An overly in-depth analysis on the pros and cons of Playable Durin's character, part one: Character Design.
This is the first of a kind of sister series to the posts about Paralogism, since I can't really talk about that whole debacle without also inevitably going into how it affected playable Durin as a character, in both a meta/character sense.
As this will be several posts, links to the others will be added below when I complete them.
Part 2: Durin's animations.(To be finished.)
This post will be going over playable Durin as presented visually, focusing on his character design and weapon. I have an animation degree, so I do actually know something about character design.
As I tend to ramble as much as Nicole, and this is over 4k words below, the analysis is under the cut.
Before we begin I would like to note, that although these posts are going to include a fair amount of criticism(in the analytical way), I actually do enjoy playable Durin as a character quite a bit; much like how Albedo is still one of my favourites despite the whole *gestures at Paralogism* thing. I wouldn't be spending so much time analysing them if I actually hated either one.
Playable Durin's design is actually quite good, conceptually—if it was for Dragonspine Durin/or if he was allowed to be a meaningful part of the character.
As a hater of cool things becoming cutesy, when Paralogism teased playable Durin, I was originally concerned that I would be doomed to see Dragonspine Durin completely ignored in favour of Simulanka Durin in his design. It was to my pleasant surprise when it appeared to be the other way around, with Simulanka Durin only really affecting the eyes, and later, the skin from his Story Quest.
Fig 1. Durin's regular design ingame, the outfit "A Gift from the Stars' presented as a turnaround. ^^^
So here's his design ingame. While Neuvillette may be the Hydro Sovereign, the nature of his role in Fontaine's Archon Quest meant that his draconic nature had to be kept subdued in his visual design—a problem that neither Durin has ever had to contend with. It took us five years, and two dragon related characters that have no overt draconic elements, plus one pixelated Dragonlord companion, to finally get a proper, dragon themed, playable character.
So right off the bat, what does this dragon's appearance tell us at first glance, pretending we don't know anything about him as a character?
Well, the major elements that first catch my eye are his tail, his horns, the heart on his chest, and the rather regal—almost akin to a gothic, vampire noble—style of his outfit. As well as the prevalence of black and dark purple. His tail and horns lead my brain away from "vampire" and into "dragon"—look a little closer and you will spot his wings quietly tucked away over his coat—and the "locked" appearance of his outfit's heart makes me think of tales of cursed hearts and souls in a fairytale.
Combine it with his fancy, prince-like outfit, and a viewer's first impression of Durin based solely of his design is likely to be that of a cursed, dragon; one who is possibly a noble of some sort, or related to darkness and the night. Which is not too far off, making it one of the Genshin designs that actually works rather well conceptually—almost.
That "almost" being that the design's major design motifs all connect back to specifically Dragonspine's Durin. The one who was basically killed off for no good reason.
Fig. 3. A quickly made diagram to provide reference for the aesthetic influences of Durin's default outfit. ^^^
We can see here that perhaps the biggest influence on Durin's design is the sword "Festering Desire", an event weapon only obtainable during the event "The Chalk Prince and the Dragon", within which we learn that the sword was created with Dragonspine Durin's remains, and are also introduced to the beginning of the Durin storyline.
We can clearly see that the purple tones of his outfit match quite well to the unascended form of the weapon, and the glowing magenta of its ascended form are also reflected within playable Durin. You can see it within the crystalline ornaments and sword blade of his signature weapon, the end of his tail, and the gradients in his wings, outfit, and eyes. The use of crystals is in itself calling back to the Scarlet Quartz scattered around Dragonspine—implied in-game to be the frozen, calcified fragments of Dragonspine Durin's congealed blood.
"Festering Desire" also contains darker tones, using greys and blacks, and this is reflected in the clothing as well; the silhouetted patterns on his wings bringing to mind the image of Dragonspine Durin stark against the background of flames in the one, main image we have of him.
The white fabric resting at the top of his capelet resembles the snow caps of frozen mountains, much like Dragonspine itself. Durin is also dressed quite warmly, with very little skin showing, perfect for avoiding frostbite and looking like he belongs to the cold. The only skin we see in his outfit is that of his face, around the very base of his tail(since they actually accounted for how it would work with his clothes, a detail I enjoy in designs like this), and the diamond cut out on his throat. This cut out is purposely shaped like a diamond, to mimic Albedo's own Pontil mark, as a reference to Rhinedottir creating both Dragonspine Durin and Albedo.
