#lin daiyu

[meraki-yao]

So I found this on Weibo and I couldn't stop laughing. This is incredibly niche but I feel the need to share and explain this to my friends on this side.

So the bottom half is the photos that we initially thought were the royal suitor photos before the movie came out, then realized it was in the texting montage, then confirmed by Matthew that this actually isn't Alex and Henry, it was Taylor and Nick chilling between takes.

NOW, the photo on top is a still from 1987 TV show adaptation of one of the four Chinese Classics: "The Dream of the Red Chamber". That is the main couple reading another classical Chinese novel (yes this is very meta) "Romance of the Western Chamber" together, and I think this book that they're reading is the first romance novel/love story to have the couple be in starkly different social standings yet be together in the end.

This isn't a case of parallel in the same sense as my posts putting firstprince and Rapunzel x Eugene or Simba x Nala or Jack x Rose together and finding similarities. In fact, the couple from Red Chamber is nothing like firstprince or Taylor and Nick, not even remotely close, and their relationship ended in tragedy: spoilers, the girl died of a broken heart and the boy lost the will to live and became a monk.

But the point here is that this pair? This is our culture's Romeo and Juliet, our Pyramus and Thisbe. This scene in particular, this imagery of them reading in the garden together, has the same significance as the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. Like, if you ask a Chinese person for an imagery from classical literature that depicts love, this is the image most people will say.

AND SOMEHOW THIS PHOTO OF TAYLOR AND NICK THAT WE ALL THOUGHT WAS ALEX AND HENRY LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME AS IT

This is the most random connection and it's definitely a stretch but as someone who cried over the ship in the top half at the age of 11 I am so fucking amused by this comparison

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwrb movie #taylor zakhar perez #alex claremont diaz #nicholas galitzine #henry fox mountchristen windsor #henry hanover stuart fox #firstprince #dream of the red chamber #jia baoyu #lin daiyu #also the boy and the girl are technically cousins but we don't talk about that #rwrb parallels #taynick? I don't know what this counts as anymore #rwrb rambles #again this is purely self indulgent #meraki translates #but I find joy in sharing things of my culture that i approve of #and translating is fun #the dream of the red chambers is the most complex out of the four Chinese classics #it has the most literature scholars studying it #also we technically have two sets of tragic lover they're one of them #the other one basically is beat for beat romeo and juliet #and they die and turn into butterflies #anyways i'm done rambling for this #chinese literature

[shoujobees]

dream of red chamber sketch from jan 2021

#dream of red chamber #lin daiyu #jia baoyu #portraits #fanart #2021 #honglou meng #cdrama

[transdetectivespotter]

Tuberculosis in literature

All this John Green talk about tuberculosis and how it has shaped literature and beauty standards etc. is absolutely fascinating to me. It made me wonder if the depiction of Lin Daiyu in Dream of the red chamber (aka The story of the stone) is also based on those beauty standards and if they evolved independently of each other due to the wide spread of tuberculosis or if they influenced each other. At least, I always read her as suffering from tuberculosis even though I don’t think it is ever clearly stated in the book. But maybe it is just me reading too much into with my western world view or the translators translating it into European languages. I unfortunately can’t read the original Chinese version, but instead read a European translation based on translations from multiple languages. But assuming she is as consumptive in the original version, did Cao Xueqin this 18th century Chinese novelist and the European author etc. exchange ideas or is there some inherit beauty in tuberculosis victims? I don’t know, I have been fortunate enough to growing up in a part of the world where meeting people suffering from TB is very rare, so I have never met anyone. Anyway, John was right everything is about Tuberculosis.

#tuberculosis #john green #紅樓夢 #dream of the red chamber #lin daiyu

[aliencreole]

omfg guys. i'm so damn excited with how my kind-of-itabag turned out for this upcoming con.

Pictured is a 1/3 scale 70cm Angell-studio mermaid body with a Lin DaiYu head in a bubble backpack pet carrier.

I started out with wondering if she'd even fit in there to then being suggested to try out some iridescent organza fabric in the background and another suggestion to get battery fairy lights. i sourced the fabric first, which was okay. Then found $2 fairylights, but they were softwhite and pretty warm in color. Then i tried out dyeing the lights with blue rit dyemore and voila~ 😍 💞💞

#angell-studio #bjd #ball jointed doll #angell-studio mermaid #mermaid #dolls #ita bag #angell-studio lin daiyu

[toskarin]

continuing my trend of sketching strange and unusual xios in times of stress

#doodles #the one on the right is her dressed as lin daiyu but I cheated the hair for smth less period-accurate because she's still xio #because I made a joke one time abt drawing the cqd cast in a dream of the red chamber au and it's never left my head

[voidfragments]

i'm not gonna officially incorporate this in my portrayal or even put it in my hc tag unless we get some info that makes me feel more confident in this theory but like, man, i think a lot about lin daiyu's role in hong lu's story. why does he seem to take inspiration from her as much as from jia baoyu, if not more? why doesn't he ever mention or even allude to her? hell, even the mismatched colors of his eyes seem to be a reference to her name. i can't help but wonder... do their eyes match? did they always match? is daiyu even around anymore? is "hong lu" some kind of fucked up chimera of jia baoyu and lin daiyu?

