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electric-hydrangea · 4 months ago

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About Rhinedottir & The Shade of Life

5.6 Spoilers

Here, I'll be explaining Rhinedottir's connection with the Shade of Life and how it's not new information that she devoured the shade. Initially this was a conversation prompted by the question "is Rhinedottir more powerful than a Shade?", so the wording may seem strange. Credit to my partner for writing this - we both did the research & I edited.

My theory on how/why this occurred is that first of all all 3 of the main factions in teyvat have their own underling factions (all factions likely represent the 3 realms)

phanes - shades - angels

nibelung - sovereigns - vishap

either irmin or the unnamed descender - 5 sinners - Khaenri’ahn nobility/mages/take your pick

We have no concrete idea on the powerscaling of the sovereigns, but we at least know by default they are more powerful than archons.

We know very little about the Shade of Life, but what we do know is that Rhinedottir is obsessed with finding the truth of life in this world. Rhinedottir's story is likely man vs nature except in the end she became nature. With Little Witch & The Undying Fire, we've been told this story through an analogy of the Shade of Life being mold. Little Witch is a storybook where each volume is written by a different witch. Rhinedottir writes Vol 3.

Here, we have a script from the bottom of Ipissimus. "Red" is the foundational principle, the philosopher's stone, while "yellow" represents gold and mortal temptation. Yellow is simply bait. Red is the final goal. However, Khaenri'ah would likely seek the truth for gold's sake before turning that truth into a bread production pipeline..."

In the process of the Magnus Opus (in Genshin, an allegory for creating a Descender), Citrinas (yellow, in the above passage) is the step before Rubedo (red, in the above passage)

We can infer Rhinedottir's larger goal has been to create a Descender (the primordial human project and how her work is likely inspired by the adam kadmon).

If Rubedo represents Descenders (the wills that have changed the fundamentals of this world), then what does Citrinas represent and why has Rhinedottir let it blind her?

We know the last thing she left Albedo was the message that she had found the Heart of Naberius. We know that the 5 Sinners abandoned Khaenri'ah after obtaining "world-shattering power". It is likely she is one of the three Sinners pursuing "some sort of perfection" (as said by Skirk)

For anyone out of the loop, Naberius is the name for the Shade of Life, similarly to the Shade of Void/Sustainer is Asmoday and Shade of Time is Istaroth/Tokoyo Ookami/Kairos/Astaroth. The Shade of Death is also known as Ronova. These are all names that come from Ars Goetia. It’s… a lot more complicated than that though.

Clearly she, Rhinedottir, has an incredible curiosity, and she has power seemingly equal to some of the strongest entites in Teyvat, so what stopped her from becoming a Descender?

Albedo says that when Rhinedottir told him to discover the truth of this world, she was just telling him to get a life. AKA saying that the truth of this world is the value of your friends and family.

Lumine also tells us to discover the truth of this world. She spent 500 years without us experiencing Teyvat; she has a deep connection with Teyvat we do not have. She wants Aether to understand why she is so desperate to save these people. This is identical to the Second Descender not understanding why Nibelung wanted to save this world until they experienced it firsthand by meeting the angel.

It's possible that to become a Descender, you must not just have a desire to change the world, but save it instead.

Now, one really interesting bit is what Rhinedottir wrote in the Little Witch and the Undying Fire. I have absolutely no idea what the rest of her volume is about but now that we have this context I think I can understand the mold part more.

"They told her: The more demon kings you kill, the greater your witch's power will grow.

This is, in fact, true.

Then, they encountered a mimic demon king."

There is a lot of emphasis on how this specific demon king is different than the others they've found/

"Her friends recovered, and told the little witch that this was the mimic demon king. It was a species of demon king, in the same taxonomic class as standard demon kings but not in the same order."

This means that they are of the same complexity, but are literally in different places on a hierarchy.

All of the Hexenzirkel use allegory for the divine in this book. Rhinedottir specifically approaches the divine through a scientific lens. I believe that it's not absurd to assume that a mimic demon king is equal to a Shade.

"The little witch discovered that the mold had its own consciousness, and had a power that allowed similar lifeforms to turn into their ideal state. She did not change because she was already very pleased with herself."

