#may be coincidence but it's interesting to me so that's the narrative i will form in my own head

[i-sneezed]

But my question is, how is Gwyn's presence in the bonus chapter *not* meant to be a red herring?

Az and Gwyn getting together would be a huge deviation from the setup Az has with Elain in the actual books. SJM isn't going to completely change the direction of the plot in a bonus chapter the majority of readers won't see. That simply doesn't make any sense.

Seriously, when has a bonus chapter ever had an effect on the direction of the plot? Their whole purpose is to fill in some gaps/give extra context/offer some fluff.

I would also like to point out the similarities between Nesta's thoughts/feelings towards Gwyn in SF and Azriel's in the bonus chapter.

"The priestess drew up to her full height, which was slightly taller than average for Fae females. A crackling sort of energy buzzed around her, and Nesta's power grumbled in answer." - ACOSF ch. 9

"Azriel entered the warmth of the stairwell, and as he descended, he could have sworn a faint, beautiful singing followed him. Could have sworn his shadows sang in answer." - Az BC

"She honestly didn't know why she wished to see Gwyn." - ACOSF ch. 14

"A bell rang seven times somewhere nearby. (...) Gwyn sang, a faint glow seeming to radiate from her. (...) She'd never heard such music. Like a spell, a dream given form. (...) Something beckoned in Gwyn's song, in a way the others' hadn't. Like Gwyn was calling only to her, her voice full of sunshine and joy and unshakeable determination." - ACOSF ch. 52

"Instead, he found himself at the library beneath the House of Wind, standing before Clotho as the clock chimed seven in the evening. (...) Something sparked in Azriel's chest. (...) For whatever reason, he could see it." - Az BC

THIS is why so many Elriels think that the bonus chapter doesn't set up another couple, but instead gives more weight to the lightsinger theory.

There are too many similarities between how Nest and Azriel both react to Gwyn for this to be a coincidence.

And the fact that Azriel gets to the library at 7, which is when Gwyn sings (singing being the source of her power), it explains why he has these strong but seemingly inexplicable reactions. It's not a mating bond, it's Gwyn's lightsinging.

(However, I do want to add that I don't think this is being done purposefully on Gwyn's part.)

It makes way more sense narratively for the bonus chapter to make it look like Az may have another love interest when, in actuality, it's giving more evidence of another character's power, something already heavily hinted at in the main story.

You simply cannot convince me that there is any romantic tension between Az and Gwyn when the two don't even exchange any words until 80% of the way through ACOSF and she showed no interest in him romantically. And we are not going to see that tension for the first time in a bonus chapter that most people won't read.

#acotar #azriel #sjm #bonus chapter #pro elriel #gwyneth berdara #anti gwynriel #elain x azriel #elriel

[iridescentscarecrow]

by you talking about makima being an abusive mother i assume you're referring to eli's excellent post about CSM's association with motherhood. please do check it out if you haven't, it's been rotting away in my brain for a while and the Chainsaw Man as a birthing device is something i'll bring up in this response.

this is a really intriguing line of inquiry, and an interesting way to think of kishibe; so i'll attempt to assimilate my thoughts on how he's positioned in this answer. this will be quite long so do bear with me:

i've talked about how Family as a concept bleeds into part two from part one. in p1, makima forms for denji a Family, and in p2, denji is handed this motherhood over nayuta.

makima as the Mother is kept and collared by the state. and thinking of chainsaw man in terms of its reproductive power can be extended to its literal reproduction of the narrative. myth and memory form themselves through regurgitation, and the CSM cuts away this chain of reproduction when it eats entire concepts. when it makes people forget. there's an already apparent connection to the Womb (makima // nayuta // denji) but the selectivity in narrative-reproduction is why its central to makima and kishibe's conflict. the war against the mother who exerts control over the child.

because kishibe is the Masculine: he teaches makima and in turn makima entrusts denji and power to him,,, he narratively affirms denji's wondering if he's still able to feel, whether he shouldn't feel sadder at himeno's death by telling us, the audience, that the best devil hunters are those who "have a few screws loose." we're painted this image of denji as a feral incomprehensible Crazy thing, but this isn't true even at this phase of the story. he mourns pochita, he empathises with power's grief at losing meowy. [there's an intriguing line of thought where you compare denji with aki along this vein too, if you think about it].

and that's why the movie date with makima is actually the effective closing of this arc -- her telling denji that he does have a heart subverts kishibe's rhetoric, and what the story tells us denji is. this is makima in her role as mama, the mother, the love that she feels and recieves and creates. incidentally, the chaotic agent that kishibe envisions coincides with makima's idealisation of the chainsaw man, apart from the part where she's expressedly affectionate towards it. and who has she been raised by except these (masculine) institutions? who taught her how and what to want?

aside but "that's a lie." // he sees makima and recognises her machinations at one level but he's never really understood her or her need for love. she tells him that she wants to save people (and this may or may not be true) but he can't really parse that, can he? and kishibe also structures and contextualises so much of the story for us, just like what makima does: what i already said about denji's chaotic self, him narrating reze's past, etc. he's an independent source of information.

because yeah: kishibe is ruthless. and people often bring up kishibe's relationship with quanxi but i don't often see them balance her "ignorance is bliss" vs. kishibe's need to have a few screws loose. we know as the audience about how quanxi actively shuts herself off, but kishibe keeps talking about leaning into this devil hunter nature. and what i think is decipherable from this dynamic is that quanxi, or at least what kishibe sees her as, is kishibe's ideal. tbh she's actually a Symbol for various different ideals, her habitation and display of her sexuality alongside her Ignorance is denji's ultimate form! and kishibe trains denji... [aside but this is why cosmo being her gf is so interesting to me. something something woman who thinks ignorance is bliss x devil who embodies the Horrors of Knowing]

kishibe blindfolding himself after her death is him transposing that ignorance onto himself. he doesn't want to see a thing -- and that's where you see that dissonance. it's not that he's beyond caring, it's how blind he is in how he does this caring.

and kishibe strains against this, he wants to cut away his relationships as contrasted with makima (and even denji) wanting to form them. and this is why makima cutting off kishibe's last tie to quanxi is so interesting because you remember: quanxi didn't accept his deal.

you have kishibe pining after quanxi and yet she's not sexually available to him, so he further isolates himself. and the forming and breaking of relationships comes back here so vividly --

aki's and power's deaths form the CSM out of denji. it's crazy and unpredictable but it doesn't challenge makima, does it? // "attacks don't work against her."

and when all is said and done, denji tells him it's love. loove. denji's the one who explains makima to kishibe. they're sitting at the bench and denji's petting the dogs while nyako, the willingly domesticated animal, twirls itself around kishibe... and kishibe handles the cat with such affection. denji tells him it's love so what does he do except hand nayuta to him??

thank you for the ask, anon!

#kishibe as fatherhood... kishibe as the expected masculine... father figures for denji are dead behind a closed door -> #ignorance is bliss and kishibe is his mentor... #crow.asks #csm #umm. also a fic rec but nerve ape by hassoutoby on ao3 does kishibe's character very well. please read it #csm meta #kishibe #chainsaw man #csm kishibe #makima #denji #quanxi #crow.txt

[luxerays]

Everything in Fontaine has been a Fatui plot: or, an analysis of the 4.0 archon quest and speculation for 4.1 and the rest of Fontaine

In celebration of the end of Lyney's banner and the start of Tartaglia's rerun, here's a dissertation on the Fatui presence in Fontaine.

Spoilers for the 4.0 archon quest, and minor spoilers for the Narzissenkreuz world quest. Doesn't include any information from leaks beyond 4.0.

The 4.0 archon quest left us with a lot of unanswered questions, chief of which (for me) centered around the second trial and Tartaglia's role in the plot. Underlying all of those questions is the question of the greater narrative, that is: what are the Fatui doing in Fontaine? In attempting to pick out clues and hints that could answer those questions, there seemed to be an overwhelming knot of coincidences, and potential solutions to the questions seemed to form a complete picture if a certain assumption was made. The speculation and theories within stem from this.

This post became enormous [~30k!], so I created a Google Doc version of this post with all of the information. I recommend reading it there, as it allows for better navigation (jumping around), better formatting, and has some visuals. This is posted in one format or another on tumblr and r/Genshin_Lore. Feel free to post elsewhere with credit.

I'll put only the TL;DR of each section and the main conclusions here; all the details and evidence will be below the cut.

The Fatui, Fontaine, and performance. Performances and trials are nearly one and the same in Fontaine. There's an implication that the Fatui are creating a performance in Fontaine, potentially both through controlling the overarching narrative/plot, and also through controlling trials. There is a focus on misdirection and hiding what's really going on in order to achieve these goals.

What are the Fatui doing in Fontaine? There's at least two Fatui factions in Fontaine that may be working together, in parallel, or at odds with each other. Potential Fatui interests in Fontaine include: (1) learning about the Oratrice, (2) retrieving the Hydro Gnosis, (3) saving Fontaine from the prophecy, and (4) destabilizing the Fontainian justice system. We don't know why Tartaglia's in Fontaine.

Lyney & Lynette's magic show and the first trial. Lyney and co. have demonstrated that they will use a performance as a front for other goals with the magic show. The second "performance" in the archon quest (the first trial) fits the criteria that Lyney lays out in the Final Feast trailer as to how to control a performance: controlling the time, place, and people, so it is possible that the trial was a ploy. The first trial being a Fatui ploy allows for the Fatui to (1) present evidence that the prophecy is real through the introduction of the dissolving water, and draw the public's attention to that reality to help their goal of saving Fontaine, (2) shake some of the trust in Furina as an arbiter of justice, (3) investigate how the Oratrice works in as close to a controlled environment as possible, and (4) bring more attention to the serial disappearances case while keeping the Fatui out of the list of potential culprits.

Tartaglia & the second trial. We aren't told who accused Tartaglia. Given that it's important that we don't know this information, the Fatui are the best fit to have accused Tartaglia. Their motivation in doing so would be to get Tartaglia sent to the Fortress of Meropide. The Fortress is of interest to the Fatui because of (1) the information network present there as a den and community of criminals, (2) its connection to and potential information about the Oratrice, (3) potential abyssal connections, and (4) potential connections to pre-Celestial civilizations. There is also the implication that it needs to be Tartaglia that is sent there, due to his unique background. It's possible that the second trial was a Fatui ploy, as the Fatui would be able to control the time, place, and most people involved. There is also little risk for the Fatui if staging the trial and getting Tartaglia sent to the Fortress fails. We can also speculate that the Fatui had enough information to know or guess that Tartaglia would be determined guilty by the Oratrice due to his unique properties. Setting up the second trial as an outcome of the first also allows the Fatui to (1) learn more about how the Oratrice works and (2) destabilize faith in the justice system by creating an unprecedented discrepancy in verdict between public and Iudex opinion and that of the Oratrice.

Who's in on it? Tartaglia. It seems likely that Tartaglia is aware of his role in the Fatui plot, and has orders to be sent to the Fortress of Meropide. The imagery and details of his fight "performance" on the opera house main stage seem to hint that it was a ploy. The fact that Tartaglia gave the Traveler his vision - and expects to take it back - means that there's a reason that he needs to not have a vision within the narrative, and there's evidence to support that the reason is that he intends to put on an authentic "performance" without his vision, as laid out in Lyney's voicelines. There are many parallels between our interactions with Tartaglia in Fontaine and those in Liyue, where he used the Traveler for his goals, and deflected from his true motives with honesty about other topics. Tartaglia also has personal motivation to be sent to the Fortress of Meropide, in alignment with the Fatui's goals. Tartaglia being aware of his role and the plot strengthens the claim that the second trial was a ploy, as it allows the Fatui more control of the circumstances.

Who's in on it? Lyney and co. It's likely Lyney is aware of at least part of the Fatui plot, though Lynette, Freminet, and the other kids may not be. Lyney planted the magic show ticket on Liliane in Romaritime Harbor. A higher-up in Marcel's Sinthe organization is working with/for the Fatui, informing on Marcel and Navia. On orders from the Fatui, this individual gave Cowell orders to dissolve and abduct a girl at the magic show by tampering with the seat selector, and to tamper with the tank to hide the evidence; they also gave Vaughn orders to plant the water in Lyney's effects in an attempt to frame the Fatui for the serial disappearances. In this way, the Fatui could fully control the events of the magic show and first trial, and set up the stage for the second.

Conclusions. Everything was a Fatui plot: the Fatui are the scriptwriters and directors of the performance that is the Fontaine archon quest. If you think those claims are too far-fetched, Fatui involvement can be removed piecemeal and the overall motivations, actions, and events still hold up.

Speculation on 4.1 and beyond. We'll see Tartaglia carry out his mission at the Fortress of Meropide, with the goal of gaining information on (1) how the Oratrice works, (2) the abyss, (3) Hyperborea or other pre-Celestial civilizations, or (4) the Primordial Sea and its water. The magic pockets will be important in the future, and their function will be demonstrated. In every nation besides Mondstadt, the events of the archon quest led to a change in the status quo of government. In Fontaine, this will be a destruction or restructuring of the justice system, possibly led by Neuvillette or Furina.

Table of Contents

I. The Fatui, Fontaine, and performance

Performances & trials

Magic

Section I TL;DR

II. What are the Fatui doing in Fontaine?

What do the Fatui say they are doing in Fontaine?

What other evidence do we have for what the Fatui might be doing in Fontaine?

Section II TL;DR

III. Lyney & Lynette's magic show and the first trial

Was the first trial a ploy?

Fatui motivations for the first trial to be a ploy

Section III TL:DR

IV. Tartaglia & the second trial

Who accused Tartaglia?

The Fortress of Meropide

Was the second trial a ploy?

The Oratrice & Tartaglia's conviction

Revisiting motivations to control the first trial

Section IV TL;DR

V. Who's in on it?

Tartaglia

Why did Tartaglia give the Traveler his vision?

Section V Tartaglia TL;DR

Lyney and co.

Liliane

Cowell & Vaughn

Vacher/Marcel

Section V Lyney and co. TL;DR

VI. Conclusions

VII. Speculation on 4.1 and beyond

Afterword

I. The Fatui, Fontaine, and performance

In this section, we're going to take a step back from the events of the archon quest, and look at the setup of the Fontaine narrative as a whole, and some relevant themes that are prevalent within.

Performances & trials

Let's start with the trailer Overture: The Final Feast. In the trailer, we have the following narration from Lyney and Arlecchino:

Lyney: The essence of magic is getting people to believe a lie Lyney: And the most important part of this is what people see Lyney: People don't realize how much they expect their eyes to tell them the truth Lyney: But what you see is not real. It's all a show Lyney: And every part of the show is carefully controlled Lynette: Controlled how? Lyney: By choosing the right time, the right place... Lyney: And the right people Lyney: Whoever controls these three, controls everything Lyney: But keep your eyes peeled, and you might be able to turn things to your advantage Lyney: In a nutshell, magic is what you see with your own two eyes Arlecchino: Very fun. But it's not enough Arlecchino: Let me make something clear. You think of yourselves as "magicians" Arlecchino: But when you're on the stage, you're first and foremost actors Arlecchino: Good actors hone their craft to mesmerize the whole crowd

Along with the visuals, the trailer seems like it may be alluding to a greater plan behind the scenes from the Fatui - the Hearth and Arlecchino specifically. To speculate, it would seem to imply the Fatui being behind the scenes of the plot of Fontaine, and making use of misdirection and illusions to distract the "audience" - the people of Fontaine (as well as us).

It'd be remiss not to mention here the Fatui Harbinger naming scheme itself being from the Commedia dell'Arte - which already implies a meta-sense of the awareness of narratives and performances, and "playing" certain "roles". This performing seems to be intrinsic thematically to the Fatui as an organization, whether you think of the naming scheme as a Watsonian or Doylist thing.

Moving on specifically to the justice system in Fontaine, there's been an emphasis on trials in Fontaine being plays or shows - spectacles and performances.

The Opera Epiclese is where performances (opera, orchestra, etc.) are held, and also where trials are held - this is a very clear conflation of performances and trials. In addition, the visuals of the opera house interior themselves are a mix of a typical opera house (stage, seating, balcony/suite seating), a courtroom (raised judge's seat in the center, balconies on each side for the prosecution and defense), and a guillotine.

There are also a number of lines from characters and NPCs that mention the close relationship between performances and trials in Fontaine. A few select ones:

From Furina, at the beginning of the archon quest in Romaritime Harbor:

Furina: Amusing. Very amusing, Lyney. Just the sort of unexpected twist that I enjoy. With you here, today's performance can finally be called complete. Paimon: Performance? You see all this as a performance? Furina: In which case, consider the matter of your trial resolved. The god of justice will not bring charges against an innocent person.

From Lyney, shortly afterwards:

Lyney: When there are no public trials being held, the opera house hosts a variety of other performances. To the people of Fontaine, the line between a trial and a performance can be a little blurred...

From Navia, who asks us our opinion on this practice:

Navia: In your opinion, do you think it's right to treat a trial like it's an opera?

And from NPCs as well. Here are two lines from Potier, for example:

Potier: Ah, if only the day would come when I can perform at the opera house — uh, not in the sense of standing trial, though. [...] Potier: Don't worry, don't worry. I have principles and sense — and more importantly, I don't want to perform a "trial-standing show" at the opera house.

It seems to be clear that trials and performances are nearly one and the same in Fontaine. Now, looking again at these three lines from Lyney in the Final Feast trailer in particular:

Lyney: And every part of the show is carefully controlled Lynette: Controlled how? Lyney: By choosing the right time, the right place... Lyney: And the right people

If we think of trials as "shows" as mentioned in Potier's lines, then what Lyney is saying here is that the trials can be (and potentially are) controlled by choosing the time, place, and people on trial. Here we then have the possible implication that the Fatui are controlling (specific) trials. Tying this with the rest of the trailer, we are able to speculate on two levels of Fatui plotting: a scheme behind the entire narrative of Fontaine, and a scheme behind specific trials.

Magic

Magic is also a common theme throughout the first parts of the archon quest. It naturally appears as a major theme where Lyney appears, so: in the Final Feast trailer, as well as being the main narrative point of the first part of the archon quest. From a narrative perspective, this is a deliberate choice, as is using Lyney and Lynette as the main characters in the first part of the archon quest - we can therefore place importance on magic as a theme.

There are quite a few interesting lines we have from major players in the quest about magic. Selected lines below:

From Neuvillette during the magic show:

Neuvillette: To appreciate magic, you should focus on the show happening on stage rather than getting caught up in trying to see that which has been intentionally hidden.

From Furina during the first trial:

Furina: Magic tricks are ultimately just illusions and misdirection... but Halsey's disappearance is very real. We're talking about two completely different things.

From Lyney back at the beginning of the archon quest:

Lyney: Magicians and thieves practice similar methods. We divert attention, and a distracted audience is one that won't discover what you're really doing.

And from Lyney's character stories:

Magic is a lie. Nothing but evasion, deception, and trickery. Even a single illusion requires a series of lies to pull off. To put on a whole magic show, you must win the audience's trust by weaving a seamless facade of ruses and ploys

Some commonalities between these quotes appear: an emphasis on magic relying on illusions and misdirection, and distracting the audience. There is also the presence of "intentionally hidden" elements that are crucial to the magic working - or, what is "really happening".

The relevance of these points is twofold: within the bounds of the Fatui's schemes, we may expect Lyney and co. (and potentially Arlecchino) to make use of these principles to distract the public from their goals. On a meta level, we can expect the narrative in Fontaine to make use of illusions and misdirection, and attempt to distract us (as the audience) from what is really happening. We should pay special attention to any gaps where there may be hidden elements that give hints towards what is really happening. Moving forward, we will take this approach to analyze what may be occurring with regards to the Fatui in Fontaine.

Section I TL;DR: Performances and trials are nearly one and the same in Fontaine. There's an implication that the Fatui are creating a performance in Fontaine, potentially both through controlling the overarching narrative/plot, and also through controlling trials. There is a focus on misdirection and hiding what's really going on in order to achieve these goals.

II. What are the Fatui doing in Fontaine?

In the first part of the archon quest, we encounter the Fatui in two separate instances: with Lyney and Lynette, who are part of the House of the Hearth, and with Tartaglia. In this section, we'll investigate what they claim to be doing in Fontaine, and speculate on unstated motivations.

What do the Fatui say they are doing in Fontaine?

The House of the Hearth. In the first part of the archon quest, Lyney tells the traveler that the Fatui are interested in learning more about the Oratrice.

Lyney: We've been trying to find out how the Oratrice operates. We want to know why it has a consciousness? Why can it deliver sentences accurately?

Later, he mentions the Knave's motivations:

Lyney: She has gained permission from the Tsaritsa to first use the Gnosis' power once she obtains it. She plans to use it to find a way to break the prophecy and save Fontaine. Paimon: So she believes in that prophecy too? Lyney: That's right. The whole House of the Hearth is currently working to combat that crisis.

Tartaglia. Tartaglia never clearly says what he's doing in Fontaine. We first meet him when he's acting as a collector for Northland Bank, but he never mentions this work as his reason for being there, and Paimon dismisses this as a reason out of hand. His responses to Paimon's direct inquiries about his reason for being in Fontaine are as follows:

Paimon: We're surprised to see you too! What are you doing here in Fontaine? You didn't want to stay in Snezhnaya? Traveler: We sure seem to have run into a lot of friends today. / Fontaine really is a curious place. Childe: Haha! Long story short, I've already been in Fontaine for some time now, and honestly, things have been pretty boring.

And the second inquiry, after his vision malfunction:

Paimon: So what are you doing in Fontaine, Childe? And don't say it's work for Northland Bank! Childe: Well... I guess it's because I've been in a bad mood lately. Paimon: Huh? What kind of reason is that? Wait, since when do you feel down about anything? Childe: Haha, I dunno... Maybe I still have a lot to learn about myself.

He deflects and doesn't answer the question at all. This is such a blatant deflection that it's difficult to call it "misdirection", but it does fall under that umbrella. Rather than answer the question and tell us what he's "really doing", Tartaglia misdirects the Traveler and Paimon (and the player) by talking about being in a bad mood, a rising power within him, and his experiences in the abyss. No doubt this information will be plot relevant later, but it also serves to distract us from that initial question - instead of investigating his motivations for being in Fontaine, we are more interested in this new information. It's therefore likely that his goals in Fontaine are important to understand what's going on with the performance of the Fatui in Fontaine.

So far, we have the following stated motivations for the Fatui in Fontaine: (1) learning about the Oratrice, (2) retrieving the Hydro Gnosis, and (3) saving Fontaine from the prophecy. All three of these motivations are from the House of the Hearth faction (Lyney, Lynette, Arlecchino, potentially Freminet) - we don't know why Tartaglia's there.

What other evidence do we have for what the Fatui might be doing in Fontaine?

There's a group of three kids near the café and the House of the Hearth in the Court of Fontaine having a discussion that is clearly a veiled reference to the current Fatui situation, and works well as a high-level framework for viewing the Fatui presence in Fontaine.

Estella: The hearth in your home has been burning brightly lately, I see. Olivier: And the balances in yours have been working hard, haven't they? Manet: My hearth is strong, and the firewood, sufficient. As for the balances, I don't need 'em. It's not like I'll miss those one or two pieces of vegetables at the market, anyway. Estella: ... Estella: You'd best be careful. If the flames leap onto the opera house carpet, they'll put your hearth out while fighting the fires. Olivier: Ooh, very scary. But can you guarantee that the opera house would survive said flames? Manet: Nah, the fire in my house won't reach the opera house. It's way too far away! Olivier: ... Estella: ...So, have those flames been staying put? Olivier: Hmph. Why don't you guess? Estella: I'm not doing that. Just tell me. Manet: I bet they're behaving themselves instead. Where can they go, anyway? Olivier: ... Estella: ...

It's vague enough that it's difficult to get a clear idea of the meaning or how it relates to the Fatui plot in Fontaine. However, there are a few points that we can pull from this that may help speculation.

The House of the Hearth ("hearth") and the Northland Bank ("balances") are both working in Fontaine. The involvement of the House of the Hearth was already clearly demonstrated with Lyney and Lynette and their trial. We also knew that a branch of the Northland Bank exists in Fontaine (if you haven't found it, it's just past the alchemy table in the Court of Fontaine). In the plot, these two institutions are already clearly represented by characters: the Hearth by Lyney and Lynette, and the bank by Tartaglia. In our first meeting with Tartaglia in Fontaine, he introduces himself to the Confrerie of Cabriere as an agent of Northland Bank rather than specifically his role as a Harbinger.

There may be two or three Fatui presences working in parallel or at odds with each other. We have the House of the Hearth and the Northland Bank as two major Fatui institutions. Manet, in the above conversation aligned with the Hearth, seems not to need or want the help of the bank, and there seems to be a level of compartmentalization of information between the two institutions, as the kids are asking each other about their plans. There's three kids in this conversation: Olivier has a hearth, Estella has the balances, and Manet seems to also have a hearth. It's hard to draw a clear conclusion on the importance of this: Olivier and Manet may or may not be referring to the same "hearth", or they might be, but have different interpretations of how to "use" the hearth. So these institutions may be working towards the same goal in different ways, or may be working towards different goals.

There's an implication that if the Opera Epiclese is aware of or involved with the Hearth's plans, they may begin to target the Hearth. Olivier implies the Opera targeting them may be in their plans, which may be to "destroy" the opera house (likely metaphorically):

Olivier: Ooh, very scary. But can you guarantee that the opera house would survive said flames?

This statement reads pretty clearly as a veiled threat of an institutional suicide play: The opera house (Fontaine justice system, Furina, and Neuvilette) may suppress and prosecute the Hearth while attempting to react to the "flames" (chaos, lack of faith in the system, children of the Hearth, etc.) that the Hearth set, but the Opera may not survive that endeavor. Destroying the Opera could take the form of shaking the people of Fontaine's faith in the Opera (and Oratrice) as a system of justice, and undermining its power.

The flames could also refer to Lyney, as a pyro-aligned member of the Hearth who, as part of the archon quest, has a performance on the opera house carpet (stage).

As a bit of slightly more baseless speculation, the "flames leap[ing] onto the opera house carpet" mentioned here could also refer to Tartaglia, who's linked closely with chaos and discord when mentioning the Fatui. Relevant quotes from Tartaglia's character stories below:

As the Harbingers' vanguard, Childe always appears in the vulnerable underbellies of Snezhnaya's enemy states, striking as a conflict is about to erupt. On the other hand, because they fret about the way his quarrelsome personality tends to invite unwanted trouble, the other Harbingers constantly try to get him sent on missions to places as far from Snezhnaya as possible, so that they can avoid the fallout. Shocked by Ajax's great strength and curious about how he invariably became the eye of a vortex of discord, Pulcinella inducted Ajax into the Fatui [...]

Later in the archon quest, Tartaglia quite literally "leaps onto the opera house carpet" at the end of a trial.

The reference in the kids' conversation seems to clearly refer to the Hearth's flames, of which Tartaglia is not. Manet mentions his House's flames won't reach the opera. However, Olivier and Estella continue the conversation, and seem to be referring to some unruly flames that Manet thinks have been behaving - when we later meet Tartaglia, he mentions that the bank told him not to beat up clients, and he's generally been following that direction. So it is a possibility that the flames refer to him, however slim it may be. Picking apart the details of this conversation is ultimately not too important in the grand scheme of things.

What would destabilizing the justice system do for the Fatui? There's many potential reasons that a nation might want to destabilize another, but we don't have a clear specific reason. Perhaps it's sowing chaos as a way to get to a larger goal, like the Gnosis, or perhaps it's a trial run for turning people away from their faith in the gods. (Wild speculation: "Epiclese'' comes from "epiclesis", referring to invoking the gods. So if the Tsaritsa and Fatui are truly working up to a rebellion against the gods (Celestia) or the like, destroying the opera house which is named after ritual invocation of the gods is apt.) In addition, the Oratrice is said to collect the power of Indemnitium through the people's belief in the justice system, and use this to power Fontaine. If the people's belief in justice in Fontaine was shaken, this power would also wane.

Regardless, the Fatui have been shown to deliberately destabilize other nations before (see: Inazuma's civil war).

So now we have added a potential fourth motivation for the Fatui in Fontaine: "destroying" the Opera house as an institution.

Section II TL;DR: There's at least two Fatui factions in Fontaine that may be working together, in parallel, or at odds with each other. Potential Fatui interests in Fontaine include: (1) learning about the Oratrice, (2) retrieving the Hydro Gnosis, (3) saving Fontaine from the prophecy, and (4) destabilizing the Fontainian justice system. We don't know why Tartaglia's in Fontaine.

III. Lyney & Lynette's magic show and the first trial

In this section we'll discuss Lyney and Lynette's magic show and the ensuing trial, and investigate the possibility that the trial was a ploy.

To begin with, let's discuss the magic show.

Lyney and Lynette clearly state that the magic show was a guise to investigate the Oratrice.

