Pantalonely

Cyan (they/them) ★ NSFW AO3 ☆ My Essays

[cyan-is-pantalonely]

Infinite Possibilities: All the Pieces of Dottore’s Soul & the Anchor Back

Part V of the Dottore Ramblings (Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV)

So, I’ve speculated that Zandik has more Segments than what we’ve seen so far, and I’d like to offer the theory that:

Zandik sliced his original soul into 13 pieces (12 + 1)

Dottore later split his fragment into another 3 pieces (1 = 3)

And one of those pieces is still on Teyvat

May I offer the memory-wiped Escher we find outside of Segment Domain Tau, perhaps?

Overview

The other day, Silvy and I were dissecting that fascinating visual from 6.6 that appears when Dottore tells Pantalone:

“I,” that is, Zandik, created Segments of various ages in his later years. To achieve this, he had to freeze time and part with a portion of his soul.

Seems significant that these red shimmers appear the instant Dottore talks about Zandik’s soul, so we counted them.

There are 13 fragments. Because of course there are.

13 is enormously significant in the Kabbalah, an esoteric tradition at the heart of divination, alchemy, and a lot of Genshin’s worldbuilding. In the Kabbalah, 13 symbolizes enlightenment and the infinite, and it also represents breaking free from cycles, constraints, and imposed order.

Sound a little like someone we know?

My theory is that, while Zandik used puppets to split his soul into 13, Dottore later split his soul fragment via the Three Deadly Selves.

In the Kabbalah 3 represents understanding and the resolution of opposites. This would be the ultimate form of spiritual and alchemical transcendence, the non-duality of the Mahayana philosophy that Silvy has written about here, and also… Dottore’s way back to Teyvat.

One piece entered Irminsul via death

One piece entered Irminsul as data

And one piece is left on Teyvat as an anchor.

Given Dottore’s connection to the Segment Domain Tau, my theory is that this anchor is Escher... or maybe the damn lizard.

TL;DR

On the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, 13 is the crown signifying infinity, freedom from cycles, and the end as the beginning

Dottore’s mask is literally the upside-down crown of reason

The Watchers' theme is Pseudepigrapha of Zohar, which translates to "false author of the foundational text of the Kabbalah."

Dottore is visually and thematically connected to Segment Domain Tau. If the Watcher is the false prophet, Dottore is enlightened Truth

Dottore laments not being able to split his soul further, implying a second split; specifically, the game points to a threefold split

In the Narzissenkreuz Ordo quests, Caterpillar tells us that threefold soul splitting is how you defeat Fate

The missing part of Dottore’s soul is likely the memory-wiped Escher, whom we will have to restore

Which leads me to speculate: this is all part of the Tsaritsa’s plan to “wake up” the Heavenly Principles and finally battle it out. Dottore, her Second, has not gone rogue. He’s issuing her declaration of war.

Quick Primer on the Kabbalah

If you want to jump into the Dottore stuff, you can skip to the next section. This one is background on the Kabbalah and Genshin’s worldbuilding.

The Kabbalah is the esoteric tradition of Jewish mysticism that seeks to understand the hidden nature of the universe via the teachings of the Tree of Life. There are a lot of overlaps between the Kabbalah and Gnosticism, which also gives us the Gnoses.

And the Kabbalah is woven through Genshin’s worldbuilding.

From the Renaissance on, Kabbalistic principles influenced other mystical practices, most notably divination (such as Tarot) and alchemy. So in Part III, when I read Dottore as The Hanged Man and connected him to Azoth as the ultimate substance of alchemy, those were both already linked to the Kabbalah.

Like many real world cosmologies, the Kabbalah is centred around a Tree of Life (analogous to the World Tree Yggdrasil in Norse Myth, for example). The Kabbalah also uses this tree as a symbolic diagram for spiritual development, otherwise known as enlightenment.

It’s kind of like… a World Formula.

Behold: The Kabbalistic Tree of Life from the Zohar (left), and the World Formula from the Book of Esoteric Revelations Fontaine World Quest (right). Yeah… we’re way  down the rabbit hole now.

The nodes in this image are called sefirot. They represent the structural forces of nature (Order) and the faculties of the soul. Likened to flame, they come from the Ein Sof, which literally translates to “without end.” Ein Sof is infinity, endlessness, and the state of the universe before order was imposed.

The sefirot emanate from above to below. The first of the sefirot is at the top and because it is closest to Ein Sof (infinity, divinity), it is the least comprehensible to the human mind. The node at the bottom is the most easily understood because it is closest to the material world.

Up is down, the beginning is the end, and who do we constantly see upside-down?

(Major credit to my gf for all the Kabbalah stuff. She has a background in the study of esoteric religion and also unending patience for my Dottore ramblings)

13 Signifying Infinite Possibilities

The goal of the Tree of Life is to understand how the infinite Ein Sof manifests as reality. This takes place in the highest sphere—the first of the sephirot—known as Keter or the Crown.

In Genshin, the Crown is our fifth artifact piece, known as the Crown of Reason, the Circlet of Logos, or The Mask.

Look at Dottore’s mask, and what do we see? The inverted crown of reason. It’s no coincidence that Dottore is associated with the Hanged Man in Genshin’s Lunar Arcana, the same Hanged Man suspended upside down from the Tree of Life on the corresponding Tarot card.

When Dottore hangs upside-down, the crown is right-side up.

As above, so below. This is transcendence or Azoth, which contains the first and last letters of the Latin, Hebrew, and Greek alphebets:

A & Z

Aleph and Tav

Alpha and Omega

Omega—the Dottore build who wears the inverted Crown of Reason as his mask—is at the top and the bottom of the Tree of Life. He finds enlightenment through infinite cosmic possibility (above, opening the sky, accessing the beyond) and the burning depths of Irminsul (below, the crucible, unification).

In the Kabbalah, the Crown is the first sephirot. It is number one and also the last step to be achieved. It is linked to the number 13 through infinity and the 13 Attributes of mercy that will bring salvation and liberate the people from suffering.

Which is what Dottore did at the end of 6.6 when his plan resulted in the shackles of Fate being stripped from the world.

In these same mystical philosophies, 13 also represents breaking free from the constraints of cycles, which we might know in Genshin as Samsaras. It is transcendence beyond natural limits.

