Carmen/Story
Lobotomy Corporation
| “ | "Now… fade away without a trace…" | ” |
–Carmen in Ayin's memories | ||
Carmen was a charismatic woman with a peculiar view of the world. Where Cityfolk preferred not to acknowledge the deeply broken nature of their hearts, Carmen faced it head on, with a staunch determination to cure what she called the "disease of the mind". This led her to forming a team of researchers together under The Seed of Light project, with the intention of utilizing Cogito in order to obtain Light.
She formed a close relationship with Ayin, who was the first to follow her. The rest of the group consisted of similarly inspired hard workers, including the Red Mist herself, and two children abandoned in the Outskirts, all of them who were compelled by her charismatic words. Their homebase was a laboratory on the edge of the Outskirts, just outside of the Head's eye. Everyone followed behind Carmen's hopeful strides as they immersed themselves in the research.
Yet progress slowed and results became unsatisfactory, and the heavy reliance on Carmen became a weight on her heart. With every additional failure to meet expectations, Carmen withdrew deeper into herself, until desperation led her to accepting one of the Outskirts children's requests to participate in the research project. The research experiment would kill the young boy. With this, something broke permanently inside Carmen. The words "you should've been the one to die" came to her from the mouth of a now-siblingless girl with no means of dealing with grief, and yet Carmen accepted them as fact. Carmen, burdened with guilt and research indicating she was the fittest candidate for the experiment, chose to "sacrifice" herself by committing suicide.
Carmen, who had slit her wrists, was discovered by Ayin before death could. Ayin would "preserve" her by extracting her brainstem and placing it in a reservoir, where she would work with the Well to produce Cogito. As Ayin did his best to carry out what he determined Carmen would have wanted, various tragedies struck the lab, one after another; the deaths of all but one of his former friends, the creation of Angela, the Smoke War, Ayin wiping out all of his memories to become "X," and so on.
Carmen's glowing memory underlies the entirety of X's journey to Day 50 and the Sephirah's paths to self-acceptance. All throughout, "it" acts consciously behind the scenes, working as the Bucket to produce the Abnormalities running the corporation's energy production.
Ayin manages to face himself at the play's finale in the true ending of Lobotomy Corporation. With his achievement, both he and Carmen can be one with the Light, which is scattered throughout the City for an incomplete total of three days and nights.
Library of Ruina
| “ | I whispered into people the essence of life. So that they will cherish their own emotions and focus on them only. | ” |
–Carmen on the enactment of Distortions | ||
Existing within the Light would turn Carmen into more of a concept than a person, and a very potent one. It is unclear how she views the City, or where her powers begin and end; however she acts as the booming Voice of the Distortion, privy to seemingly all information on her targets, and with an uncanny ability to lead people down the paths she wishes.
Carmen is mentioned in vague, nameless ways all throughout Library of Ruina. Whenever someone Distorts or manifests EGO, she is there. Her voice plants itself inside the heads of those sinking to their worst depths. It is repeatedly described in positive terms, such as "charming" or "warm". She runs circles around her targets with words, asking just the right questions to lead them into the strongest emotions possible, and encouraging the most self-serving of actions. Characters such as Yan give into extreme distress and forfeit themselves to their worst despairs. People like Philip end up with their thought process entirely spun around, falling into her grasp even after doing their best to deny the voice.
Xiao acts as the big example of a target's potential to deny Carmen in full, who attempts to manipulate her by emphasizing her solitude and inability to press on when lost and alone. This rejection allows Xiao to obtain her own EGO. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Pianist incident is the most notable illustration of the tragedy a Distortion can lead to. In this case, Carmen's Distortion Phenomenon led to the annihilation of an entire 300,000 people in the Backstreets of I Corp.
Outside of Distortions, it's implied that Carmen is in part responsible for many major events throughout the game, such as Argalia's decision to turn on Iori and break into the Library. Several characters allude to having heard her voice giving them advice. Hokma even confirms that all of the invitations themselves were chosen and crafted by Carmen in order to lead the Library down her path of choice.
