This was on a post about how it's ignorant and privileged to wear headphones in public and I fear its already become a part of my vocabulary. Must everything harbor a moral failure.
Something I love about the idea of Pantalone being the one bringing Dottore back to life it's how it feels as Pantalone paying his biggest "debt" in life and doing a fair exchange.
Zandik saved him, gave him a new opportunity in life, and was the one keeping him alive for centuries. Zandik was the one in "control" of Feofan's life. That's the basis of the power imbalance they have, and something that helps Dottore to be sure that Pantalone couldn't leave him bc he can't believe someone would be with him bc of liking him.
So Feofan bringing him back to life it's literally giving Zandik a new opportunity in life. It's a "you're alive bc of me" that Dottore also would said to Pantalone, but in that scenario, Pantalone could be the one saying it.
And the most interesting part to me about this it's that, with Pantalone "paying" his debt, Dottore would have an irrefutable proof that Pantalone is deciding to be by his side bc he wants to, not bc Dottore has some control over him or bc he is in debt for something. I mean, it was always like that, Pantalone chose to be with Dottore. But in that scenario, Dottore could not doubt about someone liking him, like truly liking him. Bc Pantalone doing that, it would be a manifestation of his feelings, risking so much just to bringing him back.
As Above, So Below: Dottore, the Hanged Man, and V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
Or, Part III of Why I Think Dottore Is Coming Back (Part I, Part II)
Everywhere I look, I see Dottore so, when Qiqi drew The Hanged Man in her Witch’s Revelation, I had thoughts about Barbeloth’s interpretation:
It symbolizes transcendence and waiting, and also detachment from the everyday world.
I want to use the Lunar Arcanum to elaborate on Dottore’s connections to alchemical transcendence.
Specifically, I connect the card to V.I.T.R.I.O.L., an alchemical acronym that translates to visit the interior of the earth and, by rectifying, you will find the hidden stone. By literally and metaphorically surrendering in the heart of the world, Zandik achieves spiritual transcendence, paving the way for his eventual rebirth.
TL;DR
Dottore is narratively and visually linked to the Hanged Man
In Tarot, the Hanged Man represents enlightenment derived from a unique ability to view the world from different perspectives
Upright, the Hanged Man is associated with wisdom, sacrifice, and trials. Reversed, it symbolizes selfishness, apathy ,and stalling
In the Major Arcana, the Hanged Man is associated with the 3 and 4 of alchemy through sulfur (symbolizing fire and the soul)
V.I.T.R.I.O.L. is part of Azoth, the beginning and end of all matter
35 is Omega because he is the end of Dottore and the renewed beginning of a Zandik free of fate
The Hanged Man in the Lunar Arcana
I’m not the first person to point out the connections between Dottore and the Hanged Man Lunar Arcanum. Theories have circulated even before Nod-Krai, but 6.6 made the associations explicit, not only through its narrative themes but also its visual imagery.
As the Exalted Master of the Heretical Path, Dottore destroys the foundations on which he stands at the end of the boss fight. He—along with the Traveler, Wanderer, and Nahida—then tumble through the centre of Irminsul, which mirrors the shape of a broken, inverted tower, just as we see on the card.
We can also read the chains on the card as symbols for the constraints imposed upon him by the fact that he’s a Segment. As he says:
A soul living forever in the past inevitably holds different views than he did in his later years. The same thing that completes me also restricts me.
Barbeloth’s dialogue with Qiqi illustrates that the Hanged Man’s shackles have multiple metaphorical meanings:
Barbeloth: There are shackles that bind you, but you yourself have no desire to break free from them.
Qiqi: Shackles... Do you mean... my orders?
Barbeloth: At least on the surface, you wouldn't be wrong to understand things in such a way.
It’s worth noting that Qiqi, like Dottore, is a split soul. Zibai’s anecdote, The Adeptus Arts, Once More, tells us Qiqi has had her Three Deadly Selves severed, and only one remains in her body. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that characters who have severed their souls into multiple perspectives are associated with the Hanged Man.
The card’s description also fits Dottore’s pursuit of truth:
The path where "strength" is sacrificed for "human wisdom",
Is that of the "Hanged Man" who seeks to glimpse the mysteries of the demonic heavens hanging from the white tree.
Though the intelligence that mortals grasp is flawed,
It cannot be said to be false.
Quite the opposite, for reflected in his inverted eyes,
Is a pure truth illuminated beneath infinite brilliance.