Order, according to the Kabbalah, is represented by 12:

12 months of the calendar year (literally the cycles of time)

and the 12 signs of the Zodiac (or Fate written in the stars)

And as the Heretic of the False Moon says:

There is no inherent structure to life’s flow—order was merely imposed upon it. Strip away every shackle laid across this world, and the essence of all things will at last come into view.

13 represents stripping away these shackles. It’s transcendence, enlightenment, and freedom from cyclical suffering. It’s divine mercy and connection with “infinite oneness.”

All of this is the Kabbalistic mirror to Dottore’s Mahayana philosophy, which Silvy has written about here, here, here aaand here. The two of us started from completely different angles and ended up at the exact same place (and we’ve sorta been freaking out about it for days).

Occultists have mapped these connections out before, presenting Keter as analogous to other principles of enlightenment, including the Buddhist Dharmayaka (source as an example, not an endorsement).

In Mahayana Buddhism, Dharmayaka refers to the Prajñaparamita (the teachings themselves, analogous to the Zohar of the Kabbalah) and to the emptiness that is the true nature of things. Prajnaparamitopadesa to Quell Seven Calamities is Dottore’s boss theme as the Heretic of the False Moon.

Another thing I love about all this 13 stuff: In western superstition, the number 13 is unlucky, an ill omen, and a harbinger of death.

So isn’t it fitting that the Heretic who longs to liberate the world from the cycles of suffering but is constantly denounced as a madman is associated with a number that seems to be evil on the surface but is actually the number of infinite possibilities and truth?

If I’m not delusional and all this really is intentional, I’m giving Hoyo a standing ovation for the symbolism.

The Zohar

Before moving on to the threefold soul split, I have to talk about the Zohar, which is the foundational text of the Kabbalah. To summarize from this research primer:

All these ideas served the needs of the common people who hungered for supernatural visions and an opportunity to identify themselves in some way with the cosmic process itself. To such persons estranged from the goods of the world, the secrets of the Kabbalah provided new avenues of participation in a more true reality.

Wouldn’t you know! The word Zohar appeared in Genshin last week with the 6.6 soundtrack and the song: Pseudepigrapha of Zohar.

This track plays in two locations:

In the Temple of Space World Quest when we fight Melanta

On Windrest Peak as the boss theme for The Open Eyed also known as Nihilita or Watcher: Fallen Vigil.

It’s the song of the Watchers. The description of the Open Eyed says:

As sovereign of the world's watchtower, it wielded the authority bestowed by its creator—the power to correct all matters of "innovation" and "evolution." After enduring countless aeons of nescience, it finally chose to open that eye, defying the will of its creator, beholding both the falsehoods and the truths of the world.

Crucially, pseudepigrapha refers to a falsely attributed text, often in the context of biblical writings and those of Jewish mysticism (e.g. the Kabbalah). This tells us that the Watchers—the failed, artificial angels—are not the real author of this more true reality.

And if they aren’t the authentic one, then maybe the person who truly perceives the truths of the world is none other than Omega.

There are too many visual similarities between Moonttore and Melanta for them NOT to be connected. Not to mention the contrast between the blue of Dottore and the red of the Watchers. The same colours we see in Irminsul in the GIF with which this essay opens.

Segment Domain Omega... I mean Tau

All of this is happening in the shadows of Segment Domain Tau. The word Segment is not here by accident, nor is it a localization oddity. Shoutout to millionwaters for the prompt to look it up the original text:

Segment Domain Tau: 切片辖域・陶

Dottore’s Segments: 切片

Here’s where things get (more) unhinged. Phonetically, the Greek Tau corresponds to the Hebrew Tav. But Tav is also the last letter of the alphabet and the last part of Azoth, the ultimate substance of alchemy, the process of enlightenment, the end, the... Omega.

Tau = Tav (phonetic) = Omega (end)

And, while I was already losing my mind putting this together, Silvy hit me with: did you know the Aranara smile is the letter Tav?

He definitely thought that. Probably.

DID ZANDIK START FIGURING THIS SHIT OUT WHEN HE WAS 8?!?

25: Is there something important written in that notebook? 8: My experiment proposal's in there. 45: You're not planning on abducting Aranara for your experiment, are you? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

As I read this to my gf, she pointed out that this helps explain why Zandik made an 8 year old version of himself (which is a pretty messed up thing to do). If, later in his life, Zandik remembered this missing piece, he needed a version of himself to be able to SEE it.

If Melanta is the false prophet of the Zohar, then maybe, just maybe, Zandik is its genuine author, the one who succeeds in discovering the truth. And after all, the next two songs on the album are Beyond the Sphere of Duhkha and Advaita of the Perpetual World, Dottore’s first and second phase boss themes from the battle in Irminsul.

The Second Split

So that’s the first half of my Segment theory. Now, we look at Dottore segmenting his already-segmented-soul and how this process gives him a way back to Teyvat. I anchor this theory around two points:

Dottore laments not being able to further split his soul

The game is hitting us on the head with threefold soul-splitting

The Threshold of Soul Splitting

In his conversation with Pantalone in 6.6, Dottore grouses that he can’t keep splitting his soul indefinitely:

It’s a pity. Despite running countless calculations, I find there is simply no way to reduce any further the amount of one’s soul required to sustain an individual.

While this could suggest Zandik couldn’t split his soul beyond the original 13 (12 + 1), I take this as fragment-of-a-fragment Datattore saying he cannot splice himself for a third time.

Because he has already been split into three.

We know 35 split himself into at least two pieces, Moonttore and Datattore, because Pantalone tells us so:

The remainder of your soul was split in two, with one half sent to Nod-Krai and the other stored in the most secure vault of the Northland Bank.

This seems like an obvious strike against my three-soul theory because Pantalone literally just said two... or does it?

The moment Pantalone says “two,” the camera cuts to an overhead view where we see a visual image of one path turning into three. This is not a 4-way intersection with 90 degree angles. This is decidedly 1 becoming 3 (video and screaming about it here).

Through visual storytelling, the game is correcting Pantalone's false assumption (or clarifying that, when Pantalone says remainder of your soul, there's the hidden implication of another piece already there).

From my perspective, it makes perfect sense for Dottore to not tell Pantalone about the third soul. Not because he doesn’t trust Pantalone but because this information would put Pantalone in danger.

