_{(Originally published on Tumblr on January 23rd, 2026. This article is edited for clarity and readability for the website but I tried to preserve the original tone and content as best as I could)}

Now bear with me as this post is probably going to jump all over the place and there was a lot of reading involved. Also, keep in mind the above GIF from Florian’s S-tier essence trailer.

So the last few days I have been ruminating over a QnA and some comments I received from quoththeowl31. But ever since the idea that Fin could be representative of Lucifer aka the Morningstar aka the snake who may have tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, I kept thinking about it and thinking about it. And so, I finally made a post to spill my thoughts.

Once again, this is a rather long one. You’ve been warned.

_{The description of his apple cider dish doesn’t quite help his case.}

Actually, oddly enough, reading it again makes it feel as if Florian is the one being tempted to bite into it for some benefit or blessing. And when I thought about it more, I realized perhaps I was looking at this wrong. I equated Alice and Orpheus to Adam and Eve before but what if it was slightly different since their story isn’t a 1 to 1 version of the Garden of Eden anyway.

So I felt I had to revisit the Banquet of Vanities series of essences (aka the ones inspired partially by the Garden of Eden story) along with taking a look at Florian’s essence above to figure out what exactly was the role of this fire investigator, if any.

Banquet of Vanities Series (S18 E3, S19 E1, and S26 E1)

I have talked a bit about all three essences across posts where I talked about Christian influences in this game. This whole series of essences focusing on “Memory,” Alice, and Orpheus and is partially inspired by the story of the Garden of Eden and The Fall of Man.

The story starts of with “Memory’s” essence story where she returns to her lost childhood paradise years later only to see that her once peaceful and fruitful Eden has descended into madness and greed with the people now indulging in their wicked desires.

“At this time, the “Island of Eden” is already in danger because of their naivety and ignorance. They used their “purity” and “credulity” to open the box of the outsiders’ desires. From then on, things became worse. People plundered and slaughtered wantonly, and all the good things were burned in the raging fire.”

Source: IDV Fandom Wiki

The one who seems to be behind the farce appears to be Orpheus, her childhood friend who she wants to give the benefit of the doubt to. “Memory” wants to stop this but also realizes that she is the source of this sinful nature despite wanting to redeem the sins that destroyed her island paradise.

In Orpheus’ essence story, it shows his perspective of what happened to their Eden. In it, he and “Memory,” lived in peace, happily playing day in and day out together in a prosperous paradise. Despite this, they “both yearned for the sea and the unknown. They also smuggled out of the island, but the novelty and excitement never made them forget the secrets of the island they held together.”

Source: IDV Fandom Wiki

An accident occurred soon after that caused outsiders to learn of the black fern (the gift of the goddess) and these looters came to the island resulting in the fall of paradise as the two were separated.

Feeling guilty and ravaged with the desire for revenge, Orpheus decided to shed morality and what is traditionally deemed good and evil as long as he could rebuild his paradise, he’d do anything it took.

“Nightmare’s” “Abyss” skin is also connected to this essence. It’s just really here to show that Orpheus was conflicted at first, striding the line between good and evil since he never really wanted to fall into malevolence at first, but gave in especially once he saw there were those willing to fall into the dark pit of desire.

“At this time, he was no longer the young man who knew nothing about the world, but the incarnation of everyone’s desires, the incarnation of the abyss of extreme evil.”

From “Abyss'” design notes on IDV Fandom Wiki.

Alice’s essence focuses on her role as being one of the four horsemen of the apocalpyse namely “Death” as she is forced to judge the sinners of a paradise she and the other heavenly beings once presided over. See, this paradise once was a flourishing island where the people worked hard were kind and honest which achieved the good favor and love of God (or the gods depending on translation).

However, once the heavenly beings left, their desire festered into something dark:

“But when the messengers finally left after carrying out their mission, the seeds of joy they sowed in the past festered into the evil fruits of nihilistic desire. The people began to forget the meaning of faith, stirred conflict and succumbed to desire; the disappointed God decided to cast down disasters and sent out the ones who brought the “prosperity” to the people…”

Source: IDV Fandom Wiki

Despite being sent to judge these sinners without mercy, Alice remained conflicted and didn’t have the heart to do it. Still, it is said she returned to the island but is it more destruction she brought or hope?

But do you guys see a pattern here? The one word that has been repeated over and over again: Desire.

If you look back at the GIF from above with Fin and Keigan, you see Keigan say to Fin: “You’re also a madman chasing his desires.”

So this world keeps popping up but Florian’s essence isn’t tied to the Banquet of Vanitas series. Then what exactly is his story?

