Younger people, one thing I want you to understand about Millenials is that, overall, our parents taught their daughters to aim for careers and employment, but they didn't teach their sons to keep house. This causes a whole lot of Situations.
idk if this is an usamerican thing or not but it always blows my mind as a small european country resident that yall have many names and types of apples???? what do you mean its not just red yellow or green??? why is it so complicated??? who is granny smith????
How I described That Scene from the latest Scrapyard chapter to friend and beta @ebonykain all the way back in February š
Some more fun screenshots from that convo under cut
Finally, a fun detail for the real nerds - this is the in-game spot where the mob incident went down:
There aren't many tall trees on Lempo, but at this particular little crossroads between Nasha Town and the Krumkake Craftshop, you will find some. One even has a most convenient sturdy branch! š
Insert blooper reel here where the scene happens with a too short tree and everyone just kind of stands around awkwardly when they can't pull him up high enough
Dottoreās Long Con: On Colluding with Nahida and Playing the Villainās Part
Or: Part II of Why I Think Dottore Is Coming Back
While rewatching Act V of the Sumeru Archon Quest, a thought occurred to me: Did Nahida recognize that Irminsul needed to burn after Dottore told her the truth of the world? Could they have devised a strategy all the way back in 3.2?
What if Dottore has been playing the role of the villain so that he and Nahida could liberate Teyvat from the fetters of fate without calling down the punishment of the shades?
This is a companion essay to my last post on how Dottore might be resurrected and redeemed enough to be playable through the principles of alchemical enlightenment. Itās not necessary to read that one for this to make sense, but the ideas support one another.
TLDR
Dottore reveals to Nahida that Irminsul has been hiding a secret that jeopardizes her ability to embody the principles of the God of Wisdom
Nahida canāt directly intervene without running the risk of calling down a Celestial Nail. She needs a villain so convincing that burning Irminsul seems like the lesser of two evils
Dottore has lived his entire life being seen and treated as a madman. Heās perfectly content to play the villainās part as long as it furthers his goals of exposing the truth of the world
Dottore and Nahida are foils for one another. They are both branches of a whole, and her purification in the bower of Irminsul at the end of 3.2 foreshadows Dottoreās own return from the crucible of the tree of knowledge.
By jointly dismantling the fate system with Nahida, Dottore liberates himself from the fate of the heretic, and guarantees his free will going forward
Grab a snack because this is gonna get long
The Intolerable Truth of the World
At the end of the 3.2 Archon Quest, after the Traveler and Nahida have seemingly purified Irminsul from the stain of Forbidden Knowledge, Dottore shows up for our annual Fatui-mandated Gnosis negotiation.
The first thing he does is knock the Traveler out while barely lifting a finger. This will be important to keep in mind. If Dottore didnāt intend to be defeated in Nod-Krai, he could have disarmed the Traveler at any point. He has the technology to do so.
With the Traveler unconscious and no witnesses around Dottore offers to tell Nahida about the false sky, the secret hidden by Irminsul concerning the ātruthā of this world.
Despite knowing the dangers of Forbidden Knowledgeāand despite knowing how dangerous Dottore is himselfāNahida agrees not only to hear him out but also to do so in exchange for her Gnosis.
The system that she is meant to protectāthat she is quite literally a part ofāhas been hiding truth from her. Would this revelation not be enough to shake her convictions in the Heavenly Principles? Would Nahida, the God of Wisdom, be content to rule in a world that is lying to the people and binding their free will ? I donāt think so.
My out of pocket theory is that she and Dottore established the importance of divesting Teyvat of Irminsulās control in the Sanctuary of Surasthana three years ago with the goal of liberating the world from pre-programmed destiny. This was the true agreement in exchange for the Gnoses, an agreement that would be paid in full with the final missing chess piece. Dottoreās note about it being time to say goodbye seems a little pointed in retrospect.
The Doctor: Once I finish telling you about this, it will be time for me to say goodbye.
The Doctor: With negotiations, we've all gotten what we wanted. I'm very glad I got to meet you like this.
But the goodbye doesnāt come at the end of 3.2. It takes place in 6.6.
Instead, as their dialogue wraps up in the Sanctuary, the gameās narration tells us:
Several days seems like more than enough time for the two most brilliant minds in Teyvat to hatch a heretical plan to overthrow the false fates. That āeverything falls silentā also seems a little suspect now that we know Dottore can use Irminsul to create a ābubble of silenceā to shield Sumeru from Celestiaās eyes. They would have been able to script what comes next without any interference from the Shades.
