Did Pierro play a hand in Dottore's fate?

So this is actually a smaller part of a massive thing I've been writing. I'm not sure whether I should post it yet because it's so disorganized, but it fits into a larger idea. I'm basically trying to show that other playable characters have done the same or worse as Dottore but received narrative pardons, and the idea of Pierro being responsible scapegoated fits into that.

I mostly just want to get community input for this part because it's wholly theoretical, and I've had the idea for a while. Also, I guess this probably belongs in the Pierro sub, but I don't go there much so I'm too nervous...😭

Now, to be honest, I tend to build my theories from a narrative perspective first! I prefer to think about what would enhance the story, then find proper evidence, sorry if you don't agree. 🦧

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It's my belief that there's a logical basis for Pierro being responsible for the overall fates of the Harbingers. In the Lazzo trailer, he's shown playing chess, and he claims, "Checkmate is not the end," as Signora's moth lands on a fallen pawn. I think of the Harbingers he personally recruited here: Signora, Dottore, Scaramouche, (with Capitano being implied).

He found Signora shortly after she suffered the loss of her husband and nearly burned up in her grief, offering her a Cryo Delusion to stabilize her shortly before she would have burned up. He found Dottore shortly after he was expelled and exiled into the desert, offering him all the resources and freedom he could ever use to experiment. Then he found Scaramouche shortly after the disaster he ordered Dottore to cause, when he was totally disillusioned with the world and vulnerable.

[I also have to mention that Rosalyne studied at the Akademiya, and Zandik, of course, is from there. And then in turn, Dottore was the one who sabotaged Scaramouche. There's a bit of an order there, I feel.]

Three times in a row, he just happened to find these people at the lowest point in their life, offering something they couldn't refuse when they had nowhere else to turn. Rosalyne would've burned up without the Delusion. Zandik would've had to just walk off into the desert with nothing if he said no. Kabukimono would have similarly just wandered around Inazuma aimlessly and alone with no revenge had he not joined.

How does he keep placing himself in such optimal positions to exploit these people time and time again?

So he heard of The Crimson Witch of Flames and coincidentally arrived at her most desperate moment, sure... He somehow found out about a single expelled student and located him out in the desert, tougher. Then he just so happened to send Dottore, who would've had to have been a relatively new Harbinger, to do a task as important as creating a massive gap in Inazuma's infrastructure...alone?

The same Harbinger just so happened to have the most potential of the group to form a bond with a puppet who just so happened to be made of Irminsul material and Khaenri'ahn techniques? Notice how oddly Pierro treated Scaramouche, sending him to the Abyss, telling him about the Traveler's sibling before they ever met, and telling him about the fake sky. He just keeps shoving knowledge into a puppet he seemingly "never planned" on recruiting. Since Dottore was "only" there to sabotage Inazuma and "happened" to find an interesting figure, it's as if he expected that Scara would have met the Traveler much sooner than other Harbingers, before they were a well-known figure; otherwise, why tell him so much information about strangers?

Notice how everything "just so happens to happen" with this guy!

I'm thinking very narratively here, trying to consider the purpose of showing us what they have in the order they did. They show us Pierro declaring a fight fate in Pale Flame, playing chess while claiming a checkmate isn't the end, then showing how he set up a sabotage "random" to lure him into the Fatui. Then it's super quiet until he just shows up in a trailer nearly 3 years later with the ability to stare at shades, which seems to catch Ronova off guard. But...he's nowhere to be seen in-game, hardly even acknowledged.

This same guy is acquainted with Rhinedottir of the Hex Witches, the same Witches who possess a scryglass that allows them to peer into fates. He too had access to Dain's brother, a royal mage and member of Irmin's council, who has every reason to be connected. The guy who sees everything and arguably coaxed Rerir into his demise. Besides that, he himself may have just learned how to see fate, learned whatever craft Barneloth did, or something similar. It's entirely possible for Pierro to see fate, and there is already a motif of a "special gaze" present with him.

Sohreh's death has always felt muddy to me; there's so much plausible deniability. This was the first time that Zandik ever did anything explicitly violent...and it was murder. But why? Even Dottore isn't a killer; he finds it to be a needless waste of potential and will avoid murder unless it is necessary to progress or in self-defense. He's avoided violence even when it would be more convenient. If he wanted Haypasia so badly, he could have just overpowered Tighnari and taken her. If he wanted the Gnosis, he certainly could've moved faster than Nahida could've broken them, especially considering the fact he's a couple of feet away from her. But instead, he chooses to not even touch either of them...settling for tense but cordial conversation. And this is Dottore, the one who's forsaken all ethics and painted himself a monster.

Like Dottore, Zandik is also very logical, though he tends to come off as more obtuse and brash sometimes.When he gets motion sick while piloting a ruin guard, instead of coming to the more obvious conclusion that he might just have a weak tummy, he instead jumps to the idea that the original pilot had to have needed surgical enhancements. Sohreh's notes describe him as being a bit stubborn, and we do see that with how he remains firm in his commitment to researching ruin guards and dislike of the divine by refusing power from a god.

