not nearly enough people are fuming about the cass review. do you understand the eventual implications? trans people in the uk will be considered children up until the age of 25, and denied HRT/surgery/even basic measures like legal name change and social transition. all owing to a biased and largely unscientific study. you know what “treatment” for gender dysphoria is recommended by the review instead? conversion therapy.
this will kill people and they know it, because they prefer us dead and out of sight. the government, the NHS and even the opposition have made this clear again and again. a twenty-five year old can have sex, get married have children, join the military, earn a living, be halfway up the corporate ladder or highly successful in their chosen career field by that age, but they can’t transition under NHS rules. this is a death sentence for trans teenagers and they are going ahead with it. it’s trans genocide, same as across the pond.
i’m so afraid for my trans siblings and our futures. i’m so scared for myself. what are we to do if not even the party that is supposed to be on the “left” gives a shit about our safety and mental health as long as they get voted in? labour have become tories with a red coat of paint. it all feels hopeless
Fuck, I didn't realise it was up till 25 (not that I didn't find it devastating anyway). This is so shit. I fucking hate how much the government here, especially the recent Labour government pretends to support LGBT rights and then just... lets this happen.
Well, shit, now I'm crying.
Anyway, gonna get this spread around more. @mimosa-sexypeople-contests-2026 @satan-offical @forgetthefall @explosions-are-funny @gracehasaspacesuitquestion @no-one-offical @unyieldingsilence @ghostofafruitmain
You know the parable about how the foolish man built his house upon sand and the wise man built his house upon rock and it’s always about having a sturdy foundation well there is also the fact of location which is that the sand probably used to be rock except it’s been eroded to sediment because it’s a FUCKING FLOODPLAIN
flood Plain perfec t size for put town in to b\uild! inside very Soft and Comfort town safe happy put town in Floodplain. Put Town In Floodplain. no problems ever in flloodplain because good Shape and Support for town roads weak of big town citizens. Afloodplain yes a place for a town put town in floodplain can trust floodplain for giveing good place for town. friend flood
Dottore the Alchemist: Or, How Zandik Will Rise Again
In my excitement over lizardttore and Escher, I didn’t spare much thought to how the Pyro Gnosis might be central to Dottore’s revival. But then I saw what Hoyo titled Datattore’s final cutscene animation: Crucible of Causality.
What if they just gave us an enormous hint as to not only how he might come back but also how he might be redeemed enough to be playable without entirely eradicating his fundamental goal as a character? What if his death is one more step in his overarching plan of perfecting the human body and soul through the principles of alchemical enlightenment.
TLDR
Irminsul acts as a crucible in both senses of the word. It is a vessel in which substances can be subjected to extremely high temperatures and it is a significant trial that can lead to profound personal growth
Dottore’s 3-4-7 connection aligns him with the principles of alchemy
Esoteric interpretations of alchemy are primarily spiritual in nature. That is to say, transmuting metals into gold is an analogy for personal transformation and purification
As part of the seven stages of alchemy, Zandik’s most “selfish” perspective (the ego) must be broken down, confronted by, and reintegrated into the remainder of his soul
Nahida’s goodbye is so exaggerated as a red herring; 35 is dead, but Zandik will return as the enlightened version of himself thanks to the Pyro Gnosis, which is tied to resurrection
In analytical psychology, the burning phase of alchemy is a metaphor for confronting the shadows within to eventually reach wholeness
(I’m coping so hard y’all. I need to believe he’s coming back.)
The Crucible and the Verdict of the Soul
Defined literally, a crucible is a heat-resistant vessel in which metals or other substances can be melted, purified, and transformed. Alchemy requires a crucible; these are the containers in which alchemy occurs.
Figuratively, a crucible is an extreme or agonizing trial through which a person is transformed, an intensely difficult process that “refines” worldviews. It is a “trial by fire,” if you will.
In the video description for Crucible of Causality, we learn that Dottore is about to be judged by his own soul.
"Where countless broken souls converge, he shall hear the verdict of his own soul."
Both definitions of the crucible are important to what I think is going on with Dottore.
3 + 4 = 7 : The Oldest Spiritual Equation
Last patch, many folks pointed out Dottore’s connection to the numbers 3,4, and 7 (prompted, I believe, by YouTuber CatWithBlueHat)
A quick overview of the associations:
Dottore shows up in patches 3, 4, and 7 of the Nod-Krai update cycle
We encounter Dottore in Inazuma (3), Sumeru (4), and Nod-Krai (7)
Dottore is opposed by the Harbingers who currently occupy the 3rd, 4th, and 7th seats (Columbina, Arlecchino, Sandrone)
The three songs that play when he’s on screen are Threefold Falsehood, Four Unspeakables, and Prajnaparamitopadesa to Quell Seven Calamities
On their own, each of these could be pure coincidence, but the song names give credence to all the rest. Localization issues aside, Genshin has always been extremely precise with their references.