The white tree is, of course, Irminsul. By infiltrating it, Dottore is able to comprehend what the Heavenly Principles have done to Teyvat. He sacrifices his physical body for unprecedented access to knowledge.
The Hanged Man in the Major Arcana
The card’s Major Arcana counterpart depicts a man suspended by his right foot from the World Tree or Tree of Wisdom, the roots of which descend into the underworld while the branches support the heavens. (In Genshin, Irminsul upholds the Heavenly Principles’ fate system.)
While this image sounds a little gruesome, the man’s serene expression demonstrates that he’s there because he wants to be. As such, hanging isn’t punishment or retribution; it’s surrender.
I see your halo and gravity-defying red tails.
In traditional portrayals, the Hanged Man is shown wearing red pants and a blue shirt. Perhaps it’s a stretch, but I wonder if Datattore’s design is meant to allude to this. The Hanged Man also wears a golden halo behind his head which represents enlightenment derived from his unique ability to view the world from a different perspective.
This ability is central to Dottore’s character and, arguably, the source of his power. As he explains in 3.2:
A long time ago, I made a major decision in hopes of preserving all my perspectives of how I observed the world.
Observation is the first step of any experiment, but observing the current world doesn't satisfy me. It lacks an important dimension—that of time.
…
With my abilities, it's only a matter of time until I find better "perspectives."
The search for manifold and better perspectives is foundational to who Dottore is as a character. The game conveys this idea narratively and mechanically. Because the Hanged Man is upside-down on the card, it follows that he’s right-side-up when the card is reversed. Genshin plays with this inversion several times through the Nod-Krai story arc, not only by flipping Dottore but by rotating the camera itself.
The Hanged Man effectively represents those who see the world differently, and we know Dottore is one of a small few who sees the world for what it truly is. He hints at this truth when he presents the Traveler with the scenario of the World-As-Dream, but the Traveler dismisses it as “pure sophistry.”
Of course, I don’t believe we’re supposed to align with the Traveler here. As the game constantly reminds us, it’s the madmen and heretics who understand the truth.
I know Dottore has done some truly messed up shit and I’m not trying to say the ends justify the means, but these descriptions paint him as deeply sympathetic when we think about how intelligence (ahem, especially when one is neurodivergent) has historically been pathologized and scapegoated when it speaks truth to power.
Reading the Card: Other Important Meanings
Beyond perspective, there are a number of other salient interpretations in Tarot readings. Upright, the Hanged Man is associated with wisdom, sacrifice, and difficult trials (also known as a crucible). Reversed, the card symbolizes selfishness, apathy, and stalling.
The Hanged Man contends that sacrifice is necessary for progress. In addition to the obvious sacrifice of his death, I read Dottore’s tendency to play the villain’s part as a personal sacrifice; he is willing to forgo being understood by others in exchange for understanding the world.
Reversed, the Hanged Man also symbolizes stalling as a tactic for suspending action, and Dottore is constantly stalling. In the Moonttore boss fight, he toys with the Traveler & Co., prolonging the fight so that the World Formula can finish calculating because he wants Columbina to become a god (even if no one else recognizes his plan). His 75% HP line is “Good, keep it up. I'm still collecting data.”
In 6.6, he asks Pantalone to stall the Sumeru crew. Pantalone replies with a ludicrously tongue-in-cheek “you’re really asking for the moon here” and proceeds to recount a story about stalling for time by confessing one’s sins before a sentencing.
While stalling can indicate fear or indecision, it can also symbolize wisdom and circumspection. Reversed, the Hanged Man is a catalyst for action upon reflection, a way of planning for transformation.
In summary, the Hanged Man symbolizes enlightenment through surrender with both the upright and reversed cards signifying the need for different perspectives.
Alchemy and the Arcana
Tarot and alchemy have a long, overlapping history, and there are many esoteric interpretations of the Major Arcana. In readings of the Hanged Man, we find two of our favourite Dottore-related numbers, 3 and 4, revealed in the triangle of the man’s arms and the cross of his legs.
Together these shapes form the symbol of sulfur, one of the Tria Prima or three primes. In alchemy, sulfur represents the combustible element (fire) and, by allegorical extension, the soul.
While we lose the shape of this silhouette in the Lunar Arcana, these themes are baked into the associations between the Hanged Man and transcendence, which Barbeloth voices in her reading for Qiqi.
But, in exchange for the 3 and 4 shaped out of the man’s limbs, the Lunar Arcana gives us something even more compelling. If we look closely at the Hanged Man’s shirt, we find a 7-pointed star, a symbol not entirely unlike the esoteric illustration of V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
In my first essay on Dottore and alchemy, I included an illustration of a famous alchemical diagram, a woodcut initially published circa 1613 in a foundational alchemical text titled Azoth by pseudonymous author Basilius Valentinus.
