Finished up Act III of the event, as a Bennett enthusiast, it was great! I cried :,D
Of course, spoilers up to Act III of the Event (Sunspray Summer Resort) + Post Quest Dialogue. And this is once again, really long. (Really, really long).
We can say with 100% confidence now, Mare Jivari Bennett real! And the added obvious of him being the child of Macani and Aroni from Tecpatl's Flintblades Adventure Team. The Lavawalker/Phoenix theory is basically dead in a ditch now, but to my surprise I'm actually quite alright with this. (That and I wrote 70+ pages related to it, it can serve as an AU at this point). He may not be a bird, but he's bird-coded and that's enough for me.
Anyway back to canon, to my surprise, there actually wasn't much of a Tale of Qoyllor and Ukuku or Tale of Kuntur connection. There was no deceit and betrayal involved in Bennett being cursed, and there really wasn't even a "Sun" to do the cursing. The closest thing we got to a "Sun" was the candle from the ritual being used, but that is a completely different person. I mean, it was really just the Abyss salty that one guy got away with his life. Bennett's parents and their adventure team just wanted to go on one last adventure, somehow ended up in the Mare Jivari, and they literally were willing to give up the chance of entering the Night Kingdom if it meant they would be okay. And sure it let him live, but as Mualani and Paimon suggest when Bennett was taken out of Natlan, he was disconnected from the Ley Lines and suffered constant bad luck the entire time. It was really something as simple as that. Bennett really was just some guy who got unlucky once in circumstances that lead to him continuing to be unlucky.
Also Bennett's parents becoming Asha in general is a major ouch. As said back in Act I and in a few World Quests like Traces of Chroma, Asha have Saurian-level intelligence, which is still nothing to scoff at, but still a downgrade. I mean I think losing part of your intelligence in general would suck, but they also forgot everything, the only reason they were near Bennett was because their instincts still recognized him (owwww my heart).
For more pain in, at least the English, voiceover it sounded like Bennett was on the verge of crying for the majority of this quest, as is his right. In general, he was quite expressive when it came to, well, his facial expressions. Like there were a lot of times where his eyes just looked sad. One of my favorite details involving this is during the conversation he has with his birth parents near the end of the Quest.
Sure Bennett says he's smiling but his eyes are still very much saying that he is upset.
And immediately afterward, the moment Aroni and him lean in and close their eyes, he starts frowning. Oh this man and his refusal to say when he's not alright.
Speaking of Bennett's issues, this man was all alone in the Mare Jivari and his first thought was that he had to push through the pain to find the others and help them. I swear.
In hindsight, I also find it quite interesting that Bennett ended up meeting his birth parents at all. In the media I've seen, it usually happens after said orphan has been looking for any answers related to them, but honestly Bennett never really seemed to ask any questions about where he came from. The closest was in the Of Ballads and Brews event where he explained to Razor and Klee that he never met his parents and was raised by the Guild instead. That's it, that's the only time he ever alluded to them. He was just fine and happy living in Mondstadt with his dads.
Bennett's birth parents honestly seemed like chill people. For starters, it's not like they didn't want Bennett, in fact he's only alive because they loved him that much. But they also are pretty adamant on Bennett being his own person and being free to make his own chances (come on guys we know they basically gave the a-okay to going back to Mondstadt). And if you notice we actually never learn of what they named Bennett, they just referred to him as their "child" or "son", until asking if Bennett was what he goes by. Once they get that answer, they just go on with calling him Bennett, they don't even allude to what they named him. To him it's the only name he's known so they are going to call him that. That and they seemed to like how his name meant "blessed" and how much his dads must love him. (They gave respect to the dads, we all cheered).
Macani and Aroni did still have to leave afterward, they didn't even get to stay as Asha, and oh that hurt too. Bennett is right in saying that they're at peace now, it's a good ending for them, but still, ouch.
I do wonder what exactly happened to Anja and Chaco afterwards, because in the cutscene we see that they also became Asha but there is no trace of them anywhere else. Did they move on already and somehow have peace before Macani and Aroni did? I hope for some crumbs on them in the next Act, but honestly I don't have much hopes for that.
And for that matter, I was really surprised that the Old Adventurer that found Bennett in his character stories wasn't mentioned at all, not in a single one of the acts so far. I believe it's implied in the voice line More About Bennett: II ("The dads..." That's how I refer to all the older adventurers in Mondstadt. Apparently, I was an orphan kid that they rescued from the most perilous situation ever. How cool is that? I have such terrible luck all the time, and yet I was rescued against the odds and survived all this time. It's a miracle if you ask me.) that Bennett to some degree likely knows his dad died getting him to Mondstadt. And even if not, I think at this point in his life his dads would have already told him. Like I said, it just surprised me that he wasn't even mentioned or alluded to.
