Malkuth
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For information on Malkuth in Lobotomy Corporation, see Malkuth on the Lobotomy Corporation Wiki.
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| “ | [Malkuth] wanted others to know, about how diverse and brilliant colors are... About how colors are ever-changing and free-form, like how the mix of two colors can bring a brand new color! That's what she thought, at least. | ” |
–Malkuth | ||
Malkuth (말쿠트, Malkuteu) is the Patron Librarian of the Library's 
Floor of History, and the former Sephirah of the Control Team of Lobotomy Corporation's headquarters. She is met upon unlocking her Floor, after finishing all three episodes of 
Yun’s Office.
Appearance
Malkuth has brown hair with a lighter brown ombre, long enough to reach around her lower back. She wears the patron librarian uniform: an ochre coat reflecting her floor's color with a white dress shirt and a bow tie adorned with a glossy brooch, along with a black vest, brown low-rise ankle boots and her signature red hairband. She carries a large brown book, with many bookmarks between it's pages. In combat, she wields a black baton like all the other Librarians.
Personality
Malkuth appears as an eternally cheerful librarian. While a bit clumsy, her mood seems impossible to bring down despite various circumstances. Under this peppy appearance, there is also a very determined and hardworking girl who strives to be useful in every way, making her prone to sharp mood swings.
Having already experienced two previous lives, Malkuth admits that she was not a good worker at all before. That impatience, irresponsibility, and selfishness are far behind her, and she decides not to waste any more time forever turning back, now trying to realize herself in the Library. She doesn't seem to be very happy with the return of her "fleshy body", because she expected to see it as something other than a "gift" for working for Angela, the one who betrayed the world and humanity, for the sake of their own desires.[1]
Story
Before the Library
Before Lobotomy Corporation, Malkuth was an employee named Elijah who joined Ayin's team during the start of the Seed of Light project. Though she was passionate of her work, she was also disorganized and scatterbrained, eventually being relegated to simply recording Cogito experiments. After begging him for other tasks like participating on the experiments or Cogito extraction with no avail, and with an obsession to prove herself as helpful, she tried to test the Cogito herself. However, it was still on development and unsafe for use, which caused her body to break apart, giving her a painful death.
Some time later, her remains were used for the construction of the Sephirah Malkuth, and given the role of head of the Control Team. Though her personality remained cheerful and passionate, her death had given her a subconscious desire to prove herself and her department as helpful, which would bring her to overwork her team well beyond its limits. This was eventually resolved as she faced the memories of her past life along with the cause of her desire.
After the completion of the Seed of Light and Angela's uprising during the White Nights and Dark Days, Malkuth was one of the Sephirah that held back against her attempts at taking the Light, and after their eventual defeat and negotiation, she held her resolve to keep fighting, but eventually she was put into a sleeping state by Angela along with the other Sephirah until her Floor becomes available.
Cutscene 1 (Floor Unlocked)
When Roland enters Floor of History , he notices Angela and Malkuth in a conflict, with the latter declaring she won't forgive her, and the former responding she simply needs to cooperate without complaint, and tells her to try to "appreciate that fleshy body she earned back" before leaving, much to Malkuth's exasperation. After the conflict, Malkuth introduces herself to Roland who notices that she, at the very least, looks energetic. Roland asks Malkuth about what has happened, and she explains, telling him that she had unfinished business with Angela and that she currently has no other option but to surrender to Angela's orders. Roland understands, as he and Malkuth share the same problem.
Roland asks the question of how he could help, with Malkuth responding that Roland could bring her books that have connection to history. Getting these books would supplement the floor and The Library itself, eventually waking the other patron librarians.
Roland sees that Malkuth is surprisingly cheerful for someone who was angry a second earlier and is worried about facing that anger himself. Malkuth calms him down by explaining that she can't let her personal affairs get in the way of her work. She still has problems with Angela, but she understands that anger will not lead to anything good, and nevertheless, she has her own reasons to work in the best possible way.
