Open Questions in 2.3. Shadows amidst Snowstorms
Well into Natlan, and I still can’t stop thinking about what happened in V. 2.3 Shadows amidst Snowstorms. This time-limited event was such a masterpiece which left us with so many questions. Let’s have a look at the event, because for a game, that usually lore-drops with such an unrealistic trust in truthfulness, this quest left so many open questions and uncertainties. In my opinion, this starts very early on: the rustling we hear in Dragonspine.
When we ascend the mountain to look for Amber (even though I barely cared for that side quest), we hear some strange rustling. We follow the noise but find nothing and eventually blame the noise on Albedo, who shortly after appears. I think now we can blame the rustling noise on Albedo’s camp being robbed by Susbedo, but that throws in the question: how did Albedo not hear anything himself? He was closer to his camp than we were. He says he was gathering inspiration for a painting, but we never hear of it again. Surely, he later confesses to us that this investigation will capacitate him entirely, but there is a painting session later with the traveler. It’s not a strong suspicion (maybe he wants to work without the distraction of the travelers on his painting), but he is still acting a bit strange in my opinion, though he can’t be Susbedo at that time because of the birthmark.
Leaving that aside, we investigate the thief and Albedo ends up entering the cave alone. We have our talk with Susbedo, no doubt here, but that means Albedo is still in the cave. As annoying as Paimon can be, she is right: What is Albedo doing in there for so long? Is he guarding the other exit the entire time? I somehow really doubt that, and by that point, Albedo is more suspicious to me than the actual Susbedo.
Now, Eula accuses him of kidnapping Joel. I doubt that highly. Likewise, I doubt that it’s Susbedo’s doing since he was distracting the travelers. He’s got a better alibi than Albedo himself. It’s probably Whopperbedo though, which brings another question into the mix. What’s his deal with Joel? Albedo explains it with “meh, everything’s strange on Dragonspine” and it’s enough to stop the others from questioning it further, but with Joserf’s sudden return later, I think there’s more to it and Albedo is purposely hiding it. We’ve seen from various quests that Albedo is perfectly able to conceal his knowledge and keep the others around him guessing. Usually, he admits to knowing later on, but not here.
I feel like from here, we receive a lot of honest and forthcoming actions from Albedo, an act that helps us restore our trust in him. To most travelers, he probably wasn’t even suspicious. We believe him that there’s an imposter, we met Susbedo ourselves, noticed the difference, but still, Albedo confiding in us strengthens our trust in him. In hindsight, as my distrust has grown, I do wonder why he confided in us in the first place. I don’t think he lied to us, but I do question his motives. Maybe I’m getting paranoid at this point.
Cut to the avalanche, Albedo jumping after Bennett to save him. Nothing suspicious here, I just love how it highlights the difference between Susbedo, who fled instead of saving Bennett, to Albedo, who risks his life to protect Bennett. I don’t think Albedo ever gambled with his life in this bit, he seems very chill about it, too. Naturally, I get suspicious. Many of Albedo’s capabilities are a mystery to us. Remember when we did the flying test in event 1 and we asked how Albedo reached the destination? He said with the help of alchemy. He never elaborates on that, and we don’t question it. I do. We have absolutely no clue what Albedo is truly capable of and that doesn’t narrow down our theories.
The game with Whopperbedo and Albedo takes place. Whopperbedo is more detached, but still somewhat intelligent and capable of blending in. Makes me wonder what that flower is capable of. Is he capable of following orders? As in, kidnapping a child and bringing him to a certain someone? And again, we don’t know what Albedo is up to at that moment. We can assume he is following us from the shadows, since he steps into the fight before everything turns bad. Though notice that the fight went on longer and he didn’t step in then. Was he waiting to surprise Whopperbedo when it least expects it (risking that his friends might get injured in the prior fight), or was he maybe not so present as we thought? I just find it hard to believe that he would watch the others fight the imposter alone when he could’ve lifted the ruse much earlier. Remember when I brought up fast traversing from event 1? We don’t know what he’s capable of, but we do know he’s capable of that.
