Chapter 8 - Dante and the Damned Dozen vs Hong Lu's dysfunctional family

[NetMoverSitan]

Chapter 7 was where we met Jia Xichun, Hong Lu's sister and the family member that Hong Lu considered the most amicable...considering that Jia Huan, his older brother and N Corp affiliate, had nothing but hostility and contempt towards him and the only thing preventing him from cutting his head off, as Jia Xichun said that he and the others would do, if they encounter Hong Lu is orders from N corp NOT to do that...it says much about how his family is, Jia Xichun even trusts him more than the others as she sucks at being treacherous, so he's not going to stab him in the back...that would make Hong Lu the white sheep of the family.

His family sounds dysfunctional at best and outright toxic at worst. Considering that in Act 3, she went her own way, as the T-850 would put it "She'll be back".

[jobhobster]

I've got no more words to add.

[NetMoverSitan]

Considering that Hong Lu is from the East of the City, that's likely the general direction of where they're heading, either to District 8 or District 17. This is considering that those in the East, at least according to Hong Lu, dressed like Jia Xichun and Mr Wei, which appears to be traditional Chinese attire, much as Fixers in the West are big on leather and armor and Fixers in the North are big on baggy clothing due to the blizzards.

[Prabs Prettypaws]

We know from TKT that Hong Lu refused to defend himself when his siblings tried to kill him because he empathized with them. So that already indicated pretty strongly that his family was toxic, even for anyone who forgot about Jia Huan showing up.

We know from various sources that his family is unfathomably wealthy and extremely influential.

We know from his conversation with Jia Xichun that the elders of his family want to achieve true immortality.

We know that despite his happy-go-lucky demeanor, he's excellent at reading others' emotions, likely because he had to be to survive within his family

And we know from pretty much all his uptie stories that he doesn't want any part of his family's constant politicking and backstabbing.

I'm not willing to speculate when we haven't even gotten the first Intervallo of the season yet, but I'm very interested in seeing how his story will play out.

[NetMoverSitan]

Originally posted by Prabs Prettypaws:

We know from TKT that Hong Lu refused to defend himself when his siblings tried to kill him because he empathized with them. So that already indicated pretty strongly that his family was toxic, even for anyone who forgot about Jia Huan showing up.

We know from various sources that his family is unfathomably wealthy and extremely influential.

We know from his conversation with Jia Xichun that the elders of his family want to achieve true immortality.

We know that despite his happy-go-lucky demeanor, he's excellent at reading others' emotions, likely because he had to be to survive within his family

And we know from pretty much all his uptie stories that he doesn't want any part of his family's constant politicking and backstabbing.

I'm not willing to speculate when we haven't even gotten the first Intervallo of the season yet, but I'm very interested in seeing how his story will play out.

I certainly haven't, I suspect that N Corp explicitly order him NOT to kill Hong Lu and the others. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't hesitate to kill them. Jia Xichun, based on her knowing his personality and lack of interest with the infighting, saw him as safe to fight alongside because of that. Yeah, we'll need to wait until Chapter 7.5 is out before we know where they're going next, but the foreshadowing that Hong Lu is next isn't something that can be ignored...

[Prabs Prettypaws]

Originally posted by NetMoverSitan:

I certainly haven't,

Maybe you haven't, but I have. Cantos I~III are really foggy for me.

the foreshadowing that Hong Lu is next isn't something that can be ignored...

Oh, I'm not telling anyone to ignore it. Quite the opposite, in fact; let's all remember why we each have two ears, two eyes, and only one mouth.

[NetMoverSitan]

Originally posted by Prabs Prettypaws:

Originally posted by NetMoverSitan:

I certainly haven't,

Maybe you haven't, but I have. Cantos I~III are really foggy for me.

the foreshadowing that Hong Lu is next isn't something that can be ignored...

Oh, I'm not telling anyone to ignore it. Quite the opposite, in fact; let's all remember why we each have two ears, two eyes, and only one mouth.

Wuthering Heights also had a river under it, where it appears that the walls of reality are thinner there than most there, at least to Catherine and Josephine.

[MerlinCross]

I'm just sitting here thinking; TECHNICALLY we didn't see Wei die. So he's probably still around.

Bets on if we fight him?

[NetMoverSitan]

Originally posted by MerlinCross:

I'm just sitting here thinking; TECHNICALLY we didn't see Wei die. So he's probably still around.

Bets on if we fight him?

Yeah, they're not dead until we see them die and unlike the Damned Dozen, they'll STAY dead.

[Joshua Kurayami]

I'm having some doubts about Hong Lu's name since all other relatives have "Jia" in their name but not Hong Lu's.

