The Limits of Good Storytellers
What's up guys! It's your friendly Genshin overthinker Inotia King. As always before we begin I just want to make sure new readers have checked out my first topic which is the basis for all my theories. So if you haven't checked that out yet please click here.
Last time was part two of reviewing my predictions for Fontaine. With that all out of the way I want to review the quest itself before talking about new predictions based off of the new information v4.2 provided. I have made it no secret I don't like how miHoYo paced and developed this story. I already pointed out the reasons why in terms of the story's purpose. Today I want to talk about the story's quality. Summary at the end.
At the beginning of this new quest we bid farewell to Melus and Silver. Now I definitely applaud Brenna's acting. She really does drama well and you could feel Navia's sadness. But it was pointless. Later in that same section Navia herself fell into the water and dissolved. I mean it wasn't described that way but when a Fontainian comes into any contact with this water they dissolve. The point was to show the dissolver's POV. This btw is also ridiculous because it was used just to be a red herring. (Btw did anybody get fooled by the idea that the slates were in the wrong order? I thought it was pretty obvious it was showing us the trial we Scooby-Doo'd into play.) Anyway we find out that Melus and Silver held onto their individuality in order to save Navia. Not much time passed in between this and the climax of the quest (even less without the Scooby-Dooing) so Melus and Silver should still have been separate inside of the water. We saw that even Vacher's victims held on though they were starting to blend. Melus and Silver weren't dead for twenty years. Finally Fontaine was dissolved until Neuvillette fixed it. Then we get the cutscene of the prophecy fulfilled as Lyney narrates. The scenes show an empty flooded Fontaine but once the waters receded the people came back. What I'm trying to get at is Melus and Silver should be alive. All the victims should have survived. Even that guard in Act I. Again twenty years. So unless v4.3 shows us the happy reunion (maybe a dramatic "we thought it would be best if we stayed away" plot) between those three I'm saying all of the Act V deaths were done for drama's sake.
Focalors did successfully turn "justice" into a spectacle but it was unnecessary. Nahida told us a year ago that Celestia has been dormant so for all Focalors put Furina through none of it was needed. In fact it's the endgame that would have woken Celestia anyway. At least in theory. Nahida threatened Dottore with destroying the Gnosis which she claimed would wake them up. It makes sense destroying the "divine throne" would do the same. The fact that it didn't means Nahida's bluff was an honest bluff. Whatever is going on up there Celestia's been on sabbatical.
The powerless Furina plan was nonsense. We're eventually told that the cause of the prophecy is the whale sucking up the Primordial Sea. So why does that take five hundred years? (Btw 182376 days is roughly five hundred years. For some reason estimates online are all over the place but 182376/365 is 499.66 and there are 121 leap years in 500 which means an additional 121 days which is about 0.33 year so all together 182376 should be 500 if Teyvat has the same relative orbit to its sun as Earth.) Also Lyney tells us the water only started rising recently. Wriothesley tells us the sluice gate only recently started building up. Meanwhile in Act V Furina has been keeping up with them over the years and they've consistently risen.
And it's not just five hundred years either. The whale waited patiently for Furina's trial before getting the show on the road. This isn't new to fiction. Because of pacing and dramatic effect, stuff does happen at specific intervals. For example you don't send all of Rita Repulsa's monsters out in episode one. It clutters up the story even though it makes sense. But if you do it right the audience doesn't have to question it. Act V could easily pull it off. Just put a little more hustle into the events. Instead we got several black screens saying a few uneventful days passed. If Meropide's flood led to Poisson's without us going back to finish our sentence and if they didn't Scooby-Doo that alone would have helped because it puts Fontaine on the clock. Everything in Act V from the Poisson to the trial would have felt hectic, a race against time. Instead we interviewed people.
So what's the tally? The whole plan was unnecessary. Celestia is taking a long siesta. Five hundred years is just a rule of thumb for stuff happening and even then video game/movie rules are in effect so nothing has to happen until we load in the cutscenes lol
Next, Neuvillette keeping his dragon powers is a bad idea. From the power we knew about before Fontaine it would threaten Fontaine itself. A weakened post-Phanes Apep could overrun Teyvat with vegetation on death. What would happen to Fontaine if Celestia did wake up because their old nemesis was back? We know Neuvillette would lose. Phanes beat all seven together. And it likes fighting with Divine Nails and tons of collateral damage. So leaving Neuvillette back at full strength is a plothole unless it leads to disaster.
