#subject 2

The part that usually gets understood and addressed is how Susbedo felt resentment for being abandoned by Rhinedottir, and envy for how Albedo was able to integrate into Mondstadt when he was deemed a failure and believed he could never fit in even if he tried. Thus, he was driven to try and replace Albedo by taking up his appearance and killing him. But you know what doesn’t seem to be addressed? Albedo’s apathy towards how a lot of Rhine’s other creations, and by extension Susbedo, were treated by her. As her “perfect creation”, Albedo tends to see Rhine as someone who made some mistakes but ultimately tried, and tbh, that wouldn’t be much of an issue if he was her only creation or the others were similarly treated or given plans for their future, but as we know that’s not the case. It’s that thing where Genshin tries to write in middle-school level conflicts, then sticks them into situations with severely traumatizing/potentially world-ending stakes and expects the audience to just roll with it, and that’s what happened with Susbedo, who absolutely did not get even the barest minimum support that Rhine at least tried to prepare for Albedo. And that includes how Albedo treated him as well, which wasn’t much different from how Rhine did. Now, he wasn’t the one who abandoned S2 and left him to be swallowed by Dragonspine Durin, that part is true. But he absolutely did pick up on Rhine’s attitude towards him as one of her “failures” intentionally or not, and doesn’t deviate from it or even question it. He even calls him “Master’s Failed experiment in the dragon’s belly” at one point, same dehumanizing language that she used and very little thought for whether Subject 2 would hear him or feel anything about it. Susbedo not only had to watch someone from similar circumstances as him fit into human society with few issues, but watched him do it while being as dismissive of him as this “failed experiment” as Gold previously was. What really doesn’t help is how Albedo tends to elevate Rhine and see her behavior in a positive light, which can blindside him to consequences of her behavior towards those who weren’t as supported as he was. And once Susbedo finally shows himself, he’s treated like a problem to be dealt with rather than someone who can feel things by not only someone who was supposed to be his brother (and therefore someone who could’ve understood him or even could’ve been his ally), but by this random Traveler that Albedo met recently who instantly believed what he had to say and also saw Susbedo as a problem. Susbedo had no one and nothing to turn to, and that can really mess with the way you view the world. While it doesn’t absolve, you know, literally trying to kill someone and take over their life, there’s also that angle of never being sided with and having the golden child (hehe golden) of the family also participate in the very mentality that got him abandoned on a snowy mountain in the first place to really consider here.

Therein lies the second problem: that pattern of Mondstadt/Hexerei characters (barring a few exceptions like Kaeya) upholding some harmful societal/familial beliefs or rules, and never having to be challenged on them or face any real lasting consequences because Mond is so moral and good and praises the Traveler so much (TM). I’ve talked a lot about how badly this problem manifests in Varka, Jean, Diluc, Amber, Rosaria, etc…well what do you know, Albedo and Rhine have that issue as well, and though it was there since early in the game it really showed from Paralogism onwards.

We already learned previously how Rhine treated a lot of her creations (aka many of them were considered failures and abandoned), the havoc unleashed on all corners of Teyvat because of her various experiments and the multiple generations of trauma that resulted from that, and how isolated Albedo was under her tutelage. And yet…despite being considered one of the Sinners of Khaenri’ah, it feels like the worst of the consequences are bore by everyone but her (especially innocents caught in the crossfire), and therein lies the problem. She’s still a valued member of the Hexenzirkel and treated like an old friend who just “played around”, though considering the other members’ stances on things I guess it’s not too out of place. Even then, in Paralogism she’s still painted as “made some oopsies” or “she wasn’t that bad”, and while she does lament Dragonspine Durin’s fate…she still does it while holding onto the mentality that it was because he was flawed and thus a failure from the moment she created him. And wouldn’t you know it, that mentality was also the one that got Susbedo abandoned and swallowed up by Durin in the first place, she hasn’t really moved past it and no one who could has really pushed back against it, and even Albedo can see that. And she gets to ascend by eating the shade of life…yippee. Right alongside that is Albedo not only insisting that she wasn’t that bad, but also upholding a lot of her mentality whether it was intentional or not. Albedo…you know, the guy who Rhine didn’t abandon and paid the most attention to because he was deemed her perfect creation, and even then had the support of her best friends afterwards as well as the ability to fit the standards of a city that places a lot of emphasis on legacy and appearances. The guy who really should not be speaking on her behavior as a whole when he’s way more privileged than a lot of those involved in her shit, and the way she treated him was the exception, not the rule. It would be one thing if this narrow worldview was explored and treated like a genuine flaw (which would open up potential for incredible character development), but when he says that we’re just kinda expected to take his word for it, because Albedo is so smart, nice to the Traveler and befitting of Mondstadt (TM) so he MUST be a reliable narrator. /s He’s never challenged on that worldview by the Traveler or anyone else, nor does he get challenged on the way he talks about Susbedo, which isn’t that different from the way Rhine talks about most of her experiments and is meant to be agreed with because of how much the game treats Susbedo like a problem to be dealt with first and foremost. And with the way the other characters practically venerate Albedo and how he never has to really face consequences in-game for even the things that could be his flaws…yeah. With Rhinedottir, you could make the argument that she’s not meant to be seen as a morally sound character in the first place…but when it’s Albedo, someone presented as a much more nice, wise and worldly character who’s even a member of the playable cast, that’s where you need to address that flaw otherwise it’ll make him come across as less sympathetic than intended.

I get that when you’re looking in from an outside perspective, it’s easy to reduce the entirety of the conflict in there to “oh he was jealous”. But through the eyes of someone who’s been in such situations…there was likely also a shit ton of resentment for Albedo not only reinforcing a lot of Rhine’s attitudes and negative beliefs that got attributed to him, but the kind of positions Albedo and Rhine were in making it practically impossible for S2 to be believed or taken seriously if he ever tried saying how he really felt. Like, that’s the kind of shit certain teachers use to pit students against each other in school all the time, and oftentimes it’s the people pleasing kids who meet standards getting roped into helping enforce a lot of those toxic habits and shaming those who don’t meet said standards whether they realize it or not. Being way too familiar with that kind of crap, I had a hard time seeing this whole plot line as just “Susbedo was jealous that he didn’t get attention.”

At the same time, that’s not to say Susbedo’s pov was entirely sound or that he was never blindsided. Like I’ve discussed before, a lot of the times when Mondstadt shows love and admiration for someone, it tends to be for something very surface-level and puts the person on a superhuman pedestal, which might not be the kind of admiration S2 ends up reveling in when you really think about it (though to be fair the narrative is also pretty iffy about addressing that). Also, who says he has to be loved by Mondstadt specifically? It’s not the only place in Teyvat (though it says a lot about the kind of favoritism Mond gets by the game and fandom when it’s treated like failure to not be loved by the nation that’s ironically kinda judgmental, like in Eula’s story too). And he didn’t seem to think about how Albedo was still under some kind of pressure to achieve with how Rhine’s attention was on him, and other potential downsides if he’d managed to catch her eye with some kind of talent or something. I feel like that could’ve been expanded on a bit more if they didn’t treat Susbedo like just a problem for the good and moral (TM) playable cast to solve from the word go, it would even supplement his extreme actions, and emphasize how much he messed up in doing what he did while also being a good opening to address what kind of longstanding patterns in the family dynamic/society drove him to have that worldview in the first place. But that would require Albedo, Rhine (and the rest of the Hexenzirkel), and to an extent, the Traveler and the nice suburban town to be able to bear actual lasting consequences for their actions and we can’t have that here. /s