#cc-theorizes

We can say with 100% confidence now, Mare Jivari Bennett real! And the added obvious of him being the child of Macani and Aroni from Tecpatl's Flintblades Adventure Team. The Lavawalker/Phoenix theory is basically dead in a ditch now, but to my surprise I'm actually quite alright with this. (That and I wrote 70+ pages related to it, it can serve as an AU at this point). He may not be a bird, but he's bird-coded and that's enough for me.

Anyway back to canon, to my surprise, there actually wasn't much of a Tale of Qoyllor and Ukuku or Tale of Kuntur connection. There was no deceit and betrayal involved in Bennett being cursed, and there really wasn't even a "Sun" to do the cursing. The closest thing we got to a "Sun" was the candle from the ritual being used, but that is a completely different person. I mean, it was really just the Abyss salty that one guy got away with his life. Bennett's parents and their adventure team just wanted to go on one last adventure, somehow ended up in the Mare Jivari, and they literally were willing to give up the chance of entering the Night Kingdom if it meant they would be okay. And sure it let him live, but as Mualani and Paimon suggest when Bennett was taken out of Natlan, he was disconnected from the Ley Lines and suffered constant bad luck the entire time. It was really something as simple as that. Bennett really was just some guy who got unlucky once in circumstances that lead to him continuing to be unlucky.

Also Bennett's parents becoming Asha in general is a major ouch. As said back in Act I and in a few World Quests like Traces of Chroma, Asha have Saurian-level intelligence, which is still nothing to scoff at, but still a downgrade. I mean I think losing part of your intelligence in general would suck, but they also forgot everything, the only reason they were near Bennett was because their instincts still recognized him (owwww my heart).

For more pain in, at least the English, voiceover it sounded like Bennett was on the verge of crying for the majority of this quest, as is his right. In general, he was quite expressive when it came to, well, his facial expressions. Like there were a lot of times where his eyes just looked sad. One of my favorite details involving this is during the conversation he has with his birth parents near the end of the Quest.

Sure Bennett says he's smiling but his eyes are still very much saying that he is upset.

And immediately afterward, the moment Aroni and him lean in and close their eyes, he starts frowning. Oh this man and his refusal to say when he's not alright.

Speaking of Bennett's issues, this man was all alone in the Mare Jivari and his first thought was that he had to push through the pain to find the others and help them. I swear.

In hindsight, I also find it quite interesting that Bennett ended up meeting his birth parents at all. In the media I've seen, it usually happens after said orphan has been looking for any answers related to them, but honestly Bennett never really seemed to ask any questions about where he came from. The closest was in the Of Ballads and Brews event where he explained to Razor and Klee that he never met his parents and was raised by the Guild instead. That's it, that's the only time he ever alluded to them. He was just fine and happy living in Mondstadt with his dads.

Bennett's birth parents honestly seemed like chill people. For starters, it's not like they didn't want Bennett, in fact he's only alive because they loved him that much. But they also are pretty adamant on Bennett being his own person and being free to make his own chances (come on guys we know they basically gave the a-okay to going back to Mondstadt). And if you notice we actually never learn of what they named Bennett, they just referred to him as their "child" or "son", until asking if Bennett was what he goes by. Once they get that answer, they just go on with calling him Bennett, they don't even allude to what they named him. To him it's the only name he's known so they are going to call him that. That and they seemed to like how his name meant "blessed" and how much his dads must love him. (They gave respect to the dads, we all cheered).

Macani and Aroni did still have to leave afterward, they didn't even get to stay as Asha, and oh that hurt too. Bennett is right in saying that they're at peace now, it's a good ending for them, but still, ouch.

I do wonder what exactly happened to Anja and Chaco afterwards, because in the cutscene we see that they also became Asha but there is no trace of them anywhere else. Did they move on already and somehow have peace before Macani and Aroni did? I hope for some crumbs on them in the next Act, but honestly I don't have much hopes for that.

