Divination starts with needle, thread, and flesh. Tear your skin and reshape it. Heal your body in your own sacred image so that we may fall to our knees and worship.
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asked my friends if they knew what i was referencing and they said no. we all know that post where someone divided how long it took michelangelo to sculpt david by it's size and went "yuuuuup. whole month spent on penis" right. sure, my search history is full variations upon "michelangelo penis month tumblr" to no avail, but we all know it. right.
@plantyaoi It's hilarious you say this when English fandom around MXTX always accuses her of making stereotypical gongs and this is the sound bite criticism since CQL got big on here and twitter.
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One thing I will never take seriously from this fandom is meta trying to say Lan Wangji needed to learn anything about being a better person to be good enough for Wei Wuxian
According to self professed WWX stans, no one is good enough for WWX much less Lan Wangji the man he does see as an equal and strong enough to protect him.... but really, who can blame them when Lan Wangji caught a manic pixie man, I too would be jealous of the best.
Hi, anon about Lan zhan crush again! What I wanted to ask was about Lan Wangji initial feelings towards Wei Wuxian and how he accepted them and acted upon them, basically the progression of his feelings and thoughts about him.
(for example; in the book Lan wangji couldn't stop thinking about Wei Wuxian so he copied incorrectly, he really couldn't stop thinking about him...because Wei Wuxian was being really annoying on the other side of the desk, Lan wangji probably already have a crush on him at the time, but it's funny how he went from that to the present)
It might have been a crush that at the start but he really ended up admiring Wei Wuxian and respecting him ,with full trust on his character.
I know that it's never explicit when he falls in love, but my curiosity starts with this constant take that Lan wangji fell in love at first sigh, which I don't really agree, yes he might have been attracted, but I think he fell in love with Wei Wuxian the more he knew him or just started to find Wei Wuxian teasing charming and fell from there, then other takes coming from the same idea that Lan wangji was just crazy in love and nothing more and could do anything for Wei Wuxian didn't matter good or bad....and that's straight up wrong.
I always saw Lan wangji as this teen who didn't know how to act around his crush, but when he's a young adult he has grown up so he acts much more polite to him and shows his concern ,doing the best he could etc. In Addition to the discussion of Lan Wangji as a ml, I really like how he was never asking or seeking a romantic relationship or anything, just wanting to be there for him and help in what he could, being always respecful, it's just nice to see unconditional love without asking for anything in return.
Ahhh thank you!
Well I think for Lan Wangji it was a bit of a work in progress accepting his feelings. I may be an odd one out of this fandom when I say Wei Wuxian was always the active pursuant from the start and this is what makes Lan Wangji dubbed as the "maiden" of the romance. He is not the one actively wooing Wei Wuxian, he is very hesitant despite his own passions towards him.
When he first has interactions with Wei Wuxian he doesn't expect anything much out of him (he initially seemed to encompass everything that Lan Wangji is told is not ideal in a person), but then Wei Wuxian keeps seeking out Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji's also is physically attracted to this person and I think this originally baffles him because he has no experience in finding someone attractive or thinks he ever would have. Wei Wuxian is an anomaly in Lan Wangji's life that goes against everything he has learned what a person should be.
Wei Wuxian is loud, boisterous, brags, and he specifically seeks out Lan Wangji to pick on like a school yard bully, but then he wants to give Lan Wangji small gifts, the loquats, the bunnies, and he is a kind generous man that doesn't hide that part of him. That kind and generous part of him is what is unexpected to Lan Wangji I think when they are fifteen. For all of Wei Wuxian's teasings, it's because Wei Wuxian wants to see Lan Wangji's very human reactions, and he also began to admire Lan Wangji since he took that punishment with him. There's a spark of something more from the start for the two, and it doesn't matter what the start of that is for "love" that they have for each other due to love taking on many forms when you have met as strangers.
