#paralogism

Help! We are under attack!

With no time to breathe, and Dorian shoved out of the narrative, the Traveller then follows Albedo outside to witness Mondstadt under siege by monsters.

Dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; with Albedo explaining that the monsters are attacking due to Durin's influence. ^^^

Here we have Durin mentioned as the reason the monsters are attacking, with Albedo explaining that Mondstadt has been keeping an eye on Durin's growing vitality; stating that Durin's "festering nature" provoked the monsters to attack.

To which I must mirror Dahlia in last quest's trial when asking, what is the motive? Why would Durin do this, even subconsciously, when he has been portrayed up to this point in lore as kind, naive, and not wanting to cause harm?

When Simulanka beats us over the head with that fact, explicitly stating that S!Durin parallels D!Durin; and that the former was created due to a witch's sadness over that tragedy?

After this, in an admittedly fun bit of gameplay, we run around Mondstadt city and help fend off the monsters, running into several playable characters as we do. These encounters contain optional dialogue, so I won't go over them.

The only one that isn't optional, is Venti's.

Dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; providing more information on the mimics and how they were created. ^^^

First of all, Venti pretending to be helpless to cover up the fact that he is the Anemo Archon with his 'woe is me, I'm sooooo helpless' act continues to amuse me.

Venti reveals that the monsters began attacking during the trial due to the agitation of the "core" under pressure, and expresses surprise over how advanced they are; as well as trepidation towards the amount of energy he will have to expend when helping.

Albedo warns us not to underestimate the opponents, as Durin has absorbed the previous imposter... somehow. More on that in a bit.

Albedo also tells us that while he was paying attention to Durin's vitality, he noticed that those venturing to Dragonspine were returning...different. He realised that some were simply under Durin's influence, while others had been consumed by monsters. Albedo explains that the mimics slowly digested their victims, leaving only a few remains to help in their disguises, and that the bodies he was seen burying where his attempts to put them to rest.

As for why the victims went unnoticed? The monsters were smart enough to target those who were on society's outskirts, with little relatives, and therefore somehow knew that people like that would be harder to notice as missing. Even if this contradicts Miles, a Knight, being an imposter(he was shown protecting S2!Hertha as she ran). But given that he's an npc that walks around Mondstadt before and after the quest, I chalk it up to a minor writing inconsistency and that he was meant to simply be under Durin's influence instead, and not fully replaced.

Dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; explicitly calling Subject Two dead and absorbed by Durin.

So in case you were still in denial, Albedo explicitly says here that he killed Subject Two/Dorian at the end of Shadows Amidst Snowstorms, and buried him at the third location on the maps. Also not super fond of the continued dehumanisation and emphasis of Dorian being flawed here.

It's one thing to call him an imposter, but do we need to emphasise that he was considered a failure? And to call him "it"(even if at this point we haven't been told S2!Hertha is Subject Two, Albedo still knows. He's known the whole time, and the writers make him look so bad in retrospect by making the core Subject Two)?

It doesn't make Rhinedottir's actions any less awful if Albedo thinks that Dorian isn't a person anymore.

Anyway, under Durin's influence, the monsters on Dragonspine apparently dug up Dorian's corpse and returned it to Durin's stomach...to which I have to ask; what stomach, exactly?

A screenshot of Dragonspine Durin's calcified chest cavity, his heart no longer glowing as it was taken after the Paralogism Interlude was complete. ^^^

His corpse is weird rocks. His chest cavity is a cave. Did they place it in the cave and it got absorbed that way? They can't have fed the body into his heart like coal into an engine boiler, they explicitly name his stomach.

But Durin doesn't even have one anymore!

Also why would he want to reabsorb Subject Two, anyway? Dragonspine Durin's established character traits from the lore we were given years ago would point more towards feeling regret for consuming Dorian; or sadness over his death; rather than a desire to absorb him?

But I digress, for now.

Albedo also says that thanks to absorbing him, Durin now has Subject Two's knowledge and way of thinking, and that this also somehow gave the monsters created by Durin the ability to change their appearance. This is used later to justify Durin becoming hostile to Mondstadt, for some reason. I will touch on that when it happens, as I have thoughts on that.