Here we see how Rhine stands out against her companions as the only one who does not desire change. Instead, her curiosity pushes her into literally becoming mold herself. Given our allegory, I don't think it's unlikely that this connects to her becoming the Shade of Life. Though she herself has no desire to create change, she would change herself in order to understand the world better

"In the end, the mold committed suicide. The little witch deciphered its way of communicating communications, and as it turned out, the colony experienced dissonance in self-perception and self-dissociation when it looked upon the little witch who had become just like them. The signals they sent had in fact been philosophical speculation "Who is me, and who am I?" Its intelligence was thus much higher than expected."

The mold literally killing itself is really interesting to me. It could imply that on a larger scale, there can only ever be one "mold". We have multiple cases of this showing up in Teyvat already; Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, Egeria, and Focalors. Egeria somewhat naturally passed down her power, while the other two died so their successors could be free.

Ironically, all three of these gods have connections to the Shade of Life. Canonically Egeria was created by her, and while there's nothing to directly prove Rukkhadevata was created by the Shade of Life, we have motifs like mold, mushrooms, knowledge, trees of wisdom, and other symbolism that connects the Dendro Archon to the Shade of Life.

The mimic demon king being mold is also interesting as mold, being a decomposer, is something that HAS to exist in order to facilitate continued life.

#rhinedottir #albedo #genshin lore #shade of life #naberius

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electric-hydrangea · 6 months ago

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Sandrone's Design: An Analysis

(This analysis believes in the Sandrone Guillotin theory. Join the Sandrone discord server if you’re curious about that! … Or DM me if you’re shy)

(This is an informal essay, I promise I write professionally)

(Also posted on r/Sandronemains, twitter, and hoyolab)

The Puppet’s Design Analysis

If we start from the top, we have Sandrone’s bonnet. It’s possible that this could be inspired by a fontange or a french hood.

The fontange was french and popular in the 17th century, which is where I would say most of her design sources from. Originally, it would be a small cap on the back of your head that was stacked with lace and ribbons. Ladies would stack them higher and higher to make themselves look prettier, but it’s worth noting that men complained about it.

The french hood was popular in the 16th century, introduced by Mary Tudor, Queen of France. Typically, french hoods had a black veil in the back but exposed the front of your hair. Eventually, the front of the hood would become decorated. For some reason, the king didn’t like the french hood and banned ladies from wearing it under certain circumstances.

Through strict appearance alone, you’d assume her bonnet was more similar to the french hood than the fontange, but Sandrone the puppet has more to her design than just that.

When it comes to her hair, it’s not similar to 17th century French styles at all. It’s a French bob with possibly a bun in the back.

In the 17th century, women wore their hair up, with curled “mustaches” (strands of hair) trailing down their face. Big hats and big hair was super popular back then, but again men hated it and wanted them to wear their hair in English fashion instead.

Her collar could possibly be a “falling band”, popular in 17th century France, although mainly worn by men. They were also generally bigger.

Sandrone has puff sleeves, which were popular in Europe from the 14th-17th century. There are different kinds of puff sleeves, and she may have specifically Juliet sleeves depending on how you see them. Originally, they were worn by people in England to show the power of the monarchy. It’s possible that her sleeve isn’t a puff sleeve, like it could be a lantern sleeve instead, but I’m getting conflicting information on what is what.

You can either see Sandrone’s black sleeves as being short sleeved, or her having long sleeves (white gloves). If we go with the opinion that she wears short sleeves with long white gloves, it’s worth mentioning that short sleeves were trendy back in 17th century France! They’d wear puffed sleeves with lace, notably not covering “half the arm”.

Sandrone wears an underbust corset with a hip panel. In the 17th century (In England), corsets/bodies/stays were worn by men and women, and were considered necessary for the beauty of women. Other than that, every piece of info I’m getting is conflicting, so any corset lovers are free to continue this section!

Underneath Sandrone’s hands is something that I can only describe to be a bib. It looks similar to an 18th century apron, which was decorated to show high status. (example)

What holds up Sandrone’s cute skirt could be a crinoline or a form of a pannier. Crinolines weren’t popular until the 19th century, but panniers were undergarments that were super popular in the 17th century. They look a little weird though, but the crinoline took influence from it in its early stages.

Men also did not like pannier undergarments at all. (one) (two)

Sandrone’s cute red skirt could possibly be an overskirt, or the version of an overskirt which became more popular, a “mantua”. Just like a mantua, it splits in the middle to show off the dress. The color of her skirt is important, as red was considered a very rich color in 17th century France. The texture of her dress also reminds me of popular textiles used in the same time as well.

