#canto 8

[sleepyminty]

Cant wait for don ‘was gifted a loving father’ quixote/sancho acting skill put into test against hong lu’s horrendous family

[lu-is-not-ok]

"After all, who is the dreamer? Is it myself as I had existed in that dream, or myself who has awakened from it?

Well. Whichever it may be, whether it is a butterfly or not, I guess it will flutter away once again."

[caerbannogmochi]

I'm pretty sure everyone remembers how Dante's clock has been moving over time. BUT, there is now an identifiable pattern to its movements, and its associated with the development of the sinners!

During Cantos 1-3, Dante's role in events is one of a passive observer. Gregor, Rodion, and Sinclair all made it through their cantos without much (if any) advice from Dante, the events of which mostly served to establish where they stood as characters/why they behave in the ways that they do.

Canto 4 was where this formula started to change. Yi Sang needed more out of Dante than the previous sinners; There was a Big Issue from his past that was controlling his future (namely, his entrapment in the past caused by the Hot Mess Involving T-Corp And The Mirror), forcing Dante to take on the role of Emotional Support Clockhead to guide him through the Canto. And at the end of the Canto, two things happened:

Vergilius commented on "the look on [Dante's] face"...

... and the clock moved for the first time.

The next 2 Cantos maintained this level of involvement from Dante: Ishmael needed Dante to help guide her away from her self-destructive obsession (I.E, to find "[her] compass [which] was swallowed by the sea" and choose to start "piercing through the rope that strangled [Captain Ahab] and [Ishmael]", freeing her to move toward the future), and Heathcliff needed Dante to help guide him through effectively communicating how much he loved Catherine/engaging in healthy relationship dynamics. (Seriously: the real antagonist of Canto 6 is communication issues.)

Effectively: Cantos 1, 2, and 3 had Dante doing the equivalent of talking with their respective Sinners as they drove their car down an empty street. Pretty casual, nothing major happened. Cantos 4, 5 and 6 required Dante to give directions, help them figure out where they got lost, convince them to pull over, calm down, and eat SOMETHING to get their blood sugar up before continuing toward their destination. More work, but these Sinners received greater rewards.

With Canto 7, the car was inside an IKEA.

Sinclair had to get the doors open. Faust had to find the car, awkwardly wedged in one of the shortcuts between display sections. Gregor, Rodion, Ishmael, Yi Sang, and Heathcliff had to pull Sancho out of the bunk bed in a completely different section of the store, with Ryoshu and Outis bringing their spoils from the marvelously-priced IKEA food court. Hong Lu had to help guide Sancho through getting the car out of the place it was awkwardly wedged, and Mersault held back the crowd. Dante's task wasn't just emotional support, but guidance. Sancho/Don Quixote needed someone to reassure her that there was a way forward, a something worth pursuing. And Dante did wonderfully.

So, is it a surprise that this canto is where the clock moved again?

Don Quixote (Who, as we learned in this canto, is a bloodfiend, like Vergilius) commented on Dante's expression.

And the clock moved.

BUT BETWEEN THESE TWO EVENTS, DANTE MADE THE CHOICE TO SMILE. "like Don Quixote asked me to".

THEREFORE, it is my conclusion that, between the commentary of lu-is-not-okay on Hong Lu's impending mental breakdown (SPECIFICALLY this post, which is the reason for my diatribe) AND the existence of this pattern of increasingly intensive Sinner rehabilitation efforts, Canto 8 will be the mental health equivalent of trying to get Hong Lu off of the car, which is precariously balanced upside down on a fountain, on the third floor of a shopping mall, while being chased by mall security (read: his family).

And it's going to be awesome.

[bagelqaq]

is this anything

[kyuairyeo]

If Smosh has their own fighting game (Anthony and Ian are the boss level type which is why they're not in the selection arena with the others)

[cogito-dreams]

hey guys i. im. thinking about this cg from the tutorial again (sorry for image quality) and

and like. i've always been wondering and Highly Concerned at the fact that hong lu was able to brush off straight up dying so quickly and easily. and. considering Recent Events potentially explaining a bit of this reaction. idk i don't have proper words for this i'm just terrified for canto 8

[femmeslash]

role swap au where other characters from the same source material are the sinners instead. here's my picks

Dongbaek (still out for dongrang's blood)

Gretchen (real sweetheart but easy to manipulate. got kicked out of the nest where she grew up)

Dulcinea (6'1 butch slaughterhouse worker who doesn't know what the hell she's doing here. her name isn't even dulcinea)

The Lord of Horikawa (no one likes him)

Raymond (NO ONE LIKES HIM)

Lin Daiyu (huge crybaby, secretly a freak. kinda like sinclair)

Lockwood (i guess we're going to the house i used to rent, that guy was pretty weird, i wonder how he's — oh my god he got worse)

Queequeg (keeping raymond in line by firmly placing her hand on his shoulder whenever he says something she doesn't like. he is pants-shittingly afraid of her. everyone else loves her.)

