[v4.2] How Fontaine CHALLENGED the Status Quo [Genshin Impact Lore]

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[@Truck-kun11]

This mission was practically Focalor giving the middle finger to the physical manifestation of the Status Quo of Teyvat (Heavenly Principles)

[@samirSch]

Or an amazing display of her integrity by upholding the values of Justice by fixing everything in her power, even if she had to pay the ultimate price.

[@Acheron-IX]

The “heavenly principles” are the divine laws of Teyvat. The unknown god upholds or enforces those rules.

[@Truck-kun11]

@@Acheron-IX Everyone talks about the Heavenly Principles as if they were an entity or group. Perhaps the Unknown Goddess is just one of many, or an artificial being created to maintain order under the command of the Primordial One.

[@KadaEklund]

Heavenly principle was used to define the first descender. As Nahida said: "The first descender is the one we know as the Heavenly Principles", but also theres some problem with the translation of this word and it was never used on plural or anything indicating is one or more beings.

[@samirSch]

@@KadaEklund Well, I don't think anyone really assumed "Heavenly Principles" was multiple beings because of this plural. It's just more fluid on the language.

[@ultima1594]

I also like the comparison between Neuvilette and Apep. Neuvilette wants to help humanity, but Nahida were to do the same for Apep, they would have likely destroyed humanity.

[@nk30020]

Yeah I just realised that Nahida almost sacrificed herself to save Apep, the parallel between them is real.

[@Susan-vi1jh]

Made me realize, Nahida could've kill herself trying to save Apep. Apep could literally kill her after she's weaken badly and took that dendro sovereign forcefully

[@Shush7717]

​@@Susan-vi1jhnot sure apep knows how to destroy the archon seat. After nahida's death a new dendro archon will take her place.

[@Susan-vi1jh]

@@Shush7717 you're right... Maybe? I mean she has the forbidden knowledge. Maybe she knows, maybe she could just swallow her and use Nahida like a battery. Idk just some random speculation

[@alienafrost9470]

Apep did not serve the people of Sumeru for 400 years, learning about them and living among them. It is those 400 years that changed the heart of Neuvillette, he said so himself.

[@Lynnefala]

Something I noticed is that every character has a role in the story telling. Traveler- viewer Lyney- Narrator Furina- protagonist Neuvilette- secondary character And etc

[@kawansiesquad6659]

Ooo very true. Furina knew she was the main character for Fontaine and even our version of events reflects that. That’s so cool

[@samirSch]

Paimon - Paimon

[@Discarded_Uzi]

I wouldn’t say the traveler is a viewer, they are more of a catalyst as they were the ones who solved Lynsey’s case and they also solved the serial disappearances case which led to important breakthroughs and knowledge about the prophecy, they also best furina in court too.

[@kawansiesquad6659]

@@Discarded_Uzi oh ya true, the prophecy could have gone either two ways, the original way it was meant to, where focalors did not concoct any plan and the primordial water turned Fontainians into water, OR focalors entire plan. Focalors plan would still not have come to fruition if it was not for the traveller. It’s kind of the same case as the akademiya monitoring cyno. This time the akademiya is celestia, and cyno is the hydro archon. The akademiya predicted everything Cyno would do since he is a solitary person and they only have to predict his actions alone with no interference. Celestia already predicted everything that would happen to come to the conclusion of “primordial water will flood Fontaine killing everyone”. Just like how cyno was able to defy the akademiya’s predictions about him due to outside interference, the traveller is not included in these predictions, so anything they do is not included. This is also comparable to how the traveller’s actions are not recorded into irminsul because they are not native to Teyvat. They make all these changes in different nations and even irminsul cannot record the travellers actions directly, only the effects the travellers leaves in their wake.

[@Shreyash112]

@@samirSchpaimon maybe the secret director of the full TRAVELLER SAGA folk😂

[@Truck-kun11]

Man, with each region having an increasingly better story than the last, I wonder what Natlan will be like to surpass or at least equal Fontaine

[@racool911]

An all out war for the gnosis probably.

[@Who-el2dn]

ChadHIMtano is in Natlan.Already peak

[@samirSch]

Doubt Natlan will surpass anything. Not only it's hard AF, as Fontaine twist was amazing, Natlan is also the latin america/africa influenced region, with darker skinned NPCs and the main market Hoyo focus on, the asian market, has some sort of aversion to it. So my guess is they'll try, but they won't bother, just like they didn't bother fixing Dehya.

[@vanminhquan7223]

​@@samirSch it actually really easy to get equal to Fontaine just pull a "nightglow" in Natlan

[@brokencreativity7266]

@@samirSch I think you're mixing up your realism and pessimism there lmao. Have faith, they've consistently shown, story wise at least, that they keep improving time and time again. No reason for it to stop now

[@gemcomposer]

As a lot of people have commented, I do not believe for a second that Arlecchino's ark is finished. We haven't been to the House of the Hearth, and with the description of her being a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' to the AQ trailer where she's the one pulling the strings to the plot, she has more to show us. 😁👌

[@amari7782]

Everyone said the same thing with sumeru and dottore yet that ultimate ended up being a nothing burger so we’ll have to see

[@gemcomposer]

@amari7782 That is true. But I honestly don't see that story being finished either. In both cases, there should be more to them so let's hope that's what happens. 🤞

[@amari7782]

@@gemcomposer it’s less of it not being finished and more so just it being worked on while we were in that region was more of wat I was getting at But then again the electro vision plot point hasn’t been touched in years

[@gemcomposer]

@amari7782 Yeah totally. So yeah, you might be right. It does make me think it's bizarre how much story we still have but we get a lot of filler patches. I guess the story will just keep going for a while haha.

[@amari7782]

@@gemcomposer oh yea no their going to drag this cuz I’ll be very honest I still have zero attachment to the fatui Fontaine kinda helped but it’s less of the fact that the major fatui members themselves less so the group. I still have no attachment to the gnosis cuz the game has yet to really explain why this is such a huge deal especially with all the archons being so unphased about giving them away.

[@sylvarogre5469]

While common, antagonists aren't necessary. Just conflict is required. Remember the 4 literary conflicts: protagonist vs. others, self, environment, or the supernatural. I like how Fontaine explored the second two kinds of conflict.

[@zbee3694]

Technically, whatever the main character is in conflict with is the antagonist. My teachers always talked about how for example in a natural disaster movie is the antagonist. Which is funky

[@iurypadilha]

Genshin started with the base idea of the Fatui being bad and wanting world domination but slowly it's shifting the villain role to Celestia and the Fatui actually fighting for the freedom of Teyvat but using shady tactics.

[@mitab1]

Then Celestia turns out to be the good guy keeping teyvat safe from outside dangers

[@lamontcranston13]

I believe the meropide arc was what our time with sangonomiya aemy should’ve been. Where we actually got to do stuff instead of getting told thru white text what we supposedly have done during our stay.

[@serezelveydawn]

True, we could have skirmished with Sara a bit and they could have explored how the delusions worked more thoroughly

[@KatsuImagitian]

Among the reasons why Inazuma if it had current pacing with 5 Act structure would've been a better arc than present. The Resistance feels appropriately expanded and Ayato with several characters could be better implemented in their overall importance. In the end, Inazuma walked so Sumeru and Fontaine could run.

[@araeast6923]

Inazuma’s quest also set up something important: characters can die. Granted not ones that are already playable, but when archon quests release, most of the characters in the quest’s main cast aren’t released yet, which drastically raises the stakes since we don’t know who might be on the chopping block. Inazuma needed 5 acts, but what we got completely changed the stakes in Genshin’s story from then on.

[@Anticaat]

inazuma was so weak. they've improved the writing since then.

