Correction about Queen Maria. She didn't say the quote "Let them eat cake" This quote was made by a random princess way before Maria even born. Why this became her quote? Because it's from a random princess with no origin... Historian was VERY extremely biases over Maria that even after her death rumours still created infinitely... Yeah, even after her death she still get slander... It's one of those random case of similar to our society too. With random chat massage and the people "forge" that massage saying the victims lied. Maria suffer that like way ahead of us...
Also, Queen Maria didn't actually show off how she uses her wealth too. This is also a bias by historian... The accountant of that time even clearly shows 99% of the budget went to the military... France was crazy at war with Britain. The subject saw Maria eating in Luxury despite it being just 1% of the nation budget? They got jealous and joke about how she devours the nation's budget... No she didn't... The military commander spent them all while she's did NOT know anything. She loves house riding, arts and music. She "hates all politics and war" Due to her hates she's ignorance to war completely... This is her true down flaw because she basically give complete freedom to the military supreme military to spend money without any budget caps... She didn't know she just accidentally give unlimited budget to her military commander just because she hates war... To combat this budget crisis the treasury advisor spends ton of money an equalance to our world as "market shocks" It would give him a lot of money if it's in "peaceful era" Sucks for him cause the military commander is a warmonger... Peace never came so all his invested stocks basically lost too... He has the right idea because it WOULD be stupid to continue the war! But the commander was that stupid! He should have declared a truce in war! He's ahead of his time... If he were in our era he would be as rich as Microsoft...
So did Maria did anything at all that ruined France? Surprisingly her only sin is she "did nothing" Because she hates war and politics... Even all the luxury claim was false...
Had to edit this in….the ppl of Fontaine may not be celebrating he because they’re dealing with the reality that they’re sea slugs. I feel like there’s going to be a quest line addressing that. Perhaps someone who wanted to be an oceanid and not human. She was archon for 500 years, but she really didn’t do much in actual resolution of the plan. In the End, Neuvillette saved their lives. Focolar is a distinctly separate entity from Furina. The Archon are separate from their human host. There’s just a lot for the public’s to sort out….not to mention reconstruction No one is who they appear in Fontaine Spoiled brat Furina Neuvillette was supposed to be this high and mighty, arrogant, classists noble Wriosthly was supposed to be some hard nosed warden….
YES. first we have lyney panicking over his siblings during the 4.1 archon quest, the frem event, and along with furina, there's also neuvillette's fear of losing the people he loves (carole and vautrin, his panic over focalors) I love fontaine and i have since I knew of its existence
fontaines main quest is what made me start playing. i watched my bf playing and he often spoke about references to esoteric old religions which also sounds pretty fun! im bitter about missing her banner though :•\
Furina is such a relatable character to such a big part of the fanbase. From what I’ve seen, a majority of the fanbase is still in Highschool/college and are constantly struggling through their days with tasks that don’t seem related as part of the “bigger picture”. Furina experiences something similar through her 500 year cycle. Love her to death for being so relatable
as a second year uni student I get her. sometimes I wonder when my assignments would come to an end. Or there are nights I wonder if I'm even trying hard enough.
@@Blossom_6655 It's the same on the other side. I'm an autistic PhD student and every time I teach a class, I have to put on this facade of a somewhat respectable university prof. And there is always more homework to check, more messeges from students to respond to... And you never feel like you're trying hard enough
@@Ren7397 I'm not a PhD student but I started teaching after a master's degree (I specialise in English as a foreign language and theoretical linguistics to an extent, nit teaching - at first). I also suspect I might be neurodivergent, because so many experiences throughout my life seem to fit much more into the experiences of other people with autism, ADHD or both. And I cannot agree more. I used to pull off 40 academic hours of classes a week at two workplaces but had to quit both jobs because now I can barely do 10 - with all the materials ready. And I'm mentally drained. And I relate to the episode of Furina crying in public from a breakdown so much, because I remember all the times I put on a happy face, actually managed to fool myself and make myself think I was happy only to break down on public transport on the way home. And then doing all the homework checking, messages, losing nights of sleep and weekends to all of that... I just relate to Furina so much that it overwhelms me. And I finally felt understood somehow when I did the Archon quest and her story quest. This experience of "what if I'm not doing enough, I'm already doing so much I'm unable to walk 10 minutes without a break, but I should probably be doing more...or should I?". Furina actually made it like a champ
I think the line that broke me was when she begged and screamed straight from her chest "PLEASE! I AM YOUR REAL ARCHON" amber istg you put your whole SOUL into that
"Archon" or not, Furina was able to keep Fontaine on tracks for 500 years without using any power. She'd always put her nation above herself, despite any desires to give up. Even if it was a role that she was given to act as, she fulfilled her position perfectly. I feel bad bc of the way it feels like she was somehow "forgotten" by others after the archon quest. At least Neuvilette will keep looking after her, she really needs to rest after everything.
tbf she had neuvillette carry the heavier lifting in terms of operations. nevertheless she underwent mental torture for 500yrs. no one can take that away from her.
(SPOILER) At the very least, not everyone forgot about her. Iirc, Chlorinde is the first person who visited her in her home, helped her unpack all her things, and even invited her to a tea party. (In her profile iirc)
She should still be honored as an archon. What she did isn't regular-level sacrifice, it's Archon-level sacrifice. Even Raiden Ei agrees with this; as she said, "her willpower has indeed reached the level of a god".
In a way, Furina revealed to many, how people, who don't understand or have never experienced mental issues, see people with them. Everyone were quick to judge Furina for how terrible and obnoxious she was without knowing how she truly was underneath and that's how people who don't understand mental illnesses feel towards such people on a daily basis, they see them as useless, weak, pathetic, obnoxious, attention-seeking, weird or dumb. Because they can't understand they judge based on how they understand themselves and what they know about themselves is that they wouldn't do what those weird people do, it's all they can know and even explaining it or showing it doesn't really reach that understanding, much like explaining a cube in 4D space doesn't exactly allow a person to understand and see what 4D space looks like.
I was like that initially too. I saw her as a brat, just meh as a character. But after all was revealed, I immediately realized she’s like me, and that like a normal person I fell for her facade. It was so well done that it was sad. I understand fully the situation and I relate to her a lot. What’s really sad and aggravating though is seeing how many posts are still made after the end of the archon quest that people still don’t understand the extent of her suffering and the trauma she went through. They still call her an obnoxious brat and a horrible excuse for an archon. Like bruh, obviously she was never the archon fully to begin with and now it’s Neuvillete who holds all the cards thanks to Focalors sacrificing herself. It’s one of the best quests in the game so far and the fact that people still mischaracterize the crap out of it makes me mad 😭😡
Edit: Upon rereading my comment, I realize it may be insensitive and I have not been in such a situation myself so I may npt even be qualified to say such things. I will still leave my original comment just in case anyone can provide any insight into what it’s like to be in that situation While it is true that people shouldn’t judge based on what they see on the surface… alll you do see is the surface. Furina especially didn’t give any clue as to what was going on, and for a long time too. People’s tolerance has a limit too and that’s something you should keep in mind. Even Neuvillette, a person shown to be level headed throughout the entire quest got fed up with it at some point. This also highlights an important role the person facing the mental issue has. While in furina’s case, she literally couldn’t talk because of focalors plan, in real life, there will always be an opportunity to open up to someone about it. Nobody can read your mind and they’ll only know as much as you tell them, so keeping everything to yourself expecting someone to magically appear to relieve you of all your pent up emotions will not end well. And another thing, even after the quest, while I love furina now and can sympathize with what she had to go through for all those years, it doesn’t mean I suddenly like her bratty personality now. It’s important that we don’t encourage toxic behaviors that are associated with bad mental health. We can’t blame people for some attitudes they display as a result of their mental health, but that doesn’t mean we should act like their actions were good. In all, I’m not trying to attack the victim, don’t get me wrong, but I just find it weird seeing people saying those who found furina annoying at first were mean or something (not targeted at the original commenter)
@@aperson6562we dont expect people to relieve us of our burdens. Not anymore. I, and many others, have become our burdens. An attempt to rip the mask of our faces will leave us with the misearable truth; “I have become nothing more than my mask. The skin and features that were supposed to be my face have melded into the cheap and ugly plastic i have worn all this time.” Furina is very strong. Im already dead haha
Very mentally ill here and I indeed never saw her as that, instead projecting on her that she was traumatized and was full of coping mechanisms. It feels hard to live in society where the people who are "functional" and "normal" often can't fathom just how vastly different it can feel inside someone else's brain. I just actually wouldn't judge any real person the way people memed on Furina
maybe it's because i played in cn, but furina to me has always been one of those burnt out college kids who's trying to keep it together but failing to. i never really got the brat jokes
My head cannon is furina's demo is her true personality when her mental is not a mess from being fried for 500 years and not have to pretend to be a pompous jerk She's energetic, loud, loving the attention but also cheerful, charismatic, funny and extroverted and also friendly and genuine with her art... she's a good person deep down there, even kinder than most genshin character I will argue, as we see her in her story quest when she helped a struggling theater troupe, for litterally nothing. No mora, no fame, she didn't even want her name to be credited or mentioned at all. Yet she forced herself to step out of her own comfort zone and to act again for their sake, not her's
That's director furina for you. Such a lovable and selfless character. She's slowly regaining confidence in herself with each update, and hell* now with 4.7 she is now capable of defending herself, as when confronted with a stone golem devorator, even though she was clearly scared, she stood there and summoned her "guards" to fight back, instead of running away like she always did before when against a threat. She probably has a lot of combat potential that she hasn't yet realized, part of it coming from her one of a kind dragon vision. We must be proud for her.
Another fun fact is that Marie Antoinette never actually said "let them eat cake". That was attributed to "an Austrian princess" and people just decided it was her, but in Reality it was recorded a few years before she was born
Yeah! She definitely has a much worse reputation than she deserved. And France's finances were already poor, she wasn't the only noble/cause of revolution.
@@Chrysalid. ironically marie was one of the few nobles to do some charity work. Which definitely wasn't enough, but at least showed that she cared more than the other french nobles at the time.
Furina has had to put on a facade for 500 years. And that would be the equivalent of masking. She has had to shoulder a burden and could go to no one for help. when we have mental health problems we realize something is wrong but no one to turn too. She was the main lead in Foucalor's play to deceive Celestia. She could only cry on her shoulder.
@@2triedforthis830 for me it is because my mom passed away and it felt like the words were said by my mom.. gee, why am I crying now just writing about it haha. My love for my mother, is bigger than the distance between us..
My y escapist self was like "okay, that's whenm my escapism in Genshin actually ends". But yeah, I liked how it was about mental health and also, if you finished it, there was an episode when the Traveler put on Freminet's helmet....oh boy did I cry
Even before act 5 I knew that there was something more to Furina, that the egotistical and confident attitude she had was a mask she was putting on for her people. I obviously didn’t the full extent of why she was acting this way until later, but even then it bothered me that so many people seemed to take her at face value and write her off as annoying. This archon quest was amazing and I’m glad so many people now appreciate Furina and her character
I was like "she's annoying and her behaviour is annoying, but she's actually interesting and I wonder why", instead of just writing her off. Maybe the first time I saw her I did, but then I was like "wait a minute" all the time haha. And in act 5 I realised that she was the most relatable character for me in the entirety of the game. Pulled her and even fished for the pipe sword. She's in my top 3 archons now, that's for sure. I was pretty neutral at first but as soon as I did the quests and everything I almost fell in love 😂😂😂
It was painfully obvious she was just acting and I knew that once the new archon quest dropped people would do a 180° and be like, "omg she's actually amazing!" It was predictable honestly.
Honestly I believe that furina going onto the stage again wasn’t a boundary being ignored. But a fear being conquered, I believe that it was another step in her founding out who she really is, it helped her realize that she can be herself while acting on the stage as well
@@EdgeLie traveler saw what she went through, they should have already put together that she would be uncomfortable with it, and told paining to shut up when she was insensitive/ let her in on furinas baggage
It’s absolutely this. She even receives her own vision during one of the play’s scenes, in place of the prop vision Paimon had meant to give her in that scene
her reinventing acting for herself was actually quite a hopeful message. like if you are traumatized by something doesn't mean you will or should just avoid it for the rest of your life. healing ang changing context of experience and going through it again without getting triggers is actually very freeing. i think biggest problem with sq is that we assume it takes place right after aq, then it works better as a follow-up quest somewhere in the future, when she actually got some room to breathe.
I personally saw her story quest as overcoming her trauma. She managed to play the part of an Archon for 500 years. She was able to make a persona for herself on the spot in front of an audience during her first speech. She is truly talented when it comes to acting, which is the reason she was even able to make it so long, even through her suffering. to me, she got the vision for appearing in a performance despite her fears of what they would think of her, and rediscovering her passion and talent when it comes to different roles. now it is a bit of a rushed way to overcome such a huge event in her life, I would prefer it this arc was over two story quests (if she even gets a second story quest like all other archons, Neuvilette is more likely to get it), but i guess that's just because of constraints like Hoyo needing her to get her vision in story as soon as she's playable.
Yeah, I kinda understand it. But the rushing seriously undercuts whatever they were talking about mental illness. Especially the fact that she was revealed to be part of the play, especially when we have no idea whether the people of fountain understand what she went through. Also the absence of any visible apology from anyone, like the traveler literally exposed her to one of her major traumas. Needed or not that deserves an apology, they really fumbled her in that aspect. Like yeah it's cool to see someone dealing with this type of stuff why is the world that surrounds her garbo tho?
@@lolhellogod6892they also still haven’t talked about how corrupt Fontaine is lol. Furina’s story and the oceanid twist doesn’t change how shitty the system is. Meropide especially is horrible concentration camp propaganda.
@@thegreenflowers3807 Fontaines laws are ass and send innocent people into exile essentially. Once they are down there they are away from the law and are at the mercy of those who control it. Good thing wrio is nice right. Just like the commercials Germany used to advertise their camps lol. But anyway the actually fucked part is the idea that people who spend time there don’t want to leave afterwards. That the time they spent there was actually meaningful and fun, and that carrying out a full sentence is just whatever for the traveler. Why we even stay there after our mission is complete is utterly stupid. Why a kid can even be there PERIOD like in caterpillar’s quest is nonsensical at best. Basically Hoyo’s writing a CC like environment to be just kind of…neat and healthy. A place people want to stay in cause “it’s not that bad”. China btw has real CC’s. The FoM could have very well been a generic evil prison and it has all the telltale signs of one, but with this weird hoyo seal of approval on it constantly screaming “it’s not that bad bro”.
