Hmm, Albedo, Fellflower Albedo (unofficially “Flowerbedo”) and primordial Albedo (unofficially “Dorian”)’s… dehumanization in Shadows Amidst Snowstorms through the lens of neurodivergence, huh
Shadows Amidst Snowstorms saw Flowerbedo’s facade of Albedo getting seen through and also Albedo & the team’s reaction to it after the boss fight (act two), but Flowerbedo and Albedo are both artificial beings passing as “a human known as Albedo”. So, I think Albedo might’ve saw himself in Flowerbedo (plus he literally has his face so yknow).
Paimon: What in the world was that thing!? One moment it was human, the next it was a plant...
Albedo: Is everyone alright?
Amber: We're fine. But can you please tell us what's going on? I—I don't understand...
Eula: I take it this monster is whom I had the pleasure of meeting last time.
Let’s say Flowerbedo’s and Albedo’s otherness is for, say, neurodivergence (they’re both trying to fit into society by conforming to what society deems as “human behaviour”, while feeling othered).
Paimon points out Flowerbedo’s dual nature but Albedo’s first reaction is to check if everyone’s okay, so in that moment his friends’ safety is more important than the exact origins or motives of Flowerbedo, who to him is a dangerous mutant (wearing his face) who hurt his friends, right. Eula calls Flowerbedo a monster (and he did attack Joel, following Whooperflower behaviour), which would reinforce that view.
Knowing Albedo keeps his artificial human identity hidden while the team fought someone who looks nearly identical to him, could Albedo’s comment be internalized dehumanization?
Albedo: As you might have guessed, this is a mutated whopperflower. An extremely rare kind.
Paimon: But can whopperflowers turn into humans?
Albedo: Not typically. But conditions on Dragonspine are far from typical.
Albedo: Perhaps the dragon's blood seeped into the land, then was passed to the monsters via the ley lines, accelerating their rate of mutation.
“mutated”, “far from typical”, “monsters”—he’s thinking like a zoologist, and doesn’t see Flowerbedo as human. (Probably also a reflection of his experiences with Rhinedottir)
But how does it feel to meet someone who looks like you, acts like you, and is othered like you, only that person is acting violently (perhaps analogous to a meltdown or sensory overload here?), and hear your friends/colleagues call that person a monster or mutant?
And then, it was Albedo who muses on Flowerbedo’s motives (and in extension Dorian’s later on in his “joy of being brought into the world” monologue). In other words Flowerbedo and Dorian aren’t given their own voice in the story to explain their motives/background, and our understanding of them are heavily filtered through Albedo’s perspective, which is itself heavily influenced by the events of the quest and his own background. In the neurodivergence analogy that’d be like… a neurodivergent person passing as neurotypical trying to speak for those who can’t pass or be accepted as easily as them. If Albedo dehumanizes himself, then he’d dehumanize Flowerbedo and Dorian too given their imitation of what it means to be human, plus their links to alchemy would mean Albedo specifically see them both as failed experiments or variables (he refers to them as only Subject 3 and Subject 2 in the story he tells to the traveler). Albedo has similar interpretations of both their motives; did he hear their side of the story out?
Albedo: I have a preliminary hypothesis on this.
Albedo: Whopperflowers are masters of mimicry, and those we encounter in the wild often appear in the vicinity of the plants they impersonate.
Albedo: In other words, the whopperflower likely has an instinct to "replicate and replace."
Albedo: As a plant, it will disguise itself as another plant and infiltrate the group, hiding among them for cover. The plant being imitated has no way to detect or fight back against this behavior.
Albedo: But when it disguises itself as a human...
Paimon: It wanted to replace you and infiltrate our group?
(Post-homunculus reveal, edited for formatting)
Albedo: My story... Yes, I should have known. Master's failed specimen in the dragon's belly. This, is where the story truly begins. If we switched places... If you were the survivor... Then, as the abandoned experiment, the failure of the Primordial Human Project...
(Albedo looks up. Dorian looks down at him from a cliff above.)