[@Redheart709]

​@@araeast6923while i agree that it's nice that set up npcs can die, i do feel like its a bit of a moot point. as soon as i see a character has a unique model and a vision, i know they're immune from any grievous injury. like that scene in the sumeru AQ where dehya offered her arm as leverage to prove that she was dead serious. i knew they weren't gonna do that, and its a complete bluff even if its supposed to be completely serious in the narrative

[@thelaw_00]

Inazuma was done dirty. I wish they didn't rush the archon quest and made it FIVE acts long like Sumeru and Fontaine. I guess Liyue could also benefit from an extension. Maybe 4 acts.

[@kontters]

im 100% sure that arlecchino used the fact that in this particular case the archon was in the "wrong" to get her on our good side just to stab us in the back tenfold in the interlude. at least thats what i think will happen

[@Discarded_Uzi]

LEAK WARNING: I hold the same view, I’ve heard that there have been leaks of an arlechinno boss in 4.6 and furinas second sq is in 4.7 update, so if I had to guess we probably fight her in an interlude

[@Sofisasam]

​@@Discarded_Uziplease but a leak warning a bit further up and not 1 word before the spoiler :)

[@Discarded_Uzi]

@@Sofisasam mb, next time I’ll do that, these aren’t confirmed though, so take it with a grain of salt

[@StonedHunter]

It might not be a willing betrayal, but one she has to perform. I truly believe that she wants to be on good terms with the Traveler especially given their relationship to her children. Just cuz we have to fight someone doesn't mean they stop being an ally. We fight Childe but still remain on good enough terms he trusts his vision with the Traveler.

[@kontters]

@@StonedHunter i really really hope that's not the case. i want her to be an actual twisted psychopath that's just putting on many masks and manipulating everyone into thinking exactly what you just said. just like what scara said, a wolf in sheep's clothing. tbh i just really want someone who's actually evil and doesn't get a redemption arc or die like signora or wanderer i just need more villains!!

[@lavenderiris9744]

I actually think the long prison quest was genius. Say, Don’t you think repeating the same day over and over with little to no changes, with basically the same dialogue, all the while trying to investigate without raising suspicion sound similar to…what Furina had to go through? I think it’s a very good way of making the player experience something similar, so that it’s easier for them to sympathize later. Just thinking about how the prison quest annoyed me so much, while Furina had to do so for so many years without fail, I know she’s not real, but it makes me feel so sad. But I’m no psychology major, so take it as a grain of salt.

[@immortal_shrooms6757]

Wait wait you might be onto something

[@guidomista1291]

I thought of the same thing when I first played the quest. I thought it was very drawn out until I got to the final Archon quest.

[@aavaron]

tbh the time we spent in jail felt a little similar to the samsara cycle in sumeru. reapeating the same things everyday while gathering the small piece of information.

[@Chareddragon]

There have been quests in the Chasm that humanized members of the Fatui

[@Faron93]

10:15 Thank you for pointing out the trial. I really got the impression that a lot of people got way too emotionally attached to Furina and/or the tragic background story that they kinda ignored the point of view of the Fontanians.

[@thomasraines1396]

That’s not just an impression it’s just fact: people absolutely shit on all the characters for how things played out.

[@GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

Straight up Hoyoverse has always been extremely good at story telling, they just wanted to slowly build up Genshin to reach this peak because of how vast the world is. We needed to understand the culture, systems and hierarchies of this world in order to emotionally attach ourselves to the stakes that are involved. When people say they don't know how Hoyoverse is going to top Fontaine, I assure you they easily can, I cried for 5 hours straight in Honkai 3rd's Flamechaser arc. I think Furina is easily top 10 best written characters of Hoyoverse along with characters like Elysia, Houraji, Houraiji Kyuusyou, Otto Apocalypse.

[@SanarySeggnete]

I think the only downside of Furina is how badly she prepared for the disaster... Fontaine have boats... not enough boats. The buildings and city are super tall, not tall enough. And a massive flying ship that didn't fly till everyone is already deep under. lol. She prepared 500 years for it, still got herself blindsided by it. Poor girl. Maybe the reason why Fontaine is so developed is Furina and her people were actively trying to use technology to escape the prophecy, which was impossible.

[@vivasparkle1367]

Houraiji Kyuusyou mention lets gooo!!

[@Sakuzygy]

One of my absolute most favorite aspects of Fontaine's archon quests was Furina. From the very beginning, Furina had put all of her unquestioning faith in a god she could barely ever actually talk to and who wouldn't tell her anything more than to just do as Focalors said. It re-frames every time Furina ever said something like "don't disrespect the wisdom of the gods!" for me because not only does it feel like genuine offense on Focalors' behalf, but also Furina trying to reassure herself of her faith in Focalors' plan. And it made Furina's own efforts to try and stop the prophecy that much more admirable, even if it never got very far, because she was basically just a human with a very long life trying to upstage an actual god. All of this parallels with the people of Fontaine, from their idolization of Furina, to the secret of their bodies. Furina was so heartbreakingly human long before Focalors' sacrifice, and her story quest where she struggles with how much of her life that she loved and wants to have, but can't because of how much despair it put her through, only makes her even more so.

[@seph4707]

My critique is that the "Villain" of this story *is* Celestia but we never get Celestia's perspective, making it feel like a black and white conflict. However, Celestia can be fleshed out more in the future so that doesn't detract too much from my enjoyment of Fontaine. It was very captivating.

[@samirSch]

Disagree, the narrative was initially built with Celestia as this amazing place where the chosen ones recieve the blessing of the gods and ascend themselves if they prove themselves worthy and...with the story progress we start seeing Celestia's questionable actions and start doubing our pre-set views... It adds to the mystery, we don't know if Celestia was your tipical "good guys", if they were the "good guys doing bad for the greater good" or if they are really just assholes with power who imposed a false good image of themselves, or something else. And ofc the incertainty of it is what keeps me interested in the story.

[@nighthunterfrost8251]

⁠@@samirSchI see what you mean but from the very beginning celestia was always presented as untrustworthy since venti from the beginning especially in lore aswell

[@MaaQuchii]

I highly doubt they are the villain… 😂 pay attention.. ppl BLAME Celestia for “cursing” fountain ppl.. REALITY = EGERIA put whale food/primordial sea into her ppl.. NOT celestia and childe woke it up and skirks master had it as a PET.. therefore celestia is INNOCENT… also Gold has her research used by sages of kheaneriah.. THEY probably accidentally lost control of their dark experiments which lead to abyssal creatures literally overrunning the planet.. aka all nations where about to fall.. celestia HAD TO nuke ground zero where the endless waves of abyss monsters where coming from… NOTE.. all references in lore where we see a Celestia nail that ended ancient civilizations.. all of them had leaders FOOLING WITH FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE.. aka difference between them an khaneriah is khaneriah actually was sneaky for long time and that’s why they got away with it for so long.. aka it seems celestia CURED “cancer” in early stages before it progressed beyond curable .. 😂 irl if this happened and endless monster overran earth.. 100% USA and nations with nukes are nuking the place where they are coming from.. either we can accept that reality and humanity survives OR ppl cry about it say big it’s “evil” and humans get over run and go extinct.. 😂 also Apep herself stated clestia is basically PRO HUMAN.. she said something about their love for humanity in context of why she/apep hated humans.. 😂 also at this point like many fantasy games .. humans tend to be under protection by the gods/celestia in a ball/dome from something really bad for life OUTSIDE in the cosmos… aka humans are too stupid and arrogant to grasp what’s out there waited bf to get in and kill them to the point where humans always have ppl in power willing to cause harm INSIDE the dome to get a taste of wuts outside.. 😂 at this point im leaning towards celestia coming to this planet to seed humans AND give them a place to live PROTECTED FROM WUTS OUT THERE.. there be MONSTERS OUT THERE.. worse then mutate life on the planet.. like the WHALE for example.. 😂whales with “demons” imma their belly…😂 who knows wuts out there.. maybe REPEAPERS 😂 or BEHOLDERS.. or other “outer gods” like Erdrich horrors and shit.. 😂 FYI.. I’m convince the archon wars was a GOOD THING.. teyvat had countless gods from peaceful to absolute blood thirsty.. probably chaotic planet and to bring order sadly but reality u gotta REDUCE amount of gods.. also I like the theory of gnosis housing “stars” a wish granting device.. and all wished bad and good work but 7archons where intentionally favored TOO contol wishes.. aka prevent bad wishes being made .. aka evil gods in the archon war where NEVER able to win archon war.. it was rigged from the start to have good at heart gods win.. basically ppl sayin celestia is bad is them exploiting the fact celestia hasn’t gave its side due to being absent since khaneriah.. aka if I top ppl ur bad and a murder most ppl blindly would believe me if u didn’t defend urself against my allegations 💀

[@existenceispain2074]

I think it is kinda the point, the Celestia is not "good" or "bad", it is not not a story of man VS man, it is a story of man VS God. Or people wanting to change the status quo and having their own will, I think this theme is common in hoyoverse game.