As to when Lan Wangji realizes it's more than just simply a passing crush is probably right around the Qishan Wen Archery competition. He seems not just angry but also disappointed that Wei Wuxian is casual with him, maybe as he would be any other person. But he knows they aren't exactly friends due to Lan Wangji's own reticence, but he is very much yearning for that friendship and probably more due to his own admiration for Wei Wuxian.
I also think Lan Wangji didn't want to guilt Wei Wuxian into having feelings, he believes, Wei Wuxian doesn't have for him. He is still seventeen years old at this point as well. He's sullen at Wei Wuxian for being apparently flippant to him, and his feelings, as well as himself for being selfish and desperately wanting Wei Wuxian's love too. These two are still trying to understand the other, and genuinely do think the other is callous and dislike the other due to their own hesitancy and trying to make a joke out of their own unsureness of the others thoughts.
And then their roles get reversed when Wei Wuxian becomes the guarded one after Lan Wangji expresses his concerns offensively to Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian is vastly more hurt by the implication that Lan Wangji believes he has sacrificed his morals and may continue to if he isn't careful when Wei Wuxian has always tried weighing the consequences of actions and still choosing what is morally justified. Lan Wangji is in the role of trying to now understand Wei Wuxian as Wei Wuxian did when they first met. The tragedy of their youth is the unknowns of their exploration of their relationship due to circumstances beyond their control.
All this to say, I don't believe it can ever be pinpointed as to how and why people fall in love, it happens gradually and in small parts. There's a beauty in quiet love that grows bigger from admiration that MXTX likes to write about.
Never understood why the Western fans claiming her revival of her works is sanitizing the main characters when the main characters (mostly mdzs and TGCF) were already ideal and flawless from the beginning. For example, I don't know which revival was done to Wangxian for those people to think she sanitized them, when the so-called sanitation in MDZS that I knew off is removing their freaky sex fantasy from the incense burner chapters.
I heard there were some major changes to other novels but I don't think it has anything to do with sanitizing the main characters as those side characters stans claimed.
Literally nothing, nothing but now we have people on the former bird app insisting people stop calling LAN WANGJI a maiden and "wife" simply because he's the gong, even when his own author said she wrote him as a flustered maiden with his crush... all because of a monotonous scene being deleted where Wei Wuxian explicitly said Lan Wangji could be his wife, even though the published scene we got still domestically places Lan Wangji in the role of "the wife" to Wei Wuxian not wanting to ever see Lan Wangji rough it around because he likes him in the elegant role.
How this in anyway speaks on their sexual dynamics I have no idea, but it shows just how narrow minded people can be and are regarding queer relationships and how that marriage is expressed between partners that somehow you can not call a gong elegant and domestic, or the shou typically masculine in personality because of their preference of sexual role.
Both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have kinks and they are both very comfortable in their shared kink enough for Wei Wuxian to constantly try to embarrass Lan Wangji for being as perverted as he is despite his very clean and elegant looks.
This entire thing carries into their every day life when the two start playing tricks on children for fun because they play off of each other's personalities flawlessly.
The entire joke is that Lan Wangji is supposed to be seen as the ravaged maiden taken advantage of by the crass Yiling Laozu (like all those rumors made him to be) and Lan Wangji, for all his embarrassment, is able to let loose even more crassly than Wei Wuxian's shit talk about sex.
Really this has to be one of my all time favorite scenes
Because Wei Wuxian is flattered Lan Wangji brought the alcohol that was always meant for him, all while he's struggling to continue to be close to Lan Wangji and trying to find an excuse to pass it off as not being on purpose. All for the joke being he constantly plays his own self with his schemes against Lan Wangji.
the greatest thing about having a cat is it just scratches my inherent itch to be annoying. life is just so much better when you can walk through your living room and point at the animal minding her own business on the couch and go âitsababyyyyyâ in a really fucking stupid voice
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i have this disease that makes me find it hot as fuck when a character's eyes glow as a warning when they're really angry or upset and about to use every last shred their power to absolutely waste the shit out of the target of their rage it's called having excellent taste
I'll never get over how perfectly curated Jinu's character was thought out by the KPDH team, right down to even his name.
