u/Dismal-Job1814

So some part of fandom is once again coming back to “hate” Paimon for her being mean to Ninnin after new world quest

All I got to say is, this really reminds me of the whole “Furina incident” where fandom got in an uproar after Paimon made few mean comments to her(with some people also pointing it out)

So I just want to list of reasons for why I think, it’s illogical

(Sidenote I am not gonna talk anything involving voiceover cause I did see some people talk about it. But I personally had no issues with her this patch)

First let’s start with the world quest:

People are mad cause Paimon was mean to Ninnin and was calling her “Eggie” the entire time, even though Nininn did not like it

First of all, as we know Paimon gives nicknames to all people that annoy her. Ninnin is just the first one who gave any pushback(aside from Itto, but the other one just calls Paimon lavender melon back)

Nininn 5 minutes in the quest already

1. Deceived them by “pretending” to be Bina
2. Caused the self destruct feature in the base which almost blew them up
3. And got them stranded on the moon

Now was she maliscious in any of this? No.

But doesn’t really matter consider her actions got them stranded ON THE MOON. Imagine if Bina wasn’t there. They would basically be stuck there with no way back.

And even then Paimon wasn’t that mad at her(and she wasn’t even sure Bina was there).

Later down the line Nininn was throwing sassy lines and arguing with Paimon as well(hell at some point she called Traveler in every way more superior to Paimon, and outright said she is neither of these things, and the latter didn’t even peep about it)

Now what’s funny to me is the fact that Paimon was the most passionate about Ninnins situation at all, and the one willing to help the most.

She was trying to stop Nininn from essentially sacrificing her

She was the one who was willing to stay with Nininn after we learned she was the daughter of Lusalim(she perfectly understood Nininns mental turmoil at the time, and explained it perfectly to both Bina and Traveler) That is coupled with the fact she was scared out of her boots to stay there even just
without Bina(saying “Who will protect us now”)

And that is coupled with her separation anxiety that she is desperately trying to overcome since Natlan.

Who was worried for Nininn when they crash landed on the moon? Paimon

When we heard Nininn screaming for help when she got kidnapped? Paimon says “We gotta save her”

Also she was also the one who was going out of her way anytime Nininn was crying to console her(mind you Traveler did not give a shit about Nininn initially and was willing to throw her off the spaceship if she didn’t spill any info)

Lastly, if you come back to the spot where Nininn disappeared after the end of WQ, you can find a basket full of snacks Paimon left there specifically for her.

Not to mention that Nininn herself, said multiple times she greatly respects Paimon through the quest.

Paimon’s actions speak louder than any of her words.

And being mad at her over some jabs she threw at her(which wasn’t even that mean to be honest, compared to what we all know Paimon can actually dish out) is strange.

Now the Furina stuff:

Imma be honest, Paimon being mad at Furina is pretty warranted.

Same Furina frame one upon their entry in Fontaine tries to challenge her friend to a fight, and calls her a “Flying object”.

Then repeatedly harasses her friend again multiple times in Fontaine to egg them on to challenge her.

All i remember, Paimon truly saying to her was calling her a drama queen, and saying she was “struggling to cope”.

“Well she knew of her past, yet she still chose to be mean” Paimon only heard a retelling of her past from Neuvi. She never saw it like the Traveler.

I find very interesting connection off how people love to infantilize characters that suffer and give them “You can’t be mean them, cause they suffered” treatment.

And get mad at Paimon over her not being a goodie goodie to them.

What’s funny to me is the fact that Chiori said far meaner stuff to Furina, yet she never received same backlash.

Overall I think, both instances Paimon was not that mean she would usually be to most other people

And with Nininn she was even going out of her way to help her anytime she needed help.

People seem to massively misunderstand her motivations.

Everyone seem to think that she was just lying for fun about her being “Lonely” and not having a “Place she belonged to”.

“She had friends, so that must be false!”.

Her problems was not “I had no actual friends”. She quite literally frame one in Nod-Krai, when we ask about her relationship with other harbingers, she said her time with Arle, Sandrone, Rosalyne was one of the most fond memory she has.

Her problem is not “I have no friends”, her problems was that she didn’t fully acknowledged them as such. Just because she showed she cared about them, does not mean the opposite. Mind you in all of Sandrones animated short we are seen how SHE cares about other harbingers. Not how THEY care about her(well obviously it was focused on Sandrone but you get my point).

Columbina always thought of her relationships as “Transactional”. And that all her relationships in Fatui were just a product of her sacrificing her power for Tsaritsas goal.

Just because she THOUGHT they were transactional, does not mean they ACTUALLY were transactional. Quite the opposite actually

That’s why she left. Because she didn’t want to be treated as bottomless supply of power, and with this cut off all her “Fatui relationships”

Then later down the line Traveler didn’t show her anything.They didn’t show her “True meaning of friendship” for her. All they did was “open her eyes”(core theme of her character btw) to the fact she already HAS Friends. That do care for her(and frankly that wasn’t Traveler doing it by themselves, it was group effort of all to Nod-Krai cast). It’s also parallels the fact how she “keeps her eyes closed” to the truth of the world. To deny the world around her.

Mind you she says all this HERSELF in act 4 of Nod-Krai AQ, in her convo with Dain. Hell everything I talked about is spelled out in the story(most of the times by Binas words herself).

I know we have “Genshin players don’t read stereotypes) but please don’t conform to them😭

Anyway that’s all I had to say