THE GARDEN AND THE GARDENER, ALCHEMY - ALBEDO IS GETTING CLOSE TO PERFECTION?
English tranlastion: @kykyonthemoon
And yes, I’m still a little shy to post this, so if you don’t enjoy the theory, please be kind. \\\ - \\\)
Okay, surely after the story event 2.3, you all started to get so confused about the crazy twists around Albedo, right? Which is the real Albedo? Which one is fake? Which one is the Whopperflower? What is the gardener; what are the three roses? What is Mihoyo referring to after all? Here, I will not analyze and confirm who is fake or who is real, but I can only voice my feelings by analysing the story from the knowledge in our real world that Mihoyo has put into the event. Just as Mihoyo has metaphorically named names from 72 demons, 7 elements and 7 ideals, etc. Surely they all make sense, huh?
1/ WHAT IS THE GARDEN AND THE GARDENER?
Have you ever wondered why there is a symbolic image of the Garden of Eden in the Bible? Have you ever watched a movie or read a story and heard the phrase "garden of the soul"? Like the quote "My soul is a garden of flowers, very fragant and bustling with birds" by To Huu? Or the poem "The Gardener" by the poet and philosopher Tagore that you studied a part of in your high school literature program? Or Van Gogh's paintings often depicted vineyards and irises to represent his soul?
Basically, the image of the garden and the gardener is an extremely ancient and popular symbol for humans, in the Bible, mysticism, poetry, fine art, etc., it is often used to symbolize two things:
- The garden is the world, the place where new life is created, which can also be considered the earth or human society. And the gardener is often likened to the image of Jesus, the Creator,... who created people.
- The garden is the soul of each person, where there are fragrant flowers as well as weeds, and the imperfection of the soul, the personality. And the gardener here is often likened to each of us, taking care of our hearts and minds so that every day we can grow; we can love more and be whole.
Putting it this way, the story of Albedo No.1 (The Albedo we have always seen) and Albedo No.2 (The Albedo has recently been awakened) can actually be viewed in two senses, two ideals, or so to speak, the two paths in which they are chasing after their master, Gold aka Rhinedottir.
The gardener in their story is, apparently, a reference to their master, who created and cared for them like flowers that grew from her creative garden, while she also removed bad products - as a failed experiment no one needed. What Gold wanted was to create the perfect human being, so she constantly created artificial people like Albedo, and instilled in them the ideals of continuing to pursue the same path of "seeking the truth of life." In other words, both Albedo No.1 and No.2 need to become a... gardener to get her recognition.
Albedo No.2 was obviously thrown away (but not dead, please remember this detail) because he wasn't what Gold wanted. He had laid inside the dragon then woke up just as we've seen recently. While Albedo No.1 was the best product that she brought with her, cared for, and taught knowledge. If you have Albedo and read his story, you will know that he has been tasked by his master to seek the truth and meaning of life. His master bluntly left him without hesitation after a long time she had been the only person in his life.
But Gold still wrote and sent Albedo to Monstadt to Alice, rather than throwing him away at will, for what reason? Because Albedo had a human form, incomparable knowledge, yet his soul was not complete. A person cannot be called a human being if they have no connection with others; no family, no community, and no friends. Albedo could not become perfect if all he had was only his master.
2. ALCHEMY – A METAPHOR FOR THE PERFECTION OF ALBEDO'S SOUL
If you remember in the first story of Dragonspine in the 1.2 patch, Albedo was still a lonely captain of the investigation team. He was all alone on the snow mountain to study life and paint. He didn't really connect with anyone, even when it came to Sucrose and Timaeus, he didn't really consider them friends or keep them close. He was only interested in the knowledge he acquired from the strange Traveler, from Paimon, from the unusual sword he found. If Albedo was interested in anyone, that would be Traveler because Traveler was all "a different kind," like himself.
Until the Golden Apple Island event, after Albedo finished his things there, he went to another place to paint but not sit down with others. When asked, he said, "I just like to talk to you, because you're smart and special."
But what about this 2.3 event? Besides Traveler, Albedo has connected with many others, Eula, Amber and Bennet. They ate together, sat by the fire, painted, and Albedo rushed to Bennet's defense during the avalanche. Albedo had a happy smile as he sat next to his new friends, remember? Albedo is gradually developing himself, and becomes more open to his surroundings and takes an interest in more things besides doing research. He has known appreciation, even pity for Albedo No. 2.
And what a coincidence; these two processes corresponded extremely well to Albedo's two ascension phases in his Voiceover. “Feeling about Ascension – Building up” (“Albedo” is the first step in which change begins.) This phase was when Albedo appeared in 1.2 and encountered the Traveler: "clearing away the excess, so we can take on all the knowledge that is available". In “Feeling about Ascension – Climax, “Rubedo” refers to "refining feelings." This phase can be viewed in 2.3 events. Albedo's four ascension phases are also four stages in alchemy to train gold.
