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clockgaze · 11 hours ago

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MS Paint scuffs and spoilers bellow, please beware of spoilers and the fact this was not written on the amount of sleep it probably should've been so there are some somewhat wide logical leaps and also a lot of the info is taken from Wikipedia. Part 2 here!

First things first regards colour association. The light as we typically see it is generally portrayed with a bright white in the middle with light yellow and occasionally golden edges on its surroundings.

This I then dub as the 'Pure Light' which is what was indeed scattered across the City in both Lobcorp and Ruina, including the bad ending for Day 49. It was the intended form of the light as I see it, and the counterpart to Cogito in a sense.

Something similar is the rings of 'Shin' that are sometimes formed around attacks and that one CG from Canto V with a bough in it. I haven't read Leviathan yet but from what little I know, they're a way to harness the light without Distorting or gaining EGO that was first pioneered by Iori. Or so I've heard, doesn't explain how Demian has it unless he's her lost son and I am tentatively gonna say that it's. Unlikely.

These I place under or close to the 'Pure Light' category given their colouration.

But in Limbus the boughs, which generally do seem to be significant in the whole topic of the Light, are instead a gold colour, hence their name. As well as being shown in LoR's backgrounds

This I then dub the 'Impure Light', as it is seemingly Light that has been tainted or otherwise notably changed due to exposure to something or other. Or to compare it to something else - think of how metal generally goes from grey -> red -> yellow -> white as it heats up, becoming more malleable and flexible, more easily shaped into other things.

Rather in this case, much more amiable to the needs of each individual. The red light of Day 49 caused enough distortions/abnormalities in such little time judging by the CGs, that at least a few of them had to have been forced to undergo the transformation. The gold of the bough has both incredible power and possibilities but the manifestations of the mind it produces are not able to be controlled by whomever it is that had their mind manifested. White Light via Shin is shown to be that which its user is able to use at will, probably a form of their own natural Light inside of themselves.

IL is then Light that has not reached that final crucial stage and so is unable to be properly controlled. And it is thus why it remains on the outside of the beam we see at in the SoL's completion. Working almost like the bark of a tree to protect the rest of it.

Which then leads me to my actual point, the boughs are parts of the SoL that broke off when it was ended prematurely, fallen branches of a felled tree, finding their way to various LC facilities due to...

The rivers. The rivers are the reason why the boughs started growing and they are connected in a way I cannot yet place. Given the Light and Cogito are connected I assume it's something similar, Light was formed from a process that started with Cogito after all. Part of the reason they form in LC branches is because they are deep underground due to the burial, and are thus much closer to the subterranean rivers under the City, the other being that:

The Boughs seem to near always be in places of great suffering, with such a description fitting the LC branches easily. I think this is due to the same reason Angela calls it the 'light of redemption' - that being that PL is created from the process of personal growth as shown with how each Seph meltdown resolved pushed along the SoL in LobCorp. They are attracted to suffering and seem to find themselves in the chests of those who are suffering really often because as whomever they've attached themselves to grows, it does as well. Which is possibly a reason for their general weakening effect, one cannot grow if they don't struggle and face their weaknesses head on and personally.

Boughs facilitate growth, and if one can face the challenge properly than they should be able to harness PL as they please - either in minor ways like Shin or in bigger ways like granting a wish in such a way that it has few to no repercussions, unlike how Clearing All Cathy still left plenty behind as shown by the now directionless Wild Hunt Heathcliff.

Though the way that they seem to grow from suffering as well could tie into how Abnos will not unusually gain energy via killing.

Looping all the way back to Dante, who was the whole reason I started this whole thing a week ago.

I've tossed a few theories around about them for a while but now I believe that Dante as they are is an attempt to graft a Bough onto a person - and a rather successful attempt at that.

Boughs as they usually are face quite the challenges, in being a generally immobile and very valuable, it doesn't seem easy for one to grow, or attach itself to a host to grow properly.

I say 'host' here because of both Canto III - where Faust begins something abt how the only way to get an already resonating bough is to [assumedly] kill whomever it's attached itself to - and in Canto VI - where the bough assumedly used to delete Cathine and that was notably synchronised and not resonated with by Dante, is burned out at the end. There is nobody that exists whose growth it can feed off of.

