#it was about narzissenkreuz all along!

[mtkanna]

in their own ways, each member of the narzissenkreuz institute became 'immortal,' i think. jakob exists as an abyssal creature lived far beyond his original lifespan, while the eidolon in the real annapausis holds all of mary-ann guillotin's memory and thus acts as a living monument to her. alain guillotin produced so many advancements for fontaine's technology that his name was almost canonised—everyone knows his name, now, and what he did for fontaine, even if they don't know much about him as a person. and rene became part of the primordial sea only to return as narzissenkreuz, thus becoming a being that prophesied its own death and infinite rebirth...

[gold-rhine]

fontaine SPOILERS for like, everything released so far and speculations. I have a couple of theories on who Arlecchino might be. So, we know she's from Fontaine and she's old, she was making fun of childe for being a baby. She wants to stop the prophesy of fontaine ppl dissolving into water. She runs an orphanage, where kids later are recruited into fatui

this all, but esp orphanage and dissolving theme, I think v strongly connects her to Narzissenkreuz Institute from 500 years ago. It was an orphanage, from where all major players connected to dissolution in primordial waters came from. I think there is 2 options for who she might be:

1.Mary-Ann Guillotin. She was a sister of Alain Guillotin and an orphan herself. She was described as acting as older sister of the group in orphanage despite her being the youngest. She was recruited into Marechaussee Hunter along with her brother when she grew up, which is basically fontaine's secret service, which i think is very fitting. She ended up hunting her former friends from the Institute, Rene and Jakob, who at this time created a secret organization Narzissenkreuz Ordo and were planning to save fontaine by dissolving ppl into hivemind in primordial water. Same shit Arlecchino wants to stop. She presumably died in confrontation with them, after a huge explosion.

BUT it happened inside of Elynas, an abyssal dragon, and Elynas works basically by bloodborne gods rules. From contact with him any wild shit can happen. Like, as the result of same explosion the race of Melusines were created from Elynas' wounds, seemingly for no reason. He has dream dimension inside. He died, but his consciousness can still talk and act. There are portals into abyss all over him. So, there are countless ways she could've been teleported somewhere, warped, corrupted, etc.

Like, despite her being dead, both of fontaine world quests (the baby oceanid and the mechanical dog ones) end on strong message of "finding Mary-Ann." in fact, they converge together into this, and its basically spelled out they will be continued.

Also, in Marechaussee Hunter set we have this from Karl Ingold, adopted father of Jakob and Rene, reminiscing about past "And afterwards, the cries, sounds of fracturing and metallic clashes that sounded faintly from beyond the stone floor. And as he recalled the girl who used a "trick" to forcibly shift herself into a dark, safe cavern. Only then did the regret of not having recorded her final battle engulf his vision." - ok so, Elynas says there were many metallic animals in that fateful confrontation, so both "cavern" (Elynas is full of caverns and fight was inside of him) and "metallic clashes" AND "her final battle" point that it's about that explosion in which Mary Ann supposedly died. But he also says that "girl" used "trick" to hide in a cavern! Like who else it could be about if not Mary Ann. She fits 100% to the descriptions, we don't have other fontaine girls fighting their final battles in caverns, and with metallic clashes around. So she escaped, hid in "safe" cavern, but again, its a cavern inside of eldritch abyssal god monster. It could v easily warp her into whatever the fuck is wrong with her rn and make her immortal (Jakob who consumed Elynas' flesh is immortal, so that's provably smth connection to Elynas can do.)

2.My second option is Basil Elton, Vice Director of Narzissenkreuz Istitute. She was a former naval commander who retired and helped run the orphanage, but then during cataclysm left to fight monsters and presumably died in a fight that killed Elynas. BUT Basil Elton was H.P. Lovecraft's character, a captain of the ship who could visit Dreamlands. So, she might not be dead, but like teleported to abyss.

I think Mary-Ann is a better option, bc its more narratively satisfying to have a fight between former close friends (Mary Ann and Jakob, abyss Baptist who is still around doing some Schemes), and also like their confrontation would rhyme with a battle in Elynas where she presumably died, her stopping his plot of dissolution after so many years. but idk, we'll see