#ooc #i think it would be neat if that was the case :) #context if you don't know #lin daiyu is one of the main girls in dotrc #she's jby's best friend and the love interest he has a real emotional connection to #but she's not considered to be of marriagable quality for someone of his status #so his parents make him marry xue baochai instead #also her name means blue-black jade which sure does match hong lu's eyes

[buried-in-stardust]

A Lin Daiyu cosplay (from 紅樓夢/A Dream of Red Mansions)

[eng by me]

#douyin #clothing #cosplay #douyin comments #hanfu

[dappercatdice]

Tears of the Crimson Pearl Flower, designed for my LNY giveaway. Inspired by Lin Daiyu.

#handmade #dice #dnd dice #dice maker #dice goblin #polyhedral dice #resincraft #lunar new year #dream of the red chamber

[calitsnow]

Summary of all mentions of members of Hong Lu's family in the game + comparison with the original book

Summary:

Mention of his “family” in general in the game

Mention of the family elders in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his grandmother in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his grandfather in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his father in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his siblings in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his brother (Jia Huan) in the game

I wanted to recap all the times Hong Lu talks about his family or a particular member of his family while at the same time comparing them to their version of the original novel by giving some info on the latter (assuming that Hong Lu = Jia Baoyu ). I excluded from this list the uncles and aunts by marriage as well as Baoyu's cousins ​​ for various reasons (too long otherwise, not mentioned...) but I will perhaps do a part 2 to talk about them.

Was also excluded, the entire branch which stems from Jia Yan (the brother of Jia Yuan (the father of Jia Daishan, the husband of Grandmother Jia)), a branch which remains important since it is this one who leads to the actual Head of the Ningguo Mansion (Jia Zhen) when the story takes place. But since, they are distant relatives/cousins ​​of Jia Baoyu, that was taking me too far and so I had to remove them from this list. But I still wanted to mention it since it is an important branch of the family

The Jia family is mainly composed of 4 great families: the Jia Family, the Xue Family, the Wang Family and the Shi family in other words those who were born with the name Jia and those who joined the family by marriage / alliance / by being the brother / sister of one of the grooms… (born Xue or Wang or Shi).

There are also other families like the Xing or Lin family joining the Jia family but whose name appears (very) less often and which are also not considered as one of the great families of the novel.

This list of family members is made in relation to the place they occupy in relation to Jia Baoyu.

I/Mention of his “family” in general in the game

LCB sinner, chatter#3

Abn. logs, Pink shoes: lacking data

Abn. Logs, Sign of Roses: level 1

Abn. Logs, Sign of Roses: level 3

Liu Association South Section 5, story

Liu Association South Section 5, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, post-uptie chat 2

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, Idle

Main story, Canto II, episode: 3

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, Miracle in district 20, episode: 13

Main story, Canto V, episode: 2

Hong Lu’s promo pre-limbus company release (Hong Lu also mentions the family’s chef’s side dishes but I didn’t include it because it was not about his family specifically)

II/Mention of the family elders in the game + comparison with the original work

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, story

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, story

Main story, Canto IV, episode: 27

To tell the truth, I don't really know what the term "elders" is supposed to encompass in this context in the sense that, I don't know whether or not parents and/or uncles/aunts should be included in addition to the grandparents.

In my opinion the term "elders" refers to all the generations who are above the one who uses this term (in this case Hong Lu / Jia Baoyu) so I would tend to want to count the parents and uncles / aunts but I cannot say this with certainty.

I will therefore base myself on my interpretation so that it will allow me to talk about more characters of the novel but do not hesitate to let me know what this term encompasses!

