#im putting venti into a salad spinner

[karmas-void]

Venti, Barbatos and religion

@mielwritingmade the mistake of asking me my opinion on something so here it is, quick comment receipts so people ave context, this was under a post where I talked (complained) about how the Genshin Impact fandom used to have a problem with claiming characters were "minor coded"

Okay now that we're all caught up and I've proven this isn't my unsolicited opinion and someone did in fact ask me and I have my writing music on:

I've always found the religion within Mondstadt to be incredibly fascinating. If we think about what a god is, in a real world sense, it is a being given power through human believe, ways we've thought the universe into existence, explanations of the ineffable long before modern science and technology.

By that definition, I believe Venti to be the only "true god" within genshin. Every other god is present in their nation to a certain capacity and takes charge for better or for worse, but Venti doesn't wish to rule his people like that. Barbatos' wish for Mondstadt has always been for the citizens to decide upon their own freedom without divine interferance.

"Freedom, if demanded of you by a god, is really no freedom at all" - Venti to Dvalin in the prologue

As such, his interferance with his own followers, his worship, his religion, has been imited. Barbatos, the actual god, who hides among mortals as Venti, keeping a watchful eye on his people, is entirely seperate from Barbatos, the figment of him which the church has taken to worshipping. Yeah they have his ideas and wishes and the esence of his being is the same, but the Barbatos the church worships is not a tangible entity, it is a concept, as mot gods in the modern world are, one which their traditions and values are based off of.

As for Venti thinking of Mondstadt as his children, I've been wrecking my brain trying to figure out a proper analogy for this, but it goes without saying that the children of Mondstadt are *not* Venti's biological children. the parent-child bond Venti refers to here, I believe, only extends as far as his protection does. The citicens of Mondstadt are children of freedom, they are the charge of the divine idol Barbatos the church worships, and Venti feel responsible for their safety.

Anyways that's enough for now I'm gonna get back to writing my mondstadt rebellion fanfic now I might return with more thoughts later