[ Detailed Thread ] I've seen lots of debate but here's lists of reasons why I personally think Wriothesley is visually impaired/blind to a certain degree and hope that he is :)
This is listed down based on my understanding/research so if there's anything wrong pls do correct me
Firstly we need to know the term 'Blindness', i know you may be wondering like , uh what? But a lot of people are quite misinformed of what being 'blind' is.
Blindness is the inability to see or a lack of vision. Meaning that Blindness is a SPECTRUM. Each person's experience of blindness is unique. 93% of blind and vision-impaired people can see something. It is very rare for someone who is blind that cannot perceive anything at all. Some people may be blind in their peripherals - some in the center, some can see colours and blurs while others can perceive light and shadows better. It varies. A LOT.
Quote from an article on Blindness and its spectrum. "These visual impairments don’t all work the same. Macular degeneration, erode the central vision without affecting peripheral vision. Narrowed field of vision- central vision is fine but the peripheral vision is limited. Others include photophobia (inability to tolerate light), diplopia (double vision), visual distortion, and difficulty with visual perception."
Ok so now we've made that clear- here's why Wriothesley being blind isnt as farfetched as you may think , with the way he is acting in the Fontaine trailer.
1) So i've heard everyone say that he is teasing Sigwienne, but let's just go back, why does Sigwienne - put the cute beverage in front of wrio in that manner? Why is she putting the taller cup in front of him where it's simply closer for him to reach for in the first place? You can argue that she did that so wriothesley takes it, but why not just hand it to him then? If you observe the scene - the tea was already there beforehand, which means wrio has either prepared it himself or has even already drunk from it and placed it there. He knows there is a 'cup' on the table.
It could be very much logical to assume Sigwienne wanted wriothesley to mistakenly reach for the taller cup she placed there. There would be no point in deliberately placing the cup as if with the intention to 'trick' him into taking it if he could very well see her place it there.
2) The visible jolt of his hands when he hovers over the tall drink that sigwenne places there. And the CLOSING of his eyes, as if to concentrate. On what? Here we can tell the drink clearly looks like a cold beverage, so when his hands hover on top of the cup , it'll make sense to have a reaction based on the wrong temperature registered to his hands - as tea is hot.
He glances to sigwenne after , as if amused, only to look back to rotate the smaller cup of his tea. And even when 'rotating' , his actions seem purposeful - carefully interacting w the cup with his hands draping around the handle before holding onto it. As if again, he's mostly feeling around it. If he were to see perfectly well, why would he close his eyes - hover around the tall drink, and seem to jolt by reaction of registering what the object is? His eyebrow even raises up.
It makes less sense as - if he were intending to tease her, he'd simply hover alternatively between the two without interacting w them purposefully but instead focus more on the reaction of Sigwenne from the start - and not After he seemingly 'felt' what the glass he is reaching for firstly is not his own cup of tea, but the beverage Sigwienne wanted him to take.
Also added point, if you really take notice, while touching and rotating the tea for its handle, his eyes are set straight, not towards the cup.
3) paper argument - again brings back to my point about blindness being a spectrum. Some blind people can read if they really focus and if the object was near enough, and even more that they just show him holding the paper, his eyes were never shown 'scanning' it. And furthermore, we are not SHOWN the paper, it could be braille for all we know.
4) but he looks at sigwienne first before she places the cup - again , blindness is a spectrum. Many blind people can register vague figures of people based on combinations of colour, light, and shadows or other ways depending on the individual.
5) Lyney's dialouge - as we know, genshin loves littering clues and symbolisms around in the trailers. Here's the quote we got while transitioning to Wrio's cutscene. "But what you see, is not real. It's all a show. And every part of the show is carefully controlled"
Here we've already got a literal connotation for 'sight' from "what you see" , and connotations of 'acting'
what if he was just acting out that he is not 'blind' to the outsider's point of view, so it is shown that he has less of a 'weakness' to others? Covering his disability under a guise so no one knows how to use it against him? It may be a reach - but it is an interesting idea to think about. Esp with the entire theatre play theme surrounding Fontaine and us/people being the audience of the big show.
6) wolf motifs and inspiration - It is quite easy to see Wriothesley is very heavily wolf motifed. Wolves are known for their sharp senses and acute hearing. They rely much more heavily on scent and hearing compared to their sight. Sounds familiar? It would be very neat if wriothesley has heightened senses as he can't rely on his eyesight as much, thus being easily able to tell when Sigwienne moves around and puts the cup in front of him.
7) gameplay - having a disabled character can make interesting and unique ideas on their kit and mechanic. I'll leave most of it for imagination, but something such as a passive that could auto-link enemies aggro-ed for aoe skills? Many many more possibilities.
8) It will simply be good disability representation in media , we've already had collei with the chronic illness of Eleazar, Xiao with chronic pain from karmic debt, Yoimiya's father short of hearing due to working with fireworks etc. It'll be an amazing addition for irl people with disabilities to feel more seen.
9) there's literally a scar under one of his eyes what more can i say if not it being more of a hint. His beta concept designs even had a scar on his eyebrow along with heterochromia? Which can also be seen as being blind in one eye with the 'white' colouring. Also the eyepatch beta design? Yeah.
Also this slipped my mind, but do also note Braille was originated and introduced in france - invented by Louis Braille in 1824. And well, what do we know of where Fontaine is based of? wink wonks
My conclusion, live laugh love hc wriothesley w vision impairment <3 even if it turns out not being canon and just some weird coincidence of everything.
(also please do not steal this as i plan to post this myself on twt too, and again this is just a THEORY on why I PERSONALLY think he's such. You are free to disagree )
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