But for now, hey writers, why did Durin only absorb that from Subject Two now, and not during the 500 years Subject Two was stuck inside him? There is no good explanation for this choice, and you know it doesn't make sense.

Anyway, Venti reveals that with the imposters and those under Durin's influence now exposed, he will help the Knights by using Anemo to restrain them unharmed for capture. A specialised team from the Knights will then deal with them, presumably by determining who is a monster, and who is an innocent simply needing help.

Venti then uses his power as the Anemo Archon to use wind currents to let people communicate over long distances, making Mondstadt the second nation able to recreate a Discord call after Natlan.

We run around some more to help fend off monsters, discover that Diluc realised the trial was off because he felt that Kaeya wasn't nervous enough, and all in all I like the 'defend Mondstadt' segment. It's a nice gameplay section, and I enjoyed seeing the other Mondstadt characters again.

But there's still a bit more to address in this segment.

How the writer's accidentally implied that Subject Two is good at logistics and that the Knights are idiots.

Dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; showing that many people were unaware of the trial plan. ^^^

So Hertha's replacement was planned all along, but most of the Knight's and Mondstadt weren't aware of it.

Dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; showing how long Hertha was replaced and why she waited to target Albedo. ^^^

Let's get something straight. So Albedo tells us later that the fake Hertha is Subject Two, and we find out that not only did he replace her for six months, but also that most of the Knights and Mondstadt weren't aware of the plan, and no one seemed to realise that Hertha was acting weird—than I think it's fair to conclude that Dorian was far less interested in attacking Mondstadt than the game wants me to think.

Because Hertha is the Logistics Captain of the Knights of Favonius.

To quote/copy paste Wikipedia real quick(I left the page links in on purpose):

"Military logistics is concerned with maintaining army supply lines with food, armaments, ammunition, and spare parts, apart from the transportation of troops themselves. Civil logistics deals with acquiring, moving, and storing raw materials, semi-finished goods, and finished goods. For organisations that provide garbage collection, mail deliveries, public utilities, and after-sales services, logistical problems must be addressed.[2]"

NPC dialogue from the real Hertha when you talk to her in Mondstadt outside of Paralogism. ^^^

Edit: I was messing around in Mondstadt today and found this dialogue from Hertha confirming what exactly she's in charge of. And it's pretty much what I thought. The record-keeping surprised me, however, although it makes total sense.

For a rough example demonstrating how important logistics is, especially supply lines, I'm going to quickly refer to my experience playing Fire Emblem real quick(as I don't want to research history when I'm supposed to be editing this). A good chunk of the strategy in those games comes into place... outside the maps themselves. Especially in the older games with breakable weapons, and less available money.

Ensuring that you can equip your units properly for each map, that they have access to the right skills, can upgrade their class; even learning how to recruit units and ensuring that you have the ability to could all be argued as the 'logistics' part of playing Fire Emblem. And if you don't pay attention to any of this?

The actual map gameplay becomes much, much harder. And if your healing staff or sword breaks at the wrong time without a back up... I hope you were playing a later game in the series or it's a total chapter reset to save that now likely doomed character.

Now, I understand that the writers had limited named NPCs to choose from, but why would the Knights let something as important as logistics be taken over by a hostile force? Willingly?

Especially when the Knights(along with the Church) basically form Mondstadt's governing force. It is not a stretch to assume that as Logistics Captain, Hertha likely oversees acquiring and organising the use of such resources for the whole city, not just the Knights. So, it is such a fundamentally stupid idea to hand this role over to an imposter.

Sure, put a possible hostile in charge of your weapons and food supply, that sounds like a genius plan! Kaeya, I'm so sorry your brain cells were sacrificed to be the one to suggest it.

Also, wouldn't the Knights want their Logistics Captain to help plan for a possible siege by monsters? Did the writers spend more than the one second it took to pick Hertha because she was recongisable thinking about any of this?

Plus, they say that in order to gain S2!Hertha's trust and make her believe no one knew of the deception, they had to wait and give her time to believe that. So logically, therefore they couldn't correct too many of her orders, or she would become suspicious and investigate as to why they weren't being followed.

And as we saw, multiple Knights, including playable ones like Amber, didn't notice that anything was off. If Hertha's orders suddenly started needing correction, surely someone would have noticed despite not being in on the plan, right?

