While I am completely convinced that Pantalone and Dottore were, in fact, toxic enablers whose like-minded disdain for Teyvat's laws turned their relationship into a dangerous echo chamber that likely drove them both to extremes over the last 400 years, I think one thing I really appreciate (and which I haven't seen much talk over) is that Dottore's care for Pantalone's well-being was absolutely not one-sided.
Despite not having a single thought for his own health or safety, Pantalone clearly knows Dottore's mental state is a trainwreck, and we get to see Pantalone try multiple times to confront Dottore's (well, Omega's) unhealthy mindset and negative self-image.
In particular, Pantalone seems fixated on reminding Omega of Dottore's humanity--he insists that Omega is Zandik, the person, not just a Segment, and repeatedly refuses to accept that Omega is incapable of human feeling.
Putting aside the potentially very dark reason here (claiming that Omega is Zandik could simply be a way of avoiding the grief of losing the original Zandik--if he's still there, Pantalone doesn't have to mourn him), I think this is actually an incredible degree of kindness to Dottore.
It is clear, and not even particularly subtle, that the Segments (especially Omega) struggled with issues of self-identity, of not knowing whether to think of themselves as "Zandik" or as separate entities, unable to move on from the mindsets they were locked into upon their creation, unable to differentiate into their own people over time, unable to surpass the creator to become "real." Omega makes it particularly clear that he disdained this lifestyle and the other Segments, refusing to see them as anything but extensions of "himself," rather than their own individuals (because his egoism is a poorly projected mask he uses to hide his own struggle to see himself as an individual and not "the one who should be Zandik but isn't"). Omega ultimately craves to subsume the other Segments, becoming "the only Dottore" so that he can finally achieve a whole identity and personhood for himself. There's so, so, so much existential horror in this concept that it's hard to even conceive of how miserable a life it would be--mentally understanding yourself as someone while knowing that you are actually a something instead.
Out of everyone in the game, the only character we see actually affirming Omega's identity, telling him that he is a person, he has a name, he is entitled to the very identity he was born with... is Pantalone. Whatever his reasons--selfish or twisted as they may be--Pantalone is the only person treating Omega like a real human being, and the only one we see over and over trying to remind Omega that, deep down, he still has a human heart.
Even that final statement:
Is a powerful exercise in recognizing agency, allowing Omega to decide for himself what identity he wants to finally, finally lay claim to.
Pantalone doesn't just care about Dottore's intelligence or the benefits he's reaped by being Dottore's financial backer. He cares about Dottore's sense of self, his identity, his very existence.
And the game goes out of its way to make it clear that isn't just a one-off thing--Pantalone's been prodding at Dottore's mental issues for years, trying to get Dottore to work his way through some of his distorted thinking since well back in their relationship. The Anomalous Tree Marrow notes:
In this case, "selfishness" seems to refer to not only the idea of being literally self-centered (i.e. Omega wanting to value his own existence above the other Segments or even the original Zandik), but also to Omega's clear self-hatred. If all the Segments are Zandik, then viewing Zandik as weak, pathetic, or in need of replacement means seeing yourself as weak and pathetic; believing you are "better" than the others means first admitting that "you" were never perfect.
Omega's desire to kill the other Segments, to claim Zandik's identity, to elevate himself to the position of godhood, to fight with everything he has against the fate the heavens assigned "him", all ultimately stem from an inability to accept himself, a constant selfish refusal of reality, an all-consuming desire to achieve more, to learn more, to be more.
Pantalone, in fact, implies this with his metaphor about the praying criminal:
Dottore misunderstands and takes the metaphor literally, but Pantalone's point is clarified later for the viewers:
Over and over again, Pantalone tried to warn Omega that his views and behaviors towards himself were utterly self-destructive, that his self-centered fixation with being "Dottore" stems from an inherent disgust for "Zandik" [himself] and his very human limitations. Quietly, if perhaps too gently, Pantalone has been trying for years to help Omega rethink his fragmented self-identity and reconsider the value of his life as a person.
And it seems that he almost, almost made it through to Omega sometimes:
To an appropriate degree, of course.
Omega can never reflect too deeply on himself or his course of action, because doing so would force him to confront the gaping abyss that lies between the inflated, narcissistic front he projects and the significantly more fragile sense of inadequate "self" that lies below it.
