Connecting Buddhist Themes to Love and Deepspace
Figure 1: Love and Deepspace 6.0 Banner
Hello my fellow deepspace hunters! Phew...I finally got a break from a very busy month. I can return to doing one of my favorite things, which is overthinking fictional characters. Yipee! For once, this isn't one of my LaDS on crack posts. I know, shocking right? I promise I'll be MOSTLY serious this time. So, I'm putting on my detective hat that may or may not be made of aluminum foil. Now, if you'll excuse me I'm about to torture my last remaining brain cell. Kindly wish it luck. This is going to be so long. (｡>_<｡)
In this discussion, I'll use what I learned from one of my senior high school majors (Introduction to World Religions and Belief Systems) as the basis. I consider these sources credible, because they come directly from my old class notes based on my teacher's discussions. I also trust the information, due to the fact that my teacher explained the lessons clearly and thoroughly.
If I got anything about Buddhism wrong, or misunderstood something about each of the LI's lore please feel free to correct me, since I'm new to this fandom. I'm always open to learning more and would really appreciate any clarifications.
🍃Oh Valko, baby...I miss you already. You were supposed to be my main, but instead you became the greatest "to be continued" of my life. Thank you for leading me to this amazing fandom. I'll be here, patiently and delusionally waiting for your return.🍃
To better understand these concepts, let's go through them step by step. Before we begin, I'd like to clarify that I'm not trying to preach or persuade anyone to follow Buddhism. My goal is simply to explain these ideas in a clear and "easy to understand way" so that no one gets confused.
I also hope this helps you see how beautifully the writers MIGHT HAVE incorporated Buddhist ideas into their work and appreciate the depth of their inspiration. Even if you and me don't practice Buddhism, understanding its philosophy can give us a deeper appreciation of the story and its themes. Who knows? This information might even be useful to you someday.
Please keep in mind that this is only a theory and my personal interpretation, NOT A CONFIRMED FACT.
🫛The Opening Prologue of LaDS
If you revisit the opening prologue of Love and Deepspace, you'll find a clue that is the center of the entire story. As Traceback II crosses the event horizon and enters the black hole, there it says, "We are stuck in this loop...This never-ending journey..." The game hints time as a cycle, rather than a straight path. MC and the LIs keep meeting, losing one another, and crossing paths again across different eras or timelines.
This raises one question. What does the "loop" mean? Many players see it as the cycle of MC's past lives with Xavier, Zayne, Rafayel, Sylus, Caleb, and of course our good boy, Valko. I agree, though I think the game points to something even deeper, whereas several theorists already linked Love and Deepspace to Buddhist philosophy. Still, I want to explore that idea further, for I strongly believe and concur those two have a strong correlation.
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy founded by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha or the "Awakened One." It teaches that suffering (dukkha) is caused by attachment, craving, and ignorance, and that everything is impermanent (anicca). Buddhists believe that actions have consequences (karma), forming the cycle of rebirth (samsara). They follow the higher purpose or moral duty (dharma) which is the Buddha's teachings and the path of truth that guides ethical living, meditation, wisdom, and compassion. The ultimate goal is to attain a state of enlightenment (nirvana) in which suffering, attachment, and the cycle of rebirth come to an end, through understanding the true nature and interconnectedness of all things.
Figure 2: Yama and the Wheel of Life
🫛What is the Wheel of Life?
The Wheel of Life, or Bhavachakra, is a symbolic painting that shows samsara. Buddhists use the Wheel of Life as a visual teaching tool and a guide for self-reflection. Monasteries painted it on their walls so that everyone, including people who couldn't read, could understand the ideas of karma and how their actions affect their lives. The wheel also shows how negative emotions can trap the mind. By recognizing these harmful patterns, people can change their actions, reduce suffering, and work toward nirvana.
🫛Parts of the Bhavachakra
If you try to look at the image of the Bhavachakra, you can see a figure holding a massive wheel. That figure is Yama. Yama is a powerful symbol of wisdom and transformation. He is the Lord of Death in Buddhist cosmology, he isn't viewed as an evil being. He represents the inevitability of death, and the consequences of one's actions.
His four limbs symbolize the four sufferings: Birth, illness, old age, and death. His third eye represents the wisdom to understand impermanence.
The five-skull crown of Yama symbolizes the transformation of the Five Poisons: ignorance, attachment, anger, pride, and jealousy, into the Five Wisdoms of Enlightenment: the Wisdom of the Dharmadhatu (The Realm of Reality), Mirror-like Wisdom, the Wisdom of Equality, Discriminating Wisdom, and All-Accomplishing Wisdom. It represents overcoming ego and samsara, reminding Buddhists that transforming these mental afflictions leads to freedom from dukkha and alas, to nirvana.