I have never before resonated with a video game character as much as with Furina. I struggle with gender dysphoria and unfortunately I have not been able to transition in the timeframe I'd like. This resulted in me having to slog through university and putting up a mask for years. It's no surprise that this resulted in chronic depression and anxiety. I have literally experienced the scene where Furina had to smile as she cried firsthand. She is an incredible character and the writers have done an extreme service to people who struggle everywhere in silence by showing out in the open how it feels.
Trans guy here, that's exactly my experience with Furina too. She resonated so much with me, I loved her since 4.0 till her story quest. My favorite character of all time
I saw some people not understand why what she went through was a painful experience, and I realized that some people either don't know what it's like to have to wear a mask or they have one so deep on themselves, they're desensitized to it.
it's not even that she just has to wear a mask she has to wear a mask and NEVER let it slip, not even once, not even a second or everyone she knows will die
well thats me i still dont get why everyone is dramatizing her.. wouldnt pretending to be so proud and 'selfish' just raise your ego? when i brag about accomplishing something to my friends i feel rather proud and confident than depressed??? idk like im imagining myself in that situation when im just a normal person like her and i think id rather try to blend in the role to accomplish it well? i get the whole mask thing of course. but its 500 years. come on. after maybe 100 years she shouldve at least realised its not gonna be short and try to live fully into it than just letting it settle as just a public mask because surely itll end soon... hope no one finds this hateful but rather really REALLY confused
Actually she might be among the most important lore-wise. Focalors (and the Hydro archon before her) accomplished something huge with Furina's help. She rebelled against Celestia completely. Not only did she create her own people without their approval, but she tricked Celestia and saved them from being reverted back to their original form. AND even more than that, she completely destroyed the throne of the Hydro Archon forever and gave their stolen power back to the Hydro dragon. This is HUGE. There has to be some sort of repercussion for it when they realize what she's done. It also shows something very important, Celestia can be tricked and defeated. Keep in mind how they absolutely destroyed Khaenri'ah, an extremely advanced powerful nation from what we can tell. She did the forbidden and then won against them at their own game. Even though most of the other Archons have shrugged off their connection with Celestia, this is the first time we've seen someone crack through their system. She might actually be one of the most important characters in the game.
An aspect of Furina receiving her vision some people overlook is the fact that Neuvillete is the one giving out Hydro Visions now. And him giving her a vision is far more meaningful than if it weren't. Because him giving her a vision is an acknowledgement of her indomitable spirit, admiration of her character, and respect that she is willing to pick up the pieces and move on. It's not out of any kind of pity. He's known her for 500 years. Which is something I've noticed that the Fandom is missing the point on. Infantalizing Furina, and treating her like she's just a victim to be coddled, is a disgrace to her and her efforts. That's why I appreciate her story Quest. Because it doesn't do that. Acting may be related to Furina's trauma, but it's also the thing that she can most take pride in, the quality she likes most about herself. If it wasn't for her acting, Fontaine wouldn't be standing. So seeing her with people that likewise value that quality, and giving her a chance to act on her own terms, as opposed to her being forced to, is a great way to showcase her emotional growth. Besides which, the Traveler and Paimon really aren't that pushy when it comes to getting her to join the troupe. They ask her twice to join, and then they ask her if she knows anyone else. Once she puts her foot down, they give up and drop the issue completely. Afterwards, Furina, completely of her own volition, follows them back. (And I dont understand the beef with Paimon. As is usual, most of Paimon's supposed maliciousness is just her having not much of a filter or messy attempts to lighten the mood) Besides which, many people in Fontaine still have a lot of respect for her as a celebrity (which really isn't any different from how they've always seen her)
Aren’t visions given out directly by Celestia? In the Inazuma archon quest, Raiden had no idea that electro visions stopped appearing in Teyvat, which implies that she was not the one giving them out.
@cobblegen1204 Neuvilette's Vision story confirms that visions do come from Archons, it's just not something they're consciously doing. It's more of an automatic process
@@MiyaoMeow588 If it's not being done consciously, can you really meaningfully say that they're giving them out? It still sounds like a principle beyond the control of archons even if it is connected to them. Since the office of archon is transferrable and possible to destroy, as we see in the archon quest, it seems reasonable to conclude that celestial influence is more important than the individual will of the archons.
I'd like to say something about her story quest, it's unfortunate the weird translation/voice direction hurt the story about her. In her demo Furina is presented as Fontaine's most beloved actress, her updated drip marketing paints her as this great figure people continued adoring long after her passing, a one of a kind talent. And she loves the opera, she lives for it even. Her story is one about staying away from an activity she loves, it's her learning that yes, being the spotlight hurts her but there's a way for her to still partake in it not as the actor, but as the director. At the end of the archon quest she leaves the opera believing her greatest play had failed, thinking that her people hate her, that people like Neuvillette look down on her for her faults. But her story quest through the little oceanid play teaches her that her love is corresponded, like traveler said there are people that are willing to share her burden and they don't care if doing so would doom their nation. She takes the spotlight in the end not because of duty but because of love, she loves her people and wants their stories to be known if she sometimes has to be the actor then so be it, that story is being completed no matter what. And she still struggles, she doesn't feel worthy of recognition but she's still given it. Both in the form of the troupe thanking her for her directing and Neuvillette giving her a vision as a reward for her hard work, to remind her that her 500 years of suffering are being acknowledged, that her people are grateful for all she did. Opera is something that makes her happy, that's the one fact about Furina all fontanians and traveler know well, with the story quest she learns whether she was to return to the opera as an actor or director she'll still be loved
one correction, nuevellette didnt give her a vision, archons dont give visions, dunno how this is still a misconception, it was debunked in the main quest literally 2 years ago in inazuma
The way i feel about how she got her vision is i think it was implied that she did love the stage but was scared of how the public would act if she went back alongside how she felt about acting as the archonfor those 500 yrs. Her one love during those centuries was those plays and musicals , her hobby voiceline is about musicals. so she deserves to have that passion rekindled. Also i took her quest and demo as her transitioning from an actor on the stage to the director of her own play that is her life ( and maybe actual plays too).
For the curious: No, Furina did not return to acting at the end, in the character's descriptions it says that she did chose to continue working at the opera, but behind the scenes and her vision is not like the others (a response to ambition) her vision is a gift for everything she had to endure In fact the best written character
On topic of boundary setting.. I struggle with mental illness and I see it both ways. There are some boundaries which got crossed , but this was better for me. Some of my boundaries in the past were extremely stupid. (For example "When I was at a certain street in my neighbor town, I learned my mom got cancer. I will never visit that street again".) On other times, my boundaries got crossed which really just did harm to me. In the story, I think it was rather harmless. Furina was not forced or bullied into stuff she refused to do. But people negotiated with her. And I think, yes. there is a freedom to say no. But there is always also a freedom to ask.
furina and nahida are definitely two of the most important characters and gods. furina literally sacrificed her life to save everyone, and nahida took care of her citizens despite being treated so terribly. she even took care of the children while being kept in a prison. I love them both sm
The archons are all suffering characters, alot has happened well before the events in the game and it shows in each of their characters in their own ways. Furina though, even if she's a clone in Focalor's image, her preserved humanity, the way it shows is real in a genuine, horrifying way. No choice but to grit and bear. No way to cope, with no one to turn to. But then after, her rekindled spirit as she goes back to a "normal". She can live her own life, have a passion. Was a wonderful performance. Tragedy can be beautiful.
As someone who has suffered with severe depression, I relate to Furina on such a deep level. Her backstory is genuinely heartbreaking, and seeing not only in game characters, but also some members of the fandom STILL ridicule her makes me upset
21:06 I can understand the confusion and the easy to misunderstand part with her storyquest here, but I think I could give a different perspective on what Hoyo was trying to tell with this arc of Furina's 'rebirth'. I'm an artist, I love to create, I love to imagine and write stories and consume stories etc. But when it becomes taxing it can feel like the most awful thing in the world and I would wish to never have to draw again; I'd would go into long periods of either burnout, procrastination or hiatus from all of it. It's during those times I feel closest to my lowest points, because I still love to make art, I just hate it during those stressful times when it's for someone else, when it's on a deadline or just not 100% how I want it to be. It's as Neuvillette says in her story quest and Furina in her Vision voiceline. She always loved to act and perform and be on stage, she just hated it when she was not performing as herself. The play she put on for 500 years was a front both on and off stage, she had to act non-stop towards a deadline that seemed to stretch forever with no end in sight. The one time she gets her break from all of it, she goes into hiatus mode; pulling herself away from it because internally, she might've feared it would drag her back to a role mirroring what she lived through already, had she went to start a show again. This kind of experience also happens with real performers who suffer through abusive environments related to their craft, like Opera; (shout out to MarcoMeatball he describes this better than I could.) people whose passions are their job can still fall into bad experiences that would make them believe they want nothing to do with what they once loved. It's not until that spark is reignited by something that somebody can realize and relax, that they can still do what they love and consume what they love so long as they're careful not to allow themselves to be dragged back into toxic environments/experiences again. This is another reason I resonate with her story quest, despite knowing where the plot was going ahead of time and the few insensitive moments in it.
Had I watched a lil longer I would've noticed you p much said my points already lmao sorry, ik it seems like a very "but still, why tho?" moment I relate heavily to it as a creative who makes being creative my whole being for all my life since it's what im good at and rolled with since forever so- It seemed very fitting to latch onto it considering the circumstances.
I felt the same about her story quest. The way they kept not taking her boundary seriously didn't sit well with me. I think it would have been better if they'd simply respected it from the start and then Furina came to her own realization about her love for theater in her own time. I get that's what they were trying to convey, that realization that she did genuinely enjoy theater was significant because it meant she was starting to find her true interests. But I also agree, I wish it hadn't been tied in with something that had been traumatic for her. I feel like that realization should probably have taken years of healing first rather than a few weeks or however long the story quest was meant to last. Baking definitely would have been a better alternative, and still fitting for her character.
Personally I saw it as something different. Sometimes when you reach those depressive lows, it can feel like your trapped, that your stuck in your limited mindspace. You know you cant stay like this but you cant bring yourself to take any steps towards getting out of it. In times like these, sometimes the best thing is to have a support figure to drag you kicking and screaming where you yourself are too scared to go. Furina loves acting and theater, but in her current headspace she would have never rediscovered that passion without some situation forcing her hand. Respecting boundaries are important, but if you leave them to handle things alone, nothing will change.
One thing that broke my heart, was the scene that played as Neuviette gave the guilty verdict (before the death sentence) Furina was in the void and she saw Nev, she tried to reach towards him, as a way to beg for him to stop, to see her hurt and stop tearing her act apart. But he turned and walked away. She looks to Us, the traveler and paimon, seemingly going to reach to them too, but they also turn and walk away. This is two (or three) people who have told Furina to tell the truth, and she still didn’t. These are the two opportunities she had to spill, and she had a sliver of hope that their willingness to listen meant they actually cared a little: probably the only time in those 500 years she’s experienced that. But they turn away, they react to her act with anger instead of trying to understand why. And when Nev finishes the line, declares her guilty, her heart shatters into glass pieces, broken and unable to be put back together. And all she can do is sit, and disappear. The people, even those closest to her, reacted to her lie with anger and resentment. They never asked “why?” They just judged and walked away. They even LEFT HER on her throne CRYING for a while before the Oratrice started to do the execution. They wrote her off, she wasn’t important. Even to Nev, and the traveler, she was just a liar. And this is what it’s like to struggle with mental illness. If you speak, you risk being shunned and judged, but if you chose to hide it and you get caught, it’s always “how dare you lie to me I thought you cared?” “How dare you lie you are a horrible person” Truly, you can never live without judgement when you are mentally ill in the world, nothing is ever enough, but my god am I proud of Furina for making it through. Everyone Involved in that trial needs to apologize or at least ACKNOWLEDGE her heroism. She deserves the world.
As someone who suffers greatly with depression, Furina as a character not only feels genuine, but the people behind the story also really did their research when it comes to trauma and the topic of mental illness; especially in her character story where we see Furina's character a bit more intimately. Amber Lee Connors, her voice actress, does such a good job portraying the pain and anguish that I'd imagine 500 years can really do to a person. It's heartbreaking to watch all of this unfold, even more so when you can personally relate to the struggle in some capacity. And I think that deserves so much credit to the writing team behind Genshin. 💜
a little headcanon of mine: Furina is diabetic. In her demo as she is sitting on the scene she says "Blood sugar replanished" which meant she had lower blood sureg some time ago most likely duo to rehearses. I just think its really adorable small deatail
I actually like the decision of the writers to have Furina act again at the end. You can tell that it’s actually her passion. But the magic of a passion fades when you have to do it for work. Seeing her rediscover her passion and be rewarded for it felt nice. I also don’t see Furina’s condition as a sort of trauma. Everyone has to deal with the hand they’re dealt with in life. This means going out of your comfort zone and tackling life even if that means doing something that your mental illness doesn’t make easy. What always comes to my mind is that Furina now has a limited life span. She spent 500 years working and now has less than 100 to enjoy her retirement. Because of how long she’s already lived, it’ll pass by in the blink of an eye. I think Paimon pushing her forwards towards the end there was a message to her that she should enjoy the time she has left with her head held high, doing things she loves with the people she loves, rather than locking herself away eating macaroni all day.
Just think of how the hilichurls felt. Furina was a human burdened with nigh immortality. Her torment lasting for 500 years. This gives us a glimpse of hilichurls' torment.
weren't the hilichurls the lucky ones who had their minds sealed away when their bodies were cursed? it's the pure-blooded khaenriahns that are most similar to her
@@PatriciaKerriI wonder if Dain will talk about Furina the next time we see him. If he does, I wonder if he'll respect her for playing the acting part
I think her getting a Vision makes perfect sense. From one of your previous videos, you mentioned getting a Vision means "getting marked" by Celestia; as she gets back on stage, back in the spotlight, right after Fontaine and her was supposed to get punished was Celestia saying "we see you now"
I think, after reading Neuvillette’s character stories, He probably gave it to her, because of the little claws and it seems as he’s the one granting visions now. But otherwise yeah, it’s like his mark k of recognition and kind of his apology.
i loved her girlfailureness so much when i first started the archon quest. but her story is genuinely so sad and so unimaginably painful, and lonely and i found myself drawing parallels to mental health isssues too. thank you so much for the vid e!