Her white gloves indicate French nobility, but it’s also possible that they could be evening gloves, which have been worn since the 17th century. They were most popular later on though, and at some points were considered necessary if you wanted to look nice/pretty.

Her skirt, sleeves, and underskirt(?) are all black, and black wasn’t really worn back then due to how hard it was to pull off or look good. It was also expensive. In that era, vibrant colors were more preferred. Except, you guessed it, men hated it.

Sandrone’s dainty blue shoes are another popular item of 17th century fashion in France. It was popular to wear blue slippers, and eventually those shoes became high-heeled.

Her black underskirt looks like “watteau pleats” or a “sack back gown”, with the extreme pleating, although typically on the back of the dress. They were popular in the 18th century and were considered extremely formal. It could also be a petticoat, but black petticoats weren’t really a thing back then.

The flowers on her dress look kind of similar to an anemone flower, although I’m not convinced. Anemones were hugely popular in the 17th century, and were viewed as the flower of the dead. However, the design on her dress is also a double triquetra, and also has ribbons flowing from the bottom. It was a huge trend in the 17th century to decorate your dress with all sorts of things, including floral designs.

The Robot’s Design Analysis

(I’m going to call him Bob for brevity’s sake… we all call him Bob)

Bob has a cog around his head meant to look like an unstarched frill worn by cavaliers. The white ruffle in between the frill is a jabot, which became popular in the 17th century all throughout Europe. In France, specifically, they were worn solely by men. However, the accessory on his frill (the gear) is something solely worn by women. Above the jabot is a pendant that looks strikingly similar to the “Meshing Gear” dropped by Fontaine Meka.

Every element in Bob’s design takes inspiration from the French cavaliers of the 17th century. Both the Marechaussee Hunters and male Fontaine Research Institute NPCs wear a greatcoat, a military cavalier jacket popularized by Napoleon. Bob also wears an almost identical belt as that of a male research institute npc.

The robot appears to wear a combination of a greatcoat and a doublet, the latter of which was worn from the medieval ages to the 17th century - often seen on cavaliers.

In the fashion of military wear, he also dons jackboots (cavalier wear). His legs are shaped like breeches, which again, were worn by 17th century cavaliers.

He wears a very modest cavalier hat, with the pen-looking-thing being the large feather of the hat.

Bob’s design has a lot of fancy white ruffles and what looks to be gold all around him. For a cavalier, this would mean he is incredibly rich, noble, and obedient to the royals. He also wears red, which at the time his design is inspired by, was very associated with Napoleon, who would be the only man in the cavalry to wear red. It’s likely that both Sandrone and Bob’s outfits are made from velvet.

What Are We Supposed To Get From This?

Notably, the 17th century was known for its innovation and the scientific revolution, which ties into Alain and Mary Ann’s technological advancements as well as Sandrone’s whole being a robot thing.

I made a point to express how often men hated women’s fashion trends for a reason. Among those, men hated how elaborate and high women’s hair was styled, how colorful their dresses were, how colorful their makeup was, and the way their dresses looked.

Notably, Sandrone doesn’t reflect anything they complained about. I believe this was intentional, other than for obvious gacha game design reasons. Sandrone’s design, paired up with the Guillotin theory, shows you that she was created.

With the added fact that Louis XIV, the King in the era she’s based on, refused to let the women in his court dress themselves, I believe we’re supposed to see Alain or her robot servant as her controller of some sort.

Sandrone resembles French nobility - she looks rich. While we don’t have any canon information about her wealth status, she is still a doll, and I feel that she will not be nearly as rich as she dresses. As a cavalier, Bob resembles nobility in a very masculine way. Outside of battle, cavaliers were pompous with outfits often even larger than the women they mocked. This loud style of clothes was associated with those loyal to the royals at the time, meaning Bob’s design signifies a rich, monarchist, Catholic. It’s possible this could relate to Sandrone’s loyalty to the Tsaritsa.

Ironically, in Commedia dell'Arte, Sandrone is always a peasant.

(Warning I have not played Bloodborne, sorry)

Additionally, Sandrone’s design and backstory is very reminiscent of The Doll from Bloodborne. The Doll is used as a way for your character to level up (like Katheryne) and was created by a man named Gehrman in order to keep him company.

The Doll was made in the image of Lady Maria, a woman who Gehrman “held affections” for. When she disappeared, he became “obsessive”, and replicated her, even making their voices the same.