Dottore has spent 400 years trying to protect this man from everyone who wants to kill him ever since Pantalone was a “bank clerk.” The guy has been shot, poisoned, and had acid thrown at him. So yeah, I buy him not telling Pantalone about the last piece for his own safety.

Instead, Dottore hints at it in the language of possibility:

In the event that my soul was depleted, say we extracted my data from someone else’s memories—yours, for instance—and then combined it with your intact soul as the base material... What would we create?

Three is a Pattern

The other evidence for the threefold split is more meta-textual. Since 6.3, we’ve received a lot of information on the Three Deadly Selves.

Early on, we hear about the practice from Caterpillar in Riddles Awaiting Answers, a World Quest in the Narzissenkruz Ordo series. This is the quest line that:

gives us the World Formula diagram resembling the Tree of Life

foreshadows Dottore entering Irminsul to create a new reality

and lays out the path of transcendence through alchemy

So this series is really important for understanding Dottore.

In 6.3, we get a helpful refresher thanks to Sandrone and Pulonia. One of the texts they peruse when searching for the World Formula is Explications on the Chymical Marriage:

Three pertains to appearance, while four pertains to the intrinsic. Seven, obtained through their overlap, constitute the number of paths for vertical transcendence.

As I talk about in Part III, this idea is foundational to spiritual alchemy, which begins with ego death and ends with enlightenment of the world-saving flavour.

When Caterpillar first tells us about splitting the soul into three, the exact words are:

They call it "Tri-Factor Excision" in Liyue, and in Sumeru, "Shattering Atmagraha." [Narzissenkreuz] called it "Renunciation of the Ego." 

Narzissenkreuz believed the path of Truth required renouncing Fate itself. We get more insight in Note 2, which is found in the Ordo:

To excise the self is not to die, but rather to die before death. That way, there is no life to be ended. Thus may one achieve eternity. This step is vital, for by this, may one avoid receiving a Vision by some error. To receive a Vision is to sell oneself to the “fate” of this world—to Heimarmene, and to evermore lose the chance to walk the correct path.

Heimarmene is cosmic destiny. It is what is transcended through the signification of 13 in the Kabbalah. This is Fate, the imposed order of the Heavenly Principles, the construct they use to shackle the world.

Which means threefold soul splitting is how you defeat Fate. It’s the loophole, the way out, enlightenment, infinity, transcendence.

Remember when the devs told us the whole point of Nod-Krai was to clarify a lot of lore in the World Quests that we missed? Well, I'm not sure how successfully they clarified it, but they sure did put everything on the table for us to see it all with fresh eyes.

It’s not a coincidence that 6.3 is the patch that gave us Zibai. Not long after that, we learn Qiqi has Three Deadly Selves too. Genshin always uses their stories as tools to tell other stories (hello, Simulanka).

When events coincide within a patch, or when they recur again and again, we’re being told to pay attention.

The Mirror of the Narzissenkreuz Ordo

Prior to 6.6, I had a theory Dottore died on purpose in 6.3 to infiltrate Irminsul as a virus and destroy it from within. I only ever wrote about it in an author’s note of one of my fanfics (lol), and it was unnecessary to discuss after 6.6 once we figured out what he was up to.

But it’s important now. Not the theory, but how I got to the theory. Which was through the Fontaine World Quest Road to the Singularity.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: A callous, sadistic doctor undertakes experiments to enhance humans with machines after being kicked out of his nation's research hub. His goal is to create a neural network that spans the entire world so that he can eradicate the limitations and suffering of humanity by any means necessary.

The doctor’s name is Coutrot, and he was kicked out of the Fontaine Research Institute.

While Coutrot is not Dottore by any means, his story very clearly foreshadows Datattore and what he wanted to do in Irminsul: forge a new reality to liberate Teyvat from the endless cycles of suffering (Fate). As he tells the Traveler:

The limits of the body can be rejected. [...] You cannot conceive the extent to which your flesh hinders your mind and spirit.

The quest takes inspiration from a real-world book titled The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.

My point is that Genshin loops its stories. There is foreshadowing in the foreshadowing. So when the game tells us about threefold soul splitting with Zibai in the same patch Dottore gets obliterated, we listen.

13 Segments & 3 Souls

Back to the Kabbalah: 3 represents understanding, balance, and the resolution of opposites between singularity (1) and duality (2).

This is, of course analogous to the principle of non-duality, the Advaita of Mahayana philosophy Silvy discusses in the context of Datattore’s Phase 2 Boss theme: Advaita Of The Perpetual World.

My take is that Dottore has synthesised his knowledge of alchemy (from studying Scaramouche) with his familiarity with soul-splicing (Shattering Atmagraha) to follow the path of infinity (13) and ultimate resolution (3).

And the reason he succeeds in overthrowing Fate where everyone else has so far failed is because he does both.

The 13 and 3 splits allow Dottore to transcend the limits of the human body, access infinity, and free the world from the imposed cycles of suffering and Fate. Not bad for a life’s work.

The Soul Anchor

And so we arrive at the final piece. If Dottore split himself into three, he also left himself a convenient soul-anchor on Teyvat for his return.

One piece entered Irminsul the proper way through his 6.3 death

One piece entered in 6.6 as Data

And one piece is still on Teyvat

Why am I convinced he has an anchor? Because we’ve seen this exact story happen before. Moon Sibling expert Silvy clocked it instantly:

Cyan: And again, that was a Fontaine World Quest. It literally foreshadowed Dottore entering Irminsul as data 😭 Cyan: Sooooooo it's not outside the realm of possibility that he has another fragment of a fragment of a soul out there (in the form of the MEMORY WIPED Escher, perhaps???) Silvy: Wait, that's what Columbina did. 😐 Silvy: She left Luonnotar as a piece of soul anchor to be able to return after shattering herself into moonlight. Cyan: YES! And didn't tell anyone she did that but there were hints Silvy: I think even she didn't know why she did it, up until her converging backwards/forward flowing timelines intersected for the last time. But if the blank slate Maukie is Dottore's Luonnotar... Cyan: And Segment Domain Tau is a perfect excuse for a memory wipe. Great way to store your lil soul fragment for a rainy day.