Season 31 Essence 3: Spirit Fox, the Thief of Desire

When it comes to Florian’s essence, he is a phantom thief (sorry I like Persona here) who becomes aware of “an ancient demonic grimoire” which is said to be able to “guide humanity to the pinnacle of power” (quotes of Florian’s from his essence trailer). Florian aims to put a stop to such ambitions and sends a letter in advance to warn them he’s gonna steal it. Bold, isn’t he?

Yet, this grimoire or cipher as it’s also called, holds the power to seemingly make any wish come true. Yet, there is another more daunting rumor about the cipher/grimoire: “This is a contract with the devil, and an eternity of suffering equal to the wish will be released.”

Florian aims to stop this by stealing it and believes the only way to “neutralize the wicked” is “through conflagration before the eyes of the masses.” So yeah, he wants to burn the book basically.

Hmmmmm I wonder where I’ve heard that before…

_{*cough cough*}

Anyways, another interesting quote from the essence’s backstory is that Florian apparently “hopes that someone will be able to resist the muddy waters of desire–But perhaps this is just another desire, concealed under the name of morality.”

Hence why Keigan probably says what she does to Florian because while he sees desire as a bad thing in this context, he also isn’t fully innocent from succumbing to desire. On the other hand, Keigan is under the influence of the grimoire herself.

Interestingly, the grimoire has a snake motif…no, wait, there’s just straight up snakes coming out of it and entangling themselves around Martha there. Kreacher is in this and you can see he is also gets mixed up with the snakes.

_{You can see it in this shot. Also Fin doing the most to get to this grimoire sorta sends me.}

This is important because if you didn’t catch it at the end of his trailer, Florian has been bamboozled himself since while it seems he got ahold of the grimoire, Kreacher managed to either swap it out or something because it shows him handing the grimoire to Keigan in the coin Florian flips at the end of the trailer.

_{It’s a little hard to see but hopefully it’s enough.}

The fact that it talks about forming a contract with the devil and we have snakes out here controlling people and entangling themselves to those whose desires it can easily manipulate…oh boy…they’re not being subtle here.

Anyways, I think what I’m trying to say here with all of this is the fact that this “desire” implanted in the hearts of all leads to their downfall and the loss of oneself in the pursuit to fulfilling such desires. They really do seem to frame it as having a desire is a bad thing.

The subtitles are kind of hard to read because they made them small for some reason but basically it says:

“After being promised that which they desire most, the winner of the ‘game’ can claim their ‘treasure’–some kind of holy grail that can make all their wishes comes true.

That is from “Time of Reunion” as Orpheus narrates the basic concept of the manor games. And what he says here mirrors the same language used in Florian’s essence to describe the grimoire:

“With this book, any wish can come true…A paper pact that trades pain to fulfill desires is worth being incinerated until nothing remains.”

Also, looking back at Keigan’s quote, she ends up trying to convince Florian to give into his desires: “Why don’t you see for yourself? Just look at the marvelous interpretations in this book. We’re the same you and I. You’re also a madman chasing his desires.”

It’s kind of weird. Why’s it Florian that sounds like he’s being tempted by desire? And by Keigan who is possessed by the freaking devil. As if they’re offering the apple of Eden (throwback to his apple cider description). I thought the Garden of Eden analogy in IDV was reserved for Alice and Orpheus…?

…it’s official…Florian is actually Eve…(I’m joking…right?)

_{Though I’m starting to see the “self-restraint” that’s written in his profile now.}

_{squints suspiciously at his B-rarity accessory as well}

But then again, I see this image and wonder what exactly is it they’re trying to say about him:

_{Like, they really thought it a good idea to let him come to the manor only for him to turn it into an INFERNO. Because that is Oletus in the back, right? The gate is right there on the top right…right?}

You know I had a thought seeing this image again but if Florian set fire to the orphanage because he saw how the staff was drugging the kids…how do you think he’d react going to a manor where once again people are getting drugged against their will? Hm?

_{The fact he says this when Time of Reunion is a thing…}

_{Like, okay buddy… (For context for those who don’t know but Orpheus here loses his memories after this scene.)}

Well, technically it wasn’t the fire that induced his memory loss, but what a thing to say when “Memory” exists (possibly BECAUSE of Florian or at least, in part).

I also found this question from a Dev Q&A from 2 years ago clarifying why Alice and “Memory” had separate birthdays. “Memory’s” birthday is “a day that changed the course of Orpheus’ life.” But I thought that would be the Oletus Manor incident shown in Cage of Yesteryear which we know for sure was on Alice’s actual birthday.

What in the world actually happened on September 13th then?

I mean, yes, okay but how does Florian’s fire cause the “birth” of “Memory”? If it does at all since there still isn’t confirmation, but the fact they even dated the fire is notable since they really didn’t have to.

