i got these knockoff boots online and instead of the brand name on the tag they have the name of an apparently nonexistent martin scorsese movie??? what the fuck
I knew like 3 things about the series when I started and all of them were from dmc5. I spent a lot of time missing Vergil... before he wrecked my property and beat my ass 10000 times
And before you think i went insane: it's a Milliastra wonderland that i found today by accident
GUID 24745211921
It's a silly casual game where you play as Dottore and don't allow Feofan to smoke have any lollipops. There's no actual character models sadly but the game itself is pretty fun. Encapsulates Dottore experience perfectly btw especially in challenge mode where Feofan starts to genuinelly smoke eat them right before your eyes
Zandik had to have infinite amount of patience and love for this man to fight this neverending battle for 400+ years daily. I would have went crazy
Dottore’s Long Con: On Colluding with Nahida and Playing the Villain’s Part
Or: Part II of Why I Think Dottore Is Coming Back
While rewatching Act V of the Sumeru Archon Quest, a thought occurred to me: Did Nahida recognize that Irminsul needed to burn after Dottore told her the truth of the world? Could they have devised a strategy all the way back in 3.2?
What if Dottore has been playing the role of the villain so that he and Nahida could liberate Teyvat from the fetters of fate without calling down the punishment of the shades?
This is a companion essay to my last post on how Dottore might be resurrected and redeemed enough to be playable through the principles of alchemical enlightenment. It’s not necessary to read that one for this to make sense, but the ideas support one another.
TLDR
Dottore reveals to Nahida that Irminsul has been hiding a secret that jeopardizes her ability to embody the principles of the God of Wisdom
Nahida can’t directly intervene without running the risk of calling down a Celestial Nail. She needs a villain so convincing that burning Irminsul seems like the lesser of two evils
Dottore has lived his entire life being seen and treated as a madman. He’s perfectly content to play the villain’s part as long as it furthers his goals of exposing the truth of the world
Dottore and Nahida are foils for one another. They are both branches of a whole, and her purification in the bower of Irminsul at the end of 3.2 foreshadows Dottore’s own return from the crucible of the tree of knowledge.
By jointly dismantling the fate system with Nahida, Dottore liberates himself from the fate of the heretic, and guarantees his free will going forward
Grab a snack because this is gonna get long
The Intolerable Truth of the World
At the end of the 3.2 Archon Quest, after the Traveler and Nahida have seemingly purified Irminsul from the stain of Forbidden Knowledge, Dottore shows up for our annual Fatui-mandated Gnosis negotiation.
The first thing he does is knock the Traveler out while barely lifting a finger. This will be important to keep in mind. If Dottore didn’t intend to be defeated in Nod-Krai, he could have disarmed the Traveler at any point. He has the technology to do so.
With the Traveler unconscious and no witnesses around Dottore offers to tell Nahida about the false sky, the secret hidden by Irminsul concerning the “truth” of this world.
Despite knowing the dangers of Forbidden Knowledge—and despite knowing how dangerous Dottore is himself—Nahida agrees not only to hear him out but also to do so in exchange for her Gnosis.
The system that she is meant to protect—that she is quite literally a part of—has been hiding truth from her. Would this revelation not be enough to shake her convictions in the Heavenly Principles? Would Nahida, the God of Wisdom, be content to rule in a world that is lying to the people and binding their free will ? I don’t think so.
My out of pocket theory is that she and Dottore established the importance of divesting Teyvat of Irminsul’s control in the Sanctuary of Surasthana three years ago with the goal of liberating the world from pre-programmed destiny. This was the true agreement in exchange for the Gnoses, an agreement that would be paid in full with the final missing chess piece. Dottore’s note about it being time to say goodbye seems a little pointed in retrospect.
The Doctor: Once I finish telling you about this, it will be time for me to say goodbye.
The Doctor: With negotiations, we've all gotten what we wanted. I'm very glad I got to meet you like this.
But the goodbye doesn’t come at the end of 3.2. It takes place in 6.6.
Instead, as their dialogue wraps up in the Sanctuary, the game’s narration tells us:
Several days seems like more than enough time for the two most brilliant minds in Teyvat to hatch a heretical plan to overthrow the false fates. That “everything falls silent” also seems a little suspect now that we know Dottore can use Irminsul to create a “bubble of silence” to shield Sumeru from Celestia’s eyes. They would have been able to script what comes next without any interference from the Shades.