So yeah. I feel confident Dottore made his own Luonnotar as the third piece of his soul. Keeping in mind everything about the Segment Domain Tau and the Zohar, I suspect it takes the form of the Escher we met at the Statue of the Seven who didn’t even remember his name.

The other major piece of the Narzissenkreuz Ordo quest I haven’t mentioned yet is Four-Orthants: Wishes, Souls, Memory, and Persona.

3 + 4 = 7 is transcendence. If Maukie is the unfinished 4, then that last soul piece will need to be activated with Dottore’s memories. Like, you know, the ones the Traveler is literally walking around with in their bag…

You catch the faint sound of laughter, and like a thunderclap, it jolts your awareness back to the surface, pulling it free from the memories that nearly buried it. You let go of the tree marrow abruptly and wipe your face. You expect to find sweat, but there is none — it's all an illusion. You try to trace the contours of this rather indistinct sensation, but it feels almost impossible. Morality and purpose, benevolence and malice... All that was originally good and virtuous within you is resisting every perception from those memories that don't belong to you. After an indeterminate amount of time — perhaps seconds, or perhaps minutes — you finally get a hold of yourself and put this unusual object away into your pack. (Anomalous Tree Marrow III)

Chekhov would like to have a word to you about his gun Tree Marrow.

Another option, which is less likely but possible, is that the soul fragment has been grafted on to Pantalone’s soul, either through the Elixir or some other procedure (the dissection, maybe?). This would fit with the idea of Pantalone living on “borrowed time” if he’s drawing power from Dottore’s actual soul.

That, or it’s the damn lizard.

Not as cute as Luonnotar, but still pretty adorable.

Bonus Speculation: When Fate Wakes

If you find yourself thinking, “hmm, I wish this essay was a little more unhinged,” here’s some real speculative stuff for you.

There’s another place we see the number 13 occur in Genshin: the Thirteen Dragonlords.

After Nibelung returned to Teyvat with forbidden knowledge, Xiuhcoatl “woke up” from his false nap and stopped Kukulkan and the Thirteen Dragonlords from trying to forge another moon and explore the stars.

Now, I’m not saying Dottore is connected to the dragons, but I can’t help but see some parallels here between the number 13, the pursuit of knowledge, and the transcendence of Fate.

The Dragonlords were stopped, but Dottore’s fascination with the sky rewarded him. The moon fell into the palm of his hand, and his plan to infiltrate Irminsul led to the Pyro Gnosis burning Fate.

He accomplished what the dragons could not.

And, if Xiuhcoatl “woke up” to stop the 13 Dragonlords from probing into the mysteries beyond, then who or what might wake up now that Dottore succeeded?

Maybe whatever imposed Fate in the first place.

And maybe, just maybe, that was the whole point of the experiment. Destroying a Gnosis, freeing the world from the fetters of Fate… If the Tsaritsa wants to wage war on the Heavens, what better way than to wake Order itself.

My theory is that Dottore’s pursuit of infinite possibilities never went against the Tsaritsa’s goals. Instead, it was her declaration of war.

Thanks for Reading!

Whew! This is my most out of pocket essay yet, but now that I’ve written 15,000 words in this series, I’ve fully convinced myself Dottore is coming back.

Huge shout-out again to Silvy for some truly unhinged co-conspiracy-theorizing and much nonsense-enabling. Between the two of us, we’ve either figured Dottore out or become as insane as he is.

If you have thoughts on this essay or your own theories on Dottore, his Segments, and his return, I’d love to hear them!

[ailesswhumptober]

Prompts for AI-less Whumptober 2026

As always, picking what prompts to include was really hard thanks to you guys' wonderful brains, but we hope this list will excite many of you! Additional info + plain text versions of the prompts can be found under the cut. Please check the FAQ below before sending asks.

FAQ and Rules

What sort of content can I create for this event?

You can create whatever you want (fic, art, edits, etc). Any fandom is allowed, as well as OC stuff. NSFW is allowed, but please tag your content accordingly! The only thing not allowed is AI-generated content. You're also free to combine these prompts with the prompts of any other event.

Do I need to make 31 things to participate?

Oh heavens no! You can make as much or as little content as you like, skip days when desired, or combine prompts (so for example, write something that covers a prompt from day 1, 2, AND 3). You don't have to do the days in order either, go wild! To be considered a 'completionist', you only have to make sure that at the end of the month, you've covered 31 prompts from 31 different days, but whether you do that in 31 works or just 1 is up to you. Your works can be separate oneshots or one continuous fic, or something in-between.

How do I interpret these prompts?

Creativity is the name of the game here! If you don't understand a prompt, feel free to send us an ask about it. However, the important thing is you can interpret the prompts however you want. For example, 'heat' could be literal (fever, heatstroke, burn wounds) or figurative (somebody getting heat for something). The dialogue prompts are allowed to be slightly rewritten to fit better for the character whose mouth it's coming out of, be that the whumpee, whumpter, or caretaker. As long as you're having fun!

What are these alts about?

If none of the three prompts of a particular day are your cup of tea, you can swap them out for an alt prompt of your choice. This will count as having covered that day for completionists.

How do I tag my works and is there an AO3 collection?

It suffices to tag your work with #ailesswhumptober for us to see and reblog it! Please also tag nsfw content, since we'll be using that tag on this blog too. Tagging the day is optional but does help the mods along.

There will be an AO3 collection like every year. It will be linked here once created (closer to October).

What's this I hear about badges/achievements?

For those who want an extra challenge, we come up with a set of achievements each year in addition to the 'completionist' one for you to strive for. Each achievement you complete comes with a cool little badge, hand drawn by our very own Mod Radio, which you can claim at the end of the event. A full list of the achievements will be linked here once created (closer to October).

That should be all. If you have any additional questions, check our pinned or hit us up in the ask box. Or join our discord maybe, whumping can be a great group activity!

---

Plain text versions of the prompts:

October 1: Used like an object - Sacrificial lamb - "Can't you see you're hurting them?!" October 2: Pulled underwater - Electrical burns - "I never expected this from you."

October 3: Magical affliction - Struggling to breathe - "Pain makes you taste sweeter."

October 4: Substance withdrawal - Moments too late - "Shhh, shhh, you're okay."

October 5: Life altering injury - Pushed to the limit - "Go to hell!"

October 6: Arranged Marriage - Misunderstanding leads to whump - "I deserve this."