Lyney: We've been trying to find out how the Oratrice operates. We want to know why it has a consciousness? Why can it deliver sentences accurately? Lyney: During our investigations, we learned that the machine's core is beneath it. Lyney: From that moment on, Lynette and I have been designing this box-swap trick, with the objective of getting close to the core. Paimon: Is that why you needed a whole minute? Lyney: That's right. In truth, the audience would take about seventy-five seconds to count down from sixty, while I would only need fifteen to get to the opposite box. Lyney: So after jumping into the tunnel, I accessed the opera house basement via the vent and went to investigate the room in which the core is stored. Lynette: That air vent was created during the construction of the tunnel specifically to execute this step.

So here we have it both outright stated and demonstrated that the Fatui will put on a performance (magic show) to hide their real motivations and goals.

Was the first trial a ploy?

Earlier, we mentioned that performances and trials in Fontaine are nearly the same thing. We also mentioned that there is the possible implication that the Fatui are controlling trials by choosing the time, place, and people.

Thinking now once again of trials as a performance, we should investigate if the second "performance" in this part of the archon quest (the trial) was also a guise to hide the Fatui's real motivations.

For the first trial in the archon quest, if we apply this claim, we can see that the Fatui do have the ability to control all three of these factors of the trial.

Place: this is easily controlled, as all trials are held in the opera house. In addition, the crime itself happens during a planned performance at the opera house.

Time: part of this is easily controlled. The crime itself, if it was a ploy, was in a controlled environment: in the opera house during a planned performance, in front of witnesses to make the details of the case clear. The shaky part of the claim here is to assume that the trial would immediately happen following the crime. We don't have too much information on the speed at which trials occur after a crime happens and one is accused. However, to speculate: setting up the crime to occur in front of the archon and and audience in a blatant and shocking way, it could be expected that someone would at least accuse Lyney of the crime and a trial would occur. Because the crime occurred in such a spectacular way (ie, a fun performance), and with the knowledge of Furina's character we have so far, the Fatui may have been able to predict or plan for the trial to occur quickly. Navia mentions that Furina jumping to accuse a someone and kicking off a trial is "not uncommon":

Navia: Furina sure was quick to point the finger at Lyney without any decisive evidence whatsoever, wasn't she? Navia: But that's not uncommon for her. If you remember, the Justice had to interrupt her and ask if she was pressing charges just to keep her from getting carried away. Navia: Anyway, a trial begins the moment someone levels charges. And of course, there was no way Furina was going to back down in that situation.

So the timing of the trial could have been within their expected planning. On the other hand, it's possible that the exact timing of the trial is not important - if it was pushed off for a while, then their plans could accommodate.

People: This is where it seems like there's too many coincidences to ignore. We'll go through each major player in situation.

Lyney & Lynette. They're explicitly agents of the House of the Hearth, and so are totally within the Fatui's control.

Cowell. Within the magic troupe, he's Lyney's subordinate, and therefore on some level answers to him. On the other hand, the outcome of the two trials posits to us that he is a subordinate of Vacher/Marcel and was responsible in part for attempting to frame Lyney and the Fatui for the disappearances. Conveniently, he's dead, so we can't confirm his role.

Neuvillette. He has a seat in the opera house audience that is reserved for him. Lyney mentions he reserved a seat for the Traveler, so he has some insight into the seating arrangements. It's therefore possible that the Fatui could know that he was going to attend the magic show. It's clear that many others have reserved seats as well, so it's possible for the Fatui to know some of the people attending the show.

Lyney: Allow me to introduce you to Fontaine's Chief Justice [Iudex]. That seat is always reserved for him. It wouldn't be too much to say that he's the symbol of justice and honesty here in Fontaine. Paimon: Whoa! Sorry for being so rude just now. Paimon had no idea you were such an important person... Neuvillette: No offense taken. Being Chief Justice [Iudex] is merely what I do for work. Nearly every person has their usual reserved seat, so I am not so special, really.

Furina. The Fatui knew Furina would be present at the magic show, as she mentioned attending earlier in the archon quest.

Furina: I look forward to seeing your upcoming performance at the opera house, Mister Lyney and Miss Lynette.

Traveler. The Traveler is invited to the magic show directly by Lyney, and the specific seat they sit in is also reserved by Lyney.

Lyney: The opera house has assigned seating, so you always have to make reservations. I've already reserved your seats, and here are your tickets.

Here I would also like to mention that it's clear that someone is keeping tabs on the Traveler's movements. At the very beginning of the archon quest in Caravan Ribat, we see a man dressed in the Fontainian style watch our conversation with Dehya, and then run off in the direction of Fontaine once the Traveler says where they're headed next. Who exactly this man is or works for hasn't been made clear yet, but our spectacular welcome in Romaritime Harbor from both the Fatui and the archon means that either could be possibilities. Furina says she could tell, as a god, when we stepped foot into Fontaine, though we don't know if her claim is true. Regardless, there's evidence someone is keeping tabs on us, and if one person has that information, it's likely others do as well.

This is relevant because of the Traveler's role as Lyney's defense attorney - it's not too out of left field to posit that the Fatui planned for that role for us when the steps are laid out: we are welcomed to Fontaine by Fatui agents, invited to their magic show, and requested to act as a defense attorney - in this the Traveler is being moved into the right positions for their role.

Liliane (Halsey). From what we are told explicitly during the archon quest, Liliane isn't beholden to the Fatui, and is instead a thief from Mondstadt who happened to steal a ticket for the show and impersonate the person who was supposed to attend. Liliane is also the thief that appears at the beginning of the archon quest, chased by the Traveler, Lyney and Lynette, and who manages to avoid Lyney and Lynette but leaves the stolen items behind with them. The seat she was sitting in was deliberately chosen as the volunteer for the performance. All of this is a suspicious coincidence, but we'll discuss it more later when we discuss who might be aware of the scheme. For now, we will only propose that it's possible Liliane is in contact with the Fatui, and it's possible that she isn't.

Navia. She doesn't seem to have any outright connections to the Fatui, and we don't have evidence as to whether she has a reserved seat at the opera house. We also don't know if she was planned for by the Fatui or not. The only interesting connection we have here is that of her connection to Vacher/Marcel. We'll bring this up again when we discuss the second trial, and who might be in on the plot in more detail.

Vaughn. From what's stated in the archon quest, Vaughn was hired to frame the Fatui (Lyney in particular) for the serial disappearances case, and was working as Cowell's accomplice. From the second trial, it appears that his boss is also Vacher/Marcel. However, he also conveniently dies just before he can name his boss outright:

Vaughn: I—I was just following orders! Vaughn: We were supposed to place blame for the serial disappearances onto Lyney and thus cause suspicion to fall on the Fatui. The higher-ups said that this was the best opportunity to do so. Neuvillette: And now that your plan has fallen through, and the secrets of the Water have been revealed, you have become a liability to said higher-ups, yes? Neuvillette: Therefore, you would be wise to tell everything you know and seek the protection of the Gardes. Vaughn: Y—Yes! I'll tell you everything I know! Vaughn: Our boss discovered that the Water can cause people to dissolve. Vaughn: It can also be made into a potion which, when extremely diluted, can cause people to experience unforgettable exhilaration. Vaughn: We've been in this business for a while now and have made decent Mora off it. The disappearances were also the boss' idea. I mean, this is the boss we're talking about, the—

It's possible we don't get to hear him name his boss so that we can go through the second trial and discover Vacher/Marcel, but there is also the slim possibility that his boss is someone else.

Marcel. He was present at this trial, which becomes a key point in determining him the culprit in the second trial. As to his relationship to the Fatui, the only pieces of information we have are (1) that he's Snezhnayan, and (2) that he runs the Confrerie of Cabriere, which owes money to the Northland Bank. Marcel being Snezhnayan does not necessarily mean he's part of the Fatui. However, in the player's mind, Snezhnaya and the Fatui are inextricably intertwined, and Marcel mentioning that he's Snezhnayan is a flag to make us think of the Fatui. From a narrative perspective, Marcel does not necessarily need to be Snezhnayan for his motivation to be behind the disappearances to work - he only needs to be from somewhere other than Fontaine. Therefore, the fact that he's Snezhnayan is a deliberate choice. Once again, we will discuss this more later - for now, we will only propose that there is a possible connection we can draw between Marcel and the Fatui.

In summary, the people present at the trial can be grouped into a few categories based on their connection to the Fatui.

People the Fatui have full control over: Lyney, Lynette

People the Fatui knew would be at the show and trial: Furina, Neuvillette, Traveler

People that have a tentative connection to the Fatui: Cowell, Liliane, Marcel

People connected to Marcel: Vaughn, Cowell, Navia

Here we can see that the Fatui have a hand in controlling most of the people present at the show and trial, mostly fulfilling our third condition for controlling the "show".

We can investigate the reasoning for these people to be present at the show given the claim the trial was a Fatui ploy. Lyney, Lynette, Liliane, Cowell, and Vaughn were all essential for the crime to occur and the trial to reach its conclusion. Furina and Neuvillette were necessary to move from the discovery of a crime directly to a trial. We previously discussed how it was possible the Fatui could predict Furina would quickly accuse Lyney and begin a trial once the crime occurred based on her known behavior; Neuvillette is necessary as Iudex to preside over the trial. The Traveler was explicitly invited to the show, and was deliberately asked to act as a defense attorney by Lyney. Only Navia and Marcel seem not to have reasoning behind their presence at the show and trial from the Fatui perspective. We will come back to this when we discuss the second trial and the impact of each of the two trials on our understanding of the other, at which point this reasoning may be stronger.

One last point here is the Traveler's stated thoughts in the archon quest just after Lyney is exposed as a Fatui member:

Traveler: (There's no doubt about a magician's ability to con others. Given how Lyney has concealed his identity, this could all have been set up beforehand.) Traveler: (Plus Childe is here in Fontaine along with other House operatives, there must be some scheme at work here.) Traveler: (I've been a victim of such schemes before, and now...)

The Traveler's thoughts when laid out like this are often a summary and explanation of what's been going on in the quest for the player's benefit, or are used to influence the player's feelings about the events in the quests. Here the Traveler explicitly lays out that it's possible that "this" could have been set up beforehand. We tend to immediately connect "this" to the crime itself, since that's what's being discussed at the trial, but in combination with the second line - that there's some scheme at work - "this" could also refer to the the trial as a whole. We'll come back to this quote again later, but here we will simply use this as another piece of evidence that it's possible the trial could have been a setup.

A note here: for the most part, this trial being a setup relies on the idea that either (1) Lyney (and co.) are aware that the trial's a setup and are working to that end, or (2) that Cowell, Vaughn, and/or Marcel are working to ensure the trial's a setup at the cost of their own lives or freedom for the Fatui's interests, or both. We have briefly mentioned a few reasons why these things are possibilities throughout this section, but we will discuss the viability of this in depth in the later section "V. Who's in on it?".

In summary, the trial (as a performance) mostly fits the criteria Lyney mentions in the Overture trailer as needed to control a performance - having control of the time, place, and people involved - so we can propose that this performance (the first trial) could also have been controlled by the Fatui.

Fatui motivations for the first trial to be a ploy

We have now laid out how there exists the possibility that the first trial was a ploy by the Fatui. However, we are missing a major piece that would give weight to this claim: what reason do the Fatui have to set this up as a farcical trial?

To answer this questions, we should look at two dimensions: (1) what the trial caused in terms of outcomes, and (2) the Fatui's motivations in Fontaine we laid out earlier.

Let's first look at the trial and its outcomes and effects.

The serial disappearances case was brought to the forefront of the public's mind.

Water from the Primordial Sea was introduced as something that exists, and that is able to dissolve Fontainian people.

The proceedings of the first trial imply the Fatui were not the culprits behind the serial disappearances, as a Fatui member was tried and found innocent, with someone else framing the Fatui for the crime.

The proceedings also may lead to immediate interest in finding the mastermind behind the case, who ordered subordinates to publicly disappear a girl and frame the Fatui for the crime.

Furina falsely accused an innocent person.

We'll come back to these in a moment.

The possible Fatui motivations we listed before are as follows: (1) learning about the Oratrice, (2) retrieving the Hydro Gnosis, (3) saving Fontaine from the prophecy, and (4) destabilizing the Fontainian justice system.

The magic show, as previously stated, was a front in order to learn more about the Oratrice.

During the trial, Lyney explains why the magic show was a guise, and talks about their interest in the Oratrice as a way of helping save Fontaine.

Lyney: [...] [Arlecchino] plans to use it to find a way to break the prophecy and save Fontaine. Paimon: So she believes in that prophecy too? Lyney: That's right. The whole House of the Hearth is currently working to combat that crisis.

After the trial, Lyney also explains himself and the goals of those allied with him at the Hearth, talking about how they are all Fontainian and want to save their homeland. Paimon's response to him is illuminating:

Paimon: So from small deeds like distributing Magic Pockets to huge schemes like stealing a Gnosis, everything is aimed at dealing with that prophecy...

In combination with the outcomes of the trial we listed above, we can explain that controlling the first trial could help contribute to that main goal of combatting the prophesized crisis.

To do so, let's first look at the details of the prophecy, as Lyney states them early in the archon quest:

Lyney: It says that every person in Fontaine is born with "sin." No matter how the Nation of Justice holds trial after trial, this sin cannot be absolved. Lyney: Until one day, the water levels in Fontaine will rise, and the sinful people will slowly be drowned... Lyney: In the end, the people will all be dissolved into the waters, and only the Hydro Archon will remain, weeping on her throne... Only then will the sins of the people of Fontaine be washed away.

Lyney then goes on to explain the current state of Fontaine in relation to the prophecy:

Lyney: But, here in Fontaine, evidence is what matters. There hasn't been concrete evidence for any of these claims, so they can only be regarded as conjecture. Paimon: If even the people in Fontaine don't know what sin they committed, wouldn't it be better just to ignore the prophecy completely? Why bother feeling guilty all the time? Lyney: That's exactly what the people did at first. But... in the last few years, the water levels in Fontaine have actually started rising.

We then discuss the prophecy with a few NPCs around the harbor. They have differing opinions on the validity of the prophecy. Lyney and the Traveler summarize the opinions afterwards:

Lyney: Oh? You already handed out all of the Magic Pockets? That was fast. So, what did people have to say? I bet you heard some, ah, interesting opinions... Traveler: No kidding... / Many are quite stubborn. Lyney: Yes, but that will change once disaster strikes. I know they'll change their minds, so it's only right to help them prepare.

The pieces of the puzzle we have so far:

We have the two core harbingers of doom the prophecy lays out: rising sea water, and the sinful people (people from Fontaine, in the context of the prophecy) being drowned and dissolving.

Lyney and Lynette mention that there's evidence for the first part of the prophecy: water levels have been rising and places are becoming submerged. However, at the beginning of the archon quest when this conversation takes place, there's not evidence that people will drown and dissolve.

The opinions of the public are divided, and many don't believe in the prophecy or preparing for it.

The Hearth may be interested in swaying the public with regards to the prophecy, as then their actions to "save Fontaine" would have support, which may enable them to take more drastic actions openly, and make their job easier, as the public would align themselves with the ostensibly benevolent institution aiming to help save them. If the Hearth is interested in getting public opinion on their side with regards to the prophecy, then it's clear that they need to provide evidence for the second part of the prophecy: dissolving into water.

The trial introduced the concept of Water from the Primordial Sea; or water that can dissolve Fontainians. The water's existence as the "murder weapon" for a high-profile case - the serial disappearances of young women - brings it to the forefront of the public's discussion, and frames it in a way where it's clear the water is a scary, dangerous thing (rather than framing it as something miraculous like a divine power, etc.). To top it all off, during the trial Vaughn dies in a very dramatic dissolution on the main stage of the opera house - a guaranteed conversation starter for the public. So with the first trial, evidence for the second part of the prophecy now exists.

Reactions of the audience at the trial show that this may be working to change public opinion:

Audience : Wait a moment, this reminds me of a certain prophecy. But... it's just a coincidence, isn't it?

This is also discussed offhand in the second part of the archon quest:

Navia: I'm sure you've heard about what happened at the opera house? Someone got turned into water right in front of us... Florent: Yeah, I've heard... With something that dramatic, I'm sure journalists will milk it for all its worth, and it'll be all the talk for the next several weeks.

Even Neuvillette addresses this at the very end of the archon quest:

Neuvillette: Yes, up to the present, I think we reached a point where we have no choice but to confront this prophecy directly. [...] Neuvillette: Two parts of the prophecy have already proven correct: the rising sea levels, and the ability of the people of Fontaine to be dissolved. We should be more vigilant, and stay on the watch for further signs.

At the very least, the trial has successfully made the prophecy a major topic of conversation and focus for the public.

Going back to the principles of magic and misdirection that Lyney laid out for us, we may also speculate that this focus on the prophecy could be drawing audience (public) attention to hide other motivations and goals for the Fatui in Fontaine. A focus on a prophetic doom would allow cover for dealings that might otherwise draw public attention. What those specific interests might be is speculation at this point, but may be interesting to keep in mind as the archon quest progresses.

Looking at the other effects of the trial, we can point to the fact that Furina falsely accused a person determined to be innocent by the Oratrice in a high-profile trial.

Although it's unlikely that this is the only time she has been wrong, we don't have evidence either way. However, in such a high-profile trial, to be wrong, and "embarrassed", as Silver puts it during the second trial, is an important incident.

Navia: Why do I feel like Furina's acting a little differently today? Silver: Maybe she's scared of embarrassing herself again? Melus: Alternatively, she's become more diligent after charging an innocent citizen in the last trial.

As one of the Fatui motivations we proposed is to destabilize the Fontainian justice system, showing the archon publicly being wrong about a charge and trial may help towards that end.

As an aside with more baseless speculation, if the Fatui are investigating the Oratrice and how it makes decisions, it makes sense to control a trial in as many ways as possible so that they may see how the Oratrice judges the outcome. Think of controlling variables in a science experiment.

The final set of effects from the first trial all have to do with the serial disappearances case - bringing it to the forefront, and rousing up interest in seeing justice done. There is the caveat that the Fatui are also easily written off as culprits, as they have been determined to be victims of an attempted framing during the first trial (i.e. the public is thinking: why would they frame themselves?).

Why would they want to bring attention to this case? To address this question, we'll have to discuss the second trial, which we do in the next section. Afterwards, we'll come back and take a look at this first trial again.

Section III TL;DR: Lyney and co. have demonstrated that they will use a performance as a front for other goals with the magic show. The second "performance" in the archon quest (the first trial) fits the criteria that Lyney lays out in the Final Feast trailer as to how to control a performance: controlling the time, place, and people, so it is possible that the trial was a ploy. The first trial being a Fatui ploy allows for the Fatui to (1) present evidence that the prophecy is real through the introduction of the dissolving water, and draw the public's attention to that reality to help their goal of saving Fontaine, (2) shake some of the trust in Furina as an arbiter of justice, (3) investigate how the Oratrice works in as close to a controlled environment as possible, and (4) bring more attention to the serial disappearances case while keeping the Fatui out of the list of potential culprits.

IV. Tartaglia & the second trial

In this section, we'll look at some outstanding questions we may have about the second trial in the archon quest, and investigate the claim that this trial was (also) a setup, including potential motivations. We'll then look at how any conclusions drawn here may affect the conclusions drawn about the first trial.

Who accused Tartaglia?

Let's start with when we first learn that a second trial is happening:

Thierry: Yeah, news came from Erinnyes just after you left! We've got another trial on our hands! Navia: Wasn't that place built specifically for holding trials? What's so newsworthy about this one? Thierry: I know, I know, but they said the person they're putting on trial is a Fatui Harbinger called Tartaglia! Traveler: Wait, Childe!? Navia: What? Is that someone you know? Paimon: Yeah, we know him, maybe even a little too well... Thierry: Well, he's been accused of being the true culprit behind the serial disappearances case. It's absurd, don't you think? Navia: Wait, how? None of our investigations have had anything to do with him. Thierry: That's what I thought was strange about it... So I came to tell you the news right away.

From there, the Traveler starts discussing with Navia about how to gain evidence and stall the trial so that Marcel can be charged and judged instead.

What stands out here is actually a lack of information: who accused Tartaglia (and why)? We don't gain any information on this topic during the events of the trial either. As we deliberately aren't given any information on this, we can propose that knowing these details are important pieces of information to understand what's going on.

A reminder: in Fontaine, it seems anyone can level charges against someone, and then prove them guilty in the trial that immediately begins:

Navia: Anyway, a trial begins the moment someone levels charges.

There are a few possibilities that come to mind as people with motivation to accuse Tartaglia:

Marcel

Furina

The Fatui

Someone else?

We'll skip the idea that it's someone else, as there's not any evidence for it so it's difficult to do more than speculate.

Marcel. We hear that Tartaglia's been accused soon after we talk to Marcel with Navia about Callas' case (and the fact that we're investigating it again). Accusing Tartaglia may have been a way for Marcel to get an easy scapegoat for his own crimes, as to help ensure he isn't found out as the culprit. It seems pretty immediate after we speak with Marcel that Tartaglia's accused. Likely if it was him, he contacted some other person to do the actual accusing as it doesn't seem possible he could get to the opera and accuse Tartaglia that quickly (also so that he's not drawn into the trial). When Marcel has been exposed during the trial, nobody ever brings up that he accused Tartaglia, which probably means that either he didn't accuse Tartaglia, or someone did so on his behalf. He may have hoped or expected that without any other evidence, the poor reputation of the Fatui and Harbinger Tartaglia would do the heavy lifting in declaring him guilty, or we can baselessly speculate that he would have attempted to frame Tartaglia as Cowell and Vaughn failed to do to Lyney earlier (allegedly on Marcel's orders). However, this fails to take into account any risks of accusing Tartaglia: what if he is successfully declared innocent? What if he's declared guilty, but the Fatui decide to pursue the case heavily as they believe he's innocent? Both of these could easily expose Marcel. In addition, there has just been a failure to frame the Fatui for the same crime - would he try it again so soon? It's possible that Marcel was so spooked by Navia planning to investigate Callas' murder again that he went ahead recklessly with the plan, to stave off the inevitable. He does have a bit of a breakdown at the end of the trial, so he is in at least some emotional turmoil, but there's not clear evidence to this end. From a narrative perspective, if it was Marcel or a proxy who accused Tartaglia, it would have made sense to let us know that information, as Marcel's arc is basically wrapped up with his death. There's no reason to withhold that information afterwards.

Furina. The main motivation Furina might have is to make up for her failure in Lyney's trial, and to show the strength and ability of Fontaine's justice to capture criminals in a case that's only becoming more and more high-profile. Throughout Tartaglia's portion of the trial, we don't see who the prosecution is (besides potentially Furina). In the only other trial we've seen, we were the defendant, and Furina both the person who leveled charges and the prosecutor. In the Marcel portion of the trial, Navia levels charges on Marcel rather than Tartaglia, and Navia acts as the prosecutor (along with the Traveler) for Marcel's trial. So the straightforward answer might be that Furina leveled the charges, because we only see her acting as prosecution. However, we don't know that it's a given that the person who accuses must act as the prosecution - Furina may have decided to take on that role in this case for entertainment, or to make up for the previous false accusations. Additionally, we don't actually see much of the prosecution of Tartaglia, so it's possible that there's someone else there to act as such. Furina also doesn't have a clear reason to accuse Tartaglia in particular as far as we know - just motivation to accuse someone and find the culprit. Her actions during the second trial that we see are relatively timid, and she doesn't clearly lay out charges or reasoning for them against Tartaglia. Lastly, if it was Furina who accused Tartaglia, it once again doesn't make much sense not to let us know - hiding that information doesn't really affect anything in our understanding of the trial.

The Fatui. We have the Fatui as an option here for a couple of reasons: if it's possible the first trial (performance) was a ploy, couldn't the second also be a ploy? In addition, there's not another faction or individual that's been introduced in the main Fontaine archon quest that is connected to the trials. It's easy for the Fatui or a Fatui proxy to have accused Tartaglia, as we don't know who it was. More importantly, if the Fatui accused Tartaglia, it's essential that this information is hidden from us (both the Traveler and players) so that we don't catch on that this is a scheme. This is the only option that we've looked at here that explains why we aren't told who leveled the charges. In a moment, we'll discuss the validity of this trial being a ploy, but we'll investigate this second trial in the opposite direction from the previous one: we'll first accept the claim that the trial was a ploy and uncover motivations for it to be one, and then we will look again at how viable it is that the trial was a setup.

The motivations for the Fatui or a faction of Fatui to accuse Tartaglia are complicated. One possibility is that factions are working against each other, and the Hearth faction (for example) wants Tartaglia out of the way, and chooses to do so by sending him to prison. Another option is that the Fatui wanted to draw out the real culprit by falsely accusing someone in order to get retribution for attempting to frame them in the previous trial - though this assumes that the first trial was not a Fatui ploy. In addition, it doesn't need to be Tartaglia that's falsely accused for this motivation to work, and the Fatui would need to cause someone (perhaps the Traveler) to find evidence to convict the real culprit. We don't have any evidence for this, and it's quite convoluted - as a motivation it's very unlikely.

Taking a step back: the outcome of putting Tartaglia on trial is that he is either declared innocent (and goes free) or guilty (and is sent to the Fortress of Meropide). We are looking for a motivation that requires the Fatui to accuse Tartaglia in particular, and a reason for him to need to be declared innocent, or to be sent to the Fortress. Since Tartaglia wasn't involved with the disappearances case at all so far, it's difficult to come up with a reason he needed to be tried and declared innocent of the crime with the information we currently have. Accusing Tartaglia with the goal of him being declared guilty will either (1) get him to have a duel (that he loses), or (2) get him sent to prison. As what occurs in the quest is a trial that gets him sent to prison, we'll investigate that first (and will address other options later). With that in mind, let's discuss the Fortress of Meropide in more detail.

The Fortress of Meropide

Given the assumption that Tartaglia's trial and sentencing to the Fortress of Meropide was deliberate, what is the motivation?

We don't yet know too much about the Fortress of Meropide. Besides the basics, the NPC Thurel gives us the most tidbits:

Thurel: Yes, I refer to the Fortress of Meropide. Thurel: Well, it is true that those who have never been there would never use such terms as "above water" or "underwater" in that fashion. Few guards sent down there last very long. Thurel: The environment there really cannot be called good, and there are conflicts between gangs of criminals, too, so we don't integrate well. Thurel: I've heard that a new manager was appointed who laid down a great number of new rules that have made the guards' jobs much easier.

It's not clear if the "manager" being referred to is Wriothesley or not - he's referred to as "Duke" or "Lord" of the Fortress, rather than a "new manager", so it's possible there's been a new face added in there. Either way, it seems like things are changing within the fortress. In addition, from Wriothesley's introduction:

Despite its discretion, as a resting place for criminals, the Fortress of Meropide harbors a network of conflicting interests that would have a corrupting influence on many. But even if someone was bent on infiltrating this place, they'd soon be swallowed up like breadcrumbs in a bowl of soup.

We also know that the Fatui (Arlecchino and the Hearth in particular) make use of agents in the Fontainian government to keep control of certain elements and to work towards their goals.

From Lyney's character stories:

Only the influence of "Father" and her control over the inner workings of the Court of Fontaine prevent any serious incidents from occurring. There was once an official funded by Lyney who served in the Maison Gardiennage. This person provided both intel in support of the Hotel's operations and scrubbed clean the effects of some of the Hotel's clandestine actions. These were actions that came with no small risk, but the official always performed them well, for he believed that the Fontaine of the present day needed someone like "Father" who could bypass the many layers of laws and regulations and take direct action.

We have a fortress prison full of conflict and potential for an information network that's under new management as the setting, and the Fatui's demonstrated willingness to fund agents and move their plans through them. Sounds like the Fortress is somewhere the Fatui would want to get an ear in.

In addition, the Fortress is the eventual ending location for all people determined as guilty by the Oratrice. Lyney has already mentioned that the Fatui are interested in understanding the Oratrice and how it works - it stands to reason there may some information or connection that's important for that endeavor in the Fortress.

Now let's look at the real-world references. Méropide is the name in French for Meropis, an island in Theopompus' Philippica, a story told as an exaggerated parody of the Atlantis myth. The Wikipedia page for Meropis is both short and extremely useful: I'll pull two major points of interest here:

Meropis is situated beyond the world-ocean [...] Theopompos describes three cities in Meropis: Anostos ("Place of No Return"), Eusebes ("Pious-Town") and Machimos ("Fighting-Town"). While the inhabitants of Eusebes are living in opulence getting neither hungry nor sick, the inhabitants of Machimos are in fact born with weapons and carry on wars steadily. The third city, Anostos, is situated on the outermost border of Meropis. It resembles a yawning abyss, does not have day or night, and is covered by cloudy, red fumes.

So we have a very clear abyssal connection in Anostos. If or how this will appear in game is up for grabs, but is an interesting point to look out for. (As an aside, if there's a Fighting-Town equivalent, I'm sure Tartaglia will be having fun in prison.)

The second point:

The Méropes —attacking with an army of ten million soldiers—attempt to conquer Hyperborea, but return in disgrace [...]

We've had a few in-game mentions of Hyperborea (for the first time) in Fontaine. I'll mention them in a moment. First, what Wikipedia has to say about Hyperborea is much more involved that Meropis, but in summary: Hyperborea is, in stories, a golden utopia in the frigid, northernmost parts of the world.