The diagram shows the alchemist surrounded by the 3 prime materials (sulfur/soul, mercury/spirit, salt/body) and the 7 steps of alchemy with the image of the 7-pointed star. In some illustrations, the most downward point is exaggerated as it is on the Hanged Man card.
Each step on the cycle has a word written on it, which gives us the alchemical acronym V.I.T.R.I.O.L.:
Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem
If we translate the Latin text literally, we get:
visit the interior of the earth and, by rectifying, you will find the hidden stone
But we can also arrive at a more nuanced understanding of its spiritual meaning with a few translation notes:
Interiora: in addition to meaning inside, this word can also be translated as viscera—the interior of a person, or their heart
Terrae: means Earth, but it was frequently used as a metaphor for man, an association derived from Hebrew where the word man, Adam, plays on Adamah, meaning earth
Rectificando: most obviously translates as rectify, but it can also mean purify. If we look at the etymological building blocks, we get rèctus (straight) and ficàre (to do), meaning “to make right.”
Invenies: is often translated as find, but the Latin can also mean to obtain, achieve, or arrive at
So, a more metaphorical meaning is:
visit the heart of one’s self and, by making right, you will achieve enlightenment
In the Crucible of Causality, we watch as Dottore is drawn into the flames by his other selves. The video description explains:
Where countless broken souls converge, he shall hear the verdict of his own soul.
V.I.T.R.I.O.L. is an enticement to surrender and look inwards. Dottore takes this call literally when he ventures into the centre of Irminsul, but he also follows it metaphorically when he confronts the judgement of his soul. At the intersection of the two, he can reach enlightenment.
Azoth and the Path back from Dottore to Zandik
I mentioned that V.I.T.R.I.O.L. first appeared in a text called Azoth. But what is azoth?
In alchemy, Azoth is the essential agent of transformation. It is the beginning and the end. It is raw matter and purified output. Paracelsus, our renaissance alchemist buddy who gave us the Tria Prima, believed Azoth was the universal medicine capable of curing all ills. In the Kabbalah (from which Genshin draws extensively), it’s the Ultimate Substance. Azoth is the Universal Solvent and the Elixir of life.
Azoth is alchemy itself.
The word has contested origins with one proposal saying it began as azoc from the Arabic al-zā'būq (meaning mercury). But esoteric interpretations hold that it is be made up of three pairs of letters from the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew alphabets:
A & Z in Latin
Alpha (Α α) & Omega (Ω ω) in Greek
Aleph (א) and Tav in Hebrew (ת)
In all three cases, these letters correspond to the first and last of their respective alphabets where the first symbolizes the initial state of matter and the last corresponds to the completion of transmutation. It’s a tidy alchemical allusion for how, as the ultimate substance, azoth is the beginning and the end of all things.
As is often the case, Genshin is clever in their naming. Dust of Azoth is:
A device that can transmute elemental Ascension Materials.
And so the question of Azoth and names leads me to Omega.
The End Becomes the Beginning; As Above, So Below
Quick recap: alchemical transmutation and the Hanged Man contend that enlightenment requires surrender. In alchemy, transmutation begins with calcination—heating metal over flame. The corresponding metaphor in analytic psychology is that transcendence begins with ego death through the severing of attachment. Or, in Barbeloth’s words detachment from the everyday world. Through surrender, one emerges with a greater understanding of the self and the universe.
While playing through 3.X, I often wondered why the Segment we meet in Sumeru is the Omega build when Omega is the last letter of the alphabet. I would have assumed the Omega build would have been the oldest among the Segments. But, of course, I was being too literal.
35 is Omega because he is the end of Dottore. And, since the end is the beginning, his death will be the catalyst for Zandik’s return. Three years ago, the game told us this specific model would be the final step in Zandik’s transformation. My contention is that it won’t be the selfish Omega soul-fragment who returns but Zandik as the purified whole.
Another foundational alchemical principle is as above, so below, a phrase originating from the Emerald Tablet attributed to—wait for it—Hermes Trismegistus (hi Barbeloth). The idea here is that the universe and the human experience are foils for one another. Change one’s spiritual nature (below) and change the world (above). By extension, change the world (burn Irminsul), and change oneself (purify Zandik and restore him, now freed from the shackles of Fate).