But all of this is normal for a scholar. The majority of them can be stuck in their ways, dedicated to their research, and a bit lacking in some social skills. None of this makes him a killer. Zandik is thinking about what benefits him, and with currently available information, there was no benefit to murdering Sohreh. All her death did was get him expelled, make him lose access to all his resources, and get him exiled and disgraced. Why would he do this? Every other death he's caused has had some reason, justified or not.

He killed Niwa because he was ordered to by Pierro and needed to use his heart for something. He killed some patients in the hospital because his treatment was experimental and unstable. He killed Ursa the Drake because he was following a plan issued by (most likely) the Tsaritsa, to place Mondstadt in the Fatui's debt. He killed Sandrone and Pulonia because they attacked him. Everything had a clear benefit: he used Niwa's heart to coax Scara into joining the Fatui, and he also got to be the sole figure of importance in the puppet's life. The patients were an accident but also part of trial and error. Ursa left Mondstadt indebted to the Fatui. Sandrone was an """accident""" but it was self-defense.

Sohreh had no benefit. Did she find out something she shouldn't have? What could she have found? His interest in ruin guards was no secret. His hatred of gods wasn't either, since he displayed it openly in front of his senior. If he wanted her dead, he could have let the ruin guard get her, and nobody would've suspected a thing. Did she learn whatever motivated him to kill her after this point? There are plenty of ruin guards scattered around Sumeru; he had so many methods to kill her that wouldn't have left a trace. But strangulation? Something that leaves an obvious mark on someone? Then supposedly tossing her to some tigers... why not just do that in the first place to avoid any potential ties to him? He's smarter than that. We don't have enough information to provide a motive for her death, and only enough to show why it's so wildly out of character for him. So what happened?

Well, let's look at Sohreh and what her death meant here. Throughout the entirety of the game, she was one of the limited few to ever express anything positive about Zandik, with a bit of romance hinted from her side. Zandik saved her (and the team) from a rogue machine. She thinks he's handsome, and the two go on a picnic together. But something happens, and she's found dead around tigers. Of course, I believe this to be Pierro's doing in some way. Losing Sohreh leads to Zandik's isolation, right into Pierro's clutches, just like Niwa. She was the pillar that held up his life; all the worst comes after her death. Zandik reaped no discernible benefits from her dying...but Pierro sure did. He got arguably his most valuable Harbinger from this. He has shown that he's got it in him; sabotage plans are an area of expertise. With the limited information we have, there is more benefit and ability on Pierro's end to do something like this.

I've got to say, there's just something narratively satisfying about Dottore carrying out a similar plan on Scaramouche, like Pierro did to him...

I feel like it's also worth mentioning what just happened in Nod-Krai, where we have this mystery ally helping us the whole time...and we learn this was Bina working backward, fulfilling her fate. Upon learning what she did, she makes sure to push every piece into place to keep things running smoothly. We have a trailer where Pierro is using his special gaze, then a nation with a fate paradox of Bina fulfilling her own actions, with a "villain" suddenly obsessed with fate. So again, we get shown something all about the manipulation of fate, following one of Pierro's rare appearances. The Director is meant to spend most of their time behind the scenes, only popping in when their input is needed to keep things back on track. Because think about Dottore...when before this point had he ever been considering fate?

In Sumeru, he's here working on some plan that most likely came from the Tsaritsa or at least was common knowledge among Harbingers, seeing as he and Capitano discussed it very openly at the funeral. He spoke of knowledge here, the price of knowing things, what it takes to be a "true" scholar.

Then when we next see him... it's like he's burdened by the truth of the world, taking wild actions to avoid whatever's coming to him. I believe that in-between Sumeru and Nod-krai, Dottore was directly told or subtly coaxed by Pierro into learning some forbidden/taboo knowledge about his own fate. Just like way back then, Pierro told Scara about the meteorites, intentionally pushing him to learn about the fake sky...he planted some sort of fate seeds in Dottore.

Pierro says that not a single piece can be spared, not Capitano, whom he's potentially known for 5 centuries. Not Signora, a grieving widow he "saved" at her lowest. Dottore, an outcast heretic who yearns for a place to be accepted. Scaramouche, a manipulated puppet who only ever wanted to belong. None of them. He is willing to twist their lives around to serve whatever purposes he, or perhaps the Tsaritsa, needs.

Look to the description of the Mocking Mask in Pale Flame. The Jester laughs in the face of fate; he wants to rewrite destiny. It's right there. He has to know fate to be able to change it.

Consider the specific title of "Director" when all the Harbingers have "Theater" names. He is here to oversee every little detail, make sure things go according to his "Vision," and what is that thing he does in the NK trailer? His "Gaze" is powerful enough to glare at the shades, even before he assembled the Fatui, seconds before he was even cursed.He assigns the roles to them; he chooses who they become and what they should embody, even when it seemingly doesn't fit them. It's like he knows who these people are before even they do.

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This was alot, I hope to gather ideas from you guys bc there's certainly something I missed. I hope to get my bigger post in a coherent state sometime today but it's a bit of a ramble right now 😭😭