October 7: Trapped in a small space - Dehydration - "How many fingers am I holding up?"

October 8: Sibling caretaker - Whumpee trivializing their own trauma - "Me?! What about you?!"

October 9: Forced to fight - In the nick of time - "What happened? You look half dead."

October 10: No sedation - Flinching - "Just hold on a little longer."

October 11: War prize - Gilded cage - "You'll live to regret that, I'll make sure of it."

October 12: Psychological torture - Hallucinations - "This is where you belong."

October 13: Human shield - Surprised at being offered aid - "You're hurt because of me."

October 14: Thrown into a wall - Blood draining - "Look at you. Pathetic."

October 15: Last one left of a species - Raised in a laboratory - "Whatever happens, just remember that I love you."

October 16: Moment of softness - Losing a comfort item - “I hate you"..."I love you too.”

October 17: Apotheosis/Deification - Resurrection - "I'm saving you from yourself."

October 18: Collapsing from exhaustion - Hunted like an animal - "This is how you repay me?"

October 19: Nonconsensual body modifications - Unconventional limb removal - "Be good."

October 20: Bridal carry - Weakness - "Sweet dreams, whumpee."

October 21: Refeeding syndrome - Allergic reaction - "Don't move. Please, don't move."

October 22: Unconscious for days/weeks - Classic sickfic - "Hey, open your eyes. Stay awake for me."

October 23: Unwilling witness - Blindfolded - "I miss it more than I can ever explain."

October 24: Everybody you once loved is dead - Scar torn open - "Please don't lie to me."

October 25: Living weapon - Forced to hurt somebody - "If you love me, you'll do it." October 26: Fever causes a seizure - Can't see straight - "I thought it was just a cold."

October 27: Infection spread through bite - Rash - "Don't touch it, you'll make it worse." October 28: Flogging/Whipping - Hanging - "I just want it to stop." October 29: Stabbed in the back - Untrustworthy - "At least I never pretended to be anything I'm not." October 30: Public humiliation - Involuntary tremors - “Takes one to know one, hm?” 

October 31: (Found) family but they suck - Reading the will - "You actually thought I cared? That's hilarious." ALTS: 1. Haywire instincts

2. Shaving

3. Forced bitching

4. Time loop

5. Dopplegänger/Changeling

6. Tampering with food or drink 7. Eldritch horror

8. Fight/Flight/Freeze/Fawn

9. "Let me protect you for once!"

10. "You don't have a home left to go back to."

[cyan-is-pantalonely]

The Archon Quest was phenomenal. But once again, the Traveler's selective willingness to give only certain Harbingers the benefit of the doubt continues to make me tear my hair out. Act II Spoilers ⬇

Traveler, my buddy, my darling protagonist, they're saying the same thing. Of course, when it comes from the Doctor, it's pure sophistry. From the Jester, it's a compelling point and look at us, we're allies now!

Narratively, I recognize that this is the point. Dottore adopted the role of the villain purposefully and without hesitation, and the cost is how others perceive him. But I had to laugh throughout this entire scene because come on. The Traveler comes across as completely clueless.

This was such a missed opportunity for an interior monologue line to the tune of "These ideas sound so familiar. Maybe this is what the Doctor was trying to tell me in Nod-Krai."

Reckoning with the reality that Dottore had attempted to communicate this exact same knowledge to the Traveler—however questionable his methods may have been—would have fit so perfectly with the Signora arc, too. I can only assume that they're leaving this as a future plot point closer to Dottore's resurrection because it otherwise makes no sense not to touch on it in the Complex Feelings About Harbingers patch.

Anyway, I want a three page apology letter on Dottore's Pantalone's desk by Monday.

[lameow-l]

is it corruption when friends help each other? didn’t think so

[watcher0flightanddarkness]

sus 7.1 leaks

pantalone more like panDORA, if the whole soul box thing is true. dattatore was all the evil in the world but he kept the box which maybe has some hope (for dottores resurrection) left within it

[cyan-is-pantalonely]

allegedly leaks / suspicious / take with a grain of salt but: https://x.com/d0tt0r3/status/2087803158491738233?s=46&t=URqb9l0pD-6CIn8zeo_kOg

Whatever is going on here will either eviscerate me or be the best thing to come out of playing this game for the last way-too-many years of my life. Screenshot of the leak and rambling below ⬇

Is Pantalone keeping Dottore's soul box in his office after all this time because that's the only thing he has left of him? Or is it because there's still some soul piece inside it and he has something planned?

I'm rereading the 6.6 dialogue and what if the Data we've been thinking of as the soul wasn't actually the soul? What if those are two separate pieces: soul vs. data, i.e. memory. Pantalone says:

The remainder of your soul was split in two, with one half sent to Nod-Krai and the other stored in the most secure vault of the Northland Bank.

Rene's Four Orthants are wish, soul, memory, and persona. Dottore specifically brings up Pantalone's intact soul and memories. If there's still a soul fragment in the Northland Bank plus the essence of Dottore's ambition in Anomalous Tree Marrow III—which the Traveler, for reasons unfathomable, is carrying around in their pocket—those could be soul and wish respectively. And then Escher could be the persona. Recipe for restoration?

Or maybe this is the box where Pantalone keeps his new pet lizard! *is dragged away from keyboard*

It's so easy to get carried away with these things, but given that this game has already proven its ability to drive us insane with numbers, might be worth pointing out that:

Dottore first shows up in 3.1

He appears in Nod-Krai at the end of 6.1

Now his remains might show up in 7.1

What does it mean, Hoyo? Also Dottore beard...

Snezhnaya is going to be the most anxiety-inducing region by far. I'm here begging for Pantalone to survive the upcoming patches despite being swaddled in death flags, hoping they find a way to bring Dottore back with the half dozen Chekov's guns left behind, and counting down the days until the mid-region silhouette preview that will make or break the game for me.

Many thanks for the link, anon! Taking all the hope I can get.

[cyan-is-pantalonely]

Consider: if evil, why adorable? They even made sure his wedding ring is still visible in chibi form. (From the Snezhnaya Career Test web event)

[viruviwold]

the PERSON I'll become if Pantalone/death and Dottore/life become something....

