If Furina Accepted The Duel With Clorinde

Okay, everyone... It's time to talk- really talk- about Furina.

I cannot be the only one who is angry at the people of Fontaine for their treatment of her.

I mean, they loved Furina. She was their mascot- the true representation of justice in Fontaine. And we all know how it goes- Furina was placed in the role of the new archon, and then had to pretend to be haughty and self-important to gain her nation's approval. That's bad enough.

But Fontaine wasn't exactly at fault for that. They couldn't have known how painful it would be for her to act the part of their archon. They didn't even know it was just an act. So what made me so furious about their treatment of Furina? Not that. Though that certainly added onto the mess that played out during the archon quest.

No, what got to me was the humiliation they put Furina through, followed by their abandonment of her.

The trial was bad enough. Furina was ripped apart, put on the spot, and unable to defend herself without risking the safety of Fontaine (which I have a few questions about the validity of that statement, but I digress). And then the truth was revealed.

Except it wasn't.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Neuvillette keep what he found out about Furina and Focalors to himself? Fontaine never learned about the pain she went through over those 500 years. They only learned that Furina was a "fraud" and a mere human. All they saw was a human who pretended to be a god in place of their true archon, and they probably even believed Furina had done something to their true god so she could pretend to be the vessel of justice. I'd believe that if I found out my idol was a fake. But that's just speculation on my part.

The point is, Fontaine doesn't know that Furina is the human counterpart to Focalors. They don't know that the divine part of Focalors is already dead. They don't even know the truth about the prophecy or why Furina had to pretend to be their archon.

All they know is that their perceived deity was a fraud all along and their real god is nowhere to be seen.

And that leaves a lot to the imagination, a lot that can be filled in with lies and delusions...

...delusions that say Furina is the reason why their real god is gone.

No one knew how hard Furina tried to prevent anyone from dissolving. No one knows how important it was that Furina told no one who she really was and pretended to be their god for so long. No one knew how much it tormented Furina to isolate herself and pretend to be someone she wasn't. No one knew that the entire reason why Furina did this was because she loved her people and wanted Fontaine to be safe.

No, all the people of Fontaine knew was that their "god" was a fraud and presumably had done nothing to protect the nation from the rising waters. All they knew was that Furina had failed to save Poisson before the disaster struck.

The people of Fontaine only see Furina as a failure and a fraud, nothing more.

The real tragedy though? It's that Neuvillette knew what Furina had gone through for so long.

Yet he said nothing when Furina was cast aside post-flood. He said nothing when the people of Poisson shunned her for her failure to act.

But worst of all, he failed to make sure Furina was okay when all was said and done.

For all the remorse Neuvillette seemed to show upon learning of Furina's story, he barely seemed to care about her after the flood.

He, just like the rest of Fontaine, forgot about her and left her behind.

Furina was left to rot by her people, her other half, and even the closest thing she ever had to a friend.

That's the true irony of Fontaine.

The mascot of justice, unjustly humiliated and forgotten in front of and by her own nation.

I've never heard of a crueler fate.

And don't forget- Furina doesn't even know who she is anymore. How much harder do you think that is for someone who has nothing and no one to turn to?

Even the Traveler mocked her and only cared about her for answers about their sibling.

Furina has no one, is no one, and will be remembered as no one. Except as a fraud, a failure, and an egomaniac. Because that is the role she was forced into.

Focalors was deluding herself. Furina could never be free to act as whoever she wanted. Furina was always doomed to play the same part, and she was always doomed to be hated and ultimately forgotten by her own people.

And all we, the Traveler, did to "help" her, was to force her to take the stage again.

Also, do you really, honestly believe that Furina started acting again during her story quest solely because she has a passion for it?

No. It's familiar. And it's all she has left.

Furina only took to acting again because we forced her into it, and she only chose to continue because it's all she knows how to do.

Furina is truly the most tragic character in all of Genshin.