And with the way the Sapling of Light is growing - downwards - it gives the impression of a Bough burrowing down, with the way it's depicted being reminiscent of roots. As if it is growing into and further attaching itself Dante's body and not just the clock.

But as it is here, attached to something that can very importantly move away from danger it is able to burrow itself in deeper and properly grow into something greater - thus going from 'shard of a Bough' to a sapling, one that shall bear some sort of 'fruit' later one [maybe the real sheep to be drawn were the fruits we grew along the way].

The reasoning for Dante's head ticking forward is still odd. As is well known, their head is based off of the Doomsday Clock, and the date of the Mass Death Event of June 985 is when it is presumably going to hit it's peak, but there are some commonalities yet: each had a Demian chat, the number of boughs - incl. the burned out one - had increased by 3 at the time, both Cantos had major theming to do with the stars. Idk what to make of this.

We already know the Bough shard inside of their head allows them various abilities including the ability to seemingly both resonate and synchronise with Boughs will no currently known drawbacks - but there are other aspects I think are noteworthy as well.

First off being how the star they look towards is one that colourwise is very reminiscent of the Light that bent the library, stark white with gold around it, as well as how when flipped the two stars on the top half indeed match with their very own head. I take this as their star actually being a part of the Light and guiding them forwards and towards it - standing in here for the heaven Alighieri visited in the commedia as well as potentially being related to *gestures vaguely at the Blue Man Group* with the sky association.

Second, and carrying on from the colour theming, is how their colour palate is made of black, red, gold and hints of white. Now bear with me here. This is probably the part that'll age the poorest in my eyes:

The Rubedo thing is a stretch but I do not remember anything else red that had a lot to do with the light so we move.

Picking and choosing a bit here as seen by the highlighted bits but I do find it matches up somewhat well?

Cogito from decomposition matches with how the well used in LobCorp was first obtained from 'reconstructing, dividing, and proliferating Carmen’s body' as said by Binah. Similar to how microbial proliferation, breaking down [dividing] tissues and that material being reconstructed into something new via the life cycle are all part of the decomposition process. Also she's dead-ish-kinda-sorta and dead people rot.

This image of the well also generally matches the description of 'uniform black matter' much closer as well. Plus the monoliths as well are solid black, which may or may not lead to a connection to the wells further down the line.

Albedo for the PL matches with how I've dubbed it - no matter how little weight that holds - and with how its said to 'bring light and clarify', with the White Nights literally bringing light and the clarification taking the form of somewhat diminishing the effects of the disease of the mind. Breaking the cycle. Plus with how both EGO and Distortion work, in a sense both 'clarify' parts of a person, bringing what they once had hidden to the forefront of their being.

As for albedo as a natural phenomenon, it's described as 'the fraction of sunlight that is diffusely reflected by a body/surface' which oft varies depending on where the sunlight lands upon the Earth. I personally compare this with how the Light as it was affected people unequally due to Angela yoinking it, which is why it is the second stage. Also it starts with A. Like Ayin.

Plus the wiki page makes reference to how, in Jungian analysis, this stage is connected to the archetypes of the anima and animus. I know of previous connections made to Jungian psychology before but I don't think I'm fit to handle this part of the whole philosophers stone connection I'm making.

Citrinitas as the 'solar light inherent to one's being' connects to both Carmen and thus the Light via sun imagery. As well, to me, describes something similar to what Binah meant when she said 'what river flows/world lies in you/?', particularly the mention idea of the inner world matches to what the bough could be said to warp the environment around it into. Also she says 'world of light' and I just had to sit with that one for a while.

The discarding of the reflective lunar/soul light I have not much of an idea about - given the moon reflects sunlight and from it "produces" the 'false' moonlight it might be analogous to one wearing a mask? A reflection made of the true self but undeniably different in a way that makes it easier to look at/parse? Idk. Also the eye colour of all the As [including Angela].

I've also found others saying it represents a form of awakening, which to loop this all back to the boughs is indeed what they could be said to do - forcing the awakening of ones mind via the fathoms of ones EGO, illuminating what was buried in the mind.

