#lore analysis

[nessiopeia]

One thing I see get misinterpreted is Grand Mother Silk’s relationship to the Citadel bugs. They don’t worship her, they worship silk production. The Citadel is not a religion with a god, per se.

They see your beauty, so frail and fine,

They see your peace, woven of faith and toil,

They forget your heart, bound in slumber and servitude,

When you wake they shall see your truth,

A beast's nature bare to all.

- From 'Pharloom’s Folly' by the Conductor Romino

Which to me reads as: the Citadel Bugs—not including the Leaders—don’t realize that the silk in the Cradle contains a “Beast” that slumbers. Instead, they see it as a vast source of silk that is holy and must be sung to. That silk then “blesses” the faithful with immortality, and also creates immortal servants which propagate the system they’re indentured to.

The great evil of the Pharloom is not just Grand Mother Silk herself, but industry and caste systems.

There’s something truly horrific about GMS’s chamber and the way she’s forced into slumber and then used essentially as a magic cow (zoomed out clip from Mossbags video):

To me this creates a constellation of evil in Pharloom that is: 1) Citadel Bugs, whose greed and hubris turned into a system that extracts a dangerous substance from a primordial being and who incidentally filled their bodies with a conduit for 2) Grand Mother Silk, who is incapable of understanding love beyond her total control and lives in pursuit of revenge against her daughters for both escaping her grasp and trapping her in what is honestly a nightmarish existence.

Based on Weaver lore, it’s obvious that the way Grand Mother Silk birthed and raised them was undeniably evil. But the game poses an interesting question by revealing that the Weavers plotted her death, but couldn’t succeed: how much punishment is too much? How do you punish something that will never change?

There’s a rune harp in the game that says, "Sisters, spiders, the burden is passed. These simple bugs shall bear it full. Never to cease. Never to silence. / We shall die, and wait, and pray, that one may come of silken strength enough to weave us free.” We could interpret it as saying, “we can’t kill her, hopefully one of our descendants can.” However, I’m not convinced. I think that this relic “Last Words of the Weavers” is an admittance of guilt. What they created is a “burden”, but what if that burden is the knowledge that the system of subjugation they created is evil but necessary because the alternative, Mother Silk’s awoken revenge, is impossible to permit. Why do the want to be woven free if this relic admits they’ll die before it will happen. I think that the thing they want to be free of is the guilt of what they built.

That is one of the reasons I love Hornet’s confused journey through Pharloom. It’s a nightmare of injustice with no explanation. Just systems on top of systems of horror. The judges job is to kill weak bugs because they’re weeding out the population before they enter the gate. The gate has no method to bring bugs to the citadel, its only purpose is to ferry pilgrims to the Underworks. They built a prison in a land of ice and filled its occupants with silk so they can’t die. They funnel noxious fumes into Bile Water. What else can Hornet do but free them in the only way she can: endless, merciful carnage.

In that way, Team Cherry created one of the most relevant dystopias I’ve seen. We too live in a dying kingdom whose systems of oppression and control seem disconnected from whatever purpose they may have once had. We worship a god we don’t understand and we serve a primordial power source that fills us up with cancer and boils our world and lines the pockets of some of us, but not all. We’re all Citadel Bugs.

If oil had a mind, a slumbering goddess beneath our oceans, would we hate her? Would we blame her for what we did? Grand Mother Silk, to me, is not a villain as much as she’s Silksongs most interesting tragedy: a beast desiring of love, whose mind does not permit it to work right. In her daughter’s rightful usurping of her they created a nexus of torment far beyond the crime, creating a world that subjugated bugs as much their Mother ever did. In the end, the only possible good outcome could be death. Hornet’s birth was always intended as a vain wish to end their nightmare.

The reason why I like the true ending so much is hidden in this crunchy, complex, gray area lore. If you think Grand Mother Silk is just the villain, it might seem odd that her final act is to free Hornet and Lace. But, if we see her as a victim as much as her victims were, then her final act being to grant Lace, this embodiment of eternal servitude and forced love, a chance at freedom, then it reveals something tragic and beautiful: did she perhaps have the ability to change? Does she have the right to after what she did, ensnaring the Weaver’s victims with her control of Silk in pursuit of her potentially just but impossibly cruel revenge? Does the Citadel, now missing the entirety of its purpose and built on the memory of its crimes, have the right to persist? In a world of endless revenge that warps under our senseless pollution and hatred, do we?

Also, it’s got bug yuri in it. So, it’s my game of the decade.