That's just the old dragon power levels. But now Neuvillette has full power over the Hydro. But he also has power over the Primordial Sea's "Hydro" which carries insane implications. ALL life on Teyvat came from this sea and Neuvillette is able to manipulate it to make humans. Without any costs Neuvillette just has this ability. He can make more humans. And he can unmake humans too. Human life is a little less precious now isn't it? This flies in the face of Gnosticism and also the story itself. Phanes condemned Egeria for making just Oceanid humans. I previously theorized the reason Egeria failed to make true humans was because the Primordial Sea was the filtered Sea of Quanta and creating life out of it required the same power. Now we're supposed to believe that dragons have this power. Keep in mind they were born out of the sea too. All life on Teyvat was born from it. How did Phanes beat seven of them then? Why didn't they just use the entire Primordial Sea to create an army of Dragon Sovereigns when they were losing? What if they merged themselves - as elemental beings can - to form the ultimate Primordial Sea Dragon Sovereign and just eat Phanes lol
Yeah so that's why in my version I have there be a cost to forcing the Primordial Sea to make real human bodies. Had Egeria not had her plan in play aka the Oratrice then even after she gave Neuvillette back his authority he would have died in the process. It's something we are hinted about back in Liyue. We know that Zhongli can actually still make Mora even now when he's weakened and doesn't even have his Gnosis authority. But it's likely he can't sustain it at the levels he had been making them with his Gnosis. Reinforcing this is Nahida's Second Character Quest where any expenditure of elemental energy comes at the price of draining their life and memories. These guys are entirely dependent on their energy stores. So for my version Neuvillette would have gained his full dragon powers which then gave him the possibility of forcing real human bodies out of the sea. But this would have cost him his life had he used only his power just like it would have turned Nahida back into a twig if she tried becoming the Fire Seed for Apep. Instead the Oratrice, the combined Hydro elemental energies of all of Fontaine for the last five hundred years would supplement some of this energy cost. But even all of that wouldn't have been enough so he'd sacrifice the powers he regained too leaving him back at his original power level. Tacking on my Childe/whale scenario Childe would first augment Neuvillette's full dragon powers with the remains of Neuvillette's former pure dragon body so the full cost of forcing creation out of the Primordial Sea without Imaginary Tree power would be the Gnosis, the Oratrice and the remnants of an actual dragon sovereign.
How Oceanids make babies. Did they really need to bring up "the ritual?" I know some players had been wondering about that and it was used as an argument against my Oceanid humans idea. But it really wasn't necessary. We learn from the World Quests that Oceanids can just make new Oceanids. That's how we got the baby Oceanid Ann. New Oceanids are born by desire. I'd think that's how all elemental beings are born. The ritual does make sense since these Oceanid humans were praying for children meaning they had a heightened desire for them and therefore they got them. But I think it would have been more interesting if we found out that Fontainians just never have problems conceiving. A couple wants kids? Suddenly they're expecting. Then Neuvillette explains how it works with elementals.
In keeping with this, why do these Oceanid humans have human illnesses? We're shown in Furina's Character Quest that Dulphy has some unspecified debilitating illness. Now the quest does take place after the Archon Quest so she's a normal human now but her illness is chronic which means it's been with her since she was still an Oceanid. A second example is Lescot Destree who suffered from Teyvat's version of autism. So this is two fold: How did this kid have an illness at all and how is it a mental illness? It may make sense that elemental instabilities or environmental influences on specific Oceanids created what could appear to be normal human illnesses but again that was before the Archon Quest ended and Neuvillette remade them into real humans. In the words of our Traveler it's like all of Fontaine was newly born. What this means on top of the Neuvillette has full control over Hydro (see above why that's its own problem) is that the man has a sick sense of humor. He changed them into real humans but left some sickly for no reason.