1st generation:

Grand parents:

Jia Daishan:

Son of Jia Yuan

first Duke of Rong

husband of Grandmother Jia

father of Jia She, Jia Min and Jia Zheng

grandfather of the three first Spring Ladies (Jia Yuanchun, Jia Tanchun and Jia Yingchun), Jia Zhu, Baoyu, Daiyu, Jia Huan, Jia Lian

died before the beginning of the novel, reason why we don’t know much about him

Grandma Jia (the Dowager):

Daughter of the Marquis Shi of Jinling

Wife of Jia Daishan

Grandmother Jia is a generation above the oldest member of the Rongguo Mansion (Jia Jing)

Thus, members of the Jia family all defer to her

For further information, refer to the paragraph dedicated to her below

Great uncle(s):

Dowager’s brother:

We don't know much about the Dowager's brother

He is Grandmother Jia’s brother

He is the father of Shi Ding and Shi Xiangyun's Father

He is Shi Xiangyun’s grandfather

died before the beginning of the novel, reason why we don’t know much about him

2nd generation:

Parents:

Jia Zheng:

Jia Zheng is the second and youngest son of Jia Daishan and Grandmother Jia.

He has a wife, Lady Wang, and two concubines: Zhao (with whom he had two children) and Zhou

For further information, refer to the paragraph dedicated to him below

Lady Wang:

Daughter of one of the four most prominent families of Jinling (Wang)

Primary wife of Jia Zheng

Mother of Baoyu and Yuanchun

Because of her purported ill-health, she hands over the running of the household to her niece, Wang Xifeng

In the eyes of her servants, she appears as a statue of a lifeless Buddha.

Although generous, she is described as without will or conviction.

Lady Wang seems kind and caring but can be cruel and ruthless when her authority is questioned.

She shows excessive concern about her son Baoyu's romantic relationships and closely monitors his maids.

Lady Wang plays a role in the death of Baoyu's maid, Qingwen, due to her suspicion and cruelty toward maids she perceives as threats to her son's virtue.

Uncles:

Jia She:

Elder son of the Dowager

Big brother of Jia Zheng and Jia Min

Husband of Xing furen

He has 2 concubines: Yingchun’s mother and Jia Cong's mother

Father of Jia Lian, Jia Yingchun and Jia Cong

He inherited the title of Marquis Rong

He is treacherous and greedy, as well as seductive/woomanizer.

He feels jealous towards his younger brother, favored by their mother.

He was later stripped of his title and banished by the government.

Father of Wang Ren and Wang Xifeng:

Lady Wang’s brother

Also brother of Wang Ziteng and Wang Zisheng

Father of Wang Ren and Wang Xifeng:

Wang Ziteng:

Lady Wang’s brother

Also brother of Wang Xifeng’s father and Wang Zisheng

Wang Zisheng:

Lady Wang’s brother

Also brother of Wang Xifeng’s father and Wang Ziteng

Aunts:

Jia Min:

Daughter of Jia Daishan and Grandmother Jia

Sister of Jia She and Jia Zheng

Wife of Lin Ruhai

Mother of Lin Daiyu

Xue Yima also known as Aunt Xue:

Sister of Lady Wang

Sister of Wang Ziteng, Wang Zisheng and Wang Xifeng’s father

Mother to Xue Pan and Xue Baochai

She is generally kind and affable.

However, she struggles to control her rambunctious son.

III/ Mention of his grandmother in the game + comparison with the original work

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, chatter #1

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, post-uptie chat 1

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, S.E.A, episode: 4

If Hong Lu is indeed the equivalent of Jia Baoyu in the world of limbus company, Hong Lu's grandmother should be the one known as Grandmother Jia, née Shi:

Grandmother Jia:

Also called Dowager Shi or simply the Dowager

She is the daughter of the Marquis Shi of Jinling

Grandmother Jia is a generation above the oldest member of the Rongguo Mansion (Jia Jing)

Main elder of the great family, she is the oldest and most respected authority of the Jia Clan

Of an enjoyable temperament, she does not intervene in the private lives of her children provided that they do not disturb her, even if they have become debauched or high rollers.

It was she who arranged for Daiyu, her only "outside" (i.e., maternal) grandchild, to come to the Rongguo Mansion

She spoils her grandson Baoyu whom she carries in adoration

Despite this, she does not approve of his love for Daiyu

She is the one who supports the marriage arranged by Sister Pheonix (Wang Xifeng) between Baoyu and Baochai

She will die at the ripe old age of 83

Maybe it's just me, but she seems to be one of the people if not the person who pays the most attention to Jia Baoyu's jade, reminding him to take care of it, asking him if he knows where it is his jade when he is not wearing it, paying attention to the stone...

IV/ Mention of his grandfather in the game + comparison with the original work

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, Yield my flesh to claim their bones, episode: 4

Abn. Logs, Pink shoes: lacking data

Hong Lu’s promo pre-limbus company release (yéyé" (爷爷) meaning "grandfather" or “grandpa”. It is an affectionate term used to refer to one's grandfather in Mandarin.)