Surrender, Rebirth, and the Cycles of Time
In the Witch’s Revelation quest, Barbeloth says to Qiqi:
As for your future, all you need to do is wait. Of course, it’s not like you lack for time.
Time is a running theme for Dottore. He’s frustrated by his inability to study the dimension of time. He and Pantalone need more time. He tells the Traveler he has all the time in the world in 6.3, but 6.6 is all about time running out. Is it really running out? Or has he found his answer in surrendering to it?
To achieve alchemical transcendence, one has to begin from a place of surrender. In the Major Arcana, the Hanged Man chooses surrender, conducting his energy downward into his illuminated mind. He does not climb the tree. He descends from it.
In the Lunar Arcana, the Hanged Man doesn’t hang at all. He falls.
Dottore falls with intention. With purpose. He shatters the foundation of Irminsul and surrenders to the fall while the Traveler, Wanderer, and Nahida hold onto each other to prevent their descent. Consider, Dottore is already in the flames by the time he reaches up for the Traveler('s power). He’s not there because the Traveler or Nahida put him there. He put himself there. After all, the hands that reach for him are his own.
Dottore’s deaths are deliberate. Moontorre dies so that he can infiltrate Irminsul. Datattore plunges into the heart of the world. Dottore admits to having a hand in Zandik’s death so he could perfect the Elixir for Pantalone. And, of course, he killed his fellow Segments. Sacrifice after sacrifice, surrender after surrender.
And now that he’s in the interior of the earth and can rectify with the other portions of his soul, he can obtain enlightenment and be reborn.
Bonus: Capitano as the Way Out (Maybe???)
One of the theories I’ve been tossing around is that Capitano will eventually pave Dottore’s way out of the Leylines.
Die and be transformed with Christ is the central journey of Christian faith where the crucifixion represents the ultimate form of spiritual transmutation. Sacrifice and resurrection are woven through the Christ story, and Capitano has been set up as this Jesus figure who shepherds souls and sacrifices himself for humanity.
Most clearly, we see this in his Fatui symbol of the three nails, which mystics viewed as a representation of the Holy Trinity and a symbol for the 3 alchemical principles (sulphur/soul, mercury/spirit, salt/body).
Capitano bringing Dottore back would also fit the imperative of the commedia dell’arte where all stock characters must be returned to the stage (alive) by the end of the performance, no matter how dire things look before that.
I've had so many thoughts about 35's long-term goal, and this hits on so many of those points!
As always, I can't help but bring Dottore's Mahayana philosphy into things, because it's clearly such a throughline for the character, but also - like all this alchemy - equal parts deeply spiritual and linked to his ultimate goals both for the world and for himself.
Prajnaparamitopadesa To Quell Seven Calamities was the first direct link we got to Dottore's canonical Buddhist philosophy. In short, the title of his Nod-Krai boss theme means something like "A Prajnaparamita-based proposal on overthrowing the Heavenly Principles' world model" - the "seven calamities" is referencing Hymns Of The Far North's title for the Heavenly Principles, Lord of Seven Calamities. And prajnaparamita is an aspect of the Mahayana branch of Buddhism, specifically outlining the path to becoming a bodhisattva, a world-saviour who foregoes individual ascencion to instead remain in the samsaras of suffering to help liberate others and guide them to Nirvana.
This goal is referred to multiple times in game dialogue and quest titles - throughout him talking with Traveler in Nod-Krai, the Field of Binding Nirvana in Irminsul in 6.6 - there's even the Nirvana Engine of Shouki No Kami, which he also contructed.
Dottore's ultimate goal is to save the world and everyone in it. When he speaks of the world being rotten and decaying, of the new world he will create, of being a creator-god, he isn't boasting - he is stating his truth. He immediately confirms as much when Pantalone asks him directly during their private talk in Surasthana - was your promised new world a lie? No, it never was.
Even his 6.6 boss description speaks of him "being unwilling - or perhaps unable" to liberate the whole world alongside himself.
The lyrics to Prajnaparamitopadesa make it very clear it's the latter. "I alone shall liberate. Rejoice! A new world is born."
Speaking of Omega's introduction scene - the very first thing Dottore does upon our first time meeting him is staging a scenario where the Akasha-hypnotized people of Sumeru lovingly greet "a hero who just saved the world". Ow.
The other aspect of Mahayana, aside from the world-saviour aspect, is the fascinating philosophy of Possibility.
According to the Mahayana philosophy, "all dharmas are devoid of essence". Meaning, simplified, that if nothing we believe to be real is actually defined and true and concrete, if existence and nonexistence are the same, then everything could be anything. This is what he means when he repeatedly talks about the process of experimentation being more important than the result - to never stagnate in fixation on a single goal, but always grasping and shaping that Possibility.