[@cruxfleet6214]

Well, nothing is pure. Celestia might have their own reasons, as we know that abyss power only can counter balance by celestia force. Even the dragon sovereign can get corrupted with abyss. The method of doing maybe not be pleasant for everyone but it's must be done

[@EthHawke94]

This also puts a solid dent in the Abyss Order’s plan to engulf the thrones.

[@catdownthestreet]

Oh my god. I didn't even notice that. What will they do if all of the dragon sovereigns regain their power?

[@Koenou]

i personally viewed the heavenly principles as the main antagonist while i was going through the fontaine archon quests

[@abarr2951]

The Fontaine Archon Quests once again reinforced my basic and long-standing question of how can Celestia be so blind to what is going on Teyvat? There is an active rebellion going on and the Heavenly Principles is that blind to even a loss of a Throne? I'm really now not seeing how they can be such a threat with so much incidents going against them by the various factions. Also, I was a little annoyed that the Fatui were seen as a positive force in this Archon Quest given the horrible things we saw in Sumaru

[@meltederaser376]

Each member of the Fatui have their own goals. Dottore is insane and likes to cause chaos through his experiments by simply being curious, on the other hand Arlechinno is civil and manipulative. Both of them want the gnosis in the end but they do things their own way.

[@radiantbunny]

Nahida said Celestia is dormant, and from what current lore is hinting, they seem to be in a heavy state of decline. The Traveler's story description implies that the Primordial One has gone missing and the Sustainer is fading.

[@mikonyx7712]

Let me introduce you to my theory. What if the divine principles isn't a ruler of Teyvat like everybody thinks, but a conqueror instead. What if they conquer worlds, set up their people to watch over their territory (Archons), and go on to the next world? That would explain why they aren't taking action, because they have other things going on, or the information is yet to reach them. Is that believable 🤔

[@mitab1]

My theory is, they aren't aware of what happens in teyvat because they put everything they got against an evil thing, that found teyvat thanks to the cataclysm, and they have been holding it back for 500 years, unable to spare anything or anyone of their's to watch over teyvat, while trusting that the archons are actually doing their God damn jobs, things would be ok

[@sunglassfrog89]

What if celestia is machine/hivemind entity that already broken since catacalysm hmm 🤔

[@mattmark94]

the repeating dialogues from Paimon during act 3 happened because you were picking the wrong choices.

[@silverhawkscape2677]

Right. The Fatui may not be the Villains this time but the amount of evil acts they did from Inazuma to Sumeru where their worst crimes are comitted. No. They may not be the main enemy but Ill be damned if we don't get a chance to Dismantle the Fatui.

[@nk30020]

Even in Fontaine Arlecchino almost assaulted Furina

[@tochagurl2799]

True, maybe their intentions are good but let’s not ignore the fact that their actions are horrible and how much they are cruel even to their fellow members

[@ixirion]

There is no way we will dismantle the Fatui. First they are not all evil. Second one person cant dismantle an army and most improtant they will not remove fatui enemies in the game XDDD from Fatui perspective they have to do whatever it takes to get the gnossises. Thats going into a country, finding where the most important thing is located and securing it. If we go to N korea and try to steal their bombs by any means necessary cos they will launch them and cause N war are we the bad guys or are we the good guys?

[@thomasraines1396]

@@nk30020not just assault, she tried to kill her but only stopped when she realized she didn’t have the Gnosis.

[@user-fc7st1nu9m]

Seeing the progress genshin has made in their story telling, im more excited for whatever is supposed to happen in Monstadt and with Venti

[@davidjohnson8273]

On the dragons good or bad thing a lot of people seem to have just flipped 180 and are now saying as if it's god's truth that the perspective of Focalors and Neuvillette that the Primordial One "stole" something from the dragons as opposed to fair and square won it from them through "the rules of war", is now unquestionably true instead of merely a perspective. Likely this will be challenged in Natlan just as it was in Sumeru.

[@mismismism]

I don't actually think it made the Fatui seem less villainous at all, there would have to be a massive twist to make them even anti-heroes since they actively kill people, it's actually weird that we're even cool with Childe and Wanderer just like it's weird we're cool with Raiden IMO. Childe fully tried to kill everyone in Liyue, Dottore, Signora and Wanderer were unambiguously evil, they actively killed people both directly and through tricking people into using delusions or doing evil experiments on them in Dottore's case. And based on everything we've heard about the Knave and even some of what was shown in the Archon quest, she could not be more sus, nothing she actually did made her seem any less shady and threatening tbh. They may have a goal that we end up agreeing with or aligning with but unless we find out that death in Teyvat isn't actually death, they're evil unless you just completely ignore a lot of stuff. They may have good intentions but they're the single faction we've seen where all of them that we've met until the Knave are at best, full on terrorists.

[@user-yf9ov2zn1w]

They make crazy experience in the children to make humanity stronger to make world better place the will do anything too a Achieving there goals and get revenge destroyed celestia

[@samirSch]

You're one of those who can't separate the characters. "Scaramouche" was "evil", despite having a cause for it, and once he found he's been tricked, he off3d himself up, creating "Wanderer", a new clueless person, in his old body. "Raiden" is 2 persons, a badly programmed, manipulated Shogun and an ignorant Ei who had no idea how things were outside Plane of Euthymia, none of them were "evil", just manipulated/ignorant. Childe is the only psychopath, evil character with no regard for human life and no real purpose, but he gets away for absolutely no reason because he does everything with a charismatic smile and love his little brothers.

[@mismismism]

@@samirSch Him being emotionally damaged doesn't wash away what he did and Irminsul didn't erase the events, it erased all memory of him doing those things from Irminsul. At best, the argument would be that he doesn't understand death in which case, he's still incredibly dangerous and should be put down or locked up somewhere, you don't get to just act like nothing happened and go "See, they're good now so none of that counts as evil anymore". And the same with Raiden, she made 2 evil, killer puppets, knowingly let the Fatui do what they wanted in Inazuma which actively caused the deaths of her citizens, she knew the Tenryou Commission was corrupt and destroying the lives of the Inazumans she trapped with her storm and then just F'd off to Euthymia. That's on her, that's her responsibility, no one else's. Her actions and subsequent inaction stopping the stuff she set in motion, directly caused deaths, chaos and mayhem that even spread to other regions. She has no excuse. If I make a killer robot tomorrow, let it loose and then go to sleep, any damage it causes is my responsibility.

[@samirSch]

@@mismismism This is an interesting moral debate. What if Hitler/Stalin or any other socialist genocidal dictator had his memory erased, and woke up next day totally ignorant of what they did and becoming good persons? Would we forgive? Would they be new persons? Or would we associate these new persons with the body (assuming we're sure they're not pretending)? That's the case with Wanderer. Scaramouche just erased himself, but left behind a new person. Definitely an intriguing moral dilemma.