I do appreciate that Furina takes control of her artistic choices in the end and decides she's going to be a director instead. Yeah the Vision coming during acting was weird, but she didn't go "well ok fine ill act". She did genuinely enjoy helping the troupe as a director - aomeone who *directs*, but in a more genuine way than as a Fake Archon.
I always enjoyed Furina. Characters like her, Yoimiya, and Hu Tao always strike me as characters that have a deeper and more complex side to them, where it's implied for the two latter I'm glad they really went in with Furina, it shoot her up to one of my favourite characters.
I interpreted her getting the vision during the performance less as her acknowledging a love of acting (though I think that was implied) and more as a recognition of her efforts in helping others who need her. Like she didn't have to follow up with the troupe after turning them down or fill in to act, but she did those things so that she could help people who need her, like she did when she played the role of archon. And this desire to help others, sometimes at the detriment to the self, is also a trait I notice in myself and in the neurodivergent people in my life
The introduction to Furina left me cold & determined not to waste my wishes, I didn't care how strong she was as her character grated so much, but after the 4.2 Archon quest... Basically that was me 12 years ago, after masking for 30 years (totally unaware that I was) it was torn away & I crashed & have been rebuilding ever since. Needless to say, guess who has a level 90 Furina roaming my little slice of Teyvat.
What a great video, as someone that shares a lot of things in common with furina (including bday) I feel like this was a great deep dive I to her character. Even learned about new things from this video like the spoon theory for example (I probably heard about it before but didn't pay it much mind). I want her to be happy, just like I wish I could be. Edit: I would also like to add that while everyone was making fun of her up until act 5 I knew there was more behind her facade, so if I ever did laugh about her it wasn't in a mean way because I related to her even before knowing the truth. I'm terrible with words so I hope everyone understands what I'm trying to say.
i can relate to Furina in several ways and other stuff you listed here, i sometimes mask my depression and/or any pain i am experiencing as to not worry people, i mean i tell them in private but sometimes it is just easier that way. Sometimes i smile to trick myself into being happy or chuckle to myself due to my dark/nihilistic sense of humor at times, laughing is a coping mechanism i sometimes use. I also don't shower often (only about once or twice a week) because i don't like it and i would rather be doing other stuff and i forget to eat sometimes. Also i see how she got her vision more as a gift from Neuvillette for all the hardships she had to go through, not because she acted again
I'm sure there are people who relate to Furina apart from myself. As an autistic, for years I'd pretended to be someone I wasn’t, a "normal" person, and ultimately, the mask stuck to me, making me more and more miserable. Pretending to be someone you're not is painful. My actions were never altrustic, and I hurt many people by pushing them away. It was solely for others not to see how lonely and hurt I was. However, Furina's lore might apply to the bigger issue, and all people mask themselves to some extent. Most of us are unaccepting, we mock those who don't fit it to feel better about ourselves. And because we want to be a part of a group, we hide in plain sight.
I interpreted that in Furina's quest she gets her vision as a final goodbye to acting as someone else, and is ready to move on to what she likes, the quest doesn't specifically says she will keep acting and such, it leaves it open, who knows maybe next time she will have her own restaurant as a chef :)
I loved Furina from the moment I first heard her name (Focalors back in leaks very very early), and she instantly became an ultimate favourite when my friend had to specificcally warn me about the archon quest that It will be sickeningly relatable. My friend was absolutely right. It was Focalors who I found most relatable but Furina hit so deeply it took me days to stop thinking about it.
As a Navy Vet who has been struggling with PTSD on top of my autism, I hated Furina at first. But as she started to stutter and struggle I started to see something in her. After 4.2 she become my favorite character in the game, if not currently my favorite character in all media. There was something about her story that even now makes it hard not to tear up every single time I think about it. After listening to your metaphor analysis, it really struck me. Even if her character is not indented to directly represent a certain mental illness, like you said, it no doubt does represent certain aspects of mental illness well. I can't watch her sitting on her bed at the end of the day without shaking. But then on the flip side, seeing her smug, happy smile during her burst animation gives me a kind of joy I can not describe. I want her to be truly, genuinely, happy. Like I want to be. The only thing I will say about her vision... I was a photographer in the Navy. I was not one before I joined, but I grew to love photography. Unfortunately the stress of doing it under pressure and documentation of certain events ruined it for me. It was three years out that I first picked up a camera again, the idea of taking photos again terrified me. It wasn't until my company needed a photographer for an event and provided the camera that I stepped up and am now regularly looking for a good deal on a DSLR. She could very well love performing and only be shielding herself from it due to negative associations. Do I think her being pushed into is good? No. But they have a narrative they need to move along, and I think this was their way of showing that is was in fact a passion she had, or grew to have, as Furina the human. Something like that, an self-defining activity that was thrust upon you, can feel like a cage, but it can also become a home. Both abusive and welcoming. Its... complicated. But I will tell you, when I took those pictures of the event for my company, I immediately told everyone in my family and any friend that would listen. I felt like I had earned a vision. I could go on forever about this, but at that point I should probably just make my own video. But great video, first of yours I have seen but I am already digging through your channel for more.
I dont think Furina getting her vision during the show was the game going "yo u picked wrong act". But was instead given to show her sense of justice and responsibility. Furina was the leader of the nation even if she was just a human girl. And people still died under her rule. In that moment she acted to see out the final wish to honor a victim of the primordial sea. A victim of the serial killings. To allow this final act of honor for her to go through. So I believe Furina was gifted the vision for her act of sacrifice and justice. And not as a way to say. You're choices are wrong you shouldn't do what you want.
Furina is such a relatable character, i feel so much like her but not in the masking my sadness and having this big happy personality while masking, for me its the opposite, masking this big energetic personality and covering it up with a quiet one, i love her so much ajhgdhjkjhbhedfggdk
still not my favorite character, but i love her story so much. i almost cried on her quest cause it was such a good representation for overcoming your trauma. i have a similar experience - i refused to go out, i was frightened to act on different things, i was isolating myself cause of my trauma. i was scared to re-live my trauma, even though i still had passion and desire. it was such i beautiful scene where furina went on stage despite her fears. and she got a vision for her ambition and dedication ❤ fontaine has really interesting characters storywise. i liked wriothesley and neuvillette story too. great content, i missed that in genshin. thank you gor the video! great, as always
Tbh, that might be really headcannon-ic? ig? however, I tried to grasp why the scene with Furina receiving a vision doesn’t hurt me as much, as a description of her finally doing something different, only to been put back and applauded, despite how truly painful it was, should’ve. And that answer for me is interpreting the scene more emotionally, than metaphorically. I want to think that the vision, she was given is not “okay, continue that” but more of a “thank you. It was only you who was able to do it”. Having in mind that it is Neuvilette who gives her the vision, and in the story quest he seems understanding of her situation, I hope it was what they were going for. She deserved this vision EVEN before all of this, but her efforts were left unnoticed. So this one thematical return to the theatre is sending her back to the times she did it every day. She did act, and she acted good. She doesn’t have to anymore - she proved everything
also it may be just me but I find lots of parallels between furina and wriothesley in a way people can see them both as just criminals no matter the fact they had to fight for good. and in real life all those judgements follow you all the time to the point of being present even in your own thoughts as bodiless voices and opponents (Furina has been judging herself for her own valid actions thinking neuvillette should press charges against her and Wriothesley judges himself as an unworthy criminal not fitting in into aristocratic club of the outside world). Fontaine characters have been incredibly well written I am so glad to witness such a good work of art
Just a little thing about Marie-Antoinette, speaking as a french who heavily reseached French Revolution in my studies, she wasn't sentenced to death for being out of touch but for pleading to her family (the rulers of the Austrian Empire) to send troups to France in order to crush the revolution (her letters were found and intercepted), although the royal couple had sworn to be on the side of the nation against external foes. So she was tried and sentenced to death for betrayal, and nothing else. That said, it's true that she was the victim of a huge smear campaign, both from revolutionaries, who criticized her opulent lifestyle and her links to foreign dynasties, and from conservative royalists, who blamed her influence for the faults and bad decisions of her husband. As often in history, things are not black or white. Marie-Antoinette certainly was not the malicious and luxurious queen that was depicted for a long time, nor was she just a sweet and naive girl as she is nowadays presented. But she was a woman, in a relative position of power, in a troubled time who tried to make the best decisions for herself. Unfortunatly for her, these decisions cost her dearly.
the funniest part about her entire fanbase is that 90% of it (including myself) lowkey kinda hated her until the most recent archon quest. i feel like everything shown in it was much needed, and even if its not 1000 years, sometimes just getting through a day feels like that and i love the way they portrayed everything.
I loved fontaine and furina’s story so much. I loved how deep and emotional it was, how unafraid hoyo was to insert darker themes, and how real the characters felt. I PRAY they carry this momentum into Natlan and through the rest of the game.
since her vision was personnaly given by neuvilette i think it's more a reflexion of his own guilt and grief, he's shown being really emotionnal but not knowing how to deal with it
A thing that hit hard for me was when the knave told paimon and traveler to eat cake because they've worked so hard while leaving furina out of it, and tbh If I would've been furina i would've cried on the spot, I've been in that situation before and it's not fun. Some people forget that while others have an easier time doing things, while others don't. While people were making fun of furina after getting roasted by the knave she just sat there the same way I did when I get insulted or yelled at for being lazy or having a lack of response in certain situations.
About her story quest, I think it's nice but personally I would prefer if she found a purpose and got her vision in the position of directing plays instead. Think about it, she put such a harsh boundary on herself because of the trauma, but by doing so she also gave up something that she seem to actually enjoy - acting in musicals that have a beggining and an end to it. Acting (besides the role in the Focalors plan) is something she chose to do with the little agency she had at the time. She wasn't required to do that to be an archon. Her coming back as director of a troupe, not being the center of attention but instead being the main person behind the scenes directing the actors and story, would be a perfect way for her to find purpose again in what she loved to do without actually breaking the boundary she set for herself. And wouldn't feel like her agency got taken away, but rather she found a purpose for herself
I personally wanted Furina's personal story to end on her choosing to be a director. So I am very happy that the most recent event did this. Having her be a actress again feels wrong.
When we say that she was "Alone", she was utterly and literally Alone. The part where she met Focalors was the time when we can say that she was "born" as a human. She only has 2 memories in her head: 1. She is from Fontaine, and 2. The Prophecy. She doesn't know if she has family. she doesnt know if she has friends, and yet Focalors suddenly gave her this HUGE burden. Play the part of me in the prophecy and suffer in silence or die with everyone else in Fontaine.
I liked her story quest and think it actually made a lot of sense. I think I have a slightly different read on Furina from yours. Furina's act wasn't as elaborate as people are interpreting it to have been. If it was really 100% all a front there's no way she could have held out for 500 years. She truly does love the stage. The problem was, she could never ever do anything BUT that, and the secret she was hiding totally isolated her from everyone nonstop. She was having to hold up an act, and doing it for 500 years while harboring a secret as massive as "I'm not really a god" would drive anyone mad. But my main point is, Furina likes the stage. She's an actress at heart. That's the only explanation for her being able to hold that up for 500 years without completely losing her mind. Her trauma came from how extreme her circumstances were, and how isolated she was. Given that context, her story quest is about her recovering from her trauma. I think there is an implied time jump at the start of that quest. Nobody seems to know where Furina is or what she's been up to since the incident. And we find out she's been shut up in her house making macaroni. She's going through depression. After single mindedly pursing 1 thing for 500 years it makes sense that as soon as the strings are cut she doesn't know what to do with herself. The only purpose in her life has finally been fulfilled and she's got NO frame of reference for finding a new one. Before she became "The hydro Archon" she didn't even exist! She just poofed into being and was immediately given her mission. It's finally complete. Now what? She sets that boundary of not acting, and that makes sense. She's identified "acting" as the source of her trauma. But it's made clear to us that she's a really really good actor. Everyone thinks she's amazing. And I would assume when she was acting in plays and operas over that 500 years she was playing all kinds of different roles. Being a good actor wasn't part of her Hydro Archon act. It's who she is. She's an actor at heart and really likes it. She followed the traveler to listen in on the commission after declining because deep down, she's interested! She still likes the stage. That whole quest was her finding herself, and realizing that the stage is still where she belongs. Only now she gets to step off of it when she wants to. She doesn't have to be alone and isolated. She can have true friends. It's when she stops running from the stage and embraces it that she gains her vision, because that really is where her heart is.
I fuckin love furina and how complex she is. I fucking screamed when paimon was taking the piss out of her, and ya know when she clearly states her boundaries? I said well ik for a fact those are gonna be dismissed immediately 😭 and well whaddya know, they were!!! Its very sad to see as clearly she needs a break but we can't have a chill story quest where we help her readjust or anything :') cos that would be boring 😭
All these coments are all about furina (which i get, i love her too) but i just want to apreciate E for making this video for US, as she said mental health is still not a common subject on ur nowadays life, being a tabu, and E making this video so anyone with a mental ilness could relate is such a beautiful action! E, ur the best! Also, since u love Navia's sm (I WATCH ALL UR TWITCH STREAMS GIRL) (love her too tbh) I think a great video idea u could do would be a Navia Deep Dive, i think she's one of the best written in genshin ever, being for me the best non archon (and even better then some archons) written character. I also think a LOT of people could relate and learn from her grief story and HOW SHE STAYED STRONG THE WHOLE TIME FOR HER PEOPLE. She kinda remembers me of Furina, both were sufering, but stayed strong (on their different ways) for their people (fontaine and poisson). Also, one of the best scenes of the archon quest for me is the one of Navia venting into neuvilette, she understand that he had no choice (like she said b4 on the archon quest about him and Clorinde aka her wife) but still it hurts her sm that HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING FOR IT IN HER EYES. As she said, she left him throw his life away hated and despised by every1. Now she's all alone, where her father fucking left his mafia boss placement to her DAUGHTER, AND SHE JUST WANTS TO BE LIKE HER FATHER, SHE WANTS TO MAKE HIM PROUD. There's still a lot i want to talk abou navia, but i leave this to you E, fellow Navia's lover! I really hope u see this coment! U mean so much for me and i'm sure for a lot of people!
