Slowly checking out Simulanka event quest to figure out what’s up with Mini Durin looking like that, so I write a little something to experiment
—
Let’s write a story! What kind of world should it take place in?
Ah, a simple world, a fun and colourful world, because it’s a world for children.
“Oh no… Our god has abandoned us. What do we do!”
Once upon a time, a puppet got tired of once-upon-a-times, and decided he will not be part of that story anymore.
In a place far away, in the fun and colourful toy block land of Simulanka, a child is born with the title “Evil Dragon of Simulanka”. That child… is called “Durin”.
Don’t be under any illusion that this is the big skeleton Durin sleeping on the snowy mountain now! The child called “Durin” lives in a completely different world, with a completely different story. After all…
Let’s make a world so simple and so well-known, that the throne in the sky will see it for what it seems. A world so naive and innocent… that its strings ring in counterpoint to the melody called “fate”.
One thing I will say about Genshin is that I REALLY do not like how they portray Simulanka's events post-Summer event.
They treat Simulanka like it was this fairytale paradise that Durin was/is "lucky" to have, when in reality it was likely a hellscape for him. He was severely isolated and hated for something he could not control, and even had multiple Simulanka characters make attempts on his life. He had like one canon friendship the entire time and that was ended VERY quickly by another Simulanka resident.
Durin himself probably just, blames himself for his horrible time there since he was "terrorizing" the other Simulanka characters with his corrupted blocky body, but. That doesn't change the amount of severe psychological damage that kind of isolation and hatred brings someone.
Idk man I wish they didn't jump from "This storybook world was made with good intentions but acted as a violent, gilded cage for most of its time being active" to "Perfect happy world where fairytale wishes come true and nothing is wrong ever" without more on screen development.
I just remember seeing the way the Simulanka characters were treating Durin in the Lunar Archon quest and I had a visceral reaction to how they acted like everything was all hunky dory. It deeply upset me.
And yes I know by that point it had been like two years since Simulanka, yes Durin had time away from it and traveled, yes the Storybook characters also had time to heal and come to a mutual understanding with Durin, but. By god, show me that! Show me the progression, don't just take a horrible awful situation and time skip ahead and suddenly say everything's fine now!
Part three of my overly long rambling answer to @chaosisinsane 's ask opening the Pandora's box about my thoughts—this time going over Simulanka Durin.
Also choasisinsane, you are under no obligation to read all or any of this, this part alone is over 3.5 k words, including the other parts it's just over 6.5k. Which is very long, and the main analysis is in the next part anyway.
Part one about Dorian/Subject Two is here, and part two about Dragonspine Durin is here.
Once again, written presuming the reader has no idea about Genshin lore/Simulanka just like the other parts.
Also fair warning, like the other parts this isn't proofread. That's my problem for when I turn these into a coherent video script.
Now a disclaimer: I have never played Simulanka.
In fact, I have played Genshin in such weird periods that I managed to miss every single temporary Summer map, and also all the Dragonspine events. I say this because it means I regrettably can't point out any small map details as I have never had the chance to explore it, so forgive me(and let me know!) if I miss anything hidden in the map itself.
Now Simulanka—when divorced from Paralogism and everything that came after it—is a pretty good event. I enjoyed watching the story on Youtube, even if I never got super attached to the Durin of Simulanka.
Why would I? As lovely as Simulanka was, I love tragedy that lingers, tragedy hidden beneath cheerful veneers, bittersweet endings that haunt my thoughts, and the Durin of Simulanka(henceforth also referred to as S!Durin), for all intents and purposes had a complete arc with a happy ending.
Until he didn't.
A witch's tears, a cruel story, and Genshin's canonical, magic, in-game, real person fix-it fic.
You read that right. Obviously I'm exaggerating a little with the subheading, but it also isn't entirely inaccurate.
Let me tell you a little story about the Hexenzirkel. Or rather, a story about one of its members, a certain Anya Marie Andersdotter.
Also known as mage "M", she was the only human member of the Hexenzirkel, and the author of the in-game book The Boar Princess.
Upon hearing of Dragonspine Durin's cruel fate, Andersdotter was deeply affected by its sadness, and resolved to use her magic to create a version of the story wherein her Durin could have a happy ending. Despite Barbeloth, another member, warning Andersdotter that her Durin would ultimately share the same fate as the original, she persisted in her efforts up until her death.