Side Note: No I don't think that's what miHoYo was going for. This is a different problem which is that miHoYo really wanted this shock twist of the Fontainians being Oceanids and not normal humans without realizing all the implications that would carry with it. Again just like the Traveler says they would have been newly born at the end of the quest so while future Fontainians would have the same human issues all of the current ones can't. No chronic diseases, no mental illnesses, no childlessness. Otherwise it all implies Neuvillette being a dick for no reason since he made all of them. And again he made them with the intent of saving them from death by prophecy and he claims to have full control over Hydro so if they die from anything besides new illnesses, injury or old age it's on him. But the problem with that is then miHoYo can't tell dramatic stories about stuff like grieving mothers that can't move on.
Something else that doesn't get explained is a very widespread theory about Focalors, her asymmetric design. As soon as we saw what she was going to look like those theories came up. (And no asymmetry isn't standard affair for miHoYo. Try comparing Furina to Neuvillette, Zhongli, Yae or Nilou.) Of course you guys know my version. She's a Seele expy. The way it was described Egeria did pretty much create Focalors like Veliona was created from Seele's Stigma. Her heterochromatic eyes symbolize Seele and Veliona with light blue for the former and dark blue and covered by her bangs symbolizing the darker and more violent Veliona. All of the things the theories have pointed to are still evident throughout Furina's design and concept. It's just that miHoYo didn't do anything with it in the story. Why is she the only character that can switch Arkhes? Given the expy thing that's easy to explain: Pneuma reflects Egeria's purity, Ousia reflects Furina's deviousness as shown by the scenes with Focalors.
There is a newer theory going around suggesting that Neuvillette himself is the reason behind Furina's ability. Furina's Vision is unique to other Fontainians because it has four prongs holding the Vision's jewel in place. According to some versions of the new theory these represent Neuvillette's dragon fangs. The problem with this idea though is while Neuvillette does claim to have full control over Pneumousia he still can't use it in gameplay like Furina can. The worst part about miHoYo not explaining it themselves is that this new theory claims that all new Fontaine Visions will be more powerful than Visions in the other nations because they are being bestowed by the more powerful dragon. That's not how Visions work. I get that the new quote from Neuvillette can make it sound like his Visions are more powerful but they aren't. The theories suggest he is more aware of how Visions are distributed because we previously had Ei's quote who was oblivious to it. But we had an even older quote too and it contradicted Ei. Zhongli who again I believe is the Geo Dragon (though with so much evidence for it it might as well not really be a theory anymore) told us at the end of Liyue's Archon Quest that the Visions are "magical foci bestowed upon those who have been acknowledged by the gods." So yeah the only thing we should have gotten out of these quotes was that Ei is oblivious which again makes sense because she's just an allogene who ascended to Archon status just like Furina. (you know, my poetry rhymes theory) As many of Yae's lines and discussions with us about Ei have implied, Ei isn't all together there. Her Euthymia made her worse and she doesn't really know what your typical Archon should know. Yae actually implies that Ei is the one preventing new Electro Visions from being bestowed, during the quest. Anyway hopefully miHoYo will fix this because I'd hate for this new theory to run wild just like the old Ei one did.
After three years Natlan is still the only region with barely any information. To compare we had our first Fontaine NPCs back in Inazuma. There is still not a single Natlan NPC. By the end of the quest where we speak with the regional leader about where we'll be going next there's actually even less information than we normally get. Starting from Mondstadt we are told the Ars Goetia name of the next Archon, their ideal and some feature of the next Archon Quest. We only got the last thing from Neuvillette which is that Natlan is a "nation of dragons." O and here's a callback to something else I found before. Murata which everybody had assumed was the Pyro Archon's name and therefore she's a Himeko expy isn't actually her name. Now that's not to say she's not going to be a Himeko expy but it does mean it's been three years and we don't even know anything concrete about the Pyro Archon except what Dainsleif told us in Travail! Now I do have my suspicions on why miHoYo has done this which could be amazing. But a fan's speculations does not equal official intent. As the movie review youtubers have stated fans shouldn't have to fill in the blanks. There's a quick fix for this too. Just reinforce that Natlan is an isolated region. But of course this is already inconsistent with established lore since we do have people going there and talking about stuff like hot springs.