3 + 4 = 7 is an enormously significant equation in many traditions Genshin borrows from. In game, we can look at the 3 Moon Sisters, the 4 Shades, and the 7 Archons/elements as examples of how fundamental these numbers are to Teyvat.
But these numbers are also central to alchemy. In alchemical theory and practice, 3 refers to the tria prima (three primes or three principles). These are:
A combustible element: sulfur
A fluid element: mercury
A permanent element: salt
Renaissance alchemist Paracelsus believed that, by understanding the tria prima, one could cure all diseases. He illustrated his theories by burning a piece of wood, explaining fire stood in for the work of sulfur, smoke as mercury, and the ash left behind as salt. More importantly, he extended this to human identity with salt (ash) representing the body, mercury (smoke) representing the spirit, and sulfur (fire) representing the soul.
The 4, meanwhile, represents the Aristotelian four elements (fire, water, earth, air). Reconciling or overlapping the 3 and the 4 lead to diagrams like these, which sought to capture a coherent understanding of the world.
The universe, folks
Genshin makes explicit reference to these ideas in the Fontaine World Quests and again in Act VII of the Nod-Krai quest. In the Explications on the Chymical Marriage readable, we learn:
Three pertains to appearance, while four pertains to the intrinsic. Seven, obtained through their overlap, constitute the number of paths for vertical transcendence.
Worth mentioning: The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz is an actual book circa 1459 that’s divided into 7 journeys and deals with death, purification, trials, resurrection, and ascension.
I’ll put a pin in 347 for now, but I’ll come back to it in a bit.
The Seven Stages of Alchemical Transmutation
Transmutation is alchemy’s central goal with the most popular example being turning lead into gold. The Magnum Opus (Great Work) aimed to discover the Philosopher’s Stone, a substance capable of turning base metal into gold. They also believed it could be used to make the Elixir of Immortality.
In esoteric views of alchemy, however, the transmutation of materials into gold was a metaphor for spiritual transformation. The process of transmutation was instead meant to symbolize a transformation from an imperfect, limited, ignorant state of being to an evolved one that understands the hidden truth of this world.
Basically everything Moon Goddess Dottore the Heretic of the False moon talks about.
In Carl Jung’s analytical psychology, which takes these alchemical principles and uses them for psychotherapy, the aim is to achieve the actualization of the self. To do so, a person has to move beyond their own ego, which Jung refers to as the “organ” of consciousness.
Dottore is peak ego, the “I” as opposed to the “we” of the other Segments, the most rational, radical, selfish part of himself. Pantalone’s explicit reference to Dottore’s ego in their absolutely shameless flirting conversation in the Sanctuary of Surasthana feels quite pointed.
So what does the actual alchemical/enlightenment process look like? Over the years, alchemists proposed processes with varying numbers of steps, some with 12, some with 14, some with… you guessed it, 7. Given how central 7 is in Teyvat and the 6.6 AQ, that’s what I’m going with.
I’ve broken down each step into the Material (chemical) process and the Psychological (spiritual) process and then tried to detail what I think is going on.
1. Calcination
Material: Heating a material over flame until it turns to ash
Psychological: The initial step of breaking down one’s ego, which involves severing one’s worldly attachments
Almost like, you know, saying a final goodbye to the only human being who has ever mattered to you.
2. Dissolution (or Sublimation)
Material: Dissolving these ashes into water
Psychological: Submerging oneself into the unconscious with the goal of resurfacing the parts of the self that had been hidden or suppressed by the conscious mind
Falling into a molten pit full of the parts of himself that he quite literally killed three years ago.
3. Separation
Material: Isolating and filtering the products of dissolution
Psychological: Determining which parts of this surfaced material should be separated and which should be re-integrated
This is the moment when Dottore “shall hear the verdict of his own soul.”
4. Conjunction
Material: Forming a new substance out of the separated elements that are being preserved
Psychological: Merging the conscious and unconscious elements so that the true self can emerge from the union of dualities
Here is where Dottore merges with his fractured self and begins to unify the soul.
