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5 minutes break from my readings to ponder ishmael again. A lot of her animosity towards dante in part 2 of the canto specifically was like. She's used to Corp contracts. She knows how the give and take works. But the feelings-based approach dante takes with all the We're Friends We're Doing This Together is most reminiscent of what ahab did to the crew. We're All Sailing Together To Slay The Pale Beast etc, ahab's manipulation had been so specifically about making her feel like she was doing something greater than herself. And then I can't help but wonder how it felt to see yi sang specifically be the one most on board with the whole friendship shtick, when just some 4 months ago she saw him lose dongbaek, literally fading away in his hands, for the sake of his Mission. Did he look like a mermaid to her? Are we okay.

#OH MY GOD NO UR RIGHT #ishmael #dante #meta

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I am going insane I love this chapter very much and so every one of you are getting my fucking thoughts. Spoilers for Canto V.

I love the use of color as symbolism in this Canto.

This Canto is characterized by green and blue. Even in the multi-colored lakes, moments with shades of green stand out the most: the dark teals and blues of the Hollow Hand and Thousand Strand Whales, the green waters reflecting Ishmael's thoughts, Ishmael's own seasonal EGO, and of course: Ahab and the Pequod's crew. Indeed, while blue is the Great Lake's color green is Ahab's color. And throughout this Canto her ghost haunts over the story and Ishmael through this very color -- a promise unfulfilled.

But I keep thinking of Ishmael's thoughts in her flashback, slipping into the whale oil and awaiting death. She muses on how the Whales must be lonely — because why else would they want to turn other beings into something like them? To paint others so thoroughly in their own color so that they won't be truly alone.

And Ahab coats her crew in green -- with her every rousing speech of glory, her false promises of relief and escape, she fills in the gaps of these desperate people with her own color. But Ishmael is different: she is not being painted over, she is actively becoming Ahab. That's why she's so fixated on Ishmael: she has finally found someone like her. A shared obsession -- shades of green finding each other.

So when Ishmael casts off her tethers, cutting the rope binding her to this doomed ship, and sets out on her own path, she too takes away Ahab's color on her. And once her compass points her to a path she truly wants, what color do we see?

An orange sunset.

#holy shit....... COLOURS!!!!!!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! #ishmael #ahab #meta

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Ahab doodle I did from yesterday. Hehe 🤍

#wah this is so so cute.. #ahab

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Talk not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me.

#i love her... #ahab

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Thinking about the three characters we've met who had already found and claimed the Golden Bough before the Sinners, Kromer, Dongbaek and now Ahab it's very interesting to me that they all have in common being women leaders of groups where they are seen as messiahs of sorts, much like how Carmen herself who is the origin of The Light was the one who united the original LobCorp team and had such supernatural charisma that she could convince anyone she wanted to join her cause of "saving humanity".

Kromer is the most blantant and cartoonish example, she's worshipped as a messiah and goddess by her followers to the point they consider basking in her grace a priviledge to the point of genuine insanity beyond what any regular person could comprehend, pure religious fanatism for their savior they believe in who will bring them a "pure, untainted" world, so much that they have cast away their individuality in their adoration, inquisitors being indistinguishable from one another.

Ahab who is a more realistic example of this kind of person even if not as infallible as the seemingly perfect Carmen; she's strong, confident, passionate, revered as a hero and makes convincing cases for herself while having the unnatural ability to appeal to people's desires and cut through them, and in her case the way the Pequod Town have come to bend to her isn't unfounded given their situation. I think that's what makes her significantly scarier and more effective as a villain and character in general; she's not just a comically evil woman in a position of power, you can very easily see why some people would fall for her words and bend to her will. She is paradoxically both the savior of the Pequod and the one who doomed them to the hell inside The Pallid Whale, yet after being isolated from society for so long with no other choices or escape and having their sense of self degraded by the Pallidfication the Pequod crew only came to see the first part.

