My Thoughts on the 6.7 Event Quest, the Similarities between Dottolone and Sandbina, as well as between Alain and Pantalone (Spoiler Warning imposed for Event Quest Line)
Okay, so after playing through the entire 6.7 event quest line, I have a lot of thoughts. One of the first things that struck me was how strikingly similar Dottolone and Sandbina are to one another, then it quickly launched me into realising Pantalone and Alain shared some similar ideals, then by Act 3, it was impossible to ignore the story similarities and motifs that linger between world, archon and story quests. Even if each character had their associated differences.
This post is not meant as a snide or jab at any character or pairing, but rather, as a discussion post where I would like to share my thoughts on the event's story, and what it might hint towards; what it might have omitted, the more ominous and not quite clear-cut connections between characters... that sort of thing. I won't be adding any of my 148 screenshots, since I don't want to crash and slow my Tumblr interface again, but this is going to be very long, and I will be quoting a lot of the lines directly from the quest, so please take heart the spoiler warning.
Also: this is not the only way one can look at canon material. Interpretations are bound to differ and no one opinion is correct. This is just how I read it, and this post is merely done for fun out of pure love for literature and analysis. That being said, let's get into it, shall we?
Even though I didn't know what to think when I first noticed the piano motif going from a symbol of private connection to one of public performance when it was carried from one Harbinger to the next (Dottore to Sandrone), I also don't believe it was placed at the end of the quest line for no reason. This is the last 'Archon Quest'-like story (if one purports the Moon Gazing world quest to not count) before we head into Snezhnaya, after all.
Personally, I sense that perhaps, the reason Hoyo decided to draw similarities between the two pairings - whether by coincidence or deliberation, we may never know - was to highlight this idea of perception and how we only know as much as we are willing to know.
Dottore and Sandrone are, at their core, similar individuals who strive for similar ideals. Yet, they go from working with one another during their early Fatui days (at least, at some point. Something about an experiment regarding extreme temperatures) to hating one another's guts in the present day. What I mean when I say they are similar individuals, is that they share a lot of traits and interests:
they can both play the piano.
they are both referred to (whether directly or indirectly) as their companion's closest confidant [Pantalone is Dottore's only friend and Columbina outright calls Sandrone her best friend.]
they both dabble in research. Even if the fundaments behind that research is different, they still derive from the same set of correlated industries (both fields are under the STEM framework, as Dottore's main research field is Science, and Sandrone Mathematics.)
they both refer to something as an "anomaly" (I will get into this later, because genuinely, it needs its own discussion point considering how vast it spans.)
They both occasionally refer to themselves in air-quotes, because they have an other them.
When I first heard the anomaly thing, I was so confused about what it had to do with Sandrone, because I was used to the term being in reference to the Anomalous Tree Marrow introduced alongside Dottore's second weekly boss last version cycle. Yet, the more I thought about it, and what the "anomaly" actually was - the clash between emotion and logic - I start to realise the two were not so different, after all. When the quest first officially delves into Sandrone's story, she refers to her rebooted core as having possessed an anomaly because she fundamentally doesn't understand it. In that same capacity, the Anomalous Tree Marrows are referred to as such not because they are strange, but because the Traveler doesn't understand it and what it contains.
Sandrone tells us that she hopes "[Alain's gift] can help fix certain 'anomalies' in my rebooted core..." and that "there are 'anomalies' that are making things unstable." This frames the unknown as something to dread, as being a Pandora's Box, in essence. Not because it is genuinely dangerous, but because it is easier to dread what we don't know (or refuse to know for a plethora of reasons) than to face it head-on.
Still, the foundational difference between Sandrone and Dottore does end up being just that: how willing they are to face the unknown. Sandrone does not see the point of it, because from her point of view, if you're going to lose anyways, your efforts will just be in vain. That philosophy would guide her all the way until the end of this event quest line. ["But, if you know it's all going to be gone one day, why even bother?" she repeats something of similar effect throughout the first Act and a half.] Even so, I noticed she mentioned "if you know it's all going to be gone [in vain]," as her core driver for why she doesn't see the point, positioning her "death" in Nod-Krai as being done out of the small, fickle belief that it would not be in vain; the one time until the later confrontation that it would be the other her making the decision. When introduced in this quest, she frames her "death" as being done out of logic - that they needed the Traveler to be able to finish the formula, but I suspect that was because she still refused to accept other Sandrone.
On the other hand, Dottore is completely willing to defy the rules of the world and face the unknown, because he believes the most absurd testing sites and experiments are the most worthy of his time. And in this regard, what ultimately makes the two Harbingers distinct from one another in terms of characterisation, is perhaps how they view research/experimentation in line with the outcome of it. Sandrone does care about the outcome, Dottore does not.