Represents the "three poisons" or root evils (kilesa). Pig represents ignorance. Rooster represents attachments or desires. Snake represents aversion. In the picture, you can see that they are biting each other's tails that makes the wheel keep going. Around them are black and white sections that show two possible directions. One leads to suffering (the dark path), and the other leads to happiness and peace (the bright path). The large circle represents karma, the law of cause and effect. People who follow the dark path, filled with negative actions and inner conflict, move toward lower states of existence. Those who follow the bright path, through positive actions and a peaceful mind, gradually move toward higher states of existence.
Most traditional paintings have five or six spokes branching out from the center. These spokes carve the wheel into pie shaped wedges representing the Six Realms of Samsara which are the different worlds that people cycle, based on their actions and choices. These range from pleasant, comfortable states at the very top (like the realm of the gods) to highly painful, angry states at the bottom (like the hell realm).
If the spokes of the wheel show where we end up, the outer rim shows how we keep getting stuck there. The outer rim is divided into twelve sections, each containing a small, symbolic illustration. These twelve pictures represent the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination (Pratityasamutpada), that is basically a step by step chain reaction of cause and effect. It begins with ignorance, which leads to volitional formations, then consciousness, name and form, the six sense bases, contact, and feeling. Feeling gives rise to craving, which becomes clinging and then becoming. Becoming leads to birth, followed by aging and death, only for the cycle to start all over again.
•The Buddha Pointing to the Moon (not shown in the picture)
The Buddha pointing to the moon means that his teachings guide you toward nirvana, but they are not nirvana itself. It means, the teachings direct your attention to enlightenment, and you must experience them for yourself, than to focus only on the teachings.
🫛The Six Realms of Samsara
The six sections of the wheel represent the six realms of samsara, the cycle of rebirth. The upper three sections depict the higher realms (Benevolent): the Deva (god), Asura (demi-god), and Manusya (human) realms. The lower three sections represent the lower realms (Unbenevolent): the Tiryagyoni (animal), Preta (hungry ghost), and Naraka (hell) realms. While the higher realms provide more favorable conditions, none of the six realms are free from suffering for they all belong to samsara.
The six realms of samsara reflect six negative emotions: pride is linked to the god realm, jealousy to the demi-god realm, desire to the human realm, ignorance to the animal realm, greed to the hungry ghost realm, and anger to the hell realm.
🫛Why can't we remember our past lives?
We can't remember our past lives because spiritual ignorance (avijja) and mental defilements (kilesas), such as craving and aversion, cloud our consciousness. Additionally, the intense physical and psychological trauma of death and rebirth acts like a severe amnesia, wiping our active memory as we transition into a new physical body.
Furthermore, our ordinary minds lack the deep concentration (samadhi) and meditative purity required to penetrate these past imprints. Only when a practitioner quietens the mind, removes these mental obstructions, and attains high levels of meditative absorption (jhana) can we unravel the causal chain of past existences.
🍃LET'S BREAK THIS DOWN AND UNVEIL THE PARALLELS.🍃
🫛The Human Realm and Xavier⭐
The Human Realm: Humans experience illness, aging, and death, and their desires are not always fulfilled. However, the human realm is considered the best place to practice dharma because it offers a balance. Unlike the gods, who are often distracted by constant pleasure, or beings in the lower realms, who are overwhelmed by suffering, humans experience both joy and hardship. This balance gives them the motivation and opportunity to seek wisdom, cultivate virtue, and pursue spiritual growth.
"Humans experience illness, aging, and death, and their desires are not always fulfilled."
Xavier as The Prince of Philos. On Earth, people are fragile, they get sick, grow old, and eventually die, whilst the inhabitants of Philos are immortals. MC's heart condition is a painful reminder of that reality. As much as Xavier wants to save her, he can't simply cure her suffering. In the end, MC sacrificed her own life to save his collapsing planet? Despite being the Prince of Philos, he still has to face the heartbreaking truth that loving someone can't prevent every loss or fulfill every wish. Also, if the theories are true that Xavier is slowly dying for staying on Earth for too long, it might actually fit this.
"However, the human realm is considered the best place to practice dharma because it offers a balance."