Barbeloth(Voice of Another Woman) warning Andersdotter. ^^^
Andersdotter refusing to give up. ^^^
At some point, Alice—another Hexenzirkel member—, Barbeloth, and Andersdotter all worked together to create Simulanka, a storybook word based on Andersdotter's writing.
An NPC from the "Summertide Scales and Tales" event explaining Simulanka's creation, referring to Alice, Barbeloth, and Andersdotter as the Godddesses of Creation, Prophecy, and Fate respectively. ^^^
This was where her Durin lived until the events of the Simulanka event, and as Barbeloth had predicted, shared the same fate as being seen as wicked and causing accidental chaos and destruction. The players of the game would only find out Simulanka's dragon and Dragonspine Durin shared a name at the very end of the event.
The same NPC referring to Durin(identity not yet revealed) as an "evil dragon".^^^
A mirrored tale of two dragons.
S!Durin was created as a mirror to the story of Dragonspine Durin(referred to as D!Durin) by the developers, and depends on the player knowing of and caring about D!Durin—even just as the bones on the mountainside—for its emotional beats to hit. And as Andersdotter wanted to give D!Durin a better ending, S!Durin reflected his Teyvat counterpart.
Genshin very much likes to use the concept of predetermined fate and breaking it in its narrative, with all those of Teyvat connected to this fate with the constellations in the sky. It also posits names as important, especially true names and shared names, but I will digress on that point for now; as that in itself could be its own deep dive.
What is important is that we know there is a class of people with the will to break fate, those that must be from outside to Teyvat—descenders. And the Traveller, the main character, is one such person.
And so with S!Durin sharing D!Durin's name, came the same tragic dichotomy, much as Barbeloth had said. He never wanted to cause trouble for the inhabitants of Simulanka, and only wanted to befriend people. Unlike D!Durin, however, S!Durin was not warped by the Abyss. and this clarity caused him realise that his size and and tied fate caused him to accidentally cause trouble, and so he isolated himself for fear of hurting more people.
Much like Elynas in Teyvat realising the harm he caused and choosing to let it be ended, even if that cost his life.
Screenshot of a cutscene(courtesy of WoW Quests recorded video) showing the scale of S!Durin's original form compared to the playable character Wanderer. ^^^
An excerpt from "Goddess's Manuscript (I)" showing S!Durin avoided fighting back against Simulanka's inhabitants, despite their attacks. ^^^
An excerpt from "Goddess's Manuscript (III)" showing that S!Durin's first instinct is to run when scared, rather than lash out. ^^^
And in a parallel that makes me particularly sad, both the creators/parents of each Durin asked them to go forth into the world. Andersdotter in hopes of giving Durin a better ending, Rhinedottir likely to cause chaos during the cataclysm, possibly as a distraction.
The weapon description of "Festering Desire", showing Rhinedottir encouraging D!Durin and her other creations to enter Teyvat, despite knowing their Abyssal natures. ^^^
Andersdotter encouraging S!Durin to go and meet the world kindly, and wishing for him to find friendship. ^^^
A quick analysis of "Goddessess's Manuscript (II)".
While writing this, I learnt that Simulanka had several World Quests, and in particular the quest "Narration Footnotes" grabbed my attention. And I want to take a quick wander off the beaten path of this post, to talk about one of the readables within it; "Goddess's Manuscript (II)".
In it, it tells the story of Antonio, from the "clan of wisdom" defeating the evil dragon with a riddle and stealing receiving its hoard as compensation for his house being destroyed, causing it to never attack Constellation Satellite again.
But that's not what interests me.
It's what lies between the lines unsaid.
Note: every screenshot below is of "Goddess's Manuscript (II)".
In the beginning of the note, we learn that a village was to be "symbolically" razed by S!Durin, and that S!Durin specifically chose Antonio's house as Antonio was not home at the time. This implies that S!Durin, for whatever reason, either felt like, or had no choice in, causing destruction—and so in face of this, decided to work out an arrangement with the village and had taken pains to avoid injuring people.
Given how fate is intrinsically linked to S!Durin's existence, I believe that it is likely he had little choice in the matter somehow, and that this was part of what Barbeloth was warning Andersdotter about.