So we don’t really know which of his two grandfathers Hong Lu is referring to but knowing that in the novel only his paternal grandfather is mentioned and died before the novel begins, I think the "grandfather" Hong is talking about is Jia Daishan (and that he probably died in the world of Limbus Company too)

Jia Daishan:

Son of Jia Yuan

first Duke of Rong

husband of Grandmother Jia

father of Jia She, Jia Min and Jia Zheng

grandfather of the three first Spring Ladies (Jia Yuanchun, Jia Tanchun and Jia Yingchun), Jia Zhu, Baoyu, Daiyu, Jia Huan, Jia Lian

died before the beginning of the novel, reason why we don't know much about him

V/ Mention of his father in the game + comparison with the original work

LCB sinner, chatter#1

If Hong Lu is indeed the equivalent of Jia Baoyu in the world of limbus company, Hong Lu's father should be Jia Zheng:

Jia Zheng:

He is the second and youngest son of Jia Daishan and Grandmother Jia.

He has a wife, Lady Wang, and two concubines: Zhao (with whom he had two children) and Zhou

Father of Jia Zhu (deceased), Jia Yuanchun, Jia Baoyu, Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan

Confucianism had a great influence on him: he is a Confucian scholar who tries to be an upright and decent person, he fulfills his duties of filial piety towards the Dowager, and wants to educate his children strictly

Afraid his one surviving heir will turn bad, he imposes strict rules on his son (Jia Baoyu), and uses occasional corporal punishment.

Jia Baoyu is afraid of him

He has the ambition to become a good civil servant

But he lacks experience and is easily deceived by others, which earns him a bad reputation.

VI/ Mention of his siblings in the game + comparison with the original work

Main story, Canto III, episode: 2

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, episode: 13

Abn. Logs, Pink shoes: lacking data

If Hong Lu is indeed supposed to be the Jia Baoyu of the world of Limbus Company, then, if we refer to the novel The Dream of the Red Room, Hong Lu should, like Baoyu, have 4 siblings:

Jia Zhu:

First son of Jia Zheng and Lady Wang

Big brother of Jia Baoyu and Jia Yuanchun and half-brother of Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan since they share the same father.

In the original novel, Jia Zhu is already dead prior to the action of the novel, so we know very little about him.

He had a son (Jia Lan) with Li Wan

Jia Yuanchun:

First female family member of the quartet of "Springs", first daughter of Jia Zheng and Lady Wang

Big sister of Jia Baoyu and Jia Yuanchun and half-sister of Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan since they share the same father.

She is about 10 years older than Baoyu.

She was raised by her grandmother

As an older sister, she taught Baoyu to read and write when he was liitle like his mother would have done.

Originally one of the ladies-in-waiting in the imperial palace, Yuanchun is later promoted to the highest ranking of imperial concubine "Xiande”, having impressed the Emperor with her virtue and intellect.

Despite her prestigious position, Yuanchun feels imprisoned within the four walls of the imperial palace.

She died at the age of forty, following an illness, in total isolation.

Jia Tanchun:

Third female family member of the quartet of "Springs", second daughter of Jia Zheng and his concubine, concubine Zhao

Big sister of Jia Huan and younger half-sister of Jia Zhu, Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu since they share the same father.

The fact that she is the daughter of a concubine is still such a burden that she often claims Lady Wang, Baoyu's mother, as her own

Tanchun is a very clever and capable person, as much as Sister Phoenix for comparison

But, as the proverb says, "he who comes last will have fewer opportunities than the others", and this is what happened to her, because when her family declined she had not done much and she was sent to a distant region following an arranged marriage

Jia Huan:

Third son of Jia Zheng and his concubine, concubine Zhao

Little brother of Jia Tanchun and younger half-brother of Jia Zhu, Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu since they share the same father.

More info just below

VII/ Mention of his brother (Jia Huan) in the game

Main story, Canto I, episode: 30

Main story, Canto V, episode: 18 (there we don’t know if he is talking about Jia Huan or not but there are not many other options and from what we can deduce from Jia Huan’s behaviour (in game and in the book too) it’s not very out off character)

Jia Huan:

Third male family member of the generation of the Jia household, son of Jia Zheng and his concubine, concubine Zhao

Little brother of Jia Tanchun and half-brother of Jia Zhu, Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu since they share the same father.

He is described as ugly and clumsy

He and his mother are both reviled by the family, and he carries himself like a kicked dog.

He is very cunning but mediocre, he shows his malignant nature by spilling candle wax, intending to blind his half-brother Baoyu

That’s all! If I have forgotten any moments where Hong Lu talks about his family, don't hesitate to tell me and I will add it! Also, I tried to verify and proof-read all the info and everything should be correct but if I made a mistake feel free to point it out to me :)

#limbus company #hong lu lcb #project moon #dream of the red chamber spoilers #tw: blood #tw: mentions of abuse #not an analysis but how could I call that #a database??

