#you literally unlocked my verbal diarrhea without meaning to

[chaoffee]

Orion do you have tips on how to write Venti 🙏 I'd be ever so grateful to learn

[Warning: Profanity ahead...and a really long read] Hii, you're in for a long ramble LOL

So, first things first, I'm probably not the best Venti writer out there. No, not even probably, I'm not. I try to write as closely as possible to canon however I know that's difficult as my own headcanons and perception of Venti will show themselves in my writing. And I genuinely think that there are absolutely better Venti writer's out there to ask.

(you can skip to around "Honestly this is..." to skip a whole lot of my rambling because genuinely instead of giving tips I just rambled. No matter how I try to think of it, you'll end up with the entire ramble no matter what :skull:)

Venti is a complex character, like genuinely a very complex character. People like dumbing him down to this silly little guy that's a drunkard and I get real annoyed when that's all people see him as. Venti is much more than the "carefree persona" he puts on. There's so much depth to his character.

Another thing to take note of, when I write for Venti, I'm usually writing him for comfort as he's a comfort character of mine. Most of my works are more focused on the reader than Venti, but the very few times I've written solely for Venti, I wrote angst with him. And there I honestly just went into the zone so how I write him is beyond me.

If I'd have to give tips on how to write him, it would be to make him more than just some silly little guy that's there for comedic relief. If you think about it Venti is the most mysterious archon we've met so far. He speaks in riddles when he knows he can't give an outright answer because that defeats the whole point of figuring it all out on your own.

He's a mischievous character. From hiding the broken Holy Lyre of der Himmel that he immediately made a break for after saying his little trick won't last forever to forging Morax's signature back when the aristocracy rules Mondstadt in order to help free Mondstadt once more. Another thing people tend to forget in the fandom is that Venti is actually really intelligent, which again isn't recognized under his "he's just a silly little guy" thing the fandom has going on for him.

Okay, I'm getting off track, this is more turning into me ranting about the fandom and being way to passionate about him :skull:

How I try to write him is to show depth to his character. I learn something new about his character every day. Like genuinely. If it wasn't for the venti nation over on twitter who are just as passionate about him as I am, I wouldn't have known half the shit I do now.

I think reading his character story and the Mondstadt lore (like the skyward weapons lore) really helped me find some depth into his character as not only the infamous bard of Mondstadt but also the god of Freedom and Hope. Maybe looking at the actual demon Barbatos would give some ideas on him as well.

Writing him is honestly a hassle, because you need to know when he'd make a riddle or a rhyme off the top of his head and when he'd talk to you like a normal person. Even in his voicelines, as far as I can remember, he doesn't rhyme often. Which made me realize that Kazuha really does talk by spitting out flowers from his mouth because I swear it's easier to write for Venti than for Kazuha who speaks in flowers :sob:

Another thing that helped me understand him a little better is simply looking up his fandom wiki page and seeing how they describe him. The first time I saw what stood there, I was like, "oh...that actually makes sense." (in reference to him hiding a lonely soul specifcally.)

When I do write him, I try to still keep his characteristic traits like being mischievous, carefree, wise, and lonely. Like I can absolutely imagine him stealing some apples from Dawn Winery and to be cheeky, he'd even sit atop the winery eating at the apples. But I keep in mind how he'd sometimes just sit alone and think. Like in his story quest, where at the end he sits on the hands of the Barbatos statue after telling us the story of the nameless bard and how he became the god of freedom. How he grieves for a friend/the friends he had lost. You can't tell me that by the end of his story quest you didn't feel the loneliness that basically oozes off of him.

I try to creep in that old timer feeling too because let's be real, he's a god, he's over thousands of years old, he has experience, ya get me? He'd have that hint of old soul vibes. And also let's not forget webtoon Venti where he was loud and proud about his songs (or rhymes or whatever was exactly said there) being twice as good as that of Barbatos himself (ironic because he literally is Barbatos). Like he is proud of being the best bard in Mondstadt.

ALSO Venti is super observant, like I will die on this fucking hill. He would know when something's up.

A big thing that I want to incorporate into my writing if I write him and it needs this, is that it will always feel like he's hiding something from you. Because it was recently brought to my attention that he doesn't always tell the truth or he talks in such a roundabout way that it diverts your attention to something else.

That and the fact that he is literally trying to hide just how powerful he truly is. He doesn't like drawing attention to himself, especially if it outs his true identity. Fucking "the weakest archon of the Seven" my ass. Like did you know that before people use a glider that they literally need to say a prayer to Barbatos to allow them to glide? I didn't either until a recent read up on a hyperfocus on Mondstadt fashion and someone on reddit said that people offer prayers to Barbatos every time they glide. If his power as an archon is based on how many people believe in him, than fuck bro you're straight up lying if the entirety of Teyvat is literally praying every time they use a glider. Like my dude is literally such a liar just to conceal his tracks and diverts attention away from himself.

Also whether or not that reddit user is correct on the prayer thing, I have no clue. I might be AR 59 but I am so behind on actual quests and shit that I just don't know, so how credible or true that is, I'm not sure. You can only trust any of my words when it comes to the archon quest lore :skull:

Honestly this is just turning into a ramble of a lifetime. I apologize sefhfef Overall, I'm not exactly sure how I write Venti or if I write him correctly. When I write there is (sometimes) no thoughts behind my eyes, just aggressive typing while I listen to music and I just pray that I write him accurately. Venti is such a complex character that it's hard to simply just...give tips because there's so much about his character that I could talk about.

I know for a fact that I try to convey not only his playful demeanor, but also his serious and caring nature. Like please, he isn't always cheerful or playful and he knows when to be serious and take things seriously.

And I try to incorporate that old timer feeling he would absolutely have because he is literally thousands of years old. (Adding this here as well for in case you did skip the whole ramble)

I can ramble about his character for days, probably, and I'd still never get to how I write him.

What I can say is to just listen to his voicelines, read his character story and go off memory of how you perceive him and know of him. Listen to other characters voicelines about him. Get to know him in a sense through those.

If you're unsure of whether you're writing him as accurately as possible (or simply just right), ask a Venti simp/fan to beta read for you. That's what I'm doing with my Eula series, I asked a friend if she could help me write Eula more accurately and she referred me to another friend of hers that loves Eula and that friend agreed to helping me in understanding Eula as not only a character but to also portray her as accurately as possible.

If you have no excessive Venti simps to turn to *tucks hair behind ear* Hit me up and I'll happily help you out by once again rambling about him <3

#orion answers ask #with our starry guest Ansy #(I'm just going to refer you to with that name for now as i am unsure what name you are usually referred to) #(i'll fix it when i'm more certain on what you like being referred to as) #please over thousand words just to never really get to the point #i'm so sorry #i never thought i was *this* passionate about a character until now #you literally unlocked my verbal diarrhea without meaning to #i could talk about venti for days fr fr #i hope this was at least in some way helpful #otherwise genuinely hit me up and i'll ask more specific questions on what exactly you want to know #and talk about those specific things