[@mismismism]

@@samirSch I would not, them not remembering does not erase it and the fact would still be, they are the person that did those things and are therefore still capable of it. And Wanderer especially because he is a puppet. He became that evil and dangerous after feeling pissed that his friend has the nerve to die. Either he's so out of touch with humanity that he's too dangerous to just let him wander around freely or he's actively evil. What he did cannot be undone, just because he manipulated things so no one remembers it was him, he's still essentially a Terminator. If Megan said, "My bad, let me reset myself and you can let me go be friends with someone else" no one would do that, she's shown herself to be a huge threat at that point. That's the situation with Wanderer IMO.

[@evelyn1123]

I get what you're saying about Fontaine's archon quest didn't have an antagonist, but I also feel like it further cemented Celestia and the Heavenly Principles as the antagonist of the game's overall arc more than any of the previous quests.

[@mitab1]

How? what changed did Fontaine introduced that change people's perspective on Celestia? Punishing egeria? We already knew that Celestia, like any Devin figure in most religions, does punish what they see as sins, taking teyvat from the dragons? We knew this all the way back in enkanomiya,

[@samuellinn]

​​@@mitab1Further cemented, not changed. We never really knew and still don't know the full extent of Celestia's corruption. Also this is the first time in the ARCHON Quest that we're really told much about the Dragon Sovereigns. There were story quests and world quests like Nahida's and Enkanomiya but the main archon quest will obviously bring more peoples' attention to it.

[@mitab1]

@@samuellinn we don't know if they're actually corrupt or not, Nobody in teyvat seems to know jack shit about Celestia, all we hear from characters are all just second hand accounts, theories, and opinions, we aren't given any concrete facts about what Celestia's goal and motivation is, we don't know what they're doing right now or what they have been doing before the cataclysm, we aren't never given the perspective of a Celestial God, or anyone who knows what's actually going on

[@aznplucky]

@@mitab1 I think seeing characters we've interacted with die in an actual archon quest due to Celestia's decisions hits harder, as opposed to simply reading about it in a book, even if the historical events were more catastrophic. Also, the plight of the dragons feels more personable with a sympathetic character like Neuvillette (no offense to Apep fans).

[@mitab1]

@@aznplucky something I hate about lore about Celestia is that everthing about Celestia is second or third hand accounts, we never actually get even text from someone in Celestia, even astroth herself, we never actually read anything from her perspective, Everyone in the story acts like they figured Celestia out,when in truth they didn't, nobody in the game actually knows what's the deal with Celestia and the heavenly principles, we don't know their end goal, what their motive is, what they're doing right now, or why they're asleep, and everyone forgets that the in the time of the first civilization, Celestia made teyvat a UTOPIA, people didn't need to worry about wealth food, weather, sadness or anything else sorts, life under Celestia was great Until the second who came showed up, and ruined everything, and now Celestia is hands off of people's business, and yet they still wanna rebil even though Celestia seems to only does anything every other blue moon, and now for 500 years, they did NOTHING at all, as far as we know, so why go through all that effort to take them down when they seem to really care anymore?

[@newbie4789]

There are a few plot holes affecting the aftermaths of the Archon quest but in terms of raising emotional stake, it was an amazing chapter

[@mikonyx7712]

If one of the plot holes is lack of reaction from divine principles, let me introduce you to my theory. What if the divine principles isn't a ruler of Teyvat like everybody thinks, but a conqueror instead. What if they conquer worlds, set up their people to watch over their territory (Archons), and go on to the next world? That would explain why they aren't taking action, because they have other things going on, or the information is yet to reach them. Is that believable 🤔

[@newbie4789]

@@mikonyx7712 No no. They can act later too, that's not my biggest issue. It's just how they just ignored Furina's story. After the event of the Archon quest, Furina was clearly in a bad spot. I expected them to explain the relationship between Furina and her people during her story quest but they just ignored it. Why would the people of Fontaine tolerate Furina? She just cheated them and did nothing to protect them according to their POV. How much of the backstage stuff is public? Ofc Focalor can't be coz then the deception fails. How much does the public know? What about Navia and other characters ? This is the problem I am having with the game

[@newbie4789]

@@mikonyx7712 Also, that theory is really cool. So basically, if anything happened to the people they put on power, they will only know it once they check it

[@_Nyxus_]

@@newbie4789 I think it's somehow become public knowledge, strictly just because every single archon has lines about what happened. Now I don't know exactly how the other archons figured it out, except Nahida with Irminsul, but I imagine word of mouth traveled. At least that's how I see it.

[@marionettebunny]

I have a feeling theres a reason why they kept Arlcheeno very low key in the story despite really highlight her in the first Fontaine trailer. I think they gonna pull the rug under our feet . Don't forget that we still don't have a fatui weekly boss in this nation like we had in all the others... Don't get too comfortable, father is gonna strike when we will not expect 👀

[@thestrigshow]

I personally subscribe to the theory that the interlude will involve Sandrone, with her being the weekly boss and Arlecchino will somehow help us fight her. I think Childe's voiceline on Arlecchino is a hint that she would't be above betraying the Tsaritsa and the Fatui if the situation called for it. Personally, seeing the Harbingers have more conflicts between themselves could be interesting if written properly.

[@marionettebunny]

@@thestrigshow oooo 👀 that's interesting!!! ~~ we gonna have some twists and turns for sure! I fully trust the way the story is unfolding

[@danialyousaf6456]

Considering sandrone has showed her hand in Fontaine in a recent world quest (fairly minor but she did help resolve it via some off screen stuff). That doesn't seem too unlikely. Would be interesting how if it were to happen it would turn all the "don't trust arlecchino !" Statements on their head. Would be a fun plot twist but doesn't seem super likely. ​@@thestrigshow

[@thestrigshow]

​@@danialyousaf6456 well, given that we're basically over the halfway point of the story and we've still only met 5 of the 12 (11 Harbingers + Pierro, who's looking more and more like he's counted outside of the 11 with Capitano as 1st), I think getting another one to appear in Fontaine (as well as more than 1 in Natlan) makes sense. Confronting all of them at the same time as the Tsaritsa could easily make things cluttered if not handled well, as each one would have less time to shine as we approached the end.

[@PlatinumStrife]

In my eyes, the villian (even if it is because of circumstance) are we, the Traveler. Even though we, the Traveler, Neuvillette and co., have nothing against Furina as a being, we had to confront her to tell us the secret she is holding us away and even though you could say that that everyone, who participated in this trap, is a villain, the reason why I say that we are the villain is because of our role in the trap and every battle we had against Furina. (Just to break the confusion of some, who read this and think along the line "We are the protagonist, wtf are you talking about", the villian of a story is not always the antagonist, it can also be a side character or even the protagonist and the motives of a villian isn't always evil. Sometimes there are villains, who's goal isn't a result of spreading misery in the world but instead helping the world in a different way, that resulted into a catastrophy. ) Through out the entire Fontaine AQ, we were the one, who showed resilience and fought against her, even if we were forced to by Furina. Ofc. there are things we couldn't know like for exapmle Childe's sentence and we had a neutral opinion of Furina through out the story at the beginning (bratty and thinks highly of herself, yet at the same meek and does care about her people, e.g. her talking with the people of the nation in meetings, making sure to know the people) but the more the prophecy came true the more we ask, what is she even doing? What IS her plan anyways? She couldn't speak about that during Arlecchino's second meeting with Furina and after Neuvillette's confrontation with her especially. A confrontation of us was expected at this point and we, without having noticed, became the villain. We saw her as selfish and only caring the people on a certain level at this point, afterall she seemingly showed no action of her plan after Possion got hit by the water but maybe if her secret was something against the prophecy, maybe then we have a reason, what her plan is and why she did nothing, so we as a group planned a trap agianst Furina and our role through out the trap was to uncover the secret as soon as possible, maybe then we could forget about the trail plan and we could fight against the prophecy. WE were the last chance of her to tell us the secret when we were in the giant magic box, WE were the last hurdle she needed to cross before she could be free and safe Fontaine. If she failed then and there, Focalors plan wouldn't have succeeded and prophecy would have been successful. We are the protagonist and Furina is the antagonist in our view but in the story itself we are the villain and she is the unsung hero of the story. Have they successfully executed the "unsung" in Furina's Story Quest? Ehhh... Somewhat? She is still hated in Poisson and except for us and Neuvillette, nobody knows the truth behind Furina's actions and deeds about the saving of Fontaine, but even though she deceived the people of Fontaine, she is still highly regarded, which is weird to say the least. Also one thing that I think is also weird is not tell the truth about Furina to the people, who ACTIVELY took part in the trap like Navia an Lyney for example, if anyone should know about the truth, then at least the whole group, who worked with you.