As someone who is neurodivergent, Furina's story really hit home with me. I don't think I've ever felt so much for a character or related to one so much. It upsets me when people mischaracterize her now or anything of the sort because she's so important to me and I'd assume many others. She's genuinely so well written and I appreciate the writers for making
I think furina getting her vision while acting is a good decision, tbh. The troupe's story of losing their director to the serial disappearances case touched furina's heart so much that she was willing to overstep her boundary she had previously set. On top of that, the story of the little oceanid musical parallels furina's own story (sacrificing herself for the good of the people) and that likely resonated with her which further impacted her decision. After she got her vision, she made the decision that although she didn't want to be on stage anymore, she would still want to help direct performances, similar to what Focalors did, but this time it would be to help others tell their stories and pursue their dreams. I think furina playing the lead role in the little oceanid was her "reclaiming" acting from her trauma, as her vision character story says her heart was "filled once again" by the performance. Since visions are "gifts" to people with powerful ambitions or desires, I think this moment fulfilled that criteria very well, and it symbolizes Furina overcoming that aspect of her past and pursuing her passion despite all the pain associated with it that she went through in the past.
Its interesting how different your take on Furina's story quest was to mine. I had set personal boundaries that got in the way of what I wanted when I was diagnosed with PTSD, and working with my therapist to get through them and set healthy boundaries rather than overly restrictive ones based in fear. Paimon was absolutely too pushy, but the rest read totally differently to me through that lens. Its so hard to judge mental health stories, because of how many different ways it can manifest, and we just don't get enough of a look to see. It's must be so hard to write that kind of thing, knowing no matter how you do it will probably go over the head of the neurotypical population, and rub a chunk of the neurodivergents the wrong way because of the range of experiences people have.
I love Furina, she is such a real character. She is, in my opinion, the best character they have ever written and as a result she is the only 5 star I have ever pulled constellations for and gotten her signature weapon. Also I don't think I ever wanted to knock Pimon out of the sky more in my entire time playing Genshin Impact than during Furina's story quest.
When it comes to her vision, the idea I get is that it's not that she chose to avoid acting or stop performing, but she was scared of it. The last time she acted she was forced to, and acted for so long that she forgot who she was. But when she was finally able to act in the play, she realized that she truly did enjoy it. Also, she wasn't really forced to do it, her character seemed to have accepted the possibility and was already ready far before the health problems really came up. I think she was mentally preparing herself for the possibility. These experiences won't be universal, but when I dealt with depression, sometimes being pushed out of my comfort zone was what I needed, and it really helped me find hobbies and things to be passionate about that I was too scared to touch. I wouldn't have done them without the peer pressure from friends, and in this same scenario, Furina wouldn't have ever returned to the stage without the pressure of paimon (despite how dumb and insensitive she was in the story quest). This being said, there's a fine line between positive reinforcement to try new experiences and just having boundaries ignored, and I of course don't mean to tell anyone to force depressed people to do things they already said no to. There's also lore implications of Neuvillete having given it to her and he doesn't properly understand humans/depression, so he just saw her acting again and decided that was a good time to give her the vision
Finally finished the archon quest yesterday. ( Trying to understand the greater Honkaiverse through all 3 games is a grindy task) Once the "a look into Furina's mind stage play" happened, I could relate SO HARD. Feeling the need to mask in order to discipline myself . HER mask has been on for so long. You can just feel her cracking as the long years passed.
To me Furina was always a traumatized character full of coping mechanisms, I just didn't trust hoyo would display that properly since ig my expectations were very low (even tho sumeru was good, imo inazuma was such a flop and it shaped my expectations). It was kind of shocking for hoyo to be like haha she's actually even way farther traumatized than you were hoping. Wanderer and Furina are my favorite trauma characters because of where they are in their healing - still very dysfunctional but brimming with potential in a way that I quite relate to and project myself on to. They wrote Furina for me too, they wrote Furina for us fr
“TO E OR NOT TO E” was so genius for today’s topic because that quote is about Hamlet pondering whether or not to continue living, dunno whether that was intentional but I love it‼️☝️
nahida is a fantastic comparison, they both went through extremely similar things to a extent as they both was isolated to a extent in one way or another. BUT nahida had escapism in dreams ect i love how it seems that they’re almost like parallels to eachother and different coping mechanisms. They both had a element of imposters syndrome but nahida felt sad about that while furina took over and made her insecurities and used it to fuel her act.
Furina having a constant spotlight on her and consciously monitoring herself every waking moment to the point her act of being an archon came naturally to her. But at night when she's alone she finally shed tears. I think a lot of us, including me, relate to this. I used to have really bad mental health and i always appeared like a happy-go-lucky girl. My parents never understood why i stayed up late and many times slept only an hour before i had to wake up for school again. They just thought it was so i could escape their nagging, when in fact it was to escape reality itself. Everyday when night arrived and everyone fell asleep and the world goes quiet it was as if all the spotlights had finally turned off and i can finally be myself.
I believe her vision was more granted over her wish to listen and aid people in telling their stories. ("But from now on, I want to spend my time learning real stories about real people, and how they touch the lives of others around them. | I want to watch them blossom and wither, see them refined on the page, retold on the stage, and remembered long into the future") [Source: Her story quest, near the absolute end] So her vision seems to be granted by that desire, not by stepping on the stage into acting again. The lead couldnt perform, their tale was about to go unheard, and she couldn’t let that happen. It is the perfect ambition, the perfect wish. I'm so glad to share this desire with her.
When we first met furina, i loved her immediately because she reminded me of fischl who is my favorite character. Fischl uses her act of grandeur to mask her loneliness, so other than finding Furina's hautiness funny to watch, I also wondered where the writers would take her story. And boy did they deliver
Wait... People making fun of characters first appearance!? Impossible! That's a perfect representation of how dangerous stereotyping others is based on first impressions.
Her SQ was lovely but the start and the way her reasonable boundaries were blown past made me real uncomfortable. Furina is the first Genshin character that I've totally fallen in love with, and I think its in no small part to our shared experiences of poor mental health. I wish only the best for her character.
Surprisingly, I never hated furina. Never participated in the hate because I did that once and it messed me up after someone i knew died from it. I could sense that Furina had something more than just her outside appearance and personality. I now realize why. She is my favorite and will always be my favorite character. It sucks that I lost the 50/50 to Diluc.
omg i had the same thoughts ab the ending of her character quest 😭 i feel validated PD: marie antoinette never truly said the "let them have cake" quote, it was propaganda made up by the revolutionaries, but ur point is still valid
I love Furina from the final feast trailer and love her even more throughout the story. Her snarky, boastful attitude is so loveable and fresh. Then the real stuff happens and I feel so bad and so relatable, I want to give her a hug (and that's why I hate how Paimon and MC act on her story quest. The guilt-tripping is INSANE!) From now on, I'll always follow her story onwards. Favorite nation, Favorite travail characters (Lyney and Lynette), and finally, Favorite Archon IN FURINA WE TRUST!! 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
This is why I say Furina deserves all the hugs and kisses in the world because she's the embodiment of "damned if I do damned if I don't" like just the struggle of wanting to talk to someone but knowing if it'd be okay. I have severe depression so seeing Furina go through that loneliness. To feel so alone that you could scream but no one would hear you and not being able to talk to anyone. It sucks and it can be really damaging and learning to undo that much mental agony would take it's toll on anyone.
I found furina really interesting even before the truth was revealed, she was definitely the star of the show, despite the 500 years of suffering she continued to play her role perfectly 😢.
Idk about the vision. I really hope that it was meant differently bc now the hydro visions are being given by Neuvillette. Let's hope he knows what he is doing. 😢
i mean in her vision story its stated that her vision wasn’t acquired bc of an ambition but was given to her as a reward for her past deeds. I see this as neuvi opening up a new path in her life, because she states that she feels useless and has no idea where she’s going. Now she’s the first sovereign given vision holder in teyvat which is rlly wholesome
Other than the mental illness and the mirror of Marie Antoinette representation, I think Furina also represent the struggle of creators. Furina suffering from acting for 500 years can also represent the exhaustion many entertainment creators (like musicians, movie directors, artists or even youtubers) experience through out their career. Yes, she loves acting but having to do that thing with little to rest is suffering. It can cause physical and mental damage on you. The example that I can think of is Eiichiro Oda, the author of One Piece manga, he has been writing One Piece since 1997. He releases his manga chapter weekly and his daily schedule before 2013 is 21 hours of work + 4 hours of sleep with short break for eating and toilet. This caused physical toll on his body that he got hospitalized a few times. Despite some insensitive dialogues and how pushy it seems, I see her SQ as the way to 1. Regain her love as a stage performer. 2. Break from her lockdown and see the world in the POV she never seen before. 3. Finally have someone to talk and let everything that had been inside her out. 4. Not become a hikikomori. Another thing that I noticed about her SQ is the timing between you finish Act V and starting her SQ can affect how you view this SQ. 1. If you play her SQ immediately or a few days after act V or you make a headcanon that this would within a few days act V, It would make Traveler and Paimon looks very bad bc she didn't have much time to rest and they drag her into the spotlight again. 2. If you play her SQ a few weeks after act V or you make a headcanon that this would many weeks or at least a month after act V, It would look better bc she has been shut-in for a while. She needs to touch some grass. Still, this doesn't excuse Paimon's insensitiveness in some dialogues.
From what I’ve heard apparently that’s a fault of the English dub where Paimon comes off as more bitchy. I always saw it like that: Furina was basically becoming a shut in and needed that “push” to get her to go out again and it ultimately worked out as she realized she wanted to travel and even wanted to be involved in the stage but in a more backseat approach in the form of directing.
22:09 what the story means is probably that her trauma shouldn't take away the sole career path she would have absolutely love if not the trauma. that is why I like this ending it is complex rude yet helping furina to make a first step into realizing acting is good and not traumatizing anymore. I know such moves should be done after some therapy yet it is not like teyvat has lots of them running around and asking sad people if they want to heal ==^
I have anxiety and depression and other things going on. Let me tell you that even when I am around people I feel so alone, and yet I get so tired of being around people quickly. I often cry every night because of things I have done in the past or what others done to me. I personally don’t trust myself or others. My point is, I can relate to some of this!
GI always dealth with these kind of themes but very subtly.. in Fontain, I think they're being much more explicit! I really loved your analysis on Furina! I liked Furina the first time we met her and My love and respect for her character grew as I was doing the AQ and SQ. Many still downplay her role and the suffering she endured.. saying that she is childish, immature:')) and believing " Focalors is the mature one, the real one, Furina's mother /sister 😂" yet failing to realize that divinity is also part of Furina. They are the 2 sides of the same coin. Furina/Focalors is too harsh on herself. Be it as a Divine or as a Human, she always put her Nation, her people and her justice above herself. She is strong and flawed, she suffered and still have the kind heart to love and move forward! I am glad how wonderfully they managed to show it in her character in the AQ and SQ and present the mental suffering many of us endure. heck even Paimon and Traveller's insensitive and rude attitude was realistic 😂 Anyway,Thank you for making this wonderful character analysis video. Being able to relate to a character and being understood and seen.. is a very cathartic experience.
I love Furina. She will always be my little Hydro Archon. Even though she is the human side of Focalors, she is still Focalors and an Archon in my eyes. She is my favorite Genshin character and the one I want to immediately go to and just give her all of my love, attention, support, and lots and lots of snuggles (Because my baby deserves it and I never want to see her cry...ever again!!). I completely agree that the last bit of her storyline could have been written or given a better/different outcome. Still, I am quite pleased to see miHoyo portraying trauma (through powerful and mighty Archons even) and the many struggles when it comes to mental health, as well as the people who do not have these mental illnesses view those who do. E, thank you for this video. It was very well made and I am glad you also love and respect Furina as I do. Cheers!
YOO THANK YOU SM FOR WATCHING!! :D join us on Twitch.tv/EisSocial for more fun AND join our discord! : discord.gg/Z6z6aJWEz6 !!! LOVE Y'ALL BIG!!!💜💜💜💜
Correction about Queen Maria. She didn't say the quote "Let them eat cake" This quote was made by a random princess way before Maria even born. Why this became her quote? Because it's from a random princess with no origin... Historian was VERY extremely biases over Maria that even after her death rumours still created infinitely... Yeah, even after her death she still get slander...
It's one of those random case of similar to our society too. With random chat massage and the people "forge" that massage saying the victims lied. Maria suffer that like way ahead of us...
Also, Queen Maria didn't actually show off how she uses her wealth too. This is also a bias by historian... The accountant of that time even clearly shows 99% of the budget went to the military... France was crazy at war with Britain. The subject saw Maria eating in Luxury despite it being just 1% of the nation budget? They got jealous and joke about how she devours the nation's budget...
No she didn't... The military commander spent them all while she's did NOT know anything. She loves house riding, arts and music. She "hates all politics and war"
Due to her hates she's ignorance to war completely... This is her true down flaw because she basically give complete freedom to the military supreme military to spend money without any budget caps...
She didn't know she just accidentally give unlimited budget to her military commander just because she hates war...
To combat this budget crisis the treasury advisor spends ton of money an equalance to our world as "market shocks"
It would give him a lot of money if it's in "peaceful era"
Sucks for him cause the military commander is a warmonger... Peace never came so all his invested stocks basically lost too... He has the right idea because it WOULD be stupid to continue the war! But the commander was that stupid! He should have declared a truce in war!
He's ahead of his time... If he were in our era he would be as rich as Microsoft...
So did Maria did anything at all that ruined France? Surprisingly her only sin is she "did nothing" Because she hates war and politics... Even all the luxury claim was false...
Had to edit this in….the ppl of Fontaine may not be celebrating he because they’re dealing with the reality that they’re sea slugs. I feel like there’s going to be a quest line addressing that. Perhaps someone who wanted to be an oceanid and not human.
She was archon for 500 years, but she really didn’t do much in actual resolution of the plan. In the End, Neuvillette saved their lives. Focolar is a distinctly separate entity from Furina. The Archon are separate from their human host. There’s just a lot for the public’s to sort out….not to mention reconstruction
No one is who they appear in Fontaine
Spoiled brat Furina
Neuvillette was supposed to be this high and mighty, arrogant, classists noble
Wriosthly was supposed to be some hard nosed warden….
e incident
Fontaine has been taking a huge fucking dive into mental health and trauma, and I’m so fucking happy for it, it’s good to be heard and talked about.