Ok this next one's important because it carried so many bad connotations for the story and also gave me "flashbacks of 'nam" aka Inversion of Genesis. In her second of two total cutscenes in Act V Arlecchino tells us not to focus on sides. But I really hope you guys see the horrible problems with this. Don't focus on sides? So we're supposed to overlook the fact that all the major Harbingers have been pure evil? There was no redeeming quality out of any of them except Liyue's patsy Harbinger Childe. Signora viciously attacked Venti, was abusive to everybody and ruined whole nations just to get the Gnosis. She has no regard for human life. When the Shogun vaporized her it was cathartic. Ding dong the witch is dead. And she's the most forgivable! We learn why she became like this from her drops. That adds to the unforgivable crimes of Dottore. This man is cruel human experimentation personified. His past in Sumeru is disgusting. Collei's past is horrifying. Killing his own minion to turn him into a robot for laughs, brainwashing people in Act III, building the Scara Gundam just to see what would happen and all the stuff he pulled in Inazuma just to enlist Scara. And then Scara. He was thrown away sure but then he made it worse. He had friends and the second some guy tells him they murdered somebody for no reason he falls for it and pulls a total face-heel turn! Destroyed the Gokaden, murdered for fun, tried to murder us in Unreconciled Stars, distributed Delusions and of course Scara Gundam. These are just the ones we have direct quests for.
I freak out about this because miHoYo already pressed into this idea before. Back in Inazuma even though we were intent on taking revenge on Signora when she is obliterated by Ei we're in shock. In Inversion we forgive Scara. Just like that. Besides the Niwa thing a sick kid dies and all Scara cared about was how he was being abandoned again? We're supposed to feel bad for this guy? He was sad so we forgave him. What about the ruined Kamisato Clan? Kaedehara Clan? He wiped out the Senju and Hyakume. And of course Teppei. It's this quest existing that worries me when Arlecchino tells us to not think about sides. We're supposed to just forget all the plans they've concocted to undermine other nations. Eula's quest? Kokomi's? The Fatui don't do good things. That's why we focus on sides. What's next? Forgive Dottore for the orphan experimentation? Forgive Pantalone for his attempt on Uncle Tian's life? Forgive the previous Knave for child abuse? We see some of that in Sumeru's World Quests and Summer Fantasia. I suppose in real life we should also just go ahead and forgive the Nazis and Fascist Japan for all the stuff they pulled in WWII then? Seriously what is miHoYo thinking with this?
What I would agree with is placing Arlecchino alongside Childe. These guys are actually good people in a bad organization. Again the House of the Hearth are very loyal to her and for example Freminet is devoted to her because of his experiences with her predecessor. In my predictions over Act V I suggested that we would want Arlecchino as an ally to safely navigate Snezhnaya which should be very antagonistic towards us seeing how it's the home base of the Fatui and we should meet unsavory people like Dottore and Pulcinella fairly regularly in our time over there. We may need her and Childe to keep us safe to progress the story and confront the Tsaritsa. (also it'd be more likely we'd hear them out about the Tsaritsa's better qualities than we would hearing it from the other Harbingers)
Finally the Inversion of Genesis Syndrome. I think you guys have heard it a few too many times from me. I am not a fan at all of this. But because this is the second time I think I might know why miHoYo did this. It goes back to our old friend in media: Executive Meddling. Inversion was a hot mess of plotholes and unfulfilled character arcs in what can only be a rushed story. The likely reason for this was Scara's growing fanbase and fans desiring him to be playable. Originally the way they were writing Scara's story he'd likely have met the same fate as Signora since there's little to redeem. But the execs probably demanded that Scara be repackaged to be playable and I guess with a deadline the writers cut out the rest of the arc and just made excuses for that to happen. Of course I'm pretty sure most players wanted him back in his Electro form and not as the Anemo Wanderer so double fail there. I had said Arlecchino might be getting one herself seeing how she's definitely playable with her Pyro Vision on clear display. But I should have cast a wider net because we still got one. Even in my nightmare scenario I predicted that Childe's whale would be related to Neuvillette which relates back to the story. Instead it was a space whale most players have compared thematically to Star Rail. Skirk too is being seen as a Jingliu expy (and Chinese players have already made a Skirk skin for her lol) Anyway the point is that just like how Scara an Inazuman character hijacked the Sumeru story and became a Japanese boss in a Persian region we have a "Star Rail" space based boss hijacking the Fontaine story for the purposes of marketing Skirk probably a new Dainsleif-like character to advance the Khaenri'ah story in a different direction. On top of that Skirk also name drops a couple of new characters, Vedrfolnir and Surtur....'s sword. Surtalogi might turn out to be Skirk's Rhinedottir so again this was more about setting up Skirk's story than properly developing Fontaine's.