(Edit, May 29th, 2026: With the release of Alice’s 3rd birthday letter detailing the consequences of the orphanage fire, we now have a bit more information on how “Memory” was “born.” After the fire, Alice was placed on the list of casualties of the incident. This possibly led “Orpheus” into believing she was really dead for a time as he never went back to the orphanage after the fire. However, he would later contact Ada Mesmer for a patient’s list when White Sand became a full-fledged asylum. Presumably, this was to find out about Alice. However, how exactly a 6 year old Alice emerged as a phantom to haunt Orpheus from here on out is still murky. We just have to wait for more details on the fire to really confirm “Memory’s” origins.)

But I’m sort of losing the plot here. The original speculation I wanted to talk about is if Florian represents the Morningstar here aka Lucifer.

Well, seeing him like that in his birthday art, I can see why some would be like oh, that’s some Lucifer devilry right there since fire is commonly associated with hell and whatnot.

_{His Halloween cosmetic, “Lumina” means “light” or “illuminate” and Lucifer can mean “Lightbringer.”}

In actuality, it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Mini Lesson: What is Hell? And Who is Lucifer?

_{The Fallen Angel (1847) by Alexandre Cabanel. A painting showing Lucifer or the Devil just after he fell from heaven.}

Firstly, Christianity is…complicated. Majorly complicated. There’s a reason there are so many denominations in the religion. And why there can be a lot of disagreements and outright discord between Christians themselves.

Why is this? One reason is because interpreting the Bible leads to many different perspectives that people think are right but let’s be honest, you are reading a 2000+ year old book that has been translated and said translation is bound to lead to some misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Like, have you guys seen how many English translations alone the Bible has?

Anyways, I want to keep this short because even after all the reading I did, it was SO much and I’m still partially confounded on some things (and I’m Christian born and raised…Christ…).

So what is hell? Most modern images of hell is that of a fiery place reserved for the damned and the wicked. That’s the commonly accepted version of it.

Yet, some Christians believe hell is not really a place at all but a state of being where one is separated from God spiritually where one won’t feel his love anymore or his blessings.

Some others believe hell is the exact opposite and that it is a cold and dark place similar to the Greek underworld of Hades (some Bible translations even use Hades instead of hell at times).

And yet, there are some interpretations of hell that has it as a dumping ground for the bodies of sinners and the damned. Almost like a mass grave of those who didn’t find salvation.

Now then, what about Lucifer?

Well, to put it simply: It was originally used in the Bible to describe a Babylonian king and was used in Isaiah 14:12:

_{To different versions where one calls him Lucifer while the other uses “Day Star aka son of the Dawn” which can be said to be Morningstar as well.}

More recent translations use the latter than the former. The reason why Lucifer became tied to being seen as a fallen angel who wants to take the throne of heaven is because of what Jesus later says in Luke 10:18: “‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.'” This quote for some reason was associated with “Lucifer” back in Isaiah probably because of the the whole “fallen from heaven” line.

On the other hand, Lucifer originally was in reference to the planet Venus in Roman folklore. Yes, he was originally not even a Christian figure and was used mostly in poetry to herald the dawn. Lucifer was usually depicted as carrying a torch as well.

But going back to Isaiah 14:12, some interpreted these two passages to believe that Lucifer was the name Satan used when he was still an angel favored by God.

But even the usage of Satan is a bit off here. See, Satan means “the accuser” or “the adversary” in Hebrew. Ironically, Satan first appears as a heavenly prosecutor of God’s will as his whole job was to test the loyalty and faith of God’s followers. Quite confusingly, depending on how it is written “satan” or “ha-satan” in Hebrew, it may just refer to any sort of accuser or the actual Satan himself respectfully. Interestingly, in Judaism, they don’t believe in a omnipresent malevolent being like Satan.

Also, speaking of Satan and/or Lucifer, he is typically associated with being the snake that tempts Eve in the Garden of Eden but there is no mention of Satan, Lucifer, or the Devil in the passage. It was only later Christians that attributed God’s adversary (whichever name you want to use) as being the snake in the holy garden.

Again, this is because another Bible verse in Revelations 12:9 influenced this line of thinking: “that ancient serpent called the Devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world…” Notably, he is also referred to as a dragon in this verse.

Oh? What about the usage of the word devil then? It has basically become interchangeable with the other two titles basically except it has more negative connotations naturally. The devil is a fallen angel but can refer to any powerful fallen angel. But regardless, the devil is only here to spread malice, suffering, and pain on the world.

And even after all this, you will still get different answers on who Lucifer, Satan, and the Devil are depending on who you ask. I tried my best to condense it but even I’m not 100% on these definitions so these are not set in stone and it would be best to do your own research and come to your own conclusions.