The Theatre of Rebellion
So far, the game has shown us quite a few ways in which the Archons have performed surrendering or losing their Gnoses. Venti had his āforciblyā torn from him by Signora (we donāt actually believe it would have been that easy, do we?). Zhongli has his ācontract to end all contracts.ā Focalors has her 500 year play. Nahida is Ā reminded of the ādisparityā between her combat abilities and Dottoreās.
All these reasons for forfeiting their Gnoses to the Harbingers donāt seem particularly compelling when we look at them through human intuition. But they might appear convincing enough to an Artificial Intelligenceās scans. Certainly convincing enough that the Shades wonāt have to punish the Archons for collusion. In other words, the Archons have found loopholes in the computer program, which they exploit to assist the Tsaritsa without making it look like theyāre participating in her rebellion.
If, as the game seems to be suggesting, (some of the) Archons sought to overthrow fate 500 years ago and were devastatingly punished for it, they understand that they need to be a little more strategic this time. And so they play a long game, often alluded to with talk of chess pieces.
There is no way Nahida can burn Irminsul of her own volition without the Shades turning Sumeru into Khaenriāah 2.0. Weāve seen what happens when leaders go beyond their mandates. But what if thereās a compelling enough reason to convince the Shades that Nahida setting fire to Irminsul is the lesser of two evils. A villain so dangerous that destroying the primordial tree is the only option.
The Role of a Villain
One of the things I havenāt seen talked about much is the fact that almost everyone in Sumeru survived 6.6. Those that didnāt only died because they refused to follow the evacuation plan that Nahida had ready to go at a momentās notice. Almost like she expected this!
Dottore is continually made out to be a violent monster who relishes murdering as many people as possible, but the moment he seems like greatest threat heā¦ doesnāt actually hurt a hair on anyoneās head. Donāt get me wrong, my man has done some terrible shit (RIP Niwa), but he also seems to be judged rather harshly by the Traveler and their pals. Too harshly, in fact.
Isnāt it interesting that the Traveler is so quick to revile Dottore when they champion Wandererās rehabilitation? And isnāt it ironic that the Traveler wonāt even hear Dottore out for a minute, yet theyāre somehow chummy with Liloupar. Liloupar!!! You know, the one who cursed generations of her own descendants, puppeteered her children into incestuous relationships and murder plots, and ultimately destroyed Gurabad by harnessing the power of the Abyss. Yeah, that Liloupar.
Iāll take my chances with the blue haired guy, actually, thanks
Dottore is an arrogant little shit (affectionate) with questionable methods, but show me one time he eviscerated an entire civilization using an Abyssal plague. In fact, Dottore actually figures out how to cure a plague.
Which brings me to my most cancelable take: one of the things that bothered me about the 6.6 Archon Quest was the utter lack of nuance directed toward Dottoreās experimentation on and treatment of Collei. I fully recognize that a child who undergoes painful but life-saving medical intervention can see their doctors as evil because of the agonizing immediacy of the treatment itself. That trauma stays with you. But why do none of the adults around Collei acknowledge the fact that Dottoreās treatment saved her life? Be for real, there would be no Collei if Dottoreās god-science hadnāt cured Eleazar. We saw with Dunyarzad that the decline is quick. Collei wouldnāt have survived until the Traveler purified the tree if she was already in such rough shape as a child.
Which brings me back to a key aspect of Dottoreās character: he no longer minds being seen as a villain as long as it allows him to further his goal of liberating himself (and, by extension the world) from the fetters of fate. Ā Ā
The Doctor: You know, I heard recently that a group of critics reviewed countless stories and drew an interesting conclusion: They found that it is more often than not the villains who strive tirelessly to push the boundaries of progress.
The Doctor: In fact, long before this, someone voiced a similar idea in an Akademiya editorial. I felt a great affinity with this perspective. I have never been afraid to step up and play the role of the villain.
The Doctor: But all sacrifices made during my experiments have been worthwhile, as you can now see. I can offer you something new, something unique, precisely because I am a villain.
The Doctor: I say, better to be governed by a flawed humanity than a Gnosis. The true seeker of knowledge is the villain who undergoes countless tribulations in pursuit of their goal.
(Are you really a villain or are you just playing one? The lady doth protest too much, methinks)
Dottore has been called a madman ever since he was a child. We find out that he lost his compassion at 8 years old because the people around him were terrified of his ideas. This doesnāt condone what heās done, but it certainly explains his outlook. We also know that, in many cases, Dottoreās ideas are correct even if his methods are not morally good. Heās frequently judged by people whose worldviews come from divine proclamations that have been shown to be unreliable or falsely planted by Phanes.