The inner lining of his jacket and inner membrane of his wings are both covered in vein-like lines that remind me of the webbing—miasma?—that covered the once beating heart of Dragonspine Durin. Although hard to notice, the heart-like gem on his chest being cracked also resembles the mountain's heart(Fig. 4).
Fig. 4. A close up of Durin's chest in his default outfit, showcasing both the cracks in his heart gem, and the outfit's diamond cutout on his throat. ^^^
The patterns within Durin's outfit also share similarities with gothic architecture, much like Mondstadt's cathedral, tying him back to the nation visually. It also makes him look vampiric, which works well with the nature of Abyssal being that of corruption. Vampires are traditionally seen as a corrupting force, much like how the Abyss corrupted Dragonspine Durin's view of the world—causing him to cause harm where he was trying to befriend.
His actual wings and horns are sharp, with pointed, jagged edges that look like they'd hurt to get hit by. They look much closer in design to the horns of Dragonspine Durin, than either of Simulanka Durin's two forms(these can be seen in Fig. 5).
Durin also has a lack of gold in his design, a rarity amongst Genshin characters, and rather fittingly so. Silver brings to mind coolness, and moonlight, both things that suit the idea of the darkness of the abyss much better than the opulence and splendour of gold.
Why I would love to call this design perfect, but can't.
There is one very simple reason I can't call this design perfect, and that's because it takes most of its design cues from Dragonspine Durin. Which would be amazing... if it weren't for the fact that Durin's story quest makes it quite clear that Simulanka Durin is in fact the one we are actually dealing with.
In which case where are the Simulanka motifs? The origami, the stars, the colours from Mini-Durin or his original toy dragon form? Why did his skin not push his design much more in this direction, when you unlock it after his story quest in which they make it clear that Dragonspine Durin is gone gone?
Fig. 5. A quick diagram showing the lack of Simulanka influence on playable Durin's design. ^^^
As you can see above, there is very little influence from Simulanka to be seen! They could have tipped his horns with gold, made the purple bluer, added more gold... maybe even make his horns and wings closer in shape to Simulanka Durin's. Perhaps even incorporate fluff like Mini Durin?
At the very least, his eyes have the white pupils, and orange within their sunset gradient, as well as the blue in his horns and tail, but that's really all the influence I can see.
I mean his skin helps a little more at showing Simulanka Durin, but not as much as I'd like.
This design almost makes it feel like that Simulanka Durin is forever doomed to represent the tale of the original Durin, never representing the world he belongs to, haunted by the one he stole instead. Which would be a cool idea, if the game cared to actually grapple with this subject. At all.
Instead Dragonspine Durin's aesthetics are used as nostalgia bait, and Simulanka Durin's personality is used as "awww, isn't he cute" bait, doing both them and this otherwise very good design a disservice.
Although I wouldn't blame Simulanka Durin if he did not want to be glued to Simulanka, given how he was treated there for years, and years, even if the game glossed over it as being fine now in the event ending.
I will give it points for being a reverse 'wolf in sheep's clothing' in practice, which if it weren't for the unfortunate implications from Paralogism, is a concept I could warm up to quite easily.
Now, speaking of his skin...
Peeled Durin; his story skin is a cool concept, even if his horns upset me now.
I must confess, I'm not the biggest fan of his skin, and that is for one minor, tiny, little nitpick that I can't get over.
Fig. 6. A close up on Durin's horns in his skin, " Toward the Distant Horizon", showing where the original black scales have been removed to show more of the blue horn underneath. ^^^
I want to chip the rest of these black scales off so badly, you don't even understand.
It looks they have been half peeled, and my mind can't help but overthink that they probably feel itchy somehow, like poor Durin got stuck mid-shedding season. Which is a shame, because conceptually the skin is pretty interesting! I just personally want to reach over and finish peeling the goddamn horns—like removing the last bits of nail polish—badly enough that it makes me mad!
Tangent aside, you unlock this skin after completing Durin's story quest, where, like I mentioned earlier, the game shuts down the idea of Dragonspine Durin's consciousness residing inside playable Durin. The game presents you with a skin that unlocks his heart, and I'm supposed to feel happy about it, and not at all horrified by the unfortunate implications that come with the intent of erasing another from their own story.