And as my edit above points out, S2!Hertha would be in charge of record-keeping, making it even easier for her to fudge the numbers and mess things up without anyone noticing. But she didn't.

Therefore. the only logical conclusion here is that Dorian not only took the logistics role seriously in his impersonation, but either had a secret talent for it, or studied it in secret to avoid messing up Mondstadt's supplies. He also appears to have had no ill will towards the ordinary populace of Mondstadt—which tracks with his characterisation in Shadows Amidst Snowstorms, where his efforts were all focused on Albedo despite the possible Fellflower collateral—as there's no mention of him even trying to sabotage the city.

Despite how stupidly easy it would be to do so subtly, especially with Dorian having access to prior records he could manipulate or destroy.

Dorian was also in a position that let him get close to Albedo without suspicion, meaning that theoretically he could have tried physically harming Albedo during those six months. But he didn't.

In fact, given Albedo's wording, it actually sounds somewhat like Dorian was opting to try and get Albedo on trial...for the murder of himself, by gathering what evidence he could find and bringing it to light.

Again, seemingly trying to avoid dragging anyone else but Albedo into any consequences.

Now, it's a shame that the actual dialogue for S2!Hertha in the trial doesn't neatly reflect this accidental implication, as I'm fairly certain that the writers never actually intended anyone to analyse this rushed quest this intensely.

Why should they write S2!Hertha saying anything that sounds like she knows she is Subject Two, when they can instead have her fully commit to the bit as a plot device instead?

It's a rather tragic thought, trying to gain justice for yourself, but having to cling to another's identity, because you've seen the world tell you that you aren't worth enough to fight for anymore.

Why bother, when you know that everyone will care about the other two bodies you're using as evidence more than a failure like you?

Do you think that Dorian finally felt useful as Hertha?

All according to kiekaku (keikaku means failing to make Albedo look smart).

Dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; showing Albedo explaining more of the plan, and crediting S2!Hertha's plan as well thought out. He also directly calls fake Hertha Subject Two. ^^^

First of all, the next bit of analysis is going to make Albedo look very bad. This is not because I personally dislike Albedo, on the contrary, part of why I hate this quest is because it makes him look like a callous dickhead, and also an idiot at times.

Albedo should be smarter than a lot of what he is about to say. He was also portrayed as far kinder than what he is about to look like, in several prior limited events.

First of all, relying on the Traveller being smart enough to find the letters is a risky move, but one that is rather fairly based on Albedo's knowledge of the Traveller. I don't have many complaints there, aside from it being a little contrived. But given everything else around this quest, I'm willing to take it at face value.

Second of all, Albedo explains how Subject Two was able to use his true identity as a homunculus against Albedo, by trying to expose it in the court and make people distrust him. Albedo says this in front of Jean, who is not surprised by the revelation that he isn't human.

Meaning he that already told her, and the Knights involved in the plan, that he is an artificial being, months ago. And we, for some reason, weren't allowed to see the ramifications that were teased to exist over this fact being discovered? Not even a little doubt? Just everyone is fine with it, don't think too hard.

Sir, a second, massive, offscreen reveal has hit the Paralogism Interlude.

Don't look back to the previous parts where I mention that Albedo was secretive over it, and it was a rather big deal when he told us the truth as a sign of trust.

Last of all, you might notice that the previous two screenshots overlap a little. This is for a reason.

Anyway we finally, finally get to see Albedo say this:

Dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; showing Albedo directly calling fake Hertha Subject Two. ^^^

So now I don't have to feel like I've been saying 'source: trust me bro' for the past however many words. Yay!

Now this section of dialogue contains a few lines that make Albedo look like an asshole and an idiot, as I mentioned earlier. The first line is this one:

Albedo: Yes. And, our enemy was more meticulous than we expected. Monsters have been searching for Hertha's body in order to protect the imposter's identity, which is a more advanced way of thinking than Subject Two.

Which directly contradicts this line from earlier:

Albedo: Durin absorbed the failed creation along with his knowledge and way of thinking. Ever since then, all creatures spawned from his power had the ability to transform their appearance.

And makes even less sense after we hear this line:

Albedo: The fake Hertha — Subject Two — has met you on Dragonspine before. If she thought even you had lost faith in me, her confidence might get the best of her — the perfect time for us to strike.