This next part reveals to us that Simulanka has rules that every being must follow. As part of Simulanka's purpose is changing S!Durin's fate from that of D!Durin's, it could stand to be reasoned that as a fairytale world, the rules called for there to be a villain to be redeemed, or misunderstandings to occur to be cleared and triumphed over. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to interpret this forced fate as what caused S!Durin to create the symbolic arrangement mentioned above.
The manuscript continues, and Antonio goes to face off with the dragon.
A few things to point out.
One; the rules are shown to exist, and S!Durin is shown to follow them.
Two; S!Durin is specifically noted as preparing to burn an area in front of Antonio as a way to scare him off. The wording is from Antonio's point of view, but S!Durin is clearly trying to avoid confrontation here, taking care to not actually hit Antonio in the process. Much like he avoided destroying a home with someone inside it earlier.
Three; S!Durin had a dragon hoard! This isn't super relevant, I just think it's cute to see classical dragon behaviour, especially considering this was in his original form.
Antonio forces S!Durin into a duel of riddles, and once again S!Durin cannot refuse, as it is a law that must be followed.
And here we see Antonio's riddle is nonsense, and a disgrace to proper riddles with a loophole that personally offends me. But such is Simulanka that S!Durin's logically correct answer becomes wrong due to said loophole
But what's more interesting here is the fact that the manuscript takes care to show S!Durin stammering. Something often used in writing to show hesitance, or guilt. And given that he is a reflection of D!Durin who had a kind heart, S!Durin clearly isn't fond of what he has to do.
This also confirms that S!Durin has to burn a house, and that either he doesn't see it/ or have it as an option not to. It also reiterates that S!Durin was trying to avoid killing anyone in the process.
The rest of the text isn't super relevant, aside from making me feel bad when S!Durin has his hoard stolen taken by Antonio.
Anyway aside over. I just thought the implications of S!Durin fighting against whatever force made him have to burn down houses by trying to minimise harm where he could is fascinating and sad.
The Wanderer, a fairytale, and the fickleness of changing fate.
So Simulanka decides to introduce a parallel between two characters; the original Durin on Dragonspine, and the playable character Wanderer. If Genshin had actually followed up on this, it would have been a very cool decision.
Spoilers for Wanderer's story below.
Wanderer was created by Raiden Ei as a prototype proof of concept for a puppet that could house the Electro Gnosis. He proved too emotional, and unable to bring herself to kill the puppet despite Yae Miko's suggestion, Raiden Ei sealed him away in the Shakkei Pavilion. Time passes, eventually he is found or left(I can't remember and it's not super relevant to this) and lived on Tatarasuna Island as the 'kabukimono'.
During his life, he experienced three 'betrayals'.
The first was that he viewed Ei sealing him away instead of killing him as her discarding him for his failure to be a suitable host for the gnosis. This also led to Wanderer as the Kabukimono strongly desiring to obtain a 'heart'.
The second was when he went to seek help over Tatarasuna's failing furnace, that was leaking fantasy radiation. He had hoped that the golden feather Ei left him as proof of their ties would let the him get help. He met with Yae Miko, who promised to send help, but by the time he had returned, his close friend Niwa was murdered by Dottore. Dottore presented the Kabukimono with a box, telling him that Niwa had fled Tatarasuna. After entering the furnace and fixing it himself despite the energy being extreme, the Kabukimono opened the box to see a withered heart, one Dottore told him that Niwa had killed a subordinate to obtain. Horrified by Niwa's supposed cruelty, the Kabukimono threw the heart away and left Tatarasuna.
The third betrayal was after the Kabukimono befriended a sickly young boy. The boy promised to live with the Kabukimono forever as family, but succumbed to his illness despite the Kabukimono's attempts to care for him. The Kabukimono viewed this broken promise as an act of betrayal.
He was later found and taken in by the Fatui, eventually becoming the Harbinger Scaramouche. During this time he was experimented on, sent to the Abyss on expeditions, and was known to be cruel to his subordinates. He also almost wiped out Kaedehara Kazuha's—another playable character who is a descendant of Niwa—entire clan on purpose as revenge for Niwa's supposed betrayal.