If you have known one or two things about mysticism, astrology, tarot or something like that related to soul healing... You may realize that alchemy is not simply about creating gold, creating people. It is in fact a metaphor for the journey of tempering the human soul, to achieve the highest essence, to find the "treasure in the heart". This is also easily seen in Paulo Coelho's literary work "The Alchemist”.
In other words, Albedo No.1’s garden – the alchemy he himself has been practising, is gradually improving through the events he encounters, the people he comes into contact with. He had never had the ambition to create a high race of humans like his master.
But Albedo No. 2 – the discarded experiment – does.
3/ ALBEDO NO.2 IS TRYING TO BECOME GOLD
The whopperflowers that can pretend to be humans were affected by the power of Durin. They were created by Albedo No.2 and have planned to infiltrate the human world, starting with Joel and Pallad's father. Apparently, Albedo No.2 is trying to regain his position by replacing Albedo No.1 not only by taking his form, personality or the birthmark on his neck; but he’s also pursuing the same path of creating life as his master. He’s creating his own garden.
Albedo No.2 has chosen to take a shortcut; without having to create the original life form, to train it or anything. He just takes advantage of a creature like whopperflowers, then improves them, turns them into a more complete creature and human-like. As long as the creature is better than the original, who cares if it's real or fake, right?
To put this in another way, Albedo No.2 is intentionally pursuing the path of becoming a creator, a gardener with new creations of his own making, flawed and incomplete but possibly the most perfectly copy, replacing the original, surpassing the original. That copy even tried to kill the creator.
It is likely that Albedo No.2 and Durin, due to being flawed and unrecognised, wanted to kill their creator – Gold. The story of the three roses in the event also mentions that two thorny and poisoned roses tried to kill the gardener.
This can clearly be seen as a path leading right to mistakes.
4/ THE SUNSETTIAS IN THE SNOW AND THE VERY LAST LINES
We have this conversation:
“Fruit buried on Dragonspine will stay fresh for much longer. However, it is also possible that the fruit will sprout and grow into fruit trees. Who knows, maybe the next time you visit, it will have grown into an orchard…”
“Then Paimon’ll have to be a gardener. That’s not the goal here!”
“I don’t think being a gardener is so bad.”
“They are the rarest super-duper sweetest sunsettias ever. And they’re not for you!”
“Okay. But they’re just sunsettias. I think you are only so attached to them because you don’t have much fruit of this quality in your possession. When someone’s pockets are full and their spirit is fulfilled, they don’t easily fall prey to this kind of yearning.”
Due to what was said above, this conversation can be interpreted as follows:
- The lost fruit buried in the snow is the metaphor of Albedo No.2 buried inside the dragon on Dragonspine. Yes, it should be clearly remembered that Gold threw Albedo No.2 inside the dragon but did not kill him, as a way to preserve and incubate him like a sunsettia sprout. It's also possible that she deliberately let Albedo No.2 live in such a way to create a challenge for Albedo No.1. Or perhaps this is a struggle of two incomplete products, to see who finally perfects himself and wins the "joy of being born into the world" bestowed by Gold.
- Albedo No.1 and No.2 are becoming gardeners in their own way. Real or fake; it’s no longer a matter.
Albedo's last words can also be understood in two different ways:
- When humans are replaced by more complete beings, just like there are many types of "fruit" on the same level, then they will no longer pay attention to each person they have lost (Paimon is afraid of losing the sunsettias so she seeks to keep it by).
- If one's soul becomes complete, full and perfect, then there is no longer fear of loss, abandonment, or other sufferings. (This phrase is especially common in psychological healing, self-improvement, etc.)
Predictably, the next patch of this story may be clearer, and somehow, Albedo in a way, gradually trains himself to become "gold" – in response to the last ascension phase: Conclusion – the supreme product of alchemy that Gold is pursuing. Maybe he'll become the "real human being" Gold wants, or replace Gold, or become Gold. We don’t know about that yet. Gold will likely return then as he has always wanted.
This part is just my inference but I also find it interesting and want to share with everyone:
In the description of Cinnabar Spindle, there is some information on the one-horned horse, Albedo's brother, most likely pointing to Albedo No.2 or Durin. Okay, the point here is, this one-horned horse could be a unicorn. In the Western culture, the unicorn is a wild and violent animal. No one can tame it; only maidens with pure souls can.
Then, Albedo's master’s name was Gold. And there is another name, Rhinedottir. The name means "daughter of Rhine", possibly originated from the phrase Rhinemaidens. Rhinemaidens were the GOLD guardes of the Rhine river in the German opera Der Ring des Nibelungen, by Richard Wagner. If you remember, Albedo’s title – Kreideprinz also comes from the German word for "The Chalk Prince."
At this point my mind is bursting with lots of interesting details. So yeah.
