Spoilers for 4.1 World Quest “Unfinished Comedy” and the Archon Quest.
In Unfinished Comedy we learn about Caterpillar, a member of the Narzissenkreuz Ordo. He has an illness that affects his limbs and extremities, which many people have pointed out seems similar to that of Arlecchino. What’s the deal with the 4th Fatui Harbinger? What are her links to Caterpillar or Narzissenkreuz? Why is she ranked Fourth? And more importantly… does Caterpillar tell us something deeper about the links between Rene, Jakob, Khaenri’ah and the Cataclysm, and the Curse???
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Introduction
00:36 The Caterpillar
02:08 The Narzissenkreuz Ordo
04:49 The Knave
08:19 The Curse
14:23 Closing Thoughts
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✨ The “Will” of the Oratrice: https://youtu.be/Eikee1fGLkc?si=8IgZ07GH-8kMZUUS
✨ Khaenri’ahns are Dragons???: https://youtu.be/78QkWA0ziZ4?si=MMyb65amZtJ_H9k2
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Music
✨ HOYO-Mix
✨ “Se Pone Caliente” by the U.S. Commercial Product Safety Commission (public domain)
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#genshinimpact #hoyocreators #genshinimpact #genshin #原神
source
Closed Captions coming shortly! As well as any notes, corrections, or additions –
I completely missed that Cater = Carter, but it made so much sense as soon as you said it! I'm super excited to find out what the link between him and Arlecchino is. Her english VA definitely gave her voice an underlying "growl"!
I personally have no problem with you making this all about Khaenri'ah lmao. In the Jumpty Dumpty event that just passed, Lisa mentioned how Kaeya is off on a(nother) "business trip" and my one-frequency radar immediately alarmed haha
Talking about the "curse" of Khaenri'ah, the Abyss and Rene's procedures.
I theorised that the curse is actually an illness/corruption born of the Abyss, which has different effects depending on how much the population afflicted by it can resist it (as in, how immune to it they are) along with intent.
So, we would have the majority of the population that is very vulnerable to it (Hilichurls), a few less (Husks and Abysslings) and the minority that can withstand it better (the "pure bloods", who retain their humanity).
Also, another dividing factor between who becomes Hilichurl/Husks and Abysslings is, I noticed, intent.
Abysslings retain their intelligence, and have chosen to be corrupted (An example is Klingsor from the Kvharena quest, and Jakob from the Narzissenkreus), while Hilichurls were unwilling victims who did not chose to be corrupted.
Oooh. I havent been doing sumeru quests but did so last weekend to save up primogems. Cane across mr julien and surprised he mentioned caterpillar.traveller still was not aware of cater although ive already done caterpillar’s quests in fontaine.
13:51 me pretending i'm surprised 😮🤭
thanks for summarizing the info and connecting the dots!
i am absolutely convinced that arlechinno is a hilichurl
You know what would be realy messed up. What if the Hilichurl curse just changes our perception of them? What if in the eyes of a Melusine they appear as normal humans, but to us they appear as mindless beasts. What if they are just defending themselves from everyone that is attacking them. Now that would be a realy horrible curse, not only they are punished for their SIN but it is their own kind that is hunting them down. And to top it off they can't even die so they get to experience Physical and Emotional pain over and over and over for eternity.
Also Hilitchurls are mostly peacefull and mind their own busyness, it was the abyss order that made them aggresive towards us. (I'm speaking lore wise not gameplay wise here.)
I'm also thinking of the original Hilichurls before the Khaenri'an dissaster, could the Hilitchurl rogues be part of the original ones? Since they have no affiliiation with any of the usual tribes and only lend their help in occasion.