[iamespecter]

"The Visit" - Little Nightmares Short Comic

Well, that escalated quickly. Sorry for low quality ✌️

Anyways, I love batshit insane, bastard Thin Man. It's my favorite interpretation of him, and is actually what I believe him to be as in Little Nightmares 2. Let me explain.

At first, I liked the interpretation of the Thin Man wanting to save himself from repeating the same mistakes, only to be trapped in a time loop. This paradox is cool, but that's too hopeful for a game like Little Nightmares.

The world of LN is twisted, and cruel. Innocents turned guilty. Victims becoming abusers. Regular people becoming monsters. Children becoming Adults. And I think... The Thin Man is no exception to this rule. I think, he is most definitely a bastardized version of Mono.

A twisted view into what kind of monster Mono becomes, if he doesn't let go of his grievances; which, spoiler alert--he doesn't.

That older, more selfish version of the little paperbag boy who becomes so obsessed after his betrayal, that he was willing to kill his younger self for even trying to take his "friend" away from him. Similar to The Lady who hungers like her Guests', I think he is under the influence of the transmission's broadcasts like his own Viewers as well, in order to distract himself from the betrayal that happened to him.

After all, how do you sit in a chair for so long? The answer is by being distracted and preoccupied, of course. I think he doesn't allow himself to think about it entirely, because it'd make him spiral badly.

And when Mono finally opens the door to his room, that distraction is interrupted.

And while yes, I believe that he isn't even known to be real by the residents of the Pale City, I think he still influences them somewhat via the Transmission, and he is the blueprint on what makes every adult so monstrous and so one-track minded. His influence is just THAT strong.

Besides, he is the big bad of LN 2. You should feel sorry for the circumstances that lead him to why he chooses to remain in his seat, but not for the atrocities he commits because he's an adult that's purely powered by his instincts: which is to retrieve his long lost companion at all costs. Which, he doesn't even succeed at, seeing as to how he keeps snagging the wrong kid every damn cycle.

It's this neglectful nature that spurs on the generational abuse, and in turn, keeps the cycle going. Getting physical isn't the reason abuse exists, it's always been neglect; Physical only comes next either on it's own, or an after effect of neglect. Which is also why I've began to dislike the idea that The Thin Man has good intentions, the moment he is "set free" from his prison.

You can't expect a person to stay sane and clean after spending a lifetime in the belly of a huge beast that's constantly consuming him. And that, I think, is the case of The Thin Man; He is no longer the sweet little boy who just wants to keep his friend safe as much as possible, these intentions of his have been twisted to the utmost extent that he becomes obsessed. Possessive. Isolating.

Keeping his friend safe is no longer the priority, it's just keeping his friend by his side for as long as he can, whether she wants to or not.

He is a paradox caused by his own actions, and his inability to break free from this toxic mindset. After all, the adults of LN are all monsters in their own way. And the most normal looking ones? They're typically the most depraved.

As for the relevance of the topic to the comic? This comic is actually just a concept scenario of "What if, he knows who his friend really is, and knows where she lives". But I don't think The Thin Man canonically--nor fully-- is aware of the fact that The Lady might actually be the very person who he's looking for.

[sylvieserene]

Theory I made recently on twitter about Pure Vanilla Cookie and St. Pastry Order having past ties

The Theory was as follows:

Firstly, I would like to establish and make it clear that Pure Vanilla Cookie is a deeply religious person as a whole even in his much younger years.Further evidenced by his comments made across the game:

Even in his younger years, when he had no soul jam or powers than that of a normal mortal, you can see it in his attire that he was religious.

How?

Look at the cross.

Now, that very outfit is familiar. The style of it, that is. To put it into comparison:

Perhaps you can better see it here?

Which leads me to the theory..What if Pure Vanilla Cookie had ties with the order? Because if you think about it, it is the "perfect haven" for religious folks like him on the surface.It makes perfect sense for him to approach such order unaware of its secrets.

Perhaps his time there even left an impression over him for his entire life.... As you can see in architectural structures as well.

What if Pure Vanilla Cookie had been a major part of the order? Effectively even morphing their views in a way because of how dedicated he was to the cause of finding the truth...?What if the Order recognised his potential before the world or even he himself did?

Allow me to elaborate:

Notice the designs between these images carefully:

All of them share incredibly and genuinely impossibly similar attributes to them.

