the-solatorobo-fanatic

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

you punch nazis!

(requested by anonymous)

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

THIS REBLOG WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR INTERVALLO V-2 : NOCTURNAL SWEEPING

Well, we have new material to work on !

Firstly, I was wrong about what Hong Lu wished for in exchange for work at Limbus : he did not wish for anything. This is an element that reinforces his passive attitude for things even further than how it's usually framed as "he lived in a rich environment and doesn't know much about what life is like in the backstreets".

Secondly, he explains that he was never the one to lead, but one to be led. He says he never expressed any desire like the others. Something particular about this conversation he has with Dante is how he jabs at Yi Sang by saying this.

He then subsequently says that he just joined Limbus Company to have a new experience. To see something new. A character who's known for coming from a rich family and being elegant having this sort of motivation feels both like an anticlimatic thing, but also very logical : he's lived most of his life in a manor, so of course he'd want to see something new.

Thirdly, and the biggest element : he is passive. He says it himself :

Why was he cut off ? Because he was going to reveal the most central element of his past : "Whatever happens to me, or to those around me... I only witness.". Another element related to observing things. Hong Lu most likely had no initiative at all during his life at his family's place, even though he was trained and raised just like the other Jia children. This could explain such a vain reason to join Limbus Company, wishing to be carried away by the current.

What it could also explain is his siblings' resentment towards him All of them seem to work towards special goals : Jia Xichun searching for immortality, Jia Huan working alongside Hermann's group, and Jia Qiu's goal is still foggy. Hong Lu ? He just wants to see something new. He has no ambitions, no goals, despite being raised and trained like a member of the Jia family. In a sense, this is one of the grandest examples of sloth shown in the game. No wonder Xichun is often pissed or aggravated at Hong Lu : she can't stand to watch him twiddling his thumbs just watching things from afar.

However, the Family Hierarch competition is drawing near, and the LCA's orders were clear : the LCB has to participate, with Hong Lu as their representative. The Intervallo suddenly ends with Xichun (rightfully) pissed at her alliance plans falling apart, but in my opinion, this draws attention away from the fact that Hong Lu has been FORCIBLY removed from the sidelines. The LCA has ordered him to become a contestant, which means that he can no longer stay back and just watch. This reopens the various explanations about Hong Lu being just the teal eye, and honestly ? I'm terrified to see what happens to him. We'll just see in a month, I suppose.

HEAVY SPOILERS FOR LIMBUS COMPANY POST-CANTO VII

so, time to theorize about Hong Lu.

Hong Lu is the next sinner on the list to go through The Horrors, with his focus Canto being named The Surrendered Witnessing. From the name alone, this is most likely going to refer to Hong Lu himself, given that Canto names relate to the sinner in question : Gregor being an outcast, Ishmaël defining evil as Ahab, Heathcliff being heartbroken by Cathy's death and subsequent erasure, Don Quixote's dream ending.

So, what could "Surrendered Witnessing" mean regarding Hong Lu ?

Well, first of all, we have the implications that Hong Lu is not human to begin with, or that his past is heavily obscured from us, even despite him often comparing what he sees with his childhood. Out of the 13 sinners, 3 of them have a steel nametag instead of an ID card : Don Quixote, due to her actual name being Sancho ; Outis, due to "outis" being the equivalent in ancient Greek to the translated "No one" or "Nobody" in the Odyssey ; and Hong Lu, as it's been confirmed by his family that his actual name is Baoyu.

Sure, that's just a name difference, but it doesn't stop there. Hong Lu, throughout the game, has been known to often be aloof and easygoing, often causing others to view him as insensitive, especially when he compares the miserable sights of the City to his life at his family's mansion openly, and without tact. This sort of curiosity and simple personality is often explained with his life in a high-class environment, but to me, it's also because he might not human to begin with.

The novel Dream of the Red Chamber, which he's based on, focuses on a sentient piece of jade who wishes to see the mortal world by itself and is granted that wish through reincarnation. Hong Lu, in parallel to that, has lived with his family until his family's elders have told him to go and explore the City and the world as much as he could before returning home, which is what Limbus Company helped him do as a sinner.

Now, there are multiple elements regarding Hong Lu that revolve around the eye, or more precisely, the act of seeing and observing. First is the most obvious : his left eye being a pale teal blue.

There is something inherently curious about his left eye, which the game discreetly points out by saying it sometimes glows (which can be seen in some of his IDs, whether it's the illustration or the skills).

Second is his Sinner logo : an eye sitting in mist.

Now, this eye is most likely supposed to represent Hong Lu's left eye, as they share the same color. Note how it's directly facing the viewer.

Third is something I noticed in the portraits we have for his family members, Jia Huan and Jia Xichun. Given that Hong Lu's teal eye is implied to be unnatural, it's to be expected that his family would have predominantly brown eyes, like Hong Lu's right eye, right ? But no :

Their eyes are shades of red, which is not only strongly different from teal, in fact, it's the exact opposite of teal on a color wheel. Here's a comparison from me of Jia Huan and Jia Xichun's eye colors, and Hong Lu's, colorpicked from their sprites + Hong Lu's logo, as well as their comparison on the color wheel.