This reference seems to check out in-game as well. Hyperborea is mentioned in three places so far: (1) the Lumidouce Bell description, (2) by Ann in the Narzissenkreuz quest, and (3) in the description for the new battle pass weapon Ballad of the Fjords. (As a side note, the "borea" in Hyperborea refers to the same thing as that of Andrius' Lupus Boreas title: the icy north wind, named Boreas, in myth.)

The Lumidouce Bell description:

[...] Lumidouce Bell is said to represent parting and the wish for reunion. In Coppelius's play Golden Hyperborea, the flower is referred to as "Weeping Crystal." The play depicts a homesick flower wandering in the freezing lands of the north. Its beauty is made eternal by the icy winds. Critics of Coppelius's time thought that was obsessed with eternal beauty and eternal love—this obsession was written into every line of his last works.

In the Narzissenkreuz quest, the Traveler and friends travel through the portal and into the looping corridor. When they arrive in the room with four pools of water and the sword under a dome, Ann says the following:

Ann: This is the center of the world. The castle where the dragon lurks, the tower that imprisons the Princess. Sometimes, it is the lost Ancient City of Yith. Sometimes, Arcadia. At times, it is even golden Hyperborea. Ann: Here, many untrodden realms have been conquered. Here, many heroes have defeated evil dragons. Ann: This is a place that brims with magic, and I was never really able to understand it. Children could see, through a stone wall, the imaginary griffins that whirled free in the distant cloud-filled skies. Ann: These four pools would, in different adventure tales, be the four seas, and sometimes the four cardinal realms of the world.

There's a lot of meat in there, but for the purposes of this we're just focusing on Hyperborea. So with these two, we have Hyperborea associated with "golden-ness", the freezing lands of the north, and the icy winds.  (Side note: the play Golden Hyperborea and the Lumidouce Bell description also seem to be tied to the Travelers (parting and the wish for reunion) and the Inteyvat (the flower's eternal beauty; i.e. being frozen into an unchanging state), so there may be some tentative connections to Khaenri'ah. But that's unrelated speculation.)

The Ballad of the Fjords is the keystone here, and I'll add the full description below.

Legends say the winter comes from Hyperborea, and the fjords and auroras there are curved and sharp as the fangs of wolves, And the glaciers and snowfields are always fissuring forth new crevices, or filling them in, creating an ever-changing land. Until at long last, the frozen earth cut itself from the umbilical cord of the continent, as though it had its own will or dreams, Leaving behind only the legend of young Ajax, who discovered the country of gold and white stone in the depths of the frozen sea. Amidst the frozen air slowly drifting from the thick layers of ice, the story of the young hero brings forth a sliver of warmth and light. The stories about him are many. Sailed he a ship into the belly of a great whale, and fought he a dragon upon the frozen plains for seven days. He and Snegurochka once fell in love, yet lost each other due to the wicked tricks of the changelings — a truly tragic tale. The last story worth telling goes something like this. The boy born to hunt fish beneath the ice with harpoons fell into a hitherto-undiscovered kingdom. This ancient capital had sunk into the depths of the earth due to some ancient disaster, but despite being buried underground, it was still as bright as the dawn. The solemn and silent king yet sat upon his massive chiseled white throne, the scepter in his hands not yet eaten away by insects, And the silver-white trees in the courtyard were like the arms of a mother or a lover, holding the virtuous and wise priest in their embrace. Beautiful yet treacherous life, twisted and violent monsters, one by one awakened from their thousand-year slumber... A voice, seemingly from a faraway place... "...Father! Father! Hey! We got a bite!" "...Oh. Sorry." "So what happened? What happened next?" "Oh, right... Finally, the boy defeated the dragon that slept deep within the kingdom." "The dragon's treasure was an infinite hoard of gold. But the boy was kind and brave, and knew that gold was the true cause of calamity and chaos, and so only took a small amount, enough for his own needs, and to cure his sick friends." "Huh? Is that the end of the story?" "The end." "Really...? Then tell me another story!" "Another story... Next time, alright? Let's stop here today, or even the fish will be scared away."

Here we have the story of the historical hero Ajax in Genshin, presented as a story told by the father of our current Ajax (Tartaglia) to him while ice-fishing.

Hyperborea is here described as a "country of gold and white stone in the depths of the frozen sea", and is once again tied to winter, glaciers, and snow. Here it's also described as being "bright as the dawn [...] despite being buried underground", and having severed its connection with the continent (Teyvat) in the past. Hyperborea's description is extremely reminiscent of that of Enkanomiya - and likely others from the pre-Celestial civilizations.

Besides being the major location besides Dragonspine that we know of that is snowy/icy, Snezhnayan waters are also described by Tartaglia as frozen in his teapot voicelines:

Tartaglia: I want to take you to see the scenery of my homeland. Tartaglia: To gaze upon the endless snowy sky, to stand on frozen lakes that won't shatter, no matter how hard you tread.

It's therefore likely that Hyperborea, or the fissures to get there, are located in Snezhnaya.

We also have the direct parallels between the historical Ajax and the current one: falling through a crevice in a snowfield to an undiscovered fallen kingdom underground between the (Irminsul) tree roots, as well as encountering a great whale. It's been mentioned before that Tartaglia's weapon constructs look extremely similar in design to those found in Enkanomiya. Relevant points from Tartaglia's character stories and voicelines:

[...] That 14-year-old boy got lost in the snowy forest. Pursued by bears and wolf packs, he lost his footing and fell into a bottomless crack in the earth's surface. There, he witnessed the endless possibilities of another ancient world [...]

From the Labyrinth warriors event, being by/between the tree roots:

Childe: I have fought in the fissures that lie between great tree roots. Boundless danger, fatal encounters... These are the ingredients I use to become stronger still.

From the 4.0 archon quest, the fact that the abyssal fissures are ever-changing:

Childe: You make it sound so easy. Ever since the incident I experienced there, I've never stopped searching for Master Skirk and that unknown abyss. Childe: But it's been years now and I've still found nothing. There isn't even a trace of the place where I remember falling into the abyss.

And the description of the whale from the 4.0 archon quest:

Childe: In my dream, I was in the deepest depths of the sea, and the boundless seabed was all around me. But in front of me appeared a whale that was so massive I felt like I couldn't breathe. Paimon: A whale? Oh, that sounds familiar... When we fought against you before, you summoned a huge whale that seemed to leap at us! Is that the one? Childe: Hehe, that's just an abstract form of a whale that I create using my elemental powers. Childe: It takes that shape because the scene I dreamt of the whale has always been stuck in my mind. I'll never forget it...

As well as a description of the "great beast" he encountered in his voicelines (whether this is the whale or not isn't clear, but it seems likely):

I once ventured deep into the abyss and came face-to-face with an enormous beast. I don't know its name, all I know is the sight of it chilled me to the bone. But mark my words, one day I will march back in there and behead that beast, and you, comrade, will be my witness!

When Tartaglia fell into the Abyss, it's likely that he encountered the remains of one of these ancient civilizations - probably Hyperborea, although there are some discrepancies in description. Hyperborea is described as bright, whereas Tartaglia's time in the Abyss is described only with "darkness". As the first description was from the previous Ajax's time, something could have happened to the equivalent of Hyperborea's Dainichi Mikoshi in the intervening time, Tartaglia's character stories could have omitted this brightness (as they are generally vague), or it could have been a wholly different place.

Regardless, it's clear that there's important ties between Meropide and Hyperborea, as well as Hyperborea and Ajax (Tartaglia), and now that Tartaglia is at the Fortress of Meropide, it feels though the confluence of these individual factors can't be a coincidence.

We also know that the Fatui as an overall organization (not just in Fontaine) have a vested interest in learning more about Khaenri'ah, the Abyss, and pre-Celestial civilizations (Dragonspine, etc.). It's possible that they know something of the Fortress' potential connection to these topics.

In summary, for Fatui interest in the Fortress of Meropide, we have the following potential motivations: (1) the information network present there as a den and community of criminals, (2) its connection to and potential information about the Oratrice, (3) potential abyssal connections, and (4) potential connections to pre-Celestial civilizations. There is also the implication that there's some meaning or reason behind it being Tartaglia that is sent there.

Even with this all said, it's possible that these connections are not deliberate. Fontaine has a strong emphasis on history repeating itself, and we've just come from Sumeru, where we encountered the idea of samsara. In this case, it could be that "fate" and the inherent cyclical nature of Teyvat is what is leading the events in Fontaine to happen as they are: that is to say, it's still possible that it's not a deliberate choice by the Fatui or otherwise to send Ajax (Tartaglia) to the Fortress of Meropide, but rather the will of "fate".

However, we will continue to investigate the idea that the Fatui deliberately sent Tartaglia to the Fortress of Meropide through a false trial.

Was the trial a ploy?

Let's look again at the second trial with the new information we have.

Previously, we had posited that it was possible that the Fatui had accused Tartaglia and put him on trial, but we were looking for a motivation for them to do so. With the information we now have about the Fortress of Meropide, we have motivation for the Fatui to (1) send an agent to the Fortress of Meropide to investigate, and (2) that the agent needs to be Tartaglia.

There are a couple of other motivations now, but we'll first investigate if it's possible or likely that the second trial was a ploy.

Taking Lyney's framework for controlling a performance again:

Time: We've already laid out that a trial begins as soon as charges are leveled. If the Fatui accused Tartaglia, they have control over when the trial takes place by being the inciting incident for the trial to occur.

Place: Once again, all trials occur at the opera house. Here we might also keep in mind that deliberately sending Tartaglia to the Fortress of Meropide is controlling the "place" he is - setting up for control of a future performance at the Fortress.

People: This element is once again the difficult one. Firstly, the Fatui accusing Tartaglia means they have control over placing him as a character in the performance. Tartaglia being Fatui also means they have control over his performance. Since this trial began more traditionally than the first one (someone leveled charges and a trial was started, rather than a crime occurring publicly and accusations and a trial being the outcome), Furina and Neuvillette's presence are not too significant - they would always be part of the trial. Then, the only outstanding factors here are Navia, the Traveler, and Marcel.

There are two options here: either the Fatui were aware of Navia and the Traveler's endeavor, and planned on them exposing and accusing Marcel, or that part of the trial was not part of the Fatui plan.

If the Fatui planned for Navia and the Traveler's interruption:

They would need to know what Navia and the Traveler were up to. This is not too difficult with a robust information network. With the amount of people they talked to in the investigation, the Fatui knowing that they were investigating the serial disappearances case in conjunction with Callas' murder is possible - we just don't have evidence or a specific informant to point to.

The Fatui actually don't need Navia and the Traveler to be successful. If they aren't successful, then Marcel isn't clearly convicted, and Tartaglia is still on trial. With the absence of conclusive evidence, public opinion (and the Oratrice) may still move to convict Tartaglia. On the other hand, if the Traveler and Navia are successful in convicting the culprit, the Fatui would have to know that the Oratrice would still convict Tartaglia. This is a difficult claim to make, so we will look at in more detail in a moment.

If the Fatui didn't plan for Navia and the Traveler:

This is the simpler option. This means that Navia and the Traveler nearly unwittingly foiled the Fatui's plans to send Tartaglia to the Fortress.

However, we can still propose that if the Fatui knew the Oratrice would determine Tartaglia guilty regardless, this wouldn't have mattered.

With this in mind, we can see that the framework for controlling a performance is satisfied: time and place are fully controlled. People are either mostly controlled, or the performance was nearly a failure, depending on the Fatui's knowledge and reach.

Another point to keep in mind is that the way the second trial was set up, it's a no-lose situation for the Fatui given their goal is to send Tartaglia to the Fortress of Meropide.

In the case that the Traveler and Navia hadn't been on time to interrupt the trial and convict another person, Tartaglia could have made a show of denying charges and going through a trial, at which point it would be easy to weight the trial against him so that he's convicted. The audience already shows distrust in the Fatui, and he could either represent himself or have another represent him - at that point being a poor defense attorney is all that's needed.

As seen during Lyney's trial, the audience doesn't trust the Fatui at all:

Traveler: They're... Fatui? Doubtful Audience Member: No wonder they did something like this. Audience: So the serial disappearances were the Fatui's doing. Huh, now it all makes sense. Doubtful Audience Member: Well, that's it. We might as well move on to the sentencing already.

Even if Tartaglia himself is unaware of the greater plan (like in Liyue), there's not really a way for the Fatui to lose in this situation. If Tartaglia's determined to be guilty, he goes where they want him. If he's determined to be innocent, that's fine, and then they either send some other agent to the Fortress, get Tartaglia to be convicted for a different crime, or send him there through other means with nobody the wiser to their plans and goals. Likewise, even in the case where Marcel is convicted and Tartaglia is declared innocent, they have other options to achieve their goals without alerting anyone of their plans.

We also now have a motivation for Tartaglia to be in Fontaine, which we didn't have before.

Now to look at other evidence that the second trial could have been a ploy.

There are multiple lines comparing the second trial to a performance during the events of the actual trial.

After Marcel is convicted, Tartaglia has multiple lines referring to the trial as a "show":

Childe: Well now, hasn't this been a most delicious piece of drama? The villain has been caught, justice has been served, past wrongs have been righted, and it's a big ol' happy ending... Childe: Since it's been such a great show, I'll just let the false accusations against me slide. Either way, I've still got some business to attend to, so if you'll excuse me...

And he even refers to himself as a character following the outcome of Marcel's trial (but before his own):

Childe: Ah c'mon, is this really necessary? Haven't you already caught the real criminal? Isn't it time for side characters like me to exit stage left?

This can either be a turn of phrase used to remind the player of that emphasis on spectacle, or a hint that Tartaglia's aware of his role as a "character" in the Fontaine plot and that the trial itself is a "show".

In addition, even Furina refers to the second trial as a performance explicitly at the end, after Tartaglia's been declared guilty:

Furina: However, given the state of things, I shall give you an explanation. Everything that just took place — including my supposed shock and bafflement — was a part of an elaborate performance, with every action meant to stir up drama and excitement. Furina: And of course, for every performance, there is a script. Everything has unfolded exactly as I expected from the very beginning. As the embodiment of the very concept of justice, the Oratrice shall never render an arbitrary judgment!

As Neuvillette mentions, it's unlikely Furina actually knew what was going on. However she is lampshading the idea that the trial was a scripted performance - and it's possible it was, she is just unaware of it.

In summary, we have determined it's possible that the second trial was a Fatui plot, as it fits Lyney's framework for controlling a performance. We have also determined a motivation for the Fatui to have accused Tartaglia and set up the trial to declare him guilty and send him to the Fortress of Meropide. In addition, should this plan fail, their plans will not be exposed.

The Oratrice & Tartaglia's conviction

Let's now investigate the possibility that the Fatui knew that the Oratrice would declare Tartaglia guilty no matter what in regards to the serial disappearances case. As a reminder, this doesn't make or break the idea that the second trial was a setup - it only determines the degree to which the Fatui were able to control the trial.

Fully investigating and theorizing on why the Oratrice determined Tartaglia was guilty (and if he truly is or not) is an entire separate endeavor, and we don't have much clear evidence. As this is also not an essential part of this theory, we'll only briefly cover the main points.

To start, let's look at why Tartaglia may have been determined guilty. The relevant points that act as the basis for this line of questioning are (1) that the trial was in regards to the serial disappearances case and (2) any qualities unique to Tartaglia that would cause him to be convicted against what Neuvillette and public opinion would expect.

The specific charge leveled against him is as follows:

Neuvillette: Do you accept the charge that you are the true culprit behind the serial disappearances case?

With respect to the serial disappearances case, the options for how Tartaglia could have been the true culprit in the Oratrice's eyes are (1) that Marcel was acting on his (or his organization's) orders and (2) that Tartaglia has something to do with the existence of  or access to the Primordial Sea water that's used as the murder weapon.

The qualities unique to Tartaglia are a little harder to pull out, but may include:

His experience in the abyss

His possession of a delusion and/or physical composition that allows for the Foul Legacy ability

His possession of a hydro-aligned vision

His position as a Harbinger

It's impossible that Marcel was acting on Tartaglia's orders for all of the disappearances (as they began 20 years ago). It's unlikely that he was acting on the Fatui's orders as a whole either - he has a pretty clear motive for himself. The one time he may have been acting on the Fatui's orders is the attempted disappearance during Lyney's trial - if that trial was a ploy. This is of course, given that Marcel is connected to the Fatui at all. However in this case, it's still unlikely that Tartaglia in particular would be the one giving orders to Marcel, or to be the one on the hook for it. The interesting point here is in regards to Marcel's organization, the Confrerie of Cabriere. When we meet Tartaglia in the archon quest, he confronts members of the Confrerie about their outstanding debt to the Northland Bank. So in this case, if Marcel is using Confrerie funds (and potentially agents) to commit the disappearances, and the Northland Bank is funding the Confrerie, and Tartaglia is acting as an authority at the bank while in Fontaine (like as in Liyue), then Tartaglia could be guilty for funding the murders. If this is the Oratrice's reasoning, the Fatui clearly have all the information needed to be aware of this line of reasoning except for the knowledge that Marcel is the culprit (which they still might know), and can hypothesize that Tartaglia will be determined guilty.

The next few possibilities are all tied together. However, we currently don't have much information about them, so a lot of this will be extremely speculative.

The Primordial Sea has its origins at the beginning of life in Teyvat - that is, pre-Celestia. During Tartaglia's experiences in the abyss, it's likely he encountered ruins from pre-Celestial civilization, and therefore could have encountered the sea water. Delusions are also implied to be powered in part by abyssal knowledge. So here we can propose a few different options: (1) that Tartaglia's had an encounter with the Primordial Sea water before, during his time in the abyss, (2) the presence of abyssal power is somehow tied to the Primordial Sea water, and/or (3) that something to do with these experiences caused either (3.1) the Primordial Sea water to start dissolving life rather than creating it, or (3.2) the people in Teyvat (Marcel) to gain access to the water. Since this is all extremely speculative, the main points we want to focus on here are the Oratrice's potential "thought" process, and the possibility of the Fatui to know all of this information. If something in Tartaglia's experience led to the possibility of dissolving people with water, this is a pretty clear line of reasoning for why the Oratrice found him guilty. The real question at this point is how the Oratrice could know this. As for the Fatui's knowledge, we don't really have much information on what the Fatui know about Tartaglia's past and experiences in the Abyss. It's likely that they know about some of it, as it likely contributed to his ability to become a Harbinger. However, Tartaglia's character stories mention he's never brought it up:

No one knew what happened within that darkness during those three months, nor would Ajax ever speak of this to anyone.

But Tartaglia does "speak of this" to the Traveler earlier in the archon quest, so it's clearly untrue now. It's possible that "Ajax" would never speak of it, but "Tartaglia" does. Regardless, there remains the possibility that the Fatui know about his abyssal experiences - at the very least his transformation and powers. We also know that as an organization, the Fatui are investigating the abyss, and it's therefore likely they have looked into or sought to look into the Primordial Sea and its water - the House of the Hearth in particular is interested in the prophecy, and would likely be interested in water that can dissolve people. We can only speculate, but it's possible for the Fatui to have all the information here to make a hypothesis that the Oratrice would determine Tartaglia guilty. If the Oratrice determined in this case that a person would be guilty by merit of having encountered or actively having Primordial Sea water, then Tartaglia could have also ingested some Sinthe in a plan to be determined guilty. We don't have any evidence for this, but it's a possibility.

We haven't seen anyone else in Fontaine yet with a a hydro vision. Neuvillette doesn't have a vision, and although Furina does, she's an archon and it's likely either fake or a different situation. So it's possible there's some connection between Tartaglia having a hydro vision, the Primordial Sea water, and being guilty. However, Tartaglia doesn't have his vision at the trial, so it seems unlikely that it's the presence of a vision that caused the Oratrice's verdict. Instead, it might be the absence of said vision that led to the verdict. This would imply something similar to the previous speculation - Tartaglia's abyssal-aligned powers and/or delusion led to the verdict. Having his vision on him might have suppressed the presence of these factors with the elemental (Celestial) power. Think here of the Pneuma-Ousia interaction: when both are present, it's balanced. If we think of abyssal powers as ousia and Celestial/elemental powers as pneuma, removing one would lead to an imbalance. In addition, the Oratrice is a divine mechanism.

Neuvillette: As a divinely created mechanism, the people's unified faith in the concept of justice is integrated into it.

It's possible this mechanism, being "divinely created", is aligned with Celestia. In this case, people that have elemental/Celestial power (like vision holders) or those who are balanced (no powers) are acceptable. However, one that has abyssal (heretical) power might be automatically guilty. As mentioned before, we're not sure how much the Fatui know about Tartaglia's background, but it's likely they at least know about Foul Legacy as part of his strength that allowed him to become a Harbinger. If nothing else, the delusion may be enough to be declared guilty.

We'll also talk about the importance of Tartaglia not having his vision during the trial in more detail in a later section.

Tartaglia's position as Harbinger does not seem to be a good reason to be determined guilty. In the first trial, Lyney is determined innocent even though he went to investigate the Oratrice. As Neuvillette mentions then:

Neuvillette: While there is much in Lyney and Liliane's conduct that should still be investigated separately... Neuvillette: This case, at least, can be handed over to the Oratrice to make the final decision.

The audience also discusses this after Tartaglia's verdict:

Contemplative Audience Member: I mean, have you ever heard of an innocent Fatui Harbinger? Do you think the Oratrice might have just convicted him on general principle? Doubtful Audience Member: But weren't the charges about the serial disappearances case? No matter what else he's guilty of, it shouldn't affect the verdict in this case, right?

So it seems unlikely that his crimes as a Harbinger would cause him to be determined guilty in this instance, and we can strike this possibility off the list.

In summary, in most of these potential cases, it's feasible for the Fatui to know or hypothesize that there's something to do with Tartaglia that will lead to a guilty verdict from the Oratrice. In the case that they did, they would be able to fully control the outcome of the second trial. Again, we don't know how the Oratrice determines guilt, or if Tartaglia was truly guilty, but the answer to these questions is not essential for the trial to have been a Fatui ploy.

Revisiting motivations for the Fatui to control the trials

Now we'll look at other potential motivations or benefits the Fatui may get from controlling the trials.

If we accept the claim that the second trial was a setup, revisiting the first trial gives us a few more motivations for it being a ploy.

Earlier, we mentioned that one of the outcomes of the first trial was that the serial disappearances case was brought to the forefront, with interest in finding the real culprit, and also that the Fatui were unlikely to be thought of as culprits due to the fact they were framed in the first trial.

This is a perfect setup to create and control a second trial. If someone is accused of being the true culprit in the case, it's likely that this will be a high-profile trial that happens immediately.

But why would they want to accuse Tartaglia in this situation? Wouldn't it be easier to send him to prison for some other crime that they can have him commit? There are multiple reasons we can intuit as answers to these questions.

It's better for Tartaglia to be falsely accused for two reasons. The first is straightforward: it's easier to extract him when his job at the Fortress is done without any repercussions. The second reason goes back to one of the proposed motivations for the Fatui: destabilizing the Fontainian justice system. By having a high-profile trial end with a guilty verdict for someone who the public and Iudex didn't think were guilty, the Fatui successfully sow seeds of doubt in the public's mind. We can see a few reactions after the trial to show that it has shaken belief:

Contemplative Audience Member: She says she has no idea either? But that's impossible... Didn't she create the Oratrice herself? Doubtful Audience Member: ...Yeah, so are the verdicts reliable or not? Can results like this really be called justice?

Furina herself is shaken:

Furina: Ah... Wh—Why are you looking at me? I had nothing to do with it... Furina: I—I don't know what happened there, either... H—Hey, stop staring at me...

And as Neuvillette explains:

Neuvillette: Based on Furina's reaction, I doubt even she had any idea what was going on. She managed to bluff her way through it, though, with time-tested twin tricks of bravado and drama.

There are also potential reasons that this case in particular was chosen.

As Lyney has mentioned, one of the main goals of the Fatui in Fontaine is to combat the prophecy. The Primordial Sea water is intrinsically tied to the prophecy. By using a case that's directly related to their goals, the Fatui are consolidating their efforts and not focusing on irrelevant cases.

In addition, we previously mentioned that one way to understand the Oratrice and its decision-making, as the Fatui aim to do, is to control experiments and hypothesize or analyze the results. In this case, it's controlling trials and then understanding the outcomes. So if the first trial was an experiment to understand how the Oratrice makes decisions, the second trial could have been a second round of the experiment. In this, we have a different verdict, necessary to understand how the Oratrice works. We also have the inclusion of elements that the public don't know about that may affect the verdict. By setting up the trial in this way, the Fatui would be able to glean more information on what information the Oratrice has access to, and what's included in its decision-making.

There is one other point to bring up as to why it needs to be Tartaglia who takes on this mission. The case and Fatui interests so far have been closely tied to the Primordial Sea water and its ability to dissolve people, and it's likely they will continue to investigate it. Every other Fatui member so far we have met in Fontaine is also from Fontaine:

Lyney: All of us House members here, Lady Arlecchino herself included, are from Fontaine. We won't give up on defending our homeland. Lyney: To us orphans, the only connection we have left to this world, apart from our "family," is our homeland.

That is, every other Fatui member mentioned in Fontaine and all the House of the Hearth members can be dissolved by the water. Tartaglia in this case is a perfect storm of being highly ranked (trusted with important missions), Snezhnayan (un-dissolvable), and having possible connections to what information may be investigated or found in the Fortress of Meropide (abyss, Hyperborea). So if the mission involves investigating the Primordial Sea water, Tartaglia is the safest agent to use. 

In summary, setting up both trials in this way allows for the Fatui to address some previously stated motivations: learning about how the Oratrice works and destabilizing the justice system.

Section IV TL;DR: We aren't told who accused Tartaglia. Given that it's important that we don't know this information, the Fatui are the best fit to have accused Tartaglia. Their motivation in doing so would be to get Tartaglia sent to the Fortress of Meropide. The Fortress is of interest to the Fatui because of (1) the information network present there as a den and community of criminals, (2) its connection to and potential information about the Oratrice, (3) potential abyssal connections, and (4) potential connections to pre-Celestial civilizations. There is also the implication that it needs to be Tartaglia that is sent there, due to his unique background. It's possible that the second trial was a Fatui ploy, as the Fatui would be able to control the time, place, and most people involved. There is also little risk for the Fatui if staging the trial and getting Tartaglia sent to the Fortress fails. We can also speculate that the Fatui had enough information to know or guess that Tartaglia would be determined guilty by the Oratrice due to his unique properties. Setting up the second trial as an outcome of the first also allows the Fatui to (1) learn more about how the Oratrice works and (2) destabilize faith in the justice system by creating an unprecedented discrepancy in verdict between public and Iudex opinion and that of the Oratrice.

V. Who was in on it?

We'll now discuss the likelihood that particular characters were aware that the trials are Fatui ploys. Much of the evidence presented here strengthens the arguments that the trials are controlled farces.

Tartaglia

We'll start with Tartaglia as his involvement is the most straightforward in the sense that other characters' awareness of the plot don't rely on his, and vice versa.

To begin, here's a piece of characterization from his character stories that's relevant for the situation:

Unlike other members of the Harbingers, who prefer to keep a low profile, Tartaglia will often go to watch public performances — occasionally even becoming part of the show himself.

This can be taken to mean two different things: that he gets serendipitously swept up in performances (in this context, being unaware of the overarching plot and his role in it) or that he deliberately involves himself in the narrative, whether to change the direction or otherwise (in this case, knowing where the plot is going, his role, and being involved in it getting there). Regardless, with Fontaine's emphasis on performances, and Tartaglia's involvement in Fontaine, this isn't something we can overlook.

He also has this line during our first meeting with him in the archon quest:

Childe: But it seems that fate brought our paths together today. Not only will I have some good friends here now, but ones who always seem to find trouble. Childe: Either way you look at it, it seems things are going to get a lot more interesting now.

This can simply be a nod to the Traveler's presence at the heart of the conflict in each nation, or a hint that plans will start to be put in motion specifically because the Traveler is now present - we've mentioned before that someone's keeping an eye on the Traveler's movements, and it seems like in Fontaine, many interactions the Traveler has are because of their past exploits.

Now to look at specific instances in the archon quest. At the beginning of the trial, we see the interaction between Tartaglia and Neuvillette:

Neuvillette: It would appear that I must repeat my question again, Mr. Tartaglia. Neuvillette: Do you accept the charge that you are the true culprit behind the serial disappearances case? Childe: To be perfectly honest, I don't understand your country's complicated court system, or the reason why I'm being charged with something I've never even heard of. Childe: However, I did hear that people who have been charged can choose to participate in a duel to clear their name. Is that right? Childe: In which case, as long as I accept the charge, I can have an all-out fight with that Champion Duelist Clorinde, right? Childe: I've gotta admit, that's one of the most enticing offers I've ever received. Childe: When I privately sparred with her last time, she was obviously holding back... Real disappointing. Furina: Hey, don't you understand? You're currently the prime suspect for a major case! This isn't the place for you to be looking for fights. Childe: Ooh? Sounds like the Hydro Archon wants to lecture me on the ways of the opera house... Childe: Then why don't you duel me, too? I'm the kind of student that learns best in the heat of battle. Furina: A—Ah, no no no, that's not what I meant... Neuvillette: Alas, it would appear that communication with the defendant is going poorly, and we have made very little progress. Neuvillette: In that case, let me explain everything from the very beginning again. The goal of this trial is to determine the culprit behind the serial disappearances case...