You are starting to be one of the very few Genshin theorists here on YouTube who I trust to handle the lore properly wwwww as soon as I saw the thumbnail I was like WAIT, I WANT TO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW–
When 4.1 came out my friends and I had an extensive talk about this new, absolutely bonkers world quest. It didn't make my jaw drop like the book of revelations did, but when Cater transformed it was VERY close lmao. I commented back on one of your previous Narzissenkreutz videos, and I definitely have to retract some of my previous statements: the whole Cater Carter thing is WAY on the nose at this point; so I'm pretty sure Cater is definitely Carter who is also definitely colonel Kate. I still can't quite locate the mysterious light haired kid mentioned in A Story, but since Cater is light haired as well maybe it's Carter after all… ? The timeline doesn't really check out considering that Carter is supposed to be slightly older than the rest of the crew, but I guess that's a can of worms for a different day.
Now I have to admit, I'm mostly leaning towards the interpretation that Rene took Carter's consciousness and transplanted it somewhere else, thus creating something entirely new (Cater). This would be very much in line with many of Fontaine's themes of multitudes merging together to create an entirely different being (Rene/Master/Narzissenkreutz is an example, but so is the Oceanid in the first act of the Archon Quest, made up of all the women murdered by Vacher) BUT I MUST SAY… your theory definitely holds some water as well 👀
There is definitely something odd with Rene and Jakob's lineage and body composition, and I'm not sure if I should attribute this only to the fact that they are fully Fontanians (something something something if all Fontanian women have the potential to merge into Oceanids maybe men have some similar features too?) – considering that Karl also is described as being different from Rene and Jakob and there shouldn't be any indication that Karl is anything but Fontanian himself. Maybe it's something that has to do with people from Poisson, or the de Petrichor/Baker family???
… Gosh, while I was typing this comment I realised that the word Petrichor is composed of petra, rock, and ichor. Now, if we look at the Wine Goblet of the Pristine Sea, who combined ancient rock and ichor to create an entirely new set of living beings……………… hm
… anyway!
I agree that, whatever Jakob and Rene are, Carter definitely isn't. My personal tinfoiled hat theory is that he is at least partially Sumerian, mostly because as you said – his disease really reminds me of Eleazar (with the fact that Alain
iirc?even sent blood and skin samples to Sumeru for them to examine… again, Alain Guillotine and Zandik crossover episode when?) and, since Eleazar is caused from the presence of forbidden knowledge in Sumeru, we don't really have evidence of that being present in Fontaine. For now, at least…Carter's lineage aside, it makes sense that, therefore, whatever worked on Jakob could have never worked on Carter. As you said, Rene could have DEFINITELY learned his way around these funky techniques through Khaenriahn notes, considering that he deeply engrossed himself in studying Khaenriahn magic and formulas as close as possible. Maybe Khaenriahns too envisioned a world where sweet flowers and mint wouldn't grow, and they too tried to transcend humanity in a way that horribly backfired… while I do need to ponder a bit longer on this, it could definitely make sense. There is something to be said about how Teyvat is strictly cyclical and every story repeats itself (speaking of which, I was very VERY surprised to learn how much Remus' story mirrors Primordial One's), and about how when every civilisation gets to its apex something goes wrong and humanity reverses to a primitive state. Like, how primitive are we talking? Hilichurl-kind of primitive?
Because the only thing that doesn't really sit right with me is that, if Khaenriahns were maybe aware of the cycles, I'm not sure why they were caught off guard when they stepped into the desert and started turning into monsters (hilichurls). But once again I'm here splitting hairs; I think it's definitely possible that Carter was turned into a Hilichurl by Rene's attempt of making him "transcend" – don't quote me on that, but didn't the dying Hilichurls in the chasm also turned into black splotches of abyssal goop after the Dain quest… ?
That, or Rene just shoved Carter's body into the mud in an attempt to preserve him, which is not too farfetched considering who we're talking about.
Anyway, another very good video with definitely some food for thought! Gotta start following this channel more closely, I really appreciate your insight on the plot and it's definitely good to hear such informed second opinions when it comes to this mess of a lore.
PS: I know this isn't really about her, but while I don't know if Hoyo is brave enough to shove a main character in a world quest (they barely ever do so; even thinking about Sumeru's big world quest I can't remember any big character being mentioned in them), I still haven't let go the hypothesis that Arlecchino might be Lyris, now that we have confirmation that she is a real person that existed at some point in history.
