Originium vs. Ætherside: the Duality of Perlica and Ardashir
So! I just finished the Wuling story today, and I need to put down my thoughts about the opposing narratives on the amnesiac Endministrator by Perlica and Ardashir. Before we begin, a quick disclaimer: I am a month one Arknights player, but I'm not that well-versed in Arknights lore. Arknights story is long and meandering, guys; you think early Genshin was bad, well, it has nothing on early Arknights. They're both games with great lore, but the delivery sometimes leave something to be desired; probably because it's difficult to translate from Chinese to English in a concise and accurate manner.
Anyway, moving on. Personally, I think the dueling narrative between Perlica and Ardashir is very much intentional, because just a couple days before launch, they presented us with this: a trailer narrated by Ardashir and Perlica, both seemingly talking to the Endministrator.
"You are trapped by a meaningless duty that was never yours," is how Ardashir begins. "A path already proven to end in utter defeat."
Certainly sounds like a classic villain dialogue, trying to break the hero's spirit. Perlica plays into this idea, emphasizing that Endmin is the leader of Endfield Industries, the paragon and most important companion of every Endfielder. Again, Ardashir disagrees.
But the thing is, when you get into the game, you'll find that Ardashir certainly doesn't seem to be outright lying. Perlica and Ardashir both described how the Endministrator toiled, led, and sacrificed for the sake of the Civilization Band. However, their perception of people are very different. Perlica spoke of how Endmin's efforts bore fruit; how their sacrifice was honored and respected by the people.
Ardashir, on the other hand, talks of abandonment and loneliness. And he isn't the only one! Even the trailer agrees that Endmin was not always fully supported by the people, something that Perlica barely even brushed on in the main story in favor of reassuring Endmin that they will be on Endmin's side, always. Almost as if she's trying to make up for something. But I digress.
So where does this difference of perspective come from? Possibly from their differing backgrounds. Apparently, if you pay attention during the prologue, you could hear the Endmin giving Perlica her name, implying that the Endmin saved her as a child. It makes sense, then, that she would've grown up with a degree of hero worship and unprecedented hope in her childhood savior.
Meanwhile, Ardashir is noted to be an uncommon name amongst the people of Talos-II, having originated from Sargon, a Terran Empire. For context, Terra is the planet the people of Talos-II were on, before they came (back) to Talos. Ardashir himself seems to confirm that he knows what Sargon is like: he immediately responds that Wuling look far more appealing than 'the windswept lands of ochre dust.' With his horns, his ears, his tail, and his ability to manipulate space, the current prevailing theory is that he's a Lich, a species known for space manipulation Arts and immortality. It's quite possible that Ardashir's birth predates people's return to Talos-II; perhaps he is even older than Endmin themselves! Accordingly, he seems to be more protective of the Endministrator; he talks of Endmin like he doesn't want to see them suffer.
Regardless, this difference should not be enough to put them at odds. After all, both Perlica and Ardashir seem to wish for Endmin's approval. Perlica said that she is executing the Zeroth directive under the Endmin's order; Ardashir implied that whatever he's doing right now would be met with the Endmin's approval, if Endmin had not lost their memories. However, the Endmin has lost their memories, which means they are going with Perlica's path instead. What is Perlica's path?
That's right! Perlica and Endfield Industries are trying to reboot life. Even the trailer said that. Now this is the part that'll be ringing alarm bells for Arknights players, because (major spoiler) in Arknights, originium is no natural phenomenon, but a substance created to assimilate data from living things, in such a way that life can be 'regrown' from there. One such example is the Endfield reconveners, who was 'cloned' from 'data' stored in originium. So if the Zeroth Directive's aim is indeed to reboot life, then spreading originium throughout Talos-II via industrialization and assimilating data on all life does seem like the proper first step.
But there is a problem in this plan, and we can see it from the reconveners; despite having been 'copied' from the originium, they are still, very much, their own distinct person. Seen this way, rebooting life does not actually save anyone; at best, it's an abandonment of those who are already alive. Thus, on the opposing side of this plan is Ardashir and Nefarith, who use the power of the Ætherside to spread blights. Æther itself is noted to be the antithesis of originium, a substance that caused some sort of data corruption as opposed to originium's data-preserving nature. Just from that, best guess is that Ardashir and Nefarith are trying to corrupt originium data to disrupt this life-rebooting plan. Quite possibly, this plan was hatched by the Endministrator in the first place. After all...
...Ardashir did seemingly call Endmin 'the final lord I served.'
So why the Zeroth Directive, then? Maybe what Ardashir said was true, and at the very end, Endministrator lost hope in people after being 'abandoned'. Maybe that's why Perlica is so insistent on reminding Endmin that the people of Endfield really adore and respect the Endmin. Or maybe it's a natural consequence of originium being corrupted by the Æther. After all, if you pay attention, you'll notice that everyone consistently states that Endmin's connection to originium is far deeper than it appears; at one point, the Endmin was even referred to as Originium itself.
Or maybe, just maybe, Endmin's memory loss was not part of the plan, and Endmin was forced into it by something far more sinister...
...but explaining that would take a deeper dive into Arknights lore, so it probably should be a story for another day.