At least Durin himself acknowledges it slightly, even if literally no one else does. I wish they'd made him more conflicted, since Simulanka Durin came across to me as someone who'd be a little more torn up/upset over the whole thing, but I digress.
Durin: I know taking the name Durin for myself in this world invites criticism. Replacing Durin of Dragonspine means that I've stolen his right to resurrection. Admittedly, this is selfish, but at the time, I yearned to be "human." I wished to be a real part of everyone's world, and to bring more good to it too... I didn't want to reject that opportunity. I don't regret the choice I made. Maybe it's like Albedo says — all life can be selfish...
The first part of Durin's "About Durin: Selfish" voiceline in his profile, unlocked at friendship level four. ^^^
Putting aside the debatable notion of whether or not Simulanka Durin ever actually "yearned to be human"—at least until the writers needed to market him/justify their decisions anyway—for another post, let's now look at the skin itself.
Fig 7. Durin's unlockable outfit "Toward the Distant Horizon" presented as a turnaround. ^^^
Straight away, when compared to Fig.1, you can see that the design now includes more lighter colours. His horns and tail have more of the blue(a blue that matches closer to Simulanka Durin) exposed, and the magenta gradients now include the orange in his eyes, reminiscent of Mini Durin's red and yellow ones.
Fig. 8. Two screenshots of Durin from the shoulders up, providing a comparison point for both of his outfits. ^^^
The design of his "heart" has changed significantly as well.
Gone are the locked bars and the cracked lines; replaced by a glowing, four pointed star set within the crystal, and a pair of ear like protrusions at the top. The hot pink magenta has been replaced with a warm orange glow that fades to a dusky, duller red-pink. It's a very obvious motif meant to display that Durin is now "free" of his past in some way.
This new, orange glow is reflected in the other crystalline elements on his body, such as his tail and ornaments, as well.
Fig. 9. A group of screenshots of Durin mid elemental skill, his wings flared open to showcase the front and back. His original outfit is on the left, and the unlockable outfit on the right. ^^^
His wings too, have changed a fair bit. They gain the orange gradient on the inner membrane, and the outer membrane now incorporates a cooler toned purple that fades to a soft yellow at the very edge, reflecting Mini Durin's wings. The veined lines on both also glow more, with a shimmering sort of iridescence that actually moves along the lines themselves.
Fig. 10. A close up on the shimmering, iridescent effects visible on the veins of Durin's wings. These can also be seen on his horns and tail. ^^^
All in all, the skin doesn't actually change much about Durin's appearance, but it is an interesting reward for completing his story quest. While I prefer the original outfit, I am quite fond of the skin's glowing chest heart, especially with the cute, little star inside it, as well as the shimmering, veined lines on his wings.
A look at Durin's signature weapon design; Athame Artis.
Durin's signature is the Athame Artis, a sword I am lucky to have had run with Venti's new weapon—the Daybreak Chronicles—losing my 50/50 to it on the way to getting Venti's new bow. Usually, I only pull for a signature if I think the design enhances the playable character's design(such as Lyney), or I am extremely biased toward a character(Venti).
I won't be touching on the lore of it's description within this post, as this post is supposed to focus solely on visual design.
Now my personal opinion on Durin's sword is that it isn't badly designed, it just has the problem of being mostly a one colour gradient with a lot of small details, held by a character that already has a lot of details. It makes it feel just a little busy to me, but that's also a very subjective opinion.
To show what I mean, here is my Manekin—the simplest looking character I have, my beloved accountant Kai—holding Arthame Artis.
Fig. 11. A screenshot of the Manekin customisable character, holding Arthame Artis within the weapon menu. The character is dressed like an office worker, with a quest icon above his head. ^^^
And here's Durin holding it.
Fig. 12. A screenshot of Durin, holding Arthame Artis within the weapon menu. ^^^
Notice how the sword's detailing seems to be competing a little with the details of his upper half? Of course, aside from the weapon menu, this is hardly noticeable within actual gameplay, the animations move too fast.
It also has a problem that Venti's new bow also displays—well, problem to me, it might be a plus to you—where the major colour displayed somewhat clashes with the character themself.
Fig. 13. Two screenshots, side-by-side, showcasing Durin and Venti with their weapons, the Daybreak Chronicles and the Athame Artis respectively. ^^^
Venti's bow takes its teals from the Anemo effects used in game, so I understand the choice. However, Venti only really borrows that bluer teal in tiny amounts on his design, namely the fake Vision, small accents on his cloak, and the end of his braids, sort of. His actual accent colours are brown and gold!