And for that matter, I was really surprised that the Old Adventurer that found Bennett in his character stories wasn't mentioned at all, not in a single one of the acts so far. I believe it's implied in the voice line More About Bennett: II ("The dads..." That's how I refer to all the older adventurers in Mondstadt. Apparently, I was an orphan kid that they rescued from the most perilous situation ever. How cool is that? I have such terrible luck all the time, and yet I was rescued against the odds and survived all this time. It's a miracle if you ask me.) that Bennett to some degree likely knows his dad died getting him to Mondstadt. And even if not, I think at this point in his life his dads would have already told him. Like I said, it just surprised me that he wasn't even mentioned or alluded to.

This Act also brought up the question of whether Bennett will stay in Natlan or return to Mondstadt (and as Mualani further put it to stay in the Collective of Plenty or Masters of the Night-Wind). I do really love how Venti asked him and was willing to give him a choice, but let's be real guys, he's picking Mondstadt. For one, when asked he didn't actually look the happiest about thinking about it, but also Paralogism actually wasn't a prerequisite for this quest. As someone who thinks that, unless stated so, the Quests roughly take place in the order they are released in, there are still stuff to account for people doing them out of order. Like Neuvillette's Story Quest has different dialogue depending on whether you finished the Fontaine Archon Quest or not. Bennett makes a very brief appearance in that quest, so for it to still make sense after players complete Sunspray Summer Resort, he would likely have to stay in Mondstadt.

Change of topic, the little performance we did was great, very sweet. Loved seeing most of the Natlan characters did (we miss you Citlali and Ajaw o7) and the Mavuika band is actually canon. Iansan on drums my beloved. We may not have gotten a Iansan or Kachina interaction with Bennett (so far) but they were closest to him in the group photo, so I'll take what I can get. The cutscene, along with Mavuika's post quest dialogue, further imply that she and Venti must have talked, she recognized Bennett despite the two not meeting before and also knew to let the Asha on stage. It also seems that even after knowing he's not going to be unlucky anymore, having bad luck for most of his life still left its mark. I mean Bennett still worried he was going to jinx it, but it's okay, he got to be cool.

The entire Mare Jivari segment was great, found it funny how Venti really wasn't hiding that he was the Anemo Archon but no one really questioned anything. He was standing upright while the others were struggling to move forward for crying out loud.

Now despite getting a lot on Bennett's backstory, I actually still have quite a bit of questions. The Abyss said it was his fate for him to come back to the Mare Jivari, which could just be it being a hater, it was like that in Natlan's Archon Quest too. But what exactly did they mean by his "Wheel of Fate" lying in ruins? Was it referring to his constellation being a literal broken wheel, a "Wheel of Misfortune"? Or was it due to his constellation's stars dimming, and speaking of, why were they dimming in the first place? Venti talked about him passing a trail, likely the Trail by Fire in his Character Title, did that have to do with it, but also what exactly was the trial? Just don't die via the Abyss again? Or was his "Wheel of Fate" lying in ruins about him somehow breaking his fate? (Guess I must have been on the right track back before Natlan was out to think Bennett would have something to do with defying fate.) Why specifically the term "Wheel of Fate", I believe the only other time it's been used is for the Nod-Krai web event. And why exactly was Bennett's constellation in the Mare Jivari? Did it use to be something else and got changed or was it always Rota Calamitas? I expect most of this to be explained in the next Act, since I also see us asking Venti what his whole conversation with Mavuika was about and for him to explain himself in general.

I also noticed that no one in the group might have actually known they were in the Mare Jivari, minus Venti for obvious reasons. While they don't know they were in the Mare Jivari, we do, and I still wonder about the time shenanigans at play. Tecpatl's Flintblades did look to have lived in a different era, they had notes in the cave system within the Easybreeze Holiday Resort that no one even knew about. It was likely when the area was more commonly called Tenochtzitoc. There's that and also that they "strayed" into the place, seemingly not knowing that it's called the Mare Jivari. With the Mare Jivari being the Mare Jivari, they really could have lived at any point in the past, though I assume it has to be 500 years or earlier. Again, expecting an explanation on this later.