She’s very kind and sees the main character with respect, but wonders about her own creation and if her feelings are real.

From my knowledge about Bloodborne, it’s a game about women, blood, and misogyny. I am not going to write an analysis because I never played it so my source is trust me bro.

While nothing is confirmed, I still believe that Sandrone is inspired by Bloodborne (Lady Maria was in Arlecchino’s character ref, after all) and that the themes in Bloodborne also apply to her design, in the sense of how she has a loss of control of herself. The Bloodborne: The Old Hunters DLC (where The Doll is introduced) has very similar elements to the story of the Narzissenkreuz children, where they are hunters trapped in a dream created by their own past.

I’m also interested in knowing if she has the capability to walk on her own - we’ve only ever seen her in the palm of her servant’s hand.

Soon to be added: elaborating on Sandrone’s flower being the Narcissus as well as Bob’s dog motifs. there's a lot to be said about these i'm just a lazy baby lately :)

#sandrone genshin #bob genshin #fatui #genshin impact #genshin design analysis #sandrone

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electric-hydrangea · 1 year ago

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Happy Sandrone Week, everyone! For this very special week, I wrote my longest fanfiction ever and included every ship suggestion I got. Hope you enjoy!!

(skip to day 7 if you're here for the ships)

#dottore/sandrone #furina/sandrone #katheryne/sandrone #scaramouche/sandrone #pantalone/sandrone #arlecchino/sandrone #childe/sandrone #capitano/sandrone #signora/sandrone #columbina/sandrone #herta/sandrone #clorinde/sandrone #sandrone genshin

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electric-hydrangea · 1 year ago

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Haruka isn’t autistic-coded – he has an intellectual disability (and why that matters)

(AO3 Mirror)

A lot of people in the MILGRAM fandom (especially English-speaking MILGRAM fandom) state that Haruka is autistic-coded, as if it’s fact. Most recognize that Haruka is coded as disabled. (If you didn’t recognize that, I hope this post will help to explain why.) However, to state that he is coded as autistic specifically is incorrect. Haruka is coded as intellectually disabled.

Now, there are likely two things that contribute to this issue. One is the invisibility of intellectual disability as a whole, and another is the fact that a lot of this has to do with things that only someone who speaks Japanese would understand (such as complex vs non-complex words in Japanese).

In this post, I plan to lay out what an intellectual disability is and how it differs from neurodivergencies such as autism or ADHD. After that, I want to discuss the way Haruka speaks and uses words, the symbolism in his MVs, and how this lends to him being coded as intellectually disabled. Finally, I want to discuss why this even matters at all. Because, in truth, viewing Haruka as autistic instead of intellectually disabled leaves the viewer misunderstanding his story in a huge way that seems far too common in English-speaking MILGRAM fandom. So, I hope you listen to what I have to say.

What does it mean to be intellectually disabled?

Confusing autism and intellectual disability (henceforth referred to as ID) is not an issue unique to the MILGRAM fandom. They are quite commonly mistaken for each other, in the same way that autism and ADHD are both commonly mistaken for each other. And for the same reason, too – autism and ID are comorbid. This means that, if someone is autistic, they are more likely to have an ID. For this reason, it makes perfect sense to headcanon Haruka as autistic. I headcanon him as autistic, myself, actually. But, in this post, I’m going to be strictly talking about his coding, not headcanons, and he is very specifically coded with an ID.

So, what’s the difference? In the words of the National Institutes of Health, “Whereas ID is associated with general deficits across developmental domains, ASD is in fact defined by the observation that social communication deficits are particularly impairing.” (Source)

To say this in layman’s terms, autism is primarily characterized by difficulties in social communications. Cognitive abilities in autistic individuals vary, just like with allistic individuals, but the defining features are issues with social interaction and nonverbal communication. Autism by itself effects how effectively one communicates, but not intelligence. On the other hand, ID is a limitation on intellectual functioning, just like the name implies. This causes issues in areas like learning, problem-solving, and abstract reasoning.

A lot of people think ID is a synonym for ‘learning disability’. ‘Learning disability’ is an umbrella term that covers things such as dyslexia and dysgraphia. This isn’t the case. For one thing, ID can be a diagnosis on its own. ID is subdivided into syndromic ID, where intellectual deficits are present with other signs and symptoms, and nonsyndromic ID, where ID is, itself, the diagnosis. Examples of syndromic IDs include fragile X syndrome, and Down syndrome. For another, those with learning disabilities tend to have average to above-average intellectual abilities. Their disorder affects their ability to acquire and process information, but they are still able to learn. In contrast, ID affects the ability to learn at all, as well as affecting development and general function.