Design elements aside that make me think that, with her being the 4th, she might probably not be fully human (her blackened hands as you mentioned; her eyes; but also the fact that many part of her outfit remind me of fins, in a bit of an Oceanid theme), when I heard Cater say that Lyrs was called "Red Empress" my heart jumped a beat.
This is the only way I could partially agree with the wiki in saying that Lyris is the director of the Narzissenkretuz institute, an interpretation that I just struggle SO hard to agree with. From what little we can deduce, the actual director was probably absorbed by Rene at some point: I wonder now if Lyris is to the director what Ann is to Mary-Ann, just a "happy accident" that resulted in the creation of someone who is somewhat similar, but not quite identical to whatever they was in the first place. Someone who then tried to follow in the footsteps of their original counterpart, but with their own twisted agenda…
Either that, or indeed the result of some other silly experiment from our one and only, Rene de Petrichor. Man, I can't wait for 4.2 😭
Looking at the Chinese names:
卡特(皮拉) Cater(pillar)
卡特・谢尔比乌斯 Carter Scherbius
Yup, the names match
He is called Caterpillar because he likes leaves.
This was so good and much more articulate than me screaming “he was CARTERPILLAR!!” When I finished the quest.
Idk if all fontainians are dissolvable is related to the neo humans thing, but it sure is interesting. I think that one is more related to the Remuria story. I’ve got no proof whatsoever and am not smart enough to do a whole essay on it but my crack theory is that fontainians are dissolvable cus they were all dissolved in the past once already/have been contaminated by dissolved people soup in the past. Maybe Remus succeeded in liquifying at least some of his people, but didn’t manage to put them in robot bodies, instead it got out and went into the primordial sea and got recycled into other humans. Also this sorta maybe contributed to how melusines happened?? Cus their origin story is wild and seems outta nowhere, but makes a lot more sense how a whole race of magical conscious beings were formed if: magical god flesh was catalysed by an explosion that embedded bits of pneumaousia powered robot parts and tainted human flesh featuring dissolved human juices into abyssal dead god flesh.
Anyways thanks for your thought provoking video!
So basically 🥶BUILT DIFFERENT🥶
Did your house burn down when you were a child or something
I think it's implied that the purple sludge we can find in the institute (that looks like the things from the chasm) is what Carter turned into. His consciousness might still have been extracted and used to make Caterpillar but he wouldn't have turned into a Hilichurl.
Manifesting pyro hilichurl arlecchino👏
My queen finaly
I was so upset i coud't watch it earlyer
I think pierro did something similar to a hilichurl like narzissenkreuz the mage did, since he is a mage afterall. which created arlecchino
It's possible arlechinno was simply suffering from the same thing carter was (the contamination in the hands), caterpillar chooses how he appeared as a child when he transforms because it's like an ode to his original form maybe as a young carter? obviously arlechinno was saved also but retains the staining in her arms and it's probably no coincidence she's also in charge of an orphanage that could be closely related to the orphanage that jacob and rene were part of a long time ago.
The question is WHO was the original knave, we know he abused and used the children in the house of the hearth for his own ends ( see freminet's dialogue)
Not directly linked to anything said here but I haven't seen anyone mention it yet; when you go through the book to Rene's prophesied vision realm, if you look behind you it shows the place with the upside-down fountain in the chasm.
I love these videos as i will likely never complete these missions and im already doing them all out of order. And I dont read.
If there is one thing Caterpillar's existence proves, it's that Jakob was right: the Abyss Order are hacks.
I wonder, if "Curse" was supposed to save lives originally. Could it have been originally a "Medicine" for Irmin, who should have been indisposed at the time of Cataclysm? And maybe it just went far beyond Irmin himself or maybe it did work on Irmin right when the cataclysm was happening, and either sages or irmin himself thought that it can save the nation too (not the smartest move, but nothing new according to Pierro i guess)
Cater could definitely be Carter as the end of the quest that you escape from the fortress a different one starts and you return back to the institute and the room with the clock.