Earth becomes that place of balance for him when he travels back in time with the Backtrackers. Unlike Philos, where people cling to life through human sacrifices and immortality, Earth follows the natural cycle of life and death. He lives as an ordinary person and also has a massive bounty placed on him in the N109 Zone, finding the clarity he needs to search for a better future and solutions to save his planet which is his "dharma" or higher purpose.
"Unlike the gods, who are often distracted by constant pleasure, or beings in the lower realms, who are overwhelmed by suffering, humans experience both joy and hardship."
The rulers of Philos become so consumed by their comfortable, near-immortal lives that they ignore the terrible sacrifices keeping their world alive. Meanwhile, the Revenants and the souls trapped in Sindersfell are in agony with no hope. Xavier walks a different path. On Earth, he faces danger while also embracing life's simple joys with MC.
"This balance gives them the motivation and opportunity to seek wisdom, cultivate virtue, and pursue spiritual growth."
Maybe for him, this blend of joy and suffering gives his life direction? The ordinary moments he shares with MC become precious enough to inspire him to cross galaxies and endure, than giving in to despair, he continues searching for ways to break the tragic cycle And cruel tradition of sacrificing humans that bounds his home.
The Demi-god Realm: The demi-gods, or lower gods, enjoy lives filled with luxury and pleasure. Yet they rarely feel satisfied because they constantly compare themselves with others and become envious. This jealousy leads them to compete and fight with one another, as well as with the higher gods. In spite of their privileged lives, they can't experience lasting happiness because envy robs them of peace and contentment.
"The demi-gods, or lower gods, enjoy lives filled with luxury and pleasure, yet they rarely feel satisfied because they constantly compare themselves with others and become envious."
Zayne as the Foreseer is the straight up description of the lower gods. He possesses great power, acting as a divine emissary for a god named Astra, and was confined high above everyone else in the Tower of the Thorns. Unfortunately, his story shows that power and privilege don't guarantee happiness. You see, Astra allows him to see everyone else's future while keeping his own hidden. He watches people make their own choices and choose their own destinies, yet he is denied that same freedom.
"This jealousy leads them to compete and fight with one another, as well as with the higher gods."
Astra forced him to watch MC die or suffer a tragic fate in countless alternate timelines. When MC was in a fatal illness, he took Astra's Creatio Protocore and places it in MC's heart to prolong her life, knowing he will pay the price. His rebellion isn't driven by a desire for more power, but by his determination to save MC and reject the fate Astra imposed on them.
"Despite their privileged lives, they can't experience lasting happiness because envy robs them of peace and contentment."
Whenever Zayne shows a desire for freedom, tries to look into his own destiny, or attempts to alter someone else's fate, the curse physically triggers, and his own ice powers backfire, freezing him and leaving him heavily scarred.
🫛The God Realm and Rafayel🐟
The God Realm: In Buddhism, gods are seen as beings who are more powerful than humans, but they aren't considered worthy of worship. They take delight in lives of comfort, pleasure, and abundance, yet their pride, distractions, and complacency prevent them from following the dharma. Because they neglect spiritual growth, they eventually lose their privileged status and are reborn in lower realms.
"In Buddhism, gods are seen as beings who are more powerful than humans, but they aren't considered worthy of worship."
Rafayel as the God of the Sea and a Lemurian with an eternal flame, and was granted dominion over the ocean. The prophetic scriptures and the Tome of the Sea God demands blind worship and human sacrifice, which isn't worthy of worshipping.
"They enjoy lives of comfort, pleasure, and abundance..."
I see a strong parallel between this, and both Rafayel's past and present. In the past, he lived in Lemuria, a highly advanced, and prosperous underwater civilization. As the Sea God, he lived in extraordinary abundance. In the modern timeline, he enjoys life as a wealthy, eccentric, and internationally celebrated artist surrounded by luxury, fine food, and every possible comfort. His privileged lifestyle closely resembles the existence associated with the God Realm.
"Yet their pride, distractions, and complacency prevent them from following the dharma."
He initially appears to embody these qualities. He comes across as bratty, sassy, playful, and easily distracted, often hiding his true emotions behind teasing and humor. However, this outward personality that he conceals, is the weight of his responsibilities. His "dharma" was to protect Lemuria and fulfill his role as the Sea God. Instead, he chose to abandon that divine obligation because his love for MC mattered more to him than the destiny others had written for him?
"Because they neglect spiritual growth, they eventually lose their privileged status and are reborn in lower realms."
