Limbus Company's STRANGEST Character

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Warning, this video is made with the assumption you have read Albert Camus' The Stranger. This video is also made under the guise of the 1946 translation of The Stranger by Stuart Gilbert. I will link both the translation PDF and as well as my live read through of the translation.

[00:00:17]Very recently, I've had the pleasure of reading through Albert Camus' The Stranger. I've known about it for quite some time having experienced Limbus Company about a year and a half ago now and wanting to know about the ever mysterious character Mersault.

[00:00:30]And after reading The Stranger, even if it's pretentious to say, it might be one of my favorite books ever. But this video isn't about why The Stranger is good. This video and its purpose is to define what Mersault means in Limbus Company so far and how he translates over from The Stranger to here. Right before his canto comes out and maybe all this becomes deconfirmed.

[00:00:54]Regardless though, I think it would be fun to piece some things together after reading The Stranger and thoroughly enjoying it to try to frame it around the information we know of Mersault so far in Limbus Company. This video will be split into three sections. IDs with connections to the book, my Mersault ID theory, it's a bit out there respectfully, and the ties to Albert Camus' philosophy of absurdism through Mersault. Oh, also to avoid any confusion, if I'm talking about book Mersault, I'll say book Mersault. Cool?

[00:01:23]Cool. Let's get right into it.

[00:01:28]A thing to note before I start the section is how my friend Marina, when I produced the idea of this video, actually stepped in and helped me a lot to organize my thoughts and share her own regarding IDs that belong to Mersault and the connections they make to book Mersault. She has no social she wants to share, but I think it would be nice to note that she in fact did help a lot and this section of the video couldn't have been made without her.

[00:01:52]Thank you, Marina. Let's jump in with something really easy, Ring Faust's student Mersault. Now, in his base form, the connection to the book isn't actually as noticeable. However, whenever he transforms, he basically never does it whenever I use him, he dons a dog mask with different breeds of dogs stitched on together. Most notably, we are going to focus on the leftmost portion of the mask, the brown part. Due to its longer ears, it seems to be part of the spaniel dog breed. The spaniel breed and its descendants are very diverse, but one constant is always there, the long ass ears, which I think is enough evidence to believe that this in fact is a spaniel's ear on Mersault's mask. Why is it so important that it's a spaniel? That's due to the factor of Salamano's dog, one of the most important side characters in all The Stranger. It's Salamano, not the dog.

[00:02:40]Salamano's dog is verbatim described like this. Salamano's spaniel is an ugly brute afflicted with some skin disease, mange I suspect. Anyhow, it has lost all its hair and its body is covered with brown scabs. Now, it's not as direct, but the breed of dog is kept as spaniel alongside the color being brown representing its scabs. So, in all, it's safe to say this is a direct correlation with the book and an intentional design choice, even if it's just based off the enemies. The next ID I want to talk about, begrudgingly, is Dead Rabbits Mersault. Dead Rabbits Mersault, in my opinion, actually has one of the most interesting uptie stories in the game as it's written through the guise of Mersault, just like book Mersault. There is a number of sinners who say their own uptie stories, I will admit, but someone on the PM writing team was absolutely cooking with this one as everything Mersault describes is just in character for how he is in the book. Every adjective, every minor detail, just enough to give you a picture but not enough to waste time, just like Albert Camus' writing for Mersault is perfectly executed here. However, for this ID, I'm not focused on the entire uptie story in particular, I'm focused on one thing in particular, the rain. The rain is mentioned three different times throughout this in such a way where it seems to be a detriment to both Mersault and his crew. Now, I don't want to make too much of a stretch here, but it seems like rain is a fill-in for the sun as the sun would make no difference in T Corp as it's all beige anyways. So, the rain is the perfect fill-in for the sun and it's always utilized before major events in his uptie story. Before the job, after the job, and before meeting Heathcliff.

[00:04:22]The way rainfall is portrayed here is a bit lesser than how it is portrayed in The Stranger for the sun, where in The Stranger, book Mersault sees it as a minor inconvenience to a major inconvenience to a reason to kill a man.

[00:04:35]So, it seems like the rainfall is more in line with how it's treated in the funeral rather than the whole mentions of it throughout the book. We're going to move on from the sun for now, but keep it in mind for something very important later. Also, something to note, I'm not covering every ID. If you personally have connections you've made and wish to share them, please use the comments down below. By the way, let's get on to the biggest one I think so far. This one directly reiterated from Marina's notes. Once again, thank you, Marina. The Prince of La Mancha Land Mersault. This identity alone had pages of connections to the book due to the factor it's one of the first identity stories that features Maman. One of the easiest and most damning connections you can make to the book is the factor that despite being a fourth kindred, heavy expectations are placed upon Mersault to continue the La Mancha Land parade.

[00:05:23]Being the last survivor of La Mancha Land, he's expected to become king despite only being a fourth kindred.

[00:05:30]This has direct ties to the societal expectations placed upon Mersault in The Stranger alongside his mother's pet idea of anyone getting used to anything in the long run. Upon these new expectations being placed upon Mersault, the warp trains feel like a prison to him. The warp trains, which frequently experience thousands of years of dilated time, are also reflected in the way that Mersault viewed the prison. He lost track of time in the prison. Maybe it's a stretch to say, but the very concept of warp trains do reflect this. Oh, also, they're similar to the police vans that bring him out to court. And the last and certainly most damning connection, First Kindred Don Quixote is apparent in nowhere in Mersault's uptie story. This is directly reflected in the fact that book Mersault nowhere had a father figure in his life. In fact, his father died before he was born. This is important to note because the mirror world, World of Fallen La Mancha Land, is actually different from World of La Mancha Land, meaning that Don Quixote did not kill the First Kindred in this mirror world. In fact, this different mirror world had to be made as Cassetti already existed in La Mancha Land's mirror world. Uh, if you can't tell, he's right there at the bottom. So, all in all, First Kindred Don Quixote just doesn't exist here. The Prince of La Mancha Land Mersault's only sort of parental figure is Maman, just like book Mersault. Oh, also, Cassetti is executed similar to Mersault being set up to be executed at the end of the book. But that's all I have to say so far for IDs.