The Theatre of Rebellion
So far, the game has shown us quite a few ways in which the Archons have performed surrendering or losing their Gnoses. Venti had his “forcibly” torn from him by Signora (we don’t actually believe it would have been that easy, do we?). Zhongli has his “contract to end all contracts.” Focalors has her 500 year play. Nahida is reminded of the “disparity” between her combat abilities and Dottore’s.
All these reasons for forfeiting their Gnoses to the Harbingers don’t seem particularly compelling when we look at them through human intuition. But they might appear convincing enough to an Artificial Intelligence’s scans. Certainly convincing enough that the Shades won’t have to punish the Archons for collusion. In other words, the Archons have found loopholes in the computer program, which they exploit to assist the Tsaritsa without making it look like they’re participating in her rebellion.
If, as the game seems to be suggesting, (some of the) Archons sought to overthrow fate 500 years ago and were devastatingly punished for it, they understand that they need to be a little more strategic this time. And so they play a long game, often alluded to with talk of chess pieces.
There is no way Nahida can burn Irminsul of her own volition without the Shades turning Sumeru into Khaenri’ah 2.0. We’ve seen what happens when leaders go beyond their mandates. But what if there’s a compelling enough reason to convince the Shades that Nahida setting fire to Irminsul is the lesser of two evils. A villain so dangerous that destroying the primordial tree is the only option.
The Role of a Villain
One of the things I haven’t seen talked about much is the fact that almost everyone in Sumeru survived 6.6. Those that didn’t only died because they refused to follow the evacuation plan that Nahida had ready to go at a moment’s notice. Almost like she expected this!
Dottore is continually made out to be a violent monster who relishes murdering as many people as possible, but the moment he seems like greatest threat he… doesn’t actually hurt a hair on anyone’s head. Don’t get me wrong, my man has done some terrible shit (RIP Niwa), but he also seems to be judged rather harshly by the Traveler and their pals. Too harshly, in fact.
Isn’t it interesting that the Traveler is so quick to revile Dottore when they champion Wanderer’s rehabilitation? And isn’t it ironic that the Traveler won’t even hear Dottore out for a minute, yet they’re somehow chummy with Liloupar. Liloupar!!! You know, the one who cursed generations of her own descendants, puppeteered her children into incestuous relationships and murder plots, and ultimately destroyed Gurabad by harnessing the power of the Abyss. Yeah, that Liloupar.
I’ll take my chances with the blue haired guy, actually, thanks
Dottore is an arrogant little shit (affectionate) with questionable methods, but show me one time he eviscerated an entire civilization using an Abyssal plague. In fact, Dottore actually figures out how to cure a plague.
Which brings me to my most cancelable take: one of the things that bothered me about the 6.6 Archon Quest was the utter lack of nuance directed toward Dottore’s experimentation on and treatment of Collei. I fully recognize that a child who undergoes painful but life-saving medical intervention can see their doctors as evil because of the agonizing immediacy of the treatment itself. That trauma stays with you. But why do none of the adults around Collei acknowledge the fact that Dottore’s treatment saved her life? Be for real, there would be no Collei if Dottore’s god-science hadn’t cured Eleazar. We saw with Dunyarzad that the decline is quick. Collei wouldn’t have survived until the Traveler purified the tree if she was already in such rough shape as a child.
Which brings me back to a key aspect of Dottore’s character: he no longer minds being seen as a villain as long as it allows him to further his goal of liberating himself (and, by extension the world) from the fetters of fate.
The Doctor: You know, I heard recently that a group of critics reviewed countless stories and drew an interesting conclusion: They found that it is more often than not the villains who strive tirelessly to push the boundaries of progress.
The Doctor: In fact, long before this, someone voiced a similar idea in an Akademiya editorial. I felt a great affinity with this perspective. I have never been afraid to step up and play the role of the villain.
The Doctor: But all sacrifices made during my experiments have been worthwhile, as you can now see. I can offer you something new, something unique, precisely because I am a villain.
The Doctor: I say, better to be governed by a flawed humanity than a Gnosis. The true seeker of knowledge is the villain who undergoes countless tribulations in pursuit of their goal.
(Are you really a villain or are you just playing one? The lady doth protest too much, methinks)
Dottore has been called a madman ever since he was a child. We find out that he lost his compassion at 8 years old because the people around him were terrified of his ideas. This doesn’t condone what he’s done, but it certainly explains his outlook. We also know that, in many cases, Dottore’s ideas are correct even if his methods are not morally good. He’s frequently judged by people whose worldviews come from divine proclamations that have been shown to be unreliable or falsely planted by Phanes.