Once there Ann the Oceanid and seamur all unite and they know that they all are related somehow.
0:07
Let's just appreciate how much a lot of time he puts in these awesome videos to make our day, huge respect! 😱 😍
Caterpillar is the most interesting NPCs we’ve met so far in Fontaine.
He has lot of lore hidden in his mind but also deeper philosophical thoughts too. Are you a good person if you are doing good but not by instinct or because of feelings, just by choosing to imitate them. The end result is the same so does it matter. He’s analysing himself and his actions, not always the kindest critic to himself.
Arlecchino is probably not immortal since she has lyney as her succsessor
I thought the red stone was crimson agate from dragonspine then I remember Elnays was one of rindotters abyss creations and we had a whole quest chain about his heart and blood. Maybe that was consumed at somepoint in the experementation process
I want to talk about how everyone from the Narzissenkreuz Institute has transformed into a non human being and why they were doing this.
Straight up their objective is to look for ways to survive past the "Apocalypse", which is what they witnessed from the Abyss and predicted would happen to Teyvat. In the Abyss vision from the Book of Esoteric Revelations, we learn that the Abyss became what it looks like because of a breach in space-time from a hole in the sky, which looks exactly like how the Sign of Apaosha looks like if it never got sealed. We can assume that if the hole wasn't sealed, Forbidden Knowledge would have spilled into Teyvat and turned it into another Abyss.
The Narzissenkreuz Institute thought that it was just a matter of time before this also happens to Teyvat so they focused all the research into ways to survive such an event. And that's why they are experimenting on transforming humans into various creatures that might survive the Abyss, Abyss Lectors, Hilichurls, robots and event Oceanids. This is a recurring theme in Hoyoverse that was questioned back in Honkai 3rd, if you are no longer physically human, are you still human? And if human civilisation has been completely replaced by non humans in order to survive, does human civilisation still exist?
Genshin is a story about civilisation, human culture and life, which is why this series of quests are important questions that ponder the essence of humanity. Which leads to the primary debate of Fontaine world quests, French Existentialism vs Essentialism. This series of World Quests are discussing the French philosophical debate of Existentialism vs Essentialism. Aristotle once argued that our substance/Ousia is determined by our Essence, which means we are born into what we are meant to be in the first place. But Existentialists argued against that, Sartre stated that Existence precedes Essence "Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world—and defines himself afterwards." What it means is that we are free to shape our lives into whatever we want, we are not tied to an initial Essence.
Melusine quests talk about a great Existence, Elynas who gave up his life and created the Melusine, who are free to live their lives. However it was the Essence of Elynas, the fact that it was a creature from the Abyss that determined his end, being from the Abyss meant that it was essentially incompatible with Teyvat, poisoning and bringing harm to its inhabitants.
On the Narzissenkreuz side of the story, we learn of multiple individuals who gave up their bodies, their Existence; In the case of Ann who became an Oceanid, split up her Essence into multiple Hydro creatures, each of them owing their Existence to the Essence of Ann. But these creatures seem to be stuck with their Essence, wanting to flow back to the source, Ann, as they are deeply tied to the memories of Ann, particularly her fantasies and seek to live those fantasies. However in the end the small Oceanid Mary-Ann was given the blessing of Ann to live freely away from these fantasies.
What makes a human a human, is it our essence, what we are born with, our human bodies, or are we free to choose our existence and be human regardless of what we end up as?
Those exploring fontaine must have noticed a tower east of fontaine inaccessible as of 4.1 now, If Snezhnaya too has a tower somewhat like that, counting the 3 towers – fontaine one, snezhnaya one and mondstadt one(stormterror's tower), all three can possibly pinpoint towards celestia in centre, possibly a way to get into celestia after unlocking some kind of hidden mechanic still hidden in them, what do y'all think?
The Doomsday Clock is almost at 6 pm….
Wonder how many archon quests or world quest in Fontaine or after that will make the clock be close to Midnight