off by heaven, so the Xianren and Jia Mu, losing his true self who was burried in a flower-mound. The Flower-burying wedge represents the grip of the Xianren and Jia Mu around Hong Lu, restraining him to simply following their orders.

He is limited to be the Jade of Hongyuan, the source of enjoyment and happiness that the Elders derived from. He is reduced, like Yinglong as an instrument to Heaven's will and decree. His tears being the creme for their entertainment...

The last strophe of Zàng Huā Yín spoke of heaven as well:

I'll be focusing on the three first part of that strophe, as they are the most interesting part for this analysis.

Those three first verses from the strophe expresses the will of Hong Lu to fly away, to chase those petals who are wilting and dissappear from this world. He wants to cease to exist, to not remain on this world.

Unfortunately for him, he can't. Like said previously, he is bound and restrained by that very heaven in which he can't find the flower-mound where he burried himself. That self is already lost in heaven, where only indifference and the loss of autonomy lie there.

To give more credence to that idea of Hong Lu being restrained, here how he appears when corroded:

Not only the Flower-burying wedge is piercing him but that sort of red-white cord which around him when not corroded, is strangling his neck, letting his guts completely open.

Compared to Sinclair or Yinglong, Hong Lu is seen as more restrained, hurt. He can't even control his own body part, showing how deprived he is.

And Considering that we have talked about how he wants to cease existing, it's time to talk about his suicidal behavior...

■ Suicidal ideation

As we have seen quite often, Hong Lu tends to be suicidal. It is subtle, yes, but that behavior can be observed multiple times and that includes this EGO indeed.

His line when the EGO is used, shows us clearly those tendencies of Hong Lu.

Not only there is that idea of deserved punishment that we have talked in part 1 about Yinglong, showing once again that gluttonous part from Hong Lu's following orders from one's above in overindulgence, at the cost of his own life, but there is that idea of sacrifice.

Hong Lu does not have those suicidal thoughts and tendencies but also a willingness to sacrifice himself for others.

Didn't you remark that each time he is willing to suicide himself, it is done to help others? It is done through others as well?

Sure, his suicidal ideation is first all a way for him to dissappear, to cease to be and to be finally free of all pain but also all of his attachments. It is his solution to finally fly away, chasing the parting blossoms high up in the sky like we have seen from the last strophe of Zàng Huā Yín.

But those thoughts, his suicidal ideation tends to artive when it is for the benefits of others. Let me show you examples:

In TKT, Hong Lu expresses his true feelings here. He accepts to die and to cease to exist so to finally be free from pain once again. But remember that here, Hong Lu is supposed to serve as a bait. It is only now as a bait that he expresses the will to die and when the Time Ripper is to rip his time, he is... disappointed, as he sees that he is still alive, still in that world, still roaming inside that impermanent world...

The other example is with Xichun where he uses himself as a sort of relief, wanting to let Xichun kills him if she wants to. Even when he already accepted that everything he does is in vain, that he already surrendered himself, there is still that one solution and it is to simply die.

It is likely that like Yinglong when pierced by The Flower-burying wedge, he can't die, or at least not by himself, like Yinglong, as he is forced to suffer and to keep continuing his role as the Jade of Hongyuan, as the heaven's instrument.

He was constantly watched by and observed by the Xianren and Jia Mu and when he was sent away to travel, he ended up being into a company where he cannot die.

That is why he asked or put himself in dire circumstances to maybe be allowed to die and to be free from roaming this earth.

And so that sadness and sorrow are what lies behind that apparent arrogance. Like Hong Lu said about Yinglong in the observation log,

"You know, when the Dragon directs its gaze up toward the heavens, it may seem angry at first glance, but look a little closer and you can tell its eyes are actually really, really sad."

He himself can be understood as such. Behind that image of a naive person, hides a person whose sadness and sorrow are deep and profound, deeply embedded in their personality...

Only when the Flower-burying wedge is destroyed that Yinglong is able to be free and fly away. But before we come to explain at last what that liberation is supposed to mean, we have to look to Hong Lu's own disgust at his own body that he considered as tainted, tarnished.

■ Digust at one's body

Indeed, Hong Lu does feel a sort of disgust at his own body. Someone on twitter spoke about it and I thought that it was interesting to speak about it. I will put their name just here:

@lcb676

That person have done wonderful analysis on many EGOs or sinners so don't hesitate to check them out if you can.