5. Fermentation (or Putrefaction)
Material: Inducing the chemical breakdown of the substance by introducing bacteria or other micro-organisms
Psychological: Inducing suffering through challenge and testing to promote resilience and spiritual awakening
He’s straight up in a burning tree having to grapple with all the versions of himself. No one hates Dottore more than Dottore. This is definitely suffering.
But imagine this going on for 5 days
6. Distillation
Material: Further refining or purifying the solution by condensing it
Psychological: Purifying the spirit by elevating one’s awareness into the collective self so that it is no longer controlled by the ego
Dottore, the ego, is no longer above the other Segments and the original. He no longer has the power to destroy them.
7. Coagulation
Material: Transformation to a solid state. This is the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Immortality
Psychological: The union of matter and spirit to create an aligned whole that is capable of perceiving the world on all levels of consciousness. This is Nirvana.
This goes beyond the temporary enlightenment of borrowing the Moon Goddesses’ powers. This is the true transcendence of 7—the overlap of the appearance and the intrinsic.
There’s an argument to be made that Zandik already achieved alchemical enlightenment because his death perfected the Elixir of Immortality, which Pantalone has been consuming for the last three centuries. But that was only the material side. He has yet to undergo the psychological transmutation. Dottore couldn’t because, as a Segment, his worldview is fixed.
Ironically, Dottore believed he had attained enlightenment when he infiltrated Irminsul. Instead, just like the Heretic of the False Moon had to die to infiltrate Irminsul and be re-unified with the other half of that soul to become the Datattore, Dottore can only reach enlightenment after his (ego) death.
The description of his boss domain, Binding Field of Universal Nirvana
The Pyro Gnosis
Now back to 3-4-7. In addition to those numbers being all over Dottore and found in Chymical Marriage quest item, 347 also appears in Mavuika’s animated short as the last number she passes when she drives through time.
Initially, I read this as her “vertical ascension” to godhood. But, while she took up the position of Pyro Archon when she revived in the present, she was already an Archon before that.
What if, instead, the 347 in her trailer is still about Dottore. What if it’s there as a nod to the role the Pyro Gnosis plays in his project of transcending his own limitations.
Nahida and the Traveler use the Pyro Gnosis to burn Irminsul… the same Gnosis that powered the Sacred Flame capable of raising people from the dead. In fact, that was the last thing we saw the Pyro Gnosis do at the end of the Natlan arc.
In the denouement of 6.6, Nahida tells us that Irminsul burned for 7 days and 7 nights. I refuse to believe that this is a coincidence. The game itself tells us that 7 is the number of vertical transcendence, ascension, enlightenment, etc.
To me, this seven-day convergence in the Pyro-Gnosis-heated crucible sounds a lot like the psychological alchemical process above, a process of breaking down and confronting the constitutive elements of the self, discarding what does not serve, and then unifying what’s left into an enlightened whole that is no longer controlled by the ego. The Pyro Gnosis’s fire is meant to purify not destroy.
Redemption Via Analytical Psychology
The benefit of this transformation is that it effectively “cleanses” Zandik in the same way Scaramouche’s rebirth as Wanderer “cleanses” him for playability. It establishes a distance between the transmuted Zandik and the Dottore who murdered Niwa on screen.
We have also seen this process occur with Durin, who was brought back and redeemed using the Art of Khemia. In the Magnum Opus, Alchemy is described through four stages attributed to chemical color changes: Nigredo (black), Albedo (white), Citrinatas (yellow), and Rubedo (red-purple). Unsurprisingly, Durin’s story quest is titled Draco Rubedo.
So, Albedo and Rubedo are already accounted for with their playable counterparts. (I would also offer that Citrinatas could be Rhinedottir i.e. Gold who has quite literally merged with Naberius, but that’s a whole other essay).
Perhaps, then, Dottore will be our next alchemically enlightened character, this one corresponding to the burnt matter of the initial calcination/burning process. In Jung’s analytical psychology, the nigredo phase stands in for “the dark night of the soul, when an individual confronts the shadow within.”
So basically...
Where countless broken souls converge, he shall hear the verdict of his own soul.
(Incidentally, this could also explain why they made the odd aesthetic choice to represent Dattatore as a void shadow with a mouth).
I am desperately going to cling to this hope.
Already, I’ve seen a shift in how people are viewing Zandik/Dottore. Opinions toward him have become a lot more sympathetic, and I think this is a very canny, deliberate move on Hoyo’s part, paving the way for an eventual resurrection of a more balanced, enlightened whole.
(But also what the fuck is up with the lizard? I really need to know.)
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