What follows is, excuse my language, a shitload of bullshit. I don’t trust a single word he told the others. He dismisses everything that happened on Whopperbedo and Durin, completely ignoring Susbedo. Sure, it makes no sense to bring that up now. The others don’t need to hear it and become suspicious again, but that makes the entire conversation rather insignificant for us. I think there is some truth in it, but it’s very shallow and misleading. That’s why the next scene at the camp is much more important to us, as the ones who know more.
Now, we enter really bizarre territory. Not Albedo’s story of creation, that’s actually interesting and beautiful, but again, what are his motives in confiding in us? Friendship? Because we're "different, too"? And something unrelated to the quest that I’ve been asking myself for a long time: how does Albedo know all that? People have been speculating about his creation for a long time, some thinking he came to being as he currently is, but the Hexenzirkel event hinted an embryo form of Albedo. His constellation hints to an embryo, and people are still trying to say he came to being as a fucking grown-ass man boy. DOUBT. So how does he know of his creation story so well? His Master didn’t even teach him Khemia (according to his character story 5 he taught himself). Maybe he learnt that from her notes as well, but who is to say he actually perceived everything right? Also, wouldn’t that imply that he is probably able to create a human being himself? Different story, but you see where I’m going with this. Albedo’s entire character is very suspicious, and still we’re inclined to trust him, and by him confiding in us, he hammers the nail on the coffin. (PS: Love the slight no one would believe you anyways, like, Albedo doesn’t feel threatened at all)
Then, he brings up the storytelling, which makes this thing even more interesting. We already can’t discern truth from fake, why is he inviting fiction into that? It allows him to tell the bigger story with Susbedo, but mind you, he could’ve done that without all that. For some reason he still fools Paimon, beats me how. But the thing is, this sequence is after the cutscene, I paraphrase, Albedo and Susbedo have met before that scene. And we have zero idea how that meeting went. We know Albedo drew his weapon, and we know Susbedo was watching him. He could’ve watched our entire private talk, meaning he could actually fill in Albedo in the storytelling section.
What if Susbedo was telling the story and not Albedo? Because the quick “don’t worry subject 1 got rid of subject 2” is too fucking suspicious. Also, why would Gold succeed on the first try and then create a faulty subject? I may be stuck on technicalities, but it makes no sense that Albedo would be called subject 1. Even more interesting, he says “I should’ve known, Master’s subject in the dragon’s belly.” Was he there when that happened? And since when did he have his suspicions? This is only the first time he voices them, but maybe he was investigating that much earlier during one of the many times we were separated.
Now, what speaks for Albedo being the storyteller of the scene? I do believe it was Albedo, but I want to think this through evidence-based. First of all, Albedo bluntly joking he’d use Paimon’s story to scare others is very Albedo-like. A bit strange, but I do feel like it resembles his charismatic character. Also, the star-mark, but by this point, I feel it has become insignificant. If Susbedo has really listened in earlier, he knows about our storytelling contest and how the traveler recognized Albedo. He learned of the importance of the birthmark. Albedo says it in his storytelling “[Subject 2] would secretly replace the Subject One of everyone’s memories, and inherit his identity, residence, clothing, sword, name, and friends.” In that sense, in the last part of his plan, he would have everything, and together with the mark, he’d fool us, too. Imo, he has no need to dispose of us if he finds the cheat code to fool us.
Then, Albedo talks about gardening, and that’s important, because he refers to that later as well. What I think of as more important: Albedo tells us to beware of Rhinedottir’s creatures. He tells us to beware of him. When you think about the many occasions where his unpredictability and hidden capabilities show, it’s really important. This could be a moment of self-awareness where he realizes that he maybe doesn’t deserve as much trust as he receives from us, but that’s ultimately what hooks me to the belief that this is our Albedo. His statement mirrors the famous “loosing control” plea from event 1. I have my hunch that this is the true Albedo, but we can’t be certain in this scene. I feel like this is the first scene where we can’t be sure who is who.