[NetMoverSitan]

Originally posted by Joshua Kurayami:

I'm having some doubts about Hong Lu's name since all other relatives have "Jia" in their name but not Hong Lu's.

Perhaps he's illegitimate?

[Daliena]

Originally posted by NetMoverSitan:

Originally posted by Joshua Kurayami:

I'm having some doubts about Hong Lu's name since all other relatives have "Jia" in their name but not Hong Lu's.

Perhaps he's illegitimate?

Alternatively, "Hong Lu" is a pseudonym he took to not have his family's reputation constantly weigh on him. Doesn't Xichun occasionally refer to him as Baoyu? And the character from Dream of the Red Chamber, the book Hong Lu is based on, is Jia Baoyu.

I mean he'd hardly be the only one. Sancho-Don Quixote being one, and given how shrouded in mystery our favorite hag is, Outis (the was used as a pseudonym in the first place in The Odyssey and means "Nobody" for crying out loud), I'd be slightly surprised if it wasn't the case for her too.

[Prabs Prettypaws]

Originally posted by Daliena:

Originally posted by NetMoverSitan:

Perhaps he's illegitimate?

Alternatively, "Hong Lu" is a pseudonym he took to not have his family's reputation constantly weigh on him. Doesn't Xichun occasionally refer to him as Baoyu? And the character from Dream of the Red Chamber, the book Hong Lu is based on, is Jia Baoyu.

I mean he'd hardly be the only one. Sancho-Don Quixote being one, and given how shrouded in mystery our favorite hag is, Outis (the was used as a pseudonym in the first place in The Odyssey and means "Nobody" for crying out loud), I'd be slightly surprised if it wasn't the case for her too.

Could be to distance himself from his family, could be a nom de guerre, or it could just be a nickname. Apparently, "Hong Lu" means "Precious Jade,"* and his jade eye is the major motif in his portraits and icon.

* as much as anything in Chinese means anything in English, anyway. Changing the entire word by changing its inflection is some deep magic.

[NetMoverSitan]

Originally posted by Prabs Prettypaws:

Originally posted by Daliena:

Alternatively, "Hong Lu" is a pseudonym he took to not have his family's reputation constantly weigh on him. Doesn't Xichun occasionally refer to him as Baoyu? And the character from Dream of the Red Chamber, the book Hong Lu is based on, is Jia Baoyu.

I mean he'd hardly be the only one. Sancho-Don Quixote being one, and given how shrouded in mystery our favorite hag is, Outis (the was used as a pseudonym in the first place in The Odyssey and means "Nobody" for crying out loud), I'd be slightly surprised if it wasn't the case for her too.

Could be to distance himself from his family, could be a nom de guerre, or it could just be a nickname. Apparently, "Hong Lu" means "Precious Jade,"* and his jade eye is the major motif in his portraits and icon.

* as much as anything in Chinese means anything in English, anyway. Changing the entire word by changing its inflection is some deep magic.

I see him as the white sheep of the family as he sucks at being treacherous, it's why Jia Xichun trust him enough to fight alongside him, at least for a time, while their interests are aligned (e.g. simple survival) and she's the one that he gets on with the MOST!

It's likely the Jia Huan will appear in Chapter 8 as well, as it looks like a family showdown will occur.

[Prabs Prettypaws]

Originally posted by NetMoverSitan:

Originally posted by Prabs Prettypaws:

Could be to distance himself from his family, could be a nom de guerre, or it could just be a nickname. Apparently, "Hong Lu" means "Precious Jade,"* and his jade eye is the major motif in his portraits and icon.

* as much as anything in Chinese means anything in English, anyway. Changing the entire word by changing its inflection is some deep magic.

I see him as the white sheep of the family as he sucks at being treacherous, it's why Jia Xichun trust him enough to fight alongside him, at least for a time, while their interests are aligned (e.g. simple survival) and she's the one that he gets on with the MOST!

It's likely the Jia Huan will appear in Chapter 8 as well, as it looks like a family showdown will occur.

Sure, but that doesn't really have anything to do with what I was saying. Don't know why you replied to me with that.

[NetMoverSitan]

Originally posted by Prabs Prettypaws:

Originally posted by NetMoverSitan:

I see him as the white sheep of the family as he sucks at being treacherous, it's why Jia Xichun trust him enough to fight alongside him, at least for a time, while their interests are aligned (e.g. simple survival) and she's the one that he gets on with the MOST!

It's likely the Jia Huan will appear in Chapter 8 as well, as it looks like a family showdown will occur.

Sure, but that doesn't really have anything to do with what I was saying. Don't know why you replied to me with that.

You said that he was distancing himself from his family, I suspected that it was partly because he was too nice.