#i think hoyo is really damaging a super interesting character they have by

[the-travelling-witch]

getting albedo instead of arle is such a bad idea, since i have so good weapon for him whatsoever, but why is it so tempting

[kumiaku]

Okay so just a quick theory on how we might team up with each of the harbingers/how they will be playable.

Unlike Hoyo's other games, namely Honkai Star Rail and Honkai Impact 3rd, the characters in Genshin seem to have the need of two things currently - being alive, and being on 'good' terms with the Traveler. And of course being able to control elemental energy.

In order,

Pierro - unlikely to be playable imo, but if so we'd team up to take down celestia and likely convince him to be better in the future / maybe see eye to eye (haha pun)

Capitano - also feel unlikely to be playable (due to mask + rank + build) but am personally hoping he's playable. but likely a mutual understanding via honor / natlan abyss expansion or smth he is released at the same time and works with us in this expedition.

Dottore - unlikely dottore dottore is playable. feel like he'd get a super satisfying death scene w/ collei/diluc/scara/arle involved somehow. most likely diluc imo. but i think one of his segements will be playable, and will be one that defects from the rest and betrays them, more likely a younger segment.

Columbina - unlikely to be playable for a while, but if so i hope she doesn't have one of the seven elements in teyvat and has like a light/imaginary/dark/quantam element, or is pure physical damage somehow. I do think she will be playable, but maybe in later patches of natlan, likely to be very strange and off putting but perhaps never directly against us or for us? maybe also linked to a potential abyssal or dark sea region?

(if hoyo does release both capitano and columbina in the same patch i will cry.)

Arlecchino - Acquired. Will likely have future content in Snezhnaya/Khaenri'ah bcuz of foreshadowing. Also hoping to get more HOTH members in the future.

Pulcinella - feel like he'd be unlikely to be playable, but he also was in the travail trailer. can't imagine him getting along w traveler too well mainly cuz of his actions w the chasm, scara's line, arle's line, n what we've seen of him so far. but maybe, common interest would make him come to our side? he seems very rational - to the point of not being sympathetic at all imo, so maybe?

Scaramouche - Acquired, obv. Hopefully will have more development/roles in the future especially against the fatui. I want to find out if they had some way to bypass the irminsul deletion of his existence.

Sandrone - Okay, going out on a limb here real quick (its not quick). Bcuz all of the Fatui Harbinger's secondary titles (in this case, the marionette) Sandrone is not the feminine looking doll, but rather someone piloting the mech. Imo I think Sandrone is Alain Guillotine who is inside the ruin guard like mech and who made the kathryne's and the doll the mech carries around. I think this also lines up w Childe's voice line of Sandrone bcuz Alain Guillotine is envious of his relationship w his siblings since they are alive (unlike Mary Ann, who looks a suspiciously lot like the doll) and I think Sandrone aka Alain wont be playable but the Doll/Mary Ann will be and her story will be one of her breaking free of Sandrone. Maybe. This could also line up with Scara and Arle's VO's cuz it's stated Sandrone doesn't talk much/isn't really open so I think it is possible they don't know that Sandrone is actually not the doll but the man inside the mech or smth. I have more to this theory, but I might do this later.

Sandrone TLDR - Sandrone Marionette playable, the feminine doll, not the mech. Maybe mech in her attacks, but not the actually character.

La Signora - Look I'm a La Signora hopium believer, have been since the minute she died in 2021 - only way for her to be playable is for her to have a redesign and resurrection in natlan. 🙏 I'm not religious but I am praying for this. To any god who will listen. If not maybe when we 'reweave the threads of all fate' or whatever, we will get the chance to go back in time/partner with her. Maybe we will go back in time to the actual cataclysm - and actually wait there is the pierro and possible capitano connection too.

