#aeshi rambles

[ball-jointedd-doll]

Am I the only one that thinks Caine would be super clingy if he were to be in a relationship? Can't leave you alone for more than 5 minutes, if that.

[wanderer-lust]

I think I'm actually going to lose it if the 6th seat and Wanderer's past as a harbinger isn't addressed. I still love him as a character. Nothing could change that. But him and Scaramouche can't be separated. The reason we have Wanderer in the first place is because of Scara's decision to erase himself. This doesn't make Wanderer a whole different person. Different incarnation. Not a different person.

His story can't truly come full circle until everyone remembers who he was. The people of Sumeru, The Harbingers, The Tsaritsa. Raiden. I want him to feel like he's the sum of all of his selves. Not just Wanderer.

For me, time does not render everything that's happened to him insignificant. He's no longer controlled by it. But that doesn't mean it's suddenly meaningless.

[wanderer-lust]

I'll be mulling over the 6.6 quest for a bit so I can't really say much about it now but I want to point out a couple of things. While I personally think it was a fantastic quest and I'm really happy with Wanderer's character development, as well as his final confrontation with Dottore.....I've seen some people saying it was ultimately lackluster and I can't say I disagree. For being the kind of confrontation that it was I definitely feel it should've been more angsty. Dottore is the reason all his friends are dead (whether directly or indirectly), he fabricated the second betrayal and orchestrated him joining the Fatui. While Dottore shouldn't have gone out the way he did and deserves to be playable (unless of course they woobified him to make him playable) I also think Wanderer deserved to land a few more blows. It just wasn't as intense of a fight as everyone was expecting.

For 3 years we've been waiting for him to get his revenge and it was over as soon as it started. Dottore also wasn't the one that burned Irminsul in the end and that teasing of Scaramouche being remembered was all for nothing. Why even hint at it if it's not going to go anywhere? It's still possible this gets addressed at some point during Snezhnaya but if it hasn't happened yet, it might not at all. I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the Scaramouche days. But this isn't simply because of dredging up the past. It's because he's....basically a nobody now. He's super relevant to the lore and has connections to so many different plot points and yet.....people only know him as Hat Guy. I would never have wanted him to continue to pretend to be someone he wasn't. To continue playing a role and never being seen for who he really was. However, this does not mean things as they stand are satisfying. Him only being known as Hat Guy and continuing his studies in Vahumana means that the other facets of who he is are never acknowledged. I really hope this isn't a conclusion for him because there are still lots of loose ends.

Even before playing through the quests I feared that we wouldn't be seeing much of him anymore. If Dottore is actually gone and they deemed that a satisfying ending for him then.....what if that really is it for Wanderer? I saw someone in the ScaramoucheMains subreddit say, what is the point of having such a well written character only to wrap up their story like this? He is still treated much better in comparison and it could be worse. But that being said they could do so much more with him. He's a creation of the Electro Archon and he was one of the Harbingers. I don't want this to be his end.

[wanderer-lust]

While Wanderer's writing is still some of the best, I'm growing increasingly more frustrated with how he's been handled as of recently. Especially after the 6.6 patch. At the time, I enjoyed the quests and his confrontation with Dottore was satisfying. But lots of people have been saying it was disappointing. In the days leading up to I had been afraid this would be the case. Though it could definitely be worse (at least he got something) Hoyo could have done a lot more. We got Dottore calling him Scaramouche again. We got to see Scaramouche, if only for a moment. However, this feels like something they aren't willing to address properly. Even in Snezhnaya.

Some might argue he's already gotten his moment to shine. More than one in fact. There's no denying he's an important character. So....why does Hoyo refuse to make it actually feel like he is? Or rather, it feels like he's not being taken seriously anymore. Now, this isn't because I want him to go back to being Scaramouche. He's healing and growing as a person and I'm happy for him. I do want him to heal. What I'm saying is, it feels like a part of him has been cut off. Done away with. I'm not mad about the Irminsul erasure. I understand why it happened and I get why he did it. What I'm mad about are the decisions Hoyo made after all was said and done. It wouldn't have made sense for Irminsul being burned to restore records. That would get rid of them entirely. For being the 6.6 patch he should've been remembered by everyone. Not just Dottore. Some say it shouldn't be done forcibly. If he's going to be remembered then it should be something he chooses, which is fair.