Anyway, that disgust can be seen in his voice lines from multiples EGOs

He describes his body or part inside of him when corroded. That disgust, hatred of his own body is lies deeply inside of him. It is unconscious and that disgust expressing in his EGOs is not hazardous but high likely intentional.

He is rejecting and erasing any values to his body except its usefulness to another people, the Xianren and Jia Mu.

EF corroded Hong Lu's voice lines is more explicit, highlighting how his body is filth, serving simply to be reborn under a new purpose, serving simply as a vessel for his jade eye, the part of his body which he gives more value than his own body, showing once again his lack of autonomy.

I would say, thanks to the post made by that @lcb676, that for the IDs, Callistolu is the prime example as to how he truly gives no value to his original body, saving only the eye. Callistolu affirms it in his uptie story, explaining that its values and importance and reasons as to why he didn't removed it.

"Yes, I would be remiss to abandon such an indispensable window upon which inspirations are reflected. However…"

"… I must be considerate of the gracious host of audience who, from just behind my eye, appreciate my life and artistic endeavors within."

There is only the jade eye that remains on his body. All others part has been removed...

But there is someone else who removed the part who doesn't belong to him, the part that was the symbol of the loss of autonomy over his own body and that LordLu. Contrary to Callistolu, LordLu completely cast away his jade eye,even at the cost of possibly dying afterwards.

In his uptie story, he is regaining his own autonomy, finally being free from the influence of the Xianren, finally free from their grip, even if it comes at his own mental space as he says this.

"All that has ever brought me happiness and joy… I buried them beyond the veil of oblivion, beside the horrid memories of that day. Why exhume it now, when I will find only a hollow grave there—an empty chasm, like my rotting, festering left eye socket?"

And something important to note, is his dynamic with Totb Hong Lu, where he refuses to die and ironically makes him "immortal".

Here's his dialogue about it:

"I refuse to kneel before this mere... tarnished blood..."

But he also says this, though not much different than the one before:

"Tarnished may his blood become, but the Lord shall not perish."

What is important is how he refuses to die from that EGO, from the tarnished blood, considering how this EGO is mainly about the loss of autonomy and the acceptance of loss autonomy, sacrificing oneself while being used by someone, it is fitting to see Lordlu refusing that sacrifice, refusing to submit to that tarnished blood!

And so we come at the end of this analysis. One last question remains and it's to explain the meaning of Yinglong escaping, flying away once the Flower-burying wedge is destroyed.

■ The Flower-burying wedge

The Flower-burying wedge as we can understand from now has a lot of meaning. But it mainly represents Heaven's decree and will, that forces Yinglong to finish its decree, not allowing the abnormality to rest but simply suffer until it finishes its role.

We have also seen that wedge as a sort of punishment that came directly from heaven, punishing Yinglong for descending in that secular world, making it tainted, tarnished, similar as to how Hong Lu was punished multiple times when he tried to help people, when he shown his kindness.

But another view, into this, another facet of the Flower-burying wedge could be, that it is indeed the thing that is tarnishing, tainting Hong Lu!

But how? Simple. If we view that wedge as representing heaven's will and decree and that heaven is supposed to be the Xianren and Jia Mu, then that wedge is representing the will of the Elders imposed on Hong Lu, all the pain that they inflicted on him.

To push further, it embodies the sexual abuse that Hong Lu underwent. As we know, Hong Lu was abused sexually not physically but visually, through the Kong's family massacre, where he has seen things that a child mustn't seen.

He was forced to witness, Cuckoospawns raping humans, forcing their eggs inside of those human... It is explained by Lordlu in his uptie story in a more explicit ways,

"Black-feathered cuckoos pecking humans apart, seizing their nests, forcing their eggs inside… and newborns, tearing their way out to the world through their stomachs, and… and the people…"

"What abominable cycle, what terrible screams, what awful sights…"

Which correlates with the definition of non contact csa (child sexual abuse):

"Non-contact abuse is when a child is abused without being touched by the abuser. This can be in person or online and includes:

• Exposing or flashing.

• Showing pornography.

• Exposing a child to sexual acts.

• Making them masturbate.

• Forcing a child to make, view or share child abuse images or videos.

• Making, viewing or distributing child abuse images or videos.

• Forcing a child to take part in sexual activities or conversations online or through a smartphone.

