Limbo: Paradise or Nightmare?

[MonkeySage]

A friend of mine is debating with me on whether limbo is a nightmare or a paradise to the typical Limbo petitioner.

I'm in the camp arguing that a limbo petitioner would find such an environment pleasant.

My friend argues that it's a fate worse than hell, even if you belong there.

[NeoPhoenix0]

According to the manual of the planes, limbo petitioners either merge with the plane or become insane gibbering swirls. Other people's enjoyment might be linked to their ability to control the plane, since it is otherwise mostly constantly shifting chaos. I wouldn't call it a fate worse than hell though it is a fate that would drive many insane. If they are a very rare individual that can control it very well then they might have a better time of it by creating interesting things.

[Necroticplague]

Why would it be a a nightmare if you belong there? If you end up there, you're a CN person who values their own freedom above all else. And guess what? Here, you're as free as can be. Do whatever you want, there aint much stopping you. The whole freaking place is like Minecraft on creative mode.

[Vhaidara]

Why would it be a a nightmare if you belong there? If you end up there, you're a CN person who values their own freedom above all else. And guess what? Here, you're as free as can be. Do whatever you want, there aint much stopping you. The whole freaking place is like Minecraft on creative mode. With no corners

FTFY. Important distinction.

[Eldan]

According to the manual of the planes, limbo petitioners either merge with the plane or become insane gibbering swirls. Other people's enjoyment might be linked to their ability to control the plane, since it is otherwise mostly constantly shifting chaos. I wouldn't call it a fate worse than hell though it is a fate that would drive many insane. If they are a very rare individual that can control it very well then they might have a better time of it by creating interesting things.

Yeah, but, you know. MotP is stupid sometimes. Go by Planescape. Weak-willed petitioners can watch the awesome sights of endless worlds being created and uncreated forever, or wander a universe of ever-new wonders, where nothing lasts. The strong-willed can create their own worlds, constrained only by their imagination.

Pretty heavenly to me.

[DarkestKnight]

I think it would come down to both the individuals capacity to work with their surroundings and how that capacity is received, either positively or negatively. Paradise would be the best of both worlds, the ability to change your little pocket of Limbo as you wish. Nightmare would be to be endlessly tossed around as other people shape limbo around you, and you perceive yourself as having no personal freedom to control this.

For the last combinations; (A) having the power to change but not viewing that ability is a positive light, or (B) not being able to change your surroundings but this is view positively, it would depend greatly upon the individual in question. (A) to me is actually darker than (B). Perhaps one of the raving lunatic petitioners has gone mad because he is fully able to change Limbo to his whims, but is unable to stop the process. Every thought, emotion, idea they have recreates the world around him.

(B) depends more on the individual. Some CN Hippie might see (B) as a relaxing thing, he can just let things go as they will, but someone (still CN) who wants to be able to have a modicum of personal freedom, though not to the extent that this becomes Nightmare, might become very frustrated.

I'd say that there would likely be cases for all of these, and that to empirically say that Limbo is a paradise or nightmare would have to rely on the specific individual, not the plane itself.