In plain terms, Dottore is called a madman and a lunatic by flat-earthers and anti-vaxxers. Now what we’ve been to the moon and gazed upon Teyvat, we know those people are wrong. The Sages are out here banning books and constraining research through the cardinal sins because they fear the wrath of the Heavenly Principles, but this places knowledge and wisdom in fundamental tension. While Dottore’s experimental-free-for-all isn’t exactly an ideal solution, the game makes it clear that ignorance—while a blissful dream—isn’t the right answer either.
Dottore is disappointed in the Traveler in 6.3 because they have yet to realize that Teyvat is trapped in a simulation. It is the Sabzeruz Festival on a much, much grander scale. When Dottore implies as much, the Traveler refers to his question as “pure sophistry” that has “nothing to do with [his] actions” when in fact they very much do. Dottore had hoped that the Traveler, having already experience the dream cycle in miniature, would have picked up on it by now.
Anyway, because Dottore gave up on regurgitating existing research years ago, he’s perfectly content to embrace the mantle of madman. In fact, he’s fated to do so by the very system he’s attempting to overthrow. His name quite literally translates to Heretic. This was always going to be his role.
So Dottore doesn’t give two shits about the fact that Collei thinks he’s a monster; what matters is the fact that she’s alive to do so because he cured the uncurable (never mind the fact that people later refused the cure because they thought Eleazar was their “punishment from god,” which doubtless contributes to his absolute contempt for the “rules”). Similarly, he doesn’t care that the people of Nod-Krai think he’s a monster because his experiments in the moonlit nation allowed him to achieve two of his most lofty goals:
1. He created a god out of Columbina.
Her Character Trailer makes it clear through visual storytelling that Dottore is the one guiding her entire narrative arc.
2. He infiltrated Irminsul like a Virus
By having the “good guys” kill him and send him into Irminsul, he created an anchor for the other half of his soul (just as Luonnotar was the anchor for Columbina)
Let’s not forget that the entire Heretic of the False Moon boss battle is staged. It’s a performance.
That’s more like it; some results of value.
Good, keep it up. I’m still collecting data.
He orchestrates his death as part of a long game of game of infiltrating Irminsul to put an end to the false fates. And if Dottore had all this planned out, I can only assume that he has his own resurrection planned as well, right down to the reunification of his soul in the crucible of Irminsul.
In fact, I think his resurrection was foreshadowed in 3.X as well.
Rebirth and The Sabzeruz Festival
Since I was going down a 3.X rabbit hole, I figured I may as well go all the way and look at the rest of the quest, especially the Sabzeruz Festival. And boy is it ever interesting after 6.6.
The Sabzeruz Festival was a collective dream, which the Sages harvested via the Akasha Terminal to power Dottore’s false god project. In the initial loop, the Traveler and Dunyarzad walk the streets of the city, stopping at various stalls.
The first stall is Amal’s which offers food from the Haft-Mewa Feast which Dunyarzad tells us is when people “set their tables with seven different foods to symbolize the seven virtues of the Dendro Archon.”
The irl inspiration behind this feast is Half Seen (or Seven S’s), a core tradition in the celebration of Nowrus, the Persian New Year, which marks the vernal equinox. This tradition involves arranging seven objects on a table or mantle, each of which has a name beginning with the letter S, and that, together, symbolize life and renewal. In addition to these seven elements, celebrants also include a “book of wisdom” from which the eldest member of a family will recite a page for guidance on the upcoming year.
Which brings us to Kimiya, the next person we meet in the quest. Kimiya’s name derives from the Arabic word for chemistry, which is, in turn, connected to the Ancient Greek Kimia, meaning alchemy or elixir of life. Importantly, in a lot of Persian literature, Kimia refers less to the chemical or material side of alchemy than to its spiritual or psychological side, the transmutation of the self.
Kimiya has a bunch of interesting things to say that never really made much sense until Natlan and Nod-Krai:
Kimiya: ...The remnants appear to be in the form of the Moon.
Paimon: Really? Paimon thought it looked like some kind of food.
Kimiya: Hmm... The Moon signifies... Hmm... It's escaping me for now. Wait a moment...
Paimon: Is he really looking it up in a book?
Kimiya: Oh, right, it means illusions and lies.
Kimiya: But if you trust your intuition and overcome your fears, the sun will surely rise.
Kimiya: This is divine wisdom.