To those who are unaware, Jinu's name roughly translates to "true/genuine friend/companion".
ì§ Jin - truth, genuine, real
ì° Woo - friend, companion
Jinu spent centuries putting on a masked persona on the outside; but the reality was, he was no more then a puppet dancing on a charismatic fire while self hatred was eating him alive.
Rumi saw the man underneath. She saw the truth. The man hidden behind the carefully crafted mask.
He was her Jinu - her truth. He was an amazing, genuine man - even if Jinu couldn't even see it in himself.
Could you draw a Lan Wangji please. I think even when napping he'd look so graceful and serene
I went to look for Hanguang-Jun just as you asked! However when I found him, he was already having fun with Wei-qianbei, and I wouldnât dare to disturb them..
Would you consider Nie Huisang, Wei Wuxian's friend??
No. Not in the slightest.
They occasionally hung out for less than three months at a summer school camp and that's the last we ever hear of them having any kind of significant connection and it doesn't cross Wei Wuxian's mind to think of him any deeper outside of the context of Nie Huaisang being a lot more calculated and driven than any one, including himself, could have expected after the death Nie Huaisang orchestrated against Jin Guangyao.
He works in pragmatism to Wei Wuxian's idealism. I think for him to be a friend he has to have significant and vested interest in Wei Wuxian, which he does not, that was for Jin Guangyao, who betrayed his trust, personally, and morally. Wei Wuxian was a means to an end to help him orchestrate his revenge due to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji quite literally being the only ones competent and concerned about pursuing the strings he left, nothing more.
I personally don't think Nie Huaisang really ever wanted or needed friendships outside of what he once had with his brother and his brother's friends. And as an adult I think his pragmatics take precedence for him to continue going through life, I don't think he has much interest in the idealism Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are drawn to.
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Ik you have talked a lot about kaeya when it comes to hoyoverse writing POC who are not pale, so Iâm curious as to what you think of candace and dehya? In terms of their stories, how theyâre treated by the narrative, how theyâre received by the fandom, etc?
Good timing, cause I was reading up on Candaceâs lore again after hearing that the next Archon Quest would be taking place in Sumeru. Out of all the overall casts, the Sumeru cast has been one of my favorites since they were introduced, Candace and Dehya being no exception. I liked their presences in the Archon Quest overall, and I do like their specific dynamic. Dehya especially has a strong presence in the game when it comes to screentime and characterization, but I definitely remember moments in the story where things got weird (which Iâve offhandedly mentioned in some previous posts, which funnily enough had to do with Kaeya too). Candace is a character who has a lot of interesting aspects to her, but they get buried and her lack of content doesnât help (she doesnât even get hangouts during a time they were still being regularly released). But when it comes to game/fandom treatment, yeah, there were plenty of things Iâve noticed and they havenât necessarily been great. Here, Iâll highlight the things I love about them, some interesting in-game stuff and some patterns Iâve noticed over the years.
How they fit into Sumeruâs themes of wisdom
If I had to go into detail about how the two embody wisdom/learning and what it means for the themes of Sumeru alone, Iâd have to make an entirely separate post (which Iâll probably end up doing eventually), so Iâll summarize my general thoughts here:
First off, I think Dehya fits into Sumeruâs themes of wisdom and differing types of it incredibly. Iâve always preferred characters showcasing their smarts by applying it to different, seemingly unrelated situations over them being assigned a random STEM field and saying big words, so thatâs why I found her appealing from the get-go. In Dehyaâs case, she may not fit the sagesâ ideals, but sheâs good at noticing discrepancies and not writing them off, she has a lot of tactical know-how, and sheâs good at navigating relationships even when it involves discomfort for herself and her friends. One of the recurring elements that come up in the discussion of wisdom is the capacity for growth, and not overlooking things even if it wouldâve been the easier or more comfortable option, and I think Dehya embodies this part of it really well.
