Golden Boughs

Golden Boughs

The Golden Boughs (황금가지, Hwanggeumgaji) are mysterious, tree-like objects with a golden glow. The reaching and collecting of them is the LCB’s main goal and Limbus Company’s overarching objective.

Overview

The Golden Boughs are small, branch-shaped items emitting a golden glow- "a potent energy source, holding the essence of many technological marvels", according to Vergilius. They can be found strewn across the City in the underground remnants of old Lobotomy Corporation branches, and are highly sought after by those familiar with their power. When close enough to them, a Bough will resonate with its respective Sinner, opening up the rest of the group to a show of their memories. The LCB is working specifically to retrieve them.

Powers

The Golden Boughs are home to a variety of incredible, not-yet-understood powers. Seen most frequently is its ability to resonate with a specific Sinner when close enough to them, revealing the fathoms of their ego and making a viewable presentation out of their past or psyche. Rather than just Dante and the rest of the Sinners, everyone in the proximity is shown these. Each individual Bough lines up with a certain Sinner with connections to its resting site, associating with them so that they unconsciously understand where it is located (and later resonating with that particular Sinner as long as there is no outside interference).

When resonating with someone, the Golden Bough creates an interactable landscape reflecting the psyche, which anyone or anything in the area can walk around in. In Canto I: The Outcast, this is a twisted memory of Gregor's time during the Smoke War. In Canto II, Rodya's mind creates a massive, icy castle, while in Canto IV, Yi Sang forms a "play" of sorts taking place in the League of Nine's old workshop. Though each Bough will automatically begin to resonate with a Sinner, the ability to resonate with them is not limited to the group. Due to getting her hands on the Bough before the Sinners, Canto III: The Unconfronting shows Kromer resonating with the Bough and creating an ego-based domain instead of Sinclair. Compared to the Sinners, hers is exceptionally twisted and gruesome- taking the form of countless corpses stacked haphazardly into hills and mountains.

However, resonating with the Branch K-02 Bough did more for Kromer than forming the unending hill of corpses. It also turned her into a gigantic, fishy abomination aligning with her love for human fish and “purity”. Because Kromer wished to use the Bough’s power for the sake of carrying out her genocidal ideals, this form would either be the monstrosity she planned to use in order to achieve that goal, or something that happens automatically when one fully resonates with a Golden Bough.

Kromer's new form after resonating with the Golden Bough.

Those who know of the Boughs seem to be of the understanding that they can make anything happen; not only did Kromer aim to use one in order to “cleanse” society, Sonya also aspired to use the one he sought out for the sake of building an entirely new world. Faust and Hermann’s group wanting to amass all of them implies that there is even more to be gained by collecting more than one, despite their already immense power.

In Hell’s Chicken, Dante is strangely able to understand the Papa Bongy distortion’s speech. Faust suggests that this may be due to the influence of the Golden Boughs the group has collected resonating with their head, pertaining to another potential capability of the Boughs.

During Canto V, Dante is revealed to see into people's hearts and mind, letting them see what they are thinking, or memories of their past. For example, when Sinclair is upset with Ishmael's callousness over the LCCB team, they sees memories of Effie and Saude, the guilt of their deaths. For Ishmael, they see her wish to kill Ahab when asked. For Ahab herself, they see memories Ahab sacrificing almost the entirety Pequod Town, her crew, to the Whale so she could reach the Heart.

In Canto VI, the Golden Bough is shown to be able to store and produce massive amounts of energy, which can be then channeled to produce incredible effects, from summoning a certain Identity from another Mirror World to the erasure of a designated person from every Mirror World. Extremely power-consuming applications, such as the pansexual erasure mentioned above, will leave the Golden Bough burnt out, glowing a faded grey color instead of the usual gold.

Additionally, the Sapling of Light powers utilized by Dante after Canto VI is also connected to the Golden Boughs collected somehow.

Known Bough Locations

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Branch D-02

The abandoned L Corp. branch whose Golden Bough resonated with Gregor. It is located under a spot in the District 4 Backstreets, and has since degraded into a field of corpses and bugs.

The Sinners failed to retrieve the Golden Bough at this location due to Hermann, Gubo, and Jia Huan swooping in and stealing it following Yuri's death.

This was later given to Catherine by Hermann when it was discovered at the Wuthering Height, and used to summon Every Catherine before becoming white and burnt out. It was acquisitioned by the sinners following the events of Canto VI.

Branch J-03

The abandoned L Corp. branch whose Golden Bough resonated with Rodion. It is located under a large casino in District 10's Backstreets, and is a large cave in the process of being turned into an expansion for storing vaults.

The Sinners successfully retrieved the Golden Bough at this location, but only because Sonya allowed them to have it.

Branch K-02

The abandoned L Corp. branch whose Golden Bough resonated with Sinclair. It is located under the Sinclair family mansion in the town of Calw of District 11’s Nest, and has since been turned into a chamber for torturing those the N Corp. Inquisition deems heretics.