Which is an ability we know Dante shares via Canto V:

Notably here is the difference in the way both are shown. Sinclair's thoughts shown are what he is very clearly talking about in the scene, and he as previously has indeed resonated with a Bough, as well as his contract with Dante - which is why I think his lines are much straighter than Ahab's - who is at that moment doesn't exactly have all her teamkilling on her mind, instead looking into Dante's face as they look back.

This time it is Dante pulling it out and projecting it to where others can see, given how characters react, in a way that is rather different from how Boughs usually work. Much more controlled probably due to their head, yet still not entirely so, thus the unconscious nature of both times - unlike the Durante abilities that all have some notable sense of purpose.

Rubedo is last and final stage of the process of creating the Magnum Opus, the Philosopher's Stone. In the image I represented it with the Day 49 ending, but as of the time of typing my thoughts have solidified and now I believe it to representative of Dante, Mephistopheles and Limbus Company's final goal. Also Carmen at least a bit, because it's Carmen.

[Top screenshot regards the Philosophers Stone I'll get to that in a bit]

Rubedo involves, as stated in the screenshot, the integration of psychospiritual outcomes into a coherent sense of self before its worldly re-entry, or at least an attempt of it. It is individualisation and that which births a new personality - irreversible and whole, or maybe irreversible because it is whole. And I believe this to be the process Dante has and will be going through via this journey of theirs, and how it is a continuation of the one first started by LobCorp.

First is the mention of the creation of a new personality, for Dante this is, well, Dante. We do not know much of their old self except for the fact they're an asshole [Selva Obscura], a big shot [Vergie] and that them not leaving an Abno to rampage as it wishes is Odd [Faufau] - but it can be clearly seen as them being different from their old self, being able to do things now they couldn't before. As with X being able to grow and complete the script when A couldn't. As with Angela becoming her own person outside of what she once wished for and growing out of the shadow of Carmen. Dante will in turn reject and redefine themselves to be what they are now and not what they were.

The mention of requiring synthesis and substantiation of insights and experiences could be said to be what they are doing now, in their roles of witness and manager. They are seeing the world as it is to their own eyes and forming themselves as it happens, feeling the pain of so many deaths, growing all the while.

Now as for the symbols used to represent it: roses/red flowers are generally associated with Carmen via Lunacy being a red flower not unlike a brain stem, the figure in red is literally just Dante, crowned king could either be Vergillius with his EGO having a laurel wreath acting not unlike Jesus' crown of thorns or a roundabout Dante reference via King in Binds, blood is just Vergie and his blood cloak and I got nothing for the phoenix. Angela is a bird but she is neither red nor made of fire.

As for the Philosopher's Stone and the first part of the screenshot - given how it is said to be [yet never necessarily is] a stone and it's last stage has to do with the colour red my first connection is Garnet, very notably a guy named after a red rock who is currently, as far as we know, still a red rock, yet I don't know enough about this to say more except the fact it's kinda funny.

Anyways, pretty much the major things the PS is known for is the ability to transmute metals into gold and immortality. The former being similar to the white hot metal analogy I used earlier and could be said to be moving the "metal" up a higher "stage" or simply making the very useful gold and thus great wealth. The latter makes this a somewhat vexing post to make now, given Canto VIII is bound to have a tonne and a half of immortality related subjects, but for now it can be said to be relating to the Sinners' revival mechanism, though not true immortality because of how it requires Dante.

This is where I shall be getting into more of the Company's possible overall motives via the stone's noted properties:

1] Transmutation of base metals to gold/silver: money. Or once again performing the prior stages of the magnum opus for more of the stone - substituting base metals for Nigredo, silver for Albedo and gold for Citrinitas to then perform Rubedo all over again.

2] Healing all forms of illness and prolonging the lives of those who've ingested it: assuming Limbus truely is trying to finish what LobCorp started 'illness' here is the disease of the mind, and prolonging lives via ingestion may be in reference to the supposed fruit the boughs are meant to sprout, or just works as another reference to how the Sinners' lives are more prolonged than anything. They still experience some changes even after being bound to Dante as shown in the latest Intervallo, and it could be more accurate to say that their lives are in a sort of suspended state. Thus it is not immortality, thus the Head has not send a goth woman after them.