[@D3A6]

Some spoilers from rumors/leaks: Arlecchino will be returning in 4.6 as both a weekly boss and a playable character

[@itsBooweee]

I think there is a shift of antagonist here rather than absence, from Fatui to Celestia. I think the game is slowly introducing which is the real villain.

[@tilock]

I was waiting for a video from you on this

[@dustinabigan2776]

At this point I feel like the Fatui are more transactional or agreement-based in approach, probably why at times stories end with us putting the Fatui in a bad light. Basically, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. Technically, most of the dealings we've had with the Fatui whether world, story, or archon quests had some level of agreement or exchange being made whether it involves basic needs or favors (like in the Chasm) or the Gnoses (Nahida gave hers away to save us and for information, Yae gave the Electro Gnosis away to save us, and Zhongli giving his after an agreement). The only exception was Signora's acts in Mondstadt and Inazuma, maybe why Capitano made a quick remark that her approach to getting things done "tarnished her honor." But I'd say even that is somewhat agreement-based with the wartime funding of both sides and all that, except for her gut punching Venti. Even Dottore's acts in Sumeru (although rather questionable) involve some form of transaction where he helps the Akademiya build a god (which they wanted all along) with Scaramouche while Akademiya gives him free reign to do research that would otherwise be unethical. As a side note, appreciate how the people's anger towards Furina was covered and how it got misunderstood as an irrational act at first. Feels like every other post about the matter was about how the people should apologize as if Fontainians are not allowed to be angry towards a god that is not publicly doing anything to solve the issue. Anyone in their right mind would be angry as well if put in the people's situation.

[@mitab1]

Dottore's methods aren't "questionable" they're down right evil, would you think the children he tortured would think his methods are just questionable?

[@kazuhabruhkaedahara4329]

​@@mitab1Dottore's children experimentations are different from Akademiya dealings. If i remember correctly, the children experiments (which i assume are the experimentations Collei suffered from) are Dottore's personal/fatui dealings only. While the Sumeru archon quest is the collaboration between Fatui (led by Dottore) & Akademiya to replace Nahida with an artificial god (Scaramouche). Dottore & Akademiya are bunch of fucked up assholes, but Akademiya's list of sins did not include all of Dottore's.

[@kostuchan4418]

Signora's actions in Mondstadt were purely personal. She had a very good reason to hold a grudge against Venti for all those centuries.

[@nk30020]

This quest completely changed my perspective of the fatui & it's harbingers, I am not as salty anymore about nahida/zhongli/neuvillete giving away the gnosis cuz it's simply putting their nations at risk, I also am more trusting about the tsaritsa collecting the gnosis now. But still I hate the misdeeds of the harbingers especially what Arlecchino & Dottore did.

[@mitab1]

Celestia didn't give us a reason to trust them because they can't, they're asleep, That's one thing I don't like about AQ, all this rebilion and trying to paint Celestia in a bad light, is happening while Celestia are in a position where they're unable to defend themselves narratively, they're asleep so it's clear that the story so far aren't allowing them to tell their side of the story, and I will eat my hands if it turns out, Celestia are dealing with a great evil, trying to protect teyvat, but travel shows up fuck everything up putting teyvat in danger of a second cataclysm, and it's up to Celestia to save the day while getting attacked from all fronts by the abyss, the fatui, the dragons, the witches, and said great evil that was the resaon Celestia his teyvat from the rest of the cosmos in the frist place

[@_Nyxus_]

I think Celestia is also put in a bad light because they wouldn't let the twins leave Teyvat. Obviously we don't know much, and we're probably not going to learn much until the end of the game, but I think that's the perspective of this so far. A lot of people think our actual journey is finding our sibling, but in reality it's learning about Teyvat and the truth of the world. The sibling is just involved. I'm assuming once you enter Teyvat you can't leave, and the siblings are trying to break that cycle to free everyone and themselves, but the sibling understands more than the MC, which is why they're not actually fighting against us but letting us discover it ourselves. Sibling is in no rush. That kinda doesn't bode well.

[@AndrewsMobs]

Celestia already put themselves in a bad light by cursing pure blooded Khaenrian's to immortality for no reason and for turning innocent civilians who have nothing to do with what their government did into monsters for no reason, not only is this an unwarranted level of cruelty it is also supremely incompetent since they now risk a greater chance of forbidden knowledge spreading, either they are incompetent or they don't actually care about protecting Teyvat just that their power is not challenged, this would also explain why they cursed the natives of Teyvat with erosion (Aka memory loss and madness). There is literally no reason to defend Celestia at this point and anyone defending them hasn't paid attention to the story.

[@AndrewsMobs]

@@_Nyxus_ Celestia has commited indefensible crimes, there is no way you can defend them unless you didn't pay attention to the story, see my comment above.

[@_Nyxus_]

@@AndrewsMobs I'm...not defending them???

[@AndrewsMobs]

@@_Nyxus_ You kind of are.

[@kikimi]

i love that you actively relating our status quo with fontaine's

[@ashenpancham6261]

Gosh, I love your voice Aster.

[@Ardent_Sylph]

I've noticed the duality a lot also, not at first, but after Sumeru I started to pick up on it. For Zhongli, I assumed it was him as Rex Lapis and the people of Liyue. One is a god that leads the nation, the other is the nation governed by its own people.

[@llily9096]

after learning more about gnosticism, i realized how much it makes sense in genshin lore.. like it actually explains a lot of the plot and lore. this quest rlly became a turning point of the game to change the usual flow of the whole of teyvat.

[@dijuanuchiha]

Love the theories so much

[@Meegeee]

I absolutely loved this archon quest. And now im excited for natlan, land of dragons (according to neuvs)

[@ettaetta439]

There better be people who actually look like dragons though, like with some dragon traits, rather than just hot tall ppl lmao. I love Neuvi but dragonlike he is not.

[@Muzanwithwings]

As soon as I heard "Status quo" I instantly thought that you do debates. Slay!🤞

[@cowsshoulddienooffenceexce1204]

at 3:00 minutes u talked abt the shift from a direct adversary which I really related to miles morales with the spot being it's equivalent to fotaine's whale and the strike force/miles' search for identity as the water flooding.