And it's such an impacting trauma, that it can be seen in multiples EGOs such as Dimension Shredder, Rose Hunter, Tear of the Tarnished Blood obviously, And Carnevous Wailing. That is a suffering that doesn't disappear and that can't disappear as its impact on Hong Lu's psyche is far too big.

Not only that, his jade itself is a violation of privacy as the Elders can see through everything experienced privately...

All of that suffering is embodied by that wedge, which is tainting, tarnishing him. In a way, he literally lost his own purity and innocence, just like how Yinglong in his last phase, is tainted in blood and pierced by those red double-headed pins, by those wedges.

One example that is similar to what I wrote is the case of Karaba from the movie Kirikou and the witch.

As most people know, the witch has a poisonous thorn behind her back that made her change her behavior completely.

It is often theorized that Karaba was victim of violence by a group of violent men and that the thorn is a representation of that violence pushed into her. That violence being... rape.

Indeed, she is blaming men for what happened to her, she can't see them as the same way she did before as if she was hurt by them

Moreover, Karaba surround herself of men transformed into fetishes that she can control, she wants to feel control after what happened to her and wants to make sure that what happened to her never happen again. So she became more violent, more mean as a way to protect herself.

The creator of the film, Michel Ocelot explains on his site this:

"The thorn poisoned in Karaba's back is a symbol, representing the harm men do to women. And a suffering yes does not disappear."

Supporting this theory once again. It is only when,the thorn is removed by Kirikou, all the pain goes away. Once removed, she becomes free from that suffering but also the influence of that suffering that for a longtime pained her. She isn't mean anymore and is thankful to Kiriko for removing the thorn.

So, if we follow that example, Yinglong being free from the wedge, represents how it is finally not under the heaven's will and decree, how it is free from its influence.

"Mhm! Soon as we smashed all the stakes, it went away just like that~ Didn't even look back. No regrets, nothing clingy, just went fwoosh~" (Hong Lu)

"They're packed so tightly that I can feel myself choking. Layer upon layers of afterimages, lives, selves, all surrounding me… I am born from myself. I grow helplessly. I grow relentlessly."

She says as she describes her temporal entanglement

"Born from myself"

And this quote from her voicelines

"Was I born here and raised by your hands, or am I merely a product of entanglement that was born from and nurtured by itself?"

only nursefather is nowhere to be seen in uptie is Shiomi Yoru, Ryōshū's biological mother

And

Here one of id quotes

"I'm the only one who always deserved to cry. Not a single day passed that I didn't want to weep from the moment I first learned what the Nursefathers wanted from me. And that's why... none of you are allowed to shed even a single drop of tear! Not from sorrow, not from joy, not for any reason at all! You have no right... to cry."

Sounds familiar isn't it, it's like Yoru herself speaking it

I case some people not aware of short-hair Bladeshū exist in her combat sprite

There was also Araya and Yoru sprite as her afterimage but I'll just put Araya here

Don't leave me here

yi sang and gregor are the most self explanatory, but even beyond simple ideas of stagnation, they are both afraid of control being taken away from them again, both physically and mentally. yi sang is so trapped he ends up creating a version of himself that is free. gregor is disturbed by his own self and what could happen if he didn't keep himself tightly leashed. and in worlds where they let go of their agency and give in to sloth, surrendering to the will of another, giving up their minds to become another cog in the machine, they are their absolute worst selves; from violent and hostile to purely immoral. sloth often comes coupled with gloom, especially in yi sang's case. invokes a feeling of total helplessness and despair, like becoming immobile until all physical faculties stop, and death comes. but sometimes it can also come with the sin of pride, like hohenheim and valencina; has a more "comfortable where i am, clinging to what i am, you can't tell me i'm wrong" feeling to it

meursault, rodion and outis have all killed people. the reason is something along the lines of "it was the only thing I could do," whether rational or not. faust has likely blasphemed, taking creation into her own hands or something similar. pride sinners all believe what they did was right, necessary, and the only option—and they will defend their choice even as their reasoning crumbles. they are all also put on trial in one way or another, literally in the case of meursault, and in faust's case, divine judgement. superbia also shows itself in the sapling of light ability: sancho was able to kill don quixote because the sin of pride gave her the delusional belief in her own justice and righteousness she needed to overcome her psychological barriers. pride and lust often come together—commonly in faust's case. pride and lust are the sins of a lot of villains as well, depicting an unstoppable drive and self assured motive