This is Rafayel's greatest act of defiance. During the sacred Sea God Ceremony, he was expected to take MC's heart to restore Lemuria, but gave his own heart to her. Splitting fragments, I guess? His decision angered the Deep Sea, Lemuria got destroyed, and he lived on the surface alongside humans. Therefore, this closely parallels the "falling from a higher realm into a lower one."
🍃AYO I CAN'T BELIEVE MY DUSTY CRUSTY MUSTY FOSSILIZED CLASS NOTES ARE ACTUALLY HELPING ME DECIPHER THIS. MY NOTES ARE NOTING. MY NOTES ARE SERVING. MY NOTES JUST GOT PROMOTED. MY NOTES ARE CARRYING THIS ENTIRE OPERATION ON THEIR BACK. Meanwhile I'm over here fighting for my LIFE. I cannot handle the angst anymore. I'm holding back tears with the strength and help of my thousand Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino ancestors because IF I CRY, I WON'T SEE THE KEYBOARD. The emotional damage that Infold's creative team inflicted against me is astronomical. Okay I'll quit yapping, let's move on to Sylus.🍃
🫛The Hell Realm and Sylus🐦⬛
Hell Realm: The beings of hell experience extreme suffering for incredibly long periods. However, existence in hell isn't everlasting and can come to an end through the exhaustion of negative karma and the cultivation of wholesome actions. It symbolizes the painful results of hatred, cruelty, and other harmful deeds. Contrary to the idea of a place of eternal punishment, it is a temporary realm where beings remain until the karma that led them there has been exhausted, after which they are reborn into another realm.
🍃I just found out Sylus and I share the same birthday.🍃
"The beings of hell experience extreme suffering for incredibly long periods."
Sylus as a Fiend and a Dragon. After humans betrayed and hunted his kind, he was sealed inside the Abyss for 1,600 years. Am I correct? He was chained and isolated within the Abyss, enduring centuries of unbearable loneliness and pain. Long before he ever meets MC, he carries the burden of his cursed existence.
"However, existence in hell isn't everlasting and can come to an end through the exhaustion of negative karma and the cultivation of wholesome actions."
His confinement eventually begins to change when MC enters the Abyss and pull the sealing sword from his body. That moment intertwines their souls. Every decision to love MC, and place her life above his own. He gradually overcomes the "negative karma" that has kept him bound to the Abyss.
"It symbolizes the painful results of hatred, cruelty, and other harmful deeds."
In the world of Philos, dragons and sorceresses are fated archnemeses? Am I right? Their "soul pact" binds the Sorceress which is MC and the Dragon which is Sylus, in a relentless battle for dominance, with one destined to consume or kill the person they love the most.
"Contrary to the idea of a place of eternal punishment, it is a temporary realm where beings remain until the karma that led them there has been exhausted, after which they are reborn into another realm."
To save MC's life, Sylus willingly sacrifices himself and asks her to end his life. Heartbroken, she curses his soul to never fade, binding it to hers forever, and she is the only person who can grant him true death in any of his reincarnations. Sylus' soul "continues" transcending the "Abyss", leading him into new realms and new lifetimes where he is able to meet her again. His journey follows a path of suffering, redemption, and rebirth, emphasizing the Buddhist understanding that even the deepest hell isn't the end of one's existence.
🫛The Hungry Ghost Realm and Caleb🍎
Hungry Ghost Realm: the Hungry Ghost Realm is where beings suffer from endless craving and never feel satisfied. They are often symbolized with huge stomachs and tiny throats, showing that no matter how much they consume, they can't fill their emptiness. This realm also represents a state of mind. Whenever someone is consumed by greed, addiction, or the constant desire for more money, possessions, or attention, they are experiencing the "hungry ghost" condition. The teaching reminds us that lasting happiness does not come from endless wanting, but from contentment, generosity, and letting go of attachment.
"The Hungry Ghost Realm is where beings suffer from endless craving and never feel satisfied."
Caleb as the Netherlord. This idea is at the heart of both MC and Caleb's story. MC is cursed with a hunger that forces her to consume souls, yet every soul brings only a brief moment of relief, while Caleb carries a different kind of hunger. He longs to protect MC and keep her with him, even in the present timeline at Linkon city, but nothing he does can satisfy that need. Their suffering comes from desires that can never truly be fulfilled?
"They are often symbolized with huge stomachs and tiny throats, showing that no matter how much they consume, they can't fill their emptiness."
The image fits MC perfectly. She eats countless malevolent spirits, but the emptiness inside her remains, while Caleb's emptiness is emotional rather than physical. His attempt to preserve their life together in the collapsing Nether Realm leaves him wanting more time, more hope, and one more chance to save her.
