Meurderer/Meursault and Forsaken Murderer similarities
This is a rewrite of a discussion from a few days ago, summarized in one post.
Recommended reading: My organized Forsaken Murderer analysis post.
1. Regret E.G.O and mechanics
Meursault has the Regret E.G.O. We all know it, we all love it. It's the obvious overlap between the two.
It fits Meursault REALLY WELL gameplay-wise. "Base Power -1 and Coin Power +2" is good considering many Meursault IDs have a lot of coins. Meursault's Base ID uses Tremor. One of his strongest IDs also uses Tremor.
Moreover, one of the Sin Resources required for Regret is Pride which Meursault is heavily, HEAVILY associated with.
So, Regret synergizes with a lot of Meursault's IDs. It's pretty obvious Meursault resonates with it well (given that having E.G.O has the requirement of forming an "emotional connection" with the Abnormality). We can see that in how hard he corrodes, resembling Forsaken Murderer almost one-to-one visually, and his quotes being extremely similar:
"Head… turning into… metal… brain… flattened… Ends. Begins. ENDS. BEGINS!" / “My head… turning into metal… folds in my brain, being flattened…” “Ends, begins, ends, begins, end”
and also, the Awakening quote being similar as well:
"This straight-jacket… isn’t nearly enough to hold back my violence." / "You’re not going to keep me shackled with this!"
This suggests that there's a LOT of Emotional Connection going on between the two. It's understandable, considering the...
2. ...Thematic similarities
Here, we get into analysis somewhat.
If you've read my post about Forsaken Murderer, which I hope you did, you know I consider his story to be about the following: a regretful murderer who's created a mask of being a ruthless, emotionless killer to shield himself from his regret; who is also judged for not showing enough emotions, sentenced to death, and put through inhumane experiments, turning him into a representation of what he sees himself as/wants to present himself as, and a representation of his regret at the same time. While not exactly Meursault, it's similar.
As of now, it is unclear what exactly happened to Meursault and what the moral of his story is. But we can agree on the following, I think: he is a murderer who appears emotionless, is judged for not showing enough emotions, and sentenced to death. Moreover, the book suggests he does experience emotions (he expresses them several times in some ways more subtle than others, and says he just doesn't "pay attention to" how he feels), like FM.
They are both judged for not outwardly showing enough emotions, having committed murders, and put through inhumane things (most likely not to a lesser extent with Meursault), it can be summarized as: forsaken by society (get it that's his name)
Both of them also have a lot of repressed wrath/anger (and lust/desires in Meursault's case, which will probably be a big thing in his Canto).
Both of them seemingly have something to do with "judgement": Meursault refuses to enact his judgement, presumably due to having made a mistake in his judgement in the past, and Forsaken Murderer's judgement is impaired in part, due to his delusions (such as his metal head).
Meursault in his Base E.G.O, Meursault in Regret E.G.O, and Forsaken Murderer are all bound by something: either chains or belts. I feel like that is important.
But that's mostly details. Speaking of details:
3. Design and lore similarities
There's a lot of subtler ways that they are similar.
Forsaken Murderer's focus point is his head, both literally (due to his head turning into metal), and figuratively (the "illness of the mind" Carmen's team wanted to cure). Meursault has a lot of things relating to his head as well; many of his IDs have had something happen to their heads (e.g. Lei Heng), or, otherwise, were executed (e.g. Cassetti). There's also something with their necks: Meursault is sentenced to be guillotined in the book, severing his neck, and Forsaken Murderer has attempted to hang himself in prison, breaking his neck (Final Observation).
Both of them are connected to rot; Forsaken Murderer's flavor text says his brain was left to rot, and Meursault's associated color is called Decay Blue.
Some quotes in L'Etranger are reminiscent of the River and of Cogito (read it, I'm not looking it up again).
Both are connected to chemicals (Meur to Canned Experiences, FM to Cogito).
Both of them have something to do with Experiences-Memories dichotomy. Forsaken Murderer is, arguably, only experiencing: he's "chained to the resentment and hate of the past", but he doesn't remember what he was "forced to see" (Regret Angela's lines). With Meursault it's unclear what his deal with Memories/Experiences is, except the connection to Canned Experiences. Presumably, he also knows what it's like to have Experience and not the Memory.
Both of them are connected to light/darkness, and the Sun/Carmen. This is a big one.
Firstly: Meursault states he prefers daytime over nighttime, because "what's hard to see is hard to understand" (LCB Sinner Meursault's chatting lines), but what's important is that he prefers light over darkness. Forsaken Murderer's Containment cell is stated to always be "dark and cold" and his brain is said to have been "rotting in darkness" (flavor text).
Meursault is in some way connected to Carmen. Presumably, he's heard her voice; as he states, "there's more to the sunshine than its warmth" (Mnestic Experience and Pilgrimage of Compassion). Forsaken Murderer... well, he was used by Carmen as a test subject for Cogito experiments (Regret E.G.O description).
Finally, both of them are connected to N Corp, though it is theory territory with Forsaken Murderer.
Meursault is from N Corp. and was employed by N Corp., and he is very connected to nails (he was One Who Nails and has a skill named "Nailing Fist"). Forsaken Murderer's metal head seems similar to how prosthetics are described by the Inquisition, replacing a pure part of the body, except nothing is more pure than the brain which is also replaced in Forsaken Murderer's case. He's also connected to hammers, his E.G.O weapon being a hammer, and him using his head as a hammer, in a way. But that's not all; Carmen herself may be connected to N Corp: consider Silent Girl, who wields a Nail and a Hammer, consider Carmen's values of "experiencing emotions" aligning with N Corp.'s value of "experience", and consider the following CG looking like N Corp.:
So, by proxy, being connected to Carmen, Forsaken Murderer can be presumed to be connected to N Corp. as well.
That's all the information I have up to this date. This post may be edited or reblogged by me in the future, adding my thoughts. But, overall, I think it's solid enough to say that I believe the connection is intentional and will be used somehow.
I am not saying that FM will be featured in Canto X though. Haha. That's a totally insane thing to think. I lied I am saying that and I think that. kill me i'm going to be disappointed gravely