3] Creation of perpetually burning lamps: Dante. That is simply Dante. The fire on their head glows black and gold rather then red but Dante has been perpetually burning since they've gotten their head. A reoccurring thought of mine has been as if it is burning off the Sinners', well, sins or burning the impurities out of the bough. I'll try and re-evaluate that another time. Oh, and everburning lamp wouldn't need energy - what L corp provided - and would undoubtedly be able to provide quite the bit of light, capitalised or not. Despite not technically burning, a star may indeed be called a lamp in perpetuity - at least in comparison to rather short human lives. Also made me think of this:

4] Converting common crystals to precious stones: money again, and the suspiciously rock themed Leviathan characters.

5] Reviving of dead plants: Eventually I believe that Dante will be able to somehow repark the burned out Bough, though am unsure of how as of now, but in a grander sense recreating the Tree of Life is in a sense reviving it, especially if done with the Boughs. This and the mention of the root in a subterranean area of L Company's HQ that may or may not be in L Corp makes me much more certain of this. The grafting of part of a bough onto Dante is simply to have a mobile SoL plan, with the flow working in place of the script and thus carrying much more risk given its - afaik - uncontrollable nature. Enough risk that Dante has a killswitch and that they could justify a Colour on the bus.

Anybody else think she's talking to the gesellschaft here or have I misunderstood?

6] Creation of flexible/malleable glass: glass makes me think of the glass window but I would ascribe it neither of the descriptions posed. Unsure.

7] Creation of a clone or Homunculus: oh boy. There's quite a bit here.

Enough so that I shall continue this in a part two so I may have time to pick my words and get all I couldn't get in here in there. Sorry about however long the wait shall be, I am but trying my best.

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clockgaze · 11 hours ago

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Part 1 here! This has gone on much longer than first anticipated, though I can't say I hate that.

The point at which I left off and that I shall now carry on from is the discussion of LC's overall motives, focusing for now on the potential importance for the creation of a homunculus. With the connection with the Boughs I forgot to mention prior is how the recreation of the SoL plan is in part how this end goal shall be achieved by the company.

First things first: one does not talk about homunculi without addressing the second Sinner, given how it was, as I gather, of importance in a section of the second part of her own source material.

To paraphrase the Wikipedia summary: it was a being created by Faust's apprentice to lead him and Mephi to the 'Classical Wulpurgisnacht', featuring olden Greek gods and monsters. Later dying due to the shattering of its flask in its initiation to becoming fully human.

There's a lot I could dig into regarding Faust as a character - especially with the whole thing of there seemingly being two different Fausts in the 15 hundreds with conflicting records like birth years, which could feed into the idea of LCB and Leviathan Faust being different Fausts - but I shall do that another time if at all.

The ideas of humanity are also highly tied to whatever N Corps endgame is as well - especially as some smarter than I have theorised Hermann may be attempting to create Adam Kadmon or the Primordial Man, a goal that also seems to require the boughs, mind - with the Corp itself outside Hermann's gang is the one having the most connection to the idea of the human body, especially with the idea of its purity as espoused by the most radical secs. The SoL seems much more in relation to the mind if anything. Demian's gang might be the spirit or they might just have nothing to do with this bit, leaving it only for the corps and companies - they seem rather concerned with the nebulae and we cannot confirm their relation to humans, or at least the humans of the City.

Humanity is rather central to the Head and it's ideals as well, preserving and valuing it above all else, yet still remaining tolerant of those who come from humans such as distortions, abnos and bloodfiends, with the false life of AI being strictly banned and... something or other happening to the machines [perhaps that explains some of their lenience towards Angela as she sets out on the path to become a human, as she is in a sense a failed robotic clone of C and thus derived from a human. Leniency here being not particularly interfering until the end] .

As of such, any process taken to create a homunculus or any other artificial human without dying would be near unimaginable or would require extraordinary circumstance to happen - for A this was gaining the knowledge to hide himself and Angela from the Head, for whoever it is running Limbus Company, it may very well be the completed SoL.

Or maybe they already have a 'homunculus' of a sort in Dante? Or at the very least, a false human.