[myelicia]

Lin Daiyu est un personnage principal du roman classique chinois "Le Rêve dans le pavillon rouge" crée par Cao Xuequin

#art chinese

[mulberriesandtea]

somrthing something in the book didn't lin daiyu have to repay jia baoyu with tears isn't it funny that Hong Lu can't fuel his base EGO because he usually can't provide that much gloom. Isn't it funny he needs other people to pay him the tears.

#limbus company #lcb hong lu #I know there's more meaning to this but. Isn't it funny. #there is a girl in the narrative #tea with mul

[lu-is-not-ok]

Hey hey hello can I ask.

What is your specific theories when it comes to "Hong Lu is Lin Daiyu," "Hong Lu, Don Quixote, & Outis are using fake names," and "Our Yi Sang isn't the same Yi Sang?" I saw those on the bingo sheet and I'm super curious as to what they mean.

Ok so. I'm gonna go in order from the ones I'm most confident in to the ones that I think are the most crackhead. Ok? Ok.

Under a Read More cause I get wordy. Like, Really fucking wordy and rambly.

Our Yi Sang isn't the same Yi Sang.

So, here's what we know.

According to Leviathan, Yi Sang is the main researcher behind the technology that allows access to Mirror Worlds. Faust also remarks that he used to be more talkative before he joined Limbus Company.

According to promotional material, as well as just everything he says, Mirrors and Mirror Worlds are an important theme for his character. While I haven't touched Crow's Eye View or any of the real Yi Sang's works yet, I have seen notable quotes from it that seem to hold up those themes as well.

With the recently released info on Canto IV not only being about Yi Sang, but also being longer than the three previous Cantos combined, something tells me we're going to be properly delving into Mirror Worlds and how they tie back to both Yi Sang's backstory and the main plot as a whole.

Okay, so that's all nice and all, but that doesn't answer what the fuck I mean with the Bingo space, right? I'm getting there.

Let's go back to when we first learn about Mirror Worlds in regards to the main plot, the Tutorial. Faust explains that using Mirror World identities can cause one's memories to be replaced with those of their other identities, but explicitly says that there's no danger of one's true identity being actually affected. The Sinners aren't Ships of Theseus, according to her.

Now, you could say that that's just a way to explain away how the cutscenes are unchanged despite using different identities in combat, and to that I say, Have you played any other Project Moon game? The moment they decide to give lore to why game mechanics work the way they do is the moment that lore becomes a significant part of the plot. It happened every time they had to explain why the characters you're controlling go back to life, I doubt they wouldn't do that again for something as major as the effect of Mirror Worlds on a person's identity.

With all of that said. My theory is that Yi Sang is this Ship of Theseus. He was likely the first one to properly access Mirror Worlds, which also likely means the procedures that are now in place to ensure the Sinners' safety weren't there just yet. Who is to say that Yi Sang, who is now a Sinner working for Limbus Company, and Yi Sang, the researcher who worked with Mirror Worlds, could even be considered the same person?

I don't think the exact specifics of what happened matter for this theory. Whether it's an identity swap or identity fusion or some other shit. What matters is that something happened while Yi Sang was researching Mirror Worlds, which left him with his very self and identity changed, possibly irreparably.

After all, don't you think it's interesting that Yi Sang is the only Sinner whose talksprite doesn't have his ID Card or a nameplate anywhere on his uniform? Just food for thought.

...Holy shit that got long, I promise I won't have THAT much to say on the other two you asked about SDFGHJHGF

Hong Lu, Don Quixote, and Outis are using fake names

So this is less so a concrete theory, and more just an observation I made.

All the other Sinners are directly named after their inspirations' real names. The exceptions are Yi Sang, who is named after the author; Hong Lu, who is named after the book itself/the jade the novel's protagonist used to be; Don Quixote, who is named after an alias her inspiration used; and Outis, who is named after a false nickname her inspiration used.

We're going to focus on the latter three. The fact that they're not directly named after the characters they're meant to be inspired by while still alluding to them in different ways is suspicious, especially if you consider the kinds of people they're all shown to be.

Outis is probably the most obvious example here, she's constantly acting shady, boot-licking Dante while disrespecting her fellow Sinners, and generally being quiet about the details of her past outside of making remarks about being part of a military. Even her intro states that her past is classified and that she's extremely cunning.

Don Quixote doesn't seem to be malicious in her deceit like Outis is, but something is still up with her. Her intro compares her to an actor, and her particulars say she has "Delusions of Grandeur". Not only that, but we also see her completely drop her usual personality when called out on not being genuine by the Mariachis, as well as when Vergilius threatens her with a Deal they apparently Made.