It even seems that Pantalone was able to understand Dottore's mental needs much more than anyone else, being also the only character we see to deliberately, clearly, and repeatedly give Omega the validation he so blatantly fishes for, over and over:
Make all the jokes you want about Dottore giving the Traveler 16578698 chances to join forces, but the reason he did that was because--even while insisting he doesn't remotely care--he obviously desperately craves understanding, acceptance, and respect from others. There's a reason the very first thing he asked Pierro was "Are you going to reject me like everyone else?"
Pantalone knows that Omega--well, all versions of Dottore most likely--needed acceptance, admiration, and confirmation of respect from others, and he went out of his way to repeatedly reassure Omega, giving his praise and accolades wherever it was due, while literally every other character in the game--even Dottore's other Fatui allies!--have not a single positive word to say.
While everyone is busy talking about how much Dottore cared for Pantalone's physical well-being, I think it's incredible just how obviously that care was returned. Pantalone cared! He really did. Dottore tried to protect Pantalone's health despite all of Pantalone's attempts to self-sabotage, but Pantalone tried to protect Dottore's absolutely fractured mental health despite every action leading Dottore closer to total self-destruction.
The irony, of course, is that Pantalone's own mental health is clearly a disaster too, and Dottore has no regard for life that isn't Pantalone's, so this was one of the most obvious (and frankly sad) examples of "the blind leading the blind"--neither one of these characters is remotely healthy, but they still tried their best to help each other. Clearly neither one of them knows how to fix the incredibly broken people that they are, but they were trying! Even as their convictions and goals dragged them both further and further into the dark, they still saw each other's suffering and tried to alleviate it, where no one else in the entire world bothered.
It's really amazing to me how much Hoyo managed to pack into just one little patch. In terms of using the narrative to convey tons of information about characters' relationships, mental states, and personal narrative arcs, I really can't think of another patch that did it quite as well as this one.
I keep wondering: how is it that somehow, impossibly, Dottore was able to appear to Pantalone outside Irminsul while the tree burned? But of course he would. The world's Rules are going up in smoke. Where else would he be?
Dottore died three months ago. The Segments died three years ago. Zandik died over three centuries ago.
Pantalone has lost Zandik over and over again (often to his own self-hatred, no less). The grief would be indescribable. Yet Pantalone never wavers, even knowing the cost of uploading the remaining piece of Dottore’s soul that had been entrusted to him for safekeeping. He admires Zandik’s determination far too much to hesitate.
And, despite what Dottore might like to believe, Pantalone has never cared which version of Zandik is it. He sees them all as facets of the whole. They are all that brilliant, arrogant, selfish man to whom Pantalone has bound himself so thoroughly with the ring on his finger and the contracts on his desk and his own body as collateral.
When Irminsul burns, the fate that branded Zandik a heretic is turning to ash. Zandik is free, and he uses that first and final act of freedom to say goodbye to Feofan. He might not cherish life, but he certainly cherishes the one person who has seen and loved and grieved the very best and worst of him.
Whenever Pantalone looks at his body he sees all the scars from various injuries and surgeries and thinks of the man who helped him through it and kept him alive.
After 6.6 he probably couldn’t look at his own body for a while because of the memories it brought up. The scars from his lung replacement, faint lines by now but still visible. He traces them with his fingertips, following the path Dottore once took with his scalpel. Dottore gave him the ability to continue breathing, but now as his mind floods with memories and his heart constricts painfully he finds himself unable to breathe. The reason why he has been able to breathe for 225 years is now the reason he cannot.
You guys ever think about what Pantalone had to go through following the original Zandik's death? Obv all the grief and morning, but he also left his segments behind. How long did it take him to decide that these people were both his husband and not at the same time? That they were just fragments of the picture that was Zandik? And that his self-hatred was forever frozen in a way that ultimately cost him his life? How do you think Pantalone felt knowing his husband had, essentially, killed himself? That he couldn't even be angry at the people who left him for dead? And then to continue living for another 400 years with his shadows haunting you only to watch him die again and again and again?
Did you know the original Pantalone in the Commedia dell'arte was often depicted as a widow?
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