I genuinely want them to have that contrast too.... the "Heretic" is bound to give life and the one who bears the name of the "Manifestation of God" is bound to death are we crazy?..... I already talked about Dottore and life here's the link ♡ but you're missing Pantalone....... besides Ronova is here in 7.X soooo pls... It's like going back to my Arlefuri days

[viruviwold]

oh my god what the hell????

[cyan-is-pantalonely]

I hope there are red poppies in Snezhnaya, to reflect Zandik's eyes, like Sumeru roses do Feofan's.

Ah, that would be such a nice touch. The Sumeru roses really do match Feofan's eyes so well, and Zandik deserves an equally perfect flower.

Poppies would be gorgeous against the snow, but I'd also offer the red carnation as an alternative. In Russia, the red carnation is a symbol of revolution. It's the flower of blood and mourning, and it's placed on monuments to honour the sacrifices of soldiers.

[cyan-is-pantalonely]

Notes on Pantalone, Delusions, and the Elixir of Immortality

The way Pantalone’s eye appears in the coin has had me thinking about Delusions, not only because the angle of the background behind the coin comes across suspiciously like a Delusion casing but also because of their connection to God remains and the Elixir of Immortality.

In Genshin, the Chinese term for Delusion is Evil Eye, (where Visions are Eye of God). In the Kabbalah, eyes are channels to the soul, and the Evil Eye is a destructive force created by ego, envy, or resentment over someone else’s success. Moment of Cessation tells us:

Perhaps he lusted for money because he had once been destitute, Or perhaps the fact that the gods had never looked upon him with favor ignited a burning desire for resistance inside him...

Pantalone is motivated by resentment, which is also the destructive force behind Delusions and the Abyss. Delusions are fabricated with God remains, and they drain their users' life force because people can't handle the resentment in them. And, according to Barbeloth, the Abyss itself is resentment over the "Fates that will not come to pass."

Delusion = God Remains = Resentment = Abyss

Silvy, Millionwaters, and Lonethetraveler have all variously suggested that Dottore's Elixir of Immortality is made with God remains, and I'm almost certain this is the case because:

Dottore cured the previously-incurable Eleazar using God remains

He perfected the Elixir using Zandik's autopsy, and Zandik's body is future God remains—a heretical God, but a God nonetheless

We learn about the Elixir in the same patch we're repeatedly hit over the head with how Dottore injected Collei with God remains

And because this game will not give me a moment of peace:

Pantalone’s name is Feofan, alternately Theophanes, and this choice is likely a nod to Theophan Prokopovich, a Russian bishop, astronomer, and religious reformer. Do you know what his birth name was?

Eleazar. Theophan was born Eleazar.

I don't have a real conclusion here, but I do think it's significant that the Elixir only works on Pantalone. Maybe it's his resentment. Maybe there's something that inherently renders him immune to the corruptive effects of God remains. Either way, the Elixir pausing his physical and cognitive aging makes me think he can use Delusions and possibly even the Abyss without experiencing their side effects.

Playable Electro-Delusion-infused gun-wielding Pantalone, I guess?

[lonethetraveler]

Since we have Pantalone's design now and it has a suspicious amount of dragon motifs, I've seen at least a few people throw out that he's the Electro Sovereign reborn in a human form like Neuvillette, but without any memories. Personally that doesn't seem quite right to me. I think it doesn't quite make sense with what we know from Neuvillette, and I also feel like it would be a step back in terms of lore escalation for Genshin's overall narrative. I'd like to propose instead: Nibelung.

Now not exactly a direct reincarnation, but maybe more of a human version of a being meant to fight the invasive world order (Celestia). Or perhaps he's more meant to steal or utilize a similar or part of that same power at some point in the coming narrative. Honestly I more pose it as a fun theoretical.

Finally just making a post about this because I was reminded earlier that the one colored depiction we have of Nibelung's Abyss-corrupted form was black and purple.

It's too early to solidly theorize for me what's going on with him, but I do find Pantalone's situation interesting. First there's the Elixer of Immortality working on him but not Zandik so one of them obviously has an unusual constitution (my money is on Pantalone since it seems they may have started the experiment before Zandik made his first segments). Then there's his name, Feofan, translating to "manifestation of god". But Genshin has a lot of gods, sooooo. What god? And if it's one of Celestia's gods, why might they then deny him a Vision? Hard to say...for now.

[zhonnoe]

They’re taking my wives away

Help… help…

[silvysartfulness]

So. Hoyo is using a reference to a 1940 Disney movie to tell us there is some sort of connection between Flins and the dark entity the Belyi Tsar (presumably) died fighting against. 🙃

This fucking game...

[silvysartfulness]

Maybe this is already common knowledge, but since I'm not really in fandom spaces, we just stumbled across it by ourselves.

Flins' 4th constellation is Night On Bald Mountain.

This is a reference to the most famous part of Disney's 1940 Fantasia by the same name.

Featuring this guy.

Chernabog. (Chernobog in Genshin)

You know. This guy.

Would you like to explain to class exactly what this means, Flins? 🧐

[silvysartfulness]

Sigh.

Several of the others are music references, too. The last one, Songs And Dances Of Death is (I just learned) a series of songs about death composed by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, where the final one is described thus on wikipedia:

The war (same one against Chernobog referenced above? Or the contemporary war against the Abyss in Nod-Krai?). The moon. The earth hardening to prevent resurrection... which clearly didn't work either for Flins or the draugr of the Wild Hunt...

Head in my hands.

[silvysartfulness]

I already typed up ONE lore post today, not to mention the monstrosity that @cyan-is-pantalonely painstakingly put together, and I don't have spoons to do another, so...

Screenshots of average day of crazy-screaming in the lore factory it is.

The most famous Russian fairy tale about golden apples is Ivan, the Firebird and the Grey Wolf which incidentally has a scene echoing how Kalevala's Saarelainen gets murdered, torn apart, and then put together and revived.

Like we've hypothesized the Tsaritsa is attempting to do with the third descender.

Also of course cyan coming in hot with the steel chair alchemy references:

[cyan-is-pantalonely]

Gf also wants to add that, if we follow the metaphor of the golden apple on the branches of Irminsul, we're breaking out of the heavenly garden by overthrowing Fate and gaining free will.