I wouldn't want what he has now to be ripped away from him or for his past to haunt him forever. It's just that nothing about his current life feels....genuine? None of it is real when no one knows who he was. He would be hated if they knew. He wouldn't be trusted. But at least then he'd be a person again. Scaramouche was a role he played. Except....being watered down into Hat Guy is not any better. I didn't have any strong feelings about the nickname at first. Now it's annoying. It's one thing for Nahida to call him that. Maybe Durin and Albedo. Everyone else? No. Why can't they call him Wanderer? It's not that hard. (And at that, they need to make the title Wanderer mean something. He's not really a Wanderer when he stays in Sumeru. He's not supposed to be affiliated with any one nation/group)

What I think they should've done from the get go is release a Scaramouche SP. This would never happen with the Genshin of today seeing how they treat the Fatui BUT nonetheless, it would've done more for him. I don't think it would defeat the purpose of Wanderer and they probably wouldn't have to tweak his design very much. Scara still has that playable feel. He could use an electro delusion (would fully utilize delusions and make them part of the world again). This way, his past wouldn't be ignored. A character with different versions/identities just....needs to have them all be playable. I really do believe it's a disservice to his character, when his whole thing is identity for there to not be a playable Scaramouche. And if there was a way to switch between them in combat? Would be peak. Also, people who liked him as a harbinger would be happy too.

This may not fix all of the problems but it would do a lot. It's upsetting to see such a well-written character (even more so when it's my favorite) not live up to their potential.

[wanderer-lust]

Is anyone else.....mourning Scaramouche? This might seem strange to say. It has been 3 years and I've had plenty of time to come to terms with the change. It's not so much that I haven't processed it or that I dislike Wanderer. Quite the opposite. It could just be nostalgia but it almost feels like he's cut off from the past? I don't know if that makes sense at all. When he erased himself none of what he did as Scaramouche went away. All of that still happened. But it was never brought up again and it was like it wasn't relevant anymore. Or important anymore.

When I played through Inversion of Genesis I did not like his transformation at first. I hadn't known him as Scaramouche for very long and to me it felt like he went from being Scaramouche to being Wanderer within the span of 5 seconds. I hadn't been able to process it. That and I thought he was more interesting as Scaramouche. I know he was inspired by Bohemian Rhapsody so this transformation was inevitable. He was always going to give up the name Scaramouche and the title The Balladeer. I wouldn't have wanted him to keep putting on masks and pretending to be someone he wasn't. But his struggle with identity, self acceptance and self love is part of why I loved him so much. This and his story. What can I say, I still think his old design was more eye catching. I loved the red a lot.

Maybe I shouldn't be saying this given the most recent archon quests. We did get a flashback and if 3.3 was anything to go by then something has to happen with him. I haven't wished for anything particular with Wanderer but I hope that 6.3 ends up being worth the wait.

[wanderer-lust]

Call me crazy but I think a parallel has also been drawn between Rerir and Wanderer.

First Rerir gets mad because they deprived him of his heart. Then later on after he gets his body back he says "It matters not. Having a heart...being human...it's all irrelevant, completely and utterly insignificant!"

I recently drew a comparison between Columbina and Wanderer. With Columbina I saw it immediately. With Rerir, I had to think about it. It's insane how many parallels, foils and callbacks he has.

[wanderer-lust]

There are way too many similarities between Alain, Ei and the Tsaritsa for it to just be a coincidence.

Alain - Lost his sister and created Sandrone in her image

Ei - Lost her sister and created Kuni, who was proof of concept for the Shogun

Tsaritsa - Had a son (and a lover) who she then lost because of the Heavenly Principles

With there being so much focus on creator and creation and familial relationships, it makes me wonder if they'll actually give us an interaction between Ei and Kuni. And as a side note: Sandrone rebooting after she'd "died" reminds me a lot of how Kuni woke up due to that "error". This still has yet to be explained.

[wanderer-lust]

The one thing I don't understand and probably will never understand (unless Alex is going somewhere with all this) is why.....why therapy? Why the Theraprism? Why's he even there if it's not going to help him?

I get Bill isn't redeemable. Is it that complete death would've been too good for him? Too easy? This is his punishment. But therapy isn't supposed to be punishment. And I don't see a point in him being there if he truly isn't redeemable. There's a bigger picture. I know there is. But what that bigger picture is exactly I don't know. And I also know that I can't expect Alex to spell it out for us.

Hypothetically speaking, if Bill were to ever want to be better and he was redeemed - this is how he's being repayed? By being reincarnated and stripped of everything that makes him, him? All of that progress. All of that self improvement. Just to be wiped clean. I don't get it. What am I missing?

His spirit may not die but his options for reincarnation still aren't the greatest. Butterflies live only weeks. And I don't think any of the others have long lifespans either. Tell me there's a point to this. Tell me this wasn't set up for nothing. Tell me that if Bill were to be reincarnated, he'd still be himself? What's the goal here?