surrealriptide

[surrealriptide]

It feels so weird having a centrist stance (if it can be called so) in most Childe debates. People want him to be just one thing so badly.

I think whatever dichotomy you can come up with he's probably both.

He's a sweet boy and also an abyssal horror, neither part is a mask.

He obviously has cPTSD but also a lot of his behaviours that look like trauma-induced responses are just him, real him. To deal with trauma you have to dig deep enough to find the real you and, well, that's what he found.

He's obviously Abyss-tainted but it's for his goals and seems voluntary and he's very much in control of himself, so can you really say it's not him?

He does need help and acceptance but no way it will make him "normal".

Remember that domain inside Canotila's book? A dog who was a dog and a rifthound at the same time. I think he's that.

#childe #discussion

[surrealriptide]

Breaking news.

Remember the lines character say when you give them food they don't like?

Childe responds that the taste is unexpected and that okay, he'll try one more bite, and in English translation he sounds mildly uncomfortable. It made me think that the boy is too polite for his own good sometimes, which is strange, it's not really like him.

Guess what.

If you listen to Chinese version he is very clearly Accepting A Challenge, it's the same tone with which he says "bring it on"/"come at me" when switching stances in battle.

*facepalm*

I think you can make this guy do anything by telling him he can't do it.

(I once betted with a stranger's 6yo kid that he won't be able to stay quiet the whole 8 hour train ride. he actually managed that)

#now THAT'S my childe #i thought it was an unexpected reaction from him too when the voicelines were revealed #childe

[surrealriptide]

I saw another world

#this is so cool #childe #tonia #teucer #anthon #fanart #blood

[surrealriptide]

Ngl I weirdly love his beta design. He's such an edgelord

#childe #beta childe #fanart

[surrealriptide]

Drown him by tartaglianui

#childe #crack #gif

[surrealriptide]

amen

#felt this #and if you really wanna give him one atleast let him like. be at his worst first #just let him go all out #absolute apeshit #childe #fanart #crack #? #kinda

[surrealriptide]

For brothers

#childe #fanart

[surrealriptide]

have a silly genshin comic about my reaction to this part

this man isn't doing too well i don't think

#childe #comic #fanart #this is hilarious to me #paimon #aether

[surrealriptide]

Look here, ajax

#childe #fanart

[surrealriptide]

I wonder if Childe's "principles" are in fact attempts to break out of his samsara rather than ethical stances ("if you change one thing everything else will collapse like a house of cards").

Previous samsaras included broken promises so he will avoid that to the point it becomes ridiculous.

Hero Ajax was second in his alliance and both Parsifal and that Watatsumi guy seemed like that too, so he'll become the strongest.

(in this case he should also avoid anything romantic as well because that doesn't seem to end well in his samsaras either)

#childe #discussion

[surrealriptide]

spicy take incoming but i kinda wish ppl werent so desperately attached to and protective of this moniker of Great Big Brother 100% Perfect So True And Real when it comes to childe bc honestly. he really isnt (perfect or even that good at times) and to me acknowledging the ways both he and his family (for enabling him) are in some ways kinda just. doing teucer incredibly dirty in the long term but only with the best of intentions in the short term is so much more interesting than just pretending hes a flawless brother?? like it only adds to the drama and irony of it all man like theyre rly so dysfunctional as a family unit its great. even if hoyos likely never exploring that shit in its true depth it still lives rent free in my head for sure lol

like. you rly dont have to turn ajax into some sort of unfeeling uncaring monster of a shit brother to acknowledge that he does, in fact, repeatedly make incredibly reckless and selfish choices during his SQ with teucer and in general by choosing to obstruct the truth of who he is from lil bro so completely?

like this stuff can be nuanced and coexist with his absolutely 100% genuine commitment to protecting teucers bubble of a worldview (and w the theme of childlike dreams and wishes being so prevalent in general who knows what could be cooking w that one in particular) and his loyalty and love for his family without just having to whitewash the dumb shit he does lmao

like just bc hes capable of and willing to face the potentially grave repercussions of absolute bangers (🙄🙄) like teaching an actual fucking child to consider ruin machines fun besties and 100% insta ready to fuck himself up by protecting teucer at the cost of aggravating his still-unhealed injuries from the liyue AQ when dottores abandoned lab turns out to be more lively than expected doesnt. make that choice not a very irresponsible one yall im begging 💀

like. hes the adult here . the entire situation unfolding as dangerously as it does in the factory is Absolutely all on HIM for not being able and/or willing to disappoint teucer by just . Doing the mature thing and sending him away to safety because HES gotten too attached to this idea of being his lil siblings' loyal knight and perfect brother that Always finds a way to surpass the expectations no matter the cost its a role HE wants to keep playing despite the risk

like its So obviously a pride thing for him too and thats so fucking interesting because Of how flawed and questionable the logic is!! like yes he truly cares about teucer and ensuring he has a great unforgettable time during this impromptu escapade in liyue like thats not up to debate but the point im trying to make is that the choices he makes are Still very much intertwined with his ego and overconfidence and not really based all that much on Whats Actually The Best Approach Here. he improvises a way to give teucer the best mr cyclops outing he has ever seen bc HE wants to be the one offering him that experience and ends up biting off a bit more than he can chew and he can only blame himself for that one and This Isnt Fucking Sustainable

like i dont think that makes him evil but i do think it showcases his arrogance and flaws in a very concrete way and is a part of why calling him a perfect brother or at least one without an asterix just. rubs me off wrong lmao

like idk feel free to keep calling him that if its important to u and all if u want idc (and i do to some extent get why this defensive narrative of insisting hes great no issues at all emerged bc i remember 1.1 some ppl acting like hes childcare satan for how he treats teucer lol) but. at least like . Be willing to chip in to fund the therapy teucers going to need for those lifelong trust issues in the future man 💀