Now, to cut a long story short, at some point over the game's story, Scaramouche obtains the Electro Gnosis, and with Dottore's assistance, attempts to ascend to godhood during the Sumeru arc of the game. You stop him, he ends up in Nahida's care, who asks him to search Irminsul(a magic tree that holds every memory recorded by the leylines of Teyvat) for information.
This is how he learns, via Nahida intentionally leaving the information for him to find, that Niwa never betrayed him, and that Dottore had been behind everything. In a desperate attempt to fix the past, he erases himself from Irminsul and the memories of Teyvat, willing to to die and never have existed in the hopes that everyone he hurt or killed would have their fates changed for a second chance.
The only thing this changes is how history remembers the events. Everything still happened, the past doesn't change, but every single one of Wanderer's actions is attributed to mysterious figures in the records. And only the Traveller remembers Scaramouche existed.
Shenanigans ensue, and eventually we get Wanderer deciding to inherit the memories of Scaramouche after Nahida managed to record them as a fairytale, as a story—something the act of erasing himself managed to leave alone as the story was abstract enough to be separate.
This is the first time we see a character actively try to change fate in such a large way, and it fails. The past can't be changed, and Nahida records a back up of the truth in the from of a fairytale.
I also want to note that after regaining his memories, Wanderer explicitly asks the Traveller to let the people he hurt/their descendants know who did it so they can enact revenge on him if they wish, as a form of atonement.
So why is this relevant to S!Durin?
Fair warning, I get nitpicky below, mostly because this is so long already and my brain is melting.
Well, after the first flashback in the battle against S!Durin, where we learn Andersdotter is dead, Wanderer thinks this, referring to his own 'betrayals':
A screenshot of Wanderer's dialogue from the "Summertide Scales and Tales quest. ^^^
To me, I can see why the writers pointed this out, but S!Durin wasn't 'betrayed' like the Kabukimino was. Andersdotter apologised to S!Durin that she didn't have long to live, and that she'd watch over him as a star when she was gone; whereas the Kabukimono(still with a somewhat childish mindset at this point) had a kid promise to live with him forever as family, and broke that promise by dying.
But then again, this is Wanderer's pov, it makes sense for him to view the situations closer than they were in reality.
And then after another flashback shows a mother squirrel fearful of her child interacting with S!Durin, Wanderer thinks this:
A second screenshot of Wanderer's dialogue from the "Summertide Scales and Tales quest. ^^^
Quick side note: I've never been entirely sure what the writers wanted to make of that line, since the reason Wanderer was feared as Scaramouche was because of his cruel actions as Harbinger, while S!Durin actively tried to avoid hurting people where he could. Scaramouche didn't have to be as cruel as he did even if he was forced into some things as a Fatuus.
Yes, both of them to some degree did have reduced control over their own fates, but I'm not sure this particular line is as good of a parallel as the game wants me to see it.
To be clear, this isn't an issue with Wanderer's character, but from a meta perspective.
Then in the cutscene after the fight, we get this:
A transcript of the cutscene at the end of 'Summertide Scales and Tales' story quest boss fight. ^^^
We don't get to hear much from S!Durin's while he is in his original, toy dragon form, but if Wanderer is right here, we learn he's at least passively suicidal, wanting to have never existed.
Now in a parallel I can't nitpick thankfully, because conceptually I do like the Wanderer-Durin part of Simulanka, we get Wanderer being able to offer the same support he got at the end of Sumeru after he erased himself, to S!Durin, showing his growth from the Interlude quest. It's a good moment.
After this fight, thanks to the blessings of the playable characters present and the Traveller, a solution is formed for S!Durin to be able to interact with Simulanka without causing problems, successfully changing his fate from D!Durin's.
Now this doesn't affect D!Durin's fate in Teyvat interestingly enough, despite that being the actual aim of Andersdotter in creating S!Durin, but I'll touch on that when I get to Paralogism.
Help! They turned him into a marketable plushie!
So the blessings cause S!Durin to shrink from his cool, awesome, dragon form, and become a design that makes me mad whenever I see it—Mini-Durin.
A screenshot showing S!Durin's new form as Mini-Durin. ^^^
Now, if you love this design, I'm happy for you and wish that was me.