Moon remnants… illusions and lies… the sun rising… Sounds a little bit like Mavuika punching a hole into the sky to me. And, after Nod-Krai, all this talk about the moon followed by the loop of Number Four is pretty intriguing.
And then we go to Vihar’s stall where we meet Farris, the Knight of Flowers. In Iranian folklore, Hāji Firuz appears in the streets at the beginning of Nowruz after returning from the world of the dead, his red clothes symbolizing the resurrection of the sacrificed deity. These are common motifs in figures meant to symbolize the transition from winter (dead) to spring (resurrection).
Clearly, the Sabzeruz Festival is very much a celebration of Nahida’s liberation and her return to her power after Greater Lord Rukkhadevata’s sacrifice. But Genshin’s narratives often work on multiple levels, telling and retelling stories, foreshadowing overarching plots through mirrored themes in endless mise en abimes. Just look at how many times Simulanka has foreshadowed the plotline ever since the summer of 2024. This isn’t accidental; Teyvat runs on cycles, samsaras, repeating histories with minor variations on the theme.
And it's still going strong.
Beyond Nahida’s narrative, the Sabzeruz Festival can nod to Columbina’s resurrection from the world of the dead (the Moon’s Reflection) as moon number four. But it can also foreshadow Dottore’s return because Nahida and Dottore are set up as foils for one another.
Branches of a Whole
Dottore and Nahida share many parallels. They’re both 500(ish) year-old geniuses from Sumeru, they’ve both been victims of the Sages, they both adopt some questionable methods at times for the “greater good.” But most saliently to me, they’re both portrayed as branches of a whole.
Nahida is referred to as a branch of Irminsul, a segment of the original tree. After completing the Sumeru Archon Quest, we obtain the 5 Star Quest Item Silver Twig.
This twig is Nahida, a branch of Rukkhadevata now coming into her own being after Rukkhadevata returns to the people of Sumeru their ability to dream.
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: From the earth
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: And from the rain
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: We perceive its wonders until we become a white bird
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: To perch atop a branch...
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata: And finally snap off the most important leaf
Guess what we get when we defeat Dottore? A Twisted Withered Branch. Because Dottore is also a branch of a kind, a Segment of Zandik. The “most insane” branch, but a branch nonetheless.
In the God’s Limits trailer, we also get this striking visual image of a white raven with a black raven’s reflection.
If Rukkhadevata/Nahida is the white bird perched atop a branch, Dottore is her counterpart. He even wears the dark plumage on his shoulders and is constantly portrayed alongside motifs of black birds (his artifact being the Pale Flame feather is another good one).
Subtlety is not exactly his forte
All of this also calls to mind the work MC Escher, which is full of tessellations of interlocking black and white birds. In these woodcuts, the white and black birds both emerge out of and give shape to one another. They are inextricable. And we know that Dottore has quite the connection with Escher.
Nahida’s resurrection in Irminsul wherein she meets the other part of herself foreshadows Dottore’s return after hearing the verdict of his own soul in that very same tree. They approach the parts of themselves from completely opposite sides, but these parallels are intentional, especially when we consider that 6.6 is a continuation of the Sumeru quest as much as the Nod-Krai quest.
(The downside here is that Nahida forgets Rukkhadevata and it will suck if Zandik gets totally memory wiped, buuuut I’ll take it if it means he’s playable).
Another thing I thought was interesting: in Tlingit oral storytelling, the White Raven is a trickster and a key figure in tales of creation. At the beginning, the world is engulfed in darkness, the sun, moon, and stars hoarded in boxes by a wealthy noble. Boldly endeavouring to shine light upon the world, Raven transforms himself and infiltrates the noble’s house, playing the role of the man’s grandson for years until at last he shifts back to his true form, steals the light from their boxes, and escapes through the chimney. As he ascends, his plumage is darkened with soot. He becomes the Black Raven while bringing light to the world.
Dottore and Nahida are both tricksters of a kind. They both play long games with sleight of hand, and they both ultimately want to shed light on the truths of the world. While they might have different perspectives on wisdom and enlightenment, their overarching convictions aren’t actually all that far off from one another, despite what Nahida may say.
And so we might ask…
Who Really Won, In the End?
The ending of the 6.6 Archon Quest is weird. On the surface, it concludes the way most of the AQs do: good prevails over evil, team Traveler-and-the-power-of-friendship valiantly defeats the boss, and everyone celebrates with a grand feast. It appears to be yet another triumphant ending.