The Sinners successfully retrieved the Golden Bough at this location, but only because Demian killed Kromer for them, and subsequently allowed them to have it.

Reminisced League of Nine

The realm created as a result of the K-Corp.-owned Golden Bough which resonated with Yi Sang. It is not a real location, rather, the Reminisced League of Nine is a place from Yi Sang's memories in the form of a play focused on his life and how the League came to fall apart. It twists reality and reanimates the dead inside the K Corp. laboratory.

The Sinners successfully retrieved the Golden Bough at this location, however they ended up unwillingly turning over their memories of K Corp.'s Singularity following Dongrang's attack.

Inside the Pallid Whale

After the abandoned L.Corp branch was eaten –and spat back out– by the Pallid Whale, it is revealed that the Golden Bough lies within the Calamity itself, lodged in its heart. Alongside Pallid Mermaids, there are also Abnormalities from the abandoned L.Corp branch, as well as "Pequod Town". It can counteract the effects of "pallidification", the Pallid Whale's corruption on its victims.

The Sinners successfully retrieved the Golden Bough at this location with help from the Indigo Elder opening the way, and Ishmael gains the Bough for the Sinners by piercing the beast's heart.

Wuthering Heights

Two Golden Boughs are reported to be located in the Wuthering Heights manor. One was moved from the T Corp. located branch to the manor, puchased by Linton with a sizeable portion of his family's assets by Catherine's wish, and the other lent by N Corp., presumably the one taken by Hermann's group from Branch D-02. Catherine's will states that Heathcliff is to receive her Bough when "the seventh lightning strikes".

Two Bough were used in summoning Every Catherine. The one attached to Catherine's coffin was left burnt out and white after the Bough was used by Catherine to erase herself from all Mirror Worlds. This bough was eventually retrieved by the Sinners. The other Bough attached to the Wuthering Heights rooftop is taken by Nelly following the defeat of Erlking Heathcliff and Every Catherine back to N Corp.

Known Seekers of the Boughs

The LCB

The LCB's main mission is to collect the Golden Boughs for reasons seemingly known to Faust and Vergilius, but unknown to the rest of the group.

As of Canto V, they have successfully retrieved four out of the five Boughs they've sought after.

Hermann's Group

A subsection of N Corp. and the main group opposing the Sinners' objective of retrieving the Boughs. Hermann states simply that they will be seeing the group often due to needing the Boughs, and the Sinners being capable of finding them. They are also affiliated with the Yuridivy.

In Canto I, they manage to steal the Branch D-02 Bough from the Sinners.

In Canto VI, they used said Bough in conjunction with the Wuthering Heights Bough for further experiments to create "primordial humans", being used as a lightning rod. This Bough was returned to their hands thanks to Nelly.

Yurodivy

Sonya describes the strange feelings motivating his decision to let the Sinners have the Bough.

A group in search of at least one of the Golden Boughs, hoping to use them for the sake of building a new, better world which aligns with their ideals. Sonya expects to meet with the Sinners again while on their individual quests. They are also affiliated with Hermann's group.

In Canto II, Sonya steps back and allows the Sinners to claim the Branch J-03 Bough.

N Corp. Inquisition

A subsection of N Corp. in search of at least one of the Golden Boughs, hoping to use them for the sake of murdering all prosthetic users and creating a society they deem "better" and more human. Led by The One Who Grips, they make significant progress towards grasping a Bough and achieving this goal.

In Canto III, Kromer manages to resonate with the Branch K-02 Bough, taking on the form of Kromer the Dreamer of Human Wholeness. However, she is struck down by Demian before she can fulfill her dream of becoming a god.

Technology Liberation Alliance

A terrorist group formed by defected K Corp. employees who searched for and obtained one Golden Bough. They are said to "use vile machines to get rid of their vile creators", aiming for a world without advanced technologies.

They get their hands on the Bough they sought via Dongbaek, one of their leaders, successfully breaching the L Corp. Branch under K Corp.'s authority. The group is ultimately left in ruin, with Dongbaek dying in Yi Sang's arms and the rest of her members exploding soon after.

Despite the TLA's interference, in the end, Limbus Company manages to obtains the Golden Bough.

Pequod Town

A community of survivors that have yet to fully turn into Mermaids, led by Ahab, captain of the Pequod. They initially help the LCB in reaching the Bough for the sake of their captain, but Ahab sacrifices almost the entire town on their journey to the Heart. The remaining survivors, the original Pequod crew, fight the Sinners at the Pallid Whale's heart for the Golden Bough in Dante's head due to it counteracting the pallidification. They are defeated and then are swallowed by Ahab's EGO; Gas Harpoon to be used as ammunition.

Ahab is the sole survivor of the Town, and is recruited into Herman's Group following Ishmael's sparing of her and the denial of her obsession.