ishmael and hong lu both find themselves in a helpless situation they could not change no matter how they tried, like an overwhelming tsunami crashing down on them, literal and metaphorical; and tying gloom the closest to its physical concept, water. in ishmael's case, the symbolism is much more direct. u corp's singularity being fusion to create a greater mass is akin to being swallowed up by something larger. this is both the pallid whale and ahab—both physically larger in stature, towering over her, threatening to consume her. ishmael fights as a lone speck under a tidal wave, knowing she will be consumed. please correct me if I'm remembering this wrong, but there is an abnormality event where you must talk about what you command: life, death, and neither of those. choosing life will present a lust and gluttony check, choosing death will present wrath and gloom (it might have been sloth, i don't recall, and i can't remember which event this is at the moment). the juxtaposition of gluttony with life is particularly fascinating in the context of canto 8. the xianren are obsessed with long life, and everything in canto 8, even h corp's singularity, evokes this feeling of grotesque growth—whether chasing after immortality, the experimentation, or life insurance as a concept. gloom is corroborated to death. hong lu has lost desire—hong lu has lost gluttony, he has gained gloom and the spectre of death over him. despite wading through this despair for so long, he does not immediately turn around and tell himself life is suddenly what he wants, that death is wrong. at least for the xianren, in a way, death would be peace. he displays buddhist virtues of non-attachment and non-desire, which naturally places him at a greater position of enlightenment than the elders who claim themselves wise. death is not the answer, but neither is unending life. life is precious precisely because death will come, and to prolong it so only leads to a fate worse than death

sinclair is the only gluttony sinner. i'm not totally sure of everything this implies for him, but the first thing I think of in this regard is how eve ate the fruit of knowledge (the ego is named "branch of knowledge") and marred mankind with sin. sinclair is a character marked by his continuous growth, his continuous acquirement of knowledge and wisdom. he grows from the image of a child, a chick inside an egg, to a wise and grown man, a splendiforous bird. this is a very gnostic portrayal of the acquisition of wisdom if I'm not wrong. even with the bibical allusions aside, he lived a very sheltered life, protected from the cruelties of the city for most of it; now he has experienced a lot of it, and has hardened into a mature young man. a certain sinclair is a wisened fellow, he has seen and experienced terrible things, but still he continues to go on. knowledge hurt him terribly, but he did not give in. gluttony is the sin that craves more, more, more—sinclair clings to life, fights to learn, to grow, irrespective of the pains it brings

like sinclair, heathcliff is the only envy sinner. envy is a prickly, jittery, nasty anger. heathcliff is markedly... alone. both in his sin and in that cathy is gone. the envious find themselves alone. the envious are the rejected, the left out, the left behind, the unchosen. the envious are those who feel... unworthy, ashamed of themselves. peccatula invidiae take the form of identities. they copy and resemble and pretend, they have no self. heathcliff was half catherine and catherine was half heathcliff; one simply could not be without the other. with their most beloved reflection gone, with the only person in the world that is as low and sinful as them gone, neither is anything. an empty, lonely imitation. i frankly haven't meditated as much on this as I have the rest, so please feel free to add

don quixote and ryoshu's lives are intimately intertwined with love and belonging. despite not having ever received it, they both want to give out love into the world, want to spread their affection to those around them. i might honestly make a whole separate post on lust and lust sinners alone. don quixote's ideals, ryoshu's art—their ways of characteristic 'propagation' lust is known for, beyond the obvious. lust has a similar quality to gloom where the individual self is annihilated; assimilated into a greater collective (bloodfiend hivemind) or destroying higher selfhood altogether (muga, nonself). this destruction of individuality is a reflection of their assumed or apparent incapacity for independence—emotional incest from a parent is a commonality in both cantos. said parent, alonso and rien, struggle to be without the object of their codependency: sancho and yoshihide. the bloodfiends suffer an innate and terrible loneliness; rien seeks to make yoshihide as lonely as he is. all other bonds are rendered null, the father makes himself fulfill every role in the daughter's life—parent, partner, confidant, everything. ryoshu is a carbon copy of shiomi; shiomi is only seen dressed as a bride. all bloodfiends sired seen on screen are female, by a male (sancho and alonso, sasha and cassetti); a wife is also your family, after all. (this is but one allegory that lust takes the form of—as it is desire and love itself, that love can take every form imaginable: romantic, familial, sexual, platonic, aesthetic). again, i could go on about this one forever, just mentioning the aspects that come to mind immediately. ryoshu and don quixote choose not to denounce nor break away from love, though. they choose to channel it through their ideals and perspectives, sharing a part of themselves with the world, with those around them; with friends and family, and friends that are family. only this time, this love does not cost their individuality, and thus they know they can be truly loved and love, once and for all

Hi it's me the sheep prophet welcome back to my ramblings.