As for Candace, a lot of her wisdom shines through in how she views her role as the Guardian of Aaru Village. Itâs a commonly known fact around the village that the Guardians are the chosen/descendants of King DeshretâŠor at least thatâs what theyâre made to think. Once someone is appointed Guardian, itâs revealed to them and no one else that this is a lie, there was no blessing to begin with. And apparently, this was the reason the position had such a high turnover rate before Candace stepped up: some people were so disillusioned by the revelation that they left their post completely, while others thought that not being watched by a god was a free pass to be reckless/controlling with such a revered position. Candace, though? She didnât end up in either of those directions and took up the mantle anyway, because she didnât need the motivation or pressure from a god to have a reason to protect the village she held so dear to her. Even in the face of a worldview sheâs held her entire life being so thoroughly shattered, sheâs still able to compose herself quickly, find her own reasons to take up the mantle and be a Guardian her people can truly depend on, not only keeping long-term peace in the Village, but also breaking cycles and avoiding the pitfalls that many of her predecessors had. This was entirely her decision, and sheâs so unmoved by it that despite having been offered better job opportunities or an easier life, she still stands firm because she knows why sheâs there and accepts it every single day. Even during the Sumeru castâs plan to overthrow the Akademiya and free Sumeru from the sages, she still chooses to stay behind at Aaru Village because as much as she wants to participate like the others, she knows sheâs better off staying where she is as its only protector in a dire time like that. Candaceâs moments of wisdom get so overlooked due to not being academic in nature or full of battle strategy, but itâs incredible nonetheless and I hope she gets more appreciation for it.
Other things I love about the two and find interesting about them
Besides her varied smarts, another thing Iâve consistently liked about Dehya is her insistence on her and her boundaries being treated with respect, regardless of what anyone else has to say about it. First of all, it was so refreshing for that to come out of a female character whoâs also strongly defined by her kindness, especially after Hoyoâs terrible history of associating nice women with people-pleasing and fear of disappointing others. She extends this to the Traveler and Paimon, and just like with the rest of the Sumeru cast, it not only makes her friendship with them feel genuine and earned but is a sign that she trusts them enough to tell them ânoâ or âIâm not okay with thatâ. This extends to her other friends too, such as how in her Story Quest, sheâs willing to tell Dunyarzad a suspicion she had about her father at the risk of ruining their friendship simply because she believed that the latter deserved her full transparency. Dehya feels like a genuine and honest person through and through, and Iâm glad the writing hit the mark with her in that regard considering how much Hoyoâs missed in the past with these kinds of characters.
I also loved her backstory and complicated thoughts on her father, which we got to see over the course of her Story Quest. I liked the acknowledgement that while Kusaylaâs actions are what ultimately led to Dehya becoming the person she is in the present, it wasnât without massive missteps that Dehya should (and does) resent him for. Sheâs allowed to voice and process that resentment without being treated as ungrateful or a brat, and ultimately, she comes to terms with the sacrifices he made for her to have a safer life despite his past without anyone having to push her on it. Honestly, that one cutscene where she discovers that he still kept the sword she played pretend with after all these years and gets to grieve what she had with him as a kid still makes me emotional when I re-watch it to this day. It also opened up the question of where Dehyaâs ancestry comes from since Kusayla adopted her, whichâŠHoyoverse. Dehya Second Story Quest or Summer event like Benny got. Please. Thank you.
I do have a minor gripe with Dehyaâs writing though, specifically that one part in her Story Quest where she hears about some of her male crew members harassing some of the women, which is treated like a lighthearted funny by both her and the narrative. Which isâŠa really messed up thing to come out of someone whoâs otherwise been consistently shown to be so supportive of other women. It ended up being a one-off thing rather than a repeated pattern with her, but that discrepancy was so jarring and just goes to show that Hoyo really needs to check their shit when it comes to the casual, oblivious misogyny in a lot of their dialogue.