The Madman's Restraint boss drop mentioned above also references that philosphy - "Yet believing that all things, whether they exist or not, can be contained within reason may itself be another form of lunacy. The madman sees through reason's cunning, and in his world, all things are permitted."
Interestingly, you get a lot of Mahayana symbolism and dialogue in the Temple of Space, which we know has a major overlap with Dottore (Segment Domain Tau?). So. 🧐
Dottore's influence on the Hyperborean phantoms spotted 👆
It's also what makes his and Nahida's farewell conversation so bittersweetly final. "Indeed. I can see no further outcomes," he says. No more Possibilities, no more fault tree branches or contingencies - for 35, the one single remaining path is nearing its end.
I wholly believe everything we've seen Dottore do since he first appeared has been (more or less, no matter how meandering) leading up to this point, to the Crucible.
As he tells Pantalone, to be a segment is to be "frozen in time", containing a split shard of soul. Unchanging, unable to change. For someone like Dottore, who rages against all restrictions, how is that different from the shackles of Fate?
Only by smelting all those fragments together in that primal flame can he hope to rise as something whole again - a real person, able to grow, change.
Which gives this exchange a very different meaning. Are they talking about the world? Of course. But also about Dottore.
As the Staff of Homa's lore says:
Those who have passed, unable to bear deep sadness, but who have since become shrouded by ill karma and calamity,
They shall be reduced to ashen butterflies in this flame, and receive relief from their misfortunes and hurts.
As for the doctor who lit those countless flames, legend has it that they, too, were reduced to smoke in the shape of a lovely butterfly.
Though these rites have been forgotten over time and with the coming of peace,
Those with fire in their hearts can still hear these whispered words from flickering flames when they find themselves faced with an imposing darkness:
"Only an unbound flame can purify this world."
"Whole and shining like the moon" Prajnaparamitopadesa describes Dottore's new promised world. And dare I infer, his new, yearned-for made-whole Self.
35 has come here and completed his creation, and he does not regret it.
The most selfish segment, the one most yearning for a self, accepts the price of self-sacrifice and death of self in the hope that something else, something better may rise from the ashes to see the dawn of a world where Fate's shackles have loosened, humanity has taken control of Aaru, Sumeru is united and the Trilune goddess holds authority to rival the Heavens.
Once again @silvysartfulness’s insights and analyses of Dottore and his Mahayana philosophy are unparalleled. Do the ends always justify the means? Certainly not. But, for all Dottore’s talk of selfishness, everything from curing Eleazar to attempting to rewrite Irminsul’s Rules has been part of his relentless pursuit of a world liberated from Fate.
@millionwaters wrote a brilliant theory linking Hroptatyr, Dottore, and Pantalone via narrative and thematic motifs. It’s an excellent analysis, and I highly recommend going to check it out.
When I read it, another piece clicked into place to support the Hanged Man and self-sacrifice theories: the idea that he’s playing Hroptatyr’s part the same way he talks about playing the villain’s part. We see this in how he hangs from the world tree and plucks out his eye(s) the way Odin does in exchange for knowledge. Hroptatyr is, of course, an Old Norse name for Odin.
TL;DR
Dottore gains knowledge by making the same sacrifices as Odin; he is the Hanged Man and the one-eyed monster
Odin makes his sacrifices in exchange for wisdom to try to prevent Ragnarök, the fated end of the world
Dottore may be trying to find a different way to free humanity by burning the shackles of fate in contrast to Fimbulvetr, the everwinter that serves as a prelude to Ragnarök
The rift between Harbinger factions may stem from the opposition between Pierro and Hroptatyr; the Traveler will have to make a choice
Playing Odin’s Part
In Norse mythology, Odin hangs himself from the World Tree for nine days in pursuit of knowledge. In 6.6, Pantalone uploads the remainder of Dottore’s soul into Irminsul, where Dottore then destroys its foundations and follows the path of the Hanged Man in his descent.
In Norse mythology, Odin sacrifices one of his eyes at the Well of Mimir in exchange for learning the hidden truths of the Nine Realms. This sacrifice isn’t unprovoked. Mimir specifically demands his eye as an offering, and Odin plucks it out without hesitation to gain wisdom Interestingly, Mimir’s name is also connected to memory.
In 3.2, meanwhile, Nahida demands Dottore’s Segments in exchange for the Gnosis he has come for. Like Odin, he accepts. But he tells her:
what you request of me is like plucking out the eyes I have placed in the dimension of time.