But… is it really?
Because, from where I’m standing, it still kind of looks like Dottore won.
The Harbingers’ stated goal under Pierro has been to “burn down the old world.” Dottore wants to liberate humanity from the limitations that have been imposed on them. Pantalone wants a world where humans can be on equal footing with the gods. The old world burned exactly as they wanted.
It just so happened that the “good guys” were the ones who struck the match.
Goodbye, We Will (Never?) Meet Again
I’ll acknowledge that Dottore’s conversation with Nahida at the very end of 6.6 seems to throw a wrench into my theory because he seems surprised that she set fire to the tree. But, again, he’s a stellar performer. Perhaps, now that the shield is down, he needs to reprise his role as villain one last time to really make it convincing for the Shades. “Ooh, you outsmarted me! I can’t see any other outcomes.” I don’t believe this guy for a second.
The fact that Nahida ends on “Goodbye” just feels so deliberate after Dottore promising her that it’s time to say goodbye after he tells her about the false sky.
And then that last little bit in the quest’s denouement where Nahida says:
The matter of Dottore can be seen as settled for now. We are sure to cross paths again in the future, and in that light, Snezhnaya would do well to uphold their responsibilities and keep a tight rein over their actions.
Maybe she’s talking about the other Harbingers but… that’s really not what this sentence says at all. On a grammatical level, she says we are certain to cross paths with Dottore again; there’s no pronoun ambiguity here. (This can certainly be a localization issue, but I will continue clinging to it until they go in and change it.)
I’ve also been a little confused about Pantalone’s comment to Dottore about not wanting “to admit defeat in the limited time [he has].” What limited time? Segments don’t age! For all intents and purposes, Dottore is effectively immortal. And, as Pantalone later says, there was no reason for the experiment to end.
Dottore knew he was going to die. In fact, I think he was counting on it as part of a plan already set into motion with Nahida in 3.2,. That plan also involves his return. He’s happy to play the role of the villain because there has to be a villain to work against the Shades programming. Had he not performed a convincing world-ending threat, Nahida would never have gotten away with burning the tree in pursuit of true wisdom.
But just as Nahida is a branch reborn in an effort to purify the tree of knowledge, Zandik will be reborn from the burning tree after brining light (true knowledge) to the world. Irminsul isn’t entirely gone. The roots are still there—surely enough for him to spring back.
Unshackled, from the fate of the heretic, when he rises again, he can choose his own path. Perhaps, then, this is what Pantalone meant when he said Dottore’s death his favorite part. They’re finally free.
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.)
I’ve seen people do au’s of Bloody Mary where Grace’s twin brother is Colt Seavers from the fall guy which I honestly love but I haven’t seen anyone do what I consider to be the funniest option available which is make Ryland Grace an escaped Ken from Barbieland.
Think about it throughout PHM Ryland never talks about having a family he mentions having a girlfriend once in the book all we really know about her is that they moved in together briefly and that she had a lot of stuff.
Let’s say after Ken and Barbie break up. Ken decides to go out on his own and stumbles upon the real world. There he learns about science and becomes completely invested in that pathway. He either eventually figures out how to become a human or he stays a doll which could explain why he was the only one to survive his hyper sleep (and so he can live with rocky longer)
It could explain why he so heavily believes in non water based life so much because he WAS a non water based life form. Water doesn’t exist in Barbieland it’s all plastic.
Furthermore this could explain why he decided to become a teacher being a doll previously it’s only reasonable to assume he’d enjoy kid’s presence the same way Barbie does.
He also loves the beach and we all know that Ken’s previous job was beach
In the Barbie movie the CEO of Mattel states “we’re not worried about Ken…. Ever.” Meaning that it’s likely they wouldn’t care at all if a Ken left Barbieland and perused an education became a scientist and eventually a school teacher.
All this to say imagine Simon and Grace getting into some kind of fight where Simon is like
“You have no idea what it’s like to live your life forced to be a cog in the system. Knowing that what you want doesn’t matter, nobody caring about who you are not even your name matters”etc. etc.
and the entire time Grace is having PTSD flashbacks of this:
And then responds with:
“You wouldn’t last an hour in the place I grew up”
So I was going through BadJaune dottolone art once again because Pantalone's Paragon genuinely makes me go insane and has me by the throat
And this piece made me wonder what if they are too victims of infamous ZhongChi/ChiLi chopsticks misunderstanding. Such a nice crack opportunity right here
And now I can't decide what's more hilarious:
1. Dottore is aware he has like 0 relevant experience in successful honest personal relationships. Therefore, he decides to research Li Yue and their traditions and finds the chopsticks one and decides well there's really nothing that can go wrong with this one. And gifts Lone the damn chopsticks.