Three spiked halo, forehead mark, robes, even similar scrolling like awakened PV, closed eyes, cones

Even the very poses. All of it screams Pure Vanilla Cookie.Not to mention, AOD's star matches the look of light of truth perfectly.

This leads me to have a theory that..What if AOD...is PV's monster form? Like Black forest has one, what if PV was the original cookie who had this phenomenon?

Could it be that this is what led to the order idolising him as the symbol of the "divine"? That it truly shaped on how the order would go about in its reach to "the light"?

As one person from discord said it:

Could it truly be that AOD is that one dark mistake/incident of PV's life that he has buried deep and kept such a deep secret that no one knows of it save the order and him? Could it be that just like DE and WL split, PV has separated himself off AOD but its preserved by order?

Maybe that is the reason why, the order shaped him like him for its members to revere to while PV escaped the order after learning of its true nature/secret he wasn't supposed to know/some ideological conflict that he parted ways with?

Also not to mention the fact (this could be a stretch BUT) only Vanilla kingdom has conical waffle structures like the Order (the only other having so being Parfedia)

I just find this highly interesting

At the same time, since the Order puts heavy emphasis over Idoltry and PV truly just believes in the light...could it be he left over that + the aod issue? OR if we take it a step further, what if he was to be sacrificed but smth went wrong and AOD took birth?

And when it did, it somehow split off PV and PV lost the memories of this traumatic incident? Or perhaps....made to lose the memory so he can't recall.But hey all of it is a theory, a CRK THEORY, thanks for reading!!

=====

This theory was appreciated by many and Twitter being twitter, a lot of users ridiculed it harshly as well lol

Some users like Lavender did add to it!

HOWEVER TODAY'S TRAILER CHANGED THE GAME LMAO

I WAS SO RIGHT OMG

This is why you don't knock it till ya try it fellas

[rukii-afterdark]

Angst Warning - So my current rough VERY HIGH LEVEL analysis of the new Caleb myth. I'm also not knowledgeable in the topic other than the last hour of googling.

Buddhism Motifs in Chinese Mythology - Soup to forget your memories, attachment, and sin. The bridge is the final gateway during reincarnation.

6 Realms of Existence - Preta or in this case, the netherworld. One being filled with Hungry Ghosts which MC is shown to be hungry and have ghosts torment her.

Buddhism - One of the goals of Buddhism is to have no attachments. Attachments are the cause of suffering, but Caleb and MC getting married basically say that they would rather suffer over and over again through each cycle rather than be apart.

In the end they must separate for some reason, rather it's forced or in order to break the cycle, they end up getting separated

I'm making the assumption that this is the first myth in the timeline and it sets up the story for why they will continue to have a tragic love story. They cannot break out of their cycle and reach "nirvana" because of their attachment to one another.

Reoccurring motifs between Caleb's myths are that they come from the same source but their purpose ends up being different (the destroyer vs the emergency shutdown). And that two people can love each other but not stay with one another. Colonel Caleb is a reflection of that when he expected to never see MC ever again and let her believe that he died to keep her safe. One could argue X-02 got the best ending because they both died together. Even then, they spent most of their life apart and were only together while escaping and being hunted.

Their story will always be a tragedy but the beauty is in their struggle to continue finding each other in every lifetime and fighting to be with one another every time.

[acesw]

Fashion Breakdown: How the Foundation uniforms achieves the Basic Elements of Design

From checkered patterns to gold emblems, the St. Pavlov Foundation has established itself as a hallmark of the humanitarian efforts to create peace between humans and arcanists in the modern world. From there, they've made the effort to present themselves based on their idea of peace and order—that includes their uniforms.

They are organized, clean, and very recognizable among readers and the characters. What I want to explore here is how Reverse: 1999 achieve this such a remarkable design through identifying how the basic elements of fashion design are applied in their uniforms.

This is a sequel to my analysis from nearly two years ago, where I explored the uniform itself and identified the customs and roles that the Foundation staff serve. This post will serve the purpose of breaking down the uniforms and how the basic elements are identified and applied. Let's get started.

Design Elements, Main Objectives

Design has four basic elements: Colour, Line, Shape, and Texture. In fashion, these elements are considered when creating clothes to communicate a "look" or message that they want to convey to the viewer.

For the Foundation, they have three objectives to represent in their uniform: Order, Balance, and Unity. We'll go through each element and how it achieves these objectives here.

Keep in mind that the Foundation is also heavily chess-themed, which will play a major role in the design choices of the uniforms. (This will be expanded later in regards to shapes)

Colour

The Foundation follows a monochrome palette, using black, white, and gray. Additionally, they use gold as a secondary color—a highlight.

