craving venti 24/7 🍃🍮😺

He lives much longer than a human.

His responsibility will always be their safety.

(Arguably) He is forced into slumber for… healing? (Or is this a sign of depression?)

He doesn’t believe in ruling over his people, so he is one of the weakest Archons (his reasoning).

He will never be on the same level as one of his people, no matter how “ingrained” in society he is. (In other words, if he revealed his true nature, there’s always going to be a sense of “This is Mondstadt’s god” with every mortal he reveals it to.)

Venti, or Barbatos, was the Archon to bring The Seven together to meet.

Zhongli doesn’t visit Mondstadt (that I know of).

Barbatos is the only known Archon to regularly travel.

Five of the Seven original Archons are dead.

The ‘new’ Archons know of each other, but it’s mostly from a ruling basis (they likely do not have those regular meetings anymore)

From this, we can conclude that Barbatos cannot have a personal relationship like he once did with another mortal, and when he tried to find something like that with The Seven, they, too, suffered a sort of “mortal fate,” the supposed immortals all died one by one.

And Zhongli and Venti might hold a deep understanding towards each other, have some sort of close relationship, but we definitely don’t see a personal one—at least in person—anymore. I don’t think the current Seven even meet up.

Now let’s consider the Traveler’s presence.

The Traveler is suspected to be hundreds, if not thousands, of years old.

The Traveler is not from this world.

The Traveler has abilities that even Venti is amazed by (ability to remove corruption by just the presence of one of them?? This should really be expanded on considering they’ve killed gods for this.)

Venti isn’t unfriendly, but he compliments the Traveler endlessly (really, every character does this to some extent, but it still has to be in character to some level); says we’re the “gentlest soul” in the most recent event.

Venti says his greatest wish is to travel (aka “see the world on my behalf” 👀) and now he adjusts the wish to include the Traveler.

The Traveler might be the only one to truly know about Venti’s doppelgänger situation.

Thus, Venti tells us personal secrets. He acts like an open book (Kusanali’s* (?) intervention proves that he would have told us more about the Archipelgo situation had we asked) even though we get a different feeling in the manga with him (he’s more secretive; see Celestia panel). He “brushes off” the truth in that sense, but I can’t remember if he’s ever directly lied to us.

Our happiness is important to him (again, these lines are hard to distinguish from the people from the game using Venti to communicate this, or this is meant to be part of Venti’s personality—I mean, look at what they did with Xiao’s b-day letters… or anyone’s.)

Where am I going with this?

Venti isn’t as close to anyone as he is with the Traveler in modern day Mondstadt because he knows he can’t be as close to anyone else.

The people of Mondstadt that he loves so much seem to be the ones he keeps a distance from.

He’s watched Razor grow up (a curious statement), he’s friendly to Razor, but he’s not close like Bennett is (tbf, no one is—except Lisa???—but it seems like they act more like friendly acquaintances than friends.)

Barbara sees him as a talented bard (kinda like a coworker/colleague in the music industry.)

Rosaria thinks Venti is mysterious but likely harmless, so she doesn’t bother with him, and the god she cares nothing about (which could speak to a non-idolized look at him if he revealed it to her, but I think their relationship is best explored with others, meaning I don’t see them able to connect as well on an individual level—also, Rosaria could not care about the god because she doesn’t believe in him, so her reaction is still uncertain if she actually met him)

Jean knows who he is, but she can’t seem to figure out whether to be formal or familiar with her Archon.

We don’t know what Lisa thinks of Venti, but Venti speaks respectfully of her, so even if Lisa teased him like she does every other character, it makes him no different but also no closer to her. He’s more likely the eager “student” that she suspects there’s more to the eye of (if not the god himself), but she won’t push him to reveal it to her and maintain a respectful but distant relationship with.

Interestingly, Kaeya might be able to match wits with Venti in the way they both withhold the truth without directly lying. Yet, I don’t think either of them are 100% sure on how they feel about each other, so while it might be thrilling to talk to each other, it isn’t friendly.

Diluc is probably the closest to Venti out of the Mondstadt people (not considering Alice atm) just by favor of working the tavern on nights Venti drinks. Which is a lot and often. He treats Venti the bard informally, and this allows each other to be comfortable in teasing.

As a bartender, Diluc should be seeing Venti at his worst.

When you’re drinking alone at the bar, it isn’t necessarily a good sign (nor always bad). When you’re drinking as often and as much as Venti, it really isn’t a good sign.

But I don’t think that quite fits Venti because of the reason he drinks.

Venti likely sees himself at his “best” when he’s drinking; he’s jolly, he’s social, and he’s ready to have a good time.

When he’s sober, he’s still social, jolly, etc, but he’s quieter. Calm. He listens a LOT. (Am I the only one that watches cutscenes with Venti and thinks, “Huh, I thought Venti would say something about that” or “by now,” and he just doesn’t?? Idk maybe an iffy observation)

He thinks too much.

Venti’s quick wit, his ability to change the subject to something familiar, comfortable, and his reputation as the best bard in Mondstadt are what he relies on, and he can do all that drunk while not having to deal with his memories and all that comes with that.

So where do the attachment issues come in?

I think Venti’s lonely. And I think the proof is in Venti’s lines to the Traveler.

He can’t be close to his Mondstadt people in a real way. They all will die long before him. They will always hold a mortal concept of what Venti is to them. They will always remind Venti of what he’s already lost and will lose again one day.

But the Traveler “isn’t meant for this world.”

The Traveler is someone new, someone that can cure corruption, and someone that also wants (needs) to travel the world.

Venti’s flowery language towards us just shows how he’s grown attached to the lone traveler that continues to visit his land. That also understands loss and constantly surprises him. That helps the people he loves so very much.

So, while a lot of Venti’s lines could be attributed to fan service and are reflected in other characters, too, I think you can explain different reasons as to why the characters speak the way they do towards the Traveler. And I think this is Venti’s reason.