So…with all that, is Fin representative of such a multi-faced figure? After all my reading and thinking about it…I’m still not sure. There seem to be some references there but at the same time he isn’t the one tempting those to succumb to their desires as, y’know, a devil would. He is doing the exact opposite it seems. At least when we see what he’s like in his essence story.

(Note: Nearly forgot to add this but while most associate fire to hell, fire can actually be seen as purifying and a sign of God’s power as well. It’s not always a bad thing. For various examples of how it’s used in the Bible, click here. I just didn’t have time/energy/space to write it as I’m typing this right before I post.)

Florian in COA: An inhuman human?

_{I really love how Alice drew him but this week’s entry brought on MORE questions.}

I was holding off until we got all entries for Alice’s investigative notes but I guess I can squeeze in this since in a timely manner we got a bit more backstory on Fin in COA this week.

I’ve already rambled so so so much about him in COA IX with the most recent example being the background story on this COA and for the crew. We learned then that Florian is reliant on his spices (specifically the red one), he is actually the most transformed of the group apparently, and that he is the most “irrational and inhuman.”

That last one gave me pause but I wasn’t sure how to react because I wondered if it was a translation thing or if not, what did that mean?

Well, Alice’s notes sort of clarified that:

_{I’m serious Florian…what are you?}

I’ve asked that question many a time (in COA and OG story context) but it really does feel as if the more we learn about him, the more mystifying he gets.

So this does confirm that despite his bright, cheerful nature where he is quite affable towards everyone…Alice even mentions that Florian is the only one who holds no hostility towards the Holy City…and yet, when it comes to matters of the soul, he seems inhuman.

She also mentions how well he can basically adapt and blend into ordinary life which is nice…but also sounds kinda…robotic? I may be influenced to say that from today’s story fragment talked about robots and it was interesting to say the least:

_{The last line had me vaguely thinking of Florian but surely even if he seems inhuman, he is human…right?}

Would the Holy City’s transformation still effect a robot?Can a robot descend into insanity without the the protection of spices? Regardless, I actually did wonder about Florian’s origins before in wondering why he seemed okay without his amulet since the only other person we saw without one and was okay for it was Joseph, the deity himself.

Thus, I speculated if Florian may also be somehow hold a role in the Holy City similar to Jojo but to a lesser extent obviously or if he was some sort of anomaly that shouldn’t be in the simulation. I don’t know, guys, I’m just spitballing ideas here…

_{It gets cut off but the rest of the sentence says: “he seems more interested in breaking it open and exploring the secrets behind it.”}

I’m not going to lie, he just sounds like a curious child who hasn’t learned what exactly is “right” and “wrong” yet. It’s certainly perplexing. While one would think if someone who is missing the very essence of the soul (as Alice puts it), then they wouldn’t be as warm or friendly as Florian but even Alice notes his kindness and care for the others is genuine so what gives? What did she mean he is inhuman then? It’s not an insult, but a simple observation.

One guess is that due to Fin being in the Holy City surrounded by believers who were blinded not just by their faith but by the amulet’s cognitive filters masking the reality of the city, he had no choice but to play a role and adapt in order to live peacefully.

He did it for so long amongst these masked followers who seemingly held no individuality and carried the blandness of sameness, that Florian never truly interacted much with people who felt and acted human. I mean, look how eager he is for true companions he can actually connect to.

As for another reason…I’m unsure. Unless we wanna say that he really is similar to Jojo and is more supercomputer/advanced robotic in nature where he has lived among the people (unlike Joseph) so he blends in better but he still has quirks and subtleties of his behavior that betray his true nature.

Alice says this to Florian in the Rooftop Rendezvous and I still wonder what that means exactly especially when they seem united…

I mean, I thought the trailer made it clear…so what then? What’s Fin’s true end goal here?

_{A garden you say…? Hmm…}

But heck, even Alice is like that’s not what he really really wants deep down inside.

Anyways, I think I’m just going to stop here. This was a LOT and to be honest, I’ve hit a dead end in speculating and theorizing on what exactly Fin is and what he truly wants in the end when it comes to COA…and let’s not even get started with the main story…

Also, before I forget but let’s not overlook the fact that his button right eye is missing in that GIF above when it was present before. There’s been no mention or even clue to give us an explanation besides the fact it coincides with him taking off his amulet (by the way, no one reacts to that despite the fact that Fin doesn’t divulge his secret yet…I believe anyway…then again, they are in the middle of something so maybe they’re saving their questions for later).

(Side note: I also don’t know how much research the IDV team puts into these kinda things. They seem to do quite extensive research but considering how convoluted Christian theology is, I wouldn’t be surprised if they fell into some more stereotypical leanings especially when it comes to the devil/Satan/Lucifer. But who knows really.)