If the monsters are suddenly acting smart only after Durin absorbed Subject Two, and Subject Two is also fake Hertha—who successfully impersonated Hertha and took care of logistics well enough that the Knights not in on the plan noticed nothing for six months—wouldn't the logical conclusion be that this leap in intelligence was because of Subject Two?

And if Subject Two can change his appearance, and Albedo can not—despite both sharing a creator and the same artificial origin—does this not imply it as an ability unique to Subject Two, somehow?

It can't be from Durin, if it was only after absorbing Subject Two that the monsters Durin spawned could change appearance. Therefore any plans of mimicry and how to do so would have to be formed directly from the knowledge and feelings gained from Durin reabsorbing Subject Two.

Albedo isn't a stupid character. So why is he contradicting himself in such a ridiculous way, within one conversation?

And if it's supposedly the "Monsters have been searching for Hertha's body in order to protect the imposter's identity" part of the plan that is supposedly so much more advanced than Subject Two's plan... how do you even know this for sure, Albedo?

Subject Two only ever tried to mimic Albedo in his past appearance, and as Albedo is both a playable character and lore relevant, he was obviously doomed to fail. Therefore Subject Two never got the chance to try and hide Albedo's body. Considering that he made the Fellflower, I have strong doubts that Subject Two would just leave Albedo's body somewhere haphazardly.

The writers effectively made Albedo call Dorian an idiot for no good reason, other than to try and make the player not give a shit about Dorian; brushing him off as an irrelevant NPC with little screentime, when Dorian should have been an extremely prevalent presence in a quest surrounding Albedo, Durin, and Dragonspine. And with these words coming after the trial in which Albedo declared that he doesn't recognise Dorian as a person?

It's jarring. Especially after all the prior events with Albedo had him becoming less anti social, and his sibling/guardian relationship with Klee helping him feel more '"human" himself. He's not displaying anywhere near the sentiment that the Albedo at the end of Shadows Amidst Snowstorms would and did.

The Albedo that admitted he'd do the same thing as Subject Two—should their places have been swapped—should not be calling that plan less advanced than Durin's(which only came about because of Subject Two's intelligence), nor should he be denying Subject Two's personhood. Not without the players seeing the character development that lead to such a jarring change in mentality on screen.

I'm sorry writers, but you can't claim that Albedo is inherently kind in his drip art introduction, and then write him refusing to give a sapient being, one that whose death is the only reason he exists nonetheless, the simple dignity of personhood. That's callous. Worse, it's cruel.

Now I'm willing to believe that the use of "person" could have been a mistranslation, but I don't speak Chinese. Now, if it was Albedo saying that Subject Two wasn't "human", then half the issues here would be gone. But as far as I know, it's not.

Some people say that it was a ruse by Albedo to rile Subject Two up, but I can't fully buy that. Not with how the trial was written, and especially not with how Albedo treats Dragonspine Durin later in this Interlude. I could possibly believe it if Albedo corrected himself later, or spoke of Subject Two and Durin with a little more dignity later, but he does not.

Not really.

Since when did Dragonspine Durin want to be an only child?

Dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; claiming Durin was mad about no longer being Rhinedottir's only child. ^^^

I hate this bit. Except for Venti sounding sympathetic to Durin, I like that.

It sounds fine in a vacuum, but it falls apart when scrutinised by literally anyone who goes back to read Durin's original lore. Which by the time of Paralogism, thanks to the natural passage of time and Natlan alienating a large chunk of the playerbase due to having one 5 star male, is not going to be a lot of people.

And I have the vague feeling some of the writers were counting on this. Don't take it as gospel, it's just the feeling I got the more I looked into this Interlude's writing.

Unfortunately for me, this event made me mad enough about Subject Two that I went and learnt about Durin, and now I can say with confidence that Albedo's claims here are both total bullshit, and the dumbest deux es machina of a motive.

The Durin on Dragonspine could never at any point have been under the impression that he was Rhinedottir's only child. Nor does it make any sense that Durin—who only wanted to make friends and play—would be upset by the notion he had siblings now.

The weapon description for "Festering Desire", an event weapon only obtainable during "The Chalk Prince and the Dragon" event. ^^^

First of all, here's Festering Desire's description.

