Hong Lu

Hong Lu (Mandarin: 鴻璐; 鸿璐, Pinyin: Hóng lù; Hangul: 홍루, hong-ru), chosen name of Baoyu (Mandarin: 寶玉; 宝玉, Pinyin: Bǎoyù) of the Jia Family, is designated Sinner #6 of Limbus Company's LCB department. Hong Lu is a lighthearted and naive man with a tendency for unintentionally insensitive words. He is one of several children of the large and wealthy Jia family, having lived a life of sheltered affluence prior to joining Limbus Company. He is the focus character of Canto VIII: The Surrendered Witnessing.

Apperance

Hong Lu is of average height and build, with a pale complexion and raven black hair. His hair is very long, and tied into a high ponytail with a cyan hair tie, which he wears in most of his Identities. Notably, he has heterochromia: his right eye is black, and his left eye is a bright cyan. His typical outfit consists of an LCB uniform consisting of black pants, a white long-sleeved dress shirt with a red tie, under a black, low-cut vest tucked into a belt. Additionally, Hong Lu wears a long black coat that reaches just above his ankles. This coat has his Sinner number on his left, and a metal pin inscribed with his name on the right. Hong Lu carries a long guandao called "太虛幻境" (pinyin: tài xū huàn jìng; lit. 'Illusory Land of Great Void'), which he wields with his right hand. When seen during his childhood, Hong Lu had a similar hairstyle, and he typically donned a white hanfu with light blue and gold decorations, beneath a white beizi. When seen during his adulthood in Daguanyuan, Hong Lu sported a similar look, consisting of a cream-colored hanfu with teal decorations, and a matching beizi.

Personality

Hong Lu is an exceptionally curious person with a rather ditzy demeanor and friendly attitude. He exhibits a potent, almost childlike indiscriminate curiosity and wonder, to the point of baffling the people around him. While this implies having lived a sheltered lifestyle up until his employment with Limbus Company, a closer inspection into Hong Lu's life will reveal that he grew up in a difficult family full of danger, betrayal, and lofty expectations. Hong Lu speaks casually of attempted murder and abuse against him in a similar way to how he approaches the hardships of the City, almost as if it has nothing to do with him. He has a tendency to give off the impression that he doesn't have particularly strong feelings about anything, regardless of the severity of the topic. While sometimes jarring, this trait primarily serves to make Hong Lu come off as amusingly easygoing and absentminded. Canto VI: The Heartbreaking through Intervallo V: Nocturnal Sweeping build on this more empathetic, delicate side of his character. While his ditzy self remains, Hong Lu also demonstrates that he is a highly gentle, insightful, and understanding individual at heart. In tandem with his emotional maturity, however, grow Hong Lu's own signs of distress, and he reveals a passively suicidal mindset alongside a perceived lack of free will. 

Trivia

• Hong Lu's character icon represents a jade-colored eye surrounded by clouds.
• Hong Lu is based on the protagonist of Dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Baoyu ("贾宝玉"), a youth who is born with a magical piece of jade in his mouth, reincarnating as a human being to fulfill his previous life's wish to learn about humanity.
• Hong Lu's particulars are listed as "bachelor" and "sheltered".
• Hong Lu's name, 鸿璐[6] (pinyin: hóng lù), is derived from both the name of the main character of Dream of the Red Chamber and the title of his source material, "红楼梦" (pinyin: hóng lóu mèng). The meaning of the name ("precious jade") remains unchanged, but the pronunciation of his name becomes very similar to the pronunciation of "Red Chamber" (紅樓, pinyin: hóng lóu). Despite this, on his splash art his name is still written as "红楼" (hóng lóu).