I love french people i wish they were real

Old furina demo art!

post-mouseter pearl??

500 years, 600 years

"it'll be ok"

Man its been weeks and I’m still soured by the conclusion to Fontaine’s main story. I'll just rant here

There were a lot of things I didn’t like about it (Arlecchino's altruism being played straight, Traveler being out of character, the lore exposition ass-pull with the prophecy slates, the weird logic about how destroying a Gnosis could potentially wake up the Heavenly Principles but not fucking destroying an Archon Throne when Celestia forced everyone to fight a GODDAMN WAR TO ESTABLISH THEM-) but the biggest offense to me was how Furina was handled. This was marketed as the grand finale of the arc, the climax with Furina at the center of it all. And she got shafted. Big time. Furina had no agency in the plot whatsoever, nothing she did had any effect on how things turned out, and she didn’t even have the dignity of fully understanding why it all had to happen that way.

(Also I will preface this with yes Furina and Focalors are technically the same person with the same origin, but after the split Furina lost all her memories as Focalors. They are two separate consciousnesses with different experiences, and therefore I will treat their individual choices as their own)

I’ve seen people try to argue that no, she chose to take on this role knowing she would suffer, that she didn't HAVE to go along with it. And she was even working by herself to solve the prophecy without relying on Focalors, she wasn’t a puppet/pawn! But the thing is she was essentially in a hostage situation. If she didn’t do things exactly as dictated by Focalors people would DIE. Like there is a reason why criminal punishments are lighter when it’s found the perpetrator was coerced into it! And her researching how to avoid the prophecy changed nothing about the outcome, she could have sat around eating cake and the story would have word for word turned out exactly the same. All that information served to do was highlight her suffering and draw the audience’s sympathy. That's what I mean about her not having agency, it's not about her ability to act as an individual but how her actions had an effect on the overall plot. None of her choices outside of the role designated by Focalors did anything to change the situation for better or worse.

And to top it all off she didn’t even understand WHY this all had to happen. Why do people dissolve in the Primordial water? How does her pretending to be an Archon play into solving the issue? Why can’t she confide in anyone? What the hell is Focalors even doing? She doesn’t learn the answers to any of these until after everything was over, and not even from Focalors’ own mouth, it was relayed to her by Neuvillette.

Speaking of Neuvillette, I’m not gonna lie I’m sorta annoyed at his existence because it felt like Furina was shafted for him. Everything is very tilted in Neuvillette's favor. He gets his powers back, full control over Pneuma/Ousia, final say in trials, the ability to hand out Visions, and just straight up the ability to manipulate life itself. And okay all these things were his to begin with lore-wise, whatever, but he also becomes the "lore important" character after this at Furina's expense. Furina doesn't have her memories as Focalors, she can't tell us anything about how the world works, about Celestia, about what happened 500 years ago. Even though other Archons didn't give us much either for one reason or another, they at least HAVE that knowledge, and are therefore guaranteed to have involvement in future events with the Abyss and Celestia. Furina at the moment, doesn't. Neuvillette has it now. And all that talk about Focalors judging Celestia? Also Neuvillette's job now. And it feels like it was all stolen from Furina from a story-telling perspective because again, she didn't know of the plan to return his powers. She didn't even get to explicitly agree with her other self that he should have them back. The writers really seemed to go out of their way to place him on a pedestal at Furina's expense, which irks the hell out of me.

There are some opportunity for future interludes to turn the current state around, and they probably will since Furina is still being marketed as an Archon, but as it stands I want Fontaine to be over so we can move on to the next disappointment.

hbo max blocks screenshots even when I use the snipping tool AND firefox AND ublock which is a fucking first. i will never understand streaming services blocking the ability to take screenshots thats literally free advertising for your show right there. HOW THE HELL IS SOMEBODY GONNA PIRATE YOUR SHOW THROUGH SCREENSHOTS. JACKASS

Singer of Many Waters

EternalBerry Animatic || Love in Paradise