You know, since writing a fair bit about La Signora, I was thinking a lot about the Cryo Archon and her subordinates. They're not what I expected.
We're told that the Fatui are an organization answering only to Snezhnaya's leader. They use diplomacy, but their reputation for vicious sadism and brute force precedes them--they're ruthless, leveraging any scrap of political favor thrown their way and exploiting what conflicts they can.
We know this from the Ursa the Drake incident, when Dottore's "defeat" of the beast gave them favorable diplomatic conditions in Mondstadt. We know this from the Vision Hunt Decree, promoted and maintained by Fatui intervention in order to destabilize the country from the inside.
And the Fatui value strength above anything else. Signora's death is not their tragedy and she was not a woman they mourned, because to fall in battle is a sign of weakness.
In Snezhnaya, there is no honor for the dead.
Like so many others the Traveler meets on their journey, they're also deeply devoted to their archon. To join the Fatui is to forsake one's name and one's face in the pursuit of the Tsaritsa's beautiful and terrible dream of a world without Celestia. That so many of her people have taken up her cause is no mean feat, and that she had eleven people so feverishly devoted to her that they would willingly sacrifice everything is intriguing.
The Tsaritsa is no simple tyrant. She's not Baal. And that's evident from the way she speaks to her subordinates and their opinion of her. Kujou Sara speaks of her archon with reverence and respect, and she devotes herself to Baal's eternity without a second thought--but there's nothing personal about why. It makes Sara, and by extension Baal, seem...more two-dimensional.
But the Tsaritsa, despite being the Cryo Archon, is one hell of a firebrand.
Think about it. She's advocating revolution, full on revolution against the powers that be. The Tsaritsa wants to bring the gods down from the sky and to burn the old world to the ground. And she acknowledges the enormous burden this puts upon her subordinates. She acknowledges that she is demanding their fullest loyalty, devotion beyond reason or ability.
"Sorry...to also have you shoulder the grievances of the world. Since you could endure my bitter cold, you must have the desire to burn? Then, burn away the old world for me."
What sort of archon apologizes to her subjects?
One that understands, on a visceral level, the sacrifices she asks they make.
Of all the archons, is it such a surprise that she sounds the most human? Because what could be more human than to wish to defeat the divine?
I have many thoughts on visions being a manifestation of human ambition, responding to their will, being tied inextricably to their dreams...and how gods don't simply grant humans power, but help their ambitions become realized. The Tsaritsa is not Venti, with little ambition other than to see his people happy; she is not Zhongli, tired of shouldering that responsibility; she is not Ei, forging ahead while deaf to the cries of her subjects.
The Tsaritsa tells them that the world is brutal, and so is she, but that they can tear it down if they so wished.
And this inspires such fanatic loyalty that it's astonishing to witness.
Cleverer still is how she gathered her Harbingers. They are all, in some form or another, as cruel as their leader. And from what we know, they were all outcasts.
La Signora is the first Harbinger we meet. She wandered Teyvat for centuries, burning away the corruption she saw until she was, perhaps, no longer fit to be called human. The Tsaritsa gives her a path forward--bring down the gods, destroy the Abyss.
Then we meet Childe. He's brash, arrogant, and fundamentally wrong in some way. The lore blames the Abyss for what he's become--a little too bloodthirsty, a little too ambitious, and a little too reckless for other people to tolerate--but the Tsaritsa gives him a place where he can grow in strength as much as he desires.
Scaramouche is next. What was Scaramouche if not a person without a destiny? Does a puppet even have a constellation? Before he was found, he drifted aimlessly. The Tsaritsa gave him a cause to fight for.
And though we have not met Il Dottore in game, we know enough about him to see that he was cast out of the Academia for unauthorized experimentation. The Tsaritsa recruited him with the promise that he would not be accused of heresy.
Though perhaps I give her too much credit. Scaramouche, Signora, and Dottore were recruited directly by Pierro, the first of the Harbingers. And he, too, is intriguing, and his words sum up the general attitude of the Fatui.
Then I shall become instead a fool, a Fatuus, and devote myself to Her Majesty, who understands my pain...
My name is Pierro, The Jester. Please listen to the words I have to say:
Proud Fatui comrades, I know your hearts harbor both the fires of rage and the cold of eternal winter.
Each one of us has borne witness to the absurd callousness of the foundational principles of this world.
So, let us don our masks in mockery of the world as we go forth and rewrite the rules of destiny.
What sets the Tsaritsa apart, I think, is that she understands the rage of her subjects. She seeks out Harbingers who feel the same and tells them that they are not alone, and that there is a better world--they must only build it from the ground.
And what could be more dangerous, more clever than a passionate revolutionary with a talent for recruiting bitter extremists?
Perhaps it is fair to say that only those who possess an obsession close to or even exceeding the level of delusion might be willing to join this group that so rebels against the Heavenly Principles, binding their remaining days to their Delusions and burning as brightly as stars.
Bitter, obsessive extremists. Clever indeed.