At this point the trial is interrupted by Navia, and the trial of Marcel commences.

What's interesting here is that Tartaglia's being vague, just like when asked why he's in Fontaine: he's not outright denying or accepting the charges, but blatantly deflecting and distracting by talking about dueling.

The upshot of which is: though we are led to feel one way because of the outcome of the quest later, at this point we don't know if Tartaglia's actually willing to accept the charges and go on trial or not. So one possibility is that Tartaglia has orders to be determined guilty and sent to the Fortress, and he's making a show of protesting the charges (without actually denying them) so it won't seem like something's up when he eventually goes on trial.

His dialogue throughout the trial scene implies a meta-awareness of the narrative and his role. He makes reference to the trial as a "show":

Childe: Well now, hasn't this been a most delicious piece of drama? The villain has been caught, justice has been served, past wrongs have been righted, and it's a big ol' happy ending... Childe: Since it's been such a great show, I'll just let the false accusations against me slide. Either way, I've still got some business to attend to, so if you'll excuse me...

And even refers to himself as a character following the outcome of Marcel's trial (but before his own):

Childe: Ah c'mon, is this really necessary? Haven't you already caught the real criminal? Isn't it time for side characters like me to exit stage left?

This can either be a turn of phrase used to remind the player of that emphasis on performance, or a hint that Tartaglia's aware of his role as a "character" in the Fontaine plot.

We should also take a closer look at the end of his involvement in the archon quest - that is, his reaction to being declared guilty and the ensuing cutscene.

We'll start with some subjective evidence about his characterization with regards to his actions after being declared guilty.

At the beginning of the cutscene, Tartaglia's expression changes quickly from the shock he had after being declared guilty to a smirk. We can interpret this as dropping a ruse or acting, or we can interpret it simply as impending excitement after making the decision to start a fight.

Why did he start fighting the Gardemeks anyways? If he intended to avoid being sent to prison, going towards the stage and enemies seems like a poor course of action when he can go through the audience to the exit while causing difficulty for the guards. Additionally, in Liyue, we see him transform into hydro to escape the Golden House. It's possible he can't do this with electro, but we haven't seen any noticeable difference between his abilities with hydro or electro. The straightforward interpretation is that he didn't think of that, or that he wanted a fight where he could get one.

Why did he need to use Foul Legacy? We know that it causes some damage to him when used. We've seen him use it twice, and both seem to be "desperate" situations: when his plan seemed to be on the edge of failure in Liyue, and when he needed to defeat the Ruin Guards quickly in his story quest to defend Teucer. The situation in the trial does not seem to be nearly as desperate, and it didn't seem like he was having trouble with just his delusion. In addition, it seems a little strange that he's willing to demonstrate Foul Legacy in front of an audience of the civilian public.

The time it was taking him to transform into Foul Legacy was a lot longer than it did when we are initially introduced to the transformation in Liyue, or during his story quest. It's possible that the time was extended and dramatized for our benefit like in a shounen anime so that we could see Furina, the Traveler, and Paimon's reactions, and also to give some time to have Neuvillette intervene.

Individually each of these points may be easily swept aside, but in combination, it seems like something's off. We could posit that his judgment's impaired as a consequence of his stated "bad mood" and from only having/using his delusion, but it's only been at most a few days since he gave the Traveler his vision. The act of giving up his vision itself likely would not cause major issues, as it was willing, so it's more of a Diluc situation than a Vision Hunt Decree. We don't know how fast deterioration would occur under these circumstances.

Of course, whether you believe that his actions here are "in-character" or a little off is a matter of personal opinion and interpretation - so let's look at the important parts of this scene that are more objective.

In the cutscene, Tartaglia leaps from his balcony to the opera house floor - he quite literally enters the stage from the wings like a character in a play, and then immediately begins a monologue. His earlier comment about it being time for "characters like [him] to exit stage left" is also interesting, because in the cutscene, he enters the opera house stage from stage left.

The ensuing fight all happens on the main stage of the opera, like a performance would, and is suitably dramatic to engage the audience (both in-game and us as players). The enemies (Gardemeks) also enter the main stage from the wings like in a play. At several points during the cutscene, we see what is happening from the point of view of the audience, and it appears quite like watching a stageplay.

Finally, Tartaglia's dramatic transformation happens when he's in the direct center of the stage, with the electro looking like a spotlight. In combination, this becomes pretty heavy-handed imagery that invokes a performance. Additionally, the drama of the scene distracts us as viewers from thinking too deeply on the events and Tartaglia's actions. As Arlecchino says in the Overture trailer:

Arlecchino: But when you're on the stage, you're first and foremost actors Arlecchino: Good actors hone their craft to mesmerize the whole crowd

Combined with Lyney's comments about misdirection being used to distract the viewer, it seems like we have the elements of a performance here. When Tartaglia is on the stage, he mesmerizes the crowd in-game, and us as players, with a cool fight scene, so we don't think too deeply about what else might be going on behind the scenes.

In addition, there's a fun hint from Lyney during the magic show: 

Lyney : If the magic is interrupted, who knows where you might end up? You might even find yourself in the Fortress of Meropide.

In this case we might interpret this to mean that the magic (Tartaglia's fight/performance on the opera house stage) was interrupted (by Neuvillette) - and he'll soon find himself in the Fortress of Meropide. 

Of course, we can also interpret this as simply being imagery that matches with Fontaine's themes, and not a hint towards Tartaglia's actions being a ploy - but it seems clear there is some meaning in the way this was set up.

As for Tartaglia's motivation for acting this way, given this was a ruse, we can only really speculate. It's possible that the drama of a fight on the main stage of the opera was a misdirection to hide that the trial was a ploy, as mentioned before. Any questions about Tartaglia's willingness to accept a ostensibly false charge and go to prison are dismissed if he very obviously fights the ruling, hiding the Fatui's true motive from the public. (Regardless, if the fight was indeed a performance, then Tartaglia should be nominated for the Genshin Oscars - he can compete with Alhaitham for best actor.) 

If we accept that the trial was a ploy, it's difficult to believe that the Fatui would allow Tartaglia to be put on trial without being aware of his role to go to the Fortress - he's notoriously unpredictable, and there are many points during the trial where he could have unintentionally foiled the plot were he not aware of it. We've mentioned some points before, but as a new example, Tartaglia could accept the charges and duel for his innocence. This would be in-character, as we know he loves to fight, and he even mentions this option at the beginning of the trial. We don't know his power scaling in comparison to the Champion Duelists like Clorinde, but it doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility that he could win, especially with Foul Legacy. Were he to do so, he'd be declared innocent and would not be sent to the Fortress. If he threw the battle, Clorinde would likely know, as exemplified by here evidence about Callas during Marcel's trial:

Clorinde: Just one look and I can tell if a duelist is hoping to live, or if they're looking to die.

For the Fatui to control as many variables in the trial as possible while hiding their true motives, Tartaglia would need to be aware of their goals and his role, and have some orders for what actions he should take.

The other major piece of evidence that Tartaglia is in on the Fatui plot has to do with our first meeting with him in Fontaine, and his vision.

Why did Tartaglia give the Traveler his Vision?

First, let's lay out the sequence of events of our first meeting with Tartaglia in Fontaine:

We meet Tartaglia outside Estelle's smithy as he confronts members of the Confrerie of Cabriere about a debt they owe to the Northland Bank.

He fights with the guild members using his vision. There's a lull in the battle, and then when starting up again, his vision malfunctions. He then defeats the guild members.

He talks about being in a bad mood lately. and then talks about his history in the abyss, Skirk, and the whale.

He talks about his spars with Champion Duelists.

He gives the Traveler the vision.

A few points of clarity during this sequence of events in regards to the malfunctioning vision:

When the malfunction first occurs, his reaction seems to imply that this is the first time it's happened, but he doesn't outright state that.

Childe: Huh... That was weird... Traveler: What just happened? / Are you alright? Childe: I'm not sure... It's as if I suddenly lost control of my Hydro powers when I needed them. Maybe there's something wrong with my Vision? Paimon: Strange, how could that happen? First time Paimon's ever heard of someone losing control of their Vision. Childe: Never mind, it doesn't matter. If I wanna stay sharp, I shouldn't be relying too much on my Vision anyway. Besides, I always have my Delusion in case I need it.

So why did his vision malfunction? Obviously we don't know for sure at this point, but there are some deductions we can make.

Tartaglia has already been in Fontaine for a while now, so it's unlikely that his vision not working is tied to his location. However, he does mention a few things that make it a possibility that he hasn't used his vision so far yet while in Fontaine:

Childe: Haha! Long story short, I've already been in Fontaine for some time now, and honestly, things have been pretty boring. Childe: Ugh, can't you at least let me finish one sentence? Fine, though the bank told me not to get rough with our clients... Childe: You're the ones who started it! This is an act of self-defense. You two will have to be my witnesses, okay?

Put together, these two quotes can imply that Tartaglia was under orders not to fight with bank clients. In addition, him calling his time in Fontaine so far "pretty boring" implies he hasn't done anything fun or interesting: for him, a fight.

However, later he mentions that he's been sparring with the Court's duelists.

Childe: No, it's more of a personal appointment. Lately, I've been sparring with some of Fontaine's official Champion Duelists whenever I'm feeling bored.

It seems unlikely that he wouldn't use his vision during these spars, and later he implies that his reasoning for giving the Traveler his vision is so it doesn't interfere in his upcoming spar, so it follows that he has probably used his vision while in Fontaine. There's not clear evidence one way or another here, but it seems unlikely that it's just because he's in Fontaine that his vision didn't work.

There is other speculation we can make as to why his vision didn't work, but most reasoning requires some leaps of logic, as we don't yet have the evidence to sway one way or another. Some examples:

Tartaglia's vision didn't work because he was using it for an illegal purpose (fighting in the streets). We have no evidence that it's possible to turn on/off a vision remotely, and though there's speculation that visions are a tool for the gods (Celestia) to spy on allogenes, it's not laid out in the main quest yet - and we don't know what motivation there would be to turn off his vision. Also we don't know for sure that what he was doing was illegal.

It's due to his bad mood/mood swings or the "rising power". We don't really have any evidence for this. As why don't know why he's in a bad mood, or what that even means yet, it's difficult to investigate the potential effect on his vision. If the "rising power" is abyssal, it could be fighting with the Celestial power of the vision. Again, this is speculation without much evidence.

His vision's tied to a different kind of hydro, or is aligned with the Primordial Sea. This is speculation based on the idea that Tartaglia had an encounter with the Primordial Sea in the abyss, or that he's more sensitive to hydro, so the fluctuations in weather, for example, that are tied to Neuvillette's mood also affect him. The Traveler is able to hear voices from the Primordial Sea at the Fountain of Lucine after ingesting Sinthe - it's possible something similar is happening here. Once again, it's outside the scope of this theory to really dig into this as a possibility.

His "ambition" is wavering. The interesting point here is that we don't have a character story for Tartaglia's vision, like most other characters - just his delusion. This means we don't actually know what his "ambition" that gave him a vision was. From his voicelines and character stories, we can speculate that his repeated mention of a desire to "conquer the world" might be his ambition. We don't have any evidence to point to why that ambition might be wavering, though.

He was acting. Though this is unlikely, it's interesting to think about. If we accept that much of what's going on is a performance by the Fatui, and that Tartaglia is involved and aware of it, then him acting out a vision malfunction as an excuse to give the Traveler his vision is not completely baseless.

In any case, the reasoning for why his vision stopped working is less important at this junction than the reasoning for why he gave it to the Traveler.

It's frankly strange for someone to have their vision malfunction once and to then immediately give it up to someone else without investigating. Yet overall his demeanor when giving the vision to the Traveler is pretty nonchalant and unworried.

Childe: Oh, before I forget, I want you to have this. Paimon: Huh? Your Vision! You're seriously just giving it away!? Childe: I'm just worried that it could become uncontrollable again. I'd be pretty upset if it got in the way of my duel, so I think I'll be better off without it for now. Childe: Besides, I just need you to hold onto it for a short while. I'll come retrieve it when I have some time later. Paimon: Paimon knows what you're up to! You just want an excuse to come talk to us again, don't you? Childe: Haha, whatever gave you that idea? I'll be in touch, later.

His stated reason is that he's worried it'll malfunction again during his duel. Giving his vision to the Traveler is not the easiest or most straightforward solution to this problem: he can take it off an give it to a subordinate or leave it in his luggage during the duel. We'd also think that the Fatui have better information and resources on how visions work that the Traveler, who doesn't even have a vision, given that they were able to make delusions. It's possible that Tartaglia doesn't trust the Fatui to help with this problem - likewise, it's true that Tartaglia trusts the Traveler, as shown by his willingness to share his past with them, and as he outright states in his teapot voicelines:

Tartaglia: And in the heat of battle, I know that you'd have my back. Traveler: You're not afraid that I might backstab you? Tartaglia: This is the level of trust I place in you.

However, it's likely that there's more going on here. From a narrative perspective, there's a reason either that (1) the Traveler needs to have Tartaglia's vision, or (2) Tartaglia needs to not have his vision in the ensuing events of the plot.

As for the first option, we don't yet have evidence as to why the Traveler might need to be in possession of a vision, a hydro vision, or Tartaglia's vision in particular. The Traveler already has resonated with hydro and can use it, so it seems unlikely that that's the reason. It's possible that the Traveler needs to have a Celestial object, of which a vision would qualify. However, neither of these options address what motivation Tartaglia might have for giving the Traveler his vision, or why the narrative gave us his vision in particular. To wildly speculate, the Fatui could be able to spy on or track the Traveler by following Tartaglia's vision - but we don't have evidence for this other than the fact that we know someone's keeping tabs on the Traveler's movements (see: the man in Caravan Ribat at the beginning of the archon quest).

If we investigate the idea that Tartaglia needs to be without his vision for the plot, a few interesting options arise.

We've previously speculated that Tartaglia not having his vision could have been essential to being declared guilty by the Oratrice. To summarize, without his vision and its Celestial alignment balancing his delusion and abyssal powers, the Oratrice may have seen something that would determine him to be guilty. We also discussed that it's possible that the Fatui were testing the Oratrice's decision-making this way, or deliberately used this as a way to get Tartaglia declared guilty. If we accept that the Fatui have a goal of sending Tartaglia to the Fortress of Meropide, we might also speculate that Tartaglia gave the Traveler his vision so that he wouldn't have it at the Fortress. We don't know exactly how the prison there works, but it seems likely that prisoners would need to be "unarmed" - in this case to give up a vision. If Tartaglia knew he was going to the Fortress, he may have given the Traveler his vision so that it wouldn't get taken into custody, and he would be able to get it back easily without bureaucracy after he left prison, either by escaping or by his sentence being overturned. In addition, giving up the vision willingly to the Traveler means he wouldn't experience any negative effects of not having his vision, which he might experience if it was forcibly taken by the Fortress (again, see Diluc's revenge vacation vs. the Vision Hunt Decree). In these situations, it's likely that Tartaglia's aware of the Fatui plans, though it's still possible that the narrative was contrived to have him give up his vision without him knowing what was in store.

However, the most glaring piece of evidence that makes it seem like Tartaglia gave up his vision for a deliberate reason - and knew of his upcoming performance - comes from Lyney.

During the magic show, Lyney says the following:

Lyney: Now, some of you may be thinking: Two Vision holders who can freely manipulate elemental powers performing magic is not true magic at all. Lyney: So, I would like to take a moment to assure you that elemental powers will have nothing to do with what you will witness on the stage today. Lyney: Both Lynette and myself have removed our Visions for the show. That way, even the gods won't be able to help us. Paimon: Oh, good point. That's what makes the show real magic!

Here we have Lyney and Lynette removing their visions for their performance. Even more blatant is one of Lyney's voicelines:

If a magician were to go onstage with their Vision in hand, people might suspect the authenticity of their tricks, so I habitually take it off before performing. But since you're interested, why don't you help me hold on to it while I perform? Just be sure to keep an eye on it, though — or it might just sneak its way back to me!

If we compare this line to Tartaglia's situation and what he says while giving the Traveler his vision, it seems too deliberate to be a coincidence. Lyney takes off his vision before performing, gives it to the Traveler, and tells them to keep an eye on it with the implication that he will take it back when the performance is done. Tartaglia gives the Traveler his vision, and tells us that he intends to come see the Traveler again and take it back - clear premeditation. This parallel lends itself as evidence for our claim that Tartaglia is intending to "perform" while the Traveler holds on to his vision, and may imply this is so his "tricks" and performance seem authentic.

One final parallel to mention with regards to Tartaglia is the similarities between our interactions with him in Fontaine so far and the interactions we had with him in Liyue.

We've mentioned that samsara cycles and history repeating itself have been major themes in Sumeru and in Fontaine. With that in mind, here's a sequence of events: the traveler is introduced to Tartaglia, who fights with a few members of an organization in the country. Afterwards, they have a somewhat amiable discussion, during which Tartaglia gives the Traveler information relevant to the plot, as well as a physical token.

In the Liyue archon quest, this is how we're first introduced to Tartaglia, ending with him giving us the Sigil of Permission, and here it's our re-introduction to him in the Fontaine archon questline. As a refresher, in Liyue, Tartaglia gave the Traveler the Sigil of Permission and followed the Traveler's exploits afterwards to gain information for his own plans, often leading the Traveler by the nose and introducing them to relevant parties for his goals. As a side note, Tartaglia's interactions with the Traveler at the beginning of the Liyue archon quest were under the guise of helping the Traveler be declared innocent from a clearly false charge of murder - and we have the opposite happening in Fontaine.

Besides being an interesting narrative parallel, this also is a relevant note of characterization: rather than "Tartaglia is straightforward and doesn't scheme", I'd posit it's more like "Tartaglia prefers not to scheme and is straightforward about some things to deflect from others". He's clearly demonstrated that he's willing to mislead the Traveler and use them to gather information or for his own plans. In Liyue, he doesn't hide the fact that he's Fatui or "kind of a bad guy", but this honesty helps distract us from his hidden motives in using the Traveler for intel. Giving the Traveler his vision for unstated motives (or, using the Traveler to hold his vision) and obscuring his real purpose in Fontaine seem to align with his previous behavior in archon quests. The Traveler even refers to this during Lyney's trial:

Traveler: (There's no doubt about a magician's ability to con others. Given how Lyney has concealed his identity, this could all have been set up beforehand.) Traveler: (Plus Childe is here in Fontaine along with other House operatives, there must be some scheme at work here.) Traveler: (I've been a victim of such schemes before, and now...)

If we look at Liyue also as an example of how Tartaglia is used by the Fatui, he was effectively used as a distraction for what the actual overall Fatui plot was. It's possible that Fontaine will shake out similarly: Tartaglia's trial and any chaos he may therefore cause is a distraction for the grander scheme of Fatui involvement. Like in Liyue, it's possible he has his own orders and isn't aware of the grander plan, but it's also possible that Fontaine will be different for him, and he will be aware of the grander plan, as seems to align with the other evidence we've laid out. (It'd also be more interesting from a character development perspective if he's aware, but that's subjective.)

Finally, if we accept the previously stated claims that (1) the Fatui want to send Tartaglia to the Fortress of Meropide, (2) Tartaglia's aware of this plan, and (3) the Fortress of Meropide has connections to Hyperborea and the abyss, then Tartaglia has personal motivation for being part of the events in Fontaine.

To our knowledge, it seems like Tartaglia follows the orders and missions he gets without many issues, so he doesn't necessarily need personal motivation to enact the Fatui plans. In this case, however, there is that bonus.

During our first meeting in Fontaine, Tartaglia states that he wants to go back to where he fell into the abyss:

Childe: You make it sound so easy. Ever since the incident I experienced there, I've never stopped searching for Master Skirk and that unknown abyss. Childe: But it's been years now and I've still found nothing. There isn't even a trace of the place where I remember falling into the abyss.

We previously claimed that Tartaglia likely encountered Hyperborea during his time in the abyss, and drew connections between the Fortress of Meropide and both the abyss and Hyperborea. If the Fatui are aware of these connections, then by going to the Fortress, Tartaglia can help the Fatui's goals as well as his own.

In summary, there's quite a bit of evidence that seems to support the claim that Tartaglia is in on the plot to control trials. In addition, given his awareness of the plot, the Fatui have stronger control of the "people" element of the second trial, helping both to put on the performance, and possibly to control the variables in an Oratrice decision-making experiment.

Section V Tartaglia TL;DR: It seems likely that Tartaglia is aware of his role in the Fatui plot, and has orders to be sent to the Fortress of Meropide. The imagery and details of his fight "performance" on the opera house main stage seem to hint that it was a ploy. The fact that Tartaglia gave the Traveler his vision - and expects to take it back - means that there's a reason that he needs to not have a vision within the narrative, and there's evidence to support that the reason is that he intends to put on an authentic "performance" without his vision, as laid out in Lyney's voicelines. There are many parallels between our interactions with Tartaglia in Fontaine and those in Liyue, where he used the Traveler for his goals, and deflected from his true motives with honesty about other topics. Tartaglia also has personal motivation to be sent to the Fortress of Meropide, in alignment with the Fatui's goals. Tartaglia being aware of his role and the plot strengthens the claim that the second trial was a ploy, as it allows the Fatui more control of the circumstances.

Lyney and co.

Now let's investigate if Lyney, Lynette, and other related parties could have been in on the Fatui plot.

We've already mentioned quite a few coincidences and suspicious points and actions from Lyney and co. throughout the quests, but to mention a few more: our seemingly contrived first meeting and the Paimon balloon, and his access to information that would allow him to set up events of the first trial. We'll look at these in some detail, but we'll start with bigger-picture evidence.

First is a quote from his character stories:

After all, truth and falsehoods were already inextricable in many parts of the performance — why, even the magician himself could be said to have become a part of the magic.

It seems to be implying Lyney's become part of the performance itself.

Once Lyney and Lynette are exposed as Fatui in the trial, he apparently comes clean to the Traveler: 

Lyney: That's why I didn't wish to flat-out lie to you, but chose to hide some details instead. Lyney: The truth is very important, but being completely transparent about everything would see us spending more effort than we need to. Traveler: But how can we know this isn't all just another lie? Lyney: Right. So, you be the judge. Heck, if I were you, I fear that I'd even struggle to trust me at this point. Lyney: You met a Fatuus who works as a magician, a trickster by trade... all by coincidence, too. Lyney: But still, I'm asking you to trust me. I am no criminal... at least, not in this case.

His dialogue here is pretty reminiscent of our first meeting with Tartaglia in Liyue: 

Childe: In Mondstadt, I don't suppose you came across a "Signora" by any chance? Paimon: Signora... Childe... Paimon: You're Fatui! One of the Harbingers! Childe: Oh, no. Don't worry, I'm not looking for a fight. Childe: Signora gave you quite the bad impression huh? Tsk, that woman... Can't say I'm a fan either. Childe: Right, let's forget all about her, shall we? I'm here to help you. Traveler: Help? / I don't need help from the Fatui. / Go. Leave. Childe: Yes. Help. / Come now, don't be like that. / Sure, I may be one of the Harbingers, but hear me out. Childe: I'm not a bad guy... Okay perhaps I'm kind of a bad guy, but I'm not here to give you any trouble. Childe: Would it be too much to ask for you to keep the sword sheathed? Childe: Haha, I thank you for your knightly nobility, Player. Childe: I heard of your deeds in Mondstadt, so I couldn't help but notice you during the proceedings back there. Childe: And because I had my eye on you the whole time, I know it wasn't you. Someone else was clearly behind it. Childe: But... regrettably, given I'm a Fatui envoy from Snezhnaya... there's no way I'd be trusted after something of this magnitude. Childe: The ruling Qixing of Liyue has always been overly suspicious of us. Paimon: Well can you honestly blame them? Childe: Hahaha. Guess I shouldn't try to deny that.

In both of these instances, Lyney and Tartaglia empathize with the Traveler by being honest about the inherent distrust they may have about the Fatui, and then ask them to make an exception, making them seem reasonable and fully honest and aware of the situation. As previously mentioned, in Tartaglia's case this is partly a ruse or misdirection to hide from his aim to use the Traveler to gain intel for his own ends. It stands to reason Lyney could be doing something similar: empathizing with the Traveler about his deception, and being honest to distract from any hidden motives that he didn't share (yet). 

It's also possible that Lyney and Lynette aren't in on the plot, without affecting the scheme too much. In the Overture trailer, Lyney and Lynette are just standees at the end, and it is Arlecchino who's real. 

So it may be that Arlecchino is using them for her own ends without their knowledge. It's possible that they also have only parts of the information and certain orders (invite the Traveler to your magic show), but aren't in on the master plan of everything. Lyney does imply that he's being earmarked to take over from the current Knave later, so it's possible he has more insight into the goings-on at the Hearth:

[...]No king rules forever, of course, and I know that one day I will be chosen as "Father's" successor...[...]

It's also possible that Lyney's aware of the plot and Lynette and the others aren't. In Lyney's character stories, se have the following line:

To preserve the secret behind the magic trick, even Lynette and Freminet knew not what was within.

The magic trick in this instance was a box that magically held "Father" - Arlecchino. So it may be that Lyney, as the future head of the Hearth, knows the plans, and withholds this information from Lynette and the other kids.

Let's now list all the potential suspicious events involving Lyney, and see what we're missing an explanation for.

Lyney and Lynette meeting the Traveler and Paimon as soon as they enter Fontaine. As previously mentioned, someone's keeping tabs on the Traveler's movements, and the Fatui could therefore be aware of them. In addition, if the Fatui have interest in controlling the characters at the first trial, and using the Traveler as part of their plot, then this is deliberate.

The Paimon balloon. Unexplained for now, but will be addressed in the Liliane section.

Lyney failing to catch the thief and his apparently twisted ankle that quickly starts healing. Unexplained for now, but will be addressed in the Liliane section.

Lyney sending us to Estelle's, where we meet Tartaglia. This doesn't seem too suspicious until we look at the big picture and accept the idea of a Fatui plot. Given that premise, it's possible that this meeting was a deliberate setup. If we accept that Tartaglia's aware of his role and wants/needs to give the Traveler his vision, he may have coordinated with Lyney to meet the Traveler prior to the trials. Lyney brings us to the House of the Hearth, and then delays our next action by chatting with us and blaming it on the rain. He then asks us to go to Estelle's on Freminet's behalf. This delay could have been used to coordinate with Tartaglia (and the Confrerie) and stage a coincidental meeting.

Lyney speaking to Cowell about the props prior to the magic show. Unexplained for now, but will be addressed in the Cowell section.

Lyney being able to reserve seats at the opera house. Previously explained as a way of demonstrating that Lyney and the Fatui have the ability to know who will be at the magic show (and trial) in order to control that performance. This will be addressed again in the Liliane section.

The next few sections will attempt to explain the remainder of these events. 

Liliane

We mentioned earlier that Liliane's at the center of a number of suspicious coincidences. She's the thief that appears at the beginning of the archon quest, and then was sitting in the seat that was deliberately chosen to be the volunteer, which led to her being involved in the serial disappearances case.

Looking at the events in closer detail, when we first see Liliane, Lyney points out that she's a thief, and then asks the Traveler to help catch her. The Traveler goes where Lyney tells them to in order to catch her:

Lyney: You two can ride the lift over there and wait up top. I bet that'll be her escape route if she tries to run. [...] Paimon: This is the spot where Lyney wanted us to wait. Paimon: Oh, look! Isn't that her!? Traveler: Get ready to stop her! / Time to make the arrest! Paimon: Oh no, did she notice us? She started running the other direction! Paimon: What should we do? Should we chase her? Traveler: Our job is to block this path. / The rest is up to Lyney.

We then go and find Lyney, and he says he was unable to catch the thief:

Lyney: That's right, pity I wasn't able to catch her. She distracted me by dropping the things she stole on the ground. By the time I looked back, she was already gone. Lynette: I saw the general direction she went, but Lyney twisted his ankle, and I needed to make sure he was okay. Paimon: Oh? Did you get hurt, Lyney? Lyney: I'll be alright. It's just a twisted ankle, that's all. In fact, it's feeling better already. [...] Lyney: But at least we were able to get the stolen items back, so it wasn't a complete failure.

It's somewhat suspicious that Lyney twisted his ankle and was unable to catch her, but then immediately waves off his injury, and says it's better already.

But the real important piece of information comes from during the first trial. We learn who Liliane is, and that she impersonated the person (Halsey) that was supposed to be at the show. She also says this:

Liliane: I heard that Lyney's show was going to be a real thriller, but I missed the chance to buy a ticket, so I stole one.