Bc Thats The Other Thing. now tonia and anthon i dont consider a part of this bc at least they Know hes in the fatui and hiding the gory details of ur harbinger job from ur baby sibs is like. fair enough and reasonable. but. crafting an Entire different AU version of yourself and feeding it to your baby brother as what constitutes actual reality surely is a choice of all times like ajax ily but genuinely . What the fuck if you were real id throttle you

AND HIS FAMILY ENABLING IT THE ENTIRE TIME ITS CRAZY LIKE. As a person with multiple siblings both older n younger with some similar age gap cohorts involved. God id snitch so fucking fast i dont think ppl rly stop and think much abt how objectively horrifying this shit is from teucers long term pov 😭 in the best way obviously given its fiction like its so scrumptiously awful and dysfunctional .

(& just in general man im just so obsessed with the way ajax 14 basically broke the eggshell of his past life and emerged to rise towards his destiny drowned in the guts and gore of the place and people and community he once called home unconditionally. Bro he fucked that town UP and now his family relations will never ever be the same its so fucking Delicious. those 3 days missing and what followed are just Actually a literal fucking horror movie when you stop blindly stanning our ginger menace, forget ajax' side and take the pov of his family and morepesok in general Why Are People Not Talking About This)

like. its not that i dont understand Why this is sth childe ended up doing as i said Thats The Point. its human. teucer is the only one in the family who wasnt there during that fateful 3 days/months . Like yea anthon and tonia were prolly sheltered from most of the carnage back then too but they still Know where he was sent when he became literally uncontrollable and almost killed the neighbors (everybody & their mom loves demonizing his parents as if his demon spawn ass left them a fucking choice JFEJSJSJSKDKS) . like its at least Known.

but then theres teucer.

And like. teucers the Only one with whom ajax can even pretend to have that delusion (ha) of normalcy and a family that hasnt seen him gaze into the abyss and stare back bloodied and grinning ear to ear . like. hes the only shot childe can have at even playacting some crude imitation of normalcy before Everything and even That comes with an expiration date hes fully aware of. so theres just lies after lies after lies and the fact that even his family just. if not actively partaking in the charade then at least silently allows the entirety of it to happen to teucer whos the Only fucking one out of the loop is just..... dude its not fair on him At All

Misleading teucer THIS much is just. its fucking horrible man but i GET it. thats why its so delicious man i GET it but god its just . imagine being teucer in this situation.... thats his entire fucking World shattered once the truth comes out. Everyone close to him has been lying to him his entire time. They all knew and they let him be misled. Like sure he might be happier Now with ajax dutifully protecting that childhood dream of his but after that. Just. sit on this for a bit. after everything do we Really think teucers just going to understand why it came to be and see it as worth it???? Will he really????

yet at the same time as awfully cruel it all is its just So human!!!!! Its so human of both ajax and his family to use the innocence of the only child that was spared the aftermath of worlds best/worst 3 month abyss training camp to indulge in this flawed false reality where their third son didnt walk into the void and come back hungry for More until only the fatui could take him and even then it only spurred him on further on that path. Like its all an act and a lie and its just. Not fucking fair on teucer but hes still doing it and theyre letting him even tho they Know it wont last theyre all looking teucer in the eye every day and letting him believe like man....

like in both the entire ruin factory sequence And in general hiding the truth from teucer as extensively as childe does hes being incredibly selfish but at the same time its selfishness only rly in the way all people are when it comes to Wanting to be seen a certain way by the ones they love and care about. and thats what makes it so interesting. bc as much as the choices he makes are dubious (or like. this decision makes sense to him. a morally bisexual total omnivore ethics-wise narwhalpilled since 14 who sees exclusively in abyss shrimp colors and acts accordingly) both they and the motivations behind them are also just. So very human ones . as terrible as the implications and eventual inevitable downfall of those choices can (will) be.

like. is it not that much more fascinating to consider all the ways that childe is neither a particularly exemplary nor an egregiously bad brother just one that. Happens to be wired weird in the head and proud and flawed and with a track record of heavily suspect decision-making but that also very much genuinely loves his family man. Like i can love that about him without dismissing the fact that theres parts to how hes treating teucer that 100% can and imo rly should backfire horrifically bc. It really just is that fucked up

hes not a good brother hes Worse AMD better than that and also not alone in this like. his family is an active fucking part of this . But like still . Is he trying his best with his abyss shrimp colored vision ? Yes. Is his love genuine? Absolutely. What are the marks? 3/10 meet me in the office after class mister youre just actually horrible (affectionate) 😭