So
A) he intends them as business partners' gift, but they're instantly taken as proposal. Pantalone still accepts and now one think they're in a relationship/engaged and the other is suuuper hyped he successfully made a friend/business partner and it's like totally normal to do sleep overs and later on kinks and sex and stuff like wdym business partners with benefits bitch
B) he intends them as proposal/engagement/asking out and is taken as business partners. And once again they're accepted and Dottore just lives his happy little dating fantasy taking Lones lead on how dating/etc is supposed to work. And maybe he's a little aroace science man so it's totally fine and whatnot
2. Pantalone gives Dottore the chopsticks but that sounds too much like a plane ZhongChi trope rip off.
Segments are probably there too just bringing the chaos
Anyway
I absolutely adore the concept of Dottore somehow fucking up all of his attempts at meaningful personal relationships. They don't necessarily NOT work out, but they still somehow always go spectacularly sideways
Well, this post aged like mediocre wine I suppose. But! How about a second, Snezhnayan, edition, hmmm?
The premise is basically the same, but instead of chopsticks it's all about Pantalone's ring and Dottore doesn't know enough / gets himself in misunderstanding about Snezhnayan wedding rings. Like "Let's gift something nice to Feofan that he loves as a symbol of our partnership- oh! What a pretty ring!" type of situation.
The wring in question is the left one
It's on his right hand ring finger. Seems to be a three band ring, as far as I can tell it's intertwined. Like this:
Which is called Russian ring, three band ring OR Russian wedding ring. It's traditional!
Historically, it's necessarily a russian wedding ring. It's more like a slavic thing, but it become world reknown through Cartier. And they took the design from Russia specifically, so.
Anyway, why is it traditional and can be seen in slavic countries? Because of Orthodoxy, of course!
In Orthodoxy people believe in 3 main entities/faces of God: The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. They are represented in three bands of the ring. In other interpretations: a) father, mother and their child, the family and b) love, trust/faith and hope or c) love, friendship and loyalty. The bands are also usually different in color/design, which have their own special meanings.
In Orthodoxy people traditionally must cross oneself, sign documents, give money and do all other important actions with their right hand. Because it's right, get it? It's quite literally the case here. This hand represents rightfulness, truthfulness and purity! Right hand is also called "the giving hand" (the left one is the receiving one, as in receive with your heart, let it in your life, share the most precious things) in slavic tradition, so everything you do should be done with right hand if you mean it. And marriage? Oh boy, you better mean it!
And that's why the wedding ring is on the right hand in slavic tradition!
Why the hell of this is important? Because Pantalone turns out to be Snezhnayan in canon. And Snezhnaya is modeled after slavic countries, presumably Imperial Russia. And Orthodoxy is one of the biggest parts of everyone's life back then.
What we can conclude? That there's a very high chance that Pantalone has a wedding ring (also the only ring there, must be important detail) thus he is/was married.
My take on this? Let it be the marriage chopsticks but accidental partnership ring. Which kind of partnership? Who knows! 400 years side by side with the only person that you can somewhat trust should mean something in my book.
And that's it :3
EDIT:
Ah! I almost forgot! There's also a phrase in russian "правая рука" which literally translates as "right hand" but it can also mean "righthand man" depending on context. It's not exactly related to the ring in question, but it suits their dynamic, so I thought to mention it too.
Just a couple other things I've been continually thinking about after playing the patch:
A Moment Lasts Forever
Although Pantalone started testing the elixir of immortality before he was 38, Anomalous Tree Marrow I confirms that what made the elixir incomplete for so long was that it had no impact on brain aging--that is, Pantalone was already staying young in body, but mentally and neurologically was still aging. It took all the way until Zandik's death (and the elixir being perfected from his autopsy) for Feofan's brain to stop aging, so we can technically say:
The day Zandik died was the day time stopped for Pantalone. 😭
This is also important because it's a central part of the theme shared between both Dottore and Pantalone: The segments were fixed "slivers of time" who effectively could not grow or mentally/psychologically develop beyond the age at which they had been separated off. Unlike the original Zandik, who remained mutable and human and therefore changed his views and feelings over time, Omega and the other segments had no freedom to grow as people.