In plain terms, Dottore is called a madman and a lunatic by flat-earthers and anti-vaxxers. Now what weāve been to the moon and gazed upon Teyvat, we know those people are wrong. The Sages are out here banning books and constraining research through the cardinal sins because they fear the wrath of the Heavenly Principles, but this places knowledge and wisdom in fundamental tension. While Dottoreās experimental-free-for-all isnāt exactly an ideal solution, the game makes it clear that ignoranceāwhile a blissful dreamāisnāt the right answer either.
Dottore is disappointed in the Traveler in 6.3 because they have yet to realize that Teyvat is trapped in a simulation. It is the Sabzeruz Festival on a much, much grander scale. When Dottore implies as much, the Traveler refers to his question as āpure sophistryā that has ānothing to do with [his] actionsā when in fact they very much do. Dottore had hoped that the Traveler, having already experience the dream cycle in miniature, would have picked up on it by now.
Anyway, because Dottore gave up on regurgitating existing research years ago, heās perfectly content to embrace the mantle of madman. In fact, heās fated to do so by the very system heās attempting to overthrow. His name quite literally translates to Heretic. This was always going to be his role.
So Dottore doesnāt give two shits about the fact that Collei thinks heās a monster; what matters is the fact that sheās alive to do so because he cured the uncurable (never mind the fact that people later refused the cure because they thought Eleazar was their āpunishment from god,ā which doubtless contributes to his absolute contempt for the ārulesā). Similarly, he doesnāt care that the people of Nod-Krai think heās a monster because his experiments in the moonlit nation allowed him to achieve two of his most lofty goals:
1. He created a god out of Columbina.
Her Character Trailer makes it clear through visual storytelling that Dottore is the one guiding her entire narrative arc.
2. He infiltrated Irminsul like a Virus
By having the āgood guysā kill him and send him into Irminsul, he created an anchor for the other half of his soul (just as Luonnotar was the anchor for Columbina)
Letās not forget that the entire Heretic of the False Moon boss battle is staged. Itās a performance.
Thatās more like it; some results of value.
Good, keep it up. Iām still collecting data.
He orchestrates his death as part of a long game of game of infiltrating Irminsul to put an end to the false fates. And if Dottore had all this planned out, I can only assume that he has his own resurrection planned as well, right down to the reunification of his soul in the crucible of Irminsul.
In fact, I think his resurrection was foreshadowed in 3.X as well.
Rebirth and The Sabzeruz Festival
Since I was going down a 3.X rabbit hole, I figured I may as well go all the way and look at the rest of the quest, especially the Sabzeruz Festival. And boy is it ever interesting after 6.6.
The Sabzeruz Festival was a collective dream, which the Sages harvested via the Akasha Terminal to power Dottoreās false god project. In the initial loop, the Traveler and Dunyarzad walk the streets of the city, stopping at various stalls.
The first stall is Amalās which offers food from the Haft-Mewa Feast which Dunyarzad tells us is when people āset their tables with seven different foods to symbolize the seven virtues of the Dendro Archon.ā
The irl inspiration behind this feast is Half Seen (or Seven Sās), a core tradition in the celebration of Nowrus, the Persian New Year, which marks the vernal equinox. This tradition involves arranging seven objects on a table or mantle, each of which has a name beginning with the letter S, and that, together, symbolize life and renewal. In addition to these seven elements, celebrants also include a ābook of wisdomā from which the eldest member of a family will recite a page for guidance on the upcoming year.
Which brings us to Kimiya, the next person we meet in the quest. Kimiyaās name derives from the Arabic word for chemistry, which is, in turn, connected to the Ancient Greek Kimia, meaning alchemy or elixir of life. Importantly, in a lot of Persian literature, Kimia refers less to the chemical or material side of alchemy than to its spiritual or psychological side, the transmutation of the self.
Kimiya has a bunch of interesting things to say that never really made much sense until Natlan and Nod-Krai:
Kimiya: ...The remnants appear to be in the form of the Moon.
Paimon: Really? Paimon thought it looked like some kind of food.
Kimiya: Hmm... The Moon signifies... Hmm... It's escaping me for now. Wait a moment...
Paimon: Is he really looking it up in a book?
Kimiya: Oh, right, it means illusions and lies.