Hong Lu is... interesting. I could make a whole seperate analysis about him, but to try to keep it shorter for once, I'll note that his suspicious behavior is much more subtle. While most of the time he acts clueless and overly honest (which, let's be real, he probably genuinely is most of the time), there are also a notable amount of situations where he lies, deflects, or otherwise dodges subjects or questions when they inconvenience him. Something is definitely up with him, he's just better at hiding it.

This all culminates in a shared design feature of these three on their talksprites, that none of the other Sinners seem to have. Instead of having their ID Cards attached to their uniform, like everyone else does, they have small metal nameplates on the lapels of their jackets.

This is notable as it's something shared Only between these three characters. The other Sinners all have an ID Card attached to a visible spot on their uniform, while Yi Sang, a character who fits neither of the naming schemes since he's named after an author, has neither an ID Card or a nameplate.

Again, not necessarily a concrete theory. Just some observations that could lead to a revelation later on in the plot.

Hong Lu is Lin Daiyu

Ok this one is probably the least supported out of any of these, and the one I believe in the least.

It's like, generally accepted that Hong Lu is supposed to be based on Jia Baoyu from Dream of the Red Chamber, right? Here's the thing, I think that is still the case, but, however.

There are a few things about Hong Lu that point less in his inspiration being Baoyu, and more of it being Lin Daiyu, Baoyu's fated love interest. Not all of it, mind you, but at least some.

One, Hong Lu's eyes. Daiyu's name means blue-black jade, which Hong Lu's eyes seem to subtly, but probably deliverately referencing.

Two, Hong Lu's personality. While none of the Sinners are exactly the same as their inspirations, you can still point where some of their traits come from.

Using Rodya as an example (as Crime and Punishment is the only of the relevant books I had Fully read), her overwhelming self-confidence is very likely a reference to how book Rodion believed himself to be above man. While there are some differences (Rodya's motives are a bit more selfless compared to Rodion's, for example), the base idea of their characters is the same.

Why is this important? Well, while I haven't finished reading Dream of the Red Chamber yet, I am slowly making my way through it. And while there are some ways in which Hong Lu resembles Baoyu, there are also quite a few that things that set them apart to the point it's hard to believe Hong Lu is based only on him.

Here's the thing about Baoyu: he's a trouble maker. He throws tantrums, is highly emotional, and gets borderline treated as a sort of black sheep of his family, especially by his Father (which I will come back to).

Compare that to Hong Lu, who seems to avoid causing trouble (most of the arguments he causes seem to be completely on accident), is stoically smiling all the time to the point it can be almost unnerving, and some of his dialogue seems to imply that his family was at least decently fond of him, if not more (his comment about being "a gem of a child" in his Liu uptie story comes to mind).

Then compare that to Daiyu, who seems to be unanimously loved by her current household, tends to keep her emotions to herself, and tries to stay out of trouble while still making remarks here and there when she notices something off. (An example that comes to my mind is when someone in the family decides to gift all the girls in the Jia household some flower decorations, and Daiyu remarks how she was the last one to be given one and thus was left with leftovers.)

I don't know about you, but that sounds closer to what Hong Lu seems to be like, at least to me.

Three, remember how I mentioned Baoyu's Father? Yeah. Let's talk about that.

Hong Lu mentions his Father in one of his main menu Chatter lines, expressing excitement over being able to introduce his new friends to him.

Why is this relevant? Becuase Baoyu is terrified of his Father, it's a pretty major point that his Father is the Main person in his family that considers Baoyu a disappointment and a disgrace. And it's not something that develops later on in the novel, I'm on Chapter 10 out of 120 and it has been a prevalent thing for a few chapters now.

There are two ways I can see this being resolved. Either Hong Lu is majorly lying to himself (which honestly might not be out of the question), or Hong Lu isn't based entirely on Baoyu, but is inspired by a mix of Baoyu and Daiyu.

That was. An extremely wordy and rambly way of saying that I think Hong Lu is based on two characters instead of one. Uh. Oops.

#ask #limbus company #limbus company project moon #lcb theory #yi sang #yi sang lcb #hong lu #hong lu lcb #don quixote #don quixote lcb #outis #outis lcb #lu speaketh #i feel like ive just written a script to a game theory #dear fucking lord

[ishcliff]

hong lu being the lovers arcana fits perfectly with his source since it’s inspired by the scholar-beauty genre of chinese literature that focuses on romance. the biggest conflict in the books is who jia baoyu (the character hong lu is based on) will marry and his love triangle between his cousins xue baochai and lin daiyu. ever since hells chicken had hong lu state that he has something he’d distort over i’ve been obsessed on whether limbus will adapt his tragic romance with lin daiyu

THANK YOU FOR CONFIRMING.

like with wuthering heights, i have always been really fascinated with why they chose to adapt two extremely personal and isolated home life dramas and how they'll reflect the themes in an ensemble cast scenario.

with how they adapted angelica and argalia – obsessive familial bond forged through shared trauma that leads to distortion of one – i have to wonder the same now that you've said it exists in the source.