Cutscene 2 (Suppression of Scorched Girl)
Roland comes to visit Malkuth and asks her about how she's doing with the books. Malkuth responds that she is sorting books and with great success. Roland then changes the topic and says that he heard how Angela was talking about Malkuth receiving a "fleshy body" of which he asks if Malkuth was a human before or not. She responds that it was something like a change of corpuses to a malfunctioning corpus. Roland assumes Malkuth had a brain taken from one body to another and then back again, surprised at the Library's power. He asks if Malkuth is happy about having her body back, seeing she didn't seem too happy back in her argument with Angela, with Malkuth answering that while she does like her body, she didn't expect things to go this way. Curious about her answer, Roland asks what she did in the past. Malkuth replies that she wondered the same thing, along with this being her "third try at life" to Roland's surpise. When he asks if she meant that she came back from death, Malkuth adds that she meant the accumulated memories of her two previous bodies that carried over to this point.
Roland then asks her what she thinks of her current life. With that question, Malkuth's expression turns grim, saying she sees herself as irresponsible and idiotic, having let down everyone's efforts, while trying to reach for something out of her means and ended up causing trouble. As soon as he notices her mood becoming bleak, Roland attempts to calm her down by guiding her through a breathing exercise and taking deep breaths with her. Malkuth thanks Roland for his help, and mentions that she should know better than to get upset over things she can't do anything about, and cheers herself up to solve their current problems.
Cutscene 3 (Suppression of Happy Teddy Bear)
Roland arrives at the Floor of History, carrying a large amount of books, with Malkuth asking if she mentioned that this was her third life. He answers that she did, noting that she's been thinking about her past lives before inquiring about Angela mentioning the Library and if it's somehow connected to L Corp. Malkuth adds that it goes further than simply being "connected somehow", informing him of her past life as the AI in charge of the Control Team back then. Addressing his own surprise, Roland asks if she meant she used to be an android like Angela before Malkuth corrects him, describing her life as "a human whose brain was restored for a second chance". Roland sighs in relief, believing that the Library violating the AI Ethics Amendment would bring the place to the attention of The Head, mentioning their reclusive nature and their precise and quick methods of dealing with impurities from what he's heard. When Malkuth points out Roland's casual way of speaking, he apologizes for slipping up, explaining he wasn't trying to ignore her, simply being part of his "survival strategy", but goes back to the subject of Malkuth's past life as the leader of L Corp's Control Team. Malkuth nods and talks about her current role as the patron librarian of history, saying she started her role by tracing back her own. She asks Roland if he'd like to listen to it as to which he groans about how he dislikes long and convoluted stories, killing the mood much to her annoyance. Roland asks what was the point of asking if she was going to talk about it anyways, with Malkuth agreeing, going back to her cheerful demeanor.
Recalling her role at Lobotomy Corp, Malkuth says she was given the role of head of the Control Team as soon as she woke up, bearing all her flaws and not realizing who she was, but her heart still aching from unresolved regret and pain from her past. Carrying that burden, she kept committing inhumane acts for L Corp, remembering it felt almost like a calling, a vague feeling that something went wrong because she didn't try hard enough, selfishly forcing others into tough standards which pushed them into peril. Roland sympathizes with her, mentioning it must've been tough to being told to work like that without knowing what was she getting into, before asking if her memories came back naturally after working at L Corp. She describes it as being reminded of her own memories, with her emotions erupting along with the memory of her first life. She could finally understand why she was obsessed with diligence, by recalling her yearning for recognition as somebody useful in her first life, seeing herself as someone that could never stand on her own. With all those emotions being released, she felt that inner struggle dissolving, and finally being redeemed. Surprised at that series of events, Roland tries to excuse them as that simply being the City, and asks who revived her and why would they. Malkuth says that maybe they did so to resolve her sorrow and find redemption, but Angela suddenly cuts in, telling her to stop deluding herself and that her salvation was never in his interests. Simply, they were a means to his own redemption, adding that she "couldn't bear to hear that nonsense".