"This realm also represents a state of mind. Whenever someone is consumed by greed, addiction, or the constant desire...they are experiencing the 'hungry ghost' condition."
Caleb lives in that state of mind. His desire to protect MC grows so powerful that he refuses to accept her destined fate. He challenges the natural order of life and death. His world becomes centered on one wish alone which is keeping her safe, regardless of the cost. Even until the present.
"The teaching reminds us that lasting happiness does not come from endless wanting, but from contentment, generosity, and letting go of attachment."
By choosing to let go, both of them finally find the peace that had always remained beyond their reach. MC remains to rule the nether realm, while Caleb is in the mortal realm?
🍃Finally, the last LI, our hot, himbo, nerd, wolfie, EonCore Tech Chairman, Valko. Analyzing his part deep fried my brain. At this point, I'm not even a person anymore. I'm just Psyduck holding my head and screaming.🍃
🫛The Animal Realm and Valko🐺
Considering that Infold has cancelled Valko, I will base my analysis on his promotional videos, and the information currently available. As a little bonus, and because I genuinely enjoy doing this, I’ll also be sharing my thoughts on how Valko's myth and story may unfold.
Animal Realm: The Animal Realm is characterized by lives governed by instinct, fear, and ignorance. In this context, ignorance doesn't mean a lack of intelligence but an inability to understand the true nature of life and suffering. Beings in this realm spend most of their lives focused on survival, such as finding food, avoiding danger, and protecting themselves from predators. Because they are driven mainly by instinct, they have limited opportunities to develop wisdom, spiritual understanding, and make rational choices. Nevertheless, they remain subject to the law of karma, and their actions continue to influence their future rebirths.
Valko's wolf-like nature directly binds him to this state. Even with his sharp mind, primal instincts rule his biology?
🫛Primal Instinct and Self-Destruction?
The definition of the Animal Realm says:
"In this context, ignorance doesn't mean a lack of intelligence but an inability to understand the true nature of life and suffering."
As the brilliant EonCore Tech Chairman, he doesn't lack intellect. His "ignorance" lies in his "inability" to resist what harms him. Valko is drawn to the things that are dangerous to him, chocolate, grapes, lily of the valley, and, especially, MC who is a hunter. In his Myth and Main Story PV, I observed that he immediately halts his attack the moment he catches MC's scent, suggesting an instinctive, genetic attraction that overrides his conscious will, forcing him to obey her?
Each of these poses a threat to a werewolf's survival, yet he never seems to resist them. He surrenders to what his heart desires, undeterred by the potential and personal risks.
If the Animal Realm is governed primarily by immediate physical instincts, then perhaps its inhabitants naturally prioritize what they need or want, over what is objectively safe? Could that explain why Valko keeps gravitating toward dangerous things instead of avoiding them?
From a scientific perspective, this doesn't seem entirely far-fetched. Most animals don't consciously evaluate long-term consequences the way we humans do. They often respond to instinct, attraction, or immediate reward, even when those behaviors can be harmful.
🫛Chains of the Pack and Lack of Free Will? EonCore Tech and EVER?
One line from Valko's theme song stands out to me:
"I should follow what the elders say."
Could it be hinting at something deeper?
The definition of the Animal Realm says:
"Beings in this realm spend most of their lives focused on survival, such as finding food, avoiding danger, and protecting themselves from predators."
Some animals survive by following the pack or herd, obeying instinct, and submitting to established hierarchies. Individual desire comes second to survival. If that's the symbolism the writers are using, then Valko's line starts to carry a different meaning. In a place of expressing simple obedience, could "I should follow what the elders say" reflect someone who feels trapped by duty? Someone who cannot freely choose his own path because his responsibility to his people comes first?
This interpretation seems to fit Valko's role surprisingly well. As the chairman of EonCore, Valko maintains ties with the shadowy organization EVER. On the surface, this looks morally questionable. But what if his motivation isn't personal ambition or greed?
Could his alliance with EVER be a necessary compromise, one he accepts since it is the only realistic way to protect his wolf pack from a world that would fear or hunt them? Just like the humans did to the Lemurians.
If so, then Valko isn't acting out of selfishness. He's sacrificing his own ideals for the survival of his people. That also reframes his theme song. Instead of saying, "I want to follow what the elders say," he says, "I should follow what the elders say." The word "should" suggests obligation than desire. It sounds less like freedom and more like responsibility. Maybe it also hints that the elders of the pack forbade Valko to love MC because they aren't the same species or MC is dangerous for him?