And after Zandik's death... neither did Pantalone.
Just like the segments, his brain became fixed, frozen.
Hear me out, Dottore comes back as a pyro character for the symbolism.
Feofan isn't the same as a segment, but functionally having one's brain development stopped in time suggests the same exact inability to move forward, to give up the feelings of that moment...
Pantalone is an extremely tired 72-year-old brain inside a 45-year-old body that's nevertheless still kicking almost 400 years later.
No wonder the guy has black circles.
Order of Operations
Second thing: I'm not going to speculate in full on the Lizardtorre theory because it's been talked about enough. I don't know if the lizard will actually turn out to be involved in Dottore's situation or if they'll just pull an "Actually, a brand new character who can spy through animals has been following you all along, Traveler!" out of nowhere, but anyone saying that lizard isn't going to be relevant in some way, shape, or form to the upcoming plot is probably huffing their own copium at this point, because even if you're not into literary analysis you should be able to spot obvious an obvious Chekhov's gun when the devs literally pick it up and wave it in your face lol.
Buttt anyway, one thing I did want to talk about is that I've seen people debunking the lizard theory by saying that Anomalous Tree Marrow III proves the lizard was just another experiment from Dottore and its only role in the plot was giving him the information on how to transfer souls.
Except... the idea that Dottore only started his experiments in soul transfer after going to Nod-Krai makes no sense, because he had already drawn up the entire plan with Pantalone, split his soul, turned it into a data back-up, and left that data back-up in the Northland Bank with Pantalone all before going to Nod-Krai.
Pantalone explicitly tells us this in-game:
The only reason Pantalone even went to Sumeru at all was because he had already signed a literal will directing him to take Dottore's data and inject it into Irminsul. If Dottore came up with that idea after starting his showdown with Traveler and Co. in Nod-Krai (upon which he promptly died), how would Pantalone even know that plan, let alone have a signed document from Dottore telling him to do it? 🤔
Did Dottore zip back to Snezhnaya in the middle of Nod-Krai's plot to go like "Hey man, I know we signed an agreement already for you to bring my soul piece to Sumeru but I'm gonna need to borrow your computer real fast--"
To be honest, this could just be another plot hole due to Genshin's notorious "don't think too hard about this" stance towards all of their timelines (Flins being simultaneously in Snezhnaya and in Nod-Krai for the Cataclysm comes to mind lol), but if that's the case, this seems like a really obvious and dumb mistake for the writers to have made, because this is all information from the same patch--they didn't bother to do a single check of their own timeline even just for 6.6's events?
tl;dr: It makes no sense for Dottore to only have learned how to transfer souls during Nod-Krai's plot, because Nod-Krai's plot happened after Dottore had already signed off and finished preparing his soul-splitting and injection-into-Irminsul plan.
Well That's Not Ominous At All
I know the common takeaway from the patch seems to be that Zandik died of (relatively) natural causes, that he fell and just no one helped him up, possibly had heart failure, etc.; the prevailing take seems to be that the segments' involvement was mostly just standing by and watching him die.
But personally, I'm more inclined to say that he was pretty much murdered by Omega.
Sure, we get this particularly threatening flash during the cutscene, suggesting Omega was about to errrr... hurry things along:
But I think the more ominous statement is actually from Anomalous Moon Marrow III, where Omega writes:
The second half of the note being specifically about "fantasies of immortality" all but confirms that the drug he is talking about is the elixir of immortality. They've had a "deficit" of effective live specimens for trials of the elixir, so Omega decides to persuade himself [Zandik] to "comply."
The second half of the note being such a disdainful take on mortality and human life suggests that we're supposed to read this as Omega's thinly veiled hatred for Zandik in particular: Human Zandik is "fleeting," "too fragile," and, like other mortals, "pathetically trapped by their own limitations." Omega is the superior unit; he's stronger, younger, more powerful, immortal. Why should he be held back from achieving his goal any longer by this pathetic crumbling version of himself?
The fact that they added this note into the tree marrow suggests to me that we were supposed to see Omega's role in Zandik's death as significantly more calculated than originally thought. He wasn't just casually taking advantage of Zandik's natural death; he had been actively plotting and planning for that death to make human!Zandik into the last "specimen data" he needed to complete the elixir.
Far be it from me to ever suggest that any of Freud's theories were actually right but... this is all pretty Oedipus Complex-y. Omega hated his creator, the original Zandik, viewing him as a symbol of the pathetic human traits the segments had long since moved beyond--therefore a symbol of Omega's own, deep-down weaknesses. Zandik was a walking, talking manifestation of Omega's inferiorities, his limitations... How could Omega not hate him, seeing him parading around their failings for all the world to see?
