ooc; headcanons/worldbuilding - on the Dragon Sovereign's Authority or lack thereof, and how it fucks with you
(whiny child voice) Moooom Neffi is turning a meme into a serious meta agaaain
Fontaine Archon Quest spoilers (4.2 in particular) below.
No really, this idea literally did start with a meme. Specifically, with this post that I accidentally ran into on Twitter. My first reaction was, presumably, similar to everyone else's. I laughed and was like "lmao yeah they kinda have a point". And then I started thinking. (Oh no.)
Exactly why was Neuvillette like this?
And as I thought about it more, I had a bit of an epiphany. Or maybe just a bunch of random thoughts, who knows. Anyway.
Even though Neuvillette's identity as the Hydro Dragon Sovereign is revealed to us in 4.1 and so is his negative attitude towards Celestia (he openly refers to the Heavenly Principles as the "First Usurper"), it is not until after completing Masquerade of the Guilty that his character story parts and voice lines about judging the Archons and the heavens, restoring the original order etc are unlocked. In addition, they are also generally worded in a more grandiose - and sometimes borderline hostile - tone than what is made available to us prior to 4.2. (With the exception of Neuvillette's final ascension quote, but quite frankly, it's literally a 4.2 spoiler that in my opinion should have been blocked by story progression as well. But maybe they just don't do that to ascension quotes. I dunno.)
Before we complete the 4.2 AQ, the most we get is Neuvillette mocking Venti and Zhongli for the fake Visions, which like... when you think about it, he kinda has a point lmao. The tone of his voice lines towards the Archons that unlock after completing said AQ also cannot be compared to his attitude towards Furina - whom he believes to be the Hydro Archon - throughout the Fontaine story. Yeah, he can find her exasperating at times, but there is no outright hostility, no talk of judging her someday - not to her face and not behind her back - and while he says that his Authority could be restored if the Archon were to disappear, he does not wish for it. He doesn't seem to want it to happen, and in fact seems kind of resigned to it not happening, believing the solution to be unrealistic. "I can't do much without my Authority unless the Archon were to disappear. But given the status quo, let's try to find a different way to deal with the prophecy. Anyway I need to go back to my office." Very different tone from stuff like "I shall fulfill my vow to judge all of The Seven, even if the sky should fall and the ground give way".
It's something that's been puzzling me for a little while now, and then I realized something. We can obviously go the easy route and say that, well, of course he didn't talk about doing things he did not have the power to do at the time. But I like to think that this goes deeper. So okay, bear with me for a moment.
The fact that, unlike the Archons, Neuvillette is not obligated to hand out Visions and only does so out of his own choice, and may also have actual control over who he grants a Vision to (unless we really want to insist that his first Vision being given to Furina of all people was a coincidence, which I mean... it might have been but I am not convinced), suggests that this power may actually be more native to the Dragon Sovereign Authority than anything else connected with being an Archon. This may be further supported by how the people from other nations - to our knowledge, at least - continue to receive Visions even after the Archon has handed over their Gnosis. (In addition, the people from Inazuma and Sumeru still got Visions in the 500 years during which Raiden and Kusanali did not hold their Gnoses.) After all - unlike the Gnosis, the Dragon Authority, tied to the Archon's Divine Throne, cannot be simply pawned off or stolen. So even after giving up the Gnosis, the Archons still possess the Authorities and continue to "impart shattered shards of their masteries" to humans, whether they are aware of and like it, or not.
(Plus, Neuvillette does not give half a shit about the Gnoses. He himself didn't know what they truly are until the Skirk Loredump™ and he casually handed the Hydro Gnosis over afterwards, further supporting the idea that those things are completely unrelated.)
What am I getting at here? Well, we know from the Inazuma Archon Quest what losing one's Vision does to a person. Having been deprived of what is essentially a piece of themselves, many of the victims of the Vision Hunt Decree lost their ambitions and goals in life, sometimes also some critical memories, could undergo a change in personality, and obviously no longer possessed the power that a Vision grants.
Which should sound a little familiar right now.
If this is what losing a Vision does, and if the theory that Visions are connected to Dragon Authorities is correct (which I will not call my theory by the way, I am not the first person to think this), then what if losing the Dragon Authority does the same to its original owner?
Thinking about it this way, that would explain a lot about the way Neuvillette was prior to regaining his Authority. His ambition and goal were either deeply concealed, or just simply missing, never once mentioned. His memories were very incomplete, to the point where he didn't even remember his connection to the Primordial Sea - which, if we want to believe the Vishap legend, he is the literal heart of, and even if we don't, said connection is still extremely close. His personality - as the Hydro Sovereign, rather than the Iudex - was certainly different, or rather it is, again, more appropriate to say that certain traits were missing. And, obviously, his power was very fragmented, as demonstrated by the way he struggled against the Primordial Seawater breaking free in the Fortress of Meropide.
This is also something that makes sense to do from Celestia's point of view. It's not impossible that they knew from the start that, even if the Sovereigns are killed, they can and will eventually be reborn, so they cannot be entirely removed as a potential danger that way. However, by stripping them of their power and ambition, Heavenly Principles not only had an additional tool to establish their own system and, in Neuvillette's words, "subdue and control the resentments and loathing of the world" - but also could neutralize the threat that the Sovereigns pose by depriving them of both the will and the means to stand against the heavens.
Without their Authorities, the Sovereigns are akin to humans who had lost their Visions. They are quite literally incomplete, and able to do little more than watch and wait while they hold on to their grudges and hatred (see also: Apep) or accept the ongoing status quo the way Neuvillette did. But give it back to one of them and they instantly begin to threaten to Get Celestia One Day - and the main reason why Neuvillette is not getting on that immediately, as he himself says, is because he sees watching over Fontaine as a duty (and in a way, a gift) granted and entrusted to him and wants to fulfill it first, so he will presumably remain in Fontaine for as long as it needs him. Because let's face it, if he were to leave right now, the country is screwed. He's not only the chief administrator, governor and judge, but also Fontaine's battery.
So, yeah. I don't really have a particularly meaningful and graceful way to close off my ramblings. Who knows, perhaps next update or next nation releases new information that either proves me right or completely and utterly wrong. Again, this post started with a meme. But still, this was a connection that I drew and found both interesting and potentially plausible, and so I decided to throw some words together to sort out my thoughts in a somewhat coherent way.
If you somehow read this to the end, I salute you.
hey guys i really wanna come back !! I am just having some anxiety about having been gone for so long lmao. idk why i am being such a nincompoop about all this is a big struggle rn. i am still working on my google docs tho, and I am re-working kats backstory a little bit. i am gonna be moving blogs, and hopfully that’ll happen sometime this week!