This Act also brought up the question of whether Bennett will stay in Natlan or return to Mondstadt (and as Mualani further put it to stay in the Collective of Plenty or Masters of the Night-Wind). I do really love how Venti asked him and was willing to give him a choice, but let's be real guys, he's picking Mondstadt. For one, when asked he didn't actually look the happiest about thinking about it, but also Paralogism actually wasn't a prerequisite for this quest. As someone who thinks that, unless stated so, the Quests roughly take place in the order they are released in, there are still stuff to account for people doing them out of order. Like Neuvillette's Story Quest has different dialogue depending on whether you finished the Fontaine Archon Quest or not. Bennett makes a very brief appearance in that quest, so for it to still make sense after players complete Sunspray Summer Resort, he would likely have to stay in Mondstadt.
Change of topic, the little performance we did was great, very sweet. Loved seeing most of the Natlan characters did (we miss you Citlali and Ajaw o7) and the Mavuika band is actually canon. Iansan on drums my beloved. We may not have gotten a Iansan or Kachina interaction with Bennett (so far) but they were closest to him in the group photo, so I'll take what I can get. The cutscene, along with Mavuika's post quest dialogue, further imply that she and Venti must have talked, she recognized Bennett despite the two not meeting before and also knew to let the Asha on stage. It also seems that even after knowing he's not going to be unlucky anymore, having bad luck for most of his life still left its mark. I mean Bennett still worried he was going to jinx it, but it's okay, he got to be cool.
The entire Mare Jivari segment was great, found it funny how Venti really wasn't hiding that he was the Anemo Archon but no one really questioned anything. He was standing upright while the others were struggling to move forward for crying out loud.
Now despite getting a lot on Bennett's backstory, I actually still have quite a bit of questions. The Abyss said it was his fate for him to come back to the Mare Jivari, which could just be it being a hater, it was like that in Natlan's Archon Quest too. But what exactly did they mean by his "Wheel of Fate" lying in ruins? Was it referring to his constellation being a literal broken wheel, a "Wheel of Misfortune"? Or was it due to his constellation's stars dimming, and speaking of, why were they dimming in the first place? Venti talked about him passing a trail, likely the Trail by Fire in his Character Title, did that have to do with it, but also what exactly was the trial? Just don't die via the Abyss again? Or was his "Wheel of Fate" lying in ruins about him somehow breaking his fate? (Guess I must have been on the right track back before Natlan was out to think Bennett would have something to do with defying fate.) Why specifically the term "Wheel of Fate", I believe the only other time it's been used is for the Nod-Krai web event. And why exactly was Bennett's constellation in the Mare Jivari? Did it use to be something else and got changed or was it always Rota Calamitas? I expect most of this to be explained in the next Act, since I also see us asking Venti what his whole conversation with Mavuika was about and for him to explain himself in general.
I also noticed that no one in the group might have actually known they were in the Mare Jivari, minus Venti for obvious reasons. While they don't know they were in the Mare Jivari, we do, and I still wonder about the time shenanigans at play. Tecpatl's Flintblades did look to have lived in a different era, they had notes in the cave system within the Easybreeze Holiday Resort that no one even knew about. It was likely when the area was more commonly called Tenochtzitoc. There's that and also that they "strayed" into the place, seemingly not knowing that it's called the Mare Jivari. With the Mare Jivari being the Mare Jivari, they really could have lived at any point in the past, though I assume it has to be 500 years or earlier. Again, expecting an explanation on this later.
In some Post Quest Dialogue with Venti and Bennett, Bennett talks about getting the poem that Venti recited at the end of Act II (Never has a ray of light lingered so enduring / Falling from the heavens / Soft as moonlight's mirth. / Hanging on the hush of night a sleepless song alluring / Blossom fills the gentle folds that cross the smiling earth.) He specifically talks about the eternal light from the heavens and that Venti wasn't talking about starlight. While Venti just tells him to feel the poem in his heart in response to that, I personally think it may be a nod to how they lit up a miniature "Sun" (the candle) to guide Bennett through his trial of fate. Very sweet.
Also btw, you can go find Nataba in the same area where we first got the "Sun" and buy Furnishing Blueprints for the "Sun" and the candles we used back in Act I. I assume you can do this after finishing Act III, since this wasn't available after doing Act II.