True. Like the newest event quest.
I agree❤❤😭😭
YES. first we have lyney panicking over his siblings during the 4.1 archon quest, the frem event, and along with furina, there's also neuvillette's fear of losing the people he loves (carole and vautrin, his panic over focalors) I love fontaine and i have since I knew of its existence
fontaines main quest is what made me start playing. i watched my bf playing and he often spoke about references to esoteric old religions which also sounds pretty fun! im bitter about missing her banner though :•\
@khilafologi1866 oh yh that feels truck
Furina is such a relatable character to such a big part of the fanbase. From what I’ve seen, a majority of the fanbase is still in Highschool/college and are constantly struggling through their days with tasks that don’t seem related as part of the “bigger picture”. Furina experiences something similar through her 500 year cycle. Love her to death for being so relatable
as a second year uni student I get her. sometimes I wonder when my assignments would come to an end. Or there are nights I wonder if I'm even trying hard enough.
@@Blossom_6655exactly! I’m so glad hoyo wrote a character that many people find relatable and may find comfort in
@@Blossom_6655 It's the same on the other side. I'm an autistic PhD student and every time I teach a class, I have to put on this facade of a somewhat respectable university prof. And there is always more homework to check, more messeges from students to respond to... And you never feel like you're trying hard enough
@@Ren7397 Ah, I wish we could all give each other a hug. And some treats and talk about our stuff. I want to get tested for adhd but don't know how.
@@Ren7397 I'm not a PhD student but I started teaching after a master's degree (I specialise in English as a foreign language and theoretical linguistics to an extent, nit teaching - at first). I also suspect I might be neurodivergent, because so many experiences throughout my life seem to fit much more into the experiences of other people with autism, ADHD or both. And I cannot agree more. I used to pull off 40 academic hours of classes a week at two workplaces but had to quit both jobs because now I can barely do 10 - with all the materials ready. And I'm mentally drained. And I relate to the episode of Furina crying in public from a breakdown so much, because I remember all the times I put on a happy face, actually managed to fool myself and make myself think I was happy only to break down on public transport on the way home. And then doing all the homework checking, messages, losing nights of sleep and weekends to all of that... I just relate to Furina so much that it overwhelms me. And I finally felt understood somehow when I did the Archon quest and her story quest. This experience of "what if I'm not doing enough, I'm already doing so much I'm unable to walk 10 minutes without a break, but I should probably be doing more...or should I?". Furina actually made it like a champ
I think the line that broke me was when she begged and screamed straight from her chest "PLEASE! I AM YOUR REAL ARCHON" amber istg you put your whole SOUL into that
It hit even harder once we found out that she wasn’t pleading out of ego but to save her people. To fail to convince them meant all of their deaths.
That emotion in her voice then resonated so hard. It was tugging on my heartstrings. Poor girl 😢
bro amber did SO WELL for her voice omfg
I was literally going emotional during the trial. It hurts to watch Furina break each minute.
i love it when her voice cracked, makes me feel like she's real
"Archon" or not, Furina was able to keep Fontaine on tracks for 500 years without using any power. She'd always put her nation above herself, despite any desires to give up.
Even if it was a role that she was given to act as, she fulfilled her position perfectly.
I feel bad bc of the way it feels like she was somehow "forgotten" by others after the archon quest. At least Neuvilette will keep looking after her, she really needs to rest after everything.
tbf she had neuvillette carry the heavier lifting in terms of operations. nevertheless she underwent mental torture for 500yrs. no one can take that away from her.
(SPOILER)
At the very least, not everyone forgot about her. Iirc, Chlorinde is the first person who visited her in her home, helped her unpack all her things, and even invited her to a tea party. (In her profile iirc)
Im looking forward to her story 2 or events related to fontaine!
She should still be honored as an archon.
What she did isn't regular-level sacrifice, it's Archon-level sacrifice.
Even Raiden Ei agrees with this; as she said, "her willpower has indeed reached the level of a god".
She was not forgotten after the archon quest in fact the npc praise her still since they know what she has done for fontaine
In a way, Furina revealed to many, how people, who don't understand or have never experienced mental issues, see people with them. Everyone were quick to judge Furina for how terrible and obnoxious she was without knowing how she truly was underneath and that's how people who don't understand mental illnesses feel towards such people on a daily basis, they see them as useless, weak, pathetic, obnoxious, attention-seeking, weird or dumb. Because they can't understand they judge based on how they understand themselves and what they know about themselves is that they wouldn't do what those weird people do, it's all they can know and even explaining it or showing it doesn't really reach that understanding, much like explaining a cube in 4D space doesn't exactly allow a person to understand and see what 4D space looks like.
I was like that initially too. I saw her as a brat, just meh as a character. But after all was revealed, I immediately realized she’s like me, and that like a normal person I fell for her facade. It was so well done that it was sad. I understand fully the situation and I relate to her a lot. What’s really sad and aggravating though is seeing how many posts are still made after the end of the archon quest that people still don’t understand the extent of her suffering and the trauma she went through. They still call her an obnoxious brat and a horrible excuse for an archon. Like bruh, obviously she was never the archon fully to begin with and now it’s Neuvillete who holds all the cards thanks to Focalors sacrificing herself. It’s one of the best quests in the game so far and the fact that people still mischaracterize the crap out of it makes me mad 😭😡
Edit: Upon rereading my comment, I realize it may be insensitive and I have not been in such a situation myself so I may npt even be qualified to say such things. I will still leave my original comment just in case anyone can provide any insight into what it’s like to be in that situation
While it is true that people shouldn’t judge based on what they see on the surface… alll you do see is the surface. Furina especially didn’t give any clue as to what was going on, and for a long time too. People’s tolerance has a limit too and that’s something you should keep in mind. Even Neuvillette, a person shown to be level headed throughout the entire quest got fed up with it at some point.
This also highlights an important role the person facing the mental issue has. While in furina’s case, she literally couldn’t talk because of focalors plan, in real life, there will always be an opportunity to open up to someone about it. Nobody can read your mind and they’ll only know as much as you tell them, so keeping everything to yourself expecting someone to magically appear to relieve you of all your pent up emotions will not end well.
And another thing, even after the quest, while I love furina now and can sympathize with what she had to go through for all those years, it doesn’t mean I suddenly like her bratty personality now. It’s important that we don’t encourage toxic behaviors that are associated with bad mental health. We can’t blame people for some attitudes they display as a result of their mental health, but that doesn’t mean we should act like their actions were good.
In all, I’m not trying to attack the victim, don’t get me wrong, but I just find it weird seeing people saying those who found furina annoying at first were mean or something (not targeted at the original commenter)
@@aperson6562we dont expect people to relieve us of our burdens. Not anymore.
I, and many others, have become our burdens.
An attempt to rip the mask of our faces will leave us with the misearable truth;
“I have become nothing more than my mask. The skin and features that were supposed to be my face have melded into the cheap and ugly plastic i have worn all this time.”
Furina is very strong. Im already dead haha
Very mentally ill here and I indeed never saw her as that, instead projecting on her that she was traumatized and was full of coping mechanisms. It feels hard to live in society where the people who are "functional" and "normal" often can't fathom just how vastly different it can feel inside someone else's brain. I just actually wouldn't judge any real person the way people memed on Furina
maybe it's because i played in cn, but furina to me has always been one of those burnt out college kids who's trying to keep it together but failing to. i never really got the brat jokes
My head cannon is furina's demo is her true personality when her mental is not a mess from being fried for 500 years and not have to pretend to be a pompous jerk
She's energetic, loud, loving the attention but also cheerful, charismatic, funny and extroverted and also friendly and genuine with her art... she's a good person deep down there, even kinder than most genshin character I will argue, as we see her in her story quest when she helped a struggling theater troupe, for litterally nothing. No mora, no fame, she didn't even want her name to be credited or mentioned at all. Yet she forced herself to step out of her own comfort zone and to act again for their sake, not her's
I suspect her story 2 will give her some recompense that allows her to have some more agency in her own life.
Roses and Muskets has all but proven your assertion to be true. And it's adorable how shy she can get when accepting adoration now.
That's director furina for you. Such a lovable and selfless character. She's slowly regaining confidence in herself with each update, and hell* now with 4.7 she is now capable of defending herself, as when confronted with a stone golem devorator, even though she was clearly scared, she stood there and summoned her "guards" to fight back, instead of running away like she always did before when against a threat. She probably has a lot of combat potential that she hasn't yet realized, part of it coming from her one of a kind dragon vision.
We must be proud for her.
Another fun fact is that Marie Antoinette never actually said "let them eat cake". That was attributed to "an Austrian princess" and people just decided it was her, but in Reality it was recorded a few years before she was born
I was looking for this comment:))
Yeah but the world likes to headcannon things
Yeah! She definitely has a much worse reputation than she deserved. And France's finances were already poor, she wasn't the only noble/cause of revolution.
Thank you for that ! Really the misinformation on this subject is too much-
it's really a typical arab telephone story
@@Chrysalid. ironically marie was one of the few nobles to do some charity work. Which definitely wasn't enough, but at least showed that she cared more than the other french nobles at the time.
Furina has had to put on a facade for 500 years. And that would be the equivalent of masking. She has had to shoulder a burden and could go to no one for help. when we have mental health problems we realize something is wrong but no one to turn too. She was the main lead in Foucalor's play to deceive Celestia. She could only cry on her shoulder.
Bruh, Freminet’s Thelksie’s fantastical adventure is another storyline delving deep into mental health. It’s so wonderfully done!
The way that event said and did so much in three short acts,... I loved it
Well now I gotta play it! Lol
No because I literally just finished that event and watched this video. (Tell me why I was crying when the mom hugged her son)
@@2triedforthis830 for me it is because my mom passed away and it felt like the words were said by my mom.. gee, why am I crying now just writing about it haha. My love for my mother, is bigger than the distance between us..
My y escapist self was like "okay, that's whenm my escapism in Genshin actually ends". But yeah, I liked how it was about mental health and also, if you finished it, there was an episode when the Traveler put on Freminet's helmet....oh boy did I cry
Even before act 5 I knew that there was something more to Furina, that the egotistical and confident attitude she had was a mask she was putting on for her people. I obviously didn’t the full extent of why she was acting this way until later, but even then it bothered me that so many people seemed to take her at face value and write her off as annoying. This archon quest was amazing and I’m glad so many people now appreciate Furina and her character
I was like "she's annoying and her behaviour is annoying, but she's actually interesting and I wonder why", instead of just writing her off. Maybe the first time I saw her I did, but then I was like "wait a minute" all the time haha. And in act 5 I realised that she was the most relatable character for me in the entirety of the game. Pulled her and even fished for the pipe sword. She's in my top 3 archons now, that's for sure. I was pretty neutral at first but as soon as I did the quests and everything I almost fell in love 😂😂😂
It was painfully obvious she was just acting and I knew that once the new archon quest dropped people would do a 180° and be like, "omg she's actually amazing!"
It was predictable honestly.
same, actually right before the trial i made a theory that the archon part of her was trapped somehow, so i wasnt completely off course 🤣
Honestly I believe that furina going onto the stage again wasn’t a boundary being ignored. But a fear being conquered, I believe that it was another step in her founding out who she really is, it helped her realize that she can be herself while acting on the stage as well
THANK YOU, someone sees that!
Indeed. I see it as her trying to shed Focalor, but mistakenly trying to cut out the bits of Furina that overlapped as well.
True but paimon and traveler still are jerks tho.
@@EdgeLie traveler saw what she went through, they should have already put together that she would be uncomfortable with it, and told paining to shut up when she was insensitive/ let her in on furinas baggage
It’s absolutely this. She even receives her own vision during one of the play’s scenes, in place of the prop vision Paimon had meant to give her in that scene
her reinventing acting for herself was actually quite a hopeful message. like if you are traumatized by something doesn't mean you will or should just avoid it for the rest of your life. healing ang changing context of experience and going through it again without getting triggers is actually very freeing. i think biggest problem with sq is that we assume it takes place right after aq, then it works better as a follow-up quest somewhere in the future, when she actually got some room to breathe.
Also paimon being paimon and the english dub getting terrible voice direction.
I personally saw her story quest as overcoming her trauma. She managed to play the part of an Archon for 500 years. She was able to make a persona for herself on the spot in front of an audience during her first speech. She is truly talented when it comes to acting, which is the reason she was even able to make it so long, even through her suffering. to me, she got the vision for appearing in a performance despite her fears of what they would think of her, and rediscovering her passion and talent when it comes to different roles.
now it is a bit of a rushed way to overcome such a huge event in her life, I would prefer it this arc was over two story quests (if she even gets a second story quest like all other archons, Neuvilette is more likely to get it), but i guess that's just because of constraints like Hoyo needing her to get her vision in story as soon as she's playable.
Yeah, I kinda understand it. But the rushing seriously undercuts whatever they were talking about mental illness. Especially the fact that she was revealed to be part of the play, especially when we have no idea whether the people of fountain understand what she went through. Also the absence of any visible apology from anyone, like the traveler literally exposed her to one of her major traumas. Needed or not that deserves an apology, they really fumbled her in that aspect. Like yeah it's cool to see someone dealing with this type of stuff why is the world that surrounds her garbo tho?
Just to reference the video "Its taking away her agency when the whole problem was the fact that she had no agency"
@@lolhellogod6892they also still haven’t talked about how corrupt Fontaine is lol. Furina’s story and the oceanid twist doesn’t change how shitty the system is. Meropide especially is horrible concentration camp propaganda.
@@wilburforce8046Wait can you explain what exactly you mean with „concentration camp propaganda“? Like those from the second ww?
@@thegreenflowers3807 Fontaines laws are ass and send innocent people into exile essentially. Once they are down there they are away from the law and are at the mercy of those who control it. Good thing wrio is nice right. Just like the commercials Germany used to advertise their camps lol.
But anyway the actually fucked part is the idea that people who spend time there don’t want to leave afterwards. That the time they spent there was actually meaningful and fun, and that carrying out a full sentence is just whatever for the traveler. Why we even stay there after our mission is complete is utterly stupid. Why a kid can even be there PERIOD like in caterpillar’s quest is nonsensical at best. Basically Hoyo’s writing a CC like environment to be just kind of…neat and healthy. A place people want to stay in cause “it’s not that bad”.