ID is a debilitating disorder. Many people with an ID cannot live independently, require help with self-care activities, and have limited communicative abilities. Understanding this – particularly, how ID is often a disability that requires a caregiver – is a key point to understanding Haruka as a character. But that’s to be covered later.

Words

The reason why this is a problem in the English fandom specifically is because the main thing tipping off the viewer to Haruka’s ID is the way that he speaks.

‘Weakness’, Haruka’s first-trial song, is written entirely in INCREDIBLY basic, elementary-level kanji – mostly hiragana and katakana. In fact, his first-trial song is misspelled in a lot of official releases of the song (‘Weekness’), which is a good way to get the same effect across. This is not the case across all platforms, though, for whatever reason. He also writes, in his trial 1 interrogation, with only that elementary-level kanji; often only one-word answers. The only complicated characters he knows are usually ones that mean something along the lines of, “I’m a stupid, idiot child,” which can be assumed to be because that’s what he has heard his whole life.

While I’m unsure if it is ENTIRELY in this basic kanji, his second trial song and interrogation is at least mostly written like this, as well. At this point, Muu is teaching him how to read and write (or, that’s what’s implied), but, even with that one-on-one attention, he is still speaking like a child most of the time to the Japanese ear.

When he’s forced to use or listen to words outside of this elementary-level kanji, he gets audibly confused, as well. In the AVIOT earbud collab, he has the voiceline, “Pairing seems to be in progress,” but, if you listen, he says “pairing” like it’s a question. (“Pair-ing?”) He doesn’t know the word is an English loanword that isn’t often used in everyday conversation, so he’s struggling to say it.

He also struggles when speaking to Es in his interrogations. He tries to say, “I will acknowledge any falsehood or silence,” but the words used are very advanced in Japanese. As such, he struggles with it, repeating, “False-hood? Si-lence?” Multiple similar exchanges happen in his interrogations, with Haruka misunderstanding words Es uses, and stuttering over unfamiliar words. The implication is that Haruka struggles with higher vocabulary or unfamiliar words, and with speaking and communication in general. He apologizes multiple times to Es for struggling, saying that he is not intelligent as an explanation multiple times. Additionally, in his second trial investigation, he talks about how he could never do the same things as everyone around him. When Es calls him stupid, he agrees. Es even states, “You really have no learning ability whatsoever.” When, mind you, having delayed or slowed learning is, like, the symptom of intellectual disability. It’s quite blatant. (Why is this not fandom consensus yet, again?)

Moving on from the point of how Haruka uses words, we can talk about other forms of word-based MILGRAM media. For example: when introducing himself, he says he thinks he’s 17, which implies that he isn’t actually sure. Additionally, there is lots of evidence for his intellectual disability in his interrogation questions:

He considers it impossible to learn another language

His dream is to ‘live normally’

He states he disappointed his father (not inherently an ID-related thing, but also, makes sense with his coding in mind)

Many answers imply that he’s been unable to live his own life, and he doesn’t really have any aspirations outside of being given attention

Finally, we have the lyrics to his songs. Again, on top of being written in very basic kanji, we have lines like the following, which include repeated themes of needing a caregiver (being ‘hopeless’ by himself), not being able to do what others can do, hating how he was born, and struggling to function. (I have bolded examples that I think are especially apt.)

“Why was I born like this? Why does it hurt so much?” / “Why was I born to be me? Why does it hurt so much?”

“Instead you kept calling me “hopeless” / You never called me by my name / You were always comparing me to someone else”

“If I tried and couldn’t say it, you would get angry at me and say “You’re hopeless”” / “When I tried to understand it, you’ll make that disappointed face again”

“I just wanted to be your good boy” (what did the MILGRAM team want us to think when they included this line? likely that he’s childish or ‘hasn’t grown up’, right?)

“Mommy, look / I’ve done great” (calling her ‘mommy’ instead of ‘mom’ – again, ask what the MILGRAM team wants us to think when they included this)

“If only I could do what anyone else could do”

“It’s enough, I am a “disappointment””

“My life started in a wrong spot”

With regards to his relationship with Muu, he doesn’t understand why Muu using him would be a bad thing, or how she is manipulating him. People with ID tend to have poor judgment, and Haruka not being able to tell the difference and not caring about the difference between negative and positive attention shows this (although his trauma definitely also plays a role).