In Nahida’s fairy tale, the Dottore monster is also portrayed having only one eye. From stripped down models, we also know that, under his mask, Dottore has a faceplate with a single red “eye.”
Odin shows us that knowledge requires self-sacrifice. Odin is also not a universally “good” dude. Pick any section of the Old Norse Prose Edda or Poetic Edda and you’ll find a lot of moral ambiguity. Odin’s heroism comes in part from how he is willing to pay these prices in exchange for knowledge and wisdom as he attempts to prevent the catastrophic, world-ending event of Ragnarök.
Ragnarök or, An Everwinter without Mercy (?)
Ragnarök, also known as the Twilight of the Gods, is a series of foretold events that culminate in the world burning and then being submerged in water, after which a new, purified world can rise and be rebuilt.
The prelude to Ragnarök is Fimbulvetr, a succession of three harsh winters with no summer in between. In other words, the everwinter is a harbinger of the end of the world. Pun intended.
From early leaks, we heard the Harbingers occupy different factions. I believe the original language was conservative vs. radical (eyeing Pantalone’s remark about Dottore in 6.6). Perhaps these factions map onto different approaches to the end of the world.
One leads to Ragnarök, the fated end, the cycle of destruction and rebirth that Teyvat appears to be stuck in. The other is the reworking of the existing world—not by burning and drowning but by burning the fate that chains the world to its cycles. This path is liberation.
In the Transcendence Trailer, citizens begin to protest Project Stuzha, potentially the prelude to Ragnarök. When they do, Childe and Sandrone seem surprised (they both gasp), but Arlecchino doesn’t seem shocked in the least. Her eyes slide to the side, presumably to glance at Pantalone, who appears quite pleased.
My suspicion is that Pantalone may have played a role in this apparent revolt as the ongoing executor of Dottore’s will. As such, I’m starting to suspect Dottore isn’t as aligned with Pierro as I initially assumed.
Mikhail, our Fatui NPC gossip stationed above the Mondstadt crafting bench tells us that Project Stuzha is being led by Pierro and Pulcinella. He refers to it as “Her Majesty the Tsaritsa’s great endeavor.”
Could it be that Dottore and Pantalone are opposing Pierro and the Tsaritsa to seek out an alternative to Ragnarök that, rather than perpetuating the endless cycles of the world’s destruction and rebirth, goes to the source and eradicates Fate itself? Pierro and Hroptatyr were opposed during the Cataclysm, and Ragnarök is a fated end. Destroy Fate, and maybe the story can be rewritten.
Wild speculation, but if the Traveler is meant to go through this journey to find out how to stop the cycle, who better than Dottore to show him how this might be possible? It would be a great way to turn years of assumptions on their head; where Dottore has been portrayed as the most selfish, he is aligned with a deeply self-sacrificing philosophy.
All of this to say that both @silvysartfulness and @millionwaters have cemented my belief that the game has set Dottore up to be redeemed not only on the level of the individual (e.g. the return of a purified Zandik) but on the level of the world.
Heck, this theory could also help explain the red-eyed lizards as Dottore crafting more eyes in space and time, since one of Odin’s ravens is often referred to as his eyes.
(And again please go read millionwaters’s theory because there are so many insights there I suspect we’ll see a lot of those themes soon)
On Pantalone, Dottore, and their Longing for Different Parts of Each Other
Still thinking too hard about the 6.6 Archon Quest and Anomalous Tree Marrows, so here’s an unhinged essay on the breathtaking tragedy of Pantalone and Dottore.
TLDR version
Pantalone insists that Dottore is Zandik because any alternative would be viscerally intolerable. He has to believe that some part of Zandik still persists within Dottore or else he has spent the better part of three centuries with his partner’s murderer
35 is the most selfish version of Dottore because he is Zandik immediately after he met Feofan, the manifestation of the moment he experiences what it means to be known, seen, and valued for his worldviews. In other words, he is Zandik once he knows what it’s like to have something to lose
Their final scene in front of Irminsul is an acknowledgement that they are out of time—literally and symbolically. Dottore will die and Pantalone will eventually follow, yes. But they are also out of each other’s time, each longing for different versions of the other
(No, I’m not okay, but let’s do this)
Let me preface this by acknowledging that my reading is informed by the fact that I ship them. I’ve been writing them as lovers since A Winter Night’s Lazzo came out, based solely on a familiarity with the Commedia dell’arte, a degree in identifying queer subtext, and a dream that Hoyo most definitely fulfilled. But the game is not being subtle here. Even if you don’t see their partnership as romantic, it is, at the very least, queerplatonic.