In some Post Quest Dialogue with Venti and Bennett, Bennett talks about getting the poem that Venti recited at the end of Act II (Never has a ray of light lingered so enduring / Falling from the heavens / Soft as moonlight's mirth. / Hanging on the hush of night a sleepless song alluring / Blossom fills the gentle folds that cross the smiling earth.) He specifically talks about the eternal light from the heavens and that Venti wasn't talking about starlight. While Venti just tells him to feel the poem in his heart in response to that, I personally think it may be a nod to how they lit up a miniature "Sun" (the candle) to guide Bennett through his trial of fate. Very sweet.

Also btw, you can go find Nataba in the same area where we first got the "Sun" and buy Furnishing Blueprints for the "Sun" and the candles we used back in Act I. I assume you can do this after finishing Act III, since this wasn't available after doing Act II.

We still have one more Act remaining, it's probably going to be more like an epilogue if anything. Likely going to get some answers from Venti, Bennett's answer to where he wants to stay, and we actually still have to collect our prize on completing the album. I also think there's a good chance we get one more photo to complete it, since the group photo took the first "free" page. My guess is either one last photo we take before the gang leaves or the photo that Bennett's mom gave to him. This one isn't the most likely, but it would also just be cool for Bennett to get an Ancient Name. Getting one actually doesn't mess too much with lore and his voice lines so it's not impossible (and they arguably destroyed his voice lines to a harsh degree already)

Now, for a really exciting thing, Bennett not being unlucky anymore will likely be permanent from here on out. While I still think there might be more to his bad luck, I still concede and admit leaving Natlan's Ley Lines while they were still in a pretty bad state contributed. Since Bennett has been in Natlan his luck has been pretty good all things considered, and Mualani talked about taking him to the Wayob. I don't see any reason for the Wayob and Mavuika to refuse and the Ley Lines have been pretty good since Natlan's Archon Quests, so there is really no good reason for him to keep his bad luck. This story quest in general has actually been really nice to him all things considered, and pulling a "he'll get bad luck if he leaves again" would feel unnecessarily cruel in comparison to everything else.

It also just really surprised me, because I didn't actually think they would do this. Tale of Kuntur aside with the whole Kuntur didn't lose his bad luck at the end, it destroys so much of Bennett's Profile. Most of his voice lines are about his bad luck, his hangout is about his bad luck, his Theater lines are about his bad luck, all of those can not make sense to be said after the events of Sunspray Summer Resort. His idles actually do get to slide, the rock hitting his head is really a "where did that come from" and he does look more annoyed, like it wasn't expected. Looking disappointed after no one responds to him calling to his adventure team still makes sense too, that one employee doubted if Bennett should be allowed to playtest a course. All of Mondstadt knows him as the unlucky one, I doubt that is going to change overnight. I'm curious how him being back in Mondstadt is going to go actually. His skin lacking the bandages and covering his scars really was alluding to this, he is not going to be as injured as he was previously.

In general, I'm actually really curious how future interactions with him will go. Granted I don't think we'll get much, but that's not new. I can see some relying on completing Sunspray Summer Resort and some not, best of both worlds. Some "bad luck" can instead be explained away as the Abyss being attracted to him, allowing it to make sense regardless of how far you are. Back in Act II, Chasca did say that the Abyss could be attracted to something or someone, and with the Abyss likely still wanting him dead, it's pretty a given. And some bad stuff still happened to Bennett since arriving in Natlan, but it was no where near the degree he suffered before and is still a massive improvement.

Hoyo actually changed the status quo of a character, and I'd argue Bennett is one of the more gimmicky characters. A huge part of him was that he was the unlucky one and they got rid of that. Now despite that, I do want to say that Bennett still very much felt like Bennett even with his bad luck gone. I'm just saying that it's crazy for them to allow a character to change to the point where most of their lines don't work and what it could imply to what may happen to other characters in the future.

Now for a more personal note, as someone who theorized that Bennett was the Lavawalker and/or Phoenix, I actually am surprisingly fine with Bennett being just some guy. I think it actually highlights the often not talked about aspect of Bennett's character, his want to be a normal person. This is shown both in Bennett's Interesting Things and More About Bennett: I voice lines.

