With the teasers for the new (presumably) Fauvist Ring IDs, I saw some people compare Mersault to Pablo from Leviathan saying they looked similar. While I don't think this is the case, not just due to looks but also because we directly see Pablo criticize Fauvist style in the novel as well as the fact she was working Jumsoon, the Pointillist Maestro and is herself a direct reference to Pablo Picasso's Cubist era so I don't think she's in any way related to Fauvism, but that idea of comparing the new IDs to ring stuff we've seen in Leviathan reminded me of a key detail from the ending of the novel that might have strong implications to Mersault or whatever character his ID is meant to represent.

Near the end of the novel, after a long fight between a Distorted Jumsoon and Vergillius who had just Effloresced EGO for the first time, Jumsoon begins to mentally collapse beyond even distortion and eventually transforms into an Abnormality, this being the origin of "Schadenfreude". For those unfamiliar with it, this abnos quirk is that it does not like to be looked at. It physically manifests as a large black metal box with a keyhole through which a single grayscale human eye can be observed. It is mostly immobile and harmless but if it feels a human's gaze linger on it for too long it will become agitated and aggressive, growing various pairs of legs and arms with saws to attack. At the time of Leviathan, the nature of the abnormality felt like a natural reflection of Jumsoon as a character obsessed with attention and having her work seen and recognized (like most Ring members). But now, I'm thinking if that idea of something that is averse to being gazed upon is in any way related to Mersault's own relationship with gazes and being observed/judged.

I don't have any actual idea on what that might be and honestly it's a tenuous relationship at best, but I still thought it was worth sharing to see if anyone else can come up with any good theories on that.

Ring Mersault ID might recontextualize a key moment in Leviathan [Theory]