About the experiment dottore suggested to pantalone
Just a very simple analysis based on my thoughts, maybe im pointing out the obvious here but I wanted to yap😭😭 this may be messy as im just writing whatever comes to mind, forgive me
Ive seen quite a lot of people say that dottore would come back. In the archon quest, dottore proposes idea of a new experiment to pantalone: recreating himself through pantalone’s memories. This became one of the reasons why some people are hopeful that dottore will comeback.
But pantalone himself deliberately brushes it off. Some people may think that pantalone would entertain the idea and may even try to achieve it. After all, this sounds logical. If he manages to recreate dottore, then it guarantees his own further survival. One thing about pantalone’s character is that his alliance with dottore is partly based on protection. He fears death, just like any other mortal. And as a mortal death is the one thing that he cannot defeat, and dottore’s elixir of immortality helps him with just that. So why wouldnt he at least try to do what dottore suggested?
The suggestion of the experiment wasn’t a matter of “Can I do it? am i capable?” to pantalone. When pantalone asked, “and if you ceased to exist, who would be capable of performing this experiment?” it’s almost like he’s saying “there’s no replacement for you.”
When pantalone pointed out dottore’s disdain for his other segments, dottore said this:
This is why I think pantalone wouldnt do the experiment. If an identity becomes fully reproducible, then individuality loses its meaning.
Pantalone understands dottore more than anyone. But the dottore he understands is still interpreted through human connection. Creating dottore from someone’s memories would distort the original dottore, as it is inevitable that new dottore would be filtered through the person’s perceptions of dottore. He could potentially take on pantalone’s attachments, biases, or even aspects of himself the og dottore wouldve rejected. He could become “too human” and that itself is a risk pantalone would never be willing to take, as it erases what makes dottore who he is, and what makes him so useful in the first place.
Pantalone also emphasizes “individual”, this implies that he already understands the outcome would not be true continuation. Dottore laughing is also interesting. Hes obv not offended, rather he finds it funny that pantalone instinctively avoided the existential trap hidden in the question.
One thing that was ironic to me was that dottore tries to overcome the human limits. Death, time, inconsistency etc. But in doing so, he destroys the very thing that allows one to feel real. The segments are all “him”, but because they are all him none of them can hold the authority of being *the* him.
im drifting off topic here but their relationship has to be by far one of the most interesting dynamics in genshin. The elixir dottore provided contained remains of zandik, symbolically meaning dottore embedded part of himself into the thing sustaining pantalone’s life. And of course keeping pantalone alive wasnt out of generosity, dottore did it because of unwavering funding and investment, and a partner who enabled his ”path” without moral hesitations. Pantalone is the perfect partner for someone like dottore.
thats all for now😭 lmk what yall think! i really wanted to discuss this with people🥹