While it does match the blue of his hair nicely, the bow fading into such a bright, cool teal at the top clashes with the warmer green-turquoise of his cloak, with the luminosity fighting with the white of his blouse. If it had kept more of the dark teal seen at the bottom of the bow, it would match his hair a lot more and harmonise better with his design.
That said, the actual shape of the bow is very good, as are the details. My only real nitpick is the teal's brightness. Again, this is subjective.
Durin doesn't have a lot of this magenta in his base design, nor in his skin. I have no problems with the crystals in the pommel and cross guard being this hot pink, magenta colour, as they mimic the crystal ornamentation on his capelet and jacket. My problem lies mostly with the blade. If it was all that dark magenta at the beginning of the gradient, it would probably solve the problem for me personally, as magenta is a somewhat eye-searing colour in large amounts. It works better sparingly, as seen in Durin's outfit itself.
I will admit that the orange-red of the Pyro character screen is doing it no favours here.
Fig. 14. Two screenshots from the Genshin wiki, showing the unascended form of Athame Artis(left), and the ascended form(right). ^^^
There's only minor differences in its appearances, pre and post ascension. The biggest differences are that it glows a deeper pink now, and that the silver to black gradient on the blades line details has been reversed.
However these images showcase the influence of gothic architecture on the ornate design of the pommel quite well, as the shapes of the silver and black parts on the cross guard(fig. 15.) almost resembling a stylised dragon head and wing from the side!
Fig. 15. A close up of Arthame Artis' cross guard, showcasing the stylised dragon head. ^^^
Overall, I like the sword, but it does have the same design flaw Durin's character design has. It all looks much closer to Festering Desire and the motifs associated with the Abyss and Dragonspine than anything relating to Simulanka, which then fails to convey the actual Durin whose mind resides in the character's head.
Also a brief tangent about Lyney's bow:
Fig. 16. A screen shot of Lyney in the weapon menu, holding his signature weapon 'the First Great Magic'. ^^^
To explain what I meant by mentioning him earlier, notice how his bow is an extension of his outfit, rather than a bright block of colour? The use of more white than black compliments the secondary colour of his outfit and allows it to harmonise with his design rather than compete with it. If the white and black parts were switched around, it would look far worse, and blend into his majority black outfit.
The accent magenta is used as sparingly as it is on his main outfit, making it complement the existing colour scheme rather than fight it—like Durin's signature does in my eyes. Of course this is subjective, but Lynye's signature was the first one I summoned for, and it was solely becuaseof how well it was designed to work with Lyney's designed.
I pulled Venti's signature for damage reasons(picking up Durin's along the way), and unless Albedo or miraculously Freminet gets a signature, I'm not likely to pull for a weapon whose design isn't on the level of Lyney's.
To conclude this chapter:
To sum it up, Durin's design is one of the most thought out designs i the game, actually incorporating the lore the character had... if it was Dragonspine Durin's personality in charge. As it is, Simulanka Durin fails to be meaningfully represented, making it feel like the developers either didn't think Simulanka Durin would sell enough by himself and so merged him with Dragonspine Durin for nostalgia bait, or didn't want to explore the possibility of making two Durins... because heaven forbid we take advantage of the opportunity to add another male character.
That said, the polite, princely impression works well for the 'awkward guy trying to be polite and learn social niceties' vibe that they gave playable Durin, so it's not completely unfitting. If you remove the lore and story tied to Durin—both Simulanka and Dragonspine—it works quite well to tell us that he is a dragon, and that he has some sort of secret or dark side based on the locked crystal heart of his chest.
We just can't ignore the Dragonspine shaped elephant in the room when critically analysing his visual design.
Bonus: Durin's seemingly over serious body language, and why I personally love it.
Fig. 17. A screenshot of Durin's model from the shoulders up. ^^^
Interestingly, while Durin sounds like a total dork(affectionate) when speaking—what with his awkward manner of figuring out how to be a person while remaining optimistic, and his earnest desire to make friends—his default body language in game comes across as rather closed off. At least, until he starts interacting with people, anyway.
Part of this is due to the fact that his default expression is looking mildly annoyed/tired/frowning.