It's a simple approach, the palette easily showcases balance, strength, power, and order. Gold adds a layer of prestige, and amplifies the themes of power.

Some characters that hold more significant roles (whether in story or in the organization), they'll use colors such as red, brown (i.e. the coats), green, and blue; they're often muted but noticeable. They hold some degree of symbolism too, but they're more personal to the characters themselves.

Line

Most if not all of the Foundation staff's uniforms are tailored to be straight. Straight linings, vertical lines, long jackets, etc. Sharp edges are also commonly seen, which make a more rigid but clean look.

All of these combined communicate order, strength, and resolve. The vertical lines also places emphasis on height, making the wearers seem taller and slimmer.

With these lines they also create pleats and crisscrosses. While pleats—found in masks and women's uniforms—are for sophistication, crisscrosses are found in laces. According to Ms. Moissan's description for her shoes, they indicate obedience.

Let's compare this to the SPDM uniforms. They primarily focus on using curved lines to present the students' soft innocence and youth.

Though, the lines are more highlighted in their undershirts as well as sharp cuffs in their sleeves and collars. They look more like angels or fledglings in that sense.

Shape

The uniforms uses geometric elements, primarily using squares, rectangles, and triangles. Squares and rectangles will represent strength and balance, and triangles addresses a hierarchy of power.

All of the characters' silhouettes will look imposing, stable, reliant, and strong. Razor here is a primary example. They can also express symmetry, but mainly with NPCs like Bernard and Pedra.

The brooch of the Foundation additionally possesses these 3 shapes. Despite it being difficult to discern what it exactly is, it's still recognizable.

Furthermore, the Foundation has two distinctive symbols that are integrated into their design, which are the checkered pattern and the stars. You'll see them on every Foundation member.

These two things are the trademark of the Foundation. It highlights themes of duality and guidance, so it can be said that the Foundation wants to serve to the people. It's similar to what I said two years prior, "The Foundation prides itself of being the beacon of balance between humans and arcanists."

This checkered pattern is also commonly associated with chess, and it's not the only feature that indicates it either. The Foundation uniforms tend to apply certain clothing choices that push that theme—from capes, pointed masks and round helmets, bishop sleeves, and even the occasional crown prints on collars. Overall, this chess theme easily captures the overall idea of the Foundation's system, hierarchy, ethics, and practices. That's where the uniform really sells on the objectives of their uniforms.

Texture

There isn't a lot to say about texture since this is still a digitally illustrated game, but it's still very much present! Given the rendering of the uniforms, they appear as very matte. This allows other accessories or materials to really stand out, such as metallic or polished surfaces (e.g. leather/rubber). The textures here mark down on professionalism and practicality while also ensuring the wearer's comfort, which fits all of the characters' line of work.

Reverse: 1999 mixes realistic painting techniques with the shapes and forms of the "anime" style, creating a semi-realistic art style that doesn't sacrifice its animated aspects (In other words, it doesn't take away the fact that it's still a gacha game lol). This element of design heavily benefits from it, with the art rendering allowing players to really see and feel the textures of the uniforms.

Afterthoughts

These uniforms are honestly an amazing refresher on fashion designs that are marketed in the gacha atmosphere, especially with fashion designs for in-game factions. The Foundation easily settles its uniforms as a very recognizable staple, even if our playable characters from that place wear garments that deviate from the standard. It's simple, straightforward, and realistic.

That's makes the characters feel very grounded; the Foundation staff look like people you would see in a corporate office every day, and that's thanks to their uniforms looking and feeling like actual clothes. This alone achieves the objectives mentioned earlier.

While I'm not a fashion student myself, design comes easy to creatives. There's more that can be said about these designs when you look at them in the lens of character design. I'll have some personal gripes, I'll have some personal favorites from these design choices.

But overall, the Foundation's fashion design does a good job at communicating its purpose through their characters. I hope that this and my earlier analysis can help people who want to analyze the Foundation's overall design or create Foundation-associated OCs.

Thanks for reaching the end here, and I hope you had an enjoyable read from my early morning rants. As always, any and all insights are welcome.

[chiu2account]

Alright guys, I’ve been having some massive late-night brain rot over Gatobob’s lore, and I just HAD to share this absolute web of a conspiracy theory, because all the games and comics—BTD, TPOF, YKMET, and TINR—are tied together by one massive, terrifying overarching plot. We’ve been fed crumbs for years, but if you connect the dots, it reveals a literal global conspiracy involving aliens, demons, and secret elites. Idc if I get hate for this, just look at the facts.