Notice how Rhinedottir says "children" here as she lets her creations loose in Teyvat. Unless Durin was literally a mindless beast(and the game certainly does not treat him as such), he would have been aware of the word's plurality, and therefore the fact that he wasn't an only child.

A screenshot from the world quest "Limner, Dreamer, and Robotic Dog", where Elynas, another creation of Rhinedottir's that was Abyssal in nature, talks about having siblings directly. ^^^

Second of all, Elynas corroborates the idea that Rhinedottir's creations viewed each other siblings, and were indeed alive within the same time frame. He also mentions treating his younger siblings nicely, much like his elder siblings did to him. Given Elynas' relatively more mature thought process, he was likely older than Durin was.Therefore Elynas likely met Durin at some point, who should at least have been aware of Elynas' existence in some capacity.

I will note that while we don't have direct confirmation(as in, he never says "Rhinedottir"), it's all but confirmed that Elynas was created by her. I will buy and eat a hat if it turns out that there's a second Kheanri'an alchemist that was out there putting souls from the abyss into bodies using Khemia.

And if you're wondering how we know that Elynas and Durin were alive at the same time? Well, we know at the very least that they were both around for the Cataclysm.

Part of the description for "Odyssean Flower", the flower belonging to the artifact set "Nymph's Dream". ^^^

Yes, I have been screenshotting the wiki this whole time.

Anyway, in the artifact set, "Nymph's Dream", the description of its components tells us the story of the Narzissenkreuz Institute. I am not summarising that particular World Quest series here, as it is not only very long and extensive, but only a fraction of it is relevant to my point here.

The flower specifically tells us that during the Cataclysm, members of the Narzissenkreuz Institute boarded a "ship built for battle". We learn that that was the ship Sponsian in the World Quest "The Lone Phantom Sail" from this line of dialogue:

Ahes: Ahem, the ship I mentioned is the Sponsian, a white ironclad ship that sails through dreams, and the explorer of whirlpools and the abyss... It's the flagship of Admiral Basil Elton!

Quick note: Basil Elton was the Admiral of the Fontaine Navy during the Cataclysm, who went on to become the last Vice Director of the Narzissenkreuz Institute.

Now, combine it with the ship's log:

A screenshot of a diary from the World Quest "The Lone Phantom Sail" showing that the Sponsian fought Elynas. ^^^

And we now now that Elynas was indeed alive during the Cataclysm. Just like Durin was. Therefore, the siblings mentioned by Elynas had to have existed before the Cataclysm, and Durin would likely have known about them.

And finally, the third reason why Durin can't have thought of himself as an only child, is the simple fact Rhinedottir fed him Subject Two. You know, his brother.

And, if Durin was indeed somehow aware enough to get monsters to retrieve Subject Two's corpse(and I'm doubtful the monsters did it of their own volition), he can't have forgotten who Subject Two was. Even the that fact Durin knew Subject Two had revived and died again, indicates some form of awareness of his vicinity and surroundings on Dragonspine. From this, we can extrapolate that he also likely knew about Albedo's existence, but not much more about Albedo beyond probably feeling somewhat familiar thanks to Subject Two.

Albedo, I think you're projecting there, just a little.

A snippet of previous dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; with Albedo claiming that Durin wanted to eliminate any competition to be Rhinedottir's 'perfect' child. ^^^

Just bringing us back to this dialogue again.

One thing to point out real quick, there's yet another contradictory statement regarding Subject Two's intelligence. Is he smart or not, Albedo? I swear, it feels like the writers didn't read any of this dialogue back.

And:

Albedo: "If I eliminate the 'perfect' creation, I will be the only child mother needs." This mindset arose out of Durin's instinct to compete and survive, and came to dominate all those around him.

What instinct to compete?

This would make a fraction more sense if the wording of the dialogue in the image implied that Subject Two's bitterness upon seeing Albedo—and learning he was disposed of so easily—were directly responsible for the desire to attack Mondstadt... but the wording doesn't reflect this. I thought it did when I first played it, but now that I'm properly dissecting this quest, it really doesn't.

Let's talk about this line by line, shall we?

I want you to keep in mind that the one saying this is Albedo, Rhinedottir's "Golden Child", who was given a chance to live an actual life, and is generally treated much better than most of her creations. Not that that really says much, the bar is on the floor here.

