Questions regarding the translation of a certain piece of dialogue.
Just a little ago, I was rereading parts of limbus' story because I saw an interesting claim made about the contracts of the sinners. I ended up finding nothing about that, however, skimming through mentions of the "contract", I ended up stumbling into a piece of dialogue that I frankly find...extremely odd?
This part specifically.
For context as to why I find it so odd is that in this scene, Ishmael is talking with Vergilius after harpooning Dante's shoulder. She expresses clear doubt and hostility towards the Company's reliability and trustworthiness, and refuses to back down even when reminded of the s.e.a. consultation that clearly shook Heathcliff, yet she still hampers on this even when Vergilius tries to assure her, until this last line?
And she doesn't just half-heartedly back down is what's ticking me off here, she immediately deflates all her line of questioning, and she actually has a shocked expression in this "...!" and lets out an audibly shaky breath.
And I'm left wondering, what could've possibly triggered such a shock within Ishmael to make such an expression and deflate in such a dramatic shift of behaviour? It is so extremely odd to me.
The second thing that I find extremely odd is that I didn't remember the dialogue going like this upon my reading of canto 5 part 1 the day it released.
So I went to check, and :
This is the current version in-game
They changed this specific wording post-release, from "Trend" to "Flow"
And that indicates to me that this is probably significant, it's such a specific scene to change when both translation more or less convey the same idea of Vergilius saying he's trustworthy
But it wasn't the first time Vergilius was appealing to his trustworthy judgement even in this very conversation, though.
And the word "flow" is a rather loaded concept that existed ever since selva oscura
So again, why was Ishmael so shocked?
We've never heard of the sinners beyond Faust knowing about the flow, and if the flow is common knowledge amongst them, then why was she so shocked upon hearing this? Why did all her doubts and questioning dissipate instantly when she was very confrontational and distrustful of the company's and the contract's reliability quite literally 3 lines before?
Is it possible that this dialogue implies Ishmael can see/sense the flow, and Vergilius assured her he can see farther than she can?
Probably not as well as Vergilius (yet?), not being as knowledgeable as Faust, but have a subonscious sense for it?
Is that how she was able to survive the Pequod's crash? Why her insane survivability is a constant throughline emphasized in her story and IDs?
The big issue in this is that the english translation is overall reliable but doesn't necessarily get all the nuances 100% right because well, it's a translation
So, if anyone with knowledge of korean could highlight how this dialogue goes in the korean version, that would be very helpful, because until then, I really have no idea what this dialogue is supposed to convey, with how odd and out-of-nowhere Ishmael's sudden deflation seems.
Posted Jun 3, 2026, 11:49 AM UTC