After realising this, I got curious and went to see if there was any logic behind which male characters had a default smiling expression vs those who don't. What I found was that as of patch 6.5, most(around 56-57%) of the short guys smile, while most(around 37.5%) of the tall guys frown.
Fig. 18. An image showing the divide between the smiling(left) and frowning(right) tall, male characters. ^^^
Fig. 19. An image showing the divide between the smiling(left) and frowning(right) short, male characters. ^^^
As you can see, whimsy is the price to pay for height.
On both models, those that are smiling tend to fall into a few camps. Optimistic despite it all(such as Kaveh, Illuga, and Venti); clearly meant to look friendly/trustworthy/confident(such as Baizhu, Varka, Thoma, Gaming, Kazuha, and Aether); or those with a streak of mischief or bastardry about them(such as Wanderer, Dahlia, Xingqiu, and Ayato).
And a similar thing can be seen in the less cheerful group. We have those that are emotionally repressed due to trauma/other reasons(such as Xiao, Freminet, Kinich, and Neuvillette); those that are done with everyone's shit(such as Alhaitham, Tighnari, Diluc, and Ifa sort of); those working in a serious environment(such as Heizou, Flins, Wriothesley, and Childe); and resting bitchface/naturally serious(such as Razor and Ororon).
Obviously the pattern isn't perfect, and some are kind of a stretch, but it's enough in my opinion to showcase that there is actual thought put into who should be smiling, and who isn't. So why then, is a character who is excitable, earnest, constantly trying to obtain new friends, described as being both gentle and curious about the world, frowning?
Well, that's because there's another category for the frowners—that being the thinkers, like Albedo, and I'm sure several others that I've already categorised.
Durin comes across to me as one who is constantly busy thinking too hard about everything, while feeling exceedingly awkward, and surrounded by a species who's social customs are hard to understand. The sheer amount of thoughts and sentences racing around in his head—let's face it, he's a writer, born from a storybook; he'd think in words— to have his face rest easily in a smile. Not that a heavy thinker can't have a pleasant resting face, but in my experience, the more I'm thinking, the more serious I look.
The game even describes Durin as similar to a philosopher at some point. He has notions to ponder, social cues to overthink, and almost certainly defensive habits from back when he was Simulanka's "evil dragon" to try and avoid. Plus whatever emotions/thoughts he absorbed in the merge with Dragonspine Durin(real missed opportunity to not have the two fight over the body or switch being in control sometimes) to process. That's a lot of thinking to weigh down a resting smile.
Anyway, back to Durin's body language. While almost certainly done to prevent clipping issues when running and climbing, the placement of his wings tucked close against his body(Fig. 1) lends itself to a closed off appearance, much like someone standing with their arms crossed, or sitting with their legs close together. This is because we as a species associate such closed off body language as hostile, telling us that our presence is unwelcome here, or that we are making someone uncomfortable.
I actually think that this accidentally stand offish body language works well for playable Durin. Consider that in the span of maybe a year in-game; Simulanka Durin went from being a very large, toy dragon(with likely four legs and two wings); to a much smaller, fluffy wyrvern(losing a pair of limbs in the process); to a human shaped alchemical being fused with another dragon(increasing in size and gaining yet another differing set of limbs in the process). That's a lot of change to mentally handle! Add in that his first friend was the infamous Sir Grumpsalot of a character known as Wanderer, and Durin likely sub-consciously mimicked some of Wanderer's mannerisms upon becoming human, falling back on what he had observed when feeling awkward, at least until he became more familiar with himself.
Durin is also possibly somewhat wary of new people—seen by the quiet attitude in Nod Krai's teaser, and hiding behind Albedo when meeting the Traveller again—lacking some of the excitement of Simulanka's Mini Durin. Especially now that it has been tempered by whatever Dragonspine Durin's role in the merge was, even if playable Durin is still friendly overall.
This also adds toward making the tucked in wings suit him from a character perspective. I'd keep my wings tucked close too if I was both awkwardly self-conscious and getting used to having them in another new place.
Yet, in the end, they gave him the endearingly dorky "Hello everyone, I'm Durin" party join line for a reason. No matter how anxious or awkward Durin is beneath that serious face, his goal of friendship remains the same, and he will be as earnest as he can about it.
Now do I think most of this last section was fully intended by the developers? No, not really, but it's fun to interpret anyway! Next post: Durin's animations(to be finished).