Ishmael

Ishmael (Hangul: 이스마엘, i-seu-ma-el) is designated Sinner #8 of Limbus Company's LCB department. Ishmael is a straight-laced and dependable woman with a tendency for blunt words. She was previously affiliated with the Pequod and its crew, and subsequently spent a number of years working as a Fixer prior to joining Limbus Company. She is the focus character of Canto V: The Evil Defining.

Appearance

Ishmael is a woman of average build with a fair complexion and wavy, voluminous knee-length orange hair, and she wears a thick headband woven out of rope with white ribbons on either end, a memento of Queequeg and a recurring feature in nearly all of her Identities. She has hazel-colored eyes, at times appearing yellowish or orange, with sharp eyelashes and thin eyebrows, and a number of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Outis describes her hands as "course and rough". Ishmael wears the standard Limbus Company uniform, although her coat that is torn at the waist, cutting off the last two letters of her name. Her employee ID is pinned to the coat's right breast. Her weapon of choice is a flanged black mace made of numerous, vertical white stripes arranged radially, and she carries a circular shield with three bands across the face, branded with the word "HEARSE". During her time as a sailor, Ishmael had chin-length hair and her uniform consisted of a gray sweater, thick overalls and black gloves. She also wielded a large harpoon.

Personality

Ishmael is first introduced as a calm, level-headed Sinner with an expectation for sound and reasonable judgement. She considers herself to be one of the more sensible members of the team, and is often one to sigh or scoff at the foolishness of those around her. This tendency for being critical extends to her superiors, as Ishmael is the type to prioritize rationality above formalities. Generally, Ishmael does well to back up her somewhat haughty attitude with competence, making a consistent effort to stay informed on the current mission and the right course of action. She is also portrayed as an overall intelligent individual with a staunch, reliable nature. Regardless of her aptitude, however, Ishmael's quips tend to lean into antagonism, sparking arguments with those who rise to her provocations.

Trivia

• Ishmael's character icon represents a compass surrounded by a hank of rope tied at the ends with two white ribbons, referencing Ishmael's goal of finding a new life for herself, and Queequeg's memento Ishmael always keeps on her person, in the form of her headband
• Ishmael's particulars are listed as "suffers from an obsessive-compulsive neurosis".
• Ishmael is named after the eponymous character from Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. Ishmael was a member of Captain Ahab's crew on his whaling ship Pequod and serves as the story's first-person perspective narrator.