Sonya (has beef with the lord of horikawa for some reason and won't answer questions about it. still has the mark of cain)

Dante (dante)

Kromer (currently having insane toxic yuri with daiyu)

Telemachus (looking for his mom and finding a whole lot of sickos instead)

Grete (keeps asking if they can kill raymond)

[0-lcb-sinner]

so. um. anybody else seeing these last lines

[shesmore-shoebill]

Put on the lego stream for background noise while i work only to be so COMPLETELY distracted because Shayne and Chanse kept talking about X-Men, drifting into their own world and Angela responded to this by saying "what if i went missing" to zero response from Shaynse, which sent Amanda into a fit of laughter and now the bit keeps escalating, and SPECIFICALLY. AMANDA KEEPS ESCALATING THE BIT BY SAYING "what if you and i kissed. and then went missing" to angela. REPEATEDLY. what the fuck. she's leaned in. she kept saying it. theyve gotten out of their seats and camped in the corner of the room. shayne and chanse Keep Going. Amangela meltdown in the corner. fever dream.

[motivation-ga-shinderu]

the price of recognition

[mycherrycola]

I spent a while trying to think of alternate hairstyles to try on Virgil's luscious long hair but all my brain gave me was 'Rapunzel in Tangled (2010)'

[hunterofartemis-8]

JUSTICE. FOR. LIPJ.

BEST IDEA IN THIS WHOLE VIDEO

and i love green smoothie scent angela keep it up

[lu-is-not-ok]

How it feels to be T minus six months away from being thrown into The Chamber which is awfully Red.

Anyway, I'm going to take this opportunity to make some Canto 8 predictions before the Roadmap drops for fun.

Now, these are a mix of theories that have been brewing within me since the game's launch and some stuff that hit me extremely recently. I'm going to try to keep the most general/sane predictions at the front while the more specific/deranged takes are gonna stay at the bottom.

Enjoy.

(And just in case anyone is curious, yes, I will be making a Canto 8 bingo board after we're done with this Season's Intervallos.)

Canto 8 Name Predictions:

The Disillusioned / The Disenchanted (Reference to either Land of Illusion or the fairy Disenchantment from DOTRC)

The Indebted (Reference to the Debt of Tears from DOTRC)

The Cycle Continuing (Matching the Canto 7 format of misleading you into thinking it's a description of the plot when it's actually describing the Sinner as well - Sancho is trying to end the dream, she's the Dream Ending Sinner)

All The Other Predictions:

The lesson Hong Lu will have to learn is to stand up for himself against his Family.

As the Saplings of Light seem to be happening in reverse Ruina order, Hong Lu would end up being assigned Chesed. Thus far, every Sinner tied to a Sapling of Light had to learn the same lesson as the counterpart Sephirah - Heathcliff had to learn to move on from his past like Hokma, while Donqui had to learn to have hope in the future like Binah.

Chesed's arc revolved around him learning that he needs to stop lying to himself and others, and that simply following authority only contributes to perpetuating the harm they cause, so his resolution has him stand up to that authority and try to rebel. I expect Hong Lu to have to go through something similar in his Canto.

Hong Lu will Distort.

Did you really think I would forget that foreshadowing from all the way back in Hell's Chicken?

Hong Lu will be the key to the Immortality of the Mind his elders are seeking.

This would tie him directly to the theme of resurrection that him being the Jade implies, plus it would be a direct reason as to why his Family is actively looking for him - they need him for their own goals.

There will be at least One cannibal in the Jia Family.

No I am not letting go of that Canto 2 line about bitten off fingers.

The Land of Illusion will be revealed to be where one of (if not more) of the Rivers is.

DOTRC potrays the Land of Illusion as a place with notable supernatural Rivers + thematic cohesion between Land of Illusion and Hades as forms of "afterlife" (we already know one of the Rivers is named after a River of Hades).

Hong Lu will be revealed to be both Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, not in a "they merged the two characters into one for the sake of adaptation" way, but in a "this character is composed of two characters in-universe" way.

The framing and timing of the reveal of Hong Lu's name being Baoyu feels incredibly suspicious to me, to the point it actively makes me doubt that's all there is to his true identity. Plus there are multiple things about his E.G.O.s and certain writing choices that can't be explained with him Just being Baoyu.

[hongluboobs]

finished timekilling time and WOW. that was for the canto 2 fans oh my god. Might be my favorite intervallo we've had so far i loveee what they're setting up and following up on

[jayfeefle]

johnny w: *flirts with eleanor*

edwin: *is defensive/protective*

eleanor: *is blushing*

dumphrey, local weird old guy: *a weird face*

[pawmi-paradise]

MURDER ON WARP EXPRESS SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN DON IS A FUCKING BLOODFIEND