With Candace, despite Hoyo being really stingy with her screentime, she more than makes up for it in her unlockable Character Stories, which delve deeper into her role as Guardian of Aaru Village and how thatâs affected her. Aside from her aforementioned moment of wisdom where she took up the role of Guardian after learning the truth and took a more authentic approach to it than her predecessors, the process afterwards wasnât handed to her on a silver platter either. She wasnât exempt from backlash or people disagreeing with her decisions and policies, especially former Guardians, and even clashed blades with them over it at times. Even when she wasnât fighting threats to the Village, she still tried to be there for people and even extended her kindness to people who didnât have any other connections, like Nefer. Her stories also mention her not being immediately judgmental against people who seemed to be âslackersâ or physically struggling in general, instead trying to be kind and understanding in the hopes of uplifting them. And in a game where even the main character constantly judge and condemn laziness in an ableist fashion, itâs really nice to see a character who explicitly doesnât do that and genuinely looks out for the vulnerable in her community. I also like that despite not caring about the whole King Deshret thing being a lie, she hasnât told anyone yet just because it makes her job easier when she needs to, say, get the entire villageâs attention during an emergency and honestly? I like that motivation for keeping a long-buried secret so much more than âPeople will find out Iâm not that great :(â that characters like this tend to be saddled with. Candace honestly comes off as one of the better-written leadership characters in the game for me, because even after facing stubborn backlash from the people sheâs meant to be protecting and having her worldview challenged, sheâs still able to find reasons to keep protecting them and find a more genuine approach to being Guardian. Though itâs not without its problems, which Iâll get into below.
Their treatment by the Traveler, other characters and the Game in general
Iâve actually mentioned this in scattered posts in the past, but thereâs one thing Iâve always taken issue with when it comes to Dehyaâs treatment by the Traveler and Paimon in-game. Itâs how she trusted them enough during the Sumeru Archon Quest to open up about the agony she feels because of the Wall of Samiel and the way desert-dwellers are stereotyped and treated even by other SumeriansâŠand they still end up judging people based on stereotypes, including desert-dwellers, not helped by how this can be played alongside Jehtâs world quest featuring the duoâs âagree to disagreeâ attitude towards Lilouparâs racism. One particularly bad example occurs in the Fungus event that canonically takes place after the Fontaine Archon QuestâŠwhich means at that point, the Traveler knows how bad the racism towards the Eremites are and how badly a few of their own friends are affected by it. And that still didnât stop them from saying some weird shit about Haniyyah and go âThe Eremites are invading!â when they see Souka. And itâs likeâŠDehya trusted them with one of her biggest vulnerabilities, and that still wasnât enough for them to think about how that would affect her and others. It isnât made better by how nice they are to her when they interact face to face, itâs still racist and disrespectful as fuck and if anything, makes them look two-faced. They can and should do better than that.
Aside from that, sometimes the two can be really weird about Dehyaâs autonomy and boundaries despite her being shown countless times to be incredibly capable and an extremely quick thinker. Thereâs how she was automatically assumed to be acting reckless in that section of the Archon Quest when sheâs talking with Rahman, and almost gets her plans busted when the other characters interrupt and go âwhat are you doing?!â leading to her legendary âShut it, Paimonâ line. At this point, the Traveler and co. had just seen her quick thinking and ability to plan around the way others act, so it was really weird for them to be like âyouâre so reckless! How could you?!â And thereâs how during the ârescue Nahidaâ operation, when she uncomfortably declines a massage from Paimon, instead of backing off the latter goes âooh are you ticklish?ââŠ.which takes place after she accidentally triggered Collei by touching her without consent in the same Archon Quest. And thing is, after how regretful theyâd been towards Collei for that, that shouldâve carried over to Dehya not wanting to be touched but itâs treated like it doesnât matter. Thankfully, in both cases Dehya stands pretty firm on her boundaries, but with the way theyâve just brushed off other (especially white) charactersâ genuine recklessness while still not doubting their capabilities, and made a huge deal about Collei being triggered by touching but then wonât empathize with Dehya being uncomfortableâŠit felt so wrong when they did this with her.