Finally, we have the trial song titles.

We’ve already discussed how “Weakness” is sometimes alternatively misspelled as “Weekness”, and that is because the title in Japanese is, arguably, misspelled, too. The Japanese title is a play on the phrase jakuniku kyoushoku, which is equivalent to the English phrase, “Survival of the fittest.” More directly, it translates to, “The weak are meat, the strong do eat.” The character for “strong” (kyou) is replaced by “together” (also kyou) – with the implication being that Haruka forgot which version of the word was correct for this situation. This also works to create a pun, of sorts, as this makes the title more like, “The weak are meat, communal eating”, creating an emphasis on the fact that there are more people eating than there are ‘weak people’. There are differing ways to interpret this pun, but one way is to view it as a statement on Haruka’s status as a minority, oppressed (‘eaten’) by the majority.

On the other hand, we have All-Knowing and All-Agony. In Japanese, this song title is Zenchi Zennou, which can be translated as “Omniscient and Omnipotent”, used to describe the Christian God. Once again, we have what we can assume is Haruka misspelling the title, creating a pun. One that is much more on the nose, as the character for “ability” (nou) is replaced with the character for “worry, distress, pain” (also nou).

It seems that the reason why Haruka uses new complicated words (aside from the words meaning “idiot” and the like) in All-Knowing and All-Agony is because Muu is teaching him. It features the more complicated “食” (shoku; food), when we know from Haruka’s 2023 birthday portal that Muu is bringing him meals. It also prominently features Muu’s name, 夢 (yume; dream), which is more complicated, as well.

Imagery

Now, we get on to the non-verbal, more visually-based evidence for Haruka’s ID. Be prepared for a lot more images!

Going back to Muu teaching Haruka how to write: it’s not just clear in his usage of kanji, but also how he writes. Comparing his handwriting, it becomes much easier to read after Trial 2’s start, and his writing is soft and bubbly; much like a teen girl’s writing might be.

All of these improvements are able to be linked back to Muu (both his style of writing and in the more complicated words that he knows), who we know is looking after him. Considering this, it’s pretty clear why he sees her like a maternal figure.

One of the Minigram comics shows the prisoners eating curry udon together. Of the four shown (Amane, Haruka, Shidou and Mahiru), Amane and Haruka are the only two who make messes out of their clothes. Since the other two characters in the comic have active roles, and Haruka has the most passive one, Haruka’s inclusion can be assumed to be because he is the only prisoner aside from the child, Amane, who would make a mess while eating.

Childish themes and imagery are seen scattered throughout his MV, as well, especially his first one. He draws with the skill level of a child, which is a very prevalent motif, and he is shown to sleep with a plushie.

Additionally, he seems to have trouble putting on his clothes. He wears two entirely different socks – not just different colors, but also two different lengths. His pant legs are also two different lengths when he tries to roll them up in his Trial 2 art, and he seems to exclusively wear slip-on shoes up until he befriends Muu (where we can presume that she begins helping him, and even then, they're not done properly).

There are various visual parallels drawn between himself as a child and himself as he is now (for example, the way that his clothes are a mix of his current shirt and the vest he wore as a child in All-Knowing and All-Agony), and he often compares himself to a child wanting praise.

Even the violent acts that Haruka is shown committing are also a sign of an ID. People with IDs tend to have meltdowns, and devolve into fits of violence. The reasons for these meltdowns vary depending on the person, but reasons can include anger / frustration (especially in reaction to not being able to communicate well), sensory overload, and confusion.

You may note that Haruka’s mother reacts the exact wrong way for dealing with these meltdowns. When trying to help someone experiencing a meltdown, especially a violent meltdown, the last thing you want to do is appear frightened. The number one piece of advice everyone gives for helping someone experiencing a meltdown is to remain calm. It’s also not advised to leave the person alone, either, because that sends the message, “I want to avoid you when you feel this way.” (Which I suppose, for a neglectful mother like Haruka’s, would be technically accurate, but still not at all helpful.)

It only makes sense that Haruka’s tantrums continue to get worse and worse.

But after the meltdowns fade, he seems to not understand what he’s done. He’s shown experiencing fear and confusion after he hurts something, even shown as his child self at one point. A major part of IDs is being unable to connect actions to consequences.

