Dottore and the Aranara
Segment 25 manipulated segment 8 into proposing the Aranara experiment. Or at least had some amount of influence on it.
I had felt that there was something off when reading Anomalous Tree Marrow II. In the first conversation,>!8 tells the other segments that his notebook was missing (containing his experiment proposal) and asked if any of them had taken it, where it's revealed that 18 had thrown it away due to it looking "childish". !<
This doesn't match the Dottore Aranara story found in Sumeru's interactables and dialogue.
Located in Apam Woods, these records bear strong similarities to Dottore's work at the abandoned Eleazar hospital in Dar al-Shifa, (found in the Eleazar Hospital Notes and Anomalous Tree Marrow I Acute Toxicity Test) which we know were conducted by the original Zandik when he was in his 20's. We assume he was in his 20's because segment 25 is shown working at the Eleazar hospital in the "Those Who Shun the Light" story (though the toxicity test's investigator is Zandik) and Pantalone's age is noted as 20 during this time.
The ragged records couldn't have been written by the original Zandik (for several reasons such as he stayed in Snezhnaya due to motion sickness traveling by train, 8's proposal was when Zandik was 65+, and the writing style matches 20-something year old Dottore), therefore leaving segment 25 and his research into Eleazar and the withering as the culprit.
Moving on, there's two different parties trying to capture Aranara in Sumeru. One is the Farrokhzadan, an elite eremite clan currently commissioned by the Fatui, and the other is the Fatui near Vimara Village, specifically Trofin Snezhevich (under the guise of Alphonso) from Fontaine.
Trofin Snezhevich: Capture Aranara. It's an order from "The Doctor," so that he can study the connections between Aranara, dreams, and The Withering.
Trofin Snezhevich: Weaponizing dreams and The Withering seems to be one of his projects. Of course, I and every Fatuus you defeated are his "source of study."
Trofin Snezhevich: We can't see Aranara, but Kavus, Sudabeh, and Iotham have what it takes to befriend them.
- So you let the Fatui abduct them to lure the Aranara out.
Trofin Snezhevich: Correct, and the Aranara did show up. But their power truly was amazing, able to free those kids right under the nose of heavy security...
Trofin Snezhevich: The Doctor has eyes on something truly incredible this time...
Trofin explicitly states what Dottore wants to weaponize, and it's equivalent to what's stated in Segment 25's ragged records.
So why would 25 manipulate 8 into proposing the Aranara experiment? Going back to Anomalous Tree Marrow II, the segments don't seem to recognize the potential of the idea, 18 calling it "childish" and 45 calling it "adorable". 25 likely knew they would react in this way, so to save face, he must have casually brought up the Aranara, Eleazar, and the Withering to 8 to plant the idea in his head. Now I use the word "manipulate" because 25 asks 8 if something important was written in the notebook, making it seem as if he was unaware. But with the exact parallels between what's written in the ragged records and Trofin's dialogue, how could 8 have come up with the exact same idea all on his own?
Posted Jun 3, 2026, 1:52 AM UTC