The scene then cuts to the immediate start of the fall of L Corp, with Angela betraying the Plan and declaring she'd take the Light to begin her own life outside the facility and ordering the Sephirah to "fall asleep". They respond that nobody will let her take away their hard work, with Angela retorting that their roles could hardly be called hard work, looking down on their blind loyalty to Ayin. Binah then stands on Angela's side, claiming this is but another consequence of his actions, much to Gebura's chagrin. Hokma calls Angela a machine consumed by desires, telling her she can't go down that path, with Angela simply replying that only she decides what she can do now.
The scene goes back to the Floor of History, with Angela chastising Malkuth for her attachment to L. Corp, asking her if she was even interested on living her own life. This makes Malkuth reply that her life's purpose was to save humanity, it was the reason why she was willing to sacrifice herself for a greater good at the end of his Plan. Exasperated, Angela calls her an idiot and leaves. Roland sighs again, tired at Angela's bouts of anger, which are incomprehensible from his viewpoint. Malkuth then adds that she gave away her first two lives trying to save others, and she'd gladly do so a third time, before asking Roland if she was an idiot in his eyes. Roland notes that he doesn't know many of the details, not understanding their goal of "saving humanity", but he's none to judge her intentions if they're truly sincere. Tongue-tied and grim faced once again, Malkuth asks for Roland to leave, claiming she needs time to think. Before leaving, Roland reminds her of the breathing exercises and says she doesn't need to be as courteous when talking to him.
Cutscene 4 (Suppression of Fairy Festival)
Malkuth appears cheering for her assistant librarians who're in a training session when Roland arrives, noting her sunny demeanor along with how friendly she seems to them. Malkuth adds that they were their former employees in L Corp, saying it's nice to work alongside them versus assisting them in the backseat. She also mentions that she wants to make amends on her past life's faulty mindset and for pushing them too hard. She then states L Corp's motto, "Face the past, build the future", mentioning it's a good way to summarize the essence of history. Roland adds that there's not too many people that can learn from history nowadays, with lessons seeming obvious but putting them in action being the hard part. Malkuth mentions that she's been thinking about the past and about her first life as Elijah; she was born in a Nest as an ordinary person, with no special traits or talents. She also points how the people that lived on the same Nest seemed to have lost their meanings in life, spacing out, blank stares on their faces, and only seeing things in black and white. Roland interjects that Nests are full of bright and colorful lights to the point of being an eyesore, Malkuth says those colors weren't necessary for reading, with black and white things being so overwhelming that there wasn't any need to see other colors. Roland, understanding the analogy, asks if she could see those colors, to which she responds that Elijah simply tried hard to see them, and let everyone know the diverse and ever-changing nature of the colors. Roland points out that she sounds as if she was talking of someone else. Malkuth answers that she doesn't believe that Elijah and herself are the same and that maybe too much time has passed since then. Furthermore she states that her current life feels more like an extension of hers at Lobotomy Corp. Even though it was her first life, her time as Elijah feels distant and unfamiliar, but nostalgic in a way.
She adds it's nice to have the time to reflect on herself; looking back at her past lives, she had previously been too focused on moving forwards to look back, and it's likely the same goes for Angela. Roland responds that nobody these days has any time to look backwards, and even now, he's running straight ahead, but looking back at the past can supposedly give solutions to problems of the present or worries of the future. Malkuth agrees with Roland mentioning that she believes she's coming close to Angela's question of who she was and how she wanted to live, saying that if she were to dream about what she'd do after this, she'd probably want to become an architect. Roland backhandedly says that "great empires weren't built in a day", which Malkuth misses and mentions another saying, "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us", interpreting it as that it might be too late to change the people who've lived so far, but maybe the structures of the City will have an impact on future residents as they grow up and she wants to make "a building with colors that'd be remembered by everyone". Roland compliments her by saying the job would fit her well after all, and Malkuth mentions that perhaps he should reflect on his own past as well, which makes him briefly mention that "his eyes are always fixed in the past" before complimenting her again.