The film festival script when Charlotte was shooting mentions the story ends with "But when Duke St. Germanus departed, he clearly said that everything was beyond redemption..." and later, "Hurlock" says "He's only a genius when it comes to mechanics: in everything else, he's just an ordinary person.//Unlike humans, machines don't have a heart."
Of course, this is supposed to mirror the people's sentiments regarding machines and humans, bringing the focus to Sandrone's own internal conflict regarding whether she has a heart. Her answer for the longest time: No, regardless of how strong her emotions module is. Which is why, I suspect, she shuts out her emotions.
Yet, when she confronts her "anomalous self", the anomalous (emotional) Sandrone asks, "A machine acting like a human... kind of laughable, right?" I find this interesting, because where Sandrone is a machine acting like a human, Dottore (or rather, I suppose Zandik at his prime, since... Omega), is a human acting like a machine.
During this same confrontation, the sequence of events play out in a way that starts to peel back this emotional onion. Aside from what I had already mentioned, one of the most interesting parts of this sequence, to me, was the beginning. When Sandrone goes "Huh, but it looks like the walls are all... mirrors?" Might sound a little mundane to be intrigued by something so castaway, but bear with me here. Walls are usually opaque, and mirrors are reflective. In every way that matters, reflective walls can be seen as a metaphor for how no matter how hard you try to block a part of your soul out, the world will always find a way to reflect it back at you. Because it was always meant to be part of you. In Sandrone's case, it was through her willingness to "resolve" (face) this uncertainty and thing she does not understand. In Dottore's case, it was through Pantalone being just as self-destructive and as crazy as himself π«©
The whole "Hmm.. what's it gonna be? Keeping me imprisoned here like before? Or eliminating me entirely, like debugging a code? Hah... that might actually be a mercy." is genuinely so haunting, because Sandrone's emotions-logic state was severed in the same way Zandik's soul was severed, and we know what Omega chose to do: eliminate the other Segments to retrieve the gnoses. And like Act 3 of Fontinalia reveals, resentment on top of resentment will only breed more resentment. But the whole soul-splitting and reconvergence thing and its connections to Rene and Jackob and how that might be intrinsically tied to Dottore is a whole 'nother can of worms that will add another thousand or so words onto this (already super long) discussion post. π¬
There is one thing that Sandrone says very early on that explicably links the two Harbingers together, even if they went in two opposite rationales for what the motivation had been: "I suppose he [Alain] thought there might come a day when I wished for something, and was willing to sacrifice my own life to fulfil it, so he left me a chance to start over."
Remember earlier when I said that I noticed similarities between Pantalone and Alain? This was where that began. Until this moment, I still don't know what Sandrone really wants, but I suspect if it was anything, it would be companionship. In this regard, I liken Pantalone to Alain and Sandrone to Omega Dottore. In the pursuit of what they both desire, be it companionship or watching the world burn, they were willing to sacrifice themselves to see its success. Alain leaving Sandrone "a chance to start over" is not that different from Pantalone spending the entire 6.6 Archon Quest subtly trying to steer Omega away from going through with the Experiment in Blasphemy ("If the very goal of your experiment was to explore infinite possibilities, then there was never any reason for it to end.")
In Alain's letter to Sandrone, he writes a load of things, but I want to bring focus to the following lines:
"Regardless, I have another gift - a formula that will allow you to come face to face with the 'anomaly' inside you. Haha... if you even still call her that."
"I believe a person should be born twice over in their lifetime. First, there's the birth that grants us life, then the birth of the soul."
"In a matter of transforming the life bestowed upon us into the life we choose for ourselves. And to do that, we must look inward."
"You are my proudest masterpiece. I told you that long ago. But to me, you have never been a creation or a machine."
"To me, you're just like the rest of us. You have a heart."
"For if you want to protect your 'heart', you must first be able to recognise it within yourself."
"You always were a fast learner... and the smartest person I've ever known."
Pantalone also has similar lines he speaks to Dottore that we know of, whether he directly says it, or Dottore references it in the Marrows:
"And while you may have forgotten it, you cannot deny that you, too, were once human, Dottore. I do not believe that there was no such fear [the fear of death] in your heart."
"Though I must say, your disdain for the other Segments is quite amusing. Zandik is you, and you are Zandik. Zandik created the Segments - yet you, a Segment yourself, reject him." (How loaded this one is... especially when Fontinalia Act 3 shows up... π¬)
"Mortal fear... haha, something you haven't been acquainted with in a long time, by the sounds of it."
"It may have been a long time since anyone told you this, Dottore, but I recognise that you are a truly rare talent."
"A friend of mine believes that my selfishness is not limited to others, but also aimed at myself in a manner that has long since transcended conventional definitions. (He did subsequently realise he had spoken out of turn.)"
There is this exchange during Sandrone's flashback between herself and Alain:
Sandrone: Do you think I have one then? A heart?
Alain: I don't think so. I know so. The question is, do you recognise it within yourself?