So we now know that Liliane stole the magic show ticket. This fact, along with Lyney's previous suspicious behavior, means we can propose a claim: Lyney planted the magic show ticket on Liliane during their altercation at Romaritime Harbor.

At the Harbor, Lyney enlists our help to funnel Liliane towards him by having the Traveler cut off alternate escape routes. He then plants the ticket on Liliane while she drops other stolen items in her escape. This also explains why Lyney fakes the ankle injury - he aims to let Liliane go, as he has the goal of having her attend the magic show. Liliane believes she's stolen the ticket, as it appears on her person after she engages in some thieving. Lyney's method of planting the ticket can be likened to the string he plants on Paimon and the Traveler earlier in the quest - and it explains the necessity of that scene: giving us the evidence that he can do such a thing.

To explain why Lyney would want to do this, we will have to look at the other people involved in the magic show crime and trial.

Cowell & Vaughn

As these two are revealed to be accomplices, we need to look at their actions together. 

Most of what we know of Cowell comes from posthumous investigation. The only time he's mentioned in the quest prior to his death (besides his role during the show) is when we first meet Lyney in the Opera: 

Cowell: Hey, Lyney! Could you come over here and take a look at this? Lyney: Oh, I'll be right there. Seems there's an issue with the stage props over there. That's Cowell, my assistant, calling me. I'll go lend him a hand.

We'll come back to this suspicious interaction. 

The other information we have about Cowell comes when investigating from a Garde:

Esmond: The deceased is one of Lyney's assistants, named Cowell. Even though he hadn't joined the troupe long, he was hardworking and everyone generally liked him. Esmond: The assistants are usually in charge of setting up and inspecting the props, as well as assisting with the show and keeping the crowd engaged.

During the events of the trial, we find out Cowell was part of a plot to frame the Fatui for the serial disappearances: 

Esmond: We discovered several test tubes of fluid within Cowell's baggage, each labeled separately. Esmond: The notebook in his backpack claims that these fluids are "Water from the Primordial Sea." Neuvillette: The Primordial Sea... Esmond: The notes' contents also indicate that Cowell belonged to an organization that sells illegal drugs, and that he had an accomplice. Esmond: The notebook has many entries concerning safe usage of these fluids, in which the keyword "dissolve" appears many times. Esmond: One of these tubes was labeled "Opera Epiclese" along with yesterday's date. It is empty. Esmond: The notes also state that these dissolution properties work exclusively on people from Fontaine. It's likely that Halsey was chosen as some sort of test subject.

When Vaughn confesses, we gain a few more clues about both his and Cowell's roles: 

Neuvillette: I suspect that the accomplice mentioned in Cowell's notes was not Lyney, but you, yes? [...] Vaughn: I—I was just following orders! Vaughn: We were supposed to place blame for the serial disappearances onto Lyney and thus cause suspicion to fall on the Fatui. The higher-ups said that this was the best opportunity to do so. Neuvillette: And now that your plan has fallen through, and the secrets of the Water have been revealed, you have become a liability to said higher-ups, yes? Neuvillette: Therefore, you would be wise to tell everything you know and seek the protection of the Gardes. Vaughn: Y—Yes! I'll tell you everything I know! Vaughn: Our boss discovered that the Water can cause people to dissolve. Vaughn: It can also be made into a potion which, when extremely diluted, can cause people to experience unforgettable exhilaration. Vaughn: We've been in this business for a while now and have made decent Mora off it. The disappearances were also the boss' idea. I mean, this is the boss we're talking about, the—

We can also speak to Vaughn during the investigation, which leads to an interesting conversation: 

Vaughn: Lyney used the machine to pick a random member of the audience during his performance, right? The lucky girl that later disappeared. Vaughn: Well, we thought there might be a serious problem with the machine, so we had it taken away for further inspection. Quentin: It turns out that the seat number it picked wasn't random at all. The machine picks that same number every time. Quentin: I'm sure you already know that you have to make a reservation in advance to get a seat, regardless of whether it's a trial or some performance. Quentin: In other words, Lyney knew who would be sitting where from the very beginning.

So now in summary what we know of Cowell is:

He was a relatively new member of the magic troupe, and was in charge of setting up and inspecting props.

He spoke to Lyney about the props prior to the magic show. 

He's part of the organization making Sinthe (run by Marcel) and likely had orders to dissolve someone in order to frame Lyney and the Fatui.

What we know of Vaughn is:

He's working as a Garde in the Opera. 

He is either the Garde or one of the Gardes that brought attention to the seat-selector prop that was tampered with to choose a specific seat.

He is Cowell's accomplice. 

He's part of the Sinthe organization (run by Marcel) and planted the Primoridal Sea water in Lyney's effects on orders to frame Lyney and the Fatui. 

From these facts, we can attempt to lay out what happened behind the scenes of the crime. 

Cowell and Vaughn received orders from higher-up in the Sinthe organization to frame Lyney and the Fatui for the serial disappearances at the magic show. To do so, Cowell joined the magic troupe, and Vaughn joined work as a Garde at the Opera (though he may have already been working there and was chosen for that reason). Cowell tampered with the seat-selector so it would choose a volunteer that fit the profile for the serial disappearances, a Fontainian girl (Halsey). He also tampered with the rope of the water tank so that it would fall and hide the evidence of the Primordial Sea water. Lyney planted the magic show ticket on Liliane and changed the person who would be the volunteer. The new volunteer looked like she could fit the profile for the disappearance victims, so Cowell didn't notice the switch. When the crime occurred, Cowell was taken off-guard by Liliane not disappearing, so she was able to get the jump on him and stuff him in the box. When the investigation began, Vaughn drew attention to the tampered seat-selector as evidence to frame Lyney. Later in the trial, when it seemed like Lyney would be acquitted, Vaughn planted the water in Lyney's things to frame him. The reappearance of Liliane allowed for Lyney to be acquitted and the method of the disappearances to be exposed, also exposing Cowell and Vaughn's plans. When Vaughn is questioned, he confesses and is dramatically dissolved before naming his boss. 

There are a few further things to discuss with these events. 

Firstly, Vaughn planting the water in Lyney's things seems not to track with how Cowell attempted to hide the murder weapon (water) by tampering with the tank. One possibility is that Vaughn decided to do this on the spot, when it seemed like their plot was failing. Another option is that the frame-job was also a setup, and Vaughn had different orders from Cowell. We'll continue to explain this option moving forward. 

The second point of interest here: what did Lyney know? If we accept the claim that he planted the ticket on Liliane, then it seems like switching Halsey for Liliane was a deliberate move. If it was, it seems to imply that he or someone giving him orders knew that there would be an attempted crime and frame-job during the magic show, and moved to expose it. Lyney speaks to Cowell about the props prior to the show, which may be a hint that he's aware of the modified seat-selector and let it be, or even that Lyney was the one that tampered with it. On the other hand, that conversation could just be foreshadowing for the events of the magic show. 

An important question at this junction: if Lyney was aware of the plot, and/or deliberately put Liliane in the place of Halsey, does that mean he's party to the murder of Cowell? Though it's possible, on a meta level it seems unlikely, based on past situations, that Hoyoverse would allow a playable character to commit an on-screen murder - some level of plausible deniability is needed. 

This issue can be resolved, however, if we look more closely at the events. Liliane explains what happens during the show:

Liliane: So I played along with the show while looking for an opening to flee, but then I got water poured on me for no reason, and then someone jumped into the tunnel to nab me... Liliane: I wasn't going to take that lying down, so I knocked him out and stuffed him into the box. [...] Liliane: But I swear I didn't know that the water tank would fall down. Really, I swear it! Liliane: Had I known that, I wouldn't have put him in the magic box! I may be a thief, but I'm no killer!

From this we can propose that Cowell's death was unplanned. Lyney (or whoever gave him orders) switched Halsey with Liliane, but did not expect her to win a fight against Cowell, nor for her to put him in the box when she did. If Liliane loses the fight, Cowell can successfully abduct her and nobody's in the box when the tank falls. Likewise, if Liliane hadn't put Cowell in the box, then nobody would have been in the box when the tank fell - a failed magic trick but not deadly. In both instances, Liliane would have still been missing, and so a trial might still occur with regards to the serial disappearances. In this way, Cowell's death is an accident and wasn't something Lyney could have known about. Lyney has a relevant voiceline:

Of course, there's no way to ensure that you'll never slip up when performing magic tricks. The way I see it, the point is not to perform perfectly, but to stay calm at all times and adapt as needed. Even if some small flaws occur, you just need to make the audience believe that it's all part of the show, and you'll still deliver an entertaining and unforgettable performance!

In this case, Cowell's death was one of those "small flaws" in the performance. 

Several times now, we've mentioned someone giving Lyney orders, and that Cowell and Vaughn received orders from "higher-ups" in their organization. Let's now take a closer look at those potential authorities. 

Vacher/Marcel

We should investigate Marcel for a few reasons: first, he's ostensibly the person who ordered Cowell and Vaughn to frame the Fatui for the serial disappearances, and secondly, he and his organization seem tied to the Fatui in more ways than can be coincidence. 

Let's address the second point first. Marcel and the Fatui seem to be connected in a number of ways: the Fatui are framed for the serial disappearances, and it turns out the real culprit was Marcel. Marcel runs both the Sinthe business and the Confrerie of Cabriere (which are likely but not definitely separate organizations). The Confrerie of Cabriere owes money to Northland Bank. The Sinthe business is behind the failed framing of the Fatui in the first trial. Overall the two seem very intertwined, and in a complicated way. 

In addition, as we've mentioned before, Marcel is Snezhnayan. This doesn't mean he's part of the Fatui but it is a flag to make us think of the Fatui. Marcel being Snezhnayan is a deliberate choice, as he only needs to be non-Fontainian for his character motivations to work. 

The most straightforward reasoning for these coincidences might be: Marcel attempted to frame Lyney because the Confrerie owes money to the Fatui in an attempt to undermine their power in Fontaine and get the heat off of him, and the Confrerie had chosen to use Northland Bank in the first place because Marcel's Snezhnayan and comfortable with organizations from his homeland. The problems here is that it firstly assumes Marcel knows Lyney's Fatui, and secondly that framing and convicting the Fatui for the serial disappearances cases would help erase Marcel's debt. The first problem is not too hard to overcome with an information network. The second is more difficult to address. It's likely that should the Northland Bank get less business after the Fatui were convicted for the crime (which is likely), they would come down even harder on the debts they were owed to make up for the lack of new business. Potentially Marcel was also at the end of his rope and taking drastic action when it seemed like the cases would come to the forefront again, as we see from his villain monologue at the end of the second trial. But we can only speculate here.

An easily overlooked piece of information that might help shed light on this is that Marcel is not the only mastermind behind the Sinthe production and Callas' death. We find notes in the Sinthe production base that are a discussion between at least two people.

Paimon: Seems like we've got a bunch of correspondence between the higher-ups...

So there is at least one other person at the top of the Sinthe and disappearances ladder. 

Vaughn also alludes to this in his confession, making reference to the "higher-ups": 

Vaughn: I—I was just following orders! Vaughn: We were supposed to place blame for the serial disappearances onto Lyney and thus cause suspicion to fall on the Fatui. The higher-ups said that this was the best opportunity to do so. [...] Vaughn: We've been in this business for a while now and have made decent Mora off it. The disappearances were also the boss' idea. I mean, this is the boss we're talking about, the—

Here, Vaughn dissolves before he explicitly names "the boss", which we previously mentioned could either be an important hint, or just an obfuscation so that we can investigate and figure out Marcel. It seems likely that "the boss" refers to Marcel, as it's a singular and "the boss" is the one who discovered the water could dissolve people. However, this isn't known for sure. 

The other interesting point here is that we believe Marcel is the one who dissolved Vaughn because Navia claims that during the second trial:

Navia: And at the end of Lyney's trial, the culprit also only dissolved the victim in front of everyone because they realized they were at risk of being identified. Navia: The culprit could only time their actions so precisely if they were already at the scene.

Marcel refutes this:

Marcel: On top of that, does a person have to be physically present to control the timing? Can't someone remotely monitor the place?

The relevant information we now have:

There is at least one other "higher-up" in the Sinthe organization that Marcel runs. 

Vaughn's orders to frame the Fatui were from the "higher-ups". 

Vaughn doesn't explicitly name "the boss" before dissolving. 

We don't know for sure who triggered Vaughn's dissolution. 

We will use this information to attempt to explain more about the crime and trial by making the following claim: There is another person, a "higher-up" in the Sinthe organization, that is working on Fatui orders or as a Fatui agent and informant. 

The presence of this Fatui agent helps address some holes and risks in the magic show crime and trial plots, as well as the amount of connections Marcel has to the Fatui, and explains why there seems to be some deliberate obfuscation of names with regards to the frame-job. 

If everything with regards to the first trial was a Fatui plot, including the crime, the events have clear motivations and can easily be explained. 

The Fatui have the agent in the Sinthe organization plan to frame the Fatui during the magic show. They present this plot to Marcel as a way to ensure he isn't discovered, and he agrees with the plan. At the same time, the Fatui have Lyney switch Halsey with Liliane, which will foil the framing. The proposed series of events at the show would likely be similar to what actually happened, minus Cowell's death. Lyney would be the main suspect, as the head of the magic troupe. Cowell would possibly also be interrogated. From the Sinthe organization's side, it would be simple to name Lyney and Cowell accomplices and give Cowell up if Cowell is found out, placing responsibility on the Fatui. From the Fatui's perspective, they are able to expose Cowell's ties and methods, and show that it was an attempted framing, successfully removing suspicion on the Fatui. On the other hand, Cowell's death could have been in the plan - it would tie up loose ends by removing his ability to confess. In this case, Vaughn's actions of planting the water in Lyney's things were premeditated, and would have gone to plan if Liliane didn't resurface. As such, Liliane's existence is a crucial point to fully exonerate Lyney and the Fatui in the trial. It's probable that if Navia hadn't appeared, it would have been investigated in more detail. Vaughn could have been dissolved by Marcel, or by this other higher-up in a dramatic demonstration of the water's power before he fully confessed, which aids the Fatui's goals of exposing the water's ability and the validity of the prophecy. 

In this way, everything about the events of the trial are under the Fatui's control, like we initially posit. 

Marcel's Fatui connections are also explained: besides the fact that the framing is an inside job, the Confrerie owing money to Northland Bank might be a deliberate move by a Fatui agent in their management. The Fatui also now have a way to gain information about Marcel and his actions, and because of Marcel's connections, it's likely they could be aware of some of Navia's movements as well. 

As an aside, it's possible this person also was responsible for Navia's attempted murder. If we going along with the claim that the second trial was a setup, the Fatui might have a vested interest in preventing Navia and the Traveler from investigating the disappearances and discovering Marcel, as they want to send Tartaglia to prison. Of course, it's highly likely this murder attempt was Marcel anticipating Navia discovering him, rather than a Fatui plot, as the Fatui stood to benefit from Marcel being exposed. 

What we now have here is a conspiracy and plot that explains a number of suspicious coincidences. Cowell and Vaughn have orders to dissolve and/or abduct a girl and frame the Fatui by controlling the volunteer chosen at the magic show. Lyney has orders to plant a ticket on Liliane, explaining his suspicious behavior at Romaritime Harbor, and also (potentially unknowingly) successfully foiling Cowell and Vaughn's plot to dissolve a Fontainain girl by replacing her with an immune Mondstadter. Foiling the plot in this way exposes the method of the disappearances crime, as the attempted dissolution fails and there's a witness to the attempted crime. The Fatui can use this setup to expose the existence of Primordial Sea water and reinforce the prophecy, ensure the Fatui aren't seen as potential culprits by exposing a frame-job, and set up interest in an investigation into the real culprit, allowing them to stage a second trial. All of this can easily happen from a single person high in the Sinthe organization owing their loyalties to the Fatui.

We can now also explain the rest of Lyney's suspicious actions:

The Paimon balloon. Shows that Lyney's sleight of hand can be used to leave marks/plant items on people.

Lyney failing to catch the thief and his apparently twisted ankle that quickly starts healing. He planted the magic show ticket on Liliane and wanted her to escape.

Lyney speaking to Cowell about the props prior to the magic show. It's possible he's in on and aware of the plot to frame the Fatui, thanks to the information from their agent in the Sinthe organization, or it's possible this was just a hint to Cowell's involvement. This could be in reference to the seat selection machine, in which case it might make sense that Lyney would want it to remain in a tampered state.

Lyney being able to reserve seats at the opera house. Shows that he has access to this information, which means he could know who he was replacing with Liliane, and potentially even could have set up who others would think the person in that seat would be. Also shows the Fatui could know who would be in attendance at the trial (Neuvillette, etc.).

With this information in mind, let's revisit the first trial. We laid out how the Fatui would be able to control the time and place of the performance, and that only some people would be under their control. With the claims made in this section, all the people that we didn't think were under Fatui control previously can now be under their control. Based on our previous conclusions, these people include:

People that have a tentative connection to the Fatui: Cowell, Liliane, Marcel

People connected to Marcel: Vaughn, Cowell, Navia

If Lyney plants the magic show ticket on Liliane during their altercation at the beginning of the archon quest, he has successfully controlled her - and has controlled the volunteer for the disappearance trick.

If we accept the presence of another "higher-up" that's in league with Marcel, and that that person is a Fatui informant or agent, then Cowell and Vaughn fall under Fatui control, and the Fatui can keep tabs on Marcel and Navia. Cowell and Vaughn receive orders from this "higher-up" to frame the Fatui, which successfully sets up the conditions for the trial without tying their orders back to the Fatui - instead, Marcel's organization is implicated. Marcel no longer needs to be controlled in the first trial beyond being aware of his movements, and the same is true for Navia. In this way, we can explain and account for all the major players at the first trial, and the Fatui can ensure that the performance goes to plan.

We also have a very good level of compartmentalization of information. At minimum, Lyney only needs to have orders to plant the magic show ticket on Liliane. He can be otherwise innocent and unaware of everything else that goes on. Cowell and Vaughn get orders from the "higher-ups", but don't know that those higher-ups are working in Fatui interest - instead they only associate them with Marcel's Sinthe operation. Cowell only needs to know to try to dissolve the volunteer and to abduct her no matter what, and to tamper with the tank rope to hide the evidence. He could tamper with the seat-choosing device, or that could have been Lyney. Vaughn only needs to know to plant the water in Lyney's effects to try to frame the Fatui. Together, Cowell and Vaughn only know they are attempting to frame the Fatui for the disappearances, not why or who's ordering it. Marcel doesn't need to be aware of anything. The higher-up in his organization that's aligned with the Fatui is the only one that knows about the plan to frame the Fatui - but that person doesn't need to know about Lyney's orders to have Liliane be the volunteer, and in fact, might not even necessarily know that they are working for the Fatui. A quick diagram of how this information tree plays out is shown below:

Section V Lyney and co. TL;DR: It's likely Lyney is aware of at least part of the Fatui plot, though Lynette, Freminet, and the other kids may not be. Lyney planted the magic show ticket on Liliane in Romaritime Harbor. A higher-up in Marcel's Sinthe organization is working with/for the Fatui, informing on Marcel and Navia. On orders from the Fatui, this individual gave Cowell orders to dissolve and abduct a girl at the magic show by tampering with the seat selector, and to tamper with the tank to hide the evidence; they also gave Vaughn orders to plant the water in Lyney's effects in an attempt to frame the Fatui for the serial disappearances. In this way, the Fatui could fully control the events of the magic show and first trial, and set up the stage for the second.

VI. Conclusions

How the events of the archon quest play out if it's all a Fatui plot

If we accept the claim that everything has been a Fatui a ploy and accept some of the weaker connections we've mentioned, we can take a look at the movement throughout the narrative so far and clearly lay out the progression of events.

A man in Caravan Ribat hears the Traveler is going to Fontaine and goes there first to inform his higher-ups.

The Traveler meets Lyney and Lynette in Romaritime Harbor, and Lyney demonstrates his sleight-of-hand abilities with Paimon balloon.

The three chase after Liliane the thief. Lyney catches up with her and plants the ticket to the magic show on her with the previously mentioned sleight-of-hand.

Lyney invites the Traveler to their magic show.

Lyney takes the Traveler to the House of the Hearth, and controls the timing of our next move by bringing up the rain.

Lyney sends the Traveler to Estelle to give her materials instead of Freminet. Tartaglia is also sent there to "coincidentally" meet us.

The Confrerie of Cabriere appears at Estelle's smithy, closely followed by Tartaglia. They fight.

Tartaglia talks to the Traveler and gives them his vision.

The Traveler attends the magic show on Lyney's request.

Cowell attempts to dissolve Liliane on orders from the (Fatui-aligned) higher-ups, and when it fails, attempts to physically abduct her.

Unexpectedly, Liliane shoves Cowell in the box.

The tank falls on the box and kills Cowell.

Lyney requests the Traveler to act as his defense attorney.

Cowell is accused and Lyney is no longer the main suspect.

Vaughn attempts to frame Lyney.

Liliane is brought in to testify to acquit Lyney - she is unaware of anything else going on.

Vaughn confesses to framing Lyney and the Fatui on orders of the (Fatui-aligned) higher-ups.

The first trial ends.

Marcel or the Fatui-aligned higher-up attempts to murder Navia, anticipating her interest in investigating the serial disappearances case.

Navia and the Traveler investigate Callas' death and talk to Marcel.

The Fatui accuse Tartaglia of being the culprit in the serial disappearances case.

Tartaglia makes a show of disagreeing with the charges leveled against him.

Navia and the Traveler accuse and convict Marcel.

Tartaglia makes a show, again, of disagreeing with the need to try him for the crime Marcel is convicted of.

The Oratrice declares Tartaglia guilty.

Tartaglia performs on the main stage of the opera house to deflect from the real motive of sending him to the Fortress, and to make the trial and his reactions seem authentic.

Looking at this all laid out, we can see that the Fatui have been scriptwriters for everything that has happened so far, and the Traveler's movements in Fontaine have the air of following stage directions given to them directly by the Fatui.

The biggest problem with this all being a Fatui plot that we have not yet mentioned is that it requires all the Fatui factions in Fontaine to be working in general harmony. The three kids' conversation we mentioned at the start seems to imply some discord, or at least different actions and motivations from the different Fatui factions. Tartaglia's voicelines and character stories also seem to imply that he doesn't get along well with the other Harbingers. However, we don't know if that's only on a personal level, and they are able and willing to put aside their differences for the Fatui's goals.

To that point, one of the most interesting parts of this theory is that even though everything fits nicely if it's all a setup, you can easily remove Fatui involvement from several parts of the events and still see how the Fatui plot unfolds. For example, should Marcel and the Confrerie be wholly unconnected to the Fatui, the Fatui are still able to take advantage of the situation provided to them by the events of the case to demonstrate the dissolving water, or to set up the second trial. If the first trial wasn't a setup, the second trial still could be - taking advantage of the new public interest in the disappearances case to accuse and send Tartaglia to the Fortress. Lyney and co. could be in on the plans, or pawns, and same for Tartaglia, and the situations would still shake out the same for the proposed Fatui interests, just with more risk involved in some cases. Other instances of this no-lose situation for the Fatui have been mentioned throughout this document, as well, so we can pick and choose which elements we think are more viable than others to be part of the Fatui scheme and still have the events of the archon quest make sense, even if the claim that everything was a scheme seems too fanciful.

TL;DR: Everything was a Fatui plot: the Fatui are the scriptwriters and directors of the performance that is the Fontaine archon quest. If you think those claims are too far-fetched, Fatui involvement can be removed piecemeal and the overall motivations and actions still hold up.

VII. Speculation on 4.1 and beyond

Based on the motivations and goals we've laid out for the Fatui in Fontaine, we can expect a few things from the rest of the Fontaine quests.

Firstly, we can expect to see Tartaglia carry out some sort of mission at the Fortress of Meropide. Based on the Fatui's interests, it's likely this mission will have to do with gaining information on (1) how the Oratrice works, (2) the abyss, (3) Hyperborea or other pre-Celestial civilizations, or (4) the Primordial Sea and its water. Following completion of his mission, he'll either escape the prison, or his sentence will be revoked, and he'll return to collect his vision from the Traveler.

The magic pockets also feel like a Chekov's gun. We don't know exactly what they do - what Lyney tells us at the beginning of the archon quest is very vague:

Lyney: As a magical item, these Magic Pockets have an astonishing capacity. I'm sure they will come in handy when people are moving their belongings.

What exactly this "astonishing capacity" is will likely be demonstrated, and may be key in however the prophecy ends up playing out.

Finally, in every nation so far besides Mondstadt, the presence of the Traveler and the events of the archon quests have led to a change in the status quo of how the country functions.

In Liyue, the archon quest was set up to have Liyue's government transition from archon-led to led by humans in concert with the Adepti.

In Inazuma, the aftereffects of the archon quest led to Inazuma opening its borders, and Ei coming out of seclusion and playing a greater role in governing.

In Sumeru, the sages were overthrown and Nahida was able to take a role in governing - and immediately began making changes to the status quo, especially in regards to the Akasha and the desert.

In Fontaine, we can expect that something about the status quo governance of the nation will change. As we've proposed that one goal of the Fatui is to destabilize the justice system and the people's faith in it, it's likely that this is the change we will see. The people of Fontaine will no longer rely on or believe in the Fontanian justice system - and it's possible Neuvillette and/or Furina will also lead these changes. Neuvillette is already investigating how the Oratrice works as a function of the second trial in the archon quest, and Furina seems to be shaken by the unexpected results.

We can only wait and see how this will play out.

Afterword:

If you read this whole behemoth: thank you. I love you. I can't wait for 4.1 to come out and obliterate this entire thing.

I wrote this whole thing feeling like

I hope you felt the same reading it. <3

*All quotes pulled from HoneyHunter or the Genshin Wiki

#genshin impact #lyney #tartaglia #childe #genshin theory #genshin lore #genshin meta #genshin analysis #g:genshin #m:meta #showed this to a friend and the response was #holy shit what is wrong with you (affectionate) #thats hyperfixation and being a researcher at heart babey ✌️ #my fav out-of-context phrase from this: #snezhnayan (un-dissolvable) #*

[mllemaenad]

The Magnus Protocol: Personal Screening

The interesting thing here is how much this is about a person proceeding with a very unwise course of action despite quite clear warnings that he should stop.

To be clear, I'm not of the "stay ignorant of the monsters or they will get you" school of thought. The Magnus Archive had 200 episodes. Most of those were about someone who did not work at The Magnus Institute having a decidedly unpleasant supernatural experience. Most of those people had no particular reason to believe the monsters even existed before that experience occurred. Ignorance won't save you, and there were a handful of cases where someone competent (say, Adelard Dekker) actually knew something that could and did save people.

Understanding the kind of world, the kind of story, you're in, and how its rules work, is an important aspect of surviving a horror story. But poking a bear just to see what happens is generally not a wise course of action.

And I'm usually sympathetic to the statement givers, even when they do things that are obviously the wrong thing to do in a horror story. The average person has no reason to expect that poking around in some back streets in search of a lost companion is going to lead them to a faceless, screaming crowd, or that getting on a cable car could led to travelling into an endless sky. People don’t plan their days around things like that, and you can’t expect them to know ahead of time what sort of story they’ve wandered into. But this guy ... Tom. Tom, what is wrong with you? That is not how competitions work.

The case quite obviously interrupts Sam filling in his mysterious “Response department” forms, which sound an awful lot like poking a bear just to see what will happen.

Sam And I’m going to fill it in anyway. See what happens. Alice You’re wasting your time. Sam It’s my time to waste. – The Magnus Protocol: Personal Screening

And while it may be no more than coincidence, it’s impossible not to note that the title of the blog post that draws Tom back in calls back to the language Sam used to describe The Magnus Institute:

Sam What? Oh no, I’m fine. It just threw me. Have you ever heard of the Magnus Institute? Gwen Like from the case? No. Why? Sam Nothing. Just a bit of a blast from the past, that’s all. – The Magnus Protocol: First Shift

Chester/Tom BLOG POST: GENERAL: A BLAST FROM THE PAST – The Magnus Protocol: Personal Screening

If not a coincidence, that could be a fairly pointed warning.

Tom's story is very much about a man prodding at an old wound – and in doing so ignoring every single warning that he is heading into danger. It is as much about what is not said as what is. The blog itself is full of gaps: there are the deleted blog posts about various pieces of horror media, which mean that Tom is stripped down purely to the narrative that destroyed him.

Arguably, given the last post, he is a lure for the next person – but I don't believe this actually fits with what is there. You can see, yes that:

Chester/Tom Voyeur needs to be seen to be believed. The scariest movie I have ever seen. – The Magnus Protocol: Personal Screening

But if you read the entire contents of the blog, you also get a very clear rundown of why you absolutely should not see it. You're not going to get bored or distracted by Tom's 4,000 word review of Puppet Master 4 and never see the pertinent information. It's all clearly laid out for you. Tom didn't heed the warnings. Will you? And, by extension, will Sam?

Personal Screening refers, of course, to the viewing that Tom "won", but also to a screening process. There are numerous red flags in the Voyeur story to which Tom is utterly oblivious. Many people would simply not have followed that trail. But the process has effectively "screened" for someone who will go on to the very end.