The definition of the Animal Realm says:
"Because they are driven mainly by instinct, they have limited opportunities to develop wisdom, spiritual understanding, and make rational choices."
Could it be that by partnering with EVER and taking on a high-stress corporate throne, he sacrifices his "spiritual peace", spending his life in a struggle for survival with little opportunity to seek a deeper, "more understanding of life?"
🍃NO AOYIN, NO KUAI FOR YOU INFOLD.🍃
I'm setting aside the whole Buddhism connection for now because I want to focus on Valko's lore.
So, after watching Tameless Game PV, I noticed that it gives us a a sneak peak of what could be his first Myth. The setting feels like it's taking place at the end of the world, especially with Valko inviting MC to watch the last sunset together.
Since we already know Valko is associated with wolves, I can't help but think about Fenrir from Norse mythology. To those who don't know him, Fenrir is one of the central figures tied to Ragnarok, the end of the world. He's the monstrous wolf prophesied to break free from his chains, devour the sun and moon, and kill Odin. That makes me wonder, could Valko somehow play a role in the world's destruction, or at least be connected to an apocalyptic event? I'm not saying he'll be a direct adaptation of Fenrir, but the parallels caught my attention.
If that's the inspiration behind his first Myth, then I wonder if his future Myth could draw from a different wolf or canine figure from mythology. A few possibilities came to my mind.
Tiangou. In Chinese mythology, Tiangou, or the "Heavenly Dog," is a celestial beast associated with the star Sirius. It's best known for causing eclipses by trying to swallow the sun or the moon, making it a symbol of cosmic change and celestial disturbances.
Langshen. Literally meaning "Wolf God," Langshen is a deity in Chinese folk religion who serves as a heavenly general and commands powerful wolf armies that protect the Jade Palace.
Anubis. In ancient Egyptian mythology, Anubis is the jackal-headed god of the dead. He guides souls through the afterlife, oversees mummification, and judges the hearts of the deceased to determine their fate. If Valko's story explores themes of death, fate, or guiding souls after the world's end, I could see some parallels there as well.
🍃Anubis-inspired Valko? Oh. Help. Me. How majestic he will be.🍃
🫛Valko's Absence Makes the Six Realms Theory Harder to Ignore
One thing I don't see people talking about is how Valko's absence affects the Buddhist symbolism that many theorists have connected to Love and Deepspace. If the Six Realms theory has any merit, then Valko is the obvious candidate to represent the Animal Realm. If that was the original intention or narrative plan, his removal disrupts the entire symbolic framework.
Like what I have discussed earlier, each LI represents a different realm, with MC navigating through each as part of her journey. Individually, they each offer a different perspective, and together, they form a "complete cycle". Without Valko, that cycle no longer feels complete. Instead of six interconnected points forming a balanced whole, we're currently left with five.
🍃INFOLD, HAVE MERCY ON YOUR CREATIVE TEAM. INFOLD, HEAR THE CRIES OF YOUR DEAR PLAYERS. INFOLD, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY...LEARN. FROM. YOUR. MISTAKES. INFOLD!🍃
🫛Cosmic Encounter 3.0 Theme Song Analysis
Figure 3: The Official English Translation of the Cosmic Encounter 3.0 Theme Song
While I was listening to this song, I got goosebumps as its message fits the game so so perfectly and captures the bittersweet tragedy of MC and the LIs. I want to interpret the song seeing that it has strong ties to Buddhism, in my perspective. I might be wrong, but this is how I understand it.
The opening, "The passing millennia lies in a fleeting glance at Fate's mountains and the shore," reframes time, reducing thousands of years to a single glance. In the game, lifetimes end, but MC and the LIs' bond endures across eras.
"In this river of stars, once more the star will have a destined encounter" compares people to stars traveling through a galaxy. Although they seem far apart, fate brings them together. Same with LaDS, destiny reunites the MC and the LIs amid separation, death, or forgotten memories.
Then the song introduces "the grand cycle of reincarnation." This phrase directly refers to the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth which is samsara. The Wheel of Life symbolizes this cycle. Every being passes through different lives, carrying karma and attachments until achieving liberation.
However, the continuation of the lyrics goes, "I linger, reluctant to leave." So instead of seeking liberation from samsara, they choose to remain within it. Love gives them a reason to stay. They willingly accept another lifetime if it means seeing the person they love again.
