#eroch

YOU HAD ONE JOB!!!! 🥲

Diluc was right all along "The Knights of Favonius... Inefficient right from beginning to end." 💔

Diluc not being part of the Knights of Favonius yet somehow always ends up implicated in their affairs LMAO.

Jokes aside, Diluc being involved in this mission felt important. I wouldn't call it character development but I like seeing him alongside Varka and getting more Crepus lore.

This whole sequence deserved an animation, but the artwork is beautiful.

(I guess I should note that I haven't done varka's story quest yet but intend to do it eventually. for transparency. if relevant info spoils it feel free to bring it up because i value conversation over being spoiler-free.)

For one it feels completely unnecessary for Varka: the fact that Eroch did all this behind his "friend's" back, including getting one of Varka's childhood friends killed while driving his son from the knights is absolutely enough of a stain on Varka's honor. He didn't need to "fail" further by not preventing Eroch's death imo. Him failing to notice how much Eroch was growing to despise him is definitely traumatizing enough of a failure to prove that varka is "only human," as that part of his chara story ends on.

I also cant help but feel like this is a disservice to jean's pregame character arc? im not one of those ppl who thinks that varka is misogynistic but some of the ways hes written in relation to jean does make me raise an eyebrow at hoyo. Its not neccessarily that his story regarding this issue doesnt make sense but when lined up with what we already know something about it doesnt seem to fit to me.

- varka's story says that he recieved the news that crepus had died and that eroch turned traitor at the same time. Jean's story says that varka gave her permission to investigate eroch himself. the way its phrased in varka's story seems to imply that it was all completely out of the blue... which it shouldnt have been if he gave jean permission to investigate him.

- in his voice line about kaeya, he says that keaya played a major role in ousting eroch. We knew already that he aided jean but until now there wasnt actually any implication that he played a "major" role right? I know this line is in relation to why he trusts kaeya despite him growing into his shadiness but the framing, again, feels weird that he mentions Kaeya's involvement in Eroch's ousting and not Jean's when she was the one who led the investigation and asked to investigate in the first place.

- Diluc's character story claims that Eroch and his corruption had been "purged" from the knights. while this is definitely violent choice of words, to me it does not imply that Eroch's fate was a self-imposed death. I'm trying to use only stuff from in game, so theres really no other stuff aside from "hes gone now thanks to Jean" from older characters in regards to his fate... but i could have Sworn he was canonically exiled. im second guessing myself bc I cant find this exact wording. maybe it was just fanon? I bring this up because this is an event that has been known about for nearly(? times not real) 6 years now and this is the first time it has been mentioned that Eroch straight up DIED let alone with Varka as witness. it just feels so sudden. why, if he died so dramatically, is this not mentioned for Jean? I know im bringing her up a lot but her dedication to wiping out his corruption is pretty damn essential to her character and values. Now varka has come back all of a sudden and the writing makes HER villain's end about Him. it really rubs me the wrong way.

Its not that i dislike varka or his engagement in mondstadt lore, but it feels like anything new (of which there honestly wasnt much, if you know how to read. maybe people who didnt care didnt know but most of what he gave us was old news.) his inclusion gave us came at the expense of character lore we've had since the literal beginning of the game. and that feels kinda insulting.