Pantalone - Due to popularity and build I want to say I feel like he'll be playable. Don't think he's loyal to the Fatui, very much leaning toward him being loyal to himself. Don't think he'd get a vision though, so I'm not sure. Maybe he'll be one who canonically uses a delusion/recieves a vision on screen/or even modified his body w Dottore's help to make him able to use elemental powers. I'd say either Geo or Hydro if so. Geo just fits idk man. As for him partnering with the traveler, I could see it being in snezhnaya as a way to take down the fatui, maybe he will partner w the HOTH or smth and put full support there. Idk he kinda gives me Adventurine vibes w in terms of gambling to get a win. Esp since every voice line mentions he's very ambitious, and arle said he isn't very rational.

Tenth Seat - Currently unknown and being theorized on. Imo most likely to be either a hexenzirkle member, previous seat of our sibling (with the name innamorati, while traditionally as lovers, in this case perhaps referring to platonic love for sibling? or the usual irony in that not loving romantically? so love but not love.) or the Tsaritsa going undercover as the 'Tenth Fatui Harbinger' and still being the Lover since she is pretty likely to be the Goddess of Love.

Tartaglia - Literally came in 1.1, will continue to be relevant in Snezhnaya. His second story quest will feature his family and be all cutesy in the beginning then bring area of the abyss connected to Snezhnaya, maybe. See Skirk too, maybe? Leads into her story quest and event with the region similar to Albedo and Dragonspine events? Maybe Skirk will be released with Hurricane Torilla's second story quest?

Anyway those are some of my convoluted thoughts, gotta go and get ready for work, any comments/reblogs/tags are appreciated bcuz i'd love hear other people's thoughts for future genshin lore theories/speculation.

[elegyofthemoon]

Hsr for the ask game thing! Or if it's been asked then hi3 :)

YAAAAAAAAAAAY RAMBLINGGGGGGG

the first character i ever fell in love with:

sampo :) i actually started playing hsr because of sampo! he just seemed like a silly little dude and i do tend to like the "goof but has some big lore potential going on". it took like a day of resisting to actually download the game lmao

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not:

Himeko..... I was actually really excited to get to know Himeko more when I had first started off. I mean come on: she's so beautiful! But laksjdfh I think overtime she eventually stopped standing out for me that I lost interest. That plus now that I've played HI3, the reason why I like HSR! Himeko feels like it's only because of HI3 Himeko and the importance of Himeko in the HI3 plot and for many characters' developments 😭 Sorry Himeko

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not:

I guess KafHime tbh? I think aesthetically they're a very very pretty couple, but I just can't get behind it at all. Or I just have no reasons to get behind it since I'm not exactly invested in either characters. Though Kafka is definitely growing on me because I built her (accidental pull) and she's been doing such massive damage so like you know.

Even then I don't have anything to say about either characters aslkdjfa

my ultimate favorite character™:

surprise to no one it's Dan Heng ALKSJDFAKLSJH I can go on about why I like him, but tldr: I just got attached to him at a very very crucial point in my life and he's just a nice comfort character to me ^u^ I loved being able to get to know him further on the Luofu and all things about the High Cloud Quintet ! So... yeah :> also I miss him --

prettiest character:

IM STUCK BECAUSE I THINK DAN HENG IS SOOOOOO PRETTY BUT ALSO ARGENTIIIIIII ARGENTI IS SO BEAUTIFULLLL RADIANT KNIGHT WHO COMES WITH HIS OWN SPARKLES AND OURGHHHHHH

it's hard T _ T its very hard to tell T _ T

my most hated character:

I don't really have a character I hate. Just more disinterest towards. Dr. Ratio is definitely up there though (I ramble about him later lmao)

my OTP:

listen.... i know it has been a while.... but I still really love Serval/Cocolia. I rarely read fanfics aside from if its written by my friends but Servalia had me clawing through AO3 and Tumblr just to search for more fics for them. No one posts about them much anymore but I sure love them so much okay.

my NOTP:

i'm not going to say which ship but its one of the dan heng ships.

favorite episode:

I'll write this as "favorite update". Penacony has been suuuuch a fun ride honestly. So I'll say that entire section has been tons of fun. As of now I still haven't finished it in its entirety, but I can sense 2.2's story will probably be my favorite because I've been waiting to get to know Robin more and the Watchmaker!! But 2.1 has been fun because I just love seeing Acheron's section of it heheh :)

saddest death:

UHHH as of now, I think Aventurine's death in 2.1 was really sad :/ Hoyo did a really good job writing Aventurine and his story that once you get to the finale of the 2.1, I found myself kinda torn on how it ended. Aventurine who placed his bets on his own death because that is what his good luck is good for - winning against all odds. The epilogue scene with Aventurine walking off into the Nihility's shadow kinda got me too. And this is coming from someone who is like very.... meh on Aventurine? I can't really bring myself to get super invested in him but objectively, he is a really well thoughtout and well created character. I just have no feelings towards him.

favorite season:

I'll write this as "favorite area". It's still Penacony askldjfahlsk There's sooooo many things happening in Penacony and I loved being able to put the pieces together to figure out what's going on. It's also the first area that I had nearly read all the readables in because I'd make it my goal to finish reading every readable and 100% every area before the next update in Penacony :> I want to better understand the area I'm in and give myself ideas for where the story can go. The second area would have been Belobog because it's the only other area I was trying to 100% and read all the readables for (are the readables important in Belobog? no but some of them sure made me cry a bit LMAO)

least favorite season:

"Least favorite area" Honestly... Herta's Space Station. But that could also be because when I first started HSR, I was still orienting myself to the new world, so the space station is the least i remember. It's not that I hated it; it's trying to orient you into the new world and I was just confused for majority of it. I just don't remember enough about it nor about the people within it to care for it.

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate:

Objectively: I'll say he's interesting and I am interested to see his development. But Dr. Ratio. I don't get it. I've seen people talk about him wanting education to be accessible to ALL which is GREAT but personality? Can't stand him.

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave:

Ruan Mei my most beloved. I want more of her and I feel like we didn't get enough of her. She's just so interesting as a character and while she may not be the most caring of characters - and reasons why people shit on her - I still feel like her view as a character is interesting. And even her motives of wanting to become an Aeon. I want to understand her better. Why? What drove her to want to become so? I WANT TO UNDERSTAND YOU MISS

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave:

not a beautiful cinnamon roll but she sure is beautiful but i love Jingliu 😭😭😭 one reason why i don't like interacting with majority of the fandom is because of their viewpoint on Jingliu's companion quest. I had way way clearer thoughts on the quest when it was fresh on my brain, but I actually liked it a lot more than the fandom let on about it, and I know that people were kinda shittalking about Jingliu afterwards and that made me Mad on her behalf because I think she's a really nicely thought out character. But then again, if you know me: white hair character who is defined by mourning and grief. you know the deal LKAJDHFALKJD

idk. I just feel like she deserves better than how the fandom treats her.

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship:

I mean whatever the hell Rondo Across Countless Kalpas had going on, Black Swan/Acheron sure kinda has me feeling a way (in which i'd risk wanting a dance with Acheron. me too Black Swan LAKJDFALKS). Also in a way Servalia too I mean. You know.

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship:

No one asked but I actually kinda lowkey ship Firefly/Robin. Like very very lowkey. My only reasoning is when 2.0 was fresh and i was in Mourning over Robin, I once sent a very giant and long essay to my friend N about me late night perusing and overanalyzing Firefly and Robin's deaths. like why specifically them ? Why did they have to die?

I took it in a very symbolic matter. I thought too much about Firefly's monologue about her answer to "Why do people slumber?" and her answer being "Because people are afraid to be awake" or something like that. And about how it was "If I can stop one heart from breaking" that played in the background of all this - a song that praises the comforts of a dream in the face of bleakness. In both cases, in my view, it felt like having both of them die at least in that update, the deaths also seemed to signal the idea of ceasing this concept of a dream and to face reality etc.

And that's something I'm super excited about based on where i am with HSR with arguing with Sunday over the concept of comfort vs freedom.

BUT BACK TO THE POINT OF THIS QUESTION: this concept and me fixating on their meanings, it gave me a reason to kinda put Firefly/Robin together. It's kinda nice parallel with each other in a way haha