And there Sam sits, having first ticked the box he wasn't supposed to tick, and now filling out the forms he's been warned not to fill in. How many more steps will there be before he reaches the end of his screening process?

And then, of course, there's the long silence between the first post and the second. It is not outright stated, but pretty heavily implied that Tom's father's "accident" occurred shortly after the first post was made. This is what Tom "went through" and what made him stop posting.

Everything around the Voyeur setup is framed around taking Tom back before that time: the "like minded people" who discuss horror the way his father did; the cinema he frequented with his father; the popcorn he devoured as a child.

He's a horror fan, but that doesn't help him. In point of fact, it probably puts him in more peril, because he notes that horror no longer scares him:

Chester/Tom I know that I only found out about this film like a week ago, but I feel like I’ve been waiting to see something that would truly scare me for… years now. I feel like I’ve just been kind of… numb to the whole genre. Obviously, I still really enjoy everything horror related, but it takes a lot to get any sort of reaction out of me these days… I even started seeking out the borderline “should be illegal” stuff… Faces of Death, the August Underground series… even those barely get a shudder out of me… I’m hoping this might finally scratch that itch. – The Magnus Protocol: Personal Screening

He has presumably watched hundreds of characters come to terms with the fact that they are in a horror story and resolve themselves to deal with it. But virtually nothing makes an impression on him: not the disappearing comments; the odd website; the wildly incoherent contest submission; the mysterious letter; the bizarre disparity between the exterior and interior of the theatre; the lone, deeply suspicious, employee; the whole setup being for a single "fan" with no obvious promotional benefit for anybody involved – nothing. Only the realisation that, not only does the cinema have footage from his life, but that there is something wrong with it, provokes any reaction. Even then, that reaction is more consternation than terror.

If you do poke a bear, you should know exactly why you're doing it and be prepared for the response. Tom obviously dances around the emotional issue – and never fully grasps the rules of the world he inhabits.

And, well, this is a Chester story. Is Chester John? Could not say. If The Magnus Protocol intends to discuss the identity of the voices, it has not chosen to do so yet.

The story is certainly relevant to his interests, though.

Horror, if it's any good, is usually about something, rather than just gore for gore's sake. It's unsurprising that Tom did not like The Babadook: the story frames itself around the worrying behaviour of a child whose father was killed in a car accident. Tom is seeking horror for nostalgia: that story would be asking him to confront things he does not want to think about. But the film also contains a malevolent children's book, whose titular character comes to terrorise the family – which has definite shades of A Guest for Mr. Spider.

It's not about the reference, though: it's about the attitude to the threat.

Now, I don't believe "ignored all reasonable warnings and charged headlong toward ruin" is a reasonable summary of John's story. But I do think that's how he tended to frame it:

Archivist Healthy? I am an Avatar of voyeuristic terror, whose unquestioned craving for knowledge has condemned the entire world to an eternity of torment; healthy i-isn’t – i,it’s not – – The Magnus Archives: Dwelling

The thing is, John was always keenly aware of the danger.

Archivist Of course, I believe. Of course I do. Have you ever taken a look at the stuff we have in Artefact Storage? That’s enough to convince anyone. But, but even before that… Why do you think I started working here. It’s not exactly glamorous. I have… I’ve always believed in the supernatural. Within reason. I mean. I still think most of the statements down here aren’t real. Of the hundreds I’ve recorded, we’ve had maybe… thirty, forty that are… that go on tape. Now, those, I believe, at least for the most part. Martin Then why do you – Archivist Because I’m scared, Martin! Because when I record these statements it feels… it feels like I’m being watched. I… I lose myself a bit. And then when I come back, it’s like… like if I admit there may be any truth to it, whatever’s watching will… know somehow. The scepticism, feigning ignorance. It just felt safer. – The Magnus Archives: Infestation

Access to the right information might well have saved him a lot of misery. But what he got was access to a lot of the wrong information, because people significantly more powerful than he was had access to enough personal details about him to know exactly what buttons they had to push to get him to behave a certain way. And Voyeur – well, it's right there in the title. Whatever is pursuing Tom is also keenly aware, not just of footage from his personal life, but of all the little details of his personal experience that would draw him in. And, implicitly, it enjoyed exploiting that.

The whole of The Magnus Archives, like this blog, could be taken as a warning. And by the end, a lot of his motivation was geared toward preventing another person from walking his path:

Archivist [With sadness] You didn’t speak the words! You didn’t feel them move through you, vomiting out of you like… … I did this. It’s my fault. And I don’t want… I can’t let anyone else feel that. That helpless, enormous guilt. Ever. – The Magnus Archives: Seeing It Through

I don't especially think Sam will walk John's path, or not exactly. Mostly because I don't think there's much point in telling the same story twice. But I do think it would be John's primary concern. And Sam – Sam has experience of the supernatural. And Sam wants something badly enough to pursue it with what at least looks like a devil-may-care attitude. It may be that he is, in fact, better prepared to deal with what he finds than it appears. But there's a warning here: why are you poking a bear? And will getting what you want be worth the price?

As for Chester's source material – well, that's interesting too. So far:

Norris's stories have both accessed very private information: an email chain in one instance, a diary in the other.

Chester's have both drawn on reasonably public information: a forum thread and a blog.

Augustus has only had one story, so it's unreasonable to draw extended conclusions, but it does differ from both of the above: it was taken from a letter that would have been private when written, but is likely regarded as a simple historical artefact now.

But, well, as they say: once is happenstance, twice is coincidence ...

In terms of the rest of the framing story, it makes me think about the difference of the audience position between this and The Magnus Archives. Just as the statements were largely willingly given in The Magnus Archives, the audience was generally allowed to listen in.

Tape recorders, after all, record. And they play back. That's what they do. There's no ambiguity about what person is doing if they are using a tape recorder. And mostly, the cast used them deliberately, to record statements or thoughts or (apparently) poetry.

After a while, John tended to treat the tape recorder as a sympathetic ear in a hostile environment, and would just flop down and tell you how unbearably weird his week had been. Martin tended to use the tapes to leave messages for John, but also sometimes spoke to them directly. There were characters, like Tim and Melanie, who became actively hostile to the tapes, and because of that you would only hear them in specific circumstances. That might colour your perception of them, but it was a choice they were allowed to make.

I'm not arguing there were no violations of privacy in The Magnus Archives – there very much were. But in terms of the tapes this tended to come down to a minute or so of overheard conversation, some subsequent shouting once the tape recorder was discovered, and then the tape recorder being very firmly turned off.

As the audience, you might eavesdrop a little, but most of the time you were included as an additional, if silent, character in the conversation. And if you were overhearing something the characters did not want you to, they could usually cut you out.

Here, just as the characters in the stories don't know they're sharing their stories, the main cast don't know they're being recorded. Sam has been watching Colin, and reports this to Lena behind his back. But we are watching Sam in turn. Gwen is investigating a recording of Lena and a former IT Manager, and we watch her do that.

Only Colin seems aware they're being observed, and he is becoming obsessive about avoiding it.

And it's a thing, obviously, in the modern world. Your phone has a microphone, and so may your TV and various other devices. And people mostly do just ignore it, because they have little other practical choice.

It's even highlighted in this story itself:

Chester/Tom BLOG POST: GENERAL: NO WAY I WON THE CONTEST! I can’t believe it! The invitation was waiting when I got home today, in a small black envelope. I don’t even remember giving them my address. The website must have logged my IP and looked it up or something… I’m really not sure how any of that works. – The Magnus Protocol: Personal Screening

I don't actually believe that's what happened here – but if it did, it would be a different kind of horrifying thing, to which Tom is cheerfully indifferent. The idea that he might be so completely surveilled, and that unknown people will act on that surveillance at will, simply does not phase him.

But if The Magnus Archives cast the audience as a known listener, inviting you in to hear its characters' woes – where are our sympathies pointed here, where we are very much on the outside looking in?

#the magnus protocol #the magnus protocol spoilers #the magnus archives

[9w1ft]

Hey, 9!

I was the one asking about the Cardigan MV a few days ago. Sorry for the late reply. You asked how it fits in with Willow? Well, Willow is clearly a continuation of Cardigan. We can agree on that, correct? Now, I may need you to have an open mind, this is just my idea/theory. First, it’s interesting that these two MVs connect since they are on different albums. “Sister” albums, correct? This reminds me of how we have recently seen this idea of twins. “A twin form your dream,” T and K “twinning” with jackets, bags and accessories and also the tweet from BM after the last game where she caption it “twinning and winning.” Now, I believe that many things are not a coincidence and we have some master planner on our hands here. This twin idea is seen in the Cardigan MV. You know it is said that Zeus tore souls apart and that they will spend their wholes lives looking for the missing half. Enter Willow. Once it starts, the one person (T) is aware of the other half and we can later see that the other half (now represented by the boy) looks confused and may not have been aware that their soul mate is out there looking for them. T follows the golden string (maybe it can likened to intuition?) to leave clues and to put themselves on display, hoping the other person will notice them. Reminds me of the hallway references in her music and someone waiting there. If you listen carefully, you may be surprised how this theme is scattered throughout her music. I won’t bore you by listing them all here. Also, listen for changes in perspectives and voices in songs. Not to mention two people having conversations. It may be hard to pick up in her songs, but easier in songs like The Alcott, Exile and Evermore. Interesting idea to explore. Thanks for your reply the other day! It’s nice to have a chat. Sorry for staying on anon, people online can be very mean.

thanks for the follow up!

i know there is a group of people who are definitely into this self-exploration, introspection narrative in taylor’s contemporary discography in particular so i think you are in good company

i think for me, i see a lot of these themes in her recent work, but i tend to position them within the context of kaylor in the sense that, i feel like karlie and her relationship with karlie is/was the impetus or the reason or motive behind wanting to do this sort of personal work. so i think that your thinking and mine have a good deal of overlap but i also think that i tend to see her duets as a dialogue with karlie, or perhaps a dialogue with karlie going on in her mind.

i just think that there are a lot of stakes and circumstances with her and karlie that illuminate the why for a lot of this, in a way. this of course is just my way of looking at things but it’s a distinction i felt like pointing out ☺️

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Hey! Thank you for your amazing costume metas. I settle in to read them with a cup of hot tea and a sweet snack. Those metas make my day!

My question: Dinosaurs have featured in Chris’ bedroom and clothing off and on for a while now. I think the first appeared with Shannon and then again with Ana. That made the prominent dino imagery in that 517 scene particularly loud to me. It was a super warm and domestic scene with Buck and Eddie talking about parents and family dynamics, and Chris wasn’t even there. There was a huge dino drawing on the wall behind Buck and he was playing with 2 different dinosaur toys as well. What do you think the dinos represent? Has their meaning evolved since they first showed up and how so?

I think you’ve spoken about dinos before but I was wondering if you have a whole tasty theory that I can sink my teeth into? Thank you!!

You know I love having you in my inbox 🥰

It just so happens, I do have a juicy dinosaur meta that I'm working on at the moment - its part of a Christophers bedroom and costuming meta I'm writing, so hang fire and I hope to have it out soon (although I am in the middle of moving house, so my time to write meta's has been rather compromised!) I will tag you in it once I have it done.

The dinosaurs are super interesting though and I don't think their meaning has evolved per-say, because I still think the meaning of them is still the same, I just think we have to look at the moments they are used and what else is going on in relation to them to understand - so in 5x17 they are prominent, but the solar system mobile is also the most prominent we've seen it and the conversation relates specifically to family dynamics and especially fathers. I will go into it in more detail in my meta, but if you add all that up and combine it with a cupboard door being left ajar, and then what we see later on in the episode, it all plays into one another.

The thing I love most is the whole space v dinosaurs theming they have going on with the Buddie storyline - the idea of space being futuristic, and dinosaurs being outdated is fascinating - especially when you think about the concept of time because realistically space is actually older than the dinosaurs - the stars we see are old light. But at the same time, space represents all matter - the fundamental building blocks of our existence, and as we learn more we know ourselves and the world we inhabit better - space is all about learning the truth and its such an amazing concept to play with in relation to queer narratives (the idea that our queerness is a fundamental part of who we are and that it is part of the very fabric of our being in the same way that atoms of carbon, hydrogen etc are the basic building blocks of all life) and I don't for a minute think the fact that Karen is a rocket scientist is a happy coincidence - they have been playing into it since day 1.

That it is also a theme that fits Eddie especially well - we have watched him through 4 seasons learning who he is - as a father, as a partner (in both relation to work and romance) and as a person - he is coming into his own as a person - just adds weight to the idea that the writers have been perhaps planning to have some form of queer narrative in relation to Eddie since the beginning (I am of the opinion that Buddie wasn't necessarily where they initially intended to go, but it was a possibility depending on audience reaction, otherwise Eddie would have had a queer narrative but separate from Buck and it may have looked very different from where we've ended up) and they have been using the space v dinosaurs theming to give hints to the fans!

I'll expand a bit more in my meta, but hopefully this will tied you over until then!

#kym answers things #wanderingwomanwondering asks #911 on fox #911 fox #911 #911onfox #evan buckley #eddie diaz #buck #eddie #buddie #dinosaur theming #space theming #dinosaurs v space #queer narratives

[booksareboring-blog]

The Glass Hotel (and an intro to the blog)

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

I have spent now far too long attempting to determine how to start this review as I feel that I should first start with some sort of mention of this being my first post, and a brief explanation of why I am here. I recently found myself very busy within my career and at a loss for any sort of drive to pick up a book. Reading has always been a major part of my life and so this lack of literature began to cast a great big grey cloud over my head. However now, due to unforeseen circumstances and industry dramas (gasp a strike) I am left with a lot more free time, namely a full working days worth. In an effort not to fall into a wallowing pit, I have thrown myself wholeheartedly into household chores and personal wellbeing (physical and mental), and with those now both well underway, I was again able to carve out that important little moment every day where I get to read a book. The purpose of this blog is to act as part journal, part book review page, whereby posting my thoughts and feelings on the books that I read to the internet I can hold myself accountable to never again falling into a bookless slump. But enough of the drivel and on with the review. What a great book to get me out of my slump. This novel was immediately captivating and thought-provoking. The non-linear form of story-telling Mandel uses in this novel is particularly reminiscent of the only other piece of her work that I have read "Station Eleven", a novel which I should note, I loved. The narrative follows multiple perspectives, however at it's heart is a character named Vincent. Through Vincent's experiences, we gain a glimpse into the lives of a diverse set of characters each grappling with their own desires, regrets, and vulnerabilities which are played out over the backdrop of a Ponzi scheme coming to light. For me, the beauty of the novel shines in the knowledge that these disparate events and characters all connect through one strange night at a luxury hotel. This connection is what truly showcases the theme explored in the novel, that seemingly insignificant decisions can have profound implications. Mandel's writing itself invokes a large feeling of mysticism or even thoughts of the supernatural towards the events exhibited within the novel, despite the narrative being entirely grounded in reality. While this atmosphere (or vibe if you will) is largely what captivated my interest and lead to my falling in love with this book, I don't want to say too much on it as I think it is best experienced for yourself to truly understand what I mean by this. As this is now two books by Emily St. John Mandel that I have read and loved from the narrative, to the style of writing, to the atmosphere, I officially consider myself a fan and have already picked up a third book to add to my collection and read sometime in the near future. I suppose this is where I need to sign off. My first review has ended up shorter than I initially imagined, however it has been a couple of weeks since I finished the novel and then decided to work out how to set up and start this blog. I have already finished another book ready to be reviewed. Hopefully the next one features less of the personal notes and more on the novel it is supposed to be about, but I promise nothing. If anyone out there in the void happens to by some coincidence stumble upon this, please feel free to comment, I would love to discuss with other passionate readers any thoughts and feelings you may share or disagree with. Happy reading folks, don't think too hard about that book you're reading, just enjoy it.

#book review #book blog #bibliophile #books #books & libraries #booklr #books and reading #the glass hotel #emily st john mandel #bookworm

[erisinnes]

A snippet of a now abandoned work

I started writing a novel, somewhat inspired by Good Omens and Supernatural, a little while ago. Even though a while ago I gave up on it both due to some life events that happened that caused me to have some bad associations with the story and the fact i felt like it was too closely similar to Good Omens, I still am quite proud of the small bits i wrote. So, here's the prologue of it

It also has footnotes but those don't particular translate well to tumblr oops so, they might seem a bit clunky, also yes, the narrator for the prologue is meant to be God. This story was basically meant to be a twisting of the narrative of traditional christian beliefs. This story is also from a while ago, so I've improved a lot since then.

I hope you enjoy!

Contrary to human belief, Heaven and Hell actually co-exist quite peacefully. They may not like each other all that much, generally, however there had never once been any plots by one to destroy the other, and it wasn’t all that rare an occurrence for angels and demons to be acquainted. After all, angels and demons all came from the same stock, just happened to be following different paths.

One such example is the angel Azrael, the Angel of Death. He lives right on the cusps of Heaven, near the elevator to the other realms. He lives in a small cottage, to the east of where the River of Peace falls down into the River of Oblivion. He is one of the most famous examples of an angel becoming friendly with a demon, due to his duties in the courts between heaven and hell, where he escorts souls to the courts to be judged, and then ensures them safe travel to whatever realm they belong to.

When one hears the name, Angel of Death, they may assume that the title belongs to a being of violence, one who kills them, reaps their souls when its time. That is not the case. The Angel of Death is not the Grim Reaper. The Angel of Death is a being of peace, who sooths and calms crying children lost to illness and guides them home. He is the siren that leads young adults, whose pain was too much, who took it in their own hands to leave the earth too soon, home, to give them rest.

Another assumption about angels is the image of a winged man with a halo, robed in white. This too is false. Angel’s true forms are completely indecipherable to mortals, so they tend to create their own. The Angel of Death’s form is actually fairly similar to humanities conception of angels, however, without a halo. A pair of majestic, white wings. Dark skin, with freckles of pure gold illuminating his face. Dark, golden-brown eyes, with the kindness and wisdom of an eons old being clear to all to see, despite his body only appearing to be in the early stages of the human lifespan, around twenty to twenty-four years old.

There exists one painting of the angel’s chosen form. This painting was done by young witch Cassandria Annette of town Ravensford Hills in the year 1661. She had a near brush with death, after a potion gone wrong. The witch attributed her survival of the incident to her ‘Guardian Angel’, and thus painted a mural of him in the towns square in gratitude.

 The mural still remains untitled and largely unknown long after Cassandria’s death but stands to this day as the small town of Ravensford’s only tourist attraction. The descendants of Cassandria’s only daughter still leave offerings to the angel, as a way of thanks for the mercy he extended towards Cassandria. In truth, if he could talk to them, he would tell them that it really did have nothing to do with him, and was entirely a mere coincidence, and he would appreciate if the town’s folk stopped saying tales of him being ‘enamoured’ with her and sparing her as a result, as he has no interest human beings in that way, and Beelzebub still to this day, centuries later, makes fun of him for those stories.

Beelzebub. As the human’s say, speak of the devil and he may appear. Ah, well, not the devil himself, but a demon. His appearance at Azrael’s house is far from an uncommon occurrence. While this story began, long before the Beginning, long before the Garden of Eden, on the day our tale truly starts, the 11th of February 2022, our tale starts with the ordinary, everyday meeting of Beelzebub, and his best friend, the Angel of Death. This would come as a surprise to humans, that the Prince of Hell[1], and one of the most highly regarded angels in Heaven, are close friends, and meet daily for scones and tea, but again, this isn’t your grandmother’s idea of the higher and lower realms. Even Lucifer and I[2], despite having our issues in the past, have made amends, and tend to work more in collaboration to keep Earth in peace and order.

Beelzebub was not quite an ordinary demon. Most tended to go a bit more, unique with their forms, choosing to turn themselves into monstrous beings with hundreds of eyes or three heads or whatever other amalgamation of human and animal mixed together they decide to create, Beelzebub still followed the more typically angelic ideas of becoming an ineffable, eery looking human, with just the frightening touch of demonic aspects to put any true human on edge. Near translucent pale skin, lanky and tall, taller than most would consider the tallest. Un-humanly skinny, with dark, clawed nails, and glowing, pale green eyes. Blond hair, soft, and falling in slight curls down past his ears. When not in human company, he likes to give himself wings similar to Azrael’s, but in a more blood-red colour, and dark horns like a stereotypical devil’s, coming right out in front of where stray blond locks spill onto his face.

But Beelzebub was not just abnormal due to his chosen form[3]. The younger brother of Lucifer wasn’t really all that interested in torture or dealing in human souls[4], unlike other demons. He was more a being of mischief, a trickster, who tended to play on his own rules and play pranks and act like a lovably annoying child rather than deal with punishing human’s wrongdoings.

And so here sit the demon and the angel, over tea and scones. The angel puts the kettle and smiles warmly at the demon. The demon cracks a joke, making the angel laugh. A home filled with peace and friendship, something that one might expect the least from an angel towards a demon.

What comes next, you might ask? Well. Only the end of the world.

[1] Contrary to belief, his title of Prince of Hell is less to do with his status as the younger brother of the King of Hell and more of a teasing nickname due to Lucifer’s coddling of him.

[2] I don’t believe that I’ve introduced myself yet, hello, I’m God.

[3] In fact, I could go on for another thousand words on what makes Beelzebub different, but I doubt we have the time for all that and I quite don’t want to bore you, and besides, you shall figure these out for yourself quite well enough later on

[4]Contrary to human belief (again) demons are not entirely evil. They are just the ones who are hard-hearted enough tend to deal with humans’ evils and punish them.

#writeblr #lgbt #novel #storywriting #prologue #abandoned work #basically this whole story idea was just #me twisting my religious trauma into a story #and making something i hoped others might take solace in #but then yknow #life happens #also this is like #really obviously inspired by good omens #i was going through a massive hyperfixation at the time #as you can likely tell

[summoning-potema]

u ever find an anime that makes u go

OH! artist XYZ must have been obsessed with u in middle school!

#not in a bad way or anything just sometimes u see style influences that are so unmistakable #i just saw a screenshot of some stuff from case clos3d and was like OH! Big Artist on here uses similar jawline/eye proportion/ear size #may be coincidence but it's interesting to me so that's the narrative i will form in my own head #i wonder if anyone can tell i was a bl3ach fan ;D #i feel like i still haven't shaken that. half my style is from me emulating ble@ch fanartists when i was 15 #S/U is another one that i can pick out from a mile away lmao #if u use the soft L nose i know u have a gemsona #again. not in a bad way. but i know what u were obsessed with in ur formative art years #i'm gonna log off now brain VERY active still watching concerts and not doing the art i'm supposed 2 finish ;D #i wish there was a way i could tell tumblr to let me yell in the void and not have my ranting show up in searches. i stg #angela cw

[fluffbyday-smutbynight]

Way Too Deep (TAB rewatch)

Going back to The Abominable Bride? What is this madness?

Do not fear, I won't even dwell on the hidden meanings of the whole parallel reality set in 1895. Instead, this will be the beginning of my modest attempt (read: slightly disfunctional coping method) at making some sort of sense out of S4. I could read all the meta, and agree with it even, but at the end of the day I just have to take the raw data and digest it on my own.

Why start from TAB? If I recall correctly, it wasn't originally conceived as a bridge between the two seasons – and yet, it has such a peculiar structure that I can't justify it being just a coincidence. If you will, I'll look at the frame rather than the picture.

TL; DR: what if Sherlock overdosed on the tarmac plane... and never came back?

So, let's begin well into the third act (1 hour or so into the episode):

MORIARTY: Because it’s not the fall that kills you, Sherlock. Of all people, you should know that. It’s not the fall. It’s never the fall...It’s the landing.

Sherlock wakes up on the plane and the narrative trick gets exposed: the Victorian adventures were a creation of Sherlock's drug-fueled mind.

Sherlock's usage is not exactly news to us - hello, heartbroken Shezza in a crack den - but this time it feels different. It's not just escapism or the siren's call of addiction; he doesn't look high, not even to John Watson MD, which by the way has already seen him under the effect. This is the very intentional treading the fine line between sanity and delirium, between life and death:

JOHN: For God’s sake! This could kill you! You could die!

SHERLOCK: Controlled usage is not usually fatal, and abstinence is not immortality.

...all for the sake of "solving a case" or, should we put it in plain words, going deep and deeper into his own mind.

Strap yourselves in, 'cause we're going for a ride. From this moment on, we'll bounce back and forth between reality and hallucination, the two separated by a boundary so unstable that we won't even see it.

Notice how heavily drugged-Sherlock sounds fairly coherent so far – and yet, when Mycroft speaks:

MYCROFT: A week in a prison cell. I should have realised [...] that in your case, solitary confinement is locking you up with your worst enemy.

...his mind palace fabrication unexpectedly bleeds into reality:

JOHN (offscreen): Morphine or cocaine?

SHERLOCK: What did you say?

JOHN: I didn’t say anything.

SHERLOCK: No, you did. You said ...

(As he says the next sentence, it’s Sherlock’s lips moving but we hear John’s voice.)

SHERLOCK/JOHN: Which is it today – morphine or cocaine?

What did spur this abrupt transition? What is Sherlock's worst enemy? Himself, his addiction or... Moriarty, though a figment of his imagination, trapped in his mind palace?

Victorian Sherlock goes on with his investigation, which ends with the crypt scene. Sudden plot twist: under the bride's veil there's not Mrs. Carmichael, but... Moriarty again.

MORIARTY: Is this silly enough for you yet? Gothic enough? Mad enough, even for you? It doesn’t make sense, Sherlock, because it’s not real. None of it. [...] This is all in your mind. [...] You’re dreaming.

Cue another transition to a hospital room, which looks just a bit surreal. What's up with the red blanket and the carpeted floor? Why is Sherlock just lying there in his suit?

Doesn't look very much like an overdose intervention... because it isn't. This is not reality.

In fact, Sherlock goes on all jolly to unbury Emelia's corpse (let me be pedant: just like a recent overdose patient should do), and we're given a couple lines that reinforce how much of a pressing matter all this is to him:

SHERLOCK: It’s why we came here! I need to know.

JOHN (turning away): Spoken like an addict.

SHERLOCK (straightening up to look at him): This is important to me!

Sherlock and Lestrade dig, Mycroft supervises (lazy sod, eheh), until the casket is unearthed – pay attention to what Mycroft says here:

MYCROFT: We do have slightly more pressing matters to hand, little brother. Moriarty, back from the dead?

And yes, immediately after Moriarty is mentioned, another turn into surreality takes place; the skeleton moves on its own, a spectral voice calls, and Sherlock is back to his mind palace.

VOICE (rhythmically, as if reciting lyrics to a song): Do not forget me.

... and Holmes starts violently and wakes up to find himself lying on his side on a narrow rocky ledge. Water is pouring over him as if it is raining heavily.

HOLMES : Oh, I see. Still not awake, am I?

"Still not awake" - what a peculiar choice of words. The line between reality and hallucination is feeble because it's not there; the plane, the hospital, the cemetery? All fabrications of his own mind.

Look, even Moriarty must be tired of beating around the bush, 'cause he doesn't talk in riddles anymore. He just lays it out:

MORIARTY: Too deep, Sherlock. Way too deep. Congratulations. You’ll be the first man in history to be buried in his own Mind Palace.

MORIARTY: I am your WEAKNESS!

MORIARTY: I keep you DOWN!

MORIARTY: Every time you STUMBLE, every time you FAIL, when you’re WEAK...

MORIARTY: I... AM... THERE!

MORIARTY: No. Don’t try to fight it. LIE BACK AND LOSE!

So, not only Sherlock has gone deep into his mind palace, he never got out of it and he literally can't.

John coming to the rescue must represent Sherlock finally waking up... or does it?

WATSON: So, how do you plan to wake up?

HOLMES: Between you and me, John, I always survive a fall.

In fact, Sherlock jumps and falls deeper down and while we're told he always survives the fall, we're never told about the landing. We're circling back to what Moriarty said.

At this point, is Sherlock waking up on the plane again even real? Do overdosed people just wake up like that, and go on with their day like nothing's happened?

Furthermore, if Sherlock really woke up on the plane, this should be where the episode ends.

Why, instead, go back again to 1895?

HOLMES: It was simply my conjecture of what a future world might look like, and how you and I might fit inside it.

HOLMES: From a drop of water, a logician should be able to infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara.

Where is this happening? What's the "Atlantic" (or Niagara, or Reichenbach) we should be able to infer?

The structure of TAB – the back and forth between past and present, fiction and reality - reminded me of this zen koan:

"Once upon a time, I, Zhuangzi, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Zhuangzi. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things."

As you may know, a koan is a paradox: for instance, you can't be both man and butterfly, but at the same time you can't be definitively sure about one or the other. This is where we're left at the end of the episode – hanging on the doubt that what we've seen so far has been imagination disguised as reality: Sherlock can't be both in present time (having woken up on the plane) and in the Victorian setting we've just seen.

So we should infer that he is still stuck in his mind palace, and his hallucination is not only about the 1895 timeline, but comprises all the scenes set in present time, too -"It was simply my conjecture of what a future world might look like"; also, he might have overindulged with his drugs, to the point of never coming back to consciousness.