[@thestrigshow]

Just my own two cents, but while I agree with most of the things you lay out, I personally still prefer Sumeru's arc as a whole as "peak Genshin narrative". To be clear, it's still my second favorite arc, but the more I think about it, the more I find myself focusing on its issues, which is an impression Sumeru didn't really give me. To add to what you said regarding the Fatui, I agree that the story could have done more, especially with Arlecchino. Her so-called "good side" ended up mostly being told to us via the Hearth siblings rather than shown, as even when she helps the people of Poisson, she flat out says she's basically just being diplomatic and expecting help from Navia and the Spina in the future. So in the end it's less like she was actually humanized and more like "she's just not as villainous as other Harbingers". That said, I have an inkling that she will be important in the interlude between Fontaine and Natlan, so hopefully more screen time will scratch my itch for seeing Arlecchino's development. Also, the more I think about the final trial, I think it has a few pacing issues (some parts felt a bit rushed, others happened in a weird order). For example, Arlecchino's attempt to steal the Gnosis now feels like a plot point that only exists so you can use it as evidence in trial, and it never really has any other consequence besides that. The trial itself feels a bit too short, and to me it was a bit anticlimatic how quickly you back Furina into a corner. I also definitely think the part with the murals should have happened somewhere during the trial rather than after, with Furina recognizing them. That would have been another great way for us to confront her. Finally, the way you talk to everyone except Furina at the end of the quest, and the way it segways into the start of her Story Quest... oooh boy, did I have problems with that. The quest gets better later, sure, but imo it's one of the biggest tonal whiplashes I've seen in Genshin. Great video as always, Aster! 👍

[@motemo8413]

i have conflicting feelings about not speaking with Furina in Archon quest aswell but to be fair Furina did say she needed to rest so it could be possible that Traveler decided to leave her alone and give her time. there is actually few weeks to a month of gap between Archon quest and her story quest.

[@thestrigshow]

​@@motemo8413 fair, but I guess the point still stands that contacting her due to an acting role still feels tone-deaf if the last time we speak with her is the trial.

[@motemo8413]

@@thestrigshow oh yeah, it feels weird. especially cuz they also are insensitive at the beginning.

[@newbie4789]

My biggest concern is with the Furina's a quest. I always consider the first story quest of any archon to be a follower of the Archon quest. And it was the perfect place to discuss the people's stand towards Furina and Furina's public image. We don't even know how the Fontainians think about Furina. She was this person who just cheated on them an acted as their Archon for reason they have no access to. And she almost did nothing to save them ( in the cutscene after the flood, you can see people saying "oh, the Prophecy was wrong, it was a lie" . So they clearly don't know that it was changed during the trial) yet the public is tolerating her living among them and even appreciating her Show? Something is really missing

[@Astrophel24]

There was a reaction. The people that hate her most are the people of Poisson and the rest are just confused [She was still there for them after all and seemed to be a good ruler apart from the weird laws she put in place; also the oratrice worded it as "the HYDRO ARCHON" so some might still believe her to be a god]. She got stared at alot while going to Poisson but I admit I expected a bigger reaction than just glares. It really weirded me out how Katherine knew where she lived and was so willing to give it out. That's a HUGE security risk and it's basically a death sentence to Furina. She has no power politically and doesn't have protection anymore. It's insane that Katheryn would do that even if Traveler is trustworthy. The entire quest was a MAJOR security risk for Furina. It also drives me mad that Neuvillette doesn't attempt to even do damage control. Logically speaking, the quest was downright awful. Though I did enjoy it.

[@mikonyx7712]

Yeah I have to say, the way Furina was handled in terms of turning her into a playable character, as well as the aftermatch of the archon quest was handled so far.... clunky, to say the least.

[@SanarySeggnete]

Everything was already showed on the trial though, Neuvillette proved himself wrong by declared that the trial was actually fulfilled the prophecy. And for the prophecy to be fulfilled, Fontainian had to put their Archon on a trial, not a fake one. I doubt anyone would question the legit of Furina as a Hydro Archon after the prophecy flooded the whole nation. In the same time, Poisson people have no reason to forgive her, she didn't save their family and friends.

[@iambored6702]

I hope they fix this in her second story quest

[@motemo8413]

@@Astrophel24 quest was awful? dafuq lol, it was one of the best story quests in the game. Also you are speaking about Katheryne part as if she an actual human with feelings who cares about if Traveler knows where Furina lives or not, but you need to consider the possibility of it being a set up for Sandrone, who was already foreshadowed to be in Fontaine or involved in Fontaine at the very least in one of the world quests where she rips the tongue of a person off-screen. Even if Sandore had no involvement, it's still possible Katheryne told it to Traveler because she trusts him. Teyvat also doesn't have rules like our real world does in terms of personal security.

[@rb8258]

I hope in Natlan the fatui are still portrayed as morally grey. Maybe Capitano wins the gnosis via combat fairly.

[@silverhawkscape2677]

Haha...no. The Fatui have no reason to be allies for us in Natlan if we end up competing against them for the Gnosis

[@Who-el2dn]

GOATHIMTANO solos fatlan fr

[@tartagliasjigglydworshipper]

well, Capitano is self-righteous so i believe he's gonna honorably take Natlan's gnosis. i bet he's gonna become the Pyro Archon's favorite.

[@gamerforever4837]

From your earthquake analogy, look at the lack of response from turkey and pludin's broke back buddy president urin.

[@kyuriht]

The quest of act 3 is the PERFECT parallel to the life of furina i think it served the perfect narrative motive to tell something without mentioning it, it makes you feel more for furina and since she's the build up and pinnacle of the archon quest it's just on point for me

[@CHBTMS]

i also wish they’d talked more about the people of fontaine actually being oceanids… like that was serious lore and they just glossed over it

[@joachimbikas880]

After sitting through 6 hours of DrakenGaard/Nier(Yoko Taro's masterpiece), i love where Genshin is going. Being able to understand a faction's/side's perspective is an eye-opening experience.

[@johanstenfelt1206]

Hm, fair and valid points and opinions, i hope they manage to follow up on this Story well.

[@MegaApostel]

I don’t even play Genshin and followed everything about Fontaine - really like the story

[@StonedHunter]

I do agree I liked seeing the Fatui not being the direct enemy. We'd been told before that not all Harbingers and Fatui were bad people, and got a few small peaks...but it was nice to have a main Archon Quest really put that fact on display for us to have to contend with.

[@cherenmertens]

Furina's backstory is so heartbreaking. The twist in the end is such good storytelling there's no denying it's the best archon quest Mihoyo has given us.

[@wanhaziq5929]

i just love the references to evangelion (people returning into LCL, wanting to become one) and steins gate (deceiving fate) in fontaine. and while its true we dont have a clear antagonist in this arc (sumeru had scaramouche), i think the story is still very good. About the heavenly principles, I saw some theories floating around that they are actually dead, and celestia now is nothing but a dead island. That's some Nier shit right there, with the whole 'what am I fighting for' thing. Idk if that's a good thing story-wise, but still interesting to think about. Also, thank you for mentioning about Furina's trial. Many people criticized that everyone should apologise to her, but putting her on a trial was necessary for the prophecy to happen. And like you said, from an outsider's POV, Furina was just slacking off, running away from her job when her people were literally dying left and right.

[@brennanwn]

0:56 - 2:08 This is one of the reasons I love the Fontaine Archon Quest.

[@braken63]

Focalor is a real one

[@mingchen7704]

While listen to this. A thought came to me. What if the Natlan archon quest is about the archon war? And it is still ongoing in natlan, or it may had reignited after the previous archon died. Wouldn’t that be interesting? We’ll take part in creating the new archon of the nation.

[@dominicjannazo7144]

Seeing how celestia hasn't done anything in response to story events so far, I wouldn't be surprised if we get up there and find no one in charge anymore

[@mr.g2508]

🎉 a new video from aster

[@mitab1]

I honestly wish we got a "post-credit scene" in Celestia, if that happened I would have lost my shit 😂

[@mtscsealer1973]

0:00 love that elevator music

[@motemo8413]

There are still some weird things left unaddressed from AQ so i hope they address it in the Interlude. to name a few...Arlecchino getting a gnosis, which is fine on its own but that's it? she just left? that was her whole role in Fontaine? well i hope not. Also Sandrone seems to be involved in the background doing ominous things in Fontaine so is that gonna be addressed? i don't know what is happening to the Traveler. He was more willing to trust a Fatui Harbringer than trust Furina. Arlecchino straight up told Traveler that she attempted to assassinate Furina and yet Traveler barely had any reaction and still cooperated with Arlecchino, not only that but he never confronted Furina about that situation and didn't ask her as to why she was hiding the assassination situation. what is this? Traveler was so angry at Lyney when he revealed himself to be from Fatui, yet Traveler is okay with cooperating with one of the harbringers who almost assassinated national figurehead? really? what is wrong with his head?