Have you ever wondered why we're collecting Golden Boughs in Limbus? Like, they're not even boughs. They're branches.

WELL IT TURNS OUT IT'S A LITERARY REFERENCE.

To what, do you ask?

Virgil's Aeneid.

This particular passage describes a prophetess telling Aeneas how to safely descend into the underworld:

A dark forest? A tree with golden branches? A river from Hades? The gates of hell being open?

Guys, is Dante Aeneas???

It would even fit that old prideful attitude they show in early Selva Oscura before their memory fully goes away, because Aeneas is a proud guy.

they're created from humans by a Mother, who commands them all and whose emotions they can sense through their connection

they see each other as family

they arguably have a similar hunger, which leads them to rampage through the streets slaughtering everything

they obey some rules (no entering residences) and seem to have a strong fear of breaking those rules (as seen in their announcer)

also, traditional vampires are unable to enter homes without permission

similarly, they only come out at night

their fuel is the same liquid that they're made of

since they bring outskirts children to their Mother, it's clear that they have some urge to propagate, whether it comes from her or it's inherent in all of them

their weapons have the same appearance as hardblood weapons (look at barber outis's scissors next to sweeper blades. they look almost exactly the same), implying that they have some control over the liquid that they're made of and can shape it into weapons

they also inflict bleed and heal by consuming dead bodies

and most compellingly,

This is so incredibly similar to how the Distortion phenomenon works that they might as well be the same thing. Only instead of an Abnormality invading your mind, it's Carmen. If your will prevails, you gain EGO just like Kali did.

However, while Kali's EGO is a sublimated version of Mimicry, most effloresced EGO is very close on nature to an individual's Distorted form. Whenever we've seen both, they've clearly drawn on the same archetypes, just in a more extreme form. Heathcliff becoming the beast rather than riding atop it, weighed down by the sack, iron maiden, or corpse cage rather than bearing it with dignity.

Abnormalities were made from people who were near brain dead, their minds completely destroyed by Enkephalin so that they can barely remember their names. This allows a pure extraction from the Well. Sometimes it fails amd instead you get something lesser. A "frog in the bucket." That's the Ordeals, and when you think of them as failed Abnormalities, they're pretty comparable to Peccatula.

These processes are far too parallel for it to be a coincidence. To review:

Abnormality = Distortion

Corroding = Distorting

Ordeals = Peccatula

EGO is EGO

These are the same phenomenon from different angles.

Here we go! As always, good morning, good afternoon or evening! We are here today, to finish the analysis of Hong Lu's EGO! After this, only 2 EGO are left, with one left at the end, TOTB, because I am waiting for RR6!

So, for this EGO, three sinners have it. Those three sinners are of course Hong Lu, Yi Samg and Outis.

Through this EGO, those three share one similar theme which is centered about drifting, or more precisely, to be lost.

I do think that this analysis will be brief, so shorter than the other one!

And to be precise, Yi Sang and Hong Lu released at the same time and obviously have much more in common compared to Outis! Finally, something important to note is that it was toward the beginning of this game, three month after its release, so if the major twists didn't change much, some other things about Hong Lu's character might as changed as well...

Anyway let's start as usual by the abnormality, Wayward Passenger!

■ Wayward Passenger

Wayward Passenger is a humanoid entity in W Corp. cleanup agent uniform, characterized by a grotesque, disfigured appearance. It features a long mouth-like cavity filled with jagged teeth, and thin tendrils protrude from it. Its head and neck are devoid of skin, made of muscle fibers, and it possesses bloodshot eyes with a vacant stare. The entity's arms appear torn, replaced by muscle fiber appendages with energy blades at the wrists, which it uses in combat to create dimensional rifts for concealment and self-enhancement.

Well, much things to say about his appearance. Its grotesque appearance is interesting. It looks like it is rotting away, being devoid of skin and made of muscles fibers. The abnormality is simply flesh with only his lower body being normal.

