u/fictionallymarried

Edit: I don't know how italics work with mobile posts, sorry in advance

Hi! I never come here, but I've also been waiting for Dottore's release since the manga. 6.6 was a test of patience, alright. The quest didn't meet my expectations for the Irminsul barbecue patch, but there's enough material to work with that I don't feel like I wasted my time (some of it, at least).

I have a lot of thoughts about Zandik, the segments, the lizard, and the irony that Omega was just as shackled as the original, not by bearing the name of the heretic but the unchanging truth of his existence being a fate in of itself. It might seem too out there but I'd like to share my theory regardless, as I don't recall seeing this particular angle before.

Note: the following assumes that the segments are true fragments of Zandik's soul.

I think Omega caused variables in the past with the objective of creating a new body he could be reborn in, just like he orchestrated Columbina's birth. Thus, 6.0 - 6.3 was a foreshadowing of Dottore's playability.

He and Columbina are paralleled in more than one way: bird motifs, musical connections, a sense of not belonging, amongst other things. This is on purpose, Hoyo loves its callbacks. Look at her trailer and the cutscene with Pantalone, how they view Dottore as a pianist. That's callback no. 1. Perception changes everything, and that's why it has to be Pantalone, who knows Dottore and most importantly Zandik, who finishes the experiment. His memories are the most accurate anyone other than Zandik himself can have about every side of his.

The most important variable in this theory is Omega, the most selfish segment and the only one who can cause the others' destruction. This way he can be Il Dottore, not Zandik. His role in Zandik's death plays a part in this, as his remains can be used to create a new, soulless body waiting to be found centuries in the future. There's no information on what became of Zandik's corpse after it was experimented on and omission can be a loose form of admission. This is how the obstacle Pantalone mentioned is overcome.

That might be why Omega laughed at his answer. He didn't ask about the body, he asked about what it would host. But Pantalone did answer about the body indirectly. He raised an obvious concern: the only one who can finish the experiment is Dottore himself. The issue isn't the memory or even the fracturing of his own soul in the process, it's where to put the materials. In the original Chinese version, he didn't say the experiment was impossible. He called it a paradox. Just like Columbina's existence. Again, how did she come to be? Variables.

Sadly for Omega, the truth is that all along he was ushering Zandik's rebirth, not his own. The creation kills the unsuspecting creator, then reshapes him unknowingly. Pantalone chose to call Omega Zandik in the end, maybe out of sentimentality as that's how he truly saw Il Dottore, or maybe as a message to the audience that it's the real one coming back. Fragments of a fragment aren't a complete soul and would never be. I believe that's his true fate and tragedy, the denial of the independence he wanted.

It's cruel, but the nature of the segments is exactly as Omega referred to them in his conversation with Nahida: they are perspectives, forever fixed in time. It's quite the contrast seeing how Zandik interacts with them in Anomalous Marrow II and Omega saying they're 'always bickering', later erasing them fully without regrets. Omega could never grow to become the 85-year old man who may come to see his youth with more accepting eyes than when he was 35. Omega could never grow to adamantly sign his papers not as Dottore, but Zandik.

Not all is bleak, though. He still is Zandik, always was a part of him. In fact, the most important one: the sum of his self-loathing and need for freedom. Only Omega could trigger the end and spark the beginning of Zandik's journey. Dying here is less Omega ceasing to be, rather Zandik regaining what he lost. Now, he can have a second chance as the man he could have been if he chose another path before it was too late: likely still bitter at how the world treated him and undoubtedly irreverent to the higher powers, but as accepting of his good traits as he is conscious of his flaws.

Two final thoughts:

First, doesn't Lizardttore remind you guys of Luonnotar? Following us around, looking like it knows something? I didn't want to include this in the theory because it causes a bit of a plot hole if Zandik's complete soul is somewhere beyond death right now. Unless Lizardttore had the other pieces all along or Omega lied about separating his soul in two?

Second, this is important. Webttore's absence is loud and it's meant to be. Now, I'm not saying the playable Zandik will look exactly like him. Maybe it will, maybe not. I lean more towards an Omega-adjacent appearance, but not identical to his current model. And yes, a toggable mask, please.

Melanta-Escher's appearance was the first seed of doubt. No, Paimon, you've never met. Unless...? The real Escher, if he was ever real at all, is somewhere in Teyvat right now. But he doesn't have much to say about his past or his identity, if you get what I mean. Something to digest.

However, excluding the very first iteration of Dottore we know from the grand segment reveal should raise alarm. It's the most obvious way to make us ask questions and notice that something's off. 'Isn't one missing'? 'Is there one hiding'? Well, yes. Yes, there is.

Take care all, whether you're still playing or not. I'm confident we're seeing a Zandik-shaped announcement somewhere in 7.x :)