I will forever disdain this insistence on making the story of the ballerina doll and the tin soldier from wanderer’s character teaser into something romantic and making it seem like wanderer’s story is about love
This reading of the steadfast tin soldier in his character teaser just irks me so bad each time i stumble across it because i feel like it couldnt be any more obvious that its about the gnosis. Its about his desire for a heart. The part of his character we’ve know of since the release of husk of opulent dreams. I dont care if you like this or that wanderer ship, but the story has nothing to do with romance in the slightest.
It just saddens me how much this part of his character has been kinda ignored and glossed over tbh. Its such an interesting part of his character for me. When the kabukimono comes to the conclusion that he is separated from the rest of humanity because of his lack of heart (gnosis), he starts to yearn for it. He starts doubting himself even with the assurance he gets from niwa because he knows that he could have already had it, his lack of heart becomes painfully obvious to him since he knows of what he could have had.
This desire for a heart becomes twisted in a sense after the nameless child’s death because now, he has decided to abandon humanity. His wish to be human is no longer, but he still wants a heart, just not in the same way he used to want it. The gnosis grants him the purpose he was born for. An important thing to remember is that ei’s and scaramouche’s relationship id more akin to a “creator and creation” dynamic, and scaramouche parallels ei in the sense that he also views himself as a tool to be used. Without his heart, he feels as though he is purposeless in this world, and the gnosis validates his existence.
But what does having a heart mean anyway? When scaramouche gets the gnosis taken away from him and later erases himself from irminsul, the memoryless wanderer becomes essentially a husk of his former self. He has none of his previous past experiences to solidify his identity and wanders as a shugenja monk. He admits that he’s been yearning for something he cant quite pinpoint, and thats why he trusts the traveler when he tells him he himself doesn’t truly know himself and accepts his offer to meet the dendro archon.
When he asks nahida if theres any difference between humans and puppets, she tells him that the experiences one has went through is what makes up their person. Even a puppet can become human, because you are the sum of your experiences, your past doesn’t define you, but it shapes you into who you are today, and that is what makes us human. He may not have the heart that he desired for centuries, but it doesn’t make him any less human than any other person that walks this world, even if he is a manmade puppet.
When wanderer accepts his past self and regains his memories of his past incarnation, he gains a vision as proof of his journey. It still may not be a heart, but you could say that it solidifies his humanity
