so we can meet another 'Boatman' in the Temple of Space
echoing what the Tsurumi Island's Boatman said a bit (and also the aubade artifact set, but i'm focusing on the boatman part):
"Boatman": The shining silver skiff sails soft to yonder moon, but it was not prepared for you, oh no! Step not aboard, soil not the decks…
[...]
"Boatman": Aha, a-hey… The silver skiff, scion of sun and slope, hey! All must come home, all must return, to the moon-mansion that golden burns…
"Boatman": Ye old who linger on things yet strange and new, let us return, let us return, to the golden halls upon the moon.
confirming that the souls did indeed go to the moon. in a silver boat.
again, this is not the second example of a Boatman. King Deshret himself had a boat to ferry the dead. and like i said in the linked post, a Boatman is also mentioned in Rangi Nui's End:
And I shall head to the other side of the dark currents,
To seek the ferryman, who rows a dugout canoe and wears a gold-feathered crown,
And when at last I see that circlet, glimmering in gold,
(reminder that the Tsurumi Boatman is also described to wear a golden crown. either it was the Ferryman uniform, or whoever the author of Rangi Nui's End is seeking the Tsurumi Boatman specifically).
Una: The boatman has come to see me quite often lately.
Una: He comes quietly each time, wearing his golden fur clothes, his long gold pants, with a crown of gold silk on his head...
- Una's Longing. she gives more details about the Boatman
so.. yay for ferrymen of the dead being a reoccuring concept in Teyvat And Also an Actual Occupation back then
+ also ... while writing this i realized... in real life, the most well-known ferryman for the dead is Charon. whether he inspired some of these characters or helped inspire the concept (not for Deshret though, there are boatmen for the dead in Egyptian Mythology), he's also a ferryman for the dead...
and why am i bringing this up? because it seems another GI character has a (pretty evident) reference to Charon:
which gives her a ferryman of the dead imagery too...
and fair, the Chinese name is different. "Guiding Butterfly Constellation". but i think it can still kind of fit, since the Boatmen can also be said to be... guides to afterlife (ba dum tss). also Hu Tao's design has similarities with Ronova, Death itself. i stand by this.
and we cannot forget the name of this employee of her funeral parlor
tldr: if Hu Tao was a historical character she'd be a Boatman. and perhaps, she is in some way the modern-day equivalent to one. of course, everything is very different than in the Boatmen era, and she has nothing to do with boats to begin with, but she can be thought of as having a similar role (?) of sending or guiding the dead to the afterlife