Well, it is mirroring the consequences of second class passengers taking a WARP train, with them becoming people who can't die, feel hungry or thirsty with their mind intact, losing sanity which ends up in violence and self-mutilation. Their body become mass of grotesque flesh, devoid of skin, just like Wayward Passenger.

That's likely why it is called like this, right? He resembles to those second class passengers appearance wise and is imprevisible, unpredictable, especially when fighting him.

But most importantly, it seems that it was cast aside, left aside, abandoned in that place where no one can reach out to it. Placed here. He is blocked in that dimension or is it?

From looking at its mirror dungeon events, we can see this:

From those events, we learn that, this abnormality is not a passenger, no but is actually an employee from W Corp. It changes many things, right?

Rather than to be simply a passenger abandoned by W Corp, it is one of their employee that was completely abandoned to wonder, to roam in this dimension.

After all, he does seem to wear the uniform of W Corp's employees alongside having blue lighter with a Wing’s logo on it and the patrolling flashlight. Also, it does have the ability to create dimensional rifts ties in with W Corp's Singularity with its blades.

And so, we can see this as a form of abuse from W Corp, leaving and abandoning one of its employees completely alone, not even trying to reach out to it.

But, the abnormality itself is...gentle? Indeed, it is not that aggressive, compared to other abnormalities though weend up fighting it if we stand still.

Still, guiding him or pointing at the correct direction prevents it from fighting us, becoming less aggressive and more friendly.

But the most important thing to note is that it seems to know the exit despite seemingly being lost? It still needs someone to guide it towards the exit. If not, he seems lost, standing still...

But it's logical for Wayward Passenger to know the exit because he was an employee of W Corp, so we can conclude that he may not want to leave this isolated place, in contrary, he keeps wandering through those dimensions but never go towards that exit by himself.

Now that we know more about this abnormality, it's time to tackle the EGO and the holder of that EGO, Hong Lu. I may also talk about Yi Sang for a bit as they parallel quite well.

■ Dimension Shredder

To start with, this EGO as we know is extracted from Wayward Passenger and three sinners have this EGO, Yi Sang, Hong Lu and Outis.

But, like said at the beginning, Hong Lu's and Yi Sang's were released three months after the release of Limbus Company and shares in common many them. To being with, they share the same sin affinity, pride.

It's for sure an interesting sin affinity, pride... It's not something that you would think for those two characters but well let's see what Limbus Company has to say about pride!:

"Wheels. Symbol of technology and the vector of humanity's ultimate pursuit. The wheel, in its boundless pride, rolls on and on in search of the perfect circle, something unconquered even by nature."

"Yet... it remains uncaring for the flesh it rends nor the grass it tramples in its path."

"One might even say that pride is but another name for overconfidence. ltoft claims trailblazers or those who have never tasted failure."

As we can observe, Limbus Company, well Hohenheim, describes it like this. Like said, it is often associated with overconfidence and uses the wheel as an example to show what is pride.

To be prideful is to seek beyond of what is possible while not acknowledging its impossibility except for that prideful person.

But it is also the sin of ignoring the consequences of one's actions, of one's behavior. Like said in the above definition, to be prideful is also to be uncaring for the harm that one may cause in one's path or to other people in his way.

As long as the self is protected over others, as long as the benefits outweighs the negative, one can possibly be harmful

But how does it relate to those two? It does in more ways than most people would think!

For Yi Sang, we can understand it quite well. Before post Canto IV, Yi Sang was in his own world, forever stagnant, trapped in his own inertia. It was observable when the league of Littérateurs (Guinhoe) started to fall apart.

Yi Sang remained there, standing still, wallowing in his own misery but still not moving, as if trapped in his own world, as if he was lost. Just like Wayward Passenger, he was lost, trapped in another dimension, in another world.

There is also the fact, that he did not truly care to be trapped or isolated, he simply followed the flow of events. It is similar to the abnormality that we saw, knew where the exit was and never needed someone to guide it...

And for Hong Lu, it's a bit more complicated. Hong Lu, at first glance, is seen as someone in his own world being most of the time, especially in the beginning of Limbus Company, out of line pre Canto VIII.

He can say harmful things out of ignorance and that was mostly the case at the beginning but one of my favorite is this one:

Even at the beginning with Dante...

But that ignorance is not only genuine but it also caused by his own act, behavior. As we know now, it is simply a mask to hide and to protect himself. As we know, that mask was created after the events of Kong Family massacre, when afterwards he decided to simply "smile" and surrender at everything.