Finally, we go onto his body language. Frankly, I considered putting, “Imagine this as a real person doing these things and not an anime boy, and you’ll see my point.” Which is true. But I decided to go a little more in depth.

Swaying is heavily associated with people with IDs. This is, in part, because people with IDs have reduced postural balance, and general body balance. Because of that lack of postural balance, people with IDs tend to slump quite heavily, as well. Both of these traits are shown very obviously with Haruka, in All-Knowing and All-Agony.

In the same MV, he’s also shown biting his nails. Like autistic people, people with IDs stim, and this could also be a version of hand mouthing (repetitive contact between the hands and the mouth / tongue), which is also heavily associated with / often seen in intellectually disabled people. He's also shown doing this in promo art.

So, why does this matter?

Haruka being intellectually disabled is a huge part of his story, and, when taking it into consideration, it changes how one views his story a lot.

Haruka being treated better as a child makes more sense with this framework. He wants to return to when he was a child because his level of intellect then was seen as more ‘normal’. There wasn’t as much obviously ‘wrong’ with him yet. Children are expected to be a little slow, but it’s when they remain that way that many parents begin to become concerned. He yearns for when his mother didn’t know he was disabled, and when she treated him better for that reason.

Haruka being severely neglected / abused by his mother would be awful, no matter what, but him being intellectually disabled makes it so much worse. He needs attention and care from his caregivers even more so than the average child does, because he has trouble even functioning on the day-to-day without help. This is why he thrives under Muu’s care; she is meeting his support needs. Likely not perfectly (she’s just a teenage girl, and she is almost certainly not trained or educated in this regard), but even with the amount of support that she is able to give, Haruka is thriving. He’s more confident, he’s learning how to write, and he’s eating more consistently.

Without that care, he struggles so severely that he melts down regularly, going into fits of violence over the fact that his support needs aren’t being met (on top of all of the other emotional baggage that comes with any child being neglected by their parent). Haruka’s mother continued to ignore these cries for attention, for help, for care… Until it went too far.

The way that Haruka’s story is viewed changes drastically with this information. If Haruka was autistic, it would affect very few of the things that I listed. So much of Haruka's story hinges on specifically his intelligence level, not how he socializes. And do you have any idea how many people I’ve seen say, “He’s a neurodivergent with a shitty mom, but so am I, and I didn’t kill anyone about it”? No. If you are not intellectually disabled, you do not get to compare your experiences as if they are equal. If you don’t have an ID, your experiences cannot be compared in this way.

Haruka has a debilitating disability that requires support which he was not getting. He was experiencing ableist abuse at the hands of his mother, and he didn’t know how to handle it. All of his violence happened during his meltdowns, and his disability makes it harder for him to connect his actions to the consequences, or find alternate ways to solve his problems – this is all extremely important information and context when you’re discussing whether or not his crime is forgivable.

If you still don’t forgive him, that’s alright. But to neglect this aspect of his character is, to be frank, baffling, if you’re trying to participate in the spirit of the series and understand everyone’s crime to the fullest extent. And to make jokes, comparing your own experiences to Haruka’s, since you assume him to be neurodivergent and nothing else, does a huge disservice to his story! And, when it’s done to demean him? It honestly comes off a slight bit ableist.

So, I’d like everyone to keep this information in mind moving forward. Don’t infantilize Haruka for his disability. But do consider this information in your analysis posts, your discussions, and so on. I’d like to see this become common knowledge in the MILGRAM fandom, especially since the idea of him being specifically autistic-coded is so widespread by this point.

Thank you!

#this is the most amazing thing i've ever read #tysm for writing this

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electric-hydrangea · 1 year ago

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WHY CAN'T I ESCAPE BSD ALL I GET ALL DAY ARE EMAILS OF KUDOS ON MY FANFIC PLEASE!!!!!! LET ME FORGET ABOUT IT!!!!!!

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electric-hydrangea · 1 year ago

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haha Narzissenkreuz Ordo right... i made this in one sitting

youtube

#Narzissenkreuz Ordo #genshin impact #genshin as vines #lumine #furina #scaramouche #sandrone #katheryne #alain guillotin #rene genshin #jakob genshin #lyris genshin #basil genshin #mary ann guillotin #Youtube

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electric-hydrangea · 1 year ago

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no way an account i have a mutual block with reposted my arlecchino theory and then QRT'd their own post reposting my thing with pictures of an entirely different theory.... what??