"A moment of sparkle" and "paints samsara whether it's perfect or cleaved" portrays samsara as a cycle that embraces both beauty and suffering. Life brings joy, heartbreak, reunion, and loss. A brief moment of happiness can't erase suffering, but it gives the cycle meaning. In LaDS, MC and the LIs relationships demand painful sacrifices or tragic endings. Even so, one shared moment of happiness makes enduring countless lifetimes worthwhile.
The recurring image of "holding a leaf" has a deep symbolism. In Buddhist teachings, leaves often represent impermanence. They bloom, change color, fall, and disappear, just as every life eventually ends. Looking at one leaf allows the speaker to understand "all the romantic tales." Every love story follows the same rhythm. People meet, grow together, separate, and eventually say goodbye.
"Leave blooming and withering flowers," Flowers symbolize love at its most beautiful, but flowers also wither. Nothing in samsara lasts forever.
"If we meet, I'll promise eternity to everything," is powerful. It understands that eternity doesn't naturally exist within samsara. Everything changes. Everything dies. Yet love becomes an act of defiance against impermanence. It chooses to believe that their bond can transcend the Wheel of Life itself.
"The starry sky will be my witness" turns the universe into a silent observer. Human promises disappear with time, but the stars remain. Throughout countless lifetimes, the same sky watches every meeting and every farewell.
"Why not spend a lifetime to narrate my journey?" or later, "Why not spend a lifetime to write our story?" they redefine the purpose of life. Instead of chasing power, enlightenment, or even immortality, they devote an entire lifetime to loving someone. One life becomes one chapter. Reincarnation simply allows the story to continue.
"In boundless cosmos, a long winding road awaiting" means, across the endless universe and through countless lifetimes, a long journey still waits before they find each other again.
Next, "With a kiss no matter the sunset or moonrise," suggests that love transcends time? Days become nights. Seasons are impermanent. Lives begin and end. Yet love outlasts every change. Like in LaDS, each timeline unfolds differently, but the characters' emotional bond survives every changing circumstance.
"Did a star have a destined encounter?" It sounds almost like a reflection after multiple reincarnations. Was every meeting truly fate? Or did love itself create destiny?
The following line, "Overnight snow falls, restless and free. A single leaf drifts, unanchored in reverie," combines two symbols of impermanence. Snow melts. Leaves drift wherever the wind carries them. They can't control where they land. Likewise, people in samsara can't fully control where they are reborn. However in that uncertainty, the song never abandons hope.
"I'll use this wish to narrate my journey. " The "journey" represents the trials, lifetimes, and distances the LIs have crossed. The "wish" preserves those experiences and moves them forward, even when memories vanish or lives begin anew. It lets that enduring wish bear witness to everything they have endured for the hope of meeting their beloved again.
The final repetition changes one important detail. Earlier, they wanted to write their story. Now it asks, "How will the world write our story?" This shift acknowledges that love exists within forces much larger than individual choice. Fate, karma, reincarnation, and the universe all affect their story. Still, the lyrics answers, "If we meet, everything shall last for eternity." They believed that the moment they find each other again, eternity begins, as love continues through every lifetime.
🍃I'm not crying, you're crying. It's not Love and Deepspace. It's Love and Deep Depression.🍃
🫛Why MC forgets her past life while the LIs did not?
I think MC keeps losing her memories because of the Aether Core in her heart. Every time she dies, the Core seems to reset her life by restoring or recreating her body at a younger age, wiping away the memories from that lifetime. She has to start over without remembering the people or experiences from before.
However, she often experiences deja vu, emotional resonance, and fragmented visions of past lives connected to the love interests. I think these are caused by her Aether Core and Resonance Evol, which keep her soul and frequency linked to them across different timelines and rebirth cycles.
The love interests don't seem to share the same fate. They either remember MC, have extraordinarily long lifespans, are functionally immortal, or exist as reincarnations or beings capable of retaining their memories across time.
That said, I think the game intentionally leaves parts of its lore vague. It never clearly explains whether the Aether Core literally resurrects the same body, creates a new one, or causes MC to reincarnate with the Core intact. Like how does it work? Sometimes I'm confused of its inconsistency with her past lives with the LIs. I don't know how the writers will tie it up together. Maybe Valko or Sylus' storyline will finally reveal more about its true nature. The story also hints at multiple timelines, alternate realities, and different versions of events through the Myths, anecdotes, and cards making it difficult to tell what belongs to a single continuous timeline and what exists in a separate universe.
Of course, I might be wrong. This is just my interpretation based on what the game has shown so far. Until the developers provide a clearer explanation, I think many of these details are still open to interpretation.