Let’s start with Lawrence from BTD2. This man isn’t obsessed with spines just for the sake of being a sadist. In occultism, the spine is the literal axis that leads directly to the head—to higher consciousness and evolution. Lawrence is literally trying to hack human nature and transcend into a supernatural being. He’s growing his creepy mystical teas, and the Lake isn’t just a body of water to him; it’s an anomalous portal, a pathway to rebirth into a "superhuman." But the scariest part is that he’s trying to reach the level of entities that already sit way above humans on the food chain.

And this brings us right to Strayd. In the This is Not Romance comic, they literally drop his alien, non-human nature right in front of us—there’s a literal scale hidden in his suit. Strayd is a textbook, purebred reptilian. And then comes the pure numerology that completely blew my mind. He has the number 12 tattooed on his arm in Greek. If we take a hexagram (a six-pointed star), 6 times 12 gives us 72. In medieval magic, 72 is the exact number of the Goetia demons ruling the hellish hierarchy. Furthermore, a six-pointed star with its 6 points, 6 triangles, and 6 sides of the inner hexagon is notorious in conspiracy theories for coding the number 666. No antisemitism intended at all, this is strictly about the occult symbolism the authors used to build his character.

And that 666 is exactly what drags Ryer into this theory with a death grip. He’s a purebred demon who literally feeds on this hellish energy. Look closely at his design: he also has reptilian-like eyes, proving his connection to Strayd’s race, and he has an eye symbol right on his neck. Combined with his perfectly triangular beard, you get the literal visual of the Illuminati's Eye of Providence—the masonic eye inside a triangle. Strayd and Ryer are basically two sides of the same coin: cosmic lizard aliens and earthly demonic forces running humanity from the shadows.

But things get truly dark when you remember the comic where Ryer is shown as a school principal. Let’s call a spade a spade: his behavior there is straight-up pedophilia and a massive abuse of power over defenseless kids. In the real world, the ultimate conspiracy theory about the secret Illuminati/reptilian government centers around Jeffrey Epstein and his horrific island. Conspiracy theorists have been saying for years that the elite practice abuse for occult rituals and to harvest the energy of human suffering. Ryer as a principal is a massive, blatant allegory for Epstein and the global elite. He isn't doing these horrific things just because; it’s part of a massive system of human subjugation that he and Strayd built together.

Ultimately, this whole game universe is a world under the secret control of reptilians and Illuminati demons who harvest human suffering for energy, and Lawrence is just a mad genius who figured out their secret and is trying to chop and brew his way up to the level of these "gods" via the Lake. Think what you want, but the pieces fit together way too perfectly.

[lorewarlorddoctorsix]

I made a guide to everyone at the dinner table. You're welcome.

[lionfang-knight]

Mondstadt, poisened by "wine"/the abyss?

Somebody on twitter pointed out that there's a connection between wine and the abyss:

This got me thinking:

It sounds like it has huge implications for Mondstadt.

(Covering: Mondtadt, Jean, Kaeya, Diluc)

Before reading this quote I had already often thought about why excessive alcohol was hailed as THE epitome of freedom when the results of intoxication are warped perception, loss of reality, and destruction when consumed too much too long (and let's be real, Mondstadters consume too much). When drinking too much, wine is used as an escapist tool to avoid pain (that will catch up to you after its effect wears off) but can never actually solve the problem of its origin.

Warped perception, loss of reality, destruction. That sounds pretty much like the abyss. It reminds me of OG Durin who was captured in the warped reality of his dream while wreaking havoc without realising it.

It poses the question if Mondstadt is not actually free but just trapped in a "dream" of happiness while actually being corrupted/numbed/bewitched by wine/abyss without their being aware of it. And they can only gain true freedom if they let go/break the curse of wine/the abyss.

(Perhaps a measure by the PO/the shards to keep them in check. Or an unwanted result by Venti somehow using abyssal power/becoming corrupted?)

All in all it feels like a strong foil to Khaenri'ah.

(A variation of this is that they have been poisoned with wine (and on some narrative level by the abyss?) to keep the harsh truth of Celestia's rule over them from them by "intoxicating" them with false happiness. So the wine is more of a means to an end which keeps them complacent. And in order to defeat Celestia they need to forsake this false happiness.)