Burying his own emotions and those blinding colors to simply not be harm by those ever again, to be free and simply float away like a Kite...

Therefore, like the abnormality and Yi Sang, he is lost in his own world but he also decides to be lost, to wander through dimensions and to isolate himself through the world.

Moreover, what is important to notice is the abuse that those two went through. We did say that Wayward Passenger can be seen through the lens of an abused W Corp employee. In a way, this abnormality is more akin to the fear of W Corp employees...

Anyway, that abuse was enforced by W Corp itself. This abnormality wasn't a passenger but an employee and so it is interesting to see what it means for Yi Sang and Hong Lu, right?

As for Yi Sang, the abuse he went through is after the end of the Leagues of Nine Littérateurs, caused by Gubo. He simply followed his orders but in doing so he was abuse into working in a confined white space, one of, if not worse form of torture that one can cause to someone. In addition to that, he was also given false medication (if I remember. If it's false say it please). He was completely manipulated and used in another company, in N Corp.

And for Hong Lu, if we treat W Corp as the equivalent of his family, more exactly, his Elders and parents, he was abuse and seen as an object from his birth...

Returning to that aspect of Hong Lu, it was a coping mechanism which enables to ignore the reality and bonding over to the next world...

If that behavior was caused because of his despair and that calling for help would indeed do nothing, it was also because he wanted to simply be "free". And in that freedom, lies his ignorance and self protection.

He smiled to everyone, in doing so he protected others but also protected himself. It was his way to protect Lin Daiyu or Xichun. Even in Daguanyuan, he was isolated in his own world where no one can see him...

To be more exact, he dissociated himself from reality and the world. And that dissociation is severe.

For anyone who doesn't know what are dissociative disorders, "Dissociative disorders are mental health conditions that involve experiencing a loss of connection between thoughts, memories, feelings, surroundings, behavior and identity. These conditions include escape from reality in ways that are not wanted and not healthy"

Symptoms are numerous but those symptoms correspond well with Hong Lu:

• A sense of being separated from yourself and your emotions.

• Memory loss, also called amnesia, of certain time periods, events, people and personal information.

• Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

• feeling disconnected from yourself and the world around you

We have studied and seen many of those symptoms simply by analyzing Hong Lu's EGO! And even in that analyze we have seen some, like his inertia and how separated he is from his own emotions or his disconnection from reality, being in his own world.

But the one I haven't explored is his memory loss. Indeed, Hong Lu, sometimes forgets about people and takes a while for him to correctly remember. One of the key examples of this can be seen in Nocturnal Sweeping:

Hong Lu had to take a long time and so long efforts to even recall of Shi Yihua's name. He is so dissociated from reality that it takes him great efforts to even remember people correctly.

And that was the same thing for another character in Canto VIII, Shi Huazhen.

He undergoes memory loss and all the other symptoms said here applies to him entirely.

Finally, something that intrigued me was how Wayward Passenger knew the exit but only goes towards that exit if it is guided directly through indications.

I think it serves to show how both Yi Sang and Hong Lu are "passengers" in their own life who needs to be "guided". Due to their own issues and trauma they became isolated from this world, dissociated from it and that dissociation is severe like we have seen before.

So, they let anyone guide them, direct them as long they are ordered to do so. For Yi Sang, it is observable with Gudo of course with everything said previously and for Hong Lu, it's the Elders and Jia Mu, guiding him through anything.

Like said before, they are simply passengers of their life. But interestingly, there is the word "Wayward" that contradicts that or is it?

It's true that at one moment of their life, they were disobedient, they once rebelled against their guide (leaving N Corp for Yi Sang, Hong Lu's resistance to the perverse attempts of Jia Mu's manipulated during his childhood through his kindness) but at the end, they still are passengers.

■ Extra

Observing Hong Lu's appearance in his EGO dimension Shredder, we can see that there are foreshadowing to his main twist and that most of his character were indeed kept, at least from the beginning of the game. Some of his personality may have shifted but I would still say that they kept most of it.

Anyway, that appearance foreshadows the monstrous appearance of the Elders and Hong Lu's heavy trauma, where a big space exist with teeth in it in contrary to his face and chest where there is little to no space with only flesh and teeth. It is reminiscent of the Kong's family massacre and the Cuckoospawns Humans...