A perfect brother? Not My Ajax man 🗣🗣 and like theres SO MUCH to explore in that it makes me so sad you just. Never see any of it p much in fanworks bc we all just call him best bro and whatever and thats that like its so sad. this family is terrible horrible awful and no good and they deserve it but also didnt deserve it it was misfortune it was fate it was inevitable . justice for teucer man i need to get him in therapy asap

#this is good #touches on some great topics not a lot of childe stans talk about #gonna respond to this more in detail later #childe #discussion

[surrealriptide]

"he doesn't feel sorry for himself,and neither should the fandom"

👏👏👏👏👏

i think most people who are against the idea of childe having any form of trauma seem to be(in my case) dismissive of it because they either believe the existence of it will butcher his current personality or it will deem it as "fake"

so,let me put this here: having trauma doesn't make you a malfunctioning angst machine.you can have trauma and still thrive to see the good in the things,even if your brain tells you otherwise

In Childe's case,while he is a character who wears 'masks' , doesn't essentially mean everything he's been shown to be is a lie.Afterall,everyone wears masks, it's simply how we adapt.

if the time comes and it is revealed that he does indeed hold that kind of struggle,he doesn't need to be someone entirely new.He can just be both truths at the same time

#this is how i feel when i see pitying all over him because of his backstory/situation #sure i mean i do get why #you're allowed to feel empathy for a character afterall #but when it comes to someone like childe #it has always felt odd to me #discussion #childe

[surrealriptide]

i know he's got his "soft" side, he's not exactly someone with bad intentions and genuinely does choose to do the right thing when he gets the chance.

However i don't appreciate people infantilizing him either. He knows what he is and what's he's working for. Just because he's surrounded by "worse" people doesn't change that.

Also crude mischaracterisation is something that's always going to exist within any kind of fandom, it's the inevitable fate every character's going to face.Worse or not I'm allowed to be frustrated with this kind of interpretation .

genshintok babying the shit out of childe because of arlecchino 's voiceline about him...save me...

also why the hell are people saying that he became a harbinger at 18? where'd that come from? there's no source in the game that indicates that.If arlecchino became a harbinger at 17 and he's stated to be the youngest harbinger in history he must've been 16 atleast when he became one...

#discussion

[surrealriptide]

genshintok babying the shit out of childe because of arlecchino 's voiceline about him...save me...

also why the hell are people saying that he became a harbinger at 18? where'd that come from? there's no source in the game that indicates that.If arlecchino became a harbinger at 17 and he's stated to be the youngest harbinger in history he must've been 16 atleast when he became one...

#childe #rant #arlecchino #genshin #genshin impact #my post #tartaglia

[surrealriptide]

*looks at another discussion about Childe and ethics*

The problem with this guy is that he has no bottom line. His ethics is preferences and suggestions, not a line he won't cross.

He puts an impressive amount of effort into doing the right thing but once he realises his goal can't be achieved with ethical means he expresses his deep regret about the fact and pushes further. With all other means in his disposal, some rather unsavory.

Some would say "children" but no, Liyue has plenty of children, he had no guarantee Morax would save everyone quickly enough.

This is a pretty interesting dynamic, morally grey guys are usually the opposite: they don't care much about ideals or have questionable ideals but there are moments when they stop and say "I won't do this". This one doesn't stop.

And I think a lot of people who demonise him pick up on this trait, even if they don't put it into words.

This also makes his family even more important. If there's anything that can stop this guy it's them.

(I'm also curious about him always keeping his word. his loyalty is to people, not principles, but keeping promises is a bit of both. so maybe he has exactly one principle and that's his bottom line

but then guys in all the previous iterations of his samsara seemed to break their word in one way or another)

Ironically, this is also why he is so idealistic. It's easy when in a critical situation you can just say "well, I'm evil anyway" and push the pesky ideal aside.

(it's not bigotry, he still genuinely believes in everything, he just goes the "oh well, it's an ideal I couldn't uphold because I'm a bad person" route instead of "maybe something is wrong with the ideal")

#childe #discussion

[surrealriptide]

never-ending performance trio

#childe #furina #kaeya #fanart

[surrealriptide]

i think most people who are against the idea of childe having any form of trauma seem to be(in my case) dismissive of it because they either believe the existence of it will butcher his current personality or it will deem it as "fake"

so,let me put this here: having trauma doesn't make you a malfunctioning angst machine.you can have trauma and still thrive to see the good in the things,even if your brain tells you otherwise

In Childe's case,while he is a character who wears 'masks' , doesn't essentially mean everything he's been shown to be is a lie.Afterall,everyone wears masks, it's simply how we adapt.

if the time comes and it is revealed that he does indeed hold that kind of struggle,he doesn't need to be someone entirely new.He can just be both truths at the same time

#character analysis?not really #simply my argument against this kind of claim #felt like writing this because some people tend to have a weird way of treating the topic of mental health #childe #discussion #tartaglia #ajax #genshin #genshin impact #my post