Cutscene 5 (Floor Realization Prologue)
Angela arrives along with Roland to the Floor of History to check on the progress of the floor, claiming that "the time has come" for this Floor. Malkuth claims that she won't be afraid of facing Angela anymore, to which she responds with disinterest and asks for a progress report on her compilation of history. Malkuth says she didn't know much about the City, being unable to arrange a comprehensive timeline of its history. Angela mocks her by claiming the task maybe was too much for an "inept, talentless, over-enthusiast", but Malkuth adds that history is formed by countless events, both big and small, but there are too many gaps between major events that nobody can remember, with Roland pointing out it may also be because people don't want to remember them. Angela declaims that embracing the past has no help on the present, to which Malkuth responds that one won't make a same mistake twice if they learn from the past. Still, Angela believes that even if it has that benefit, it's not worth being reminded of painful memories. Roland claims the City is leaving less time for people to look back onto the past, and eventually nobody will bother to remember events occurred before they born or directly related to them; nobody can have a book containing information nobody knows. Malkuth objects, she believes everyone actually remembers, but have no courage to face the past, and declares she will work at all costs to fill all the gaps, including the painful history of Lobotomy Corporation, the Library, and everything that happened before; countless loops of deaths and abandonment, with the Library being built on top of them. When Angela points out that will include Malkuth as well, she agrees that she can't escape her past, and she will remember all of the pain and sorrow during her life with Carmen and her life with Angela, accusing her of being the one who is always escaping the past. Angela claims there is no point since all their pasts are pretty much the same, essentially amounting to "a human kills another and causes something, resulting in change", with the only particular thing about the Library being that a nonhuman is the one killing a human this time around. Malkuth says that even although the same tragedy is played again and again in history, one cannot guarantee that the future will be the same, letting bloodshed and sacrifice be in vain in a repeating history, and Angela's own surely began from a similar path. Angela mocks Malkuth for talking like a know-it-all, as if she had any standing to talk about her creation or will to stand up in an repeating tragedy, with Malkuth pointing out that Angela is refusing to confront her own beginning.
The screen cuts into Angela's memories when she was first created as a replacement of Carmen, with the first words she hears being from Ayin claiming she's nothing like her. Benjamin tries to console him, saying that all his efforts surely didn't amount to "a simple vending machine that dispenses soda at the push of a button", to which he replies that maybe that's what resulted. Benjamin asks Ayin to at least give "it" a name, claiming that it must be the creator the one that names their work. When he replies that he couldn't care less about a machine's name, Benjamin retorts that he shouldn't dump his job on somebody else. After a moment of pondering, Ayin claims she's the machine that must lead them out of the pits of hell like an angel, specifically mentioning the Greek name "Angelos", and naming her Angela after her role.
Angela says to herself that she remembers Ayin as a person with a warm smile, revealing she still kept Carmen's memories in her creation. She asks Benjamin what did she do wrong to be treated this coldly, with him trying to comfort her by saying that Ayin simply isn't ready yet, and needs a bit more time to adjust. Angela then moves to ask another question; why does everything seem so slow to her, with his movement, his speech, and even her own body feeling sluggish, as if her body couldn't keep up with her mind. Benjamin explains that she was designed to perceive time one hundred times slower, as she'll be the first to react in an emergency. Along with that, he adds that she'll vividly remember everything she'll see and experience. When Angela asks what will her job be, he replies that she'll see soon enough, before quickly correcting himself recalling it won't be soon for her, apologizing. Angela asks him again why does he apologize, Benjamin can only say he feels like he's done something horrible to her and "that person". He moves on to explain the City to her, the decadence of people throwing away their lives to belong in a nest, and their objective to change that.
