Comparing the Divine Comedy to Limbus Company

Apparently the main document describing the parallels between Limbus and the Divine Comedy was restricted recently, so I thought I'd just post my own analysis on the topic for those who haven't heard of it.

Selva Obscura | A Dark Forest: Dante gets attacked by a wolf, a lion, and a panther in a dark forest. Saved by Vergil(lius), who guides him to hell to properly start his journey.

Canto I | Anteinferno, 0th Circle: Dante opens the gates of hell. LC Dante only does this to revive the sinners, DC Dante obviously goes through them himself. In DC, this is also the specific instance of Charon ferrying Dante to his destination, hence the focus on her. Anteinferno, or the outskirts of hell, is filled with various violent insects, a dense fog, and the souls of 'cowards' who were neither sinful or virtuous. The parallels with Gregor's experience with the smoke war are self explanatory.

Canto II | Limbo, 1st Circle: Limbo is dedicated to those who never practised Christianity. Described as being a castle veiled in darkness, it is a false paradise where its residents are simply punished with a deprivation of hope and rest. In Limbus, this is represented with a casino. While it is technically possible to realize your dreams in one, the house always wins in the end. And on the other side of that victory lies a life of slavery filled with nothing but labour and despair. The 'dark castle' part is referenced in Rodion's fathoms. This is also where Vergil is placed in DC. Make of that what you will.

Canto III | Lust, 2nd Circle: DC Dante encounters Minos, who is responsible for judging sinners and assigning them to their circles. this lines up with the LCB crossing the K Corp Border, as both Dantes are bailed out (indirectly or otherwise) by Vergil. Those who embodied Lust in their life get punished with overpowering winds can easily keep you airborne. Kromer very unsubtley embodies lust, and was promptly executed by Demien flapping a Mang-enhanced gust of wind through her body. Contains the first instance of love being discussed in DC, might correspond to LC Dante starting to grow.

Sidenote A: The shades DC Dante encounters throughout hell are blind to the present, but in exchange can see the future. LC might be representing them through Demien's Group, who don't care at all about who obtains the Golden Boughs and are instead working towards a nebulous bigger picture. Demien outright prophesizes the 985 catastrophe to Dante at the end of Canto III.

Intervallo I/Canto IV | Gluttony, 3rd Circle: Guarded by Cerberus, Sinners are punished with a heavy downpour. As the Refraction Railways are canon, the LCB would've encountered Alleyway Watchdog around this time, who is Blatantly inspired by Cerberus. Gluttony itself is alluded to with the Intervallo, while the punishment is referenced in Canto IV with K Corps rain walking tradition.

Canto IV/Intervallo II | Greed, 4th Circle: Sinners are punished by being forced to roll boulders at each other. Canto IV itself is deeply concerned with systemic greed, while the Trash Crabs of the Intervallo reference the punishment.

Canto V | Wrath, 5th Circle: DC Dante gets ferried across the water by a devil, which LC references In the Indigo Elder providing assistance. Sinners are punished by drowning in the River Styx; the wrathful half brawl with each other near the surface, while the gloom afflicted rest simply sink to the bottom.. The former would be Ricardo's branch of the Middle, and the latter would be the mermaids of the Whales. Ishmael would fall under both categories. The Great Lake corresponding to the River Styx could have future lore implications.

Sidenote B: While envy is most commonly associated with jealousy, it is important to recognize that the latter is just a symptom of envy's fundamental nature, that being the deprecation of the self. This is why the individual members of the Middle lean significantly more into envy than wrath; the syndicate encourages members to act in accordance with their culture, rather than their natural personality.

Canto VI | Heresy, 6th Circle, Dis: DC Dante and Vergil get roadblocked by demons refusing them enterance to the city of Dis, which forces Vergil to call on the divine to help them get through after he failed to clear the path himself. In LC, Heathcliff and co are locked out of Wuthering Heights until a mysterious force (Catherine) opens the front gate. This is also the first time Vergilius contributes to one of the LCB's fights. The sinners of heresy are punished by being trapped in coffins and set on fire. The 'heretics' in this case would be N corp misusing Yi Sang's mirror tech at the expense of the public. Catherine, who assisted them in their research, was locked in the coffin and punished in an entirely different manner.

Canto VII | Violence, 1st Ring, 7th Circle: In Which those who harm their neighbours are punished by being plunged into a boiling river of blood. Any who escape are shot back in by centaurs. LC inverts this punishment by making that boiling blood the one thing bloodfiends crave most and depriving them of it. Nicolina's shooting gallery could be seen as having the LCB play the role of the centaurs, and the hunters wiping the floor with the haunted house be as the centaurs assisting DC Dante across the river.

Canto VIII | Violence, 2nd Ring, 7th Circle: Those who harm themselves are condemned to being turned into trees and have their branches plucked out by harpies. Jia Mu's test subjects fit the bill well, both with their plant motif and their pleading for death eventually fading to a desire to repent. The Xianren being represented as roots in Jia mu's bossfight would also fit into this ring. Hong Lu is explicitly unopposed to self harm and suicide, and death is a central contemplation of the Canto in general.

-Yet To Come-

Canto IX | Violence, 3rd Ring, 7th Circle: Those who commit violence against God, Art, and Nature are punished with a rain of fire. Even without knowing anything about the content of Canto IX, it is difficult to imagine how Ryoshu's story wouldn't pertain to the 3rd ring.

Canto X/Canto XI? | Fraud, 8th Circle: The punishments dealt out by the fraudwatch are many and varied, to the point where it is unclear how much of it LC will cover. The Intervallos might get involved again, or it will stretch across multiple Cantos.

Canto XI?/Canto XII | Treachery, 9th Circle/Lucifer Himself: The sinners are punished by traping them in frigid ice**.** Depends on the structure of Fraud.

Purgatorio: I doubt Dante will his own Canto in Inferno, on the premise that Purgatorio is going to be 'Dante's Canto' anyway. In DC, Purgatory is a giant mountain that connects heaven and earth. Upon entering, Dante gets several P's etched onto his forehead, which get removed as he climbs to the peak. This concludes with Vergil leaving Dante to return to Limbo, and Dante getting dunked into the River Lethe to purge his memories of sin. In LC, Dante has already been inscribing 'P's' onto himself via Golden Bough Resonance, which likely means that Purgatorio will have him refine the sins into their proper Sephiroth form (yes that's the plural form of Sephira I don't make the rules.)

I might make a separate post for Paradiso.