China btw has real CC’s. The FoM could have very well been a generic evil prison and it has all the telltale signs of one, but with this weird hoyo seal of approval on it constantly screaming “it’s not that bad bro”.
I have never before resonated with a video game character as much as with Furina.
I struggle with gender dysphoria and unfortunately I have not been able to transition in the timeframe I'd like.
This resulted in me having to slog through university and putting up a mask for years.
It's no surprise that this resulted in chronic depression and anxiety.
I have literally experienced the scene where Furina had to smile as she cried firsthand.
She is an incredible character and the writers have done an extreme service to people who struggle everywhere in silence by showing out in the open how it feels.
Trans guy here, that's exactly my experience with Furina too. She resonated so much with me, I loved her since 4.0 till her story quest. My favorite character of all time
I saw some people not understand why what she went through was a painful experience, and I realized that some people either don't know what it's like to have to wear a mask or they have one so deep on themselves, they're desensitized to it.
it's not even that she just has to wear a mask
she has to wear a mask and NEVER let it slip, not even once, not even a second
or everyone she knows will die
well thats me i still dont get why everyone is dramatizing her.. wouldnt pretending to be so proud and 'selfish' just raise your ego? when i brag about accomplishing something to my friends i feel rather proud and confident than depressed??? idk like im imagining myself in that situation when im just a normal person like her and i think id rather try to blend in the role to accomplish it well? i get the whole mask thing of course. but its 500 years. come on. after maybe 100 years she shouldve at least realised its not gonna be short and try to live fully into it than just letting it settle as just a public mask because surely itll end soon... hope no one finds this hateful but rather really REALLY confused
I wouldn't say shes the most important lore wise but shes differently the best written character till now.
And we still have natlan and snezhnaya imagine how much more “impact” they would do (see what I did there)
I don’t think they mean most important character lore wise, I think they’re saying most important character mental health representation wise
@@Autchoiiy lol
@@amochikaay true.
Actually she might be among the most important lore-wise. Focalors (and the Hydro archon before her) accomplished something huge with Furina's help. She rebelled against Celestia completely. Not only did she create her own people without their approval, but she tricked Celestia and saved them from being reverted back to their original form. AND even more than that, she completely destroyed the throne of the Hydro Archon forever and gave their stolen power back to the Hydro dragon. This is HUGE. There has to be some sort of repercussion for it when they realize what she's done. It also shows something very important, Celestia can be tricked and defeated. Keep in mind how they absolutely destroyed Khaenri'ah, an extremely advanced powerful nation from what we can tell. She did the forbidden and then won against them at their own game. Even though most of the other Archons have shrugged off their connection with Celestia, this is the first time we've seen someone crack through their system. She might actually be one of the most important characters in the game.
An aspect of Furina receiving her vision some people overlook is the fact that Neuvillete is the one giving out Hydro Visions now. And him giving her a vision is far more meaningful than if it weren't. Because him giving her a vision is an acknowledgement of her indomitable spirit, admiration of her character, and respect that she is willing to pick up the pieces and move on. It's not out of any kind of pity. He's known her for 500 years.
Which is something I've noticed that the Fandom is missing the point on. Infantalizing Furina, and treating her like she's just a victim to be coddled, is a disgrace to her and her efforts. That's why I appreciate her story Quest. Because it doesn't do that.
Acting may be related to Furina's trauma, but it's also the thing that she can most take pride in, the quality she likes most about herself. If it wasn't for her acting, Fontaine wouldn't be standing. So seeing her with people that likewise value that quality, and giving her a chance to act on her own terms, as opposed to her being forced to, is a great way to showcase her emotional growth. Besides which, the Traveler and Paimon really aren't that pushy when it comes to getting her to join the troupe. They ask her twice to join, and then they ask her if she knows anyone else. Once she puts her foot down, they give up and drop the issue completely. Afterwards, Furina, completely of her own volition, follows them back.
(And I dont understand the beef with Paimon. As is usual, most of Paimon's supposed maliciousness is just her having not much of a filter or messy attempts to lighten the mood)
Besides which, many people in Fontaine still have a lot of respect for her as a celebrity (which really isn't any different from how they've always seen her)
Aren’t visions given out directly by Celestia? In the Inazuma archon quest, Raiden had no idea that electro visions stopped appearing in Teyvat, which implies that she was not the one giving them out.
@cobblegen1204 Neuvilette's Vision story confirms that visions do come from Archons, it's just not something they're consciously doing. It's more of an automatic process
@@MiyaoMeow588 If it's not being done consciously, can you really meaningfully say that they're giving them out? It still sounds like a principle beyond the control of archons even if it is connected to them. Since the office of archon is transferrable and possible to destroy, as we see in the archon quest, it seems reasonable to conclude that celestial influence is more important than the individual will of the archons.
I'd like to say something about her story quest, it's unfortunate the weird translation/voice direction hurt the story about her.
In her demo Furina is presented as Fontaine's most beloved actress, her updated drip marketing paints her as this great figure people continued adoring long after her passing, a one of a kind talent. And she loves the opera, she lives for it even.
Her story is one about staying away from an activity she loves, it's her learning that yes, being the spotlight hurts her but there's a way for her to still partake in it not as the actor, but as the director.
At the end of the archon quest she leaves the opera believing her greatest play had failed, thinking that her people hate her, that people like Neuvillette look down on her for her faults. But her story quest through the little oceanid play teaches her that her love is corresponded, like traveler said there are people that are willing to share her burden and they don't care if doing so would doom their nation.
She takes the spotlight in the end not because of duty but because of love, she loves her people and wants their stories to be known if she sometimes has to be the actor then so be it, that story is being completed no matter what.
And she still struggles, she doesn't feel worthy of recognition but she's still given it. Both in the form of the troupe thanking her for her directing and Neuvillette giving her a vision as a reward for her hard work, to remind her that her 500 years of suffering are being acknowledged, that her people are grateful for all she did.
Opera is something that makes her happy, that's the one fact about Furina all fontanians and traveler know well, with the story quest she learns whether she was to return to the opera as an actor or director she'll still be loved
I am glad someone though about it in a similar way i did! Most opinions i saw was "She HAD to do it, It was her Duty to go on stage again!"
I hope that in her second SQ she gets a bigger apartment or tells us about more dishes she's been learning to cook 🥺
@@KaagKagamine5 same, she deserves it all
@@KaagKagamine5 she can now cook spaghetti
one correction, nuevellette didnt give her a vision, archons dont give visions, dunno how this is still a misconception, it was debunked in the main quest literally 2 years ago in inazuma
The way i feel about how she got her vision is i think it was implied that she did love the stage but was scared of how the public would act if she went back alongside how she felt about acting as the archonfor those 500 yrs. Her one love during those centuries was those plays and musicals , her hobby voiceline is about musicals. so she deserves to have that passion rekindled. Also i took her quest and demo as her transitioning from an actor on the stage to the director of her own play that is her life ( and maybe actual plays too).
For the curious:
No, Furina did not return to acting at the end, in the character's descriptions it says that she did chose to continue working at the opera, but behind the scenes
and her vision is not like the others (a response to ambition) her vision is a gift for everything she had to endure
In fact the best written character
On topic of boundary setting..
I struggle with mental illness and I see it both ways. There are some boundaries which got crossed , but this was better for me. Some of my boundaries in the past were extremely stupid. (For example "When I was at a certain street in my neighbor town, I learned my mom got cancer. I will never visit that street again".) On other times, my boundaries got crossed which really just did harm to me.
In the story, I think it was rather harmless. Furina was not forced or bullied into stuff she refused to do. But people negotiated with her. And I think, yes. there is a freedom to say no. But there is always also a freedom to ask.
furina and nahida are definitely two of the most important characters and gods. furina literally sacrificed her life to save everyone, and nahida took care of her citizens despite being treated so terribly. she even took care of the children while being kept in a prison. I love them both sm
furina is such a good example of masking your mental health and how far it can go
The archons are all suffering characters, alot has happened well before the events in the game and it shows in each of their characters in their own ways. Furina though, even if she's a clone in Focalor's image, her preserved humanity, the way it shows is real in a genuine, horrifying way. No choice but to grit and bear. No way to cope, with no one to turn to.
But then after, her rekindled spirit as she goes back to a "normal". She can live her own life, have a passion.
Was a wonderful performance. Tragedy can be beautiful.
As someone who has suffered with severe depression, I relate to Furina on such a deep level. Her backstory is genuinely heartbreaking, and seeing not only in game characters, but also some members of the fandom STILL ridicule her makes me upset
21:06 I can understand the confusion and the easy to misunderstand part with her storyquest here, but I think I could give a different perspective on what Hoyo was trying to tell with this arc of Furina's 'rebirth'.
I'm an artist, I love to create, I love to imagine and write stories and consume stories etc. But when it becomes taxing it can feel like the most awful thing in the world and I would wish to never have to draw again; I'd would go into long periods of either burnout, procrastination or hiatus from all of it. It's during those times I feel closest to my lowest points, because I still love to make art, I just hate it during those stressful times when it's for someone else, when it's on a deadline or just not 100% how I want it to be.
It's as Neuvillette says in her story quest and Furina in her Vision voiceline. She always loved to act and perform and be on stage, she just hated it when she was not performing as herself. The play she put on for 500 years was a front both on and off stage, she had to act non-stop towards a deadline that seemed to stretch forever with no end in sight. The one time she gets her break from all of it, she goes into hiatus mode; pulling herself away from it because internally, she might've feared it would drag her back to a role mirroring what she lived through already, had she went to start a show again.
This kind of experience also happens with real performers who suffer through abusive environments related to their craft, like Opera; (shout out to MarcoMeatball he describes this better than I could.) people whose passions are their job can still fall into bad experiences that would make them believe they want nothing to do with what they once loved. It's not until that spark is reignited by something that somebody can realize and relax, that they can still do what they love and consume what they love so long as they're careful not to allow themselves to be dragged back into toxic environments/experiences again.
This is another reason I resonate with her story quest, despite knowing where the plot was going ahead of time and the few insensitive moments in it.
Had I watched a lil longer I would've noticed you p much said my points already lmao sorry, ik it seems like a very "but still, why tho?" moment I relate heavily to it as a creative who makes being creative my whole being for all my life since it's what im good at and rolled with since forever so- It seemed very fitting to latch onto it considering the circumstances.
once again i find you in youtube comments lmao XD
@@artsysparks Gasp a wild encounter!
*cue pokemon battle theme*
@@sundalosketch4769lmaoooooo
I felt the same about her story quest. The way they kept not taking her boundary seriously didn't sit well with me. I think it would have been better if they'd simply respected it from the start and then Furina came to her own realization about her love for theater in her own time. I get that's what they were trying to convey, that realization that she did genuinely enjoy theater was significant because it meant she was starting to find her true interests. But I also agree, I wish it hadn't been tied in with something that had been traumatic for her. I feel like that realization should probably have taken years of healing first rather than a few weeks or however long the story quest was meant to last. Baking definitely would have been a better alternative, and still fitting for her character.
Personally I saw it as something different. Sometimes when you reach those depressive lows, it can feel like your trapped, that your stuck in your limited mindspace. You know you cant stay like this but you cant bring yourself to take any steps towards getting out of it. In times like these, sometimes the best thing is to have a support figure to drag you kicking and screaming where you yourself are too scared to go. Furina loves acting and theater, but in her current headspace she would have never rediscovered that passion without some situation forcing her hand. Respecting boundaries are important, but if you leave them to handle things alone, nothing will change.
One thing that broke my heart, was the scene that played as Neuviette gave the guilty verdict (before the death sentence)
Furina was in the void and she saw Nev, she tried to reach towards him, as a way to beg for him to stop, to see her hurt and stop tearing her act apart. But he turned and walked away. She looks to Us, the traveler and paimon, seemingly going to reach to them too, but they also turn and walk away. This is two (or three) people who have told Furina to tell the truth, and she still didn’t. These are the two opportunities she had to spill, and she had a sliver of hope that their willingness to listen meant they actually cared a little: probably the only time in those 500 years she’s experienced that.
But they turn away, they react to her act with anger instead of trying to understand why.
And when Nev finishes the line, declares her guilty, her heart shatters into glass pieces, broken and unable to be put back together. And all she can do is sit, and disappear.
The people, even those closest to her, reacted to her lie with anger and resentment. They never asked “why?” They just judged and walked away. They even LEFT HER on her throne CRYING for a while before the Oratrice started to do the execution. They wrote her off, she wasn’t important. Even to Nev, and the traveler, she was just a liar.
And this is what it’s like to struggle with mental illness. If you speak, you risk being shunned and judged, but if you chose to hide it and you get caught, it’s always “how dare you lie to me I thought you cared?” “How dare you lie you are a horrible person”
Truly, you can never live without judgement when you are mentally ill in the world, nothing is ever enough, but my god am I proud of Furina for making it through. Everyone Involved in that trial needs to apologize or at least ACKNOWLEDGE her heroism. She deserves the world.
I love Furina's character so much, she's my new favorite character in the game and probably will always be
As someone who suffers greatly with depression, Furina as a character not only feels genuine, but the people behind the story also really did their research when it comes to trauma and the topic of mental illness; especially in her character story where we see Furina's character a bit more intimately. Amber Lee Connors, her voice actress, does such a good job portraying the pain and anguish that I'd imagine 500 years can really do to a person.
It's heartbreaking to watch all of this unfold, even more so when you can personally relate to the struggle in some capacity. And I think that deserves so much credit to the writing team behind Genshin. 💜
a little headcanon of mine: Furina is diabetic. In her demo as she is sitting on the scene she says "Blood sugar replanished" which meant she had lower blood sureg some time ago most likely duo to rehearses. I just think its really adorable small deatail
Tbh I wasn't focusing on the entire vid I was memorised by that body pillow❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I actually like the decision of the writers to have Furina act again at the end. You can tell that it’s actually her passion. But the magic of a passion fades when you have to do it for work. Seeing her rediscover her passion and be rewarded for it felt nice.
I also don’t see Furina’s condition as a sort of trauma. Everyone has to deal with the hand they’re dealt with in life. This means going out of your comfort zone and tackling life even if that means doing something that your mental illness doesn’t make easy. What always comes to my mind is that Furina now has a limited life span. She spent 500 years working and now has less than 100 to enjoy her retirement. Because of how long she’s already lived, it’ll pass by in the blink of an eye. I think Paimon pushing her forwards towards the end there was a message to her that she should enjoy the time she has left with her head held high, doing things she loves with the people she loves, rather than locking herself away eating macaroni all day.