More About Bennett: I: "Oh... you wanna know about me? Haha, I'm just your average adventurer. 'Cept I'm more unlucky than average. Anyway, I'm nothing compared to you — you're the star of all those legendary tales. What do I got to show for myself?"

Interesting Things: "I actually quite like cabbage. It's not much to look at, but you can't imagine a world without it. You can grow it anywhere, it goes with everything, and the flavor never gets in the way. I dunno, there's something... nice about being ordinary."

This is also expressed in his Vision story and Theater Small-Talk line, where it shows he actually does want the chance to grow old, even if it's unlikely for someone like him.

It really is not something grand or massive that explains Bennett's bad luck, he wasn't the reincarnation of someone, he wasn't sacrificed, not some monster from the Mare Jivari, again he was just a regular baby that got unlucky once and it carried over. He wants to be a normal person, and he gets to be one. It feels deserved for something so unfair to happen to him. He really was just meant to be loved, bad luck or not. If his parents hadn't died they would have cared for him, and regardless he was loved a lot from his dads, it's all very sweet.

One thing that really surprised me was that Bennett seemed to have lost (at least part of) his bad luck. I really didn't think they were going to do that, much less from the get-go, but it's nice to see this man finally be treated well. I still don't quite think it's from him leaving Natlan, mainly due to The Tale of Qoyllor and Ukuku. I'm a little unsure if his bad luck went away partway through or when he arrived to Natlan, as the first entires he has in his travel journal notes how he didn't miss the ferry. I guess it depends on whether he started the journal the day he started heading out or the day he arrived in Natlan, though I'm inclined to think the former. Plus, from his statement of Asha not being found anywhere else, it's clear he's done some adventuring around Natlan before he headed to the resort. He literally was just having regular luck and it brought tears to the Traveler and Paimon's eyes, my heart. Also it looks like Mualani was responsible for his outfit after all, nice.

Staring at that "Sun" ritual they were doing. I know a Tale of Qoyllor and Ukuku or Tale of Kuntur mention when I see one (or I'm delusional, but the Kuntur thing is the one thing I think is 100% related to Bennett). They did mention it was for the gods, despite Natlan not having any, but while doing it said it was for the Pyro Archon. At this point, with how much Natlan text referred to the Pyro Archons as gods I'm not sure if they are referring to other gods or just the Pyro Archon specifically. Also makes me wonder if some ritual was done in the past beforehand, considering it was about getting rid of negative energy and bringing positive energy, with something going wrong. Regardless, it was very sweet that Bennett decided to wish for the people of Natlan's happiness, and then to wish that his dads do well, he really doesn't seem to wish anything for himself. It's consistent with his Birthday 2024 Shorts Art where he did consider wishing he wouldn't be unlucky (and only for that year) before quickly switching to wishing his dads were good.

Speaking of, love love love all the mentions of Bennett's dads. I was worried that they would brush them off, but they actually gave us quite a bit on them, and confirmed the number too! 7, a lucky number, haha. I honestly never thought they would give a determined number, we can finally stop guessing about it. He also mentioned the fact that he was unlucky and an orphan pretty early on to Chasca and Mualani, like in his voice lines you actually have to build up some friendship before he says anything about it to the Traveler. And in the Ballads and Brews event, it was apparently the first time Klee and Razor found out Bennett was adopted, despite knowing him for years. It shows some growth, less shame, very good for him.

And man, Bennett is really not used to people being nice to him, we literally brought him to tears twice out of shear happiness.

Also, was I the only one that noticed that twice they angled it so that the broken moon would be visible? Especially during the moment where Bennett was talking about missing home and wondering if the others were seeing the same sky.