Kimiya: But if you trust your intuition and overcome your fears, the sun will surely rise.
Kimiya: This is divine wisdom.
Moon remnantsā¦ illusions and liesā¦ the sun risingā¦ Sounds a little bit like Mavuika punching a hole into the sky to me. And, after Nod-Krai, all this talk about the moon followed by the loop of Number Four is pretty intriguing.
And then we go to Viharās stall where we meet Farris, the Knight of Flowers. In Iranian folklore, HÄji Firuz appears in the streets at the beginning of Nowruz after returning from the world of the dead, his red clothes symbolizing the resurrection of the sacrificed deity. These are common motifs in figures meant to symbolize the transition from winter (dead) to spring (resurrection).
Clearly, the Sabzeruz Festival is very much a celebration of Nahidaās liberation and her return to her power after Greater Lord Rukkhadevataās sacrifice. But Genshinās narratives often work on multiple levels, telling and retelling stories, foreshadowing overarching plots through mirrored themes in endless mise en abimes. Just look at how many times Simulanka has foreshadowed the plotline ever since the summer of 2024. This isnāt accidental; Teyvat runs on cycles, samsaras, repeating histories with minor variations on the theme.
And it's still going strong.
Beyond Nahidaās narrative, the Sabzeruz Festival can nod to Columbinaās resurrection from the world of the dead (the Moonās Reflection) as moon number four. But it can also foreshadow Dottoreās return because Nahida and Dottore are set up as foils for one another.
Branches of a Whole
Dottore and Nahida share many parallels. Theyāre both 500(ish) year-old geniuses from Sumeru, theyāve both been victims of the Sages, they both adopt some questionable methods at times for the āgreater good.ā But most saliently to me, theyāre both portrayed as branches of a whole.
Nahida is referred to as a branch of Irminsul, a segment of the original tree. After completing the Sumeru Archon Quest, we obtain the 5 Star Quest Item Silver Twig.
This twig is Nahida, a branch of Rukkhadevata now coming into her own being after Rukkhadevata returns to the people of Sumeru their ability to dream.
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: From the earth
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: And from the rain
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: We perceive its wonders until we become a white bird
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: To perch atop a branch...
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: And finally snap off the most important leaf
Guess what we get when we defeat Dottore? A Twisted Withered Branch. Because Dottore is also a branch of a kind, a Segment of Zandik. The āmost insaneā branch, but a branch nonetheless.
In the Godās Limits trailer, we also get this striking visual image of a white raven with a black ravenās reflection.
If Rukkhadevata/Nahida is the white bird perched atop a branch, Dottore is her counterpart. He even wears the dark plumage on his shoulders and is constantly portrayed alongside motifs of black birds (his artifact being the Pale Flame feather is another good one).
Subtlety is not exactly his forte
All of this also calls to mind the work MC Escher, which is full of tessellations of interlocking black and white birds. In these woodcuts, the white and black birds both emerge out of and give shape to one another. They are inextricable. And we know that Dottore has quite the connection with Escher.
Nahidaās resurrection in Irminsul wherein she meets the other part of herself foreshadows Dottoreās return after hearing the verdict of his own soul in that very same tree. They approach the parts of themselves from completely opposite sides, but these parallels are intentional, especially when we consider that 6.6 is a continuation of the Sumeru quest as much as the Nod-Krai quest.
(The downside here is that Nahida forgets Rukkhadevata and it will suck if Zandik gets totally memory wiped, buuuut Iāll take it if it means heās playable).
Another thing I thought was interesting: in Tlingit oral storytelling, the White Raven is a trickster and a key figure in tales of creation. At the beginning, the world is engulfed in darkness, the sun, moon, and stars hoarded in boxes by a wealthy noble. Boldly endeavouring to shine light upon the world, Raven transforms himself and infiltrates the nobleās house, playing the role of the manās grandson for years until at last he shifts back to his true form, steals the light from their boxes, and escapes through the chimney. As he ascends, his plumage is darkened with soot. He becomes the Black Raven while bringing light to the world.
Dottore and Nahida are both tricksters of a kind. They both play long games with sleight of hand, and they both ultimately want to shed light on the truths of the world. While they might have different perspectives on wisdom and enlightenment, their overarching convictions arenāt actually all that far off from one another, despite what Nahida may say.
And so we might askā¦
Who Really Won, In the End?