🪨Samsara and The Burden of Memory
Love and Deepspace through the lens of Buddhist philosophy? While the game isn't trying to preach Buddhism, its core narrative relies heavily on its central concepts.
The Aether Core fused to MC’s heart acts as her "personal karmic anchor", trapping her in a loop. Every time she dies, the cycle wipes her memories clean. She starts every new life as a stranger, oblivious to the centuries of shared history. The true tragedy, however, falls on the love interests. They remember everything.
Whether intentional or symbolic or coincidental, the alignment between the six love interests and the Six Realms of Samsara is ALMOST IMPOSIBLE TO IGNORE.
Deva (God Realm): Rafayel🐟
Manushya (Human Realm): Xavier⭐
Asura (Demi-god Realm): Zayne☃️
Preta (Hungry Ghost Realm): Caleb🍎
Naraka (Hell Realm): Sylus🐦⬛
Tiragyoni (Animal Realm): Valko🐺
🪨Dukkha, Anicca, and the War Against Impermanence
The game’s narrative practically defines dukkha which means suffering and unsatisfactoriness. Every lifetime ends in sacrifice or loss. MC endures the physical pain of dying and the cforgotten pasts, while the men are in the state of viparinama-dukkha. I'll explain this. At the root of viparinama dukkha is the attachment to pleasure. When we experience something enjoyable, we naturally crave for it to last, sometimes pushing boundaries just to prolong the moment. It is because everything is inherently impermanent, that craving is bound to be frustrated, giving rise to suffering.
Correspondingly, MC herself embodies anicca or impermanence. For example, in one life she is the Queen of Philos, in another, an ordinary human and a deepspace hunter, in another, a sorceress. Her identity, memories, and form changes.
Ironically, the love interests wage a "centuries-long war" against this truth. They actively resist impermanence by trying to reverse fate, stop death, and preserve their bond.
🪨Karma and the Choice to Suffer
I speculate that "karma" here is a binding thread of destiny. The choices, sacrifices, and bargains made in their past lives directly steer present-day encounters in Linkon City. Maybe they are paying off, or perhaps endlessly creating, unresolved "karmic debts"?
This brings us to nirvana. None of these characters are anywhere near enlightenment. Not even MC. Liberation requires letting go of attachment, accepting death, impermanence, and separation.
Quite the opposite, they hold on tighter. Their love creates a gilded cage. They consciously choose samsara. They choose the loss, the agonizing reunions, and the inevitable goodbyes. They willingly embrace dukkha just to hold each other's hand for one fleeting lifetime. That is what makes Love and Deepspace so devastating. The heartbreak stems from endlessly and devotedly finding one another, like are they fully aware that choosing love guarantees repeating the cycle of pain?
I've been overthinking this, and I can't shake the feeling that it might end in tragedy or, at best, a bittersweet conclusion. I have this gut feeling that the LaDS' ending will emotionally destroy us so much that we will a cry an ocean larger than Panthalassa.
Will the story actually give everyone a happy ending? What if one of the love interests dies? I can't stop thinking about that possibility. What if MC dies instead? Will she reincarnate again, allowing her and the love interests to spend another lifetime together? Or will her cycle of reincarnation finally end, forcing the love interests to accept that they'll never see her again?
I'm also worried about the Aether Core in MC's heart. What if her heart weakens until she faces only a few impossible choices? She might have to fully stabilize the Aether Core, safely extract it, destroy it without sacrificing her life, or lose her life in the process. What about EVER? What will they do to MC and the LIs. What if there is one big moment in the main story where all the foils finally encounter each other? What if the time will come that MC will remember all her reincarnations and lose her sanity?
I also have a theory about the Aether Core itself. What if it triggers her to reincarnate through unbreakable promises made during moments of tragedy or self-sacrifice? What if triggers through exchanging or splitting of hearts or souls, similar to Sylus's pact or Rafayel's Sea God heart? Or maybe Evol compatibility acts as a beacon that continuously draws the same souls together across different lifetimes? What if MC is secretly a goddess?
🍃I keep overthinking that I'm overthinking. Then I forget I'm overthinking, remember it again, panic, and now I'm overthinking the fact that I forgot I was overthinking.🍃
That’s all for today’s discussion or tonight’s, depending on your time zone. My next discussion will focus on reassessing Valko’s cancellation and its narrative impact on LaDS. Stay tuned, people of Linkon City! I’ll be posting it sometime this week.
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Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read. Your support means a lot!