Once again we cannot confirm the nebulae's 'humanity' - nor that Dante is one, because 'fell from the skies' could also just be indications of their fall from power or the degradation of their morality, I will just operate as if they are though for the sake of this theory - but in the previous post I already compared Dante's star to the Pure Light in the way that it looks, despite the depiction of stars and star adjacent people being, generally:

Blues and black and purples, occasionally green, hint of red, bit of pink.. Much colder colours compared to Dante's golden star, implying some sort of difference. Their star and general colour palate is divorced from the sky they have supposedly fallen from, instead taken from, as stated prior, the Light and indeed from the very doors they seem to pull the Sinners out of to revive them.

And within Faust, the literary work, the homunculus is described alike a flame within a flask, and Dante very much has a flame emanating from their head, and it is when the flask is broken that the homunculus is killed, as with Dante's head being in some ways their most important part - breaking it would absolutely kill them, whilst their body seems notably more 'expendable'?. We've had Hong Lu questioning Dante's humanity in Canto 3, if they're the clock or the person they know as Dante, and given his track record of saying very few but pertinent things it is rather notable [even without the whole rock thing]. Plus we haven't ever really seen any of Dante's injuries - not with the harpoon, not with the melting, nothing - technically we can't even confirm their blood is red proper, at least to my memory.

To add on, Faust also describes Dante's seeking out of their star in SO and consequent Sinner revival as 'instinctual', and only a rather otherworldly being would have such an... odd instinct, right?

But I digress, the more likely answer is generally that our Faust, second Sinner Faust, is the homunculus in question - or otherwise a newer version of Faust to either life in general or the gesellschaft more closely, given how much control it has over her and how much she relies on it, being notably rusty in MOtWE. While it very much may be a result of how long she's had it, which of course we've no clue on, if the homunculus theory holds true then perhaps it may be similar to how Dante relies on her - a reliable if somewhat info stingy presence ready to tell whatever truly must be known in that instant.

Adding on the whole child in a flask and her icon would extend the post too much, but I do wish to bring up Angela, who Faust is oft compared with due to: general focus on collecting knowledge [LoR], seeming very prideful at first glace without that being the case [referring to the gesellschaft as Faust and Angela's required role in the script makes both seem more arrogant than they are], play the role of protag support [X and Dante], and generally having something unusual regarding eyesight [Angela closes her eyes most of the time in LobCorp, Faust is known to look off into the distance when conferring with Faust™] - and I simply wished to log them for now.

Looping all the way back round to the colour association I was on about with Dante last time, there's a description of Lucifer as having three faces, with a site from Leeds Uni site stating the following:

Black, red and yellow are very notably the only colours on Dante's clock head - and the 'one head three faces' thing may come to play later on, especially if one consider their supposed falling to be alike the falling of Lucifer from heaven. also more fuel for my own lil personal 'dante is an amalgam of A, C and their own personality spawned from the Light itself' theory but I'm keeping the lid on that one

As well as additionally potentially being a parallel to whitenight, and thus C again, as instead of a false saviour in the guise of an angel, they are a true one in the guise of a demon, as well as the noted inclusion of 6 batlike wings, again a contrast to the feathered ones of WN. Oh, and they share a colourscheme, if one counts the heavy black lineart of their original appearance or the plauge doctor - red, white, yellow and black. I'd map this onto Limbus sins - resulting in Sloth and Wrath - but as there are no official sins for the other two colours one could go with taking Black and Pale damage from LobCorp. But a generally accepted literary idea seems to be that the three faces work in a way as a perversion of the Holy Trinity of Christian myth.

Whilst I'm again talking of the Inferno, at the very bottom of it lies Lucifer, frozen to the waist within the Cocytus, or river of Wailing, with a sinner in each mouth. One very notably being Judas whilst the other two are Brutus and Longinus, all three traitors - as is the theme of the layer - and two of whom being especially personal to Alighieri due to their murder of Caesar and leading to what he believed to be the start of the end for a unified Italy. Given their nature as a former 'big shot' I assume its lose adaptation shall either have the other two being instrumental in their downfall or the downfall of where they once lived. Or if its Sinners its Fau, 'Clair and Greg.