The ending of the 6.6 Archon Quest is weird. On the surface, it concludes the way most of the AQs do: good prevails over evil, team Traveler-and-the-power-of-friendship valiantly defeats the boss, and everyone celebrates with a grand feast. It appears to be yet another triumphant ending.
Butā¦ is it really?
Because, from where Iām standing, it still kind of looks like Dottore won.
The Harbingersā stated goal under Pierro has been to āburn down the old world.ā Dottore wants to liberate humanity from the limitations that have been imposed on them. Pantalone wants a world where humans can be on equal footing with the gods. The old world burned exactly as they wanted.
It just so happened that the āgood guysā were the ones who struck the match.
Goodbye, We Will (Never?) Meet Again
Iāll acknowledge that Dottoreās conversation with Nahida at the very end of 6.6 seems to throw a wrench into my theory because he seems surprised that she set fire to the tree. But, again, heās a stellar performer. Perhaps, now that the shield is down, he needs to reprise his role as villain one last time to really make it convincing for the Shades. āOoh, you outsmarted me! I canāt see any other outcomes.ā I donāt believe this guy for a second.
The fact that Nahida ends on āGoodbyeā just feels so deliberate after Dottore promising her that itās time to say goodbye after he tells her about the false sky.
And then that last little bit in the questās denouement where Nahida says:
The matter of Dottore can be seen as settled for now. We are sure to cross paths again in the future, and in that light, Snezhnaya would do well to uphold their responsibilities and keep a tight rein over their actions.
Maybe sheās talking about the other Harbingers butā¦ thatās really not what this sentence says at all. On a grammatical level, she says we are certain to cross paths with Dottore again; thereās no pronoun ambiguity here. (This can certainly be a localization issue, but I will continue clinging to it until they go in and change it.)
Iāve also been a little confused about Pantaloneās comment to Dottore about not wanting āto admit defeat in the limited time [he has].ā What limited time? Segments donāt age! For all intents and purposes, Dottore is effectively immortal. And, as Pantalone later says, there was no reason for the experiment to end.
Dottore knew he was going to die. In fact, I think he was counting on it as part of a plan already set into motion with Nahida in 3.2,. That plan also involves his return. Heās happy to play the role of the villain because there has to be a villain to work against the Shades programming. Had he not performed a convincing world-ending threat, Nahida would never have gotten away with burning the tree in pursuit of true wisdom.
But just as Nahida is a branch reborn in an effort to purify the tree of knowledge, Zandik will be reborn from the burning tree after brining light (true knowledge) to the world. Irminsul isnāt entirely gone. The roots are still thereāsurely enough for him to spring back.
Unshackled, from the fate of the heretic, when he rises again, he can choose his own path. Perhaps, then, this is what Pantalone meant when he said Dottoreās death his favorite part. Theyāre finally free.
alright I've got to do some quick math to explain attitudes towards AI to my boss.
we're looking to create an AI policy, and when we were talking about this, my boss (older millennial) was genuinely shocked to hear that younger people do not (seem) to view AI positively (a la the recent commencement speakers being booed)
please rb for larger sample size!
Question 1/3
What is your age, and do you feel AI is a net positive or net negative in our lives today?
Hey if you See This can you reblog this or comment on this with a character you headcanon as aromantic, asexual, or both. It can be canon it can be founded on absolutely nothing I just need more aroace stuff on here #yay
if yall ever want like serious advice from me about how to solve burnout as a creative it's like...
literally ignore it. stop pushing. go do something else, enjoy your life, fill it with other things, do what brings you joy in the moment if you can.
go to the gym, take a walk to touch grass and look at dogs and smell flowers, cook dinner, watch tv with your friends, talk about your feelings as needed with ppl you trust, take a drive and blast your music, do the chores you need to do, the job hunting slog you need to do, read books that aren't for research, stop cordoning off your brain for The Craft or The Draft or whatever the fuck
forget about the project, stop thinking about it for as long as it takes to be excited again.
stop pushing. stop blaming yourself for not working on creative stuff enough, stop tormenting yourself. remove all pressure and expectation. it'll be done whenever, you'll work on it whenever. who the fuck knows when that is, but it'll happen when it's ready.
stop doing shit that feels bad. do stuff that makes you happy and relaxed.
at a certain level of spoon usage from job, chores, errands, socialization and basic maintenance there will just Not Be Anything Left for your projects for awhile.
you have to let it build back up and then take your time getting back into it organically as it comes.
hope this helps someone else, bc I have learned it the hard-headed stubborn-ass fish-thrashing-in-a-net way and it's been agonizing.