Just think of how the hilichurls felt. Furina was a human burdened with nigh immortality. Her torment lasting for 500 years.
This gives us a glimpse of hilichurls' torment.
weren't the hilichurls the lucky ones who had their minds sealed away when their bodies were cursed? it's the pure-blooded khaenriahns that are most similar to her
@@PatriciaKerriI wonder if Dain will talk about Furina the next time we see him. If he does, I wonder if he'll respect her for playing the acting part
I'm so glad others are noticing the insensitivity and f*ck up in her story quest writing on breaking her boundaries she so clearly set multiple times.
The fact that you can make so many history comparisons is SO respectable
I think her getting a Vision makes perfect sense. From one of your previous videos, you mentioned getting a Vision means "getting marked" by Celestia; as she gets back on stage, back in the spotlight, right after Fontaine and her was supposed to get punished was Celestia saying "we see you now"
Also she is best girl second to Keqing fr. Definitely not biased.
I think, after reading Neuvillette’s character stories, He probably gave it to her, because of the little claws and it seems as he’s the one granting visions now. But otherwise yeah, it’s like his mark k of recognition and kind of his apology.
i loved her girlfailureness so much when i first started the archon quest. but her story is genuinely so sad and so unimaginably painful, and lonely and i found myself drawing parallels to mental health isssues too. thank you so much for the vid e!
I do appreciate that Furina takes control of her artistic choices in the end and decides she's going to be a director instead. Yeah the Vision coming during acting was weird, but she didn't go "well ok fine ill act". She did genuinely enjoy helping the troupe as a director - aomeone who *directs*, but in a more genuine way than as a Fake Archon.
The way you've been so consistently putting out amazing content needs to be studied you're the Content archon frfr
I always enjoyed Furina. Characters like her, Yoimiya, and Hu Tao always strike me as characters that have a deeper and more complex side to them, where it's implied for the two latter I'm glad they really went in with Furina, it shoot her up to one of my favourite characters.
I interpreted her getting the vision during the performance less as her acknowledging a love of acting (though I think that was implied) and more as a recognition of her efforts in helping others who need her. Like she didn't have to follow up with the troupe after turning them down or fill in to act, but she did those things so that she could help people who need her, like she did when she played the role of archon. And this desire to help others, sometimes at the detriment to the self, is also a trait I notice in myself and in the neurodivergent people in my life
The introduction to Furina left me cold & determined not to waste my wishes, I didn't care how strong she was as her character grated so much, but after the 4.2 Archon quest...
Basically that was me 12 years ago, after masking for 30 years (totally unaware that I was) it was torn away & I crashed & have been rebuilding ever since. Needless to say, guess who has a level 90 Furina roaming my little slice of Teyvat.
as someone with depression and anxiety as well as being burnt out…i love furina ❤. I just hope i can pull through like she did
What a great video, as someone that shares a lot of things in common with furina (including bday) I feel like this was a great deep dive I to her character. Even learned about new things from this video like the spoon theory for example (I probably heard about it before but didn't pay it much mind).
I want her to be happy, just like I wish I could be.
Edit: I would also like to add that while everyone was making fun of her up until act 5 I knew there was more behind her facade, so if I ever did laugh about her it wasn't in a mean way because I related to her even before knowing the truth. I'm terrible with words so I hope everyone understands what I'm trying to say.
i can relate to Furina in several ways and other stuff you listed here, i sometimes mask my depression and/or any pain i am experiencing as to not worry people, i mean i tell them in private but sometimes it is just easier that way. Sometimes i smile to trick myself into being happy or chuckle to myself due to my dark/nihilistic sense of humor at times, laughing is a coping mechanism i sometimes use. I also don't shower often (only about once or twice a week) because i don't like it and i would rather be doing other stuff and i forget to eat sometimes.
Also i see how she got her vision more as a gift from Neuvillette for all the hardships she had to go through, not because she acted again
I can already tell this'll be good
I'm sure there are people who relate to Furina apart from myself.
As an autistic, for years I'd pretended to be someone I wasn’t, a "normal" person, and ultimately, the mask stuck to me, making me more and more miserable. Pretending to be someone you're not is painful. My actions were never altrustic, and I hurt many people by pushing them away. It was solely for others not to see how lonely and hurt I was. However, Furina's lore might apply to the bigger issue, and all people mask themselves to some extent. Most of us are unaccepting, we mock those who don't fit it to feel better about ourselves. And because we want to be a part of a group, we hide in plain sight.
I interpreted that in Furina's quest she gets her vision as a final goodbye to acting as someone else, and is ready to move on to what she likes, the quest doesn't specifically says she will keep acting and such, it leaves it open, who knows maybe next time she will have her own restaurant as a chef :)
She literally expresses that she wants to return to to the stage at the end of the quest.
@@massivenut3282 As a form of self-expression rather than suppression
Turns out she did stay in the perfoming arts, but now as a director instead of an actress
I loved Furina from the moment I first heard her name (Focalors back in leaks very very early), and she instantly became an ultimate favourite when my friend had to specificcally warn me about the archon quest that It will be sickeningly relatable. My friend was absolutely right. It was Focalors who I found most relatable but Furina hit so deeply it took me days to stop thinking about it.
As a Navy Vet who has been struggling with PTSD on top of my autism, I hated Furina at first. But as she started to stutter and struggle I started to see something in her. After 4.2 she become my favorite character in the game, if not currently my favorite character in all media. There was something about her story that even now makes it hard not to tear up every single time I think about it.
After listening to your metaphor analysis, it really struck me. Even if her character is not indented to directly represent a certain mental illness, like you said, it no doubt does represent certain aspects of mental illness well. I can't watch her sitting on her bed at the end of the day without shaking. But then on the flip side, seeing her smug, happy smile during her burst animation gives me a kind of joy I can not describe. I want her to be truly, genuinely, happy. Like I want to be.
The only thing I will say about her vision...
I was a photographer in the Navy. I was not one before I joined, but I grew to love photography. Unfortunately the stress of doing it under pressure and documentation of certain events ruined it for me. It was three years out that I first picked up a camera again, the idea of taking photos again terrified me. It wasn't until my company needed a photographer for an event and provided the camera that I stepped up and am now regularly looking for a good deal on a DSLR.
She could very well love performing and only be shielding herself from it due to negative associations. Do I think her being pushed into is good? No. But they have a narrative they need to move along, and I think this was their way of showing that is was in fact a passion she had, or grew to have, as Furina the human. Something like that, an self-defining activity that was thrust upon you, can feel like a cage, but it can also become a home. Both abusive and welcoming. Its... complicated. But I will tell you, when I took those pictures of the event for my company, I immediately told everyone in my family and any friend that would listen. I felt like I had earned a vision.
I could go on forever about this, but at that point I should probably just make my own video. But great video, first of yours I have seen but I am already digging through your channel for more.
I dont think Furina getting her vision during the show was the game going "yo u picked wrong act". But was instead given to show her sense of justice and responsibility. Furina was the leader of the nation even if she was just a human girl. And people still died under her rule. In that moment she acted to see out the final wish to honor a victim of the primordial sea. A victim of the serial killings. To allow this final act of honor for her to go through.
So I believe Furina was gifted the vision for her act of sacrifice and justice. And not as a way to say. You're choices are wrong you shouldn't do what you want.
Furina is such a relatable character, i feel so much like her but not in the masking my sadness and having this big happy personality while masking, for me its the opposite, masking this big energetic personality and covering it up with a quiet one, i love her so much ajhgdhjkjhbhedfggdk
still not my favorite character, but i love her story so much. i almost cried on her quest cause it was such a good representation for overcoming your trauma. i have a similar experience - i refused to go out, i was frightened to act on different things, i was isolating myself cause of my trauma. i was scared to re-live my trauma, even though i still had passion and desire. it was such i beautiful scene where furina went on stage despite her fears. and she got a vision for her ambition and dedication ❤
fontaine has really interesting characters storywise. i liked wriothesley and neuvillette story too. great content, i missed that in genshin.
thank you gor the video! great, as always
Tbh, that might be really headcannon-ic? ig? however, I tried to grasp why the scene with Furina receiving a vision doesn’t hurt me as much, as a description of her finally doing something different, only to been put back and applauded, despite how truly painful it was, should’ve.
And that answer for me is interpreting the scene more emotionally, than metaphorically. I want to think that the vision, she was given is not “okay, continue that” but more of a “thank you. It was only you who was able to do it”. Having in mind that it is Neuvilette who gives her the vision, and in the story quest he seems understanding of her situation, I hope it was what they were going for. She deserved this vision EVEN before all of this, but her efforts were left unnoticed. So this one thematical return to the theatre is sending her back to the times she did it every day. She did act, and she acted good. She doesn’t have to anymore - she proved everything
also it may be just me but I find lots of parallels between furina and wriothesley in a way people can see them both as just criminals no matter the fact they had to fight for good. and in real life all those judgements follow you all the time to the point of being present even in your own thoughts as bodiless voices and opponents (Furina has been judging herself for her own valid actions thinking neuvillette should press charges against her and Wriothesley judges himself as an unworthy criminal not fitting in into aristocratic club of the outside world). Fontaine characters have been incredibly well written I am so glad to witness such a good work of art
Just a little thing about Marie-Antoinette, speaking as a french who heavily reseached French Revolution in my studies, she wasn't sentenced to death for being out of touch but for pleading to her family (the rulers of the Austrian Empire) to send troups to France in order to crush the revolution (her letters were found and intercepted), although the royal couple had sworn to be on the side of the nation against external foes. So she was tried and sentenced to death for betrayal, and nothing else.
That said, it's true that she was the victim of a huge smear campaign, both from revolutionaries, who criticized her opulent lifestyle and her links to foreign dynasties, and from conservative royalists, who blamed her influence for the faults and bad decisions of her husband.
As often in history, things are not black or white. Marie-Antoinette certainly was not the malicious and luxurious queen that was depicted for a long time, nor was she just a sweet and naive girl as she is nowadays presented. But she was a woman, in a relative position of power, in a troubled time who tried to make the best decisions for herself. Unfortunatly for her, these decisions cost her dearly.
the funniest part about her entire fanbase is that 90% of it (including myself) lowkey kinda hated her until the most recent archon quest. i feel like everything shown in it was much needed, and even if its not 1000 years, sometimes just getting through a day feels like that and i love the way they portrayed everything.
I loved fontaine and furina’s story so much. I loved how deep and emotional it was, how unafraid hoyo was to insert darker themes, and how real the characters felt. I PRAY they carry this momentum into Natlan and through the rest of the game.
What are you gonna say now, "women in genshin are badly written" advocates
since her vision was personnaly given by neuvilette i think it's more a reflexion of his own guilt and grief, he's shown being really emotionnal but not knowing how to deal with it
A thing that hit hard for me was when the knave told paimon and traveler to eat cake because they've worked so hard while leaving furina out of it, and tbh If I would've been furina i would've cried on the spot, I've been in that situation before and it's not fun. Some people forget that while others have an easier time doing things, while others don't. While people were making fun of furina after getting roasted by the knave she just sat there the same way I did when I get insulted or yelled at for being lazy or having a lack of response in certain situations.
Exactly, and I'm desperate for what the Knave now thinks of Furina after it all went down
Am I the one who love Furina from the start? I am a theatre kid I LOVE her spectacle, her ego, her "performance", her everything!
About her story quest, I think it's nice but personally I would prefer if she found a purpose and got her vision in the position of directing plays instead.
Think about it, she put such a harsh boundary on herself because of the trauma, but by doing so she also gave up something that she seem to actually enjoy - acting in musicals that have a beggining and an end to it. Acting (besides the role in the Focalors plan) is something she chose to do with the little agency she had at the time. She wasn't required to do that to be an archon.
Her coming back as director of a troupe, not being the center of attention but instead being the main person behind the scenes directing the actors and story, would be a perfect way for her to find purpose again in what she loved to do without actually breaking the boundary she set for herself. And wouldn't feel like her agency got taken away, but rather she found a purpose for herself
I personally wanted Furina's personal story to end on her choosing to be a director. So I am very happy that the most recent event did this. Having her be a actress again feels wrong.
Her story quest ends with her reaching the conclusion that she wants to be involved in the stage again but not from an acting perspective.
When we say that she was "Alone", she was utterly and literally Alone.
The part where she met Focalors was the time when we can say that she was "born" as a human.
She only has 2 memories in her head:
1. She is from Fontaine, and
2. The Prophecy.
She doesn't know if she has family. she doesnt know if she has friends, and yet Focalors suddenly gave her this HUGE burden.
Play the part of me in the prophecy and suffer in silence or die with everyone else in Fontaine.
I liked her story quest and think it actually made a lot of sense. I think I have a slightly different read on Furina from yours. Furina's act wasn't as elaborate as people are interpreting it to have been. If it was really 100% all a front there's no way she could have held out for 500 years. She truly does love the stage. The problem was, she could never ever do anything BUT that, and the secret she was hiding totally isolated her from everyone nonstop. She was having to hold up an act, and doing it for 500 years while harboring a secret as massive as "I'm not really a god" would drive anyone mad. But my main point is, Furina likes the stage. She's an actress at heart. That's the only explanation for her being able to hold that up for 500 years without completely losing her mind. Her trauma came from how extreme her circumstances were, and how isolated she was.
Given that context, her story quest is about her recovering from her trauma. I think there is an implied time jump at the start of that quest. Nobody seems to know where Furina is or what she's been up to since the incident. And we find out she's been shut up in her house making macaroni. She's going through depression. After single mindedly pursing 1 thing for 500 years it makes sense that as soon as the strings are cut she doesn't know what to do with herself. The only purpose in her life has finally been fulfilled and she's got NO frame of reference for finding a new one. Before she became "The hydro Archon" she didn't even exist! She just poofed into being and was immediately given her mission. It's finally complete. Now what?
She sets that boundary of not acting, and that makes sense. She's identified "acting" as the source of her trauma. But it's made clear to us that she's a really really good actor. Everyone thinks she's amazing. And I would assume when she was acting in plays and operas over that 500 years she was playing all kinds of different roles. Being a good actor wasn't part of her Hydro Archon act. It's who she is. She's an actor at heart and really likes it. She followed the traveler to listen in on the commission after declining because deep down, she's interested! She still likes the stage. That whole quest was her finding herself, and realizing that the stage is still where she belongs. Only now she gets to step off of it when she wants to. She doesn't have to be alone and isolated. She can have true friends. It's when she stops running from the stage and embraces it that she gains her vision, because that really is where her heart is.