[@SabeehaFarheen]

spoilers for 4.1 unfinished comedy wq. If we assume that Arlecchino have powers similiar to caterpillar I do remember that caterpillar had somekind of hypnotising power that he used on julian and that guard in quest. This kinda makes sense in how paimon just went oh okay after arle dropped the news to them which was very unlike paimon at that moment

[@motemo8413]

@@SabeehaFarheen Maybe but would it work on Traveler? maybe it would? if so then that would explain quite a few weird interactions with her.

[@kylegreen6711]

The Traveler has been incredibly consistent about how they choose to trust people, and they’re always colder to those who’ve betrayed them first (ex, Lyney and Scaramouche) than to people who were upfront about their allegiance (Childe and the Knave), regardless of whether the person who is upfront is more “conventionally evil” than the person who was being deceitful. I don’t know why people keep expecting Traveler to base their choices on simple ‘good v evil’ morality when they don’t tend to do that.

[@motemo8413]

@@kylegreen6711 Lyney never betrayed Traveler, he just did not reveal that he was from Fatui. also Traveler knows that Arlecchino wears masks because she said so herself, how does Traveler know if she is up front or not? i'd trust someone who wasn't up front with me or lied to me rather than someone who came up front and told me that they attempted to kill someone. A liar > potential murderer, it's just insane to think otherwise

[@kylegreen6711]

@@motemo8413 That literally is a betrayal. Traveler was putting themselves on the line in a court of law and getting to know someone under false pretenses. If Arlecchino turns out to have been wearing a mask like Childe and Wanderer’s voice lines suggest, I would expect, based on Traveler’s characterization, for them to take it similarly badly.

[@WorldRenownedHeretic]

My theory since Sumeru has been that the final “antagonist” of sorts is Celestia, and that the Fatui would become allies due to - at the very least - having a common enemy in the Heavenly Principles. Seeing the Fatui and the characters in general continue to get grayer and grayer with each Archon Quest is also amazing for the story. Masquerade of the Guilty was my favorite Archon Quest thus far. My only real complaint was how tedious the third chapter was in the Fortress of Meropide.

[@akgarada]

The Fatui not being pure evil is very well established. We know very clearly that they are collecting gnosis to go to war to Celestia, which is responsible for the destruction of Khenriah and the demise of more than one archon. I think the big lore reveal of this archon quest is that dragons and archons can quo rule. Before the dragons were viewed as old bitter enemies that hate all humans cuz they hate archons and Celestia.

[@mitab1]

Celestia are not responsible for khaenri'ah's destruction, khaenri'ah destroyed themselves trying to get powers from the abyss, and the archons died protecting the world from khaenri'ah and gold's monsters, and the final destruction came when khaenri'ah became a lost cause, nailing the nation to save the rest of teyvat,

[@Waifuforlifu]

thats a headcanon and no where confirmed in the storyline. Could be possible, but I wouldn't say it's been proved in actual canon. Both Khanriah and Celestia are shown to be sus so it can very well go either way, js.@@mitab1

[@mitab1]

@@Waifuforlifu it's clear that khaenri'ah was missing with abyssal powers, and and from Ei's story quest, we know that abyssal monsters started attacking the 7 nations, and THEN the archons were called to deal with cataclysm from the source,

[@EinSilverRose]

iunno man The Fatui were willing to destroy Liyue, plunged Inazuma into a bloody civil war, and could have killed everyone in the main Sumeru city with their dream siphoning among the other awful things they are doing to challenge Celestia.

[@captaindanger13]

I'm sure we'll get a future quest that explains what Arlecchino's deal is.

[@Aitro_778]

I still don't trust Arlechino I just don't give a shit about how she helped the traveler or Spina di Rosula in the Fontaine Archon Quest, the fact that Scara and Childe give us warnings about her true personality and nature is sus as shit. I think that we'll see her true self and fight her in Furina's second archon quest, but idk

[@thomasraines1396]

Navia respects her care her subordinates and is grateful for helping after the flood but she doesn’t trust her.

[@thickboythetis]

babe wake up Aster has posted

[@lunasquib]

9:58 I was crying through the final parts of the archon quest This would have BROKEN MEE

[@oddityurie3435]

I agree with many points you have made, though yes not exactly perfect but overall the Fontaine Archon Quest has absolutely set the bar now and I can't wait to see what more is in store, the politics should be a aspect that have to be brought up more in the story as it adds a sense of spice and tension that I really like

[@blaze_burn]

I have a feeling we will get more of Arlecchino in an interlude quest later

[@mikosazarethkalvar]

The fact that Aster is Filipina is 10x funnier when she mentioned irresponsible governments 💀

[@atyourservice2410]

I feel like there was a missed opportunity with the 'trapping' of Furina by excluding Wriothesley and Arlecchino. Wriothesley is understandable as he has his own matters to attend to, but I was incredibly shocked to find out Arlecchino wasn't even part of the plan and only showed up at the start and end of Act IV. They're the characters in Fontaine most suited to something like and I feel like it was a damn shame that they were left out. Also, also! Wriothesley's Wingalet/Noah's Ark was _not_ used properly or given the amount of importance it should have had considering the build-up to it being a parallel to the Fortuna imo. I expected quite a bit more from it than just a cutscene of it rising from the waters and landing hooks in the water for people to climb up on, like a bit of gameplay similar to the osial fight on the jade chamber or just being able to see characters other than Wriothesley on it. It just doesn't particularly feel like it did as much as it _should._ Main gripes aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Fontaine's archon quest and expect to see this level of quality in Hoyoverse's storytelling in Natlan and beyond 😌

[@Kyezvi.s_Nebula]

Aster. You forgot the biggest challenge to the status quo. .....the sheer number of times the traveler actually SPOKE. /j Great video as usual 10/10 would reccomend

[@kirkginoabolafia3650]

One opinion of mine is that the endgame of Genshin, and the most powerful people in the entirety of Teyvat, are in, or directly related to, the Hexenzirkel. Just crazy to think that when you fight the powerful fatui (those under Childe), there is a person who is literally their master's master's master (Surtalogi). The fact that Skirk compared Surtalogi with Rhinedottir was such an important statement to me

[@deetee6217]

I have a strong feeling we're gonna see Arlecchino's "batshit insane" side in 4.6.

[@bangtanssera]

i loved the fact the prison ark was that long, honestly would loved it to be even longer but with some more various activities. I love the fortress far too much the music alone makes you wanna stay there forever. it was such a struggle to keep going there but that his exactly what it made me be attached to it so much, the depression, the feeling of being an exile, the fact we can not have any power to overcome the routine of an exile. it was quite dramatic and in such a fairy tale arcs we had in the rest of archon quest it was just enough to have that feeling of a contrast. arc of meropide should have been just longer but a tiniest bit more various yet it was what aramark's qeuests should have been, 9 hours of cook five stuff and fight a boss was really awful sorry... sigewinne my beloved traitor, wriothesley evil manipulator and HoH trio being the victims yet again it was awesome, I kinda regret i finished it so early :(

[@racool911]

And it's foreshadowing to Furina's backstory

[@ettaetta439]

I would've loved the prison part more if I didn't have to memorize basically every single part of the prison in order to keep on taking the right elevators. I got so frustrated when the navigating system didn't work properly.

[@Rodiacreed]

I wish we got to see Furina comment on the fact that her Archon half had died for Fontaine and for giving her a chance at life

[@ashenpancham6261]

Is anyone scared for Neuvilette after? How did Focalors prepare for that? I mean, Phanes totalled all 7 dragon sovereigns on his own, and Celestia has many gods up there. Why wouldn't they come down and take back the throne? Neuv is just one person, a dragon, but a young dragon.