Albedo: Durin has been isolated for centuries, but absorbing Subject Two's emotions allowed him to understand certain truths about this world and his existence, including the fact that he's no longer mother's only child.

Yes, Durin has been isolated for centuries, that's because he is dead. The way that this is worded implies Durin was somewhat conscious the entire time his body has been on Dragonspine, which is a nightmare to think about. It would also contradict how Albedo spoke about him in the event "The Chalk Prince and the Dragon".

Dialogue from the quest "Raiders Amidst Snow Mist" in the "The Chalk Prince and the Dragon" event; showing the multiple times Durin is referred to as a body, an object, something dead and gone. ^^^

Notice the use of "remains", "body", and "corpse" here. Nothing that Albedo says indicates that there is any sort of consciousness remaining within Durin's body. But sure, let's say that the writers always intended for there to be something like a subconscious awareness, and that Albedo only recently discovered this fact in the game's timeline of events.

So, why would you not have him tell the Traveller about this discovery, instead of talking about Durin like we should just know this?

Also, in the literal next quest of the Interlude, Albedo says this:

Dialogue from the quest "The Gardener" in the Paralogism Interlude; with Albedo describing Dragonspine Durin as yet to wake up, and describing the danger to Mondstadt as coming from Durin's blood and vitality. ^^^

Until Paralogism, every mention of Durin's blood and vitality has referred to his life force as an object or abstract concept, one without the capacity for thought. And now, Albedo insinuates that not only has Durin yet to wake, but it's Durin's blood and vitality that pose a threat, not his actual consciousness.

But... if Durin wasn't conscious for the events of Paralogism, how was he able to plan the invasion of Mondstadt? How was he able to process and decipher the absorbed knowledge and feelings of Subject Two; and then use it to accuse Albedo of murder?

How was Durin the one to accuse Albedo of murder if Subject Two was brought back again as fake Hertha(and remember, Albedo called her Subject Two after we learnt Subject Two was supposedly dead), and she was the one to take Albedo to court?

These aren't thought processes that a subconscious is capable of, even in a dream—the plan was too logically thought out. So then why is the game acting like Durin was somehow the evil mastermind behind it all, when we've established that's impossible?

I already ran through why the "Durin discovers he is not an only child" part is nonsense above, so I won't reiterate it.

On to the next line.

Albedo: Or her most perfect creation. It's obvious he found that fact difficult to accept. The emotions he felt in response were quite genuine and, dare I say, human.

So you'll humanise Durin but not Dorian, okay Albedo. But also, as mentioned before, why would Durin struggle to accept the idea of a sibling existing? He ate one. Again, that is a not insignificant part of why you even exist, Albedo.

And where are you getting the idea that Durin ever thought he was the most "perfect" creation of Rhinedottir's, Albedo?

The only one of her creations we see referred to as being anything close to "perfect"—not a masterpiece; "perfect"—is you. By you!

Dialogue from the quest "A Secret Born from Ashes" in the Shadows Amidst Snowstorms event; with Albedo indirectly describing himself as a 'perfect' rose during a metaphor, comparing Subject Two and possibly the fellflower to 'defective specimens'. ^^^

Otherwise, the game usually uses "miraculous creation" or "masterpiece" to refer to Dragonspine Durin and Albedo. A masterpiece can be flawed, but perfection cannot.

So as small of a nitpick(and as far as I'm reaching over it) this may be over a simple word choice, I can't help but feel that it reads almost a bit more like Albedo's projecting here without realising it, rather than taking a proper guess about Durin's emotions.

A screenshot of Albedo's Character Story 3; showing that he grew up an only child. ^^^

As the golden child—the successful experiment—and a creation who didn't grow up in the company of his Master's creations, Albedo doesn't know what it would be like to be Rhinedottir's creation pre-Cataclysm. He was made after the event, after Rhinedottir let her creations like Durin and Elynas loose in Teyvat.

He is the only one of her creations that we know for sure didn't grow up with any 'siblings' present. Therefore, the sentiment that he claims drove Durin to attack Mondstadt in Paralogism, that of a child throwing a fit now that he isn't the special, only child anymore, can actually only be a sentiment that applies to Albedo.