#lcb hong lu #asks #limbus company speculation #one day i will read every source material for every sinner

[storyswept]

Finished The Running Grave the other day. Spoilers for the whole series below the cut.

Robin's last chapters undercover had me on the edge of my seat, I was so stressed for her.

Once again didn't realise whodunnit until Strike laid out the facts. I was in the “Daiyu is still alive” camp. After we learned that Mazu originally claimed that Alexander Graves was Daiyu's father, I thought the title of the book was a clue to her still being alive but… nope XD

Then again, the only character we met that could have been her was Becca, but she didn't quite fit the bill, did she? As Abigail said, “’Er sister an’ bruvver would’ve known she wasn’ Becca! ’Er muvver would’ve known! (...)” And it didn't explain the role of the hatchet or the burned rope.

One thing I wasn't surprised by was Charlotte's suicide, though I expected it to happen later on in the book.

Some background: after the first sample came out, I'd found out through some research that Dream of the Red Chamber (or The Story of the Stone), a novel in which one of the main protagonists is called Daiyu, had been adapted in a English-language opera in 2016. One of the changes in the opera version was that Daiyu kills herself by drowning into a lake after the man she loves marries someone else. In the novel, Daiyu succumbs to chronic illness before the marriage takes place.

Considering Tannhäuser turned out to parallel Strike's love life in The Ink Black Heart pretty closely (for an in-depth explanation, see this series of posts on The Strike & Ellacott Files Blog), I did wonder if Daiyu's suicide in the opera and/or other plot points of Dream of the Red Chamber would play a role in The Running Grave. A synopsis of the opera is available here.

Of all recurring Strike characters, Charlotte seemed the most likely to commit suicide. She has attempted it in the past. Plus, some aspects of her character seemed similar to Dream of the Red Chamber's Lin Daiyu:

[Daiyu] is an icon of spirituality and intelligence: beautiful, sentimental, sarcastic, self-assured, an accomplished poet, but subject to fits of jealousy. - Dream of the Red Chamber, Wikipedia

I couldn't see (or didn't want to see :P) a Strike/Robin marriage being followed by him becoming a monk though.

Hindsight is 20/20, as they say. In the end, here's how The Running Grave parallels the opera adaptation of Dream of the Red Chamber:

In both stories, Daiyu only drowns in the retelling (the opera / the story what was spread by the UHC).

Daiyu and Charlotte are tragic characters, who both had been “unwell for a long time” (to quote Strike).

Daiyu / Charlotte kills herself because she can't handle the love of her life being with someone else. However, Charlotte doesn't drown, though she dies in a bath. Robin is the one who almost drowns.

Baoyu turns to religion after Daiyu's death / Strike visits a religious building (a church) after Charlotte's death.

After Robin escapes the cult, the story takes a very different turn, concluding with Strike's sort of confession. At first I was worried that Murphy was going to propose to Robin (since Daiyu's murder at Abigail's hands was clearly supposed to mirror the siblicide of The Cuckoo's Calling), but this was much better.

Who knows what awaits our heroes in Book 8 though… Hopefully not more (un)intended consequences of Strike's fling with Bijou. She said it wasn't his but she could be lying (or, more likely, have no idea who the father is).

P.S. Special mention to Pat who, along with her husband Dennis, was amazing in this book.

#the running grave #cormoran strike #robin ellacott #charlotte campbell #pat chauncey #dream of the red chamber #just read #spoliers

[joannerowling]

Finished the book!

Man Jo really bamboozled me, i got played like a fiddle right until the end (the Daiyu identity???) !! That woman's brain is NOT normal (compliment). The only thing i got right was…

MAN EATING PIGS

I KNEW those pigs had eaten someone and what Kevin had written wasn't about the masks! Even though that was just a Checkov's Gun kinda deduction. Checkov's Pig? Anyways, i like how it was ultimately subverted - turns out it's not such a foolproof method of making a body disappear after all!

I also looove the idea that the murderer is once again the one Rowling haters would least have suspected because they think she's a hateful misandrist lmao. And how this forced Strike to face his judgemental tendencies (fatal flaw if i've ever seen one, except he's able to rear it in when it counts).