WATSON: As for your own tale, are you sure it’s still just a seven percent solution that you take? I think you may have increased the dosage.

Notice how the overdosing incident will never be mentioned again, which makes sense if we assume that it's a point stuck in time with no foreseeable resolution – an idea which is supported by Mycroft's notebook, in the form of the Minkowski Metric we can see there:

a formula referring to special relativity, more specifically "the spacetime interval between any two events is independent of the inertial frame of reference in which they are recorded" (x)

All this, in the perspective of interpreting S4, makes for an interesting premise... but we'll look into it another time.

_____

Dialogue transcript source: Ariane DeVere

#sherlock #bbc sherlock #sherlock meta #sherlock rewatch #the abominable bride

[kaypeace21]

Will’s fear of clowns

*Ps -not mine. this is a submission from an anon. tw: for s.a. It’s an interesting submission. ANON-please make a tumblr account already . I’m begging you XD

Hi! It’s me, Lonnie Meth Anon. Back with more depressing thoughts about Lonnie!

I just read your post on Jonathan’s ab*se at the hands of Lonnie, and I second it all. It breaks my heart. But it also got me thinking deeper about Will’s fear of clowns. I think you’re right that part of the horror for Will is that the clown attacks in bed. The bed is, obviously, like you say, a common site for s*xual assault. (Doesn’t El’s picture of “three legged Brenner” also have a bed in it? In a picture with not much else?) The fact that Will needed Joyce to sleep with him for a week suggests he was specifically feeling unsafe in bed, or at night. 

But maybe it’s not just the location of the attack in Poltergeist that Will found so harrowing. Maybe it’s the combination of that location with the fact of a clown being the attacker. 

I think Lonnie might have dressed up as a clown for Will’s birthday one year, and something happened. 

In this instance, I don’t think Joyce would know what happened. I think the incident in her mind would be something like “Lonnie dressed up and Will was scared of the costume”. She might even have thought it was cute. Just a typical little kid fear of something mundane. When she teases him about Poltergeist, she doesn’t actually say the movie was the START of his fear of clowns. Just that he was afraid of that particular clown. The general fear of clowns could have been an older one, going back to when Will was even younger.

Maybe Will even liked clowns, before whatever happened with Lonnie turned them into a source of fear for him. Will has a lion plushie (lions are commonly found in the circus) and the circus seems like the kind of vibrant, colorful environment full of outcast, that a young gay kid would really enjoy. If Will did like circuses and Lonnie poisoned that for him, that’s just another reason to hate Lonnie. But it definitely seems possible. 

Lonnie is a deadbeat dad in general, but we’ve seen before that he’s capable of faking the “family man” act in front of Joyce and their neighbors. We’ve also seen that even though he treats Will horribly, he would also try and keep Will on his side with father son bonding activities, like baseball. And Will’s birthday is one of the few occasions Lonnie makes a half-assed kind of effort, even when there’s nothing directly in it for him. He sends that card, even though it’s late. Maybe Joyce made called him up and made him send it, but she always seemed happy to keep Lonnie out of the picture. She didn’t even want to involve him when Will went missing. And we know Jonathan would never try and facilitate more interactions between Lonnie and Will. So it seems like Lonnie did this of his own accord, when he realized he’d missed the day. Kind of weird. And it’s classic abuser behavior, to make contact on an anniversary date, reminding you they exist and you can’t escape them. Reminding you to keep quiet. Or hoping you’ll miss them, remember the “good times” when they made an effort, and let them back into your life. (Ugh.)

So, anyway, back to my theory. Young Will likes circuses, and the Byers family are poor, so they can’t afford to take him to one, or throw him a party at an ice cream parlor or a bowling alley, like other kids. It makes sense that they would have a party at home instead, and that the family themselves might dress up. We know Joyce made Will’s Ghostbusters costume in season two, and a clown is a pretty easy costume. Most of it is just make up. It’s possible the whole thing was Joyce’s idea, and she made the costume, and Lonnie just went along with it to look like a good dad in her eyes. 

Remember how we see Bob (Will’s new father figure) dressing up in costume for Halloween? Joyce loves it. This is a thing good dads do, to have fun with their kids. That’s also the same episode we see Will scared by a guy in a clown costume, and Jonathan is hyper-protective of him that night. School is okay, but he doesn’t want him trick or treating. (Like he knows that school is a safe environment, but in other contexts, costumes and parties might be a trigger for Will.) Jonathan is convinced to leave Will and “let him have fun” and what happens? The clown attacks. Later that night Jonathan goes to a costume party himself, where he finds Nancy upset and takes her safely home.  Maybe this is how Will’s birthday party ended - with Jonathan finding Will upset, and trying to comfort him. The whole night could be playing out like a parallel to that birthday party, from Jonathan’s perspective. 

What actually happened with Will and Lonnie is up for debate. It’s possible there was a s*xual assault, and that’s why the clown scene in Poltergeist was such a trigger for Will. Or maybe Lonnie thought circuses weren’t “manly” enough for his son to like, and actively tried to scare Will, so he wouldn’t like them anymore. It’s hard to know. Something would have happened though, and probably something pretty formative, because the fear of clowns lasts a long time. 

Something else interesting is that when Mr Clarke is talking about the Upside Down in season one, he uses the metaphor of the flea and the acrobat. Acrobats are a main act in the circus, and, well … fleas. Flea circuses. That’s a thing. Maybe it’s a hint that the trauma that created the Upside Down was circus / clown - related?

Kali, El, and their gang wear clown masks too, when they’re going to confront their childhood trauma, and the child-like Alexei is surrounded by clowns when he is killed at the fair. 

Clowns are just so associated with birthday parties and little kids, that it doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me they’re Will’s biggest fear. Especially as the show keeps dropping hints about Lonnie and Will’s birthday. It feels like there’s more to the story. I have a horrible feeling SOMETHING happened. 

RESPONE (kaypeace):

I think it’s very possible-that maybe he did dress as a clown for Will’s birthday and something happened. We have alexi (paralleled to Will) playing carnival games with kids. Then he's attacked by the Lonnie-look alike : and alexi looks at his wound then stares at all the clowns laughing around him. Joyce and Murray find Alexi bleeding/dy*ng next to a clown statue. As joyce looks in horror and Murray says to her, he was “only gone for a second” (which sounds like something you’d say in relation to a kid you were supposed to watch-running off ). We also had sarah at age 7 die while wearing a gown with clowns on it (Will: it was a 7 the demogorgan it got me). Death of innocence symbolism? Hopper also describes his depression as a cave- he goes through the carnival ride where it mentions a "cave of horrors", which had decor of a tiger and a clown painting. So yeah... whatever happened probably isn't good. So- there may be some symbolism there in relation to Will’s past. Not only because (like I and you have mentioned before) Lonnie is highly associated with birthdays. And canonically we know he mentally scarred jonathan on his b-day. But also, s4’s ‘victor creel’ may be an easteregg to the xmen character victor creed- who had a tradition of tra*matizing family members specifically on their bdays

As another alternative:I could also totally see Lonnie “ruining” circuses for Will because it’s not “manly” to him. Like how Jonathan liked thumper the rabbit-from the film bambi. in the film, Thumper is bambi’s bff, and the hunters are the bad guys who k*ll Bambi’s mother and terrorize all the wildlife. SO yeah- making Jonathan become a hunter, and k*ll a rabbit ,despite this fact, is really messed up. And shows Lonnie has already tried to ‘ruin’ things the boys like. By mentally scarring them in one way or another…

I also mentioned how Will’s bday could even be a trigger for jonathan in a diff post.

if the s4 bts calender hinting it’ll be near Will’s bday and easter it could be relevant to Jonathan.we know in s1 el has tra*matic flashbacks when seeing certain things- coke, closet, cat, etc. And Will in s2 has his ‘anniversary effect’ where memories flood back based on the time of year.But like … Easter has bunnies - could seeing rabbits jog stuff up for Jonathan? El seeing a cat made her have a flashback of brenner trying to make her kill a cat. Would Jonathan seeing like Easter bunny decor jog up a flashback of lonnie making him kill a rabbit? (It happened on his bday too). So Will’s b day being around easter would only fuel that memory. (heck even popped balloons may trigger gunshot symbolism idk). And then for Will there is clowns that could be a tr*gger at a party.

The flea and the acrobat analogy (in relation to Will and circuses is very interesting) and could be foreshadowing- it’s even a title for an episode so I feel like it’s narratively an important hint to …something. similar to a s1 ep being called “the bathtub”.  Also, Will was compared to a circus flea- which were placed in an enclosed space, where heat was applied as they jumped  and tried to escape the increasing temperatures as they burned .Which could relate to my theory about Will having a se*zure due his body overheating due to Lonnie injecting him with m*th.

 If Will’s bday is in s4- I feel like Lonnie will come back in some capacity (flashback or literally). The ‘sorry, I forgot you b day’ card from Lonnie in s2, in Lonnie’s shed Joyce mentioning Will’s b day, the rainbow ‘happy birthday cup’ placed next to Will at Mike’s -while Will explains the supernatural, Lonnie already tra*matizing Jonathan on his bday, etc…

#submission #stranger things theory #will byers #lonnie byers

[doomed-era]

sure why not but im not going to fish thru emojis so: least fav zelda game, favorite version of zelda, fav location, pet peeves, unpopular opinions and fav headcanons

OOH hehe :)

this makes it a bit easier tbh I don’t like cross-referencing the emojis 

least favorite game,, ahaha (I’m probably gonna play it after I finish this ask)

full disclosure I like all of the ones I’ve played a LOT and I know a lot of people pick on skyward sword but...yeah

it’s actually really good still, I enjoy the aesthetic and the music is gorgeous of course

of course there’s those little details I enjoy in every zelda game like the signs up in skyloft academy and slicing mushrooms and the npcs  (gorko my beloved)

and the motion controls are actually really fun? I’m playing on the wii and I haven’t made it that far through but like

mmm the writing. kinda sucks. not just in a handholdy tells you five times to press a to win the race but just...mmmgh it feels off. even when it’s just story material it feels redundant and jilted, and this may be partially the translation’s fault but??? the themes of the story are also weird. the beginning makes a big deal of how Link is this special chosen one and has everything handed to him, and when something like that is emphasized so early on in the story I kinda expect it to be subverted? I don’t know how to explain why this makes narrative sense to me

and then they apparently just. never do. and while I like what I’ve seen of the characters so far having them in a framework of “everything you do is predetermined by a goddess who while good intentioned from day one had some weird priorities” is...wow

don’t like that, it makes me uncomfortable

additionally some of my least favorite headcanons stem from skyward sword so yeah I like the game but it’s still my least favorite of like. my favorite games 

favorite version of zelda: it’s botw zelda ahaha

she’s such a nerd??? I love her??? I really wish we had gotten to see more of her nerding out in the memories I love it when she does that 

if anything that’s what makes her my favorite, though her insecurities are certainly a...thing

I really enjoy it when she’s just outright mean to link, actually. give me more of that. let her be mean. let her be insecure let her be uncomfortable with all this and eventually find her own way

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the calamity happens on her 17th birthday and that’s when she unlocks her powers. botw is ultimately zelda’s story imo- it’s about her growing up and realizing she has to forge her own path instead of following her predecessors

(tetra is a close second though...love her)

favorite location: MMMM forest haven..............or dragon roost......or city in the sky..........or twilight realm...........or korok forest.....or the dark world.....

okay AESTHETICALLY forest haven. also. makar. love him. I love WW deku tree I love forbidden woods I love the deku leaf. best item in wind waker. love magic power being taken from my body it makes such a pleasing sound

narratively I like the dark world. the dark world is just. I love it. screw any other “dark” dimension in zelda it was formed by ganon’s desires and it shows the true nature of those inside it!!! it has trees that spit bombs!!! it’s so sad and scary and interesting bc the ppl in the light world know the people trapped in there they can’t get out and AUGH

(people who say that oot ruined alttp for them are wrong alttp is AMAZING and VERY different from oot shut UP do you hate basic similarities in a game series filled with patterns)

honorable mentions are the final area from wind waker (that last scene? powerful man. plus it’s absolutely gorgeous) and lake hylia twilight princess (I quote the bird all the time and launching link out of a cannon is funny)

pet peeves: 

ough I have so many 

-ppl ignoring the non “triforce trio” characters. they’re not always side characters ugh (in general I hate the idea that a “side character” can’t also be complex)

-soulmates zelink

-reincarnation hcs in general. I really do not like them. I’m obviously working with them for a fic I’m writing but nah not a big fan

-links having specific “quirks” bc of the “hero’s spirit.” I hate this so much. genuinely dehumanizing 

-anything that even remotely fetishizes the gerudo

-any hc or writing that treats link as zelda’s servant for any reason (unless it is treated like a bad thing). I’ve heard bs like zelda saying “listen to ur betters” @ link in stuff like. and that’s just not treated as messed up in any way. canonically zelda rlly hasn’t expected link to ever wait on her! if anything she’s said the opposite. the only thing I can think of is botw zelda ordering link to go away but that’s not treated as a good thing, that’s treated as her being a jerk. I don’t expect their society to treat them as equals but I do expect the narrative to

unpopular opinions

-this kinda crosses over into pet peeves I suppose but yeah I hate the idea of the hero’s spirit being an actual spirit

-there’s no specific requirements for what makes a “link” it’s just vibes. link vibes. same with zelda and ganon

-bit of a nitpick but linked universe doesn’t get how bunny link works. legend should not have been transformed into a bunny by the shadow crystal as the twilight and the dark world are two fundamentally different things

-the zelda timeline and its canon are very loose and people can do what they want (and I’m free to dislike it)

-monsters are underrated. they are not mindless in most games though there’s some instances where they’re smarter or more controlled by ganon. they’re often a natural part of the environment driven mad by evil. I find this to be much more compelling

-THE SHEIKAH ARE SO UNDERRATED also ngl both the sheikah and the yiga have cult vibes if u think about it too hard (I have) if someone can give me a fic about the origins of the yiga clan or anything sheikah centric I will thank you profusely

favorite hcs

-wind waker link needing glasses. this is just adorable

-I think some links using sign language/being nonverbal is rlly cute

-alttp link twitching his nose or doing bunny things

-fairies liking sugar water 

-ganondorf being shorter than the average gerudo. any interpretation of him where he’s a manbaby

-botw zelda being a bit more unhinged than she is in canon. mad scientist vibes bay-bee!!!!

-midna coming back to hyrule through the leftover twilit portals :]

#HEHEHEH #ask game

[procrastinatorproject]

Fic writer review, thank you to @thelaithlyworm  for the tag <3

how many works do you have on AO3?

Ten? Oh no, it’s actualy 12 now!

what’s your total AO3 word count?

86,468

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Grand total of 1: Star Trek: Picard - although my latest offering might branch a bit into other Trek as well.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

“Passengers”

“And a Barrel of Gagh”

“CMO’s Log”

“Preparations”

“Game Night”

Which is actually kinda interesting. I wrote Passengers, Preparations, and Game Night while the fandom was still a lot more active (especially in the Aramis in Space corner), so that makes sense. The CMO’s log has had chapters added every few months, giving it probably the most exposure of any of my fics. Barrel of Gagh, though? I think I’m gonna attribute that to Thimblerig turning it into a truly, TRULY brilliant piece of podfic. Also the fact that it’s whump involving a character played by Santiago Cabrera. ‘tis A Thing..... :D

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I really try to! I love talking with people in the comments and just... thanking the people who found the time and energy to leave comments. But especially in the last few months I have gotten very bad at keeping up with the comments and now there’s about two dozen that I have neglected to reply to for a painfully long time 🙈

But I will get there! Because I love that kind of interaction!

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

So far, none of them have had angsty endings. Angsty middles, yes, but not endings. I’m just a sucker for everyone being happy in the end. Or at least on the way to being better, and supported and cared for on that way.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven’t yet, but I’m definitely not opposed. One of the threads of my 200k unpublishable whump scenes takes place in a continuity that has existed in my daydreams for... I wanna say six years at the very least, probably longer. It’s mostly straight-up Star Trek, but with the twist that it involves the Wraith, the telepathic, hive-minded alien race from Stargate: Atlantis that suck the life force out of you with their hands? Or, well, at least a variation thereof.

I once typed up the world building for that particular setting and it took me three hours to try and make it all make sense. So it’s... involved. But not necessarily “crazy”. And I’m not sure I’m ever actually going to publish any of the stories I have set in it (not least because that would envolve finishing any of them and bringing them into a form that is interesting to read for anyone but me...)

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Hm, not yet. I do enjoy reading smut, but only under very specific circumstances. I think I may eventually try my hand at smut, but the inner prude is still very strong. Writing about Rios and Xyr making out (which, honestly, was really tame, all things considered) made me melt in a puddle of blushing embarrassment, so full-on smut is probably beyond me at the moment. One day!

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Though litigating that in a fandom like ours would be... tricky. ST:Pic is way too small to steal stories outright. But similar or the same ideas pop up all the time. And it’s a complete coincidence. Reading the book that recently came out and that has a kinda similar setting to a lot of my stories (pre-season 1, early in Rios’s history as captain of Sirena, dealing with original characters, holo shenanigans, friendship with Raffi, etc.), I was struck by just how many elements, both scenes or story beats and little details, were similar to things that have cropped up in my writing. And it is entirely coincidental, because I am beyond certain that the author doesn’t read fanfic. Just... for legal reasons. Not to mention I wrote a bunch of the things I saw parallels to while the book was already in production, and some of them are only in my drafts.

So there is a ton of convergent evolution going on in this particular section of the fandom, and trying to litigate who came up with certain plot ideas or character beats when would be a sysiphean disaster. Some things are clear and whenever I use any of them I give credit where I can, but people will have very similar ideas. It just happens. So no, I haven’t had either a full-on story or “an idea” stolen, and I might change my tune if it ever does happen, but so far, I’m trying to practice equanimity, so I’ll be better at it should I ever need it.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Sadly no. My dad keeps complaining that all my fic is in English so he can’t read any of it, but honestly? I’m kinda glad for this very convenient excuse. Maybe if I ever feel like I want to practice my interpreting skills, I will give translating the stories into German a shot. We’ll see. Otherwise, if anyone feels inspired: Have at it! Just let me know, okay?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not quite. I have a draft of off-the-cuff worldbuilding that I wrote on Discord with @curator-on-ao3 and that I would love to turn into an actual short fic (letters from a conference on holo-ethics), but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

I don’t really do shipping.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I WILL NEVER ACCEPT DEFEAT!!!! One day, I will write the next installment of Star Trek: La Sirena! I have so many ideas for that continuity and those characters. I’m not going to abandon them!

what are your writing strengths?

Hmmmmm. Probably detailed worldbuilding? Ask me something about, say, a technological or cultural aspect of Star Trek and chances are, I have thought about it in the past or will come up with three different sets of intricate lore within half an hour. (Things like... the architecture of San Francisco, or Will there still be taxi drivers? or the treaty between IKEA Intergalactic and the Borg Collective, or the Universal Translator, or Emergency Services or Why There Are Very Few Ambulances On Earth Anymore etceterah etceterah...)

I’m also good at slapping together off-the-cuff plot ideas (if, say, you need an explanation for how Seven and Agnes ended up stranded on a desert island, I could probably give you three different scenarios pretty quickly. Just don’t ask me to make them poignant or actually write them.

I’m also very, very good at beginnings.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Everything that isn’t a beginning. Especially endings, or rather: finishing something, but also just... keeping momentum.

I think my dialogue is somewhat samey and not distinct enough between characters. (Also my witty banter is... let’s just say it doesn’t come to me naturally...)

And I also struggle with keeping things brief and to the point. I can write you 30k of whump covering a span of three hours, but fitting a whole story in the same space? Much more difficult!

I have also avoided writing full-on action so far, but where it has crept in it has always been a struggle and been workshopped a lot with the indefatigable beta.

Otherwise, I don’t know. My self-perception is always a little warped, so I’m not sure what other people would say my weaknesses are.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Oof. Well. I have used Spanish sentences in my fic and done the thing where they’re translated in the end note, but I’ve mostly done it sparingly. I’ve also done the ‘“What do you want?” he said in Spanish.’ It’s tricky. But I will likely keep doing it in some instances, even if it’s a bit annoying.

(It also really helps to have a native speaker of Spanish as a beta, even if it’s Spanish from a different region than you’re character.)

Speaking of regional: I’m also torn about the whole “phonetically writing out accents” issue. Some people love it, some people hate it, I’m really unsure because I’m not a native speaker of English, so I’m not even sure I’m consistent in my narrative voice’s regional quirks. So far, I’ve mostly gone with describing that an accent is happening, and only writing out when phrasing actually differs from standard English. Like Ian (Scottish) saying “dinnae” but not writing “I” as “ah” as you’d see on, say, Scottish twitter.

Though it can be a very useful tool if, for instance, you want to indicate a characters accent getting stronger as they get tired or upset. 🧐

Anyway, I don’t think there is one right or wrong answer here and everyones milage will vary.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Published? ST:PIC

Actually first? Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Pretty much simultaneously, though I did write more for LotR. On graph paper, mind, with my fountain pen turned upside down so I could write smaller. I still have folders worth of those stories that I urgently need to digitize before they fade and I lose them forever...

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I’m going to quote @thelaithlyworm here: I Love All My Children Equally! I honestly couldn’t say. They are different and I love them for different reasons but I love them all.

Thank you for the tag! ❤ I’ve kinda lost track of who all has done this already or has already been tagged, so feel free to ignore me! But I tink I’m tagging @curator-on-ao3, @aini-nufire, @29-pieces, @flowers-creativity, @highfunctioningflailgirl, @cristobalrios and @the-goofball. And anyone else whom I forgot or who feels inspired to do this!

#ask meme #writing #lili's writing adventures #this was fun!

[fantasticallyfoolishidea]

So, bath scenes. Amirite?

The Witcher fandom is quite blessed. Over the course one season, the showrunners decided to gift us with not one but two scenes of Henry Cavill, naked in a bathtub, two episodes in a ro-

Wait a minute.

Two back-to-back episodes featuring drawn out bath scenes that go on for 2-3 minutes each. That's a lot of time to dedicate to fanservice when you only have 8 episodes to get your point across. Unless, of course… No. They wouldn't. Or would they?

I re-watched these scenes more times than I care to admit. For science. They’re interesting for numerous of reasons (Henry Cavills’ pecs being only two of them). But you know what’s even more interesting? Some sexy, sexy cinematic and narrative parallels and contrasts.

(Obligatory linebreak for your protection. You thought I went overboard analysing Her Sweet Kiss? This is worse. If you’re on mobile – I apologise. Now’s the time to scroll fast. It’ll take longer than you’re expecting, trust me. I’m sorry.)

Bath in “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials” Bath in “Bottled Appetites” Please excuse the terrible of the second clip. It’s the only one I could find that had the whole scene in it.

First things first,

the setting

The scene in “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials” takes place in an inn. The room is dark. Throughout the scene you can hear chatter from the bar. Candles are the only visible light source, although, at the beginning of the scene you can see more light coming in through what’s presumably a window outside the shot. Due to the lighting, the majority of the room has a noticeably blue tint, except for the cabinets on each side of the room where most of the candles are placed. Apart from the cabinets, the bathtub Geralt is sitting in is the only area that’s properly illuminated.

The room itself seems big enough, although we only get to see the bathing area which is separated from the rest of the room by blue curtains, but due the way the scene is shot – frequent close ups of the actors, wider shots frequently partially blocked by the curtains – it appears smaller than it actually is. Geralt stands out against the background due to his skin appearing orange in the candle light; in wider shots he usually appears centred.

In contrast, Jaskier moves from one side of the room to the other a lot and doesn’t remain in either light source for long. Unlike Geralt’s skin, the colour of his clothes matches the background. This is somewhat unusual because in many of his scenes Jaskier and his colourful outfits tend to stick out like a sore thumb – the red outfit in “Rare Species” probably the most visually distracting out of the bunch – but in this scene, the exact opposite happens. Whenever Jaskier’s not the focus of the shot he frequently fades into the background or even gets obstructed by the curtains.

(While I’d love to add visual references for every single point I touch upon, honestly, the amount of editing that’d require is astronomical. Jokes on me though, because it already is. Watching the scenes should give you a better idea of what I’m talking about, though. Also, full disclosure, screenshots and gifs had their brightness an colours altered slightly for better visibility.)

Now, on the other hand, we have the room inside the mayor’s house, which – while also dimly lit by candlelight – appears open and spacious. Due to the candles, the room appears tinged only in colours on the orange/yellow spectrum. No curtains to obstruct parts of the shot, and unlike the inn, this room has got visible windows one of which sits behind Geralt. That window in particular lets in a stream of blue light that, in wider shots, often appears to frame either Geralt alone or both, Geralt and Yennefer. However, the blue light remains behind the characters, neither Geralt nor Yennefer are ever directly illuminated by it.

Why is she going on and on about the lighting you might ask? It’s because there’s basically a whole science to colour theory, colour grading, and the ways they’re used in visual media. It’s one of the reasons why, for example, Guillermo del Toro movies are always such goddamn feasts for the eyes. TV Tropes also has a page dedicated to it, if you wanna get a rough idea of what’s going on here.

Both bath scenes in the Witcher (2019) are gorgeous examples of colour grading and set design. You can tell that a whole lot of thought went into it. “Bottled Appetites” even takes it a step further, carrying the orange/blue colour scheme over into the next scene and directly contrasting the bed frame that’s bathed in amber light with the blue windows it’s framed by.

Fun fact, while colour grading can be used to give colours that certain “pop”, you can also achieve the exact opposite effect. See how washed out and grey Jaskier and his blue clothes appear on the orange bedding in this shot? It becomes even more apparent later on in the scene.

He might as well be one of the pillows for the way his clothes make your eyes just kinda slip over him. Honestly, I wanna marry whoever was in charge of doing colour correction on the Witcher. That person is a fucking artist. I’ll get back to the matter of colours and backgrounds in a minute. For now, let’s talk about

body positioning

Or in other words, yet another reason I’d sell my immortal soul to directors Alex Garcia Lopez and Charlotte Brändström.

One thing the scenes have in common (apart from the copious amounts of eye candy) is that Geralt remains mostly stationary at the centre throughout the scene. Jaskier moves around a lot. He dries his hands behind Geralt, moves in front of him to fiddle with the bath salts, sits down next to Geralt, sets Geralt’s mug down on the cabinet behind him and only stops his continuous back and forth motion when the conversation takes a turn for the serious and he settles down in front of Geralt.

Yennefer, on the other hand, starts off at Geralt’s right hand side, slightly to the back of him. She briefly lies down, stands up, and moves to Geralt’s left while taking off her gown. Same as the other scene, Yennefer settles down as the conversation is about to grow more serious. However, unlike Jaskier, Yennefer is far less restless, once she’s moved to Geralt’s left she settled down and doesn’t get up again.

What’s really interesting about this scene is that throughout the entirety of their interaction, Yennefer and Geralt never look at each other at the same time. They both alternate between staring off into the distance with varying degrees of wistfulness and/or melancholia and turning to look at the other. But their eyes never quite meet, not even when Geralt turns around in surprise after Yennefer says she won’t be taking any payment. The conversation ends with Geralt abruptly getting up and out of the tub and Yennefer turning around to watch him leave (dry up? get dressed? who knows what he’s getting up to in that moment). Notably, when the shot focuses on Yennefer alone in the tub, a significant portion of the room that previously appeared mostly orange suddenly is tinted almost all blue.

However, where eye contact is conspicuously absent in the scene in “Bottled Appetites”, it’s a vital component of the scene in “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials”. Eye contact is a significant part of Geralt and Jaskiers communication. Mainly because Geralt spends a significant amount time sending glares Jaskier’s way with Jaskier paying him varying amounts of mind, even poking fun at his “scary face” when the opportunity presents itself. Jaskier is all over the place in every sense of the word. His attention is divided between Geralt, the bath, the banquet, etc. before it eventually turns back to Geralt and the whole cycle begins anew. The shift in conversation, from the banquet to Geralt, coincides with a shift in Jaskier’s behaviour. He stops moving around the room and his attention settles on Geralt. He then kneels down and holds Geralt’s gaze until Geralt abruptly switches the subject.

Look at the screencaps above. See how, even in a screencap, the lighting is capable of creating an entire visual narrative all by itself? Yennefer and Geralt are sitting in the water together with their backs to each other in a room full of orange light but their immediate surroundings are tinted blue. Jaskier and Geralt are facing each other directly but despite the orange light surrounding him Jaskier appears shadowed as he kneels in front of the tub while Geralt who is sitting inside the tub glows orange against a blue background.

There’s a metaphor hiding somewhere in that juxtaposition but I can’t quite put my finger on it yet.

edit 12/01/20: I actually got a submission from odense who elaborated on the blocking of the scenes from a theatrical perspective. Go read it for even more meta on the bath scenes.

Anyway, moving on. Next on my list is

the matter of service

What, no more Film Studies for Fandom 101, I hear you ask? Well. Originally, I wanted this part to be about the conversation as a whole but that would’ve gone on for too long (ha! too long, she says like that means anything) so I divided it.