Fourth is what I mentioned earlier : the fact that the reason he joined the LCB department was to fulfill his family's wish of seeing as much of the world as possible, which seems to have been asked to some of his siblings as well, as can be seen with Jia Xichun during Canto VII.

Now, the main theory. It can be possible that Hong Lu's left eye is just a glass eye with some strange mechanism hidden inside, but here's what I strongly believe :

The eye itself is Hong Lu.

This could explain why there's such a strong emphasis on the concept of observing something around Hong Lu. This could have several explanations as to why, and multiple ramifications as well :

Hong Lu is an AI that was given a human body, created by the Jia family to accomplish a specific mission, under the guise of "experiencing the world". This would imply that the rest of his siblings are also AIs given a human body to fit in with the rest of the City dwellers. Due to how wealthy the Jia family is, they could have some sort of permit, or enough power to disregard the Head's decision to ban the creation of AIs this advanced. This would explain his siblings' animosity towards him, as Hong Lu is significantly different from them, implied by the stark difference in eye color, implying a fundamental gap between them and him. It could be a difference in strength, which would imply Hong Lu's actual power is unfathomable, and likely much stronger than the other sinners. Unfortunately, Intervallo V-1 does not add anything on Hong Lu that separates him from the sinners : that was given to Gregor.

Hong Lu could be a creature from the Outskirts, similarly to the Tearful Thing from Canto IV, in which case the creature is contained inside his eye. The entity would be then using Baoyu's body to fulfill his own desire to see the City, and the elders would convince Baoyu to go along by telling him to go explore the City. This could be a potential explanation to the animosity his siblings harbor for him, as they see Baoyu, but a monster as well. It would also explain the complete difference in eye color.

Hong Lu is a being from a faraway mirror world, which was summoned by the Jia family, using Baoyu as a vessel. In similar fashion to Erlking Heathcliff being forcefully imprinted on Isabella, then imprinted on Linton after he was turned into a "pure human", the Hong Lu we know could originate from a mirror world. Such a plan would imply that the Jia family has the means to conduct such an experiment, which is most likely the case, they have the wealth to do so, and most likely far than enough to get a Golden Bough. The reason why the Jia family would go to such lengths is unknown, but maybe they wanted him to be a respectable heir, and Baoyu wasn't cutting it, so they could have forced an Identity upon him at some point in his life.

All of this converges towards one specific point : Hong Lu is the teal eye, and his body, whether flesh or machine, is only a vessel for it to use, in a similar fashion to Soul Gems from Madoka Magica.

I strongly believe that during the Canto, something will happen that will cause this reveal to happen, and for a good part of the Canto, Hong Lu will be reduced to just an eye, which would explain the chapter's name : The Surrendered Witnessing, as he has lost the only thing helping him move on his own, and will be forced to watch the events unfold until he regains his free will, or his body.

P.S : a few edits have been made, mostly to correct some errors (such as the exposition on perfect humans being given by jia huan, it was actually given by aseah of the league of nine. little mistake on my end.)

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

Smile of a dreamer ✨

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

Do any of u have decent recipes that are like 5 ingredients (not including spices) and take 45 mins or less to prepare i gotta stop eating sandwiches for dinner

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

THIS REBLOG CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR INTERVALLO V-2 : NOCTURNAL SWEEPING.

oh the fucking FLASHBACKS to the horrors i went through all phases of grief

man fuck ricardo i hope he explodes. I passed it eventually with half of my team into the ground, but god damn

however the sweeping section was so fucking cool, the auramaxxing was real

i saw this on my youtube recs and considering recent game news i wanted to check something out, and

yep the limbus company fans are here

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

Sharkposting!!!

THIS is the frilled shark. Unlike all other shark species, they are eel-like in shape so it was weird classifying them as sharks for a while, until we figured out they were a species that dated way back to the prehistoric oceans, and have since barely changed taxonomically because they’re well adapted to life as it is for them now.

I’d say the most infamous thing about frilled sharks is how old they are, but another famous frilled shark feature is their TEETH. Gross ass trident shaped teeth that point up and back in their mouth. The way they’re shaped makes it easy to trap, hold, and shred prey without having the bite force that “normal” sharks usually do. Because of this unique adaptation, they have mouths so weird and strange that they look like old men from afar… LOL.

One last fun fact: Scientists estimate frilled sharks have the longest gestation period of ALL VERTEBRATES ON EARTH. It lasts for three and a half (3.5) years. For comparison, human gestation is only 9 months. WOAH!

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

I wanted to revisit sock princess

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

it also exists in french ! a common example is "on boit un verre ?", which can read as literally drinking the glass itself, when it means grabbing a drink

hey can anyone of my followers whose first language isn’t English tell me if this figure of speech exists in your original language. I’m trying to see something

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

Couples shirt idea

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

the fuck you mean i'm an annoying third-person cutesy-but-ditzy anime character

Let me try this

So let the wheel decide your Japanese first-person pronoun

Note: descriptions may be inaccurate.

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]

the suffering never ends

[the-solatorobo-fanatic]