We know Limbus Company has obvious ties to World of Darkness in the form of its Bloodfiends. Bloodfiend hierarchy greatly resembles that of Vampire: The Masquerade, an urban gothic setting detailing Vampires navigating a miserable urban setting. It borrows its naming (Kindreds) and its hierarchy (a generational system.) Lastly, its filial piety greatly resembles that of Blood Bonds or other structures of obedience, though Project Moon differs in making the feelings of loyalty more inherent.

We can wave away coincidence. KJH is aware about World of Darkness, which brings me to a lesser-known system: Mage the Ascension. Mage the Ascension (Which, from this point forward, I will be calling "Mage," and Vampire the Masquerade "Vampire") is a game about wizards. It is a wizard game. It is also a game chiefly about will, a "true" reality, and perception. I decided to make a little discussion about its potential similarities to Limbus. More under the cut.

and if we go off the Water Margin basis, where the other Liangshan chieftains forced (novel was misogynistic about it, it was meant to be a comic moment) Dihui Star Hu Sanniang to marry Wang Ying. in doing so, Song Jiang fulfills an older obligation he had to Wang Ying, which was to find him a wife.

but of all the Nursefathers, Shiomi is the most unwilling one there, all the NFs have their faction-specific reasons for being there, but we don't know what Shiomi's reasons (if any) are and to me it seems like she would in no way willingly stay in that place, she'd have to be rendered incapable of leaving.

Shiomi does wallow in her misery quite a bit, she's similar to Valencina in that way, but not without reason, because she doesn't even have the same freedom Valencina does; because Valencina does actually get to leave some times, while Shiomi's room only connects to Rien's, and secondly, Valencina actually has a. dream tied to Ryoshu, to her Ticket. weirdly enough, Valencina* actually has a bit of hope, while Shiomi reads to me as having none. which makes sense, if she was sold out by her Pinky brothers, ,Valencina was also discarded by her Thumb bosses, but the Thumb has all this ethos about punishing mistakes and respecting authority, while I don't know if that sort of mentality is present in the Pinky (i doubt it), especially with her missing the type of freedom uniquely afforded to the Pinky. so to be sold to the House of Spiders like this must feel like an absolute betrayal, i imagine, because even if we can only guess at what the Pinky stands for (largely based Jia Qiu and the novel), it sure doesn't seem like this coheres with it.

except that it does. because of how we can trace parts of this setup right back to the Water Margin, the "good guys" forcing a woman into a marriage (and presumed SA). it's not addressed directly in the novel, but there actually are a lot of moments like this, where the 108 Stars of Destiny do some heinous shit, despite being fully portrayed in the novel as being the good guys and "delivering justice on heaven's behalf". so the Limbus universe actually/potentially addressing (in the future) this dissonance between the Pinky/108 Stars intents versus their actions, puts it a step ahead of the original novel. Another, smaller example of the Pinky's decline can be seen in Ren, who despite being well aware of the foolishness of the Apprentices, the NFs, and himself, still chases the ideal of [inheriting a blade/star] and loyalty to his Master (who has not been shown to particularly care for him), to his death and erasure. This happens to all the Apprentices (sans Kira), the NFs and the Fingers particular ethos leading them to their deaths, it's that the Pinky isn't immune to this either.

*I want to take a brief moment here to talkthink about Valencina for a second, because I realized while writing this post out, that despite being a woman, she's still. part of the patriarchal abusive structure that Shiomi and Ryoshu are locked in, she's one of the Nursefathers. there was that joke about Valencina 'being a woman in male dominated fields (abusive father)', but that actually scans really well, because Valencina is the most "traditionally" abusive (in terms of how it's often depicted) of the NFs, what with the yelling and berating and the drinking and the beatings and the 'good days' (when she got to go to the Smoke War aka when she got to leave) vs the 'bad days' (literally anytime else). side note: also the masculine dress and smoking of cigars and going to war and organized crime. mainly, there's also the fact that she's connected to all the (male) Nursefathers in that she can actually leave, physically, and that she thinks she can leave if Ryoshu does well enough, if she can be her Ticket, while the women in the House can't leave, because even though Ryoshu can leave the House physically, temporarily, to go on missions or walk the dog or go to school, she's never going to leave the House because she is destined to be the concept shredder at the bottom of this hellish pit, she was never actually going to leave or be free of it. but then, it's through Araya, the daughter and the mirror and the self, through another woman introduced into the House, that starts Ryoshu on the path that eventually lets her (and Araya) break out of the spider's web.