love makes us monsters (a look at Love Town and Vergilius in Leviathan)
Leviathan, is, essentially, a Vergilius character piece. it is of course his backstory - or, as much as we need to understand of it for the events of Limbus Company, as a lot is still in the shadows - but it clearly holds a lot of thematic weight, aspects of it standing as mirror to Vergilius's own internal struggles. this post isn't about it (maybe a future post!), but as example, Schadenfreude is the final enemy of the story for a Reason - the Gaze in a Box who stands against the Red Gaze, a creature that Vergilius directly mentally connects to himself as both reflection and mockery of his own plights of watching the misery of the City and not being able to do a thing about it.
so! Love Town. one of Library of Ruina's most famous little stories, a horrific tale of two lovers who take an ill-fated train ride and end up twisted beyond recognition, both mentally and physically. why is Love Town - or more specifically, the poor creature that calls itself Tomerry - included in Leviathan as the very thing that destroys the orphanage and children Vergilius loves? it could, of course, be a callback, a little wave of the flag of "Hey, Remember Ruina?" and may have no thought to it other than "this might be something Iori could use in her plans when she escaped from the Library".
but maybe, perhaps, it also holds its own thematic power. why Tomerry, and not some Abnormality, was the one to further send Vergilius down his road of self-hatred, eternal grief, and stagnant "flow". in the events of Love Town, Elena emphasizes that it is Tommy and Merry's bond that allows them, in their new monstrous form, to keep others from harm:
in fact, "love" becomes the hyperfocus of the creature that Tommy and Merry eventually become. not only their love for one another, but that love as a way to protect people, to act as their hero, to become something that can be looked up to and be relied on. in a way, that love they have is selfish, making them the center of everything around them. "Love Town" celebrates them as their savior, and with their eroded minds, "love" is to be used as both shield and sword to keep the world as they want it to be.
Vergilius is a man filled with love. at the same time, by his own admission, it is a word he's not used to. this is because, as seen in his discussion with Carmen, he understands love as devotion to others, but balks completely (and eventually rejects) love being used for himself.
the love Vergilius has is an anomaly in the City. he should be a heartless, cold man who kills without feeling, but he himself laments in the final chapter of Leviathan - "Why does this thing called a heart not work as I wish it to?" his love and caring for others is both strength and weakness, and it in turn makes him extremely human but also monstrous in his own right. he, who has killed hundreds, thousands, who may kill more, who nevertheless still continues to love others regardless. Vergilius is suffering, tormented over it, its a love that has both led him to protect others fiercely but also pull himself away when people need him most because he thinks he deserves the pain and punishment. its a love that has been suggested to lead to vicious ends, because he still holds a cruel dream in his heart to tear it all down if he loses the ones he loves most.
"Love Town" is a distortion of love. it is a love that was sincere yet it was taken, manipulated, turned into a living monster that thought that its love could keep everyone safe because of the bond of the two people it was made out of. love, in the form of Tomerry, took away the ones that Vergilius loved, and in turn also demonstrated a form of love Vergilius couldn't understand. if he gave into Carmen, if he accepted distorted love with all his heart, if he was successfully manipulated like Tommy and Merry were, could he become even as big of a monster as they became?
is he already there? is he on the cliff, teetering over becoming something like them, if he doesn't get lapis and garnet back?
who knows. love can make monsters of us all.
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