But to get to my actual point with this, it is the lowest point in which they go and will presumably heavily feature the Ruins, and actually going there in person. And in order to reach this level, they must first descend what I've seen described as the 'Central Well of Malbolge':

Which of course may or may not connect to the Well - and by that standard at least A Bucket - in regards to Cogito, given its around the endgame of Inferno I wouldn't doubt that it would be in L Corp. But what I find more interesting is the general fact that many of those imprisoned there are there for the crime of attempting to challenge the Olympian gods, giving it ties to Greek myth and thus most definitely Outis. And gods generally are not that well defined within the setting, with the Head, A and C all counting as godlike figures, not to even mention the Stars of the outskirts, depending on who the gods of the setting indeed are. Presumably smoke war related I feel. Ah, and as they - Vergil and Dante - climb over the devil, they are greeted with stars.

The Tenth Bolgia as well is rather of interest, dealing with the containment of alchemists, impostors, counterfeiters and liars - with there being at least one obvious Sinner for both the alchemist and imposter roles, with the others being more vague as of now. Alchemists in particular stood out given how the Philosopher's Stone was of interest to me earlier - haven't much else to say, except with how it is the 8th of 9 layers it is bound to be of much plot importance, right around the time of Outis and Faust's cantos, of all if memory serves.

And of the things I forgot to put in the first would be the idea of how exactly what happened in TCTB and LCBCU happened to Dante, and the answer that I have settled upon, concerning primarily:

The idea of wavelengths. Primarily in that, due to the Dough in their head, Dante has been able to pick up and resonate the wavelengths used by Boughs unconsciously, and that given in both instances of them being 'overwritten' happened within the same building as a monolith, of which this is pertinent:

There seems to be a signal/wavelength that is connected to the unconscious, of general humanity or otherwise, and that Boughs can thusly interact with this 'wavelength' and that interferences to it result in things such as a forced Distortion. Or with Dante, they pick up on these Disturbances and have that override their own self for at least a short while. For the one in TCTB they picked up on the 'signal' of whomever it was that was talking [presumably a mix of A and C to me personally], for LCBCU it was the 'signal' of the bloodfiend lineage or whathaveyou.

Given the whole 'connection' thing Hohenheim talked about, and the fact the Light or at least C seems to be aware of or affected by and can effect mirror worlds outside of its own [philclair story], maybe the Sinners are now all cosmically doomed to be coworkers in other mirror worlds. They're all on the same wavelength now. Forever.

Of course this means that Mephi and Dante are on the same wavelength, and thus potentially if the bus really is alive, it could override or generally talk through Dante alike a mouthpiece. Now that I think on it, and given their obvious similarities in appearance, maybe Dante and Mephi are connected on some deeper level - like keeping Mephi fed keeps Dante fed or something. Or maybe even Dante's old self is indeed currently within Mephi, yet is unable to get onto the same wavelength again or something, or is currently gathering strength or time or something to get back to full strength.

More evidence for my 'LC is trying to turn Dante into a Carmen mouthpiece' theory I suppose. And the mythical element the Phil's Stone is supposed to be made of is called carmot, just two letters off from her name - finished thing is oft said to be red in colouration too, which matches her eyes.

Ah and final thing about wavelengths, at the end of Canto 6, Demian himself seems to not be effected by the whole colour sucking thing, he says it's because the light has yet to reach him, perhaps it is because he is on a different wavelength to it. Or with that world in general. We have nothing proving that the Demian Dante chats to in C4 and C6 is really him in the flesh and not just him like astral projecting into their head or just causing a very specific hallucination. He's probably actually there I'm just very tired.

I am going to sleep.

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clockgaze · 11 hours ago

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Ring, ring~

Been trying to put this thing to pixels? Paper for a while now, so here's a smplified version which was indeed, the entire reason for the illustration. Vauge as hell but all the better to mold into the story with:

The gradient doesn't actually mean all that much I just thought it twas a fun visual

I am unsure as to if I should act as if they're a physical thing of sorts or not but i don't feel i should.

Regardless, I do think that as they collect the boughs and the Sapling of Light in their head and the boughs in HQ grow, that Dante will eventually allow them to resonate and be used as mouthpieces by those on higher 'wavelengths' which could tie into dante-is-going-to-be-a-vessel-slash-recreation-of-carmen theory or be anything else for all we know.

Plus, there's a non-zero chance Demian's talks with Dante don't have him talking to them proper, just like astral projecting himself into their reality to yap and leave. Which is funny and so being immediately subsumed into my belief system.

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clockgaze · 11 hours ago

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Bound by future and past. The same, again, again.