With Candace, not only does she get the ânice and reliable and ideal personalityâ bs that a lot of Genshinâs women are subjected to, but what makes it worse is how little concern both the narrative and most of the characters seem to show for her. Iâve also griped about this in other posts, but itâs so weird that her duty of keeping Aaru Village safe and a violence-free zone is glossed over as âyeah, thatâs cool I guessâ despite being a massive responsibility, requiring her to regularly tough out even monsters several times her size and sandstorms (those are much more dangerous than they look!). And the game never tries going in depth about the toll this would take on herâŠdespite actively showing how sheâs constantly on such high alert that she canât bring herself to leave the village without a lot of convincing, and how itâs driven her to attack without asking questions first at times (like Dehyaâs Demo). At least when (white) characters are overworked in Mondstadt, the Traveler or people around them show some kind of concern or praise them as amazing and special (TM) good people. Candace? Aside from the concerning lack of people asking if sheâs alright despite being surrounded by an entire village and even having friends beyond Sumeru, her hard work is treated like âoh yeah thatâs just what Candace was born to do, thatâs just the way it is, itâs whatever.â Like, would it be the end of the world to have someone thank her, asks her if sheâs alright or something each time she comes on screen?? Whenever other characters talk about her, itâs about what she does for them and how she puts her feelings aside for their sake (Doesnât that sound similar to how another kind-hearted brown character is treated in this game?) but rarely any of that in return for her. The character that shows the most consistent concern and care for her is Dehya (the only other darker-skinned woman in the Sumeru cast), who tries to get her into hobbies she can pass the time with even in the desert and tries to prevent conflicts before they happen so Candace would have less to stress over. But the narrative has done very little to remedy this over the years, and itâs not helped by how she doesnât even get any Hangouts in an era where four-stars were still getting them, or even much time in limited events unless sheâs accompanying another character. (AlsoâŠdid I mention that she was appointed the position at eight years old [Iâm completely serious, read her Character Story 1] and had been dealing with adult-level conflicts since then??? I feel like that shouldnât have been as glossed over as it was)
Even in her lore, her title as Guardian and duty to protect Aaru village isnât treated with the awe that, say, the big legacy names in Mondstadtâs duties are, cause itâs not nearly as exciting for fandom when sheâs not privileged white nobility. Even when her standing up to her eldersâ stubborn ways and even got them to shut up and stop doubting her was what earned her a Vision. Even when we get insight on how this affects the way she views herself or her ability to properly rest during peacetime. Even when we see that she had to work for her position even after being sworn in as Guardian, as her lore mentions how much people (especially elders) pushed back against her and some of her decisions, and how she still did her best to help villagers who struggled physically/mentally and did it with tact instead of assuming the worst and jumping to discipline. Even with how her worldview was challenged upon given the title of being Guardian, yet she still picked up her spear and protected the village anyway because in her mind, she wanted to protect what she held dear regardless of motivation from a god. All that is really impressive, and it would be really nice if other characters, even NPCs were more appreciative of it or sang her more genuine compliments instead of âthatâs just what we expect out of Candace.â
The way the fandom treats them (and other darker-skinned female characters)
When it comes to fandom treatment, a lot of times itâs a similar issue to how most of the âlikeableâ women tend to be treated: laser-focus on how ânice and reliableâ they are or could be and never think further about it. Dehya and Candace are both shown to be extremely kind, not just in different ways but with their own depth and conflicts to it too. In Dehyaâs case especially, her kindness is the very reason why she gets so worked up over the mistreatment of others and will go to bat for them - kindness and assertiveness are not separate entities! But the fandom often treats them like theyâre mutually exclusive and over focus on one of those traits, but not the other. Iâve also seen digs at how bad both their kits are (despite being workable with a bit of effort), and about how sexualized/out of focus they are (which are legitimate criticisms) andâŠthatâs pretty much it. Itâs like theyâre often remembered for negative reasons while their positive and interesting traits get far less spotlighted in fan works compared to the rest of the Sumeru cast, and even when fans critique their treatment, I donât see a lot of effort into calling out anything other than the sexualization/lack of focus they get by the loudest parts of the fandom even though that stuff is barely scratching the surface. Which made me think about patterns in how darker-skinned women in Genshin tend to be treated in general, and a lot came out of it which Iâve decided to share.