That's classic and also the worst type of executive meddling. It's why people didn't like Avengers Age of Ultron. Instead of telling the Age of Ultron story Disney was too eager to drip market their next movies, Cap with Civil War, Thor with Ragnarok and also the Infinity War. In the end Ultron was a sideshow to a much bigger event in the MCU. And the same thing happened to Sumeru and Fontaine with Scara and now Skirk.
But actually the worst isn't that they jumped the shark. The worst part is that there was a solution if they were just a little more patient and gave their writers some breathing room. I talked about the solution to Scara how the execs could have had their cake and eaten it too. The same could have happened here. Just don't have the Skirk stuff happen in the Archon Quest. Inversion itself happened in the next patch as an Interlude Chapter. Given how I set things up with Childe all that would need to be added is that Childe's Vision is affected by his time with the whale and it's this change that alerts Skirk and Surtalogi. Would it be a good thing? Would it be a bad? That's what the story would be about and that would have been very fun to have in v4.3. It also would give the writers time to properly develop things as much or as little as they'd like. And it wouldn't affect Navia's release either since she would still have her own Character Quest. Or like I said earlier, Skirk is likely a secondary Dainsleif character whose story will develop the Khaenri'ah arc. With Dainsleif's annual quest coming up just leave Skirk's introduction until then.
Bottom line: All good things come to those who wait. There was a much better more intense and longer lasting way to promote Anemo Scara that miHoYo failed to see. There's now a much better way of promoting Skirk that they also didn't see.
Ok enough of the negative. Let's get to some consistency.
"Fate is called as such for it cannot be changed-" Mona first tells us about the indomitable force that is fate in Teyvat. We've seen this many times and now in Fontaine we're seeing just how indomitable it is. Focalors seems to have won against it but in reality all she did was exploit a literary loophole. As seen in movies if there's a prophecy to be beaten all you have to do is take the exact wording of that prophecy literally and then open up interpretation on what else could happen besides that. In the end it'll still require the "Loom of Fate" or Genesis Pearl to truly overcome and actually create your own fate.
Of course the quest screwed that part up a little didn't it? Zhongli, Yae and Nicole have all spoken about how important our experiences are as "witness." But what actually happened this time? Neuvillette met with Focalors and learned of her plan. What did the MC see? As they themselves said they were only seeing Furina's side and didn't see the other side "with our own eyes." As Nicole told us that means we can't trust that narrative. Even if Neuvillette legitimately saw Focalors guillotine herself and reported it to us to the best of his ability we didn't see it ourselves which puts its authenticity in question. Now miHoYo could actually play with this but if they don't then it undermines the "witness" plotline.
Indemnitium and the Oratrice actually plays into this plot though even if it wasn't explained well. In Gnosticism the "witness" is the most important thing. Each person's experiences and knowledge lead them closer to gnosis. Gnosis while simultaneously being humanity's salvation also goes against the Demiurge's dominion over the physical world. On the surface the system was described as "faith" and "repaying" a debt to Celestia for Egeria's sin but in reality Indemnitium is more like the collective power of human will which Focalors then used to destroy part of the establishment of the principles, the Divine Throne. Especially with this action returning the dragon's stolen power it clearly undermines Celestia. (also works well with the French Revolution basis)
Immortality is still a curse. Eternity is bad. We learned this all the way back in v1.5 with a heavy handed lesson in the following Inazuma story. This is now upheld by Furina's "curse" of living in the lap of luxury for five centuries but being miserable the whole time.