Dongbaek is an interesting case, unlike the two women described before who are undeniably villains and egomaniacal, she's portrayed as much more sympathetic and even an outright tragic figure, however at the same time unlike them we never directly see the relationship she has with her followers. They never talk about Dongbaek herself and not even mention her in any way, only the ideology she gave them: destroy the current order to create an ideal world free from the shackles of The Wings and technological advancement, and unlike the two before who are always aided by their lackeys, Dongbaek was always seen alone, less like a hero or a goddess but more like a ghost that haunted everyone, much like Carmen's role in LobCorp. This "ghost" motif is doubly emphasized by her sickly dying appearance and how she contantly dissapeared and appeared without a trace, never letting those around her forget about all they have lost or sacrificed trapped in her vendetta.

But ultimately Dongrang, herself and even Yi Sang come to admit her motives were just as self-centered and she was just as manipulative, yet rather from a place of hubris it came from a place of deep despair and yearning.

Like Kromer, the TLA believed she would make a better world, but like Ahab, she was ultimately someone taking advantage of people in despair and giving them false hopes, all while deluding herself further, and much like Carmen, she's associated with trees and vegetation, both expressing the wish to be like one and having a disdain for The Wings, though in Dongbaek's case, she only represents half of Carmen's wish; being the plant blooming across the land, while Yi Sang is the one who would reach the sky.

In the end, all three of these women were false saviors, much like how Carmen's idea of bringing salvation to humanity led to all of the suffering within Lobotomy Corporation, the unleashing of chaos upon The City even her own endless torture as The Well giving birth to Abnormalities...it makes me wonder if all of this was intentional, as a way to parallel Carmen herself. Yet all three of them appear to us clearly untrustworthy while Carmen does not.

Kromer, Dongbaek and Ahab are immediately stablished as dangerous presences; Ahab and Kromer being the sources of Ishmael and Sinclair's suffering and tormenters they have to overcome --the source of their nightmares, and Dongbaek is introduced stabbing Yi Sang and being called "dangerous" yet Carmen is introduced as her best self and all the best memories everyone has of her, it isn't until Ruina, away from Ayin's perspective that she's questioned, it makes me wonder if they will continue to bring these characters contrasting Carmen in further chapters.

#i just finished canto 5 so all of my thoughts r focused on that and. I WAS THINKING ABT THE AHAB AND CARMEN PARALELLS... #and for kromer too when canto 3 was new. but ive never thought abt it for dongbaek.. this is interesting #carmen #ahab #kromer #dongbaek #meta

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"emotionless robot feels for the first time" trope but instead of it being because of love or compassion its hatred.

#i know this post is about ultrakill. but #angela

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My son's nugget, sandwich

#ocs #SANDWICH!!!

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Yours, forevermore

#gregor #!!! so pretty

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i missed hokmas bday ? i missed his day? it was yesterday infact? its over. its so fucking over. hokma my babygirl im so sorry

#text

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birthday hug :3

#happy bday.. :) #angela #roland

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while im here tho do u guys ever think about how assistant librarians are trapped in books presumingly with the abnormalities, and the higher the floor they're on the longer they have to wait to be freed. do u guys ever think about how librarians can now go visit an abnormality in their book if they want, whether that be because they genuinely like them or because they want something from them? and now that they know they'll be revived if they die, an abnormality like porccubus for example looks a bit more tempting. guys do u ever think abt how its completely possible your assistants could resonate with the library and distort at anytime

#library of ruina #library of ruina spoilers #because i think about it. all the time<3 #let ur guys distort as a treat... a little snack... #text

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i swear im still into pjm media its just now tht i dont play limbus and i have to wait for cutscenes compilations on youtube i get reaaally lazy when it comes to binging stuff<3 and im also not much of a limbus guy i still got those ruina guys in my mind..

#im almost done with canto5 tho i swear... #text

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we end the way we envision / with the ideas tied to the eyelids

#this is so pretty #hokma

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whatever ill post this. get hokma'd

#hokma #!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<3<3

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Rodya has a single seat and that's so sad (not like that stops her from hanging around with other sinners though)

#besties fr... #gregor #rodion

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textless under cut

#goes hard #ishmael #ahab