#canto 10

[ladyofthebookcase]

post posting

[masterpost]

[iaobug]

well chat its time

[razzdremuha]

I hope we don't have to be Saul Goodman in 10 canto (ーー;)

[c1139]

how Meursault be feeling after that canto announcement

[citroncynique]

It's mothers' day in France today, you know what that means!

Assorted Maman Meursault doodles and headcanons ✨

DISCLAIMER: I'm playing toys with this and do not expect any of this to be canon. Some of my delusions are based on canon tidbits, but nothing here is a serious theory unless stated otherwise

The somewhat serious theories I do have:

The N Corp executive (or otherwise important figure) part comes from the assumption that if Meursault recieved any kind of punishment for his crime, he had to have killed someone important

I assume that Canto 10 will have a mashup of multiple works by Camus and maybe Sartre, so I decided to put Maman in a blender with Roland Zagreus from Camus' first drafted novel, A Happy Death, who is killed by the novel's protagonist, Patrice Mersault

Now for my more lighthearted, less serious ramblings!

She and Meursault had a rather.... neutral-ish relationship. As I said above she's a wire mother type, distant but provided what was needed. She was neglectful emotionally but provided materials and financial security

Yes this means Meursault is an N Corp nepo baby lmfao

I like to think they do understand each other to an extent. Autism to autism communication

I flip flop around with the idea of making Marie her personal assistant/secretary/protégée/whatever

- Hermann/Maman toxic corporate yuri exists in my brain and I need to draw more of it

Uuuh 'Meursault' is her (ex?) husband's last name, I think she'd use her maiden name (Zagreus) professionally

Meur absolutely got the ability to dish out scathing tirades from her

Slightly serious theory but: based on the crack theory that she is to be a roland zagreus expy of sorts, her death was something she asked Meursault to handle. Maybe she was involved with distortion related research and Meursault had to kill her to suppress whatever happened- idk

[muda142]

"To cast away the gazes that chain you, is to cast away the burdens of trying to mold yourself. Let not the Sun blind your judgement, and manifest your wills."

I love my autistic fella <3

[limbus-echoes]

Canto X/ Meur Backstory theorizing 

*Disclaimers: this post assumes you have read l’etranger or at least the spark notes summary. Also despite efforts to clean this up it’s still a ramble so. Ask if you want clarification on anything. And I haven’t read A Happy Death yet, let me know if anything in there is relevant to this. Okay? Okay. 

So, one of the main points of l’etranger is that the justice system doesn’t care about justice, it cares about judging. And about punishment based on not conforming to perceived standards, instead of the actual harm that was caused. Book-Meursault doesn’t die for being a real actual murderer, because his victim wasn’t someone the white justice system cared about. He dies because he acts and feels in a way that makes them uncomfortable. 

His real victim was stripped of personhood because he was [different and inferior and bad] and thus doesn’t matter, but it turns out Meursault himself is also [different and inferior and bad and Wrong] so they need to find a new victim, the ideal one who can represent a purity that Meursault has despoiled to prove that he’s Guilty. That’s the role Maman plays to the justice system! For that role in the play her being related to Meursault isn’t necessary, what’s necessary is her being someone unrelated to the murder and Good who represents values that Meursault has failed to uphold. 

So in my opinion, in order for limbus to adapt the book effectively, they need to include both a) the real crime/victim no one cares about, which is tied to societal evils, and b) the moral crime/ not-real victim that gets Meursault killed, which is tied to conformity. And then those two together form the theme of the absurdity of the justice system and of humanity and of life. 

so. How’s limbus going to do this? 

We know his mother’s death is still involved in his crime (“today, I killed maman”), but we don’t 100% know he directly killed her. It’s definitely a possibility, but it could be a case of him just accepting the judgement that was given to him (that he killed her), or it could be that he indirectly got her killed through his actions. we also know almost for sure that he distorted. And it seems like he worked with distortions. He also likely worked with canned experience. And also likely had a boring office job most of the time. N Corp is the wing that’s focused on the ideal, pure human experience. 

These are the scraps I’ve been grasping at in my stupid little red-string board, and there are multiple ways they could fit together. 