Human ignorance is also on full display which continues to demonstrate Genshin's Gnostic focus on knowledge to achieve gnosis. When Furina tried being honest and humble Fontaine became suspicious of her. So Furina embellished and acted like an idiot and that worked. Being a loudmouth pompous ditz made her seem more like a god to these people. No wonder Trump became President.
And as always I don't like ending things on a negative note so what better way to continue off of consistency than actual praise? Yes for all the stuff I've been complaining about there are still good things to note about the Fontaine story.
Firstly, what's going to happen in v4.6? Before it was always clear. We get a new Weekly Boss late into a region's run and that gets unlocked through the Archon's Second Character Quest. But in Fontaine the Archon is no longer in charge. She's not even an Archon at all now and doesn't have any clue she once was part of one. So in v4.6 whose Character Quest will give us the new boss?
I presented it last time but Furina's Second Character Quest could deal with Egeria's resurrection from the Amrita or something related to it. This would follow my prediction about that where the Weekly Boss would be the collected corruption the Amrita has been purifying since the Cataclysm or maybe the gateway to Khaenri'ah we seal in the World Quest will be pried open long enough to let something through and we have to seal it to honor Egeria's sacrifice.
On the other hand we could get Neuvillette's now exploring his return to full dragonhood. Given he remembers at least some of his former life this quest could deal with him retracing his past. Maybe there was something he vaguely remembers that he feels is a loose end towards keeping Fontaine safe. This would be a great way to explore Remuria and maybe even learn about exactly how Egeria saved the survivors. What kind of boss would we face? I have no idea. But perhaps it'll be an ancient agent of Celestia's or a creature of the Abyss that the dragons poorly chose to acquire in their war against Celestia. Or if miHoYo jumps the gun it'll just end up being Nibelung lol
Next, vindication lol
A fairly long time ago I came up with a theory about what Rhinedottir was after. Her and Albedo's Khemia has an endgame called the Magnum Opus. Ultimately she wants Rubedo or Gold, defined by its red tinted yellow color. But there's a mid-step Citrinitas a partly refined gold, almost to perfection but not quite. Their failure to achieve Rubedo will show how difficult it is to achieve gnosis. (see above) Naysayers to this theory of mine had claimed that Citrinitas and Rubedo are interchangeable in alchemy and miHoYo likely will go with Citrinitas as the final step instead.
Well so much for that. Thanks miHoYo! I knew I could count on you! (It's not the Archon Quest but I'm still going to praise it haha)
Next up, real world stuff. I'm pretty sure you guys can remember all that talk about "gaming censorship" ever since we got alt skins for Mona, Jean, Amber and Rosaria, especially Rosaria. And despite the obvious proof against it like sixteen year old Fischl literally wearing lingerie since the game's launch and gorgeous characters like Dehya, Candace and Nilou coming out long after those "censoring" skins this idea kept going. Of course then the girls of the more maturely rated Zenless Zone Zero happened and this topic got real quiet. Now we've got Skirk who is also wearing what amounts to lingerie.
Hilariously I actually found two articles trying to go the other way, saying Dehya, Candace and Nilou are wearing "harem" outfits (you know because Persian courtezans regularly wore metal claws and hoplite shields) and saying miHoYo was exploiting women. Wow. Can't exactly have it both ways can you? Either they're overcensoring or they're totally exploiting anime waifus. But even if these guys were to forego the censorship thing in favor of this newer sexploitation kick well it's not exactly hard to point at all the other much more blatant examples across gaming. I mean if they want to bemoan region accurate outfits as being suggestive how about the literal nudity in God of War or the Witcher? Or in terms of anime-styled games how about Senran Kagura? Jiggle physics? Peach from Super Smash has jiggle physics. Zero Suit Samus? Anime, skintight outfit plus jiggle, the trifecta.
Next and while it may not be a good thing I'm going to applaud miHoYo for subverting players such as
who didn't think they'd make Furina a fake Archon. Other players have also pointed out that it would hurt banner sales if people pulled for Furina only to find out she's not the Hydro Archon. Well they did it but I'm pretty sure people are still happy with their Furinas. I know I am and I have an OCD about keeping my HP full. (but maybe Baizhu also being on the team has kept it from flairing up haha) Anyway I'm just going to say it took guts to promote Furina only to tell a story revealing she's never been Archon.