And yet Omega clearly also envied Zandik, the only one by virtue of his humanity who could truly claim to be "the original." Omega burned to seize that status, thinking of all the other segments as just "me, myself, and I," putting himself in the position of being the actual harbinger, THE Il Dottore, while everyone else in their collective was just "help," and even all the way to the end, Omega was coveting the name "Zandik"... Even while embarrassed, mortified of his human limitations, Omega desired everything Zandik had that Omega lacked.
He didn't just want Zandik gone for the elixir--he wanted Zandik gone so he could entirely supplant him, finally becoming the "real" Self.
I'm not saying this theory remotely works in real life (as it was never based on any actual science in the first place), but in media and storytelling there's certainly been a lot of leaning on the idea, and I don't think it's accidental that Omega very much plays Freud's entire Oedipus Complex out line-by-line: Hate and envy the "father," view him as a rival, covet his place in the world, kill him to assert yourself as the superior version, seize the wife, profit.
On Sight
Okay, anyway, ending with something much cuter and significantly less low-key horror:
For me, the most under-rated aspect of 6.6 was finding out that canonically Dottore is the "fell first" in the "who fell first vs. who fell harder." The fandom is just notttt talking enough about the fact that absolutely none of Zandik's behavior towards Feofan makes any sense unless you assume that he was so impressed by their very first meeting that he was completely sold on Pantalone instantly. Ride or die from ONE CONVERSATION. Feofan had him hooked within the first five minutes; Dottore is weakkk omg. If you think too hard about this it loops back into really sad, so uhhhh just don't think too hard about this.
Because really, the crazy thing is the dates on the reports.
We jump from 20 to 26, and Feofan is still not a harbinger yet Dottore is somehow his attending physician? A civilian is getting treated by a harbinger for routine altercation wounds?? Where did he get this kind of privilege???
The fact that Dottore was already providing Feofan's medical care even before he rose to the position of harbinger suggests that, by any outsider's perspective, Il Dottore himself spent at least six years maintaining a friendship with a no-name member of the Fatui who wasn't even a combatant. Feofan was just a bank employee???
Imagine if one day Slenderman started showing up at your bank but all he wanted to do was chat up your coworker.
Like, think of how absolutely gone on Feofan Dottore must have seemed to any outsider looking in:
Feofan walks into the Northland Bank. He's not even a Fatui member yet. He no longer has a penny to his name, a home to go back to, or a resume he can even show to prove himself because his last business literally failed. He was a test subject two weeks ago and now he's handing over a letter of recommendation from Il Dottore, second of all the Fatui harbingers.
Imagining being the guy running that bank. I M A G I N E.
Also, Pantalone insists that he rose to the position of harbinger on his own merits; however, he also says "Your recommendation alone wouldn't have been enough," which means that Dottore did talk his bestie up to the Tsaritsa. We don't (yet) have any record of Dottore encouraging the Tsaritsa to elevate anyone else he knew to the status of harbinger, which implies that this was completely out of the blue behavior for him, and at some point he absolutely walked into a harbinger meeting and just went "Pierro, I'm going to tell you about Feofan now. Let me list out all his admirable qualities--" such that an entire room of people was forced to listen to at least an hour's worth of simping disguised as a totally-objective-not-at-all-biased "harbinger recommendation," after which they almost certainly wanted to kill both Dottore and themselves.
In took Pantalone 10 years in the Fatui to become a harbinger, and Dottore knew him and maintained a "friendship" with him that entire time, despite the massive gulf in their ranks. You KNOW Feofan was getting hit with those "sleeping his way to top" allegations and you KNOW Dottore constantly made them worse by being completely uninterested in bothering to correct the driveling gossip.
"I've already stated many times that Feofan is my partner--"
"Zandik... Please..."
It's just so cute.
The speed at which Dottore latched onto Feofan... The complete disregard for social hierarchy or rank... Number 2 and the random bank clerk simply "being friends" for years without Dottore ever bothering to be concerned how others would perceive that... Absolutely shamelessly using nepotism to try to help his "friend" get promoted so they could work together on the daily...
It's so, so endearing. I need 13435894596 "just watched that freak who stole my kidney flirt with my fellow teller at the bank and guys I think my coworker's into it" fics, statttttt.
