I don't doubt the love the devils have for MC, but this whole thing pissed me off for using knowledge as a form of control. I want to start by saying this gently: talking about this game means touching on some pretty uncomfortable themes, so I think itâs worth approaching it with a bit of patience and nuance.
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To me, WHB feels less like messy writing and more like a case study in weaponized ignorance â that specific dynamic where crucial information is withheld, someone predictable messes up because they didnât know better, and then theyâre blamed for the fallout. Itâs the kind of pattern where the uninformed party is set up to fail, and the people with the knowledge walk away clean.
You could chalk it up to inconsistent worldbuilding. Thatâs the easy read. But I think this pattern mirrors real-world power structures, where knowledge becomes leverage, and plausible deniability becomes armor. When information is selectively shared, control shifts quietly but decisively to whoever holds it.
The Valentineâs Day event really highlights this. MC breaks a dangerous cat statue that Mammon left unsecured â without warning them. They witness three Kings die. In a panic, they make a deal with a cosmic entity without fully understanding the consequences. And after all of that? Theyâre physically punished by Asmodeus for âmessing up.â
At no point in that chain of events were they given the information necessary to make an informed choice. And thatâs what makes it feel less like chaos â and more like a pattern.
If you step back and look at the pattern, itâs honestly a little wild how often the devils forget to mention extremely important information⊠and then act shocked when MC gets it wrong.
Take the Cat Statue incident. Mammon sends MC to handle inventory alone. The catastrophically dangerous statue is just sitting there, fully accessible. No one explains what it does. No warning labels, no âhey, donât touch that unless you want to trigger ancient consequences.â Then when it breaks? Suddenly itâs MCâs fault. Fascinating.
Or the chocolate tradition. MC has no way of knowing that eating someoneâs chocolate in Hell apparently equals consenting to sexual activity. Thatâs not exactly universal etiquette. No one explains the cultural rule ahead of time, and MC only learns about the implication after the damage is done. Which feels less like a misunderstanding and more like a setup.
Then thereâs the prayer incident. MC isnât warned that praying in Paradise Lost summons Gabriel. No one mentions that God has a particular interest in them. So of course MC stumbles straight into danger. Not because theyâre recklessâbut because they were never briefed.
The Azathoth deal might be the clearest example. MC is told there will be âconsequences,â but not what those consequences actually are. They agree, believing theyâll shoulder the cost themselves. Instead, three Kings die, and MC is later blamed for not understanding the cosmic-scale implications they had no possible way of grasping. Thatâs not negligence on MCâs part. Thatâs incomplete disclosure.
The worldbuilding makes it clear that devils live for centuries. They have institutional memory. They understand Hellâs rules inside and out. So when they choose not to educate MC, thatâs a choice. Not an oversight.
What makes it more uncomfortable is how questions are handled. When MC does try to ask, the responses often discourage further inquiry. Hades nobles call them stupid. Abyssos nobles treat them like a naĂŻve child in a way that feels more condescending than kind. Devils get irritated at âobviousâ questions. Ignorance is socially punished.
That creates a classic double bind. MC needs information to survive safelyâbut asking for information leads to humiliation. Over time, that kind of environment trains someone to stop asking questions entirely. Which, of course, keeps them dependent and vulnerable.
On top of that, MC is held to impossible standards. Theyâre treated like Solomonâs reincarnationâexpected to measure up to a legendary figureâwhile being denied the knowledge, training, and preparation Solomon actually had. Theyâre thrown into cosmic-level conflicts with almost no briefing. And when they fail, theyâre blamed.
For someone described as an âextremely important figure in Hell,â the protection strategy is⊠questionable. Theyâre sent on solo missions to dangerous locations. Left to clean warehouses alone. Allowed to gamble alone in Abyssos. Given no consistent security despite being actively hunted by angels.
At a certain point, it stops looking like protection and starts looking like controlled exposure. MCâs vulnerability keeps generating crises, and those crises keep the story moving. Which makes for compelling dramaâbut in-universe, it paints a picture of a cycle that quietly guarantees their failure and then scolds them for it. If Hell truly values MC as much as it claims, perhaps a proper orientation handbook or having them tutored by Gusion would be a good start.
When I play WHB, I canât help noticing how familiar some of its dynamics feel â not in a âhaha relatableâ way, but in a very real-world institutional way.