Both scenes deal with the performance of service in one way or another. Jaskier is trying to convince Geralt to act as his bodyguard for a night, while Geralt asked Yennefer to break the djinn’s curse and they’re still settling the matter of payment.

In a way, you could look at both scenes as very, very unusual forms of negotiation. Jaskier may spend a lot of time talking about himself but his actions are almost all focused on Geralt. He douses him with water, “rubbed chamomile onto his lovely bottom” at some point (decide for yourself what you wanna make of that statement), prepares the bath salts for Geralt’s bath, and – also at some point – arranged for Geralt’s clothes to be washed. All throughout the scene, he’s performing a variety of services. He’s taking care of Geralt, whether Geralt likes it or not, and does so like it’s the most natural thing in the world, to the point where it just kinda comes across like more of Jaskier’s usual antics and theatrics.

Geralt may claim he needs no one and doesn’t want anyone needing him but there is some form of reciprocity in their relationship – big things like the shared adventures and the ballads about which made both of them famous in their own right, but then there are the little things like drawing your friend a bath, or watching his back at a banquet so he doesn’t get stabbed by a jealous husband, which Geralt eventually agrees to do despite all of his grumbling and glaring protests.

Which is one of the reasons “And yet... here we are.” is such a brilliant line. Just from this context, you could read it in a number of ways. Jaskier could be calling Geralt out on his bullshit like, e.g. “You might not like it, but yeah, you do need me and I need you.” or he could be asking him to make a decision, e.g. “I know you don’t like it but I really do need your help. What will you do?” or it could be an affirmation, e.g. “I know you didn’t want it but somehow we still ended up here.” etc., etc. And you might have guessed, there’s still more to come regarding this line. Later.

So while Jaskier’s scene is about getting Geralt to perform a service, Yennefer’s scene is about figuring out the cost of the service Geralt asked of her in the previous scenes. Where the first bath scene was about persuasion, this one is about payment. The initial negotiation has already happened, the service been rendered, what’s left to do is figure out the price. And Geralt already offered to pay whatever the price.

Since Geralt seems intent on honouring his promise, that creates a bit of a power imbalance between Yennefer and Geralt at the start of the scene because Yennefer could ask for whatever she wanted, Geralt even brings up that he’s worried about “having agreed to indentured servitude”. (That being said, he does not seem too bothered by current the situation or Yennefer’s company. Quite the opposite, he actually seems quite comfortable talking to her.)

Aside from the payment they haven’t agreed on yet, Geralt’s also got a second promise to make good on since he initially offered Yennefer to “indulge her curiosities” (take that however you will). It’s quite apparent that Geralt is a lot more forthcoming with his thoughts and emotions (actually, his words in general) with Yennefer than he is with Jaskier. In Yennefer’s scene, she and Geralt talk about equal amounts whereas in the other scene Jaskier mostly carries the conversation by himself while Geralt reacts.

However, Jaskier also reaches out where Yennefer keeps to herself. She occasionally teasingly bumps her back against Geralt’s as she’s washing herself but other than that she makes an effort to keep out of sight, even magically turning away a mirror to hide herself, whereas Jaskier touches, quite literally gets all up in Geralt’s “scary face” and just generally repeatedly puts himself in Geralt’s line of sight going so far as to kneel down until they’re at eye level.

Despite the matter of coin coming up repeatedly (mostly in the form of harmless teasing about brothels and prostitution, but also on a more serious way when Geralt accuses her of making a profit off the townspeople), Yennefer eventually decides not to ask Geralt for anything in return for saving Jaskier’s life, determining his “company and conversation payment enough”.

Interestingly, in the scene preceding the bath in “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials” Jaskier also broaches the topic of coin as he’s setting up to ask Geralt for help. In a sense, Jaskier initially attempts to use that thing about reciprocity I brought up earlier to convince Geralt to do him a favour. He lectures Geralt on his role in making him famous and that he should be making money off their arrangement in an attempt to make the favour he’s about to ask off Geralt seem irrelevant in comparison, like “Look at everything I’ve done for you. Please do this tiny little thing for me.” Obviously, that approach doesn’t work. The (un)holy trinity of “food, women and wine, Geralt”, on the other hand, seems to do the trick. Or maybe it’s the bath and a heart-to-heart. Kind of like Geralt’s company and conversation were payment enough for Yennefer?

While we’re still on the matter of conversation, let’s talk about one of the components that make up part of the emotional core of the scenes. Let’s talk about

the matter of past and future

Geralt has lived a long, long life and its history is written on his body in a web of scars. What struck me is how differently the bath scenes deal with those scars.

With Yennefer, the scars are on full display. She notices and scrutinises them as someone seeing Geralt naked for the first time can be expected to. The scars on his shoulders and back are placed front and centre of the shot several times.

In contrast, with Jaskier, you, as a viewer, barely notice the scars. Most of the time they’re simply not visible to the camera. They’re never in the foreground of the shot and you never even get to see Geralt’s back. The scar on Geralt’s shoulder that Yennefer noticed could easily be mistaken for remnants of dead selkiemore. There’s only one moment that draws attention to the scarred shoulder and that’s when Jaskier pats it as he’s getting up to put away Geralt’s mug of ale.

Again, I feel like there’s a metaphor hiding somewhere in there but what do I know?

Back to the point. While Geralt and Yennefer are talking in the bathtub it immediately becomes obvious that they have a connection. They’ve both had unhappy childhoods, lived long lives and as Yennefer points out Geralt was “created by magic. Our magic.” They have an understanding that quickly let’s you forget that they’re virtual strangers at this point in the Witcher canon.

In the other scene, Jaskier and Geralt have known each other for quite a while already, yet the conversation seems to be restricted to superficial topics at first, mainly Jaskier’s prowess as bard and lover. However, Jaskier unwittingly steers the conversation in a more serious direction when he asks Geralt about retirement, what he wants to do when “all this... monster hunting nonsense” is over and done with.

So far, there’s a pattern in the show that when Jaskier talks to Geralt about serious matters, he starts making plans for the future. After the incident with the elves in Posada he promises to work hard to change Geralt’s reputation. In the infamous scene in “Rare Species” he’s trying to figure out what to do with his own future and offers Geralt to go to the coast with him. Here, in this scene, he’s trying to work out what Geralt wants from his future. Even if Geralt claims to want nothing.

At that point, Jaskier’s already made good on his promise to change the public tune about Geralt. The people in the beginning of the episode are talking about the White Wolf, not the Butcher of Blaviken, which makes for such an interesting parallel when paired with Yennefer’s comment about “Our magic”.

Yennefer’s magic created the Witcher; Jaskier’s song created the White Wolf.

Which, in all frankness, would be a good point to end this post but what’s the point of doing anything if you’re not gonna overdo it? I said the matter of past and future makes up part of the emotional core of the bath scenes. So there must be other parts of that supposed emotional core, right? Of course, there’s still

the matter of want and need

While discussing Geralt’s lack of retirement plan, Jaskier and Geralt keep tossing the word “want” back and forth. Jaskier tries to find out what Geralt wants; Geralt rebuffs him, he wants nothing; Jaskier turns it around on him by saying, well, maybe someone will want you. You could, of course, read that as your run-of-the-mill “just wait, the right person will come along (and that person might just so happen to be me – if you’re wearing shipping goggles)” shtick but the thing is, that’s the kind of reply you usually offer someone who’s bemoaning the fact that they’re single, the exact opposite of what Geralt is doing, and Jaskier strikes me as someone who’s emotionally intelligent enough to know that wouldn’t work on Geralt. I think Jaskier might be very literal when he’s saying “Maybe someone out there will want you.” As in, “even if you want nothing, maybe someone who wants you will come along (and that person might just so happen to be me – again, if you’re wearing shipping goggle).” But Geralt changes strategies and rebuffs him again, he needs no one. And the last thing he wants is someone needing him.

What’s interesting about this bit is the body language. I mentioned Jaskier and Geralt communicating a lot via eye contact. And Geralt is looking at Jaskier quite intently right up until Jaskier kneels down in front of him as he’s saying “Maybe someone out there will want you.” The camera cuts to Geralt and he’s looking off to the side while he says “I want no one.” Then, a pronounced pause follows before he turns to look Jaskier directly in the eye as he finishes, “And the last thing I want is someone needing me.” (I really want to say that this looks so much like he’s warning Jaskier to reconsider whatever he’s building up to say. But alas, that’s just fantasy.) The camera cuts away again and we see that Jaskier’s now looking down behind his clasped hands before looking up and answering “And yet... here we are.” Geralt acknowledges his answer with one of his famed “Hm”s. Then, he immediately changes the subject to the whereabouts of his clothes which Jaskier sent away to be washed.

In the other scene, Geralt and Yennefer breach the topic of “want” and “need” while talking about coin. Geralt claims she’s profiting off the political situation, whereas Yennefer claims she’s working in the interest of the people, “filling a need. Ever heard of it?” Which, yes, Geralt has, literally one episode ago, and he pulls a face that’s simply beyond words. (btw, kudos to Henry Cavill for cramming like five different emotions into one expression.)

Geralt and Jaskier had an entire conversation about how Geralt wants nothing and needs nobody. Jaskier even references that conversation when he yells at Geralt while they’re arguing over the djinn. “You always say you want nothing from life, so how was I supposed to know you wanted three wishes all to yourself!” he screams.

(Also, upon rewatching that scene, I literally just realised that Jaskier was drinking at the beginning of the scene. Combine that with the fact that he repeatedly brings up the Countess de Stael, and flat out states he’s currently heartbroken, and yeah, that explains a lot about his comparatively sour mood and short temper; also, why his speech comes across as much more chaotic than usual. Seriously, compare it to the way he speaks to Geralt after he’s gutted the selkiemore. He talks a lot in both – ok, Jaskier always does – but in the selkiemore scene, or basically any scene that isn’t the djinn scene, his diction is eloquent, artistic, florid; in the djinn scene, it’s all over the place, repetitive, and often bordering on the nonsensical. Frankly, you could probably make a whole post about that scene by itself. I’ll get back to that some other day.)

(Also, am I implying that Jaskier seems bitter over the fact that Geralt apparently keeps telling him he wants nothin from life? ...Yesn’t. Hard to pretend I’m not wearing shipping goggles when I’m literally almost 4000 words deep into a meta post. But remember, nothing but speculation!)

Anyway, and now there’s Yennefer broaching the subject, asking him if he’s ever heard of “filling a need”.

The conversation carries on until Geralt is blindsided by Yennefer telling him that his company and conversation are payment enough. He whirls around but Yennefer isn’t looking at him so he hurriedly gets out of the bath. In the next scene, he emerges with a new set of clothes he doesn’t like, which his companion from the previous scene procured for him. Now why does that feel familiar?

In conclusion...

honestly, I don’t even know where I was going with this originally. This started off as a joke but then things inevitably escalated and now I’m really tired and I wanna go to sleep. (Also, the whole djinn thing is giving me feels now which kinda puts a dampener on the humour in the episode. Jaskier’d already been having a bad day and things just. Keep. Getting. Worse. Ugh, my heart.) But I feel like this post needs a proper conclusion.

I feel like, in the context of these scenes Jaskier and Yennefer could be seen as foils to each other? They’re two of the few people Geralt lets close, very close, actually, since getting naked in front of someone is frequently equated with showing vulnerability to someone. In a lot of ways, Jaskier and Yennefer’s roles work in ways that are the exact opposite of that of the other. Jaskier tries to be seen where Yennefer wants to remain hidden, yet Jaskier gets obscured by the environment while Yennefer is exposed. Jaskier is asking Geralt for a favour, Yennefer did Geralt a favour; Jaskier insists on taking care of Geralt where Yennefer gives him space. Yennefer sees Geralt’s past, Jaskier his future. Jaskier touches the scar but doesn’t look, Yennefer looks but doesn’t touch. But both find a way to scratch at the emotional walls that Geralt’s put up and both times Geralt reacts by immediately trying to escape the situation. Both times, he ends up wearing clothes he doesn’t like in the following scene.

Speaking about nudity and emotional vulnerability, maybe that’s kind of part of the conclusion as well? Sorta? Especially, since Geralt seems to start looking for his clothes or for a way out of the tub the moment someone gets too close. Furthermore, afterwards, he never seems comfortable in the clothes he’s been given, which you could read as a metaphor of sorts, I guess? Like something inside Geralt getting knocked loose in the conversation with his companion and Geralt consequently having to arrange himself with an uncomfortable truth in the aftermath? Does that make sense? Have we finally reached the point where I’m getting too cerebral? Or did we sail past that point like 4000 words ago? God, my brain hurts.

#the witcher #the witcher netflix #geralt of rivia #yennefer of vengerberg #jaskier #geralt x jaskier #geraskier #geralt x yennefer #gerlion #fantastically foolish literary analysis #this might take the crown as dumbest idea i ever saw through #i have written college essays shorter than this #how do people 'enjoy' things casually? #i mean #if you haven't written at least half a thesis' worth of meta about a show #can you honestly say you've watched it? #somebody commented 'op your galaxy brain' on that post about Her Sweet Kiss #i've been trying to see how much further i can push it ever since #this is it #this is as far as my brain'll take me #now it's fried #just waiting to see how long it'll take for someone to go #'welp' #'looks like she's finally gone off her rocker' #'nothing we can do now' #god i miss livejournal #tumblr really isn't cut out for posts of this length #this might be the longest post i've ever written #i just realised that the fact that i can honestly say 'might be' is kind of concerning

[zenosanalytic]

Growing Up is Hard; It’s Hard and Nobody Understands

So I noticed netflix has Neon Genesis Evangelion up last week and started watching it front to back for the first time ever(this happens to have coincided with me being in a down-mood for your edification, dear readers u_u), finished it today, REALLY liked it, and I wanted to try my hand at explaining what the hell is even going on in NGE cuz it actl seemed super-clear to me(a person who has been consuming NGE analysis and post-NGE media for literally 25 years) u_u

Surface Plot; Or NERV: What the Hell Is It?

I’ll try to make this as brief as possible: An organization of super-wealthy individuals calling itself Seele(looking this up, it means soul in german) wants to possess the power of God. The final third or so of the series is clear on this; it’s all about power. Ikari Yui, a geneticist, is recruited by this organization, and her husband Gendo(having taken her name which says a LOT given typical Japanese practice) comes with her. In seeking out this power, they discover a hollow sphere underneath Antarctica(”The White Moon”), send an expedition there under the guise of the UN, encounter an entity with this power which they label an “Angel”, and do SOMETHING which prompts it to explode the continent flooding the earth and killing half the population(that Gendo left beforehand implies this may have been intentional, or that a bad outcome to Seele’s approach was easy to predict, tho in typical Gendo fashion, his is the only ass he cared to save).

Afterwards Seele blame the scientists for this outcome and send Gendo on a salvage mission which recovers both remains of the Angel, now dubbed “Adam”, and a device they dub “the spear of Longinus”. Seele creates Gehirn to study these remains for practical use; they clone “Adam” and dub the result Evas(Eves). Having cloned them, they now need a way to use and control them as the Evas are non-responsive. They hit on the idea of injecting people into them via the Entry Plug system, presumably to act as a brain. The first person to try this, Ikari Yui, was absorbed by the Eva(Unit 01); the second(Soryu Kyoko Zeppelin; Asuka’s mother) was partially psychologically absorbed by Unit 02, psychologically and mentally injured by this, institutionalized, abandoned by her shit USian husband Langley who remarried to her LEAD DOCTOR, and eventual kills herself in a hanging which Asuka either is the first to discover or, given her memories of promising to die with her/begging her not to do it, was present for. An important thing to note about this: Shinji and Asuka’s ability to sync with their Evas comes from the fact that their mothers are PART of their Eva’s identity, and all of their classmates are potential pilot-candidates. The implication here is that Seele KNEW this happened when you put adults into an Angel, and they KEPT DOING IT ANYWAY to create more pilots, but there’s no confirmation of that in series.

After the attempt at human adult control fails, Gendo combines Yui’s DNA with Adam’s and creates Rei. At the same time he is doing this another team, under Akagi Naoko, is developing Magi, a biomechanical computer for simulating the human mind(again: certain implication to this re: Evas though the series never says anything). Naoko is romantically interested in Gendo, and they start getting together(Gendo’s too much of an asshole to be said to date, I think). After Rei, a toddler, tells her Gendo calls her an “old woman” in private, not realizing this is insulting, Naoko kills her, then kills herself out of shame over having MURDERED A CHILD, and Gehirn is folded into a new organization, NERV, which Gendo is put in charge of. Rei forms the basis of the second attempt at controlling the Evas; child-pilots.

How they use Rei for this I’m not exactly sure. It could be because Rei is cloned from Yui(she easily syncs with Unit 01 before Shinji bonds with it completely), or because she’s part Angel via her Adam element(Kaworu says Angels merge with one another easily and naturally), or it could be they did something with Rei I’s corpse and Unit 00(I dont see how as it seems to require a LIVE pilot). Regardless, she is raised to be the pilot for 00, the prototype. MUCH later, when the rest of the Angels finally decide to come looking for Adam, Shinji is called in, and after his success Asuka(who like Rei and unlike Shinji has been training to pilot her whole life) is called to Nerv headquarters(under Japan, in the “Black Moon”; a second spherical hollow where they found another Angel they call Lilith) too.

Regardless the child-pilots are only a step in Nerv and Seele’s plans, as Rei is ALSO the template for the Dummy Plug system, the final step in complete control of Eva units. To put it simply, the Dummy Plugs are Rei-clones without her personality or memories, and will just do whatever the heck they’re ordered to. At least once during the series(and I’d argue two, possibly three times) Rei dies and is replaced by one of these clones through some process, which involves what looks like a pre 00 Eva’s spine and probably a Magi-like backup, which transfers her personality and memories into the new body.

So what is Nerv? Well it’s hard to say EXACTLY because Gendo is in some sort of conflict with Seele(and I want to keep my watches of End of Evangelion out of this post; to focus entirely on JUST NGE itself) and Nerv IS Gendo, but as the series states repeatedly it’s an attempt to control the future of humanity by controlling what they call “the power of god” which, given that it’s what most distinguishes the “Angels”, is the AT, or “Absolute Terror”, Field. What is the AT Field? It’s a field that can make or unmake any kind of matter or energy from basically nothing, and it also seems to have a strong tie to what you could call the Ego; to desires and sense-of-self. An AT Field gets stronger when the person generating it is experiencing powerful emotions; Confidence, sure, but also Fear, Abandonment, the Will to Live, and Anger.

That last bit is very important. Why? Strong AT Field effects require a powerful emotional motivation in the pilot combined with high sync-rates with the Eva(basically a lobotomized Angel-clone) generating the Field. The three pilots we meet, the Strongest candidates, are all exceedingly traumatized people, and Gendo is the direct cause of the trauma of two of them. At no point in the series is Gendo ever a good father to Shinji, he is CONSTANTLY unreasonable, neglectful, and cruel to him; he’s kinder to Rei but at the same time her loneliness, the state of her “home”, and her lack of self worth shows that he rarely interacts with her outside of missions or explains what’s going on beyond bald facts; and he COMPLETELY ignores Asuka, a deeply lonely child with a history of abandonment and close brushes with death; he even delegates bumping her from the program. This point is important because it’s important to recognize that Gendo is a bad dad on PURPOSE; that he instrumentalizes his bad dadness to traumatize Shinji(and Rei and Asuka, though sadly the series doesn’t focus on them enough for us to see much) as much as he can, because he thinks that trauma, that emotional instability and anger, MAKES SHINJI A MORE USEFUL PILOT; ie lets him generate more powerful AT Fields. This is never said clearly, but it’s clearly what’s going on as forcing Unit 01(and thus Shinji) into awful, heartbreaking, life-threatening situations is vital to his plan. Gendo’s a piece of shit, and I want ppl to recognize just HOW BIG a piece of shit he is, because I feel this powerfully.

And for what? For Power. To be “God”. To get the highest numbers. To generate the MOST Invincible Invincibility Shield. For Ridiculous, Absurd, Childish reasons. For, you know, the same reasons rich and powerful people do all the fucked up shit they do in the real world where giant magic robots thankfully DONT exist.

And how do they plan to do this? Through “Human Instrumentation”, which will literally kill everyone by turning them all into goo.

Metaplot; Or “SHINJI! Don’t Get in that Robot!!”

So, maybe this is just because(as said previously) I’ve been reading NGE Analysis and consuming media which NGE heavily inspired for ~25 years, but I think it’s old hat at this point to note that Neon Genesis Evangelion is ALSO an allegory for becoming an adult, centered on Shinji. However, it’s just really SO on the nose in this, so PERFECT as such a narrative, that I want to run through it real quick. Also: A Cruel Angel’s Thesis is basically a thesis-statement for this series; please check out the lyrics.

So Shinji is living under the guardianship of a teacher(yup: this series even takes a swing at how our society uses schools to warehouse kids so their parents can waste their lives producing “Value” instead of raising them), when the shitty dad that abandoned him decides he has a use for him after all and calls him up.

On meeting with a child he has not seen SINCE HE WAS A TODDLER LITERALLY ABANDONED HIM ON THE STREET WHEN HIS MOTHER DIED he immediately ambushes him with the command that he get in a huge body(that he grow up) to do what? Whatever Gendo tells him to, but specifically: commit acts of violence for Gendo and Seele’s profit. He tells him this will protect people; meanwhile doing it destroys those peoples’ literal homes. The rest of the series is a series of monotonous, incomprehensible “Tests” judging his, and his peers, worthiness for approval and affection on the basis of how well they can use those giant bodies to do what Gendo tells them(so: capitalist work), punctuated by unpredictable, brutal, traumatizing, and physically dangerous events(so: capitalist work). Every friend, and the one lover, he meets, he is placed in unnecessary, destructive competition with and, when they are male, forced to attack and(in the case of the one lover, Kaworu) kill them; this last comment on homophobia is so stark and obvs I don’t even feel like you can CALL it subtext, even IF it plays out over mostly a single episode(honestly this plotline should have been given more time). And all the time they’re doing this, they must ALSO continue going to school and maintaining the front that they’re happy smiley Heroes, completely normal and not traumatized at all, and Nerv and the government that lets them run this city is a great and wonderful organization. Is this not what becoming an adult, over your teens and 20s, feels like?

And then there’s Seele and Nerv. Able to move state governments as they wish, Seele CAUSED Second Impact(Global Warming). By not returning Adam’s remains, they’re CAUSING the Angel attacks on Nerv meant to retrieve them(the threat of Human extinction). The Angels eventually begin trying to communicate and Nerv’s response? Destroy them before they can; blow up the Evas(and their pilots) if they succeed. And to top it all off Seele and Nerv are actually trying to CAUSE the very extinction(Third Impact) they claim to be preventing! Seele and Nerv are just SUCH good metaphors for capitalism in our modern day.

The transwoman reading of Shinji also seems pretty dang strong to me, though I’ll only deal with it shallowly. Shinji is the only “male” of all the pilots. Outside of command and security, most Nerv staff are women. Being an Eva pilot, being Nerv staff, is marked as “feminine”, and Shinji is an Eva pilot; is a Nerv staffer. The body he gets into, Unit 01, acts as a metaphor for the large, imposing, masculine body he’s expected to have as an adult “man”, yet it’s also spiritually his mom -feminine- and his ability to use it is tied DIRECTLY with his ability to “Sync” with that spirit; with his ease and comfort being feminine. Even at the level of mere aesthetics, Shinji’s plugsuit makes him appear to have breasts! Going a bit deeper, he initially relates to the women around him by relating to their gender. He’s most at ease with Rei because of the personality traits she shares with him which, we know from his gender-policing of Misato from earlier in the series, are traits he considers feminine(ie: he doesn’t feel like Misato has them, so he thinks she’s being a woman “wrong” and gets oddly offended by this in a way that really feels more about him than her). Asuka is constantly expressing her frustration with him for not “being a man”, ie, for being “feminine” in her eyes, and he isn’t really bothered by it(her calling him an idiot seems to stick much more firmly). Misato and Shinji establish a modus vevendi when she accepts him as he is, allowing him to do the household chores and to cook; he’s comfortable and happy when accepted into roles his culture considers feminine, while most of the series is him bucking AGAINST the masculinity forced on him by Nerv, his father, and others. Again: this is a very surface-level engagement with the subject, but even at that shallow level I feel like the case for reading Shinji as a transwoman is pretty solid.

Dislikes

It’s not a perfect series by any means of course.

There’s allot of dialogue that’s pure 90s nonsense, though the series mostly includes it only to shoot it down.

Like I said above, I don’t think Rei and Asuka really get the time or attention they deserve. In general the series treatment of women is ...Weird... especially around the issue of sex. It’s really strange; in many ways it’s far better than most anime(spcl from that period) on this. Women are ACTUAL PEOPLE with psychology, opinions, and pasts; they’re allowed to have emotions of their own, and struggles, and to be damn competent; they are independent and their own selves rather than accessories or “prizes” to men. But on the issue of feminine sexuality it just gets suddenly so weird in this very particular old-school misogynist way. Like: it treats women’s attraction and reactions TO relationships as something devoid of and impenetrable to reason, without belittling the emotions(the desire and hurt) behind those reactions. That’s the only way I can describe it, and it’s so strange to see something that is both so insulting and sympathetic at once. Oh, and the Akagis in particular are done super-dirty for seemingly no reason I can see, tho I can guess, and Akagi Ritsuki is CLEARLY a lesbian(possibly bi lesbian) and also Rose Lalonde(srsl; her Deal should have been an unrequited, unspoken crush on Misato. They openly dealt with queerness re: Kaworu and Shinji they could have done it here too).

The Kaworu storyline should have been a series of episodes or even developed from the start with him as another pilot(maybe replace Toji with him), though they’d have to tone down his weirdness, at least at the start. A deeper dive on Shinji’s sexuality(honestly his attraction to Kaworu is SO much more immediate and believable than anything we see with him and Asuka, which there is basically nothing of beyond the ep where they had to do choreography for a fight, and that’s not developed on) would have really been appreciated, and having Kaworu be a bigger part of the series would have facilitated that.

Also honestly the whole series feels a bit rushed? Spcl the second half. Like I said: I haven’t done any followup reading lately, but I remember there being some budget problems or something, so maybe that’s the cause. Ironically it might actl also be why it’s as GOOD as it is; having to keep it short forces you to write concise and lean, and that’s probably why its themes and message are so clear. But, I’d have liked more rambling for character development, and more time spent on seeing Rei and Asuka react to the stresses we saw Shinji face(also they never really get moments to shine like he does; another negative common to the medium and genre). Asuka in particular, as a Japanese German with a USian temperament abandoned by her parents, already an outsider in SO many ways, coming to live in an entirely different culture where she’s even MORE of an outsider; forced to live with people(Misato and Shinji) she finds it impossible to relate to or connect with; who has literally NO ONE beside a single adult guardian who totally blows her off THE WHOLE SERIES after delivering her; PLUS her awful past: there’s just SO MUCH material I’d have loved to see explored more slowly and with greater depth, detail, and sympathy even if what IS there already is pretty powerful and effecting. She’s SUCH a good Vriska(so I’d also have loved to see her break more shit too >:>)

Conclusion

So Anyway: I really liked this series. It had its problems, there are things I’d have liked to see, but it absolutely deserves the reputation it has. I might write more about this, I might do a watch through INCLUDING End of Evangelion(which actl makes much more sense having watched the series, though having done so makes Shinji’s masturbation scene comPLETELY out of left-field like where the hell did THAT come from); we’ll see.

#Neon Genesis Evangelion #The Dreaded Animes #zA Reviews #zA Opinions

[chosetherose]

Why do you think Kaylor is still together? I would personally love to believe this but with folklore & evermore it points to a split for me. Just wanted to know your reasoning!

Hi, Anon! I typically don’t go too deep into this question because I feel like there’s so much - a lot of it small coincidences that over time are impossible to ignore if you’re paying close attention. The best way to understand is to stay fresh on blogs who talk about this topic, see what we’re posting about, and form an opinion for yourself.

I will give you quick thoughts on Folklore and Evermore and provide some interesting links, though.

With Folklore and Evermore, Taylor for the first time created a narrative around her albums that isn’t diaristic - we aren’t supposed to have a clear understanding of how the songs relate to her life. That said, I think a lot of the albums do relate to Taylor’s life in some fractured way. While there are themes of sadness and loss, there has been so much going on in Taylor life, that we know about, that are relevant to these themes without the context of a breakup. She had her masters stolen and her one time mentor who was practically family was all of a sudden working to bury her. She’s dealt with the loss of what could have been her plans for the future if that didn’t happen, etc. There’s so much to digest but when you look past some of the surface level of this all, there are still themes of deep, appreciative and ongoing love.

Here is a link to a master post I made of my favorite posts I’ve made on this blog.

Here are a couple examples within the last year of Karlie posting something that we found out later was foreshadowing something to do with Taylor. These may seem small on their own but there are not really smoking guns around here (otherwise everyone would know about Kaylor) instead it’s small consistent drips over time. Some are louder than others.