Putting under the cut because oh my god, YES YESSS. Let's say I have things to get off my chest about all of this.
First of all, YEAH. THANK YOU. Oh my fucking god, navigating this fandom as a genuine Ei fan is SO FUCKING ANNOYING. It's frustrating having her as a fave character and wanting to see more of her and only meeting either hate or genAI hypersexualization slop, the fandom flavor of misogyny AND ableism is blatant.
It's been YEARS and I have MANY OPINIONS about the ableist comments towards Ei as a whole, and it's not me "justifying her bad behavior with she's a poor meow meow", it's actually quite the opposite lmao. Her mental illnesses and disabilities (I will get there) caused immense grief to her land and the ppl around her, Miko and Scara, and that doesnt justify it, but it doesnt erase the fact she was still SEVERELY influenced by those factors and not by pure neglect or hate or anything like that. And YEAH the fact that her being disabled / mentally ill in a not "cutesy, can we romanticize it???" way is a breath of fresh air actually, and i think it means a lot as a whole.
Your comparison to Furina is VERY interesting; people dont hate on Furina like they do to Ei because Furina's flavor of mental torment CAN be "romanticized" and "cute-fied". And the fact that Furina was overall "not responsible" for being put in that position. She and Ei share the same traits, but Furina is widely seen as a "poor victim", "nothing wrong in Fontaine was her fault really" - that last is is untrue at best and infantilizing/condescending towards her at worst, bc she was STILL the archon, regardless. People will shit on Ei, a god with immense life spam and very out of touch with humanity, for being "stupid and slow and evil" for grieving multiple losses for 500yrs. But SOMEHOW, Furina was an Archon for 500yrs, but still "not responsible for the wrongs in Fontaine". Alright. And this isnt me hating on Furina btw, she had it extremely ROUGH but she was also still very flawed (which IS FINE. LET CHARACTERS BE FLAWED!!!!); it's this specific fandom double standards that makes me so mad lol
Ei on the other hand was 100% in charge and thus is "vilified" by the fandom bc of that. Also misogyny; if she was a man, she'd be a fan favorite. That is a FACT. Also dont get me STARTED with the whole "Ei is the most stupid from the Archons" / "Ei was so dumb" and other adjacent things I see. I find that.... erm. Let's say I just know people like that never truly faced REAL depression/grief in their lives.
The other thing about the ableism around her is how often I see people saying the Puppet as her fucking daughter, lmao. It GENUINELY pisses me off. Ei has THE MOST Dissociation / DID coding ive ever seen in a character in the last few years, and a surprisingly well done metaphor for that matter, only for mommy issues mf's project Ei's adjacent to a "PROTECTOR ALTER" as a fucking ABUSED DAUGHTER. Are we FOR REAL? It's one of those things that makes me question if we're even playing the same fucking game.
The Puppet was created in a time of intense grief and depression, it FRONTS AS A COLD, DIRECT, RIGID PERSONALITY while Ei's true personality IS HIDDEN IN THE PLANE. And then after FIGHTING FOR 500 YEARS THE RIGID PERSONA THAT WAS NOT LETTING HER MOVE FORWARD, the Puppet INTEGRATES WITH HER. HOW in the world is this seen as "daughter" to anyone???
And the answer is simple: people read the Puppet as the "abused daughter" because they see it being the exact same thing as Scara, when it's so clearly not. Again, she's the most """"split personality"""" character ever (using that term bc that's the "trope", even if a problematic one), HOW am I the only one seeing that, lmao
Everything around her is insanely interesting and so full of details, from her blatant faults and flaws, which she has a ton, to her qualities WHICH ARE ALSO A TON. She has a strong sense of protection, even if misguided at first. She loves poetry and playing card games and sparring for fun. But she's reduced to this "purely evil villain" or (even worst), as being just a "mother". I can spend ages talking about her and her lore without even REMEMBERING Scara exists, but to the rest of the fandom, that's the only thing about her that matters and that says a lot to me. (and for the record, I dont hate him or even blame people who have Scara as their fave for disliking Ei, it's again, this blatant double standards and bad faith, misogyny/ableist riddled interpretation of her character that is so infuriating kshjdfskjdf)
ANYWAY sorry for the rant lol but it's rare to see anyone even bringing this up, and Im glad Im not the only one who thinks this way