Whenever the fandom talks about the misogyny, the conversation always seems to revolve around the same 3 playable white characters and maybe like one from Liyue or Inazuma they really like, and almost never extends past that even though it goes a lot deeper than that. Like how recently I talked about how despite all the women get the short end of the stick when it comes to Hoyoâs writing, white female characters tend to get uplifted at the expense of racialized characters - which even seems to hold true in fandom discussions of the gameâs misogyny. And one way it manifests is in how darker-skinned female characters often get left out of these conversations beyond maybe one surface-level observation (theyâre oversexualized/out of focus), and when it comes to noticing subtleties in the messages sent by the game, the way these ladies are treated doesnât even pop up like it does for, say, Jean or Lisa, who often end up as the poster girls for these discussions.
Aside from what I mentioned above for Dehya and Candace, thereâs the way Xinyan gets digs taken at her for her appearance, and itâs hidden behind âoh her hobbies are whatâs off puttingâ when this isnât done at all for the paler Liyueans who have canonically off-putting hobbies, like Hu Tao.
Then thereâs how Xilonen, one of a few Natlanese characters who has tanned or darker skin, often gets jabbed at for being lazy or a slacker despite proving time and time again that sheâs just so good at her job that sheâs able to carve out a lot of free time at nobodyâs expense. Especially after the Traveler and Paimon have had endless sympathy for years towards lighter-skinned women and their capacity for overworking themselves, itâs likeâŠshouldnât you be happy that a woman is actually setting boundaries with her work for once? Iâve mentioned this before with Kaeya, but stereotyping darker-skinned people as lazy is rooted in colorism even in the context of Chinese cultures, so it shouldâve never made it into version 6.1 after fans were so loud about the colorism problems Natlan had even before its release.
Itâs in how Iansan, a character who was hyped up for over four years and was even one of the Six Heroes of Natlan, got shafted in focus and screentime when she finally debuts properly compared to the other five. Then when her homeland is finally placed on the map, potentially giving her a chance to shineâŠVaresa debuts and immediately becomes the face of the Collective of Plenty over her. Not only was this such a disappointment for a character many fans had been looking forward to for years, but she actually does stand out amongst her people with how she had to train for her strength in a world where people were basically born with it, but the game never does anything meaningful with that and continues to shaft her story. And to make things worse, the 5.6 Whirling Waltz event even makes a tasteless joke at her expense for no reason at all. She deserves so much better.
It even extends to the treatment of historical characters, like Vennessa. We first get to see in the manga, which established the hardships she went through to founding the Knights of Favonius and being its first Grand Master. While itâs meant to be a part of Ventiâs backstory as a whole, she still manages to stand on her own. Unfortunately, that respect is not extended to her in the present day and in-game content. Sheâs only mentioned there in an overly-idealized image, and in the context of uplifting a white womanâs story and good image. Worst part is, she doesnât even get acknowledged in Natlan content - which is so weird because thatâs where her people, the Muratans hailed from. Itâs all about what she did for Mondstadt and the mainly white cast there, which looks even worse in the context of how theyâre basically doing the same thing again with a brown, immigrant character there in the present day.
Itâs such a shame cause all these characters, especially Candace and Dehya, have such interesting aspects to them but donât get treated with the respect they deserve whether itâs from the game or the fandom. And itâs likeâŠsome of these storylines actually address things that the Traveler and Paimon have been concerned about in the past, especially when it comes to white characters, but itâs like they suddenly donât care when itâs attached to a darker-skinned woman all of a sudden. Iâm not too sure on how to conclude this since itâs really long at this point, but I hope this shed some light on the more interesting aspect of these characters as well as how weird the treatment around them can get. I do have a lot more to say about Candace and Dehya (and all the other ladies I mentioned above) that wouldnât fit into the rest of this post, but Iâll be sure to talk about them in the future.