Dottore as The Scapegoat (spoiler tagged for religious/blasphemous imagery. Also story spoilers)
Hello, everyone. Max here. I've got some things on my mind that I'd like to share. As somebody who's spent more than half of their life studying religion and especially the occult, I've noticed a few things about Dottore that really made me pause to think. I didn't really plan to share these musings, but after talking to a friend (u/AsleepPen9974) I've decided I'll go ahead and upload my thoughts. This might be a little messy, so apologies if it seems like frantic ramblings. Because... That's kind of what this is. A disorganized collection of threads that may or may not lead somewhere.
As we all know, Genshin is chock full of Zoroastrianism and Gnostic symbology. Over the past couple of months, I've been doing a personal study on Dottore and how he fits into the grand scheme of the game's religious allusions.
Trigger warnings in advance: this post will be touching on the Occult as well as Christianity within the framework of Genshin's own approach to religion on the whole. If it makes you uncomfortable to see certain (potentially villainous) characters compared to the likes of Jesus, then please discontinue, because I'm about to lay down some blasphemy.
With the disclaimer out of the way. Let's begin
"Hah... I don't like this story. The hero was too arrogant, and the dragon was too stubborn. They were both idiots who couldn't find another way."
"They claimed they wanted to save the world, but they couldn't even understand what the other was thinking. If it were me, I'd never do it like that."
"That's good to hear. After all, this idea of sacrificing yourself to save the world is little more than an unrealistic obsession."
- A Teaspoon of Transcendence, weapon description
So, to start off, there's something about Dottore's design(s) that's been bothering me for a while. And I'm genuinely sort of surprised it hasn't been brought up elsewhere. But has anyone noticed that he has stigmata? Not in the literal sense, but his design evokes that image, and it feels pretty intentional.
Each of them has stigmata symbolism on both feet, and each of them has one hand with the same circle in the palm. Moonttore's is on the left hand, and Datattore's is on the right. They each represent different approaches to religious dogma and ceremonial magic. Ironically, these paths are the opposite of the stigmatized hand. More on that later.
I also believe each of them represents Chi (The Greek letter X) and Psi (The Greek letter Ψ). X, interestingly, is often attributed to Christ, whereas Psi is often attributed to the devil.
The image above showcases the various places where an X can be found in the Heretic of the False Moon's design. I've also circled the parts that symbolize his stigmata!
Likewise, here I've highlighted his stigmata as well as his incorporation of Ψ.
So, what does it mean? Personally, I believe that these two segments are equally representative of the two halves of Omega/35's contradictory philosophy. These two halves of him symbolize the duality of his personal goals and desires. On one hand, he wants to be a divine savior for humanity. On the other hand, he feels he has to embrace his role as a villain in order to further his goals. And with those two approaches in mind, let's get into the occult practices themselves.
The Heretic of the False Moon and The Right-Hand Path
During the events of the Nod-Krai patches, there comes a point where Dottore kidnaps the Traveler in hopes of recruiting them to his side of the conflict. Now, personally, I think the majority of what he had to say was entirely performative, but I won't be touching on that in this post no matter how strong my belief in my personal reading is. I only want to analyze exactly what he had to say about the goals he presented to the Traveler.
Let's talk about the Right-Hand Path.
The Right-Hand Path is the usual framework by which various dogmas operate worldwide. It adheres to a strict set of tenets that promote union, social harmony, and the elevation of the many versus the self. The Right-Hand Path adheres to the status quo-- those who follow the right-hand path submit themselves to a higher power and surrender the ego in order to perform acts of altruism and/or spiritual purification. Essentially, the right-hand path upholds the world's mainstream conventions, with a focus on ritual, tradition