So, I searched the Wiki and The Gardener is the title of Part IV of Paralogism, the part of the bring-Durin-back-with-alchemy quest where Albedo transmutes Mini Durin into his new form after we confront "final-boss" Alice and Barbeloth on the chessboard. 🙃

To say nothing of how, in the biblical story, the impetus for eating the apple and obtaining forbidden knowledge is Satan aka Lucifer aka Dawn Star aka the Tsaritsa's demon name (which Silvy theorized here).

And oh, isn't it funny that Satan appears as a serpent or a snake when...

Dragons and serpents were once one and the same...

[cyan-is-pantalonely]

That feeling when you pause the video at the exact right moment to suddenly notice the shape of a dragon in liquid gold while writing an essay about how Pantalone uses Mora as the catalyst for alchemy.

[cyan-is-pantalonely]

Pantalone Analysis II: The Abyss, a Devil’s Mask, and Mora as a Catalyst for Alchemy

A short while ago, I theorized that Pantalone’s “unique understanding of wealth” stems from the fact that he's more interested in Mora as the catalyst for alchemy than in Mora for money's sake. The visuals in his new countdown video have me more convinced than ever.

The card explicitly aligns him with the Hanged Man reversed, which is connected to alchemy, transcendence, and action (i.e. catalyst)

The Mora in the animation looks molten; it seems liquefied, like the lifeblood of the world or gold within a crucible

The Globus Cruciger connects Pantalone to antimony, used in alchemy to purify gold, and we see his eye overtake the coin

Then there's the coin toss itself, which recalls the Disenchantment in Deep Shadow set. Discussing an ambition "greater than the world" amidst a clash between primordial venom and primal light, it says:

It was almost as if someone had stayed the hand of fate itself, forcing coin toss after coin toss until the desired outcome was reached. Or perhaps, only through upheaval at the periphery can certain possibilities pass through layer upon layer of constraint, and be captured and brought into being by a plan most absurd.

The Disenchantment set is about forbidden alchemical experiments and the search for the secrets of the world. I think this set establishes a parallel to the partnership between Dottore and Pantalone. Where the former uses the primal power of the Light Realm, my sense is that Pantalone will harness the primordial resentment of the Abyss. Two sides of the same coin, joined in their effort to overthrow Fate.

Pattern Impact

The Hanged Man, alchemy, and hands reaching upward are motifs that have recurred all year. Given that all three appear in Pantalone's new short, I'm increasingly seeing a connection between these themes and the partnership between Pantalone and Dottore.

With the Globus Cruciger essay, I wanted to highlight how Pantalone is more than an extension of Dottore. He has his own ambitions and their partnership is based on mutual benefit. As Pantalone tells the Traveler:

Neither he nor I are tolerated by the rules of this world. We were both searching for a new order... Our ideas of the final form that should take may have differed, but our journeys took a shared path.

I'm wondering if alchemy is their shared path and light versus abyssal energy is where they differ. If Pantalone provides the catalyst of Mora, perhaps Dottore provides the Elixir that protects him from the side-effects of tampering with the Abyss. Hard to erode yourself when you're literally fixed in time, after all...

The Hanged Man

In Qiqi’s recent Witch’s Homework, Barbeloth tells us the Hanged Man:

symbolizes transcendence and waiting, and also detachment from the everyday world.

I've rambled about Dottore's connection to the Hanged Man, but this is the first time we're seeing the link explicitly extended to Pantalone.

The deliberate inversion of the background on the end card makes me fairly confident that my reading of Pantalone as being inextricably tied to alchemy is not entirely out-of-pocket.

Once again, the game sets Pantalone up as Dottore's mirror. As in the commedia dell'arte, they are foils for each other. Given that Pantalone is upright while his background is upside-down, we can read his card as The Hanged Man Reversed, which can signify:

awakening

a change on the horizon

action after a long period of being stuck or paused

One reading is that the upside-down background represents the end of Pantalone's suspension of time with the Elixir. But Dottore made it a point to produce extra stock of the Elixir before his planned "death." So I'm more inclined to read it as the end of a moment of cessation.

We shall, by whatever means necessary, become the heart that pumps money around the world. And, when the moment comes, that heart shall cease beating by our will alone.

In other words, it's time for Pantalone's part of the plan to unfold. And I think the way he will do that is by using Mora as a catalyst for alchemy.

If we represents the Harbingers, and if the Tsaritsa's goal is Ragnarök (discussed in the reblogs here), then this is the beginning of the end of the the world and its rebirth into one free from Fate.

Alchemy

In the 7.0 Livestream, the devs strategically reminded us that alchemy is banned in Snezhnaya, but we also learn this information from the Disenchantment sands:

It was a time before the Tsaritsa, who now rules Snezhnaya, had ascended the throne in Zapolyarny Palace, a time when the land of ice and snow had not yet, due to the Harbingers, forbidden all practice of the art of alchemy.

The name of this sands is Moment That Ceased Upon Waking From Grand Dreams, which sounds suspiciously similar to Pantalone's Pale Flame sands, Moment of Cessation.

I'm almost certain the Tsaritsa didn’t ban alchemy from Snezhnaya because the Harbingers committed some unspeakable crime. I think she banned it so they'd be the only ones practicing alchemy, meaning all Mora could be invested in catalyzing their transformative projects.

Pantalone's constellation is the Globus Cruciger, which is the symbol for antimony in alchemy. Antimony was thought to purify liquid gold. And what do we see in Pantalone's short? Liquid gold.

Moment of Cessation tells us, "Money is the lifeblood of the world, and the pathways along which it flows are the world’s arteries." And, in the Prithiva Topaz description, Morax says "The currencies that flow through this land are my flesh and blood."

Genshin continuously highlights the connection between blood and alchemy with Mora as its fulcrum. Where Rex Lapis only intended for Mora to serve as the bedrock for trade, it became central to Teyvat’s alchemical system. All crafting requires Mora as part of the exchange.

So I think it's very interesting that the Geo Gnosis is the only one still in play on the Tsaritsa's chessboard apart from her own in a game she’s playing against Rhinedottir aka Gold, the premiere alchemist of Teyvat named for alchemy’s ultimate material output...

... in the Transcendence Trailer

Hands Reaching for...?

We've seen reaching hands a lot lately. In the context of the Harbingers, we see them with Arlecchino, Capitano, Dottore, and now Pantalone. But they're also a visual motif for Rerir and the Wild Hunt.