The scene cuts to another memory, where Angela asks Ayin why he refuses to even look at her. He coldly replies that a machine must behave like one, and tells her to not question it. Saying she is "looking at him and only him", Angela then further asks why he gave her the capability to question things, why he broke the AI Ethics Amendment, and why he modeled her after somebody with fond memories of him. Responding unsympathetically again, he orders Angela to not look at him, and not speak to him unless he speaks first. He adds that she'll never be her, and that she's just a machine.
Moving on to another memory, Angela asks Benjamin if it's so wrong to be a machine, to which he replies that while some people might find it troublesome, he doesn't mind it at all, being just another thing that doesn't define who she is. Angela asks if she were to have a kind heart, Ayin would at least look at her, receiving only a "probably, eventually" and a script as a response, a series of things to be dome to be redeemed from their hell.
Back at the library, Roland and Malkuth are startled at having seen into Angela's memories, and ask if she's okay. Angela remarks that they don't have any right to lecture her, as if they were boasting to her that they had somebody to look after them in the end. As the library starts to rumble, her appearance also changes, her hair gaining black streaks and her coat taking a charred look like a burning ember. Nervous, Roland asks Malkuth what's happening, to which she indicated that Angela is resonating with the Library, which in turn is responding to her mental state of despair. Roland points out that her transformation almost looks like a Distortion, and asks if there's anything they can do about it. Malkuth deduces that if that's the physically manifestation of her mind, maybe it can be dealt with in a physical way as well, like a Reception. While she is still unsure about her answer, Angela cheers herself up to fight, with Roland surprised at her recklessness.
Cutscene 6 (Floor Realization Epilogue)
After her defeat, Roland tries to wake up Angela, who deduces what happened judging her surroundings. She wonders if that's how it feels to dream or to have a surge of emotion, to which Roland jokingly points out that the Library will fall apart if she keeps dreaming like that, to which she apologizes. Malkuth asks Angela if she feels better now, replying that it was futile to obsess over trivialities like neglect or recognition from others after all. Malkuth agrees, saying that the only one who can truly care for one is themselves. Angela sighs, annoyed at her lectures, claiming she won't expect anyone to look after her. Relieved, Roland says he's glad to see that Angela is fine, which she shuts down by saying he meant that he was worried about being stuck in the Library forever, and before he has a chance to excuse himself, she tells the two to get back to work.
Now alone, Angela notes to herself that Malkuth was right, herself being the only one who can recognize herself as who she is.
Combat Info
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Combat Entrance
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Trivia
- Malkuth has a particular liking for potatoes, novelty candles and trying out different hobbies.[2]
- In the Library of Ruina Artbook, Malkuth's notes are usually decorated with small doodles.
- Malkuth's current appearance seems to be based on her appearance on Lobotomy Corporation's flashbacks, rather than on her appearance through the cognition filter.
- On the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, Malkuth (meaning "kingdom") is the tenth and final Sephirot. It is said to connect and balance the forces of all the other Sephirot, and to link God's presence to the world.
Gallery
Dialogue Background
Dialogue Background
Malkuth, Episode 1
Keter, Episode 1
Story Art
Chapter 6 Illustration
Hod, Episode 5
Hod, Episode 5
Malkuth, Episode 3
Yesod, Episode 3
Netzach, Episode 3
Hod, Episode 3
Netzach, Episode 5
Other
Epilogue Illustration
Epilogue Illustration
Epilogue Illustration
Epilogue Illustration
E.G.O. Card Art
Concept Art
Combat Sprites
The full sprite sheet below comes from the Library Of Ruina Art Book. It is included here to act as an official reference, as all the individual sprites are reassembled from the game's assets and may have slight differences from in-game.
Artbook
Idle
Moving
Slash
Pierce
Blunt
Block
Evade
Damaged