Regardless of how you interpret their relationship, the game makes it clear that Pantalone is the most significant person in Dottore’s life, more significant to Dottore than Dottore himself. Dottore’s primary record—his first memory in a game where memory is tantamount to life and identity—is a meticulously kept catalogue of every time his many selves saved and extended Pantalone’s life. It is Anomalous Tree Marrow I on purpose because Pantalone’s survival is written into every part of Zandik’s soul, down to the 8 year old who scolds Pantalone for misplacing his glasses. Forget the bickering Segments, forget the god-making, world-changing experiments—Pantalone’s safety, survival, and even comfort (looking at you, Alpaca wool) comes first.
I hardly have words for how incomprehensibly tragic they are.
Feofan spent 50 years with Zandik, the notoriously unsympathetic scientist who had already cauterized his compassion by the time of their first meeting. This is the heretic who preferred to view humans as test subjects and machines rather than leave himself open to more rejection than what he had already experienced.
This guy sets his eyes on Pantalone and immediately wants to keep him forever. Zandik fell hard enough for Test Subject 3 after a single meeting that he not only decided to refrain from experimenting on him, but went and learned his name, put in a good word with Pierro, and spent the rest of his life (and death!!!) guaranteeing Feofan's continued existence. This is U-hauling to the nth degree.
Now for some quick math: Pantalone is 72 years old when Zandik dies on his 85th birthday, meaning it was a 33-year-old Zandik who first met a 20-year-old Pantalone.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the 35-year-old Segment is the one who sees himself as the most selfish. He’s the closest to the 33-year-old Zandik who only needed one encounter with this nameless, injured, smooth-talking test subject before saying: “this one is mine. I’m keeping him. Not just until I get bored. Not just until I need a new test subject. Forever.” And this means that 35 is the first version of Zandik who sees himself as having something to lose. This is the Zandik who experienced a desire to keep Pantalone at his side for the rest of time. And also the Dottore who is still in the throes of NRE lol.
Prior to their in-game appearance, I headcannoned Pantalone as avaricious and possessive based on the Moment of Cessation artifact description. I still think he is in some respects, but Dottore definitely has him beat when it comes to sheer obsessive devotion.
If Dottore is the Segment who is closest—temporally speaking—to the moment in which he found a genuine partner whose views and values align with his own, then it doesn’t seem surprising that he would be the one most threatened by Zandik’s existence. Again, his selfishness is the same selfishness that made Zandik want to keep Pantalone in the first place. His envy is that of knowing what it is like for someone to look at him and not see a monster for the first time, and it makes him monstrous. Dottore might not have actively killed Zandik, but the Anomalous Tree Marrow III certainly makes it seem as though he, at the very least, persuaded the other Segments to agree to a DNR should Zandik end up in critical condition:
The fact that he often refers to his fellow Segments as “me” and “myself” makes me think he’s talking about getting the other Segments onto his side here rather than to Zandik, who he often describes as being somewhat apart from himselves.
I think it’s important to note that Dottore recognizes how Pantalone’s immortality cannot be guaranteed until Zandik dies. Zandik is the missing ingredient and Dottore understands this much. His willingness to let Zandik die can be partly attributed to his own selfishness and desire to supplant the original in all ways (including as Pantalone’s partner). But, regardless of intent, it also succeeds in ensuring Pantalone’s immortality, which has to be a fairly bitter pill for the latter to swallow.
Although Pantalone plays off the fact that he was unsettled by Zandik’s death and dissection (interjecting with “I never said that” when Dottore calls him on his past reaction during story time), it is abundantly clear that Pantalone experiences a potent emotional response every time one or more Zandik dies.
In the medical logs, for instance, Dottore makes a “joke” about developing antidepressants for Pantalone. But, given the timing and the fact that there had been no prior indication that Pantalone suffered from depression, one can easily assume that Pantalone is grieving and Dottore is being an envious asshole about it. (“Unsettled” also feels like a very Dottore way to describe someone suffering the grief of losing their partner of 50 years).
Similarly, when Dottore eradicates the rest of the Segments, he pithily describes Pantalone as behaving like “little more than a decorative vase” at the Harbinger meeting, which again comes across as a rather cold way of telling us that Pantalone is dissociating to cope with the grief of losing five more versions of Zandik—aspects he had, by then, lived with for four centuries. Ouch.
(At least Dottore thinks he’s pretty.)