I'm not the only one to make this connection. pepper-demon has also pointed it out, and viruviwold previously asked if I thought Pantalone might be connected to the Devil Lunar Arcanum. Back then, I said that, while I didn't see the parallels visually, I did see a connection to some of Pantalone's themes in the card's description:

The "Devil" is merely a mask, Through which the power of darkness is revealed. The god who creates and maintains, The abyss that consumes and destroys. That infinite, boundless, perpetual "Age of Enlightenment."

Well, I sure see the visual parallels now. I wonder if that fiery skull might be the Devil's mask. And look at those hands reaching up from the bottom of the card. Even the purple is Abyss-flavoured. But the biggest one to me, is that the gold makes the shape of the dragon.

On the surface, the card is about Rhinedottir, the Riftwolves, and Durin. But it can also be about Gold, Fenrir, and the Blood of a Dragon... as in Mora, Zhongli's blood. This would also fit Silvy's brilliant Koitar = Tsaritsa theory because Fenrir sets the world on fire in Ragnarök...

Disenchantment in Deep Shadows

So, with all this in mind, I want to suggest that the Disenchantment artifact set might offer a parallel to the ambitious plan Pantalone and Dottore developed to further the Tsaritsa's goals.

A bit of context on the set: it tells a story of forbidden alchemical experiments which had the goal of uncovering the bruied truths of the world and bringing forth a vast embryo long hidden in Hyperborea. The principle character is Aksinya, a silver-haired survivor from Hyperborea put in a time capsule as an infant and found by the Belyi Tsar.

If we recall from Durin's creation, the embryo is part of the alchemical process. It is the body, representing one of three key components alongside the soul (Mini Durin) and the blood or life force (the remains from OG Durin).

That aside, the first five lines of the Goblet stood out to me, because I see a clear parallel to what Pantalone and Dottore are doing.

1. There was a time when primordial venom and primal light clashed in a corner unseen by the heavens' gaze.

The Wiki glosses primal light as the Light Realm, but doesn't provide an interpretation of primordial venom. I'd like to suggest it's the Abyss.

In Variations on the Song of the Dragon and Freedom, we find out that according to Barbeloth, "The essence of the Abyss lies in the hatred carried by all the fates that will not come to pass." Sounds quite a bit like primordial venom, a foundational resentment over what could have been if not for the imposed order of Fate.

2. If a love, a fervor, and an ambition just greater than the world itself were to take shape—they had to be born and kindled in a place unseen by any eye.

I read love here not as romantic or platonic love but as being connected to The Lovers' Lunar Arcanum, which says: the path to understanding and beauty, Love, or the smelting and separation that signify it...

Smelting and separation are two of the seven steps of alchemical transformation, and the final secret wedding at the end of the card is a direct reference to transcendence. So the love taking shape here can, besides other things, be enlightenment.

The place unseen by any eye can be the Shadow Realm, the Mare Jivari (which are arguably the same place) or perhaps Segment Domain Tau given that its ostensible overseer isn't present. Either way, it's a place where two Harbingers could conceivably hatch a plot...

3. It was a design that could not endure the slightest deviation in its course, and an experiment that stood but a hair's breadth from world-spanning madness.

I feel like experiment and world-spanning madness kind of speak for themselves in the context of Dottore.

4. It was almost as if someone had stayed the hand of fate itself, forcing coin toss after coin toss until the desired outcome was reached.

And the coin toss speaks to Pantalone. Here he is, is forever frozen at 72-years old, living for centuries longer than he should to stubbornly pursue his ambitions, as though fate's hand was stayed.

5. Or perhaps, only through upheaval at the periphery can certain possibilities pass through layer upon layer of constraint, and be captured and brought into being by a plan most absurd.

Tell me that doesn't sound like Pantalone and Dottore hatching their experiment, a perfect partnership materializing at a crucial moment. Not to mention, we just saw Dottore messing with the border of the world, a literal upheaval at the periphery.

Dottore's entire aim has been to pursue infinite possibilities and free the world from constraints imposed by Fate. He and Pantalone discuss their resentment of the Rules at length, but Pantalone's involvement has been obfuscated—quite deliberately. He often pins the blame on Dottore to be able to move freely and secretly himself.

Which brings me to my theory that Pantalone is about to use mora as a catalyst for an Abyssal alchemical weapon that can bring down the Gods. Perhaps this is even Project Stuzha itself...

Dottore has already laid the groundwork by decommissioning Irminsul and issuing the Tsaritsa’s declaration of war against Fate. Now, it’s time to ready their weapons, pointed to the Heavenly Principles. And if they are still following the Tsaritsa, which I do believe they are, then this could be the catalyst to Ragnarök.

Primordial Powers

To return to the Devil, I think the aim of alchemy is to transcend the duality of good and evil, light and dark:

The god who creates and maintains, The abyss that consumes and destroys.

All these things have meaning because of each other. They are create the cycle—day and night, life and death, beginning and end.

When ran these ideas by Silvy for peer review, Silvy said:

Funniest possible endgame lore-reveal: Dottore is the reincarnated HP and Pantalone is the reborn Nibelung

Which is a bit of a joke but also... not.

We've already seen that Dottore wears the inverted crown of reason, the artifact associated with the Heavenly Principles. Pantalone has multiple visual parallels with dragons, as noted by Millionwaters here.

While I ultimately believe they're both human, I think they're meant to allude to the Heavenly Principles and Nibelung in their alignments with Creation and with the Abyss. Dottore creates gods over and over. He's a Doctor, a maintainer of human beings. Pantalone consumes. He talks about "the private law of the hoarder" in Cashflow Supervision. He has a hoard of Mora like a dragon, which he can use as a catalyst to overthrow the gods.

The Heavenly Principles and Nibelung did eventually work together to bring us to where we are now. The Gnoses are the result of their partnership. So why wouldn't it take an equal partnership to undo all that harm and remove the fetters of Fate?

Incidentally, 400 years is how long it takes the Primordial One to create a sacred plan for humanity aka Fate and then Nibelung comes back. So the fact that Pantalone and Dottore have been partners for roughly 400 years trying to dismantle Fate... the parallels are paralleling is all I'm going to say.

[cyan-is-pantalonely]

First of all, he's magnificent. Second of all, when did we last see a bunch of hands reaching out for someone... oh right.