It reminds me a lot of certain workplace setups Iâve seen (and studied) during my internship. A new employee gets handed something critical, receives zero proper training, no context, no safe space to ask questions, and then gets blamed when things inevitably go sideways. The institution keeps its hands clean (âWell, we gave them the assignmentâ), the individual gets labeled incompetent, and the power hierarchy tightens. Suddenly, the newbie âneedsâ the system more than the system needs them.
Thatâs basically MC in Hell. Theyâre expected to operate like a seasoned veteran in cosmic contract law, time manipulation, and demon politics â without onboarding. And when they fail, the questions sound reasonable on the surface: âWhy didnât you ask?â (Because asking gets you mocked.) âWhy didnât you know?â (Because no one taught you.) âWhy did you make that deal?â (Because what other option existed?) Itâs less about incompetence and more about structural design.
This âtrial by fireâ model: Newcomers are kept deliberately under-informed, mistakes are framed as âlearning experiencesâ (even when the consequences are severe), and information is quietly gatekept to preserve hierarchy. The ones who survive are âstrong.â The ones who struggle are âweak.â Itâs called resilience-building. Critics call it something else. Thereâs also a strong legal-system parallel. Many bureaucratic systems run on information imbalance: ignorance of the law is âno excuse,â yet access to that knowledge is uneven and often class-gated. If you canât afford guidance, youâre blamed for not knowing your rights. MC navigating Azathoth-level contracts and timeline consequences without counsel feels very similar. Being punished for breaking a rule you had no reasonable way to learn isnât justice â itâs imbalance.
On a more personal level, the relationship with Minhyeok reads like a textbook codependent caretaker dynamic. He handles everything. MC forgets basic things. Over time, MC becomes less capable, more dependent, and quietly resentful. Meanwhile, Minhyeokâs identity centers around being needed. No one here has to be a villain for the structure to be harmful. But the outcome is clear: MC arrives in Hell with very little self-efficacy and a pattern of accepting whatever treatment theyâre given. The way Hell treats MC also resembles dysfunctional family systems. Theyâre both âspecialâ (Solomonâs descendant) and âuseless.â Precious and disposable. Golden child and scapegoat at the same time. The goalposts constantly move: save Hell, but not like that. Ask questions, but donât be ignorant. Stop asking, but why didnât you know? Make a decision, but it was the wrong one. Thereâs no winning move â and that may be the point. A system designed to keep someone off-balance doesnât actually want them stable.
When Asmodeus reacts to the timeline incident, MCâs desperate reaction becomes the focus. Punishment follows. The narrative shifts from âWhy was MC put here without tools?â to âWhy did MC mess up?â You shouldnât have to be exceptionally competent â or perfectly innocent â to deserve basic information and safety. The debate over whether MC âdeservedâ to be strangled is telling shouldnât even be the baseline question. The âsurvive through sexâ mechanic complicates everything. When survival is tied to sexual availability, consent becomes murky at best. Itâs framed as willingness, even enthusiasm, but consent under existential pressure isnât exactly a clean scenario. MCâs hypersexuality also becomes a distraction device. Trauma responses get eroticized. âTheyâre just hornyâ replaces deeper discussion. Thereâs also an attention economy element. MC was bullied and isolated on Earth. In Hell, theyâre desired. That desire â even when sexualized â feels like validation. And that can create a powerful incentive to tolerate mistreatment. Positive attention, even in unhealthy forms, can feel better than invisibility. Thriving on attention doesnât mean thriving in a healthy environment.
All of this makes the game feel less like random, messy writing and more like a depiction of how institutional and interpersonal harm can function: withhold information, create impossible conditions, blame the person who fails, punish attempts to learn, distract with desire, normalize the cycle. Even the lack of trigger warnings fits thematically â players, like MC, are often thrown into situations without preparation. If itâs accidental, then itâs inconsistent writing that unintentionally mirrors real-world patterns. If itâs intentional, then MCâs âincompetenceâ reads more like learned helplessness, and the structure itself is the point. The worldbuilding leans toward the second interpretation for me. Hell and devils are bound to legibility â they canât pretend ignorance. That detail matters. If theyâre bound to know, then withholding information is a choice. When Mammon doesnât warn MC, he knows. When Asmodeus punishes consequences MC couldnât foresee, he knows. When nobles mock MCâs questions, they know those answers are necessary.