[00:06:59]I want to get on the big meat of this video.

[00:07:04]This is potentially the most shaky part of the video.

[00:07:07]My theory is all of Mersault's IDs are how the court of public opinion views him. Okay, okay, seriously, listen to me. I'm not pulling this out of my ass.

[00:07:16]I even have a few examples of this. What I mean by the court of public opinion is how people in the courtroom in part three of The Stranger view Mersault. The prosecutor tries to frame Mersault as sort of a right-hand man to Raymond, a notorious pimp and criminal. He frames Mersault as a cold-blooded murderer in pursuit of some sordid vendetta in the underworld of prostitutes and pimps.

[00:07:38]Vendettas, huh? Do I even need to say it or are you picking up what I'm putting down here? Mersault, despite being the most calm, cool, and collected sinner, received an ID all about vendetta from probably one of the most wrathful factions in the series. That's not who Mersault is. That's how someone views him in this possibility. That someone directly being the prosecutor. There's also a few other examples I can think of like Dieci Mersault and being a hard-working man, similar to a lot of claims made in his defense from witnesses or even a friend and someone to respect and look up to, similar to Blade Lineage Mersault. Those are just a few examples and there's a lot you could get into there, but I hope that put some ideas in your head for what I mean.

[00:08:20]However, that's not the only theory I have here. Marina recently put a little tidbit of an idea in my head when it came to Mersault's IDs. Every sort of pre-uptie artwork in his IDs are either looking away or blocking out some sort of natural light, which is true, except for N Corp Mersault. The one singular exception to this, albeit under a different branch, is from N Corp Mersault. Why is it so significant? As previously described, Carmen's distortions as more of a sunshine than a warmth. Albeit from content that's no longer in the game, why does Mersault have this sort of introspection when it comes to distortions? Why does he correct Heathcliff on how it feels to distort? Well, my leading theory is through his time at N Corp, Mersault looked towards that warmth. No, sunshine and distorted. The implications of sunshine, natural light, being cause of distortion in Mersault directly correlating with the sun being ever present throughout The Stranger in pivotal moments in the book, specifically for moments that damn Mersault and produce more evidence against him, true or not, go hand in hand with my main thought that I'm coming to the conclusion of.

[00:09:35]Mersault, in the past, has distorted when he worked for N Corp and that caused the death of his mother. Directly quoting from his character trailer, "Today I killed my mother or maybe it was yesterday."

[00:09:48]Now, we currently have no idea if he directly killed his mother or if he feels responsible for her death because of his distortion. I hope I have provided enough evidence regarding this claim. I think it's a bit out there as a theory, but I don't think matricide being brought up in the gaze bearing would be too unlike KJH to twist things around. In fact, in The Stranger, after Meursault's trial takes place, there is scheduled another trial for a a young man who killed his father. But I'm going to take off the tin foil hat and end this theory here. It's time to move on to the final section of this video.

[00:10:25]Absurdism. What is absurdism?

[00:10:28]Absurdism can be described as the philosophical belief that humanity possesses an innate drive to find meaning, while the universe remains irrational, silent, and devoid of purpose. This conflict creates the absurd, which cannot be resolved by either hope, religion, or despair, nihilism, but rather must be accepted through defiance, freedom, and creating one's own meaning. But Meursault, in my opinion, is seemingly nihilistic during the entire story. He doesn't fight to find a meaning in anything. He's just does what he's told and watches as things pass by. He acts as sort of a viewer throughout the entire book up until the end of part two where he kills an Arab man. In fact, Meursault himself directly goes against hope in the hope of God or religion, at one point even snapping and going on a multi-page rant about how little religion matters to him, which was very unlike the perception throughout the entire book of letting things pass by. This view of hope, this view of religion, he defied it. Completely absorbed in his despair of nihilism, he contradicted the priest's thoughts. Yet, after that outburst of anger, Meursault felt cleansed, feeling ready to start life all over again and gazing up the stars and realizing the indifference of the universe. He didn't find a point in God, nor did he find a point in nihilism or despair, and he wanted to start life all over again. He came to terms with the indifference of the universe and realized his death and fate were sealed. Meursault is to be executed, but he doesn't regret the way he lived, which I think is extremely impactful. In just five pages, Meursault's entire philosophy had transformed, his view completely shifting to absurdism, wanting to find meaning despite the indifference of the universe. The indifference of the universe being directly quoted, and I think that's quite beautiful. Now, the real question is, how do I think Limbus Company will handle Meursault's concept of absurdism?

[00:12:20]Well, that's quite simple. They already have a decent framework with the ending of The Stranger. Similar to how Yoshihito search for art in creating the hell screen was translated to Ryoshu's Sangria, I don't think absurdism will be as directly implemented as we might think, but it will show sort of a growth in Meursault from his canto. I don't know. Those are just my current thoughts right now, but you're free to disagree and come to your own conclusions. The Stranger was an amazing book to go through, and the ideology of absurdism is absolutely wonderful to see. So much so I've been thinking about implementing it into my daily life. Albert Camus was far from a perfect person, but his philosophy for absurdism is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

[00:12:59]Anyways, yeah, really like the book.

[00:13:01]Very cool. Excited for canto 10.