I fuckin love furina and how complex she is. I fucking screamed when paimon was taking the piss out of her, and ya know when she clearly states her boundaries? I said well ik for a fact those are gonna be dismissed immediately 😭 and well whaddya know, they were!!! Its very sad to see as clearly she needs a break but we can't have a chill story quest where we help her readjust or anything :') cos that would be boring 😭
All these coments are all about furina (which i get, i love her too) but i just want to apreciate E for making this video for US, as she said mental health is still not a common subject on ur nowadays life, being a tabu, and E making this video so anyone with a mental ilness could relate is such a beautiful action!
E, ur the best!
Also, since u love Navia's sm (I WATCH ALL UR TWITCH STREAMS GIRL) (love her too tbh) I think a great video idea u could do would be a Navia Deep Dive, i think she's one of the best written in genshin ever, being for me the best non archon (and even better then some archons) written character. I also think a LOT of people could relate and learn from her grief story and HOW SHE STAYED STRONG THE WHOLE TIME FOR HER PEOPLE. She kinda remembers me of Furina, both were sufering, but stayed strong (on their different ways) for their people (fontaine and poisson). Also, one of the best scenes of the archon quest for me is the one of Navia venting into neuvilette, she understand that he had no choice (like she said b4 on the archon quest about him and Clorinde aka her wife) but still it hurts her sm that HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING FOR IT IN HER EYES. As she said, she left him throw his life away hated and despised by every1. Now she's all alone, where her father fucking left his mafia boss placement to her DAUGHTER, AND SHE JUST WANTS TO BE LIKE HER FATHER, SHE WANTS TO MAKE HIM PROUD. There's still a lot i want to talk abou navia, but i leave this to you E, fellow Navia's lover!
I really hope u see this coment!
U mean so much for me and i'm sure for a lot of people!
As someone who is neurodivergent, Furina's story really hit home with me. I don't think I've ever felt so much for a character or related to one so much. It upsets me when people mischaracterize her now or anything of the sort because she's so important to me and I'd assume many others. She's genuinely so well written and I appreciate the writers for making
I think furina getting her vision while acting is a good decision, tbh.
The troupe's story of losing their director to the serial disappearances case touched furina's heart so much that she was willing to overstep her boundary she had previously set. On top of that, the story of the little oceanid musical parallels furina's own story (sacrificing herself for the good of the people) and that likely resonated with her which further impacted her decision. After she got her vision, she made the decision that although she didn't want to be on stage anymore, she would still want to help direct performances, similar to what Focalors did, but this time it would be to help others tell their stories and pursue their dreams. I think furina playing the lead role in the little oceanid was her "reclaiming" acting from her trauma, as her vision character story says her heart was "filled once again" by the performance. Since visions are "gifts" to people with powerful ambitions or desires, I think this moment fulfilled that criteria very well, and it symbolizes Furina overcoming that aspect of her past and pursuing her passion despite all the pain associated with it that she went through in the past.
Its interesting how different your take on Furina's story quest was to mine. I had set personal boundaries that got in the way of what I wanted when I was diagnosed with PTSD, and working with my therapist to get through them and set healthy boundaries rather than overly restrictive ones based in fear. Paimon was absolutely too pushy, but the rest read totally differently to me through that lens. Its so hard to judge mental health stories, because of how many different ways it can manifest, and we just don't get enough of a look to see. It's must be so hard to write that kind of thing, knowing no matter how you do it will probably go over the head of the neurotypical population, and rub a chunk of the neurodivergents the wrong way because of the range of experiences people have.
I love Furina, she is such a real character. She is, in my opinion, the best character they have ever written and as a result she is the only 5 star I have ever pulled constellations for and gotten her signature weapon. Also I don't think I ever wanted to knock Pimon out of the sky more in my entire time playing Genshin Impact than during Furina's story quest.
Paimon was utterly detestable
When it comes to her vision, the idea I get is that it's not that she chose to avoid acting or stop performing, but she was scared of it. The last time she acted she was forced to, and acted for so long that she forgot who she was. But when she was finally able to act in the play, she realized that she truly did enjoy it. Also, she wasn't really forced to do it, her character seemed to have accepted the possibility and was already ready far before the health problems really came up. I think she was mentally preparing herself for the possibility.
These experiences won't be universal, but when I dealt with depression, sometimes being pushed out of my comfort zone was what I needed, and it really helped me find hobbies and things to be passionate about that I was too scared to touch. I wouldn't have done them without the peer pressure from friends, and in this same scenario, Furina wouldn't have ever returned to the stage without the pressure of paimon (despite how dumb and insensitive she was in the story quest). This being said, there's a fine line between positive reinforcement to try new experiences and just having boundaries ignored, and I of course don't mean to tell anyone to force depressed people to do things they already said no to.
There's also lore implications of Neuvillete having given it to her and he doesn't properly understand humans/depression, so he just saw her acting again and decided that was a good time to give her the vision
Finally finished the archon quest yesterday. ( Trying to understand the greater Honkaiverse through all 3 games is a grindy task)
Once the "a look into Furina's mind stage play" happened, I could relate SO HARD. Feeling the need to mask in order to discipline myself . HER mask has been on for so long. You can just feel her cracking as the long years passed.
It's scary how quick you've become my favorite genshin content creator!
To me Furina was always a traumatized character full of coping mechanisms, I just didn't trust hoyo would display that properly since ig my expectations were very low (even tho sumeru was good, imo inazuma was such a flop and it shaped my expectations). It was kind of shocking for hoyo to be like haha she's actually even way farther traumatized than you were hoping. Wanderer and Furina are my favorite trauma characters because of where they are in their healing - still very dysfunctional but brimming with potential in a way that I quite relate to and project myself on to. They wrote Furina for me too, they wrote Furina for us fr
“TO E OR NOT TO E” was so genius for today’s topic because that quote is about Hamlet pondering whether or not to continue living, dunno whether that was intentional but I love it‼️☝️
nahida is a fantastic comparison, they both went through extremely similar things to a extent as they both was isolated to a extent in one way or another. BUT nahida had escapism in dreams ect i love how it seems that they’re almost like parallels to eachother and different coping mechanisms. They both had a element of imposters syndrome but nahida felt sad about that while furina took over and made her insecurities and used it to fuel her act.
Furina having a constant spotlight on her and consciously monitoring herself every waking moment to the point her act of being an archon came naturally to her. But at night when she's alone she finally shed tears. I think a lot of us, including me, relate to this. I used to have really bad mental health and i always appeared like a happy-go-lucky girl. My parents never understood why i stayed up late and many times slept only an hour before i had to wake up for school again. They just thought it was so i could escape their nagging, when in fact it was to escape reality itself. Everyday when night arrived and everyone fell asleep and the world goes quiet it was as if all the spotlights had finally turned off and i can finally be myself.
I believe her vision was more granted over her wish to listen and aid people in telling their stories.
("But from now on, I want to spend my time learning real stories about real people, and how they touch the lives of others around them. | I want to watch them blossom and wither, see them refined on the page, retold on the stage, and remembered long into the future") [Source: Her story quest, near the absolute end]
So her vision seems to be granted by that desire, not by stepping on the stage into acting again. The lead couldnt perform, their tale was about to go unheard, and she couldn’t let that happen.
It is the perfect ambition, the perfect wish. I'm so glad to share this desire with her.
When we first met furina, i loved her immediately because she reminded me of fischl who is my favorite character. Fischl uses her act of grandeur to mask her loneliness, so other than finding Furina's hautiness funny to watch, I also wondered where the writers would take her story. And boy did they deliver
Wait... People making fun of characters first appearance!?
Impossible!
That's a perfect representation of how dangerous stereotyping others is based on first impressions.
Her SQ was lovely but the start and the way her reasonable boundaries were blown past made me real uncomfortable. Furina is the first Genshin character that I've totally fallen in love with, and I think its in no small part to our shared experiences of poor mental health. I wish only the best for her character.
Surprisingly, I never hated furina. Never participated in the hate because I did that once and it messed me up after someone i knew died from it. I could sense that Furina had something more than just her outside appearance and personality. I now realize why. She is my favorite and will always be my favorite character. It sucks that I lost the 50/50 to Diluc.
omg i had the same thoughts ab the ending of her character quest 😭 i feel validated
PD: marie antoinette never truly said the "let them have cake" quote, it was propaganda made up by the revolutionaries, but ur point is still valid
The fact I relate to Furina to this level...... Yes, I know I need therapy 💀
I love Furina from the final feast trailer and love her even more throughout the story. Her snarky, boastful attitude is so loveable and fresh. Then the real stuff happens and I feel so bad and so relatable, I want to give her a hug (and that's why I hate how Paimon and MC act on her story quest. The guilt-tripping is INSANE!)
From now on, I'll always follow her story onwards. Favorite nation, Favorite travail characters (Lyney and Lynette), and finally, Favorite Archon
IN FURINA WE TRUST!! 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
the alhaitham pillow behind is distracting me 😭 so silly, great video as always though 🙏
This is why I say Furina deserves all the hugs and kisses in the world because she's the embodiment of "damned if I do damned if I don't" like just the struggle of wanting to talk to someone but knowing if it'd be okay. I have severe depression so seeing Furina go through that loneliness. To feel so alone that you could scream but no one would hear you and not being able to talk to anyone. It sucks and it can be really damaging and learning to undo that much mental agony would take it's toll on anyone.
Haven't even played Genshin yet and I already have a favorite character. Furina is just so tragic and beautiful from a writing perspective.
That Alhaitham body pillow is killing me
I found furina really interesting even before the truth was revealed, she was definitely the star of the show, despite the 500 years of suffering she continued to play her role perfectly 😢.
Idk about the vision. I really hope that it was meant differently bc now the hydro visions are being given by Neuvillette. Let's hope he knows what he is doing. 😢
i mean in her vision story its stated that her vision wasn’t acquired bc of an ambition but was given to her as a reward for her past deeds. I see this as neuvi opening up a new path in her life, because she states that she feels useless and has no idea where she’s going. Now she’s the first sovereign given vision holder in teyvat which is rlly wholesome
@@rllyb0red719 oh thx i didn't know that. Hopefully he will also tell her that in person.
Other than the mental illness and the mirror of Marie Antoinette representation, I think Furina also represent the struggle of creators. Furina suffering from acting for 500 years can also represent the exhaustion many entertainment creators (like musicians, movie directors, artists or even youtubers) experience through out their career. Yes, she loves acting but having to do that thing with little to rest is suffering. It can cause physical and mental damage on you. The example that I can think of is Eiichiro Oda, the author of One Piece manga, he has been writing One Piece since 1997. He releases his manga chapter weekly and his daily schedule before 2013 is 21 hours of work + 4 hours of sleep with short break for eating and toilet. This caused physical toll on his body that he got hospitalized a few times.
Despite some insensitive dialogues and how pushy it seems, I see her SQ as the way to
1. Regain her love as a stage performer.
2. Break from her lockdown and see the world in the POV she never seen before.
3. Finally have someone to talk and let everything that had been inside her out.
4. Not become a hikikomori.
Another thing that I noticed about her SQ is the timing between you finish Act V and starting her SQ can affect how you view this SQ.
1. If you play her SQ immediately or a few days after act V or you make a headcanon that this would within a few days act V, It would make Traveler and Paimon looks very bad bc she didn't have much time to rest and they drag her into the spotlight again.
2. If you play her SQ a few weeks after act V or you make a headcanon that this would many weeks or at least a month after act V, It would look better bc she has been shut-in for a while. She needs to touch some grass.
Still, this doesn't excuse Paimon's insensitiveness in some dialogues.
From what I’ve heard apparently that’s a fault of the English dub where Paimon comes off as more bitchy.
I always saw it like that: Furina was basically becoming a shut in and needed that “push” to get her to go out again and it ultimately worked out as she realized she wanted to travel and even wanted to be involved in the stage but in a more backseat approach in the form of directing.
22:09 what the story means is probably that her trauma shouldn't take away the sole career path she would have absolutely love if not the trauma. that is why I like this ending it is complex rude yet helping furina to make a first step into realizing acting is good and not traumatizing anymore. I know such moves should be done after some therapy yet it is not like teyvat has lots of them running around and asking sad people if they want to heal ==^
I have anxiety and depression and other things going on. Let me tell you that even when I am around people I feel so alone, and yet I get so tired of being around people quickly. I often cry every night because of things I have done in the past or what others done to me. I personally don’t trust myself or others. My point is, I can relate to some of this!
GI always dealth with these kind of themes but very subtly.. in Fontain, I think they're being much more explicit! I really loved your analysis on Furina!
I liked Furina the first time we met her and My love and respect for her character grew as I was doing the AQ and SQ. Many still downplay her role and the suffering she endured.. saying that she is childish, immature:')) and believing " Focalors is the mature one, the real one, Furina's mother /sister 😂" yet failing to realize that divinity is also part of Furina. They are the 2 sides of the same coin. Furina/Focalors is too harsh on herself. Be it as a Divine or as a Human, she always put her Nation, her people and her justice above herself. She is strong and flawed, she suffered and still have the kind heart to love and move forward! I am glad how wonderfully they managed to show it in her character in the AQ and SQ and present the mental suffering many of us endure. heck even Paimon and Traveller's insensitive and rude attitude was realistic 😂
Anyway,Thank you for making this wonderful character analysis video. Being able to relate to a character and being understood and seen.. is a very cathartic experience.
I love Furina. She will always be my little Hydro Archon. Even though she is the human side of Focalors, she is still Focalors and an Archon in my eyes. She is my favorite Genshin character and the one I want to immediately go to and just give her all of my love, attention, support, and lots and lots of snuggles (Because my baby deserves it and I never want to see her cry...ever again!!). I completely agree that the last bit of her storyline could have been written or given a better/different outcome. Still, I am quite pleased to see miHoyo portraying trauma (through powerful and mighty Archons even) and the many struggles when it comes to mental health, as well as the people who do not have these mental illnesses view those who do. E, thank you for this video. It was very well made and I am glad you also love and respect Furina as I do. Cheers!