Not sure if it is just me, but that conversation reminds me of how fervently Pantalone tries to remind Omega of his inherent humanity, going so far as the story of the man in the church.
Alain is also described in the picture of his younger days as "wearing an expression somewhere between 'guilt' and 'longing.'" which Sandrone explains is because "he sometimes regretted not helping his friend when he needed it most. Even if just to stop him." which, I suppose, is akin to how Pantalone tried to stop Omega, but might end up regretting not trying harder to convince the Segment because he placed too much into the 'helping him fulfil his wishes' part out of respect.
When Sandrone asks Alain why he built her the way he did, he responds that he's "not quite sure. It just felt like the right thing to do." Arlecchino tells us that Pantalone is driven by his emotions, and the entire reason for his presence in the 6.6 AQ was emotions-driven, masked as logic. Because he felt it was the correct thing to do by being there, one way or the other. Logic or emotions, or more likely - both. Two birds, one stone.
On the other side of the Sandbina and Dottolone comparison of course, lies Columbina and Pantalone's similarities, too. The most immediate thought before Fontinalia is, of course, the fact they are the only two people we know Dottore has canonically played the piano for.
Yet, if we only consider the Fontinalia quest line, there are a lot of compelling similarities, too.
When Columbina speaks to Furina, she says the following: "But they have to act out lives that aren't their own, with the whole world watching on in judgment." Columbina says this because she's lived through it, as the Moon Goddess, being expected of things by the Frostmoon Scions just because of her divinity. While not as extreme (in the divine sense), a large part of Pantalone's character is also, performance and appearances. There is this whole ongoing thing about how his smile is not genuine. That he's actually very irritable behind that customary smile he wears on the daily. Even so, he spends most of the 6.6 AQ hooded, always around those he wasn't comfortable with being open with (notice how the hood only comes off around Dottore.) He even outright tells Omega, "Why make things harder than they need to be? Exposing my true identity in a situation like this would only serve to destroy diplomatic relations between Snezhnaya and Sumeru. I daren't imagine the consequences."
Similarly with the Alain comparison, Columbina also says that Sandrone is "no different than us. She has a heart." Considering Alain's own explanation that the heart "is also referred to as someone's soul, or likened to free will." - essentially, humanity - I mention this for the same reason I compared Alain to Pantalone.
While at Alain's grave, Columbina tells Alain's spirit that he need not worry about Sandrone, and that "she [Sandrone] takes great care of them [her friends]." and that "She'll never admit it, but she's always there when her friends need it the most. I wouldn't even be here without her." In a way, both Sandrone and Dottore are described by people or Marrows to be good at taking care of those they genuinely care for, both being unwilling to admit it (one is still hiding behind the guise of transactional relationships despite evidence pointing that there's more to the story while the other is outright said to be so in the aforementioned quote.), and both being part of (or the only) reason their companion is still wandering Teyvat's soils.
Yet, it is undeniable that Sandrone and Pantalone also share a lot of similarities regarding how they handle their respective friendships. There is a sequence that eerily echoes Nod-Krai's relationship fallout: the "Goodbye," sequences, even if Sandbina's was an illusion.
"...Goodbye, Sandrone." followed by "...Don't go, Columbina." is like a looking glass to the "Goodbye, Feofan. This time, that is what is truly is"//"And don't I know it? [in the original CN, it was more like "How could I not know?"] Goodbye, Zandik."
Other-Sandrone (I seriously don't know how to refer to her) asking, "Heh... we should have just said that. Why didn't we? If we had, would the story have had a different ending?" is so painful for me in ways I cannot describe. For both pairings, it is the question of what if? What if I had done something differently? Would anything have changed at all? It mirrors Alain's (and the rest of humanity's) constant cycle of wondering about all sorts of different scenarios, imagining how they might have played out, then immediately collapse into a pile of regret for not having done it at the time. Because to be human, is to be emotional. Logic and emotions coexists, and neither can exist within a soul without the other being ever so slightly present.
The question that might continue to haunt me would be "Why didn't we make her stay? Is it worse to fight for something just to lose it, or not to have fought at all?" The question of which of the two - attempt or inaction - would have been worse...
Sandrone says something similar to what Pantalone had said before: "But you can't move through life without having to say goodbye. And even as we experience loss, there are always new things to be gained." even though in Pantalone's case, it was about Mora and profits, but what if he also meant the weighing of profits from relationships that fundamentally, should not have left the transactional stage but did? Would that have incurred profits or losses? It depended on how you look at it. Just as Dottore (having picked it up from Pantalone) himself said, "Is it not true that a relationship should be judged by both the positive and negative returns it yields?"
I might have lost myself somewhere towards the end, but I've been tapping away at my laptop for two hours or so straight, so I'll stop here. If anyone wants to discuss the whole soul-splitting-reconvergence thing in Act 3, feel free to repost/tag/comment. I'm always down for lore discussion. :)
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