We still have one more Act remaining, it's probably going to be more like an epilogue if anything. Likely going to get some answers from Venti, Bennett's answer to where he wants to stay, and we actually still have to collect our prize on completing the album. I also think there's a good chance we get one more photo to complete it, since the group photo took the first "free" page. My guess is either one last photo we take before the gang leaves or the photo that Bennett's mom gave to him. This one isn't the most likely, but it would also just be cool for Bennett to get an Ancient Name. Getting one actually doesn't mess too much with lore and his voice lines so it's not impossible (and they arguably destroyed his voice lines to a harsh degree already)
Now, for a really exciting thing, Bennett not being unlucky anymore will likely be permanent from here on out. While I still think there might be more to his bad luck, I still concede and admit leaving Natlan's Ley Lines while they were still in a pretty bad state contributed. Since Bennett has been in Natlan his luck has been pretty good all things considered, and Mualani talked about taking him to the Wayob. I don't see any reason for the Wayob and Mavuika to refuse and the Ley Lines have been pretty good since Natlan's Archon Quests, so there is really no good reason for him to keep his bad luck. This story quest in general has actually been really nice to him all things considered, and pulling a "he'll get bad luck if he leaves again" would feel unnecessarily cruel in comparison to everything else.
It also just really surprised me, because I didn't actually think they would do this. Tale of Kuntur aside with the whole Kuntur didn't lose his bad luck at the end, it destroys so much of Bennett's Profile. Most of his voice lines are about his bad luck, his hangout is about his bad luck, his Theater lines are about his bad luck, all of those can not make sense to be said after the events of Sunspray Summer Resort. His idles actually do get to slide, the rock hitting his head is really a "where did that come from" and he does look more annoyed, like it wasn't expected. Looking disappointed after no one responds to him calling to his adventure team still makes sense too, that one employee doubted if Bennett should be allowed to playtest a course. All of Mondstadt knows him as the unlucky one, I doubt that is going to change overnight. I'm curious how him being back in Mondstadt is going to go actually. His skin lacking the bandages and covering his scars really was alluding to this, he is not going to be as injured as he was previously.
In general, I'm actually really curious how future interactions with him will go. Granted I don't think we'll get much, but that's not new. I can see some relying on completing Sunspray Summer Resort and some not, best of both worlds. Some "bad luck" can instead be explained away as the Abyss being attracted to him, allowing it to make sense regardless of how far you are. Back in Act II, Chasca did say that the Abyss could be attracted to something or someone, and with the Abyss likely still wanting him dead, it's pretty a given. And some bad stuff still happened to Bennett since arriving in Natlan, but it was no where near the degree he suffered before and is still a massive improvement.
Hoyo actually changed the status quo of a character, and I'd argue Bennett is one of the more gimmicky characters. A huge part of him was that he was the unlucky one and they got rid of that. Now despite that, I do want to say that Bennett still very much felt like Bennett even with his bad luck gone. I'm just saying that it's crazy for them to allow a character to change to the point where most of their lines don't work and what it could imply to what may happen to other characters in the future.
Now for a more personal note, as someone who theorized that Bennett was the Lavawalker and/or Phoenix, I actually am surprisingly fine with Bennett being just some guy. I think it actually highlights the often not talked about aspect of Bennett's character, his want to be a normal person. This is shown both in Bennett's Interesting Things and More About Bennett: I voice lines.
More About Bennett: I: "Oh... you wanna know about me? Haha, I'm just your average adventurer. 'Cept I'm more unlucky than average. Anyway, I'm nothing compared to you — you're the star of all those legendary tales. What do I got to show for myself?"
Interesting Things: "I actually quite like cabbage. It's not much to look at, but you can't imagine a world without it. You can grow it anywhere, it goes with everything, and the flavor never gets in the way. I dunno, there's something... nice about being ordinary."
This is also expressed in his Vision story and Theater Small-Talk line, where it shows he actually does want the chance to grow old, even if it's unlikely for someone like him.
It really is not something grand or massive that explains Bennett's bad luck, he wasn't the reincarnation of someone, he wasn't sacrificed, not some monster from the Mare Jivari, again he was just a regular baby that got unlucky once and it carried over. He wants to be a normal person, and he gets to be one. It feels deserved for something so unfair to happen to him. He really was just meant to be loved, bad luck or not. If his parents hadn't died they would have cared for him, and regardless he was loved a lot from his dads, it's all very sweet.
This quest was a real treat, I look forward to see how they conclude everything in Act IV.