[@Afbuster]

I think more than "Celestia is not to be trusted", Fontaine reinforces the fact that... we don't know anything about Celestia. Even when the characters directly blame the Principles for Fontaine's situation, it feels like they... actually aren't necessary involved? If you assume Heavenly Principles were silent all this time, and the Prophecy is just a misunderstood interpretation of the fate Visionary saw in the stars - the story works out _exactly_ the same. And Act 3 heavily pushes this idea that prison's hidden "rules" are actually fake and result of misunderstanding, and that really feels like applies to the prophecy too.

[@tochagurl2799]

I feel like that there will be a big plot twist, of course Celestia is involved in many bad things that happened in teyvat but it seems like more than that . Maybe after all our biggest enemy is not Celestia but a bigger organization..

[@kyuriht]

Zhongli and guizhong fits also for "venti and the bard, makoto and ei" because guizhong was really important for him

[@memesextreme4937]

Can’t believe that one of the theorizers correctly guessed furina’s secret & origin

[@Infelious]

I kinda think Mihoyo makes parts alittle obvious that everyone can pick apart then theorists tend to tie it together. Like Furina being a dual person or there being two archons was always an idea since she started off as a Seele expy. Having knowledge of Mihoyo's other games really gets you far.

[@anaelisam1]

I think that they have been hints that the Fatui aren't really bad ever since Childe's story quest. I think the whole point of showing his relationships with his family was to humanize him and show that there is nuance among them, I'm glad they took this further

[@merru-mun7414]

For me, put simply, Fontaine's Archon Quest, and the majority of Fontaine's World Quests, Genshin stopped treating its playerbase like children whose hand needs to be held throughout, and who need to be protected from more "real," complex issues. It felt like a mature quest, with mature topics, and complex characterization, compared to the very,,, typically shonen manga-esque quests previous to it.

[@silvinity4939]

I just realized that your theory that focalors committed deicide was correct in a sense.

[@Samchanne21]

After playing Act V, I think it’s obvious that ‘Fate’ played the role in Teyvat, and to the story of Genshin. Just like the prophecy (or let’s say ‘Punishment from the heavens’) Nicole may have a point since ‘Fate’ is predetermined, which the natives of Teyvat are bound to and are not allowed to change their own fate. Scara’s quest is trying to remove the history of himself, and by doing so, he would think that he will be erased from existence. But it was proven otherwise, since the history is already altered. The last Fontaine quest shows the whole Fontaine judging their false God (Furina) in order to stop the prophecy, when it turned out they are the ones fulfilling it like in the 3rd slate. I think it also lines from various ppl ‘The world is a stage and the stage is the world of entertainment.’ I would love talking about the concepts of both Fate and Destiny since they are pretty different from each other, but had the same goals.

[@v.v365]

8:09 actually I wanna expand on your point of dual god rulership in each nation. Mondstadt had Decarabian and Andrius fighting over the people, and later had worship of Barbatos and Istaroth. Liyue was at one point overseen by both Zhongli and Guizhong. Ei and Makoto over in Inazuma, Orobashi/Ouroboros and Kairos/Istaroth in Enkanomiya, there’s even a case for Sumeru’s gods. The Goddess of Flowers wasn’t necessarily a ruler, more of a consort to King Deshret, so Deshret and Rukhadevata make the duo of gods ruling Sumeru. And Rukhadevata and Kusanali were seen as two separate people but were worshiped at the same time, it’s just that the worshippers of Rukhadevata were misguided members of an old regime. In Fontaine, we had Remus and Egeria, then the co-governance of Furina and Neuvillette, but within that there was the duality of Furina and Focalors, essentially two individuals. I wonder if this theme will continue on in Natlan and Snezhnaya

[@KillerBlaze]

You and me both wish there was more Arlecchino

[@balladeer_gaming]

I'm just thinking they might've made the archon war as a version of survival of the strongest, celestia just wanted to give the power of the seven sovereign to the strongest gods so that reincarnates of the dragon sovereigns wont be able to challenge the current holder of the power? shallow idea for real

[@hrs795]

Imo, we gonna "act" fighting Arlechino as the next weekly boss. Like friendly sparing, or testing our strength, or another reason with no ill intent whatsoever.

[@Infelious]

I've seen them as antagonists maybe Dragonspine and strongly since Enka. I dunno how them being bad is a new angle, the fact the archons being forced into it has been around since we were told they had to fight for seats and if they ran they got a death sentence, no participation and being a pacifist wasn't allowed. The Fatui are anti heros, some are twisted as people but not the full organisation. Likely once we have Celestia's perspective it won't be entirely evil that they nuke people or force people who don't wanna fight into wars. But as they are now all there is is a floating authoritarian place that nukes those who don't follow rules.

[@darkcust4478]

hated the fact that we somehow allied with the fatui (i just came back to genshin after a long while) so decided to instead go and finish sumeru before being forced to play an story that doesn't make sense until it gets good with the lore again since it seems more things about the abyss and the world has been revealed

[@piri_desu]

As the story is progressing, we are getting an image that the main villain is celestia, but i think even if they are wrong, in future story updates, we may see something which will make us think that actually celestia, is the hero or something like that. Then again we need to rethink about everyone, we will find that no one is truly bad (except dottore, he is really fk 😂), circumstances and timing made them act like what they acted

[@christophermoody8672]

an antagonist isnt necessarily a bad guy, just an opposing force. in this case the prophecy is the antagonist. you do need an antagonist to make a story :)

[@personalstuffs1100]

What I don’t get is we had an audience with Arlechino before they left and knowing they had the gnosis we didn’t even ask why they were collecting them. Sure she would have dodged the question, but I wish we would have been given a chance to ask at least

[@catfishflavour]

So, you're criticizing fontaine archon quest for not revealing about Arlecchino more? I mean, she is a harbinger, being teased and play a crucial role in the story, then gone without explaining anything. That's so hoyo thing, I recall

[@catdownthestreet]

The continuous theme of "where there are two, only one will remain" makes me wonder about the Abyss Twin... Also, since I know people will point out that this theme only applies to archons, I have to point out the thematic representation of Scaramouche vs. Wanderer in the interlude quest. Also, Albedo and his defective "twin." The archons are just the main way in which this theme presents itself. It's also fair to apply the theme of "where there are many, only a few/one will remain," especially considering Ei, Xiao, and Kazuha's stories. Just saying. I'm sensing foreshadowing here...

[@Caelum099]

I think the secret that the Pyro Archon, the God of War, will share to the Traveller is the history of the Archon War. We already know that Phanes waged war with the Dragon Sovereigns. What we don't know is what happened during the Archon War and why did the Primordial One decided to make all other gods kill each other?

[@AnArtistInAVoid]

I keep on wondering “how will Hoyoverse top this quest?” ever since the Sumeru arc ended, and Fontaine has made me ask that again. How is Natlan going to top destroying a fundamental system of the world of Teyvat? And how is Hoyoverse gonna top Natlan with Snezhnaya?

[@AnArtistInAVoid]

@@QuangHaMinh-oy1bc HI3rd story started to decline in quality a little bit at the moon imo, just cuz of how all over the place the moon arc is, but yeah, hoyo does know how to do story.

[@abehaibane]

About the Fontaine main quest, I don't like Meropide Arc obviously, it was a whole mess. Yet despite even many 'dei ex machina' events like Arlecchino found some necessary information (murals), Neuvillette saved Navia or how the Archon was catched and transported to the trial (a very stupid scene, actually) the final part of the Fontaine main quest is definitely the top of narrative in Genshin Impact currently.

[@asianman7807]

Mihoyo might treat genshin like the middle child but the writers sure as hell did not give it a mid story.