The 80-90 chapters were the most intense and terrifying stretch of reading i've had in a long while. Literally had to pause and reassure myself that Jo would never ACTUALLY put Robin through rape again because that's not the point, but it was a near thing. The reunion with Strike was hysterical, his little jokes had me in totally unwarranted stitches, i felt like i'd just narrowly escaped myself! Amazingly immersive writing. And of course Strike's reckoning when he visisted the UHC temple in London was so incredibly satisfying.

(Also, will never forget how Robin and Strike baptised the men following them unsubtly the clown show. Jo you have spent too much time online for real this time XD)

Can't wait for ssdc especially to finish aksjhjfsjk SHE HAD THE RIGHT SUSPECT AGAIN and she even guessed the Becca/Daiyu switcharoo, even if it turned out to not have happened (which i was so relieved about for a moment, i would have been horrified if it turned out the real Becca had been murdered and they'd been forcing Louise, Kevin and Emily to pretend they couldn't tell she wasn't really herself).

I wish we'd had more news on what happened to all the people in the farm. I hope Kyle is ok. Of all the recruits on the farm his part - however small - really shook me the most besides Lin, Emily and Louise.

And of course: the ending?????? Cormoran. Honey. This wasn't ideal timing. But i'm proud of you regardless. You earned your "most character growth" badge of honour for this one. The future is bright Saladman.

#trg #trg spoilers #the running grave #cormoran strike #jk rowling #jkr

[six-sticks]

english translation of zhou shen’s 四大名著 medley! I put a basic summary of each novel in the upper right hand corner when their corresponding song starts, if anyone’s unfamiliar with them

detailed notes under the cut, just for fun

disclaimer: I’m not fluent in mandarin and my classical education is... extremely lacking. I tried my best on the songs with classical chinese and asked someone who actually read these books for context, but feel free to point out any mistakes!

Dream of the Red Chamber

枉凝眉 is one of the original twelve songs that correspond to the twelve beauties. This one is about Lin Daiyu and her relationship with Jia Baoyu, the protagonist. 枉凝眉 literally means something like “brow furrowed in vain,” but according to my friend who read the book, Lin Daiyu furrows her brow when she writes poetry and she and Jia Baoyu write poetry together, so it’s a metaphor for their relationship

Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu have a special bond, but their relationship isn’t considered fated because another character, Xue Baochai, has a gold pendant with an inscription that matches the inscription on a piece of jade Jia Baoyu had in his mouth when he was born

Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai eventually get married at the end and Lin Daiyu dies

(Fun fact, the “Bao” in “Jia Baoyu” and “Xue Baochai” is the same character, while the “Yu” is the same in “Jiao Baoyu” and “Lin Daiyu.”)

Lin Daiyu was a divine herb in her past life. What I translated as “divine,” 阆苑, refers to the home of the immortals in the novel

In his past life, Jia Baoyu watered Lin Daiyu, so in this life she’s destined to shed tears for him

Romance of the Three Kindgoms

I don’t have much to add for this one. All you really need to know is that the three kingdoms era lasted 60–90ish years and territory between the three states was kind of always shifting

Journey to the West

aka the only one I’ve actually read! I have fond childhood memories of watching the 1986 live action reruns with my cousins

“White Dragon Horse” is what they call Tang Sanzang/Tripitaka’s horse. He’s actually a dragon who’s shapeshifted as a horse because he ate the original (normal) horse

Tripitaka’s name in chinese is Tang Sanzang, but I think he’s more commonly known as Tripitaka in english because it’s basically the sanskrit equivalent, and I guess most buddhist terms tend to be translated/transcribed in sanskrit

The “81 tribulations” are the 81 obstacles Tripitaka had to go through before he could get the scriptures

The 72 earthly transformations are an ability of Sun Wukong, one of Tripitaka’s disciples. He basically gets 72 magic powers. IIRC a few other characters can also do this, but he’s the one famous for it

The song says they work together to defeat their enemies, but 90% of the time it’s just Sun Wukong. The other 10% is when Guanyin or the Buddha have to step in

Water Margin

The 108 outlaws later get un-outlawed and the emperor gets them to fight invaders, which eventually leads to them disbanding. I originally included this in the book summary, but I felt like it didn’t really fit the vibe of the song

生死之交 means something like “handing over your life and death” eg. trusting someone with your life. “shield brothers” is a little too viking-y for my taste, but I didn’t want to make the line too long

According to my friend, “we all have some” because the characters steal from rich people and redistribute their wealth

and that’s about it! if you’ve gotten this far, thanks for reading my assorted thoughts/translation notes/book context... it really wasn’t meant to be this long or disjointed haha

#zhou shen #video #my translations #this was one of my favorite stages! #it's always great watching him have fun #and I'm weak to the zhou shen choir #the notes ended up mostly being for the first and third song #which I guess makes sense since those have the most references to actual book stuff #the other two are mostly vibes