Albedo: I'd wanna replace you too. I would replicate your appearance, study your alchemy, and create miraculous lifeforms to divert your attention.
(Albedo draws out his sword and walks along the snowy path.)
Albedo: I would wait for the right moment then dispose of you and the Traveler, the sole person to have known your secret. And then... I could finally experience the joy of being brought into the world.
This says more about Albedo than Dorian given that it’s Albedo’s speculation.
Also, more from the internalized dehumanization angle, while explaining his star mark, proof of his identity, he compares himself to a glasswork, once again not a living being and not human.
Albedo: This type of glassware is known for having a "pontil mark" at the point where the blowpipe was inserted, where the hole was sealed at the very end. This mark is a sign that the item was crafted by a human hand.
Paimon: Sounds kind of amazing.
Albedo: It is a wondrous and beautiful art form. Alice says that these marks are seen as proof of the maker's fine handiwork, the only flaw in an otherwise perfect work of art.
Albedo: My mark is something similar to this.
Albedo: The difference between synthetic and natural life lies in the directional flow of the life force.
So, the times where Flowerbedo and Dorian got to speak themselves…
The Albedo that the Traveler & Paimon met in the cave is certainly Dorian (he leaves the cave much faster than expected) and of course he compares himself to Starsilver, the raw material for paint that they were gathering. Paimon says stuff like “Get rid of the useless bits”, “the bad ones”, “pretty dull” when talking about Starsilver so I’ve always felt Dorian must’ve saw himself in the Starsilver ores. This would then parallel Albedo’s glassblowing analogy in terms of how they see themselves. Except, Albedo is like a complete work of art while Dorian is discarded material not given a chance to become anything or anyone more (not unlike the second creature Victor creates then destroys in Frankenstein).
Paimon: Anyway. It's all the thief's fault for wasting our time!
Albedo: ...Yes, it's all the thief's fault.
Albedo: The notes mean a lot to me. I'm not quite ready to give up the search yet. Let's keep an eye out for clues as we go.
Paimon: Oh, just one thing — do you want us to bring all of this ore back? Or did you wanna sort through and get rid of the useless bits first?
Paimon: There's no point bringing the bad ones back if it'll ruin the quality of the paint. Some of them do look pretty dull to Paimon, so it doesn't seem like those'll be of any use at all.
Albedo: Indeed, the sorting process is necessary. Humans are such practical creatures. They only want those things that are good. Once they have learned to distinguish between good and bad, they will never stop comparing things in their minds.
Albedo: Useless things should be disposed of at the outset.
Paimon: Right, it saves a lot of time that way. Efficiency first! So let's start by...
Meanwhile, narratively, Flowerbedo is not considered a part of the group in his scenes and he’s usually associated with speculations of danger/threat on the mountain by the team. A character could be aligned or in contrast to the environment they’re in, so I guess… the team wants to “regroup with the adventurers [at the base of the mountain]” and return to society. They don’t want to be alone on the mountain, Flowerbedo is aligned with the mysterious, dangerous, snowy Dragonspine mountain (plus the Cryo typing of course), and so Flowerbedo is mysterious and “dangerous”—because he’s seen as different.
Albedo: Everyone, the incident is behind us now. We should keep moving.
Eula: Why do I feel that Dragonspine has become more dangerous than it used to be... I hope it's just my imagination...
Eula: Our top priority now is to get off the mountain and regroup with the adventurers. Whatever further dangers this mountain has to throw at us, we must face them together.
Amber: Agreed. Guys, keep your eyes peeled and watch your step. Careful does it.
And this is like, neurotypical people somehow picking up on a neurodivergent person’s “otherness” even without knowing why.
Eula: Maybe seasoned veterans have an instinct for it.
Eula: I sense it too. Something seems to have changed, but I can't confirm for sure... it could be difficult to verify.
(Traveler): (What could it be...)
Eula: It might be... imprudent to speculate out loud. But I believe you know what I am referring to.