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electric-hydrangea · 1 year ago

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Arlecchino's Past & Her Being the Grim Reaper

Spoilers/leaks for 4.6 ahead

Made by Rosie Posie and Daniel :3

reposted from my twitter, leak-censored version on the genshin lore subreddit

The Fall of the Faded Castle

The Fall of the Faded Castle is where Arlecchino’s lore can be found. “The Mask of the Red Death” by Poe is the inspiration for this book. I’d recommend reading it, it’s very similar!

It’s referenced in Arlecchino’s kit (her infused normal attack), its name being “Mask of the Red Death”

The book has numerous references to the blood moon and debts owed, something also found in Arlecchino’s kit, as well as the use of the word “baleful”.

In her Character Introduction, she hallucinates her past in a way very similar to TFotFC. The lines are meant to parallel each other; the scene being the same but the setting is now different.

The final paragraph of her Character Introduction references the ending of TFotFC, and the moonlight that flows into the hearth through the window symbolizes her past.

TFotFC mentions the clock striking midnight and the castle master becoming panicked for the reaper that would come to collect his blood debt, and then Arlecchino’s introduction mentions her taking control over the room when the clock chimes.

Remuria

To move onto Arlecchino’s connections with Remuria, it requires extra context about Remus, the leader of Remuria.

Remus had his own sin, different from Egeria, where he altered life by dissolving his people into Golems. He meant for them to live for eternity, but the souls instead shattered.

While Egeria was punished by Celestia, Remus was punished by Arlecchino. The Fall of The Fated Castle is about Arlecchino punishing Remus. She’s responsible for Remuria falling. I know there are some really passionate Remuria fans, I hope I am not massacring the story haha. I’m more into the Ordo #sandronenation

Edit: it’s been brought to my attention that the guy in the story probably isn’t Remus, and I’m also on board with that. The guy who the Grim Reaper is hunting isn’t entirely relevant, but I suggest instead: Boethius

Unsorted Chapter

She’s still dead though; she’s glitching. She’s otherworldly. TFotFC describes the Grim Reaper as having two cold eyes that can pierce your soul with a glance. It questions if they are a lord returning from an ancient world, or the nightmare itself.

In the origins of her name, Arlecchino, in commedia del’arte, it’s said to trace back to Dante’s Inferno; a devil going by the name Alichino. Her character type is the “devil” stock character, but that character can also be molded into whatever, like being a lighthearted prankster.

She also has a scythe.. Grim Reaper much? She also marks enemies with her blood debt, something in her kit. The scythe effect that the polearm has is one that only Arlecchino can use. Her whole kit uses wording that can be attributed to TFotFC and the hearth.

The boss Arlecchino can be found at a grave. The writing says “Crucabena”, who is also “Ceridwen”. Crucabena is the Gallic equivalent. Ceridwen is the Welsh goddess of rebirth, which is a part of Arlecchino’s whole thing. Her grave’s subtitle could be referencing how the hearth is of two worlds.

Arlecchino’s constellation “Ignis Purgatorius” is based off of the poem “Purgatorius Ignis” by Christopher Okemwa. I don’t really know what’s going on in this poem, but I’d be more than happy to hear what others think.

Perinheri

Her character introduction shows us that she is in control of the hearth (in the Orphanage), and Perinheri shows more of her themes in the hearth; this could symbolize her being reborn as Arlecchino from being the Grim Reaper.

In book “Perinheri”, Perinheri is locked in a hearth and has to crawl through it. Then, he is asked if he has seen “it” yet, and if he is dead. When he turned around, he saw the Crimson Moon and a titanic horrified eye. After Perinheri was released from the hearth, he was told that he traversed through the fire of two worlds within the hearth and he is now reborn.

The Crimson Moon is Arlecchino, and the eyeball Perinheri saw is on her head in her boss fight.

TLDR

TLDR Arlecchino was the Grim Reaper and punished Remus for his crimes and then was reborn as Arlecchino but something is still wrong with her because she’s glitching. It could be because she’s caught between the two worlds within the hearth.

We also don’t have voice lines, character stories, or artifact lore leaks though so a lot of information is probably missing.

There are more connections to be made with Arlecchino, Caterpillar, the grave, Perinheri, and the experiments done on Caterpillar, but I don’t think I have enough to try and cover that.

#arlecchino genshin #arlecchino lore #genshin theory #harbingers #genshin lore #perinheri #remus #remuria #boethius

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