Step 1: the murder. 

He murdered someone else while distorted, and it got his mom killed because of some kinda. Rule breaking? Like she took the fall for him? Or she was high up in n corp and it counted as a betrayal for her son to do that? Potentially the trial could be, at that point, more of a formality (since someone else already took the punishment) until meur isn’t sad enough about his mother’s death and/or noble sacrifice so now he’s back in trouble 

He murdered his mother while distorted. There’s not much I can theorize about this one, it would probably be the default “world is meaningless I distort whoops she’s dead now”. Not super interesting to me because then he did just do that. Although, any option of him murdering someone while distorted can fit the themes of the book if you think about the loss of control and blaming someone for something that happened while they were out of their mind. Distortions are seen as someone’s true form. Even if he wasn’t in control maybe that’s all the evidence they need. Hmm. 

He murdered his mother as part of the “normal” (aka on orders of n corp most likely) then distorted later. Interesting concept to me! He doesn’t have a Moral Victim then, though, so not sure why he’d end up convicted. Maybe he killed her then distorted about it and killed someone else? It would be an interesting flip from the book if him caring about his mother led to the moral indictment instead of the reverse, but I’m not sure how I’d feel about it

OH OR. Another option is the murder he’s charged for is actually the Normal one done on N Corp’s orders! This could combine the two victims potentially but I think it still works. 

There’s shown to be multiple factions of n corp already. All corporations are evil. Meursault could have done his job then gotten thrown under the bus and tried for it for no reason, which could have been the catalyst for distortion. This works with either of the potential victims. I’m thinking sort of similar to the H Corp researchers Grandma Jia worked with, where they did the dirty work and were lied to. But in meur’s case it could also tie into his autistic traits, where the prosecution could prove that “they never actually asked him to do that, no one normal would have interpreted it that way, he must be Evil!” 

This would then tie into his current “I only do things if expressly and directly told to” hmmmmm

And it’s a fair adaptation of the justice themes, because the whole thing is even more of a parody ! Seems like a good criteria to distort about. 

Step 2: limbus company 

I’m a big believer in the fact that our position in the book is somewhere during the trial process. Either 1) the judgement was completed and limbus is a punishment, 2) the judgement was completed and limbus is the Plea Appeal, or 3) the trial wasn’t completed and has been on pause waiting for Meursault to return so they can get more evidence. 

For option 1, take this specific line from the book. Consider it. Consider how limbus is, to most, doomed to fail (unless you know about the flow or whatever, and even then we don’t know if they’re doomed at the end of the flow). And you die over and over. But there’s a slight chance you could escape it one day. 

Options 2 and 3 are kinda similar except for how it would impact meur to have received the judgement. But limbus’s role would be the same— take the prisoner, build the bond, and then make Dante open meur’s fathoms in court so he can be more completely judged than anyone ever before :)

^ not sure how this works out in instances where n corp was culpable in the murder, unless they were sure that meur’s fathoms would just be so unlikable that it wouldn’t matter and he’d be blamed anyways. 

Oh, and the other difference would be that for option 2 limbus is more directly against n corp, whereas with 3 they’re technically working with n corp in this. 

Alternatively it can be both the punishment and part of the trial, that’s not out of the realm of possibility. Works best if options 1 and 2 are combined methinks, since he can be punished while awaiting a retrial. 

Stage 3: canto x.

I feel like going off of this it has to be the trial. Surely. Surely. At least, if it’s still focused on Meursault. 

But I guess canto 9 was less focused, so it could also be exploring n corp and doing unrelated stuff that just happens to intersect with meur’s story. That would make me sad though. I want to put him on trial I want more screenshots of him in the gallows. 

I just think the trial makes perfect sense, you know? It provides a reason for limbus to be allowed into n corp given their Strained Relations. 

Please. 

Oh and check reblogs for image dumps because uhh. There are limits to how many you can put in.

[angelicechelon]

this intervallo is driving me insane it's so so so so so good - meur has spoken in it more than he has in the last 9 cantos 😭

the insight behind his thoughts they're hinting at + the blinding light being compared to the sun is making me incredibly excited for his canto i actually love the small changes they've made