Onward to Act II, going through all the attractions one by one was fun. And getting to see Bennett just be a normal person was so sweet, he really is fine with just doing mundane things. (Until something bad happens and he goes straight to blaming himself). Also the section at Colorful Cliffs was literally a Turf War from Splatoon, you can't convince me otherwise. Although, I am questioning if his bad luck really is all gone, it at least does seem weaker, but the finish line moved, there was that whole part with Abyssal monsters in Chasca's section, and when getting some drinks there was some Whopperflowers (Dang, I sound like the people in universe blaming him for every bad thing). I'm really not sure if the better luck is Venti's doing, sure I think he would treat Bennett to something as good as that but then why wait so long, and why dodge the question? Venti also recited Bennett's Windblume Poem from 1.4! Specifically the first three lines, which talk about the Mare Jivari, and he did look a little melancholic there...

There was also those notes we found during Chasca's section, and I think it's pretty safe to say the author is Bennett's mother with him clearly being the one getting lore here, and the talk of a husband and child to come. They were adventures too, very cool, and seem to come from the Masters of the Night-Wind and Collective of Plenty, the two tribes with the most association with Bennett so far. I'm afraid that the area Anja recommended for one last adventure may have been the Mare Jivari, it is noted that the notes themselves have to be extremely old. The area even had cobwebs, and Bennett himself said it was likely to be long before the resort was even built. Strangely, if you decide to head back to the cave area, it's all blocked off by rocks again (either that or I got lost, but I did pin the area down). Anyway, the Mare Jivari seems like a good bet, whole Bennett's constellation being there and the time shenanigans.

There was also an NPC in the Me and Dew area, Tlapalli, who has a dialogue branch about the Mare Jivari. According to her, it disappeared 20 years ago point-blank, although there have been adventurers that claim to enter an area similar to it since then. As she continues "Apparently, there was more than one strange little pocket like this. People came to call them 'Mare Enthymena'. They say it's like the Mare Jivari casting a shadow of itself into our world. But in the last few years, there haven't been any sightings of the Mare Enthymena..." This makes me wonder if we'll actually end a Mare Enthymena this time around and that's why we won't be able to explore the whole Mare Jivari. Honestly I got nothing as to why those haven't appeared recently.

But back to the notes, Macani (the husband) was said to be from the Collective of Plenty and I found his whole attitude very similar to Bennett. This is notable because the Asha buddy that was traveling around with us actually is wearing a Collective of Plenty belt, and it was pointed out how Bennett actually seemed to understand him quite well. Couple that with Bennett talking about his dads in Act I and the camera panning to the Asha, I'm not really having a good feeling about this.

In general the first two Acts were very sweet and fluffy, I really do love them and seeing everyone interact. Although it does make me more scared for the angst to come, something is going to happen when we go collect our prize, I can feel it.

(Also we get it Hoyo, someone is watching us, just reveal who ??? is)

We also got a look at what could be a possible emote for him.

And uh, his eyes are noticeably not green. They actually look more yellow, and strangely enough, after talking about it with some friends, it seems to be present on his model as well.

And it even showed up in his idle as well (his burst was a little hard to make out so I wasn't sure)

It is incredibly weird, as in the Splash Art and the Outfit Teaser he still has his usual green eyes.

I doubt it's a mistake because they would have to somehow get two different mediums to showcase him with the same shade of yellow for his eyes, it's very suspicious.

And with the whole Kuntur thing (guy cursed with bad luck from the Sun), and that name meaning "Condor", according to the Franklin Park Zoo, male Andean Condors can have YELLOW or brown eyes. (https://www.zoonewengland.org/franklin-park-zoo/our-animals/birds/andean-condor/#:~:text=The%20male%20condor%20has%20a,wingspan%20is%20approximately%2010%20feet.)

(I'm looking at you Lavawalker/Phoenix Theory)

That and I may have mentioned this before, but Chasca's constellation is the scientific name of the Andean Condor.

Oh, and in an unrelated note, the handwriting here could be Bennett's, and I think that is neat.

Yelan's skin has different handwriting for her's.

Got some nice flavor text, and in a similar case with Bennett, the phrase "I suppose it doesn't hurt to stand out every once in a while." is present here and in the Outfit Teaser. So once again, likely one of the three voice lines for switching to her skin.