To begin, here's what I like about this design;
his horns are cool, and I like how they converge on the forehead.
he's fluffy like Dvalin (this is also a negative but I'll get to that) and I'm not immune to fluffy dragons
he's one of my favourite shades of purple
wyverns are underrated dragons
his eye shading makes me think of a more red, tumbled piece of amber
Here's what irrationally annoys me:
according to all known laws of aviation, Mini Durin's giant head should make him flip upside down mid-air because the center of gravity has to be so fucked with his build; and I can't stop noticing this whenever I see him
his head is only that big to be what I call 'marketable cute'. Aka he was designed with cutesy merch in mind, and for the audience to coo over mindlessly. I still can't believe they didn't make an official plush of him.
the above, combined with the fact they make him behave way more childishly in this form, has led to me suffering from people claiming he is a literal child, only born from this moment in time; and did not, in fact, spend a long time in his original boss form being ostracised for years by the residents of Simulanka itself—despite that being half the point of his parallel with Wanderer.
he's fluffy for the cute factor, and I personally think D!Durin probably had scales to contrast the more 'good' Dvalin in Teyvat
if he had a smaller head, I'd forgive most of this. If he had a smaller head and scales, I'd forgive it all.
Design aside, Mini Durin's story arc ends here, with his problems solved. Wanderer is his friend, so he's no longer lonely, and now that his new form doesn't cause the issues his old one has, the residents of Simulanka aren't scared of him anymore. A happy ending on all accounts, and one almost neatly wrapped up, like all event endings in Genshin.
And then Alice goes and says this:
Dialogue from ''Summertide Scales and Tales" showing Alice introducing the possibility that Mini Durin could one day leave the world of Simulanka. ^^^
At the time, it was a fairly regular justification the writers set up for if they ever wanted to use Mini Durin again, but still gave justification for if they didn't with this line:
Dialogue from ''Summertide Scales and Tales" showing Mini Durin expressing his desire to protect Simulanka after apologising to its inhabitants. ^^^
After all, to protect Simulanka, he has to stay in it... right? Right? <— remember this. I will bring it up in my Paralogism rant.
I am aware that Mini Durin expresses interest in visiitng Teyvta later, but visiting Teyvat briefly is very different from leaving Simulanka for an extended time frame, especially after Mini Durin states that he wants to protect it.
Foreshadowing is a literary device that is meant to do something and not just be a hype inducer.
There is a conversation during the afterword of this event that makes me madder the more I remember it the absolute nothing it led to.
In it, Wanderer tells Albedo that the memories he saw included a prophecy in which the Durin on Dragonspine will be revived in Teyvat. Albedo isn't surpised, stating that he has been observing Durin's heart slowly growing in vitality. himself.
The following exchange occurs:
Dialogue from the Afterword of "Summertide Scales and Tales", where Albedo requests Wanderer's help with the Durin of Teyvat's fate. ^^^
And many fans begin theorising over what role Wanderer could play, how D!Durin would revive, if it would have major consequences, and if it would possibly lead to either Durin being playable.
And then in late April, 2025, a few months after I'd just gotten interested in past events and formed an attachment to Subject Two, and roughly nine months after Simulanka, Genshin Impact announced that version 5.6 would be released on the 7th of May.
It would feature the release of the Archon Quest 'Paralogism', and the key art looked like this:
The key art for version 5.6 of Genshin Impact, prominently featuring Jean, Albedo, Venti, and Dragonspine in the background. Kaeya, the Traveller and Paimon are smaller in the foreground.^^^
And from this, people guessed that the mystery at the end of Shadows Amidst Snowstorms would be addressed, Durin would be revived, Wanderer and Mini Durin would possibly be involved—and a lot of people were simply glad to be away from Natlan's divisive writing for a bit.
I know I was.
Past me, we owe Natlan an apology, for no writing has made me more aggravated in this god forsaken gacha game than Paralogism.
Thinking back to my reactions during the Simulanka event 🤣
I had just finished up Monstadt and Liyue, and was holding off on Inazuma because the We Will Be Reunited quest scared me
So my thoughts seeing Nilou and Navia were basically “who are YOU and who are YOU, why are you hugging me I’ve never met you in my life😭”. Wanderer was an exception, I’d seen plenty of him online beforehand, and I had not named him yet, so he had a default name.
I just think it’s so freaking funny how Genshin gaslights you into thinking you’ve been on an adventure from a previous limited event, or have already met newer characters before starting a limited event 😂
