Headscratchers / Library of Ruina

• Just how did Roland ever manage to randomly stumble into the Library without an invite?
  • Because it wasn't random. He was sent there by the Purple Tear as part of a currently unknown plan of hers. As for how he got in without an invite, the Purple Tear has been shown to have some sort of dimensional teleportation power. As the Library was still being set up (and thus as weak as you can get) at that time, it would be easy for the Purple Tear to get a single person through the defenses of the Library.
    • As it turns out, It was actually Roland's plan, figuring out who was responsible for the distortions like the Pianist who killed his wife, as he was actually suppressing his emotions up until Angela got a human body, at which point he let it all out and attempted to make Angela suffer by taking her life right as she got what she wanted. To this end he did actually seek out the help of the Purple Tear. However, it seems Iori anticipated everything- including Roland and Angela coming to terms with their pasts and forgiving each other, and Angela choosing to restore everybody who was booked. To quote an exchange between Roland and Angela at the end:
      Roland: "When you get in there, it'll be nice in several ways to do what you want without anything holding you back, kid." Seeing you slowly vanish in the light, her words hit me.
      Angela: It sounds as if she anticipated everything. Was it by the Purple Tear's assistance that you could intrude into the Library?
      Roland: Yup. You read in her book that she can jump between dimensions or whatever, yeah? I was honestly doubtful about her whole deal, but I eventually decided to get some help from her.
• It seems like that no matter how well equipped or organized any of the Syndicates, Offices, Finger Agents, Wing Agents...are, they don't even bother sending recon agents to the L Corp outskirts to observe how the Library looks like or take a look around its interiors to see any anomalies had happened. Sure, it's justifiable if somebody was using the Library to get others killed or the office/syndicate simply doesn't have enough personnel or funds, but in other cases, it's just quite difficult to justify not even bothering to do recon or other investigations. Sure enough, that happens to be the only way that Angela and Roland can get away with all the blackhole murders and the library remains as an enigma of the city, considering most of the guests are killed and turned into books inside it.
  • This is because they have already done so, its just that the area around L Corp is covered in an Ominous Fog where you can lose your way very easily if not vanish outright, and glimpses of the Library itself show it to be insubstantial, like a mirage. As the Library continues to grow, the fog begins to dissipate and the Library appears to solidify, becoming more 'real'. The various entities have collectively decided to wait for the fog to vanish and the Library to fully appear before fully committing.
• Just how to no in-game combatant knows the word "retreat" when there's no particular penalty for running to re-prepare and come back from a certain task when they were clearly overwhelmed before the Library turns into an Urban Nightmare, where obligations were actually placed upon various high rank organizations? Lulu, San and Philip can clearly retreat from combat with no issues from their fellow associations. So, why the entities who were being actually invited in their own volition (aka not blackmailed by the Blue Reverberation) before Urban Plague don't try to back off before they come back a lot more well prepared and take the books?
  • Most of the people fought in the Library stay until their last breath because they have a reason to win at all cost (some are threatened into going and returning empty handed will obviously mean death, others need a specific book for X reason). Lulu and San were just curious and they retreated when they saw Mars turning into a book (most likely scenario is that he's defeated first), while Philip is a coward who tends to run away the moment he knows he has no chance. Not to mention, running away isn't that simple: it's highly unlikely that the Librarians just "let them leave" when they feel like it, and it's also probable that there's not a door with the sign "Exit" on sight. Also, even after becoming a Star of the City level threat, most characters still treat the Library as if it's harmless or not worth investing too many resources into, because they have other priorities.
    • It's implied that the Will of the Library a.k.a. Carmen lets characters like Lulu, San, and Phillip escape because they'll drag other people into the Library when they inevitably return. Lulu brings her friends to retrieve Mars, causing San to return with Zwei agents, ultimately resulting in the head of the sector for the Zwei entering the Library himself. Instead of just booking San and Lulu and getting two books, the Library letting them escape causes a chain of more and more important people entering the Library. By contrast, the Full Stop Office were forced to enter the Library, and if Carmen let them go, they'd likely never return and would contribute nothing to the influx of victims.
• When Angela recreates the fake Red Mist, why doesn't she notice immediately that Angela looks a hell lot like Carmen? The facial features, that is.
  • They might be similar, but they don't look exactly the same (for example, Carmen has red eyes while Angela has yellow eyes). It's not that strange to have someone look a lot like you despite not being related at all.
• The Servant of Wrath's backstory bears some chilling resemblances with the A Corp Raid instigated by Michelle and Garion that caused Daniel and Kali's death, causing the latter two to be laden with regret (Chesed/Daniel) and senseless wrath (Gebura/Kali). Is this an intentional reference like Bloodbath or the Snow Queen, or coincidental like the Black Swan using the same dead name as Malkuth?
• Where did A (or X) go after the Seed of Light Ending?
  • Probably dissolved into the Ain Soph Ohr (Infinite Light), but trapped within the Library?
• Who's the player character controlling the Librarians to kill their guests in combat, actually? Carmen's brain stem? Ayin's will?
  • First proposal is that the Librarians have some psychic links with their Head Librarians of each floor, allowing them to battle as one unit. It’s not that implausible considering the fact everything is light.
  • It's also possible that the Librarians have free will/agency to make decisions.
• The "Will of the City" that the Index worships and bases their Prescripts on suddenly serves the Library by throwing its key members to their deaths. Just exactly what happened?
  • Probably the incomplete Seed of Light and the will of the Library (Ayin and Carmen?) was already "contaminating" it so it was stuck between serving the Index or the City and serving the Library's own goals? Remember that when Carmen hypothesized the Seed of Light project she was doing, she compares it to a well that is sealed and must be opened. In this case, it would be like the "water of the well" leaked into the City's will or poisoning it.
  • It could just be the same thing as the Purple Tear - the City doesn't want the Reverberation Ensemble to succeed, because doing so would be damaging to the city as a whole. So it intentionally sends several powerful individuals into the library, where it knows they will lose and contribute to the Library's strength, and sets things up so other factions send them as well to avoid being comparatively weakened on its other fronts. The Prescript-based pages are some of the strongest ones you have and without them the Reverberation Ensemble would be much more difficult to beat.
• Just how is it possible for Carmen to wander around the Backstreets alone without any sort of company while getting away without a scrape until the Red Mist volunteered to join her? In a similar vein, just how was she capable of recruiting the biggest of skeptics like the Red Mist and rich elites like Daniel or Ayin just by speechcraft considering how salvation cults are everywhere in the City? And how are people completely unable to shrug off her words after hearing her talk once like something possessed or compelled them? Long story short, what in the hell is that woman?
  • The Backstreets are harsh and dangerous, but not so dangerous that it is impossible to survive there (if that were the case no normal people would be left there at all.) And she already had at least some followers by the time the Red Mist joined her, so most likely there were enough people who admired her vision to protect her from getting randomly ganked, coupled with very little benefit to killing her to attract stronger or more dedicated dangers. And she was just extremely charismatic - cult leaders exist in the real world, especially in dangerous locations.
• So, what did happen to Argalia's pen? Did the Full-Stop Office Fixers give it back just before teleporting to the Library, or did they take it with them when they went?

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