That is, imo, why it hits the traveler so hard at the alchemy booth in Mondstadt when they actually realize that, without that mark, they have no clue anymore. Usually, we as the players could trust the traveler to guide us by their skeptical reactions, but here, the traveler doesn’t find clarity. They form theories, just like us, but they don’t know.
So, who ist that in the end scene? Susbedo or Albedo? Before that, let’s dive into the pre-occurring topic: Joserf, Joel’s father. He’s been missing for quite a while, before 1.2. actually, and only returns in 2.3. seemingly out of nowhere. With no memories. It’s very suspicious and has led many to theorize that this is actually Susbedo. What speaks for this theory? > The impostor’s prior interest in Joel (if we acknowledge that Whopperbedo worked under Susbedo’s command and instead of being driven mad by Durin, which, btw, I call bullshit on. You can't blame everything on Durin). > Susbedo’s intent on living a real life.
But what was Albedo’s story then about? And why would Susbedo pose as Albedo up until now? He could pretend to be Joserf from the get-go. I feel like, a lot of that would be much clearer would we know what happened between Albedo and Susbedo – did they fight or talk? Whose idea was it to become Joserf? Also, who knew how to recreate Joserf’s appearance? Probably Albedo, but how did Albedo never find Joserf on Dragonspine? Isn’t he the investigator of Mondstadt? He knows various shortcuts in a cave, but he can’t find one man? If anybody should be able to find a missing person in Dragonspine, it'd be Albedo. The entire Joserf issue throws many questions and inconsistencies into the mixture, so much that I wonder why Hoyoverse even decided to bring it up.
But let’s throw that all aside and assume Susbedo is indeed Joserf. That would mean, he’s got no time to prank the Traveler in Mondstadt, he has a life now. Turning back to Albedo’s appearance would be an unnecessary risk. Not impossible, but what would be his message? To show the traveler that he could still be Albedo? To what end? It just makes no sense, he didn’t hold any animosity when they were talking that one time, why would he want to scare them now? Or feel the need for a power move?
So it’s Albedo alright? Well, why would Albedo leave his camp when he told us he’d have some things to do? Just to prank us? I wouldn’t put it past him actually. And his message? “Beware traveler, if this mark is the only thing that makes you recognize me, you’re on thin ice.” It fits to his prior message to be careful of Rhinedottir’s creatures and Dragonspine. The traveler brushed it off, somewhat, and maybe this is him showing them why this could be a dangerous mistake, even at the cost of making himself suspicious. Could he even hide his mark? Probably. Remember, his capabilities are endless.
What about gardening? Albedo isn’t a gardener, but neither is Susbedo. He’d probably suck so bad as a gardener since he’d be unable to weed out his garden without having an existential crisis. It’s again a metaphor, fitting to their prior conversation. So it must be the same person from before? Probably, but we do know that Susbedo had a very nice spot to overhear everything being said.
Albedo messing with Paimon is probably the strongest indicator of him being the real Albedo, but after everything that has happened, we can’t put our money in it. Also, Albedo could solve her problem if he wanted, but at no point he chooses to do so. Maybe he is working on his pedagogical skills.
The event was meticulously planned so that in the end, no one can say with certainty what happened between the two subjects. If they wanted us to know, they’d let us witness more of their meeting. Instead, they throw at us gardening metaphors, unrealistic (but technically not impossible) homecomings, untasteful pranks, and a whole lot of foreshadowing on Albedo’s and Dragonspine’s future. Why should Dragonspine become inhabitable again? No clue, but think of Simulanka, where they teased Durin’s reawakening. What could happen, if Durin were to actually awaken?
So many questions, so few answers. They probably have something big reserved for Albedo, but his foreshadowing never really makes room to believe it’s something positive. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Do you actually trust Albedo? This has nothing to do with like or dislike, I am a dedicated Albedo main myself and I’d go a very long way to protect him from his dark foreshadowing, but do I trust him? I think you can guess by my theorizing.
