LoP/ Camille, analysis

 originally posted on tumblr, Feb 12th 2024

thinking about the tragedy of Camille tonight........

we first hear of her in the Rosa Estella Opera House garden, a somber statue dedicated to her by Geppetto. next, we hear of her through the Saintess of Mercy statue key.

 

she was likely a close colleague to Geppetto in the Workshop Union, maybe even an equal. and the way Geppetto dedicates a statue to her in the beating heart of Krat makes me think Camille had a love for artistry, and maybe they were more than just colleagues.

then the next time we hear of Camille, it's on a whole different context. this time, she's a puppet. a maid puppet, back when they were in early designs

"Her appearance and identity" is an odd phrasing, for an engineer to a maid, so I'm assuming they mean her given name. now, this is early in the creation of puppets, and some lore leads me to believe using Ergo to power them came later in their design. Camille was probably one of the first Ergo-powered puppets.

i got very little to go off on, but from what we've seen in game with Polendina, Pulcinella and P, is that puppets usually gain an ego in response to an emotional external event. their heart literally reaches out and awakens from dormancy. for Camille, i think the baby she saved was Carlo himself, her own son, who's the one she calls for once the alchemists steal her away.

it would make sense for Geppetto to have a history of turning people into puppets prior to Carlo, and for him to have some weird ass priorities. or maybe he thought work on a maid puppet meant she could spend time around Carlo without rising suspicion?

regardless, i also think Geppetto's idea of bringing a puppet to life came from Camille herself. when we investigate the Hotel Krat library, Gemini talks about the story of the mischievous puppet, and that Krat knows of it thanks to one person who loved it more than anyone else.

the fandom pictures that person is Carlo but I doubt it. he's just some guy who spent a lot of time in the Malum District and was as good as any other orphan turned stalker in Krat, he had no influence to stir an entire city about a single story he liked.

but Camille could.

she was an influential figure, enough to be commissioned by alchemists and other workshop workers, close to a master inventor that helped to revolutionize the entire city. and if you go to the Saintess of Mercy statue, it reads:

i don't know about you but "who dreams of a new life" screams of the Pinocchio tale, a wooden puppet seeking to become real. i dare even say that Geppetto started working on puppets solely to bring Camille back, or at least honor her in some way.