The climax of Angela's character arc sees her defending her decision to give up the Light through a conversation with Carmen, who dons Angela's Lobotomy Corporation appearance and persona throughout the battle. During, Carmen admits to her desire to live and humanity which led her to mistake what the outcome of her sacrifice would look like. Their confrontation concludes with Carmen wholeheartedly hoping Angela will be able to stay on her own path, while refusing to budge on her aims to Distort people. She states she won't stop until "the Cityfolk learn to look at their true selves and love themselves for who they are, at least".
Limbus Company
| “ | Then it can be as you wish. | ” |
–Carmen distorting Heathcliff | ||
Intervallo I: Hell's Chicken
Hell's Chicken sees the Sinners accepting a request to resolve a case of Distortion, that of Eunbong's Bar and Fryer's Owner, who had transformed into Papa Bongy. Though this would be a result of Carmen's doing, she goes unmentioned.
Canto IV: The Unchanging
Dongbaek marks the first explicit example of a major character speaking to Carmen in Limbus Company. After losing to the Sinners while fighting using her Lobotomy Corporation issued EGO, Dongrang spends several minutes taunting and provoking her. At first, she has a conversation with "herself" addressing her attempt to better the world which only furthered K Corp.'s interests, and nearly Distorts. However Dongbaek ultimately finds her feet and determines she must sow the seeds she wishes to see, rejecting Carmen and manifesting her own EGO.
At the end of Canto IV's dungeon, Dongrang reflects on the empty achievements that he can only attribute to his former position as a League member. Complex shame and regret build up as he speaks to a mysterious figure, until he Distorts, transforming into Dongrang, Who Denies All.
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Post-battle, instead of succumbing to despair, he decides to embrace his callous indifference as a means of moving forward. He calls out to "Miss Carmen" to deny that his path has ended. With this, he falls out of his Distorted state and manifests his own EGO, escaping Carmen's lure.
Canto V: The Evil Defining
While conversing fiercely with Ishmael in front of the Pallid Whale's heart, Ahab embraces staunch faith in her position as the Pequod's captain and "savior". This allows her to manifest her own EGO. Though Ahab would have had to hear Carmen's voice in order to reject her and take on the EGO, it is not obvious that they had a discussion.
Intervallo III: Yield My Flesh to Claim Their Bones
Yield My Flesh to Claim Their Bones sees the Sinners accepting a request to eliminate and/or secure a case of Distortion, that of Bamboo-Hatted Kim. Though this would be a result of Carmen's doing, she goes unmentioned. She is however depicted to converse with Aeng-du, encouraging her to blame Bamboo-Hatted Kim for various tragedies, before the girl is knocked out by Meursault.
Canto VI: The Heartbreaking
Canto VI features two major Distortions: that of Hindley and Heathcliff.
Around the halfway point of the Canto, the Dead Rabbits Boss riles up Hindley into challenging the Sinners to a fight, which he loses. This leads Hindley to angrily reflecting on how he ended up at this point in his life, at which point Carmen steps in to speak to him. She reinforces his belief that all of his problems stem from Heathcliff. Hindley reaches the conclusion that Wuthering Heights has done nothing for him, and he must destroy the rotting remains of the manor, to which he Distorts.
Shortly after Hindley is defeated, Heathcliff? introduces himself properly. He tells the tale of how he has murdered countless Heathcliffs in countless worlds for killing countless Catherines. Heathcliff the Sinner revisits the memory of Cathy claiming she "did not love [him]", and laments the emotional betrayal from the sole reason he had endured all his suffering at Wuthering Heights. He degrades himself and mulls over his previous goal of changing Catherine's mind. To this, Carmen jumps in, and asks questions such as "what do you feel?" and "what do you think of yourself?" to carefully guide him into overflowing wrath and self-hatred. When he agrees with her assessment of his heart and desire, she springs him into Distorting. This is the first depiction of a Distortion in Limbus Company where Carmen's words are also shown to the player.