Mare Jivari real! And we got the descriptions, "Where the wind dies and legends fall..." and "It is said that the vast tract of land to the west of Tenochtzitoc was once the Mare Jivari, a place of sorrow born from the Abyssal invasion. As time washed away the past, the mysteriously vanished Mare Jivari has seemingly reemerged, but what is revealed may only be the tip of the iceberg..."

Time washed away the past is interesting phrasing, considering the whole thing with time seeming to be broken there, but it also implies that some parts of the Mare Jivari's history may have been forgotten over time.

The blurred out text here is clearly "the flow of time", and 500 years is also crossed out, likely again due to time being broken here. The only other part of the Mare Jivari associated with 500 years is its creation by Sanhaj denoting a miniature Night Kingdom, but that had immediate effects of turning it into an ash covered area. Bennett clearly has a relation with the Mare Jivari, but I'm also not sure it's his bad luck specifically, as that has clearly been active every time he's conscious.

Trapped souls likely refer to how people outside of Natlan die they can't go back to the Night Kingdom, although that should have been fixed after Natlan's Act 5. It also could refer to the belief Mondstadter's have where the wind can't take their souls home from there, as the Mare Jivari has no wind. The bodies that turned to dust could be from Sanhaj's spell as the ash created by it was both from warriors present at the Battle of the Mare Jivari and the monsters there.

Blurred out text here is clearly Bakunawa, while we did know about its immortality, we hadn't heard anything about it reviving.

Now back when Sunspray Summer Resort came out, I was very clearly confused at why they brought up the possibility of Bennett regaining his bad luck after leaving Natlan. (Here's my live reactions if you want a more in depth look: Acts I-II, Act III, Act IV). But basic gist of it was, if the main issue was that Bennett was disconnected from Natlan's Ley Lines then it really isn't too much to just ask permission to leave Natlan again. Heck, he actually interacted with Mavuika and Venti is friends with her so it should be laughably easy.

However, when stating that it was likely due to being disconnected from Natlan's Ley Lines, the first suggestion Mualani had was to introduce him to the Wayob. And with her asking him which tribe he'd rather go with, it could be implied that he had to speak to the Wayob of a specific tribe to get reconnected to the Ley Lines. ("I could help introduce you to the Wayob! Would you rather go with the Masters of the Night-Wind or the Collective of Plenty?")

I was talking it over with some friends and one of them said that maybe since Bennett didn't want to pick a tribe (at that moment at least), he wouldn't talk to the Wayob, because to do so he'd have to choose. Or at least think that how the process works. Makes sense to me, we never were told what exactly it means to reestablish a connection but needing to take those steps seems reasonable.

There is also the argument to be made that Bennett hasn't actually been unlucky. Besides his comments within the description of "Adventures in Blazing Hue" that do imply some level of good luck while in Natlan, there is also the prayer that his birth parents and the rest of Tecpatl's Flintblades did all the way back in the Mare Jivari. "I offer up all that I am... ...that this child might live." Bennett has gone through many dangerous circumstances in his life, and has come close to dying before, but yet he is still alive. In fact, one could consider it lucky to survive all the stuff he has, so it's within the realm of possibility that the prayer has actually been active all this time and prevented him from dying while having the side effects of not being in Natlan. I think it's a sweet interpretation.

Looping back around to the possibility his bad luck left, there is actually one important thing to note within the travel journal Bennett had with him while he was on vacation. When we first see him at the start of the quest, he rereads some of his entries, the first one mentioning how he didn't miss the ferry. This one actually doesn't confirm anything really, while it can't be the boat he took to get to the resort, there is no clues as to where exactly he took the ferry and when he started the journal. The one we actually want to look at is Day Five's, "At lunch, the Violetgold Angler Gulls didn't swoop in and steal my food. I even fed them some bread, and they were really friendly...". Violetgold Angler Gulls are a bird only found within the Fontaine region, meaning the chances are that he actually wasn't experiencing bad luck before he reached Natlan. Don't know if it was a proximity thing or the Ley Lines being fixed in Act V thing, but unless it was a Gull that was really outside its range, at minimum he didn't have bad luck while in Fontaine.