Also I said this before but Furina and Focalors mirroring Louis XVI's abdication and then his execution was done very well.
Finally, Furina's Character Quest was worth it despite the terrible Archon Quest that led to it. I mean most of it was boring too but I appreciated the real version of Furina's personality (which is also missing from her playable character) and most importantly that song at the end. That song was incredible. I would have loved to have seen that in the Archon Quest somehow.
Funny enough it's the end of her Character Quest and her new motivations as a Hydro allogene that made her sound most Archon-like since her debut. I love the arc she went through. She was beat down but never out.
To Summarize:
- I did not like this Archon Quest. I think I've made my case by now lol
- Melus and Silver shouldn't stay dead. Nobody that died in the Archon Quest should.
- Focalors plan was pointless. Celestia wasn't paying attention.
- Prophecy was also done for drama. It starts and stops when the plots needs it.
- Speaking of pissing off Celestia, letting Neuvillette keep his full dragon powers. Also if Apep could explode and cover all of Teyvat in vegetation what would happen to Fontaine if Neuvillette exploded?
- How did the dragons lose to Celestia with how Act V describes dragon power?
- As such my Neuvillette would have lost those powers as the cost of undoing the prophecy. The massive amounts of elemental energy required would have killed him if not for the Oratrice.
- Oceanid humans should just be able to conceive naturally without fail. Mary-Ann dreamed up Ann and thus Ann was born. No ritual needed.
- Why do Fontainians get sick at all? Even if they had Oceanid elemental ailments that looked like human illnesses Neuvillette remade them. It implies he's a sick bastard lol
- This is probably miHoYo trying to tell dramatic stories but forgetting their world building.
- Egeria and Furina being Seele expy is all but expressed in the Archon Quest itself. This causes wild speculation to explain in place of miHoYo.
- Neuvillette's Visions aren't more powerful. The Archons have always bestowed Visions themselves. Ei was just an idiot but we knew that from Yae.
- Arlecchino telling us not to focus on sides is a big problem. So far all the Harbingers besides Childe and Arlecchino herself are irredeemably evil.
- Already sympathized with several of these Fatui. Troubling to think miHoYo would want to promote the forgiveness of murderous, torturous psychopaths.
- Still barely any information on Natlan.
- Executive meddling might have played a role in why Fontaine turned out the way it did.
- If miHoYo was more patient they could have fulfilled what the execs wanted and still gotten a good story.
- Fate is reinforced as a smothering force holding humanity back. Even Focalors could only work around it.
- Act V undermines this by not having the Traveler witness as "witness" the plan Focalors concocted. Instead we learn it from Neuvillette.
- The Oratrice System supports the Gnostic basis of Genshin.
- Immortality is still described as a curse.
- Human ignorance is still one of the things holding it back.
- Which Second Character Quest will get us the next Weekly Boss?
- Furina's could deal with the Amrita and Abyssal Corruption. Neuvillette's could deal with maybe even Nibelung, regret over having used Abyssal Power.
- Rubedo is now officially stated as Khemia's endgame, reinforcing my theory.
- Skirk is miHoYo's latest middle finger to haters promoting claims about censorship.
- Gutsy move to continue the twin Archon story and also make their brand new Archon character turn out to not be Archon at all.
- Very well done reference to both Louis XVI's abdication and execution by Furina and Focalors respectively.
- La vaguelette is a beautiful song!
Posted Dec 8, 2023, 1:06 AM UTC
Your method of throwing more words to the wall does not make your posts right. You keep on ignoring lore and dismissing everyone pointing it out by replying with longer comments devoid of substance. While these exchanges have only really been happening in your recent series about Fontaine, this has always been your modus and most of your "lore" posts are fanfic.
Fanfic is nice, but not when you're claiming that it's the truth and canon is wrong. Go make your own stories instead of this narcissistic bs. Maybe readers would enjoy it more if you apply your ideas to something original.