And it's very interesting how different characters are connected to wine:

Kaeya who is most likely connected to the abyss in *some* way drinks excessive alcohol, most likely as a coping mechanism and his capability as a knight is canonically impaired by it. Metaphorically you could say the abyss threatens his ability to defend Mondstadt’s safety and freedom. Even though he pretends everything is fine you could say the wine corrupts him - like the abyss would.

I think it’s also noteworthy that his favourite drink is (based on) dandelion wine and has a time-based name: death after noon. I’m sure this also has a deeper meaning, esp. since Kaeya is thematically connected to time, fate *and* death (his cape/constellation looks like Ronova’s wings). Death after the sun has reached its highest point in its cyclical journey. Sun.. sun chariot… Nibelung… I’m sure there’s a connection somewhere.

As for dandelions I think it could imply that he seeks (false) solace particularly in the illusion of freedom (also expressed in his believe that he has left his fate behind him but it’s gonna catch up – just like the aforementioned pain you try to drink away catches up after you sober up again) but also perhaps in something “angelic” since I believe dandelions are implied metaphors for angels and there is a theory that Kaeya himself has angel heritage. So perhaps despite him hating and renouncing Celestia he still clings to some “higher” power, the angels that sided with humans and tried to bring them freedom. But just like the angels “fell” – got “corrupted” – when they were degraded into seelies, the degraded form of dandelions – dandelion alcohol/wine – can’t save him.

On the other hand dandelions in its original form might still be able to guide humans to true freedom which is why Jean as the “human embodiment” of a dandelion (and also the dandelion *knight*, the angel that *fights* for freedom) might be an important anchor for him.

Diluc doesn't drink wine at all but is the biggest supplier of wine for Mondstadt and its economic pillar. He doesn't want to expose himself to the risks that wine consumption brings but profits massively from selling it to the people (of Mond and beyond) - in turn making him so powerful he largely controls Mondstadt as the"uncrowned king of Mondstadt", a kind of shadow king...you could say a "vinster king" (as vinster sounds very similar to the German word "finster" which means dark).

It's like he supplies them with "forbidden knowledge" while being aware of the danger it poses, avoiding it himself. His relationship seems ambivalent because on the one hand he tries to make non-alcoholic drinks more popular but also doesn't seem to be willing to dismantle his empire. Perhaps because he knows Mondstadt's power/existence is tied to it. It's like a deal with the devil he inherited. What keeps you alive is also what poisons you and makes you sick. So he is stuck in this ethical dilemma.

He may not have drunk much wine before Crepus' death as he was a teen back then but via his lineage and the aftermath of Crepus' death triggered by the events surrounding the delusion you could say he was corrupted by "wine" (metaphorically) in the past (and since he used the delusion himself he might quite literally have been corrupted by the abyss) and now lives with the consequences.

(Crepus' death also marked the beginning of Kaeya drinking so you could say he was *also* corrupted.)

Crepus really feels like Nibelung in this context, a well-meaning father who himself was not powerful enough. So he turned to the abyss but got so corrupted his own offspring had to kill him, corrupting his successors in the process.

Then there is Jean who according to Diona doesn't drink either (yes, she has been shown with beer in an Oktoberfest art but I'll prioritise the ingame text here) and doesn't have any major ties to wine either.

In fact, she tries to establish another economic pillar (her KoF alchemy business) to make Mondstadt less dependant on wine. It also puts her in direct competition with Diluc in terms of economic power and influence over Mondstadt.

Metaphorically this looks like her trying to combat the influence of the abyss via alchemy and push back its hegemonic control of Mondstadt.

(On that note: I need to know how her alchemy business is doing.)

She is also spiritually connected to Venti, both as the head of the KoF but also because of Venessa and Gunnhildr. So it's interesting that Venti's "battle maiden" and potential human executor of his revolution doesn't drink whereas he does. It's as if he picked a proxy to carry out his plans that is "pure"/not corrupted by the abyss because he for some reason consumes/has to consume? abyssal power.

This makes it even more interesting that Kaeya, another consumer of wine/"abyss", is Jean's right-hand man. You could say Jean is not afraid to get in contact/associate with those “touched by the abyss” and is willing to befriend them without preconceptions (also mirrored in her love for Venti). And in a sense it means she "also relies" on abyssal powers to protect Mondstadt without being corrupted herself - or rather, perhaps *because* she is an "uncorrupted" counter-weight the abyss manifested in Kaeya doesn't hurt but actually serves Mondstadt (for now).