Rather late due to life stuff, but here is the explanation post for my idea that the flow is essentially Fancy Consequences. Though take my opinion with a grain of sault salt, I am probably missing some things. Also it took a sharp turn to a different topic halfway as always.

How I see it, each person has at least one flow of their own, which then acts as the natural continuation of their thoughts, beliefs or actions as a person in the City. There is also the flow of the City, the continuation and perpatuation of it's violence and thus itself - this is the flow most never stray from, either due to rejecting their own flow or due to their flow being weak enough that the City's one just tramples over it. Thus, the flow is often thought of as the way things usually go, [x] action generally leads to [y].

Different people naturally have flows of different strength, presumably due to their power and/or influence or even just how large of an impact the chain of events will have at its conclusion. Stronger flows can generally subsume or override weaker flows.

Thus why I believe Ricardo and his involvement was so major, he was one with a strong flow that interfered with LC's one in a place where their guide could not reach them and thus could not prevent any changes to their flow. As the LCB get stronger, he'll pose less of a threat, but the flow is not absolute as he so helpfully showed us - just as one action may make another one more likely but can almost never 100% guarantee anything.

In turn, there then remains the interference of the Indigo Elder. Given as the chances of getting out of ths whale without him were close to zero, the flow they follow probably had the LCB meeting him regardless, though possibly at a later time. Generally, this goes along with the idea of a [loosely] planned flow, doing certain things at certain times to affect the outcome, which then defined the route the LCB is taking.

The Light ended up shaking up the status quo, at least a bit, allowing more people to gain the power and resolve to follow their own individual flows, regardless of its effects on others. It's sorta connected to how boughs, EGO, distortion and essentially everything related to the Light has a focus on both selfishness and personal growth - one must grow to get stronger and make their flow stronger, one must be selfish enough to follow their own flow instead of following another's flow or neglecting it.

Which then loops back to what I belive the Limbus Company is doing, which is simply put, ensuring the circumstances that allow for the recreation of a flow - as per In Hell We Live, Lament's theming of loops, as well as the general sense that there is a plan and an expected series of events, as per Faust and Hohenheim.

Which may or may not be connected to the Mirror tech somehow, its creator is Sinner No.1, and I wouldn't be suprised if it was his tech that allowed for the Gesellschaft to exsist, and give enough clarity to Hohenheim and Faust to both independently mention 'this world'. Fau when she's telling Dante to self destruct and Hohenheim when he's talking about what'd happen if DQ tried to attack the manager. As far as I remember, I don't believe we've gotten a date for how long before the game's events each Sinner was recruited past their number order, but them only solidifying their plan after gaining use of the mirror seems reasonable enough for me to put here.

This part is going to be more speculative but I've a few different ideas poking around my head at who's flow exactly they're reenacting:

My more favoured one would be the reenactment of either C or A's flow - or even both of them. There's quite a lot about Dante that parallels the two, especially in terms of their role. As well, the introduction of the sephirot's abilities via the Sapling of Light abilities, Greg's base EGO, Wulpurgisnachts, the LCE, and basically a whole lot of stuff about the company poses it as one that is essentually taking up the mantle that Lobcorp left, or is at least deeply connected to Lobcorp in some fundamental way.

The whole purpose of Lobcorp was to create the exact conditons needed for the Seed or Light Project's completion, so by creating similar circumstances one could supposedly create a similar chain of cause and effect - a similar flow - that then copies

Though, that doesn't exactly explain everything, and while I do think LimCom is creating a new tree of light or something close via bough collection, I haven't a solid answer of what they're doing it for, though I've talked about it in the past. Its something I'd say is dependent on who exactly is leading the company, really. But I do think it has something to do with Dante's Aspect and maybe stars idk.

The other main option is recreating what pre-clock Dante did but successfully/reversed this time. Being chased in the forests by 3 purple people does not seem like something a supposed 'big shot' would think is successful. As well as the whole uncarved Aspect buisness.

Though I'm torn on if its a stright recreation but not failing this time or if they had previously made the oposite journey to the one they're having now - pre-clock went from paradisio to inferno so post-clock is going from inferno to paradisio. Homecoming is a major theme in most Cantos, even if in some cases it's more a spiritual homecoming like in C4, so Dante

#saved #hi op i eat your thoughts

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