Not much thoughts on Ineffa honestly. Like how she's a mish-mash of parts from different regions, having the core of some Secret Source Technology. From the (probably out of context) lines in the Trailer, it does look like she purposely memory wiped herself. Oh and Lianca mention, I hope we go into some more about Natlan's history in the Archon Quest, they are pretty interesting. But yeah, looks like Ineffa will give us some more dragon and moon lore and serve as a nice intro to Nod-Krai. In fact, I think the last time we had a sort of prologue to an Archon Quest was way back for Inazuma with Kazuha during the first summer event. Pretty neat. Aino also looks very cute.

Yelan pulled a Diluc and got her own event explaining the skin like he did during the 2nd Summer Event. I do think that her skin looks a bit similar to her OG skin, but I don't mind too much. She does get the nicer looking hair and it's partially see through around the eyes like with Skirk and Dahlia. Plus, looking forward to solving more crime in Fontaine.

The Nod-Krai teaser was nice to look at, I swear the environments get prettier to look at. Got to see a few new critters and a look at a new character and NPCs. Interested to learn more as Nod-Krai approaches.

Anyway, my mind can really only focus on the summer event right now for sweet Mare Jivari crumbs. Starting off, despite how much the trailer and livestream were talking about how much of a fun time it was going to be, it still felt really ominous. Like the description for the trailer is:

"Natlan's a hot place all year round. If you put your mind to it, every day can be considered a summer vacation. So why not set aside your commissions, Paimon's treats, stories of the ancient dragons' civilization, visitors from Nod-Krai, as well as a letter from the Grand Master...

...and just enjoy the free food, lodgings, and attractions?"

Those "..." just make it feel like something bad is going to happen, I don't know, almost like there's this hesitation almost. And truth be told, it didn't feel like we are being told a lot going in. All we know is, the main cast is Bennett, Venti, Mualani, and Chasca, an amusement park to the west of Natlan is prepping to open up, the Mare Jivari in both of its states is likely going to be involved, Bennett's team is going to gain new members (likely Mualani and Chasca), and Venti is going to check on a friend of his.

Seeing as the park is to the west, and the Mare Jivari popped up, we can safely assume it's related to the growing settlement in the west Citlali mentioned in Iktomi Spiritseeking Scrolls. This friend of Venti's could be anyone as far as we're concerned, can't be Mavuika likely as the two haven't met yet. Just likely someone from Natlan, but that doesn't say too much.

And despite Bennett getting a skin, which can have us guess the event is mostly about him, we don't even know why he came to Natlan in the first place. He literally traveled across Teyvat to get there, why? I don't doubt he needs a vacation, but it's still very odd.

Also his constellation in the straight up sky of the Mare Jivari! In a state where there are winds, fire, and lightning can be seen flashing, just like his Character Stories. If that does not confirm he was from the Mare Jivari I don't know what does.

The description of the Sunspray Summertime Resort shown in the livestream is "The sea breeze wipes away glistening sweat. Summer is the perfect season for adventure and a journey that unfolds accompanied by the scorching sun. Tenochtzitoc, a name unfamiliar until now, is destined to become a stroke of warm color in your memory." A "Sun" mention, which in The Tale of Qoyllor and Ukuku, was the one who cursed Ukuku and Kuntur with bad luck, hmmm. That and a direct reference to color = memory.

Slight detour to the Outfit Teasers, this one is called "Chromatic Summer", his skin is called "Adventures in Blazing Hue", and it's description is "Bennett's traveling attire for his journeys in Natlan. Dyed lucky lakewater blue with hints of blazing orange, these clothes emanate an overflowing vitality that matches the land in which they are worn." First off, the mention of the blue being "lucky" leads me to believe that it was Mualani who helped picked it out, since she believes everyone has lucky colors of their own. Also, there was a Halberd Crest Bird flying by near the end of Bennett's segment, again with the birds.