Not that it actually applies to Albedo in a literal sense here, but it does explain why he seemingly fails to recognise that Durin has no reason to feel threatened by the existence of a new sibling. Albedo struggled to recognise in this moment that his perspective was fundamentally flawed as an only child.

Of course, he thinks that Durin's hypothetical thoughts are almost human. It's Albedo's own reasoning within them, after all.

Onto the next line.

Albedo: "If I eliminate the 'perfect' creation, I will be the only child mother needs." This mindset arose out of Durin's instinct to compete and survive, and came to dominate all those around him.

I talked about the use of "perfect" earlier above.

Again, he's just making stuff up from his warped perception. This is also Subject Two's reasoning for going after Albedo, not Durin's. Everything we've learnt about Durin—from "The Chalk Prince and the Dragon". weapon descriptions, and even Simulanka—has characterised Durin as nothing like this.

From his characterisation before this Interlude, Durin would probably be sad, and angry, at Albedo after absorbing Subject Two's knowledge and emotions; not because he's mad about no longer being the supposed "only child", but because one of his siblings killed the other!

Jumping into theoreticals here, but you can even make it sadder if we believe that Durin has been subconsciously aware this whole time, as he probably felt a deep guilt and sadness over consuming Subject Two. We can then theorise that that lead to Durin somehow reviving Subject Two 500 years later. I'd be angry at the new sibling too if he killed the one I tried to give a second chance, even in self-defence.

Keep in mind Durin's blood revived the Frost-bearing Tree and is implied to have revived Joel's dad, it's not totally out of the question. But we will never know.

Albedo: Of course, the absorption of Subject Two's knowledge allowed him to take a more intelligent approach — accusing me of murder.

Talked about this bit above, but I just want to point out that, once again, it makes no sense as to why Subject Two was absorbed this time, and not within the previous 500 years stuck inside Durin's stomach.

Albedo: In the end, however, Durin still lacks sufficient social intelligence. The fact that his "army" even got this far is a miracle.

There's not much to say here. Durin does lack social intelligence, it's almost as if he's a corpse and not yet conscious.

However, the writers have once again forgotten that they established fake Hertha is Subject Two.

Otherwise, they just implied that most of the Knights—including playable ones, like Amber and Mika—are morons on purpose. Because Albedo seems to be under the impression, that despite knowing Subject Two was Hertha, that Durin somehow did everything. Including successfully run the logistics division well enough while acting as Hertha, avoiding suspicion for six months while also gathering enough evidence to accuse Albedo of murder, fooling the Knights not in on the trial plan completely in the process.

Which is so, so nonsensical of a character we know is supposedly smart.

Alice! Alice! Oh thank god, it's Alice!

After we finish running around and helping out, we end up in the Grandmaster's office, and the game mercifully gives me a break from taking immense psychic damage by bringing up the Hexenzirkel.

Albedo requests for a Tripartite conference to be called, and Jean gives us an explanation for what, exactly, that is.

Dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; where Jean explains the 'Tripartite Conference'. ^^^

After accidentally calling Grandmaster Varka, Venti successfully gets through to Alice; Klee's mother, and the founding member of said Hexenzirkel—a gathering of very powerful witches including Rhinedottir.

Alice is a delight of a character, and she also scares me with her incredibly fascinating sense of morality. She also has a tendency to mess with the fourth wall, such as in her Nod Krai introduction.

So I am so very happy to not think too hard for the next bit.

Dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; where Albedo explains why he wanted the Tripartite Conference called. ^^^

First of all, I love seeing Albedo call Alice 'Aunt' again, it's genuinely one of my favourite things about him.

Second, despite Paimon's word's, Albedo is finally making some sort of sense again.

We find out next quest what he wants to do; and that is fuse both Durin and Mini Durin(yeah, he's here, surprise!) into an artificial human body. He is correct in that the technique has been done before by Rhinedottir—he exists, after all—and also that she didn't use the materials that he will.

Anyway, Alice shows up as a dodoco in the office with everyone, grants Albedo's request, and after the optional bit of dialogue below, that's the end of the quest!

Dialogue from the quest "The Hunger of Many" in the Paralogism Interlude; where Albedo asks you to meet a mystery person in his office. ^^^ Take one guess who that is.

And now, to the next quest.