Pantalone never shares his emotions with us players directly—his feelings are always focalized through Dottore’s mocking asides about Pantalone’s behaviors—but that honestly makes me think that Pantalone was even more distraught than what the text tells us. If even Dottore is making flippant comments that speak to him picking up on Pantalone’s distress, then it has to be pretty bad.
Partners, at the End, Even Still
And so Pantalone’s ongoing decision to maintain his partnership with Dottore is utterly excruciating on multiple levels. There is, of course, the fact that it dooms them both to death—Dottore immediately (big asterisk here because I don’t think he’s dead for good but that’s another essay) and Pantalone once the Elixir runs out and old age finally catches up to him. But the emotional registers beneath all this are, in my mind, even more devastating.
Dottore is all Pantalone has left of Zandik. And yet Dottore is also the reason that he’s all Pantalone has left of Zandik.
When Pantalone follows Dottore and stands at his side, he is standing beside his partner and his partner’s murderer at the same time. The only way Pantalone can reckon with the abject tragedy of this fact is by holding onto the belief that Dottore is Zandik and Zandik is Dottore and that he will always be part of him.
Feofan and Zandik had 50 years where they (presumably) continued to learn, grow, and evolve together. Dottore is fixed in time at 35, but Pantalone is mentally fixed in time at 72, the year Zandik died, after which 35 perfected the Elixir so that it would pause physical and mental aging.
When Dottore explains that the other Segments had erased his “uniqueness,” he talks about how “a soul living forever in the past inevitably holds different views than he did in his later years,” acknowledging that he’s imprisoned by the moment of his own creation. The fact that he immediately pivots to then focus on Pantalone’s preservation is important because it reminds us that Pantalone is also frozen in time. He says:
There are a lot of ways we can read these lines. On the surface, we can simply read it as expository information to give the player some background on Pantalone—it definitely is that for sure. We can also read it as an example of Dottore’s callousness, how he casually brings up Pantalone being trafficked.
But I think there’s another layer, too. It’s an example of how Dottore still latches onto the Pantalone that Zandik met at 33. And this isn’t the first time in the conversation that Dottore demonstrates how fixed his perspective is. Nearly four centuries have gone by and yet he still thinks the reason Pantalone is helping him is because he spared him as a test subject. Pantalone has already had to remind Dottore that he ascended to the rank of Harbinger on his own merit and that he isn’t there because of some quid pro quo from centuries ago. Rather, he sees their values and goals as fundamentally aligned. Pantalone is there for Zandik because he still sees Dottore as Zandik.
And so, when given the opportunity to say his final farewell, Pantalone says goodbye to Zandik. Despite the literal words he speaks, I don’t think he’s actually asking what 35 prefers to be called. He already knows that 35 sees himself as Dottore from their prior conversation. What Pantalone is really asking is who he can say goodbye to in this moment, at the end, when they are finally free from fate itself. After the enormous personal sacrifices Pantalone has made, Dottore gives Pantalone the choice to see him as Zandik. And how heartbreaking is it that Pantalone does even though, by this point, it is Dottore who has spent some 330 years with Pantalone—centuries more than Pantalone had ever experienced with Zandik.
It is, as far as final acts go, surprisingly selfless of Dottore to recognize what it means for Pantalone to see him that way, even though he himself despises being forever tied to Zandik. It is especially surprising coming from the Segment who wholeheartedly embraces his own greed and repeatedly proclaims himself to be the most selfish of them all. So much for not being able to change!
For me, their greatest tragedy is the fact that they are out of time from one another, asynchronous, yearning for each other in different forms and ages. Dottore is forever looking for the Feofan he met at 33; he sees their present relationship as contractually predicated on saving Feofan in the past. Pantalone, frozen at 72, looks for the remnants of the man who shared his worldviews in the most selfish version of Dottore.
The beautifully doomed romance of it all is that Pantalone isn’t in love with Dottore; he’s in love with the idea that Dottore is still Zandik. The mercy of their final scene is the acknowledgement that they’re yearning for different pieces of the whole and, to me, the recognition that takes place in this exchange feels like a final act of forgiveness.
was just getting my face painted by a kid at a face paint booth and while they were painting a snake on my cheek they said "you're like the stillest person i've ever painted" and i love getting complimented so much i will hold onto this forever. got a good grade in getting my face painted. no one is doing it like i am. do you think you're stiller than me? i have to laugh.
i don’t want to be angry anymore i’m never going to hate again unless someone says something really stupid or if i see something i don’t like at all or maybe just whenever i feel like it
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