I love the splash art given for the skin so so much. It's very cute with all the paint, spray cans, and Teptlisaurs (giving another connection with the Children of Echoes). Pleasantly surprised with how Bennett is taking an interest in graffiti, which the headquarters for the Graffiti Alliance just so happening to be in the Masters of the Night-Wind, the area most associated with colors being memory. I mean he has a bunch of paint stains, some graffiti cans in place of his bag, looking forward to it.

The Outfit Teaser also finally gives us some music related to Bennett, at last we have a Bennett theme.

Interestingly, there's nothing in his skin that really gives adventurer specific energy to me. In fact he doesn't seem to have any of his bandages from before, and his clothes just to happen to cover up his scars. Especially interesting in the case of the one usually under his bandana in the OG skin on his right arm. If he wasn't wearing the black sleeve and just left it like his left arm, it would still be visible.

That and the extra clips in the JP livestream of him seeming to go towards the area with his constellation and having to push back against the wind, makes me actually seriously consider if his bad luck might actually be cured.

(Seen at around 35 minutes in)

And, in the Outfit Teaser, he looks more irritated instead of confused in the idle where a rock hits his head.

Granted, it could be that over the years it's just more irritating to be constantly hit by rocks. Could also be that if his bad luck isn't around anymore it's less expected to be hit on the head like he used to.

As a little aside, the whole cast of the Summer Event, minus Bennett, can be seen in the Mare Jivari, likely the moment of him trying to reach the area mentioned earlier.

Now, I still don't know if I believe that he will lose his bad luck. For one, most of his lines just cease to make sense and those idles still have to be present. And in the Tale of Kuntur, Kuntur didn't actually lose his bad luck, so if we want to assume the parallels are still present it logically makes sense he won't lose it.

At the same time, the Summer Event will be permanent this time around, so Hoyo can really do whatever they want with these characters (maybe even kill Bennett, but shh). I could also see that instead of going away completely, Bennett's bad luck just gets weakened, two birds with one stone.

Not going to go super into specifics, for right now at least, but Bennett's skin also looks similar to Mausau from Mavuika's Story Quest.

Also just want to say, it's not visible in this shot specifically, but you can see that Bennett is carrying a speaker on the back, pretty cool.

The weapon we're going to get from the event is Flame-Forged Insight. Nothing on it right now except that it is a claymore. It also looks like it was broken and then forced to be melded with several stones, really curious to see what that's about.

More Mare Jivari stuff, with Enjou and Bakunawa. I don't think it's related to the Story Quest itself, we only saw Citlali involved, none of the Summer Event cast. It could maybe be a World Quest? Speaking of Citlali, she brought out the exact same sword, Calamity of Eshu, from the Iktomi Spiritseeking Scrolls event.

The Mare Jivari is also in its windless state, unless the blazing one it was in when the Wanderer's Troupe went off to fight Bakunawa 1000 years ago. Bakunawa was also confirmed to be the immortal monster we got the runestone from, and another creation of Gold.

Besides that, we just had some Ororon and Ifa stuff that's likely going to be a fun aside from all the heartbreak we're sure to experience.

Oh, and the new area itself, is just absolutely gorgeous. Looks like it will be a blast to go through. The little "Monetoos" are actually called Asha, I'm pretty sure the "ash" part of their names has something to do with the Mare Jivari, but yeah super cute. They and the area itself, also seems to have the whole color thing going on, I swear there's going to be a color = memory mention somewhere there.

And the Mare Jivari too, ah it's just stunning to look at. For a place that's literally either deathly silent with ash, or blazing with hollering winds, it's just a real treat to the eye. The sort of "hole" in the sky also appears to be the area where Bennett's constellation was in. And according to the livestream, we're actually only going to see a small portion of the Mare Jivari, with more to come in the future, really excited for that.

And as a last little ramble, with them making the summer event story permanent, I wonder where exactly it's going to be accessed in the UI. It's a Story Quest by technicality, all events are, but they aren't the typical "Character Constellation: Act #" Story Quests are known to be. I also assume that they will do a similar thing with the Chasm Interlude, which also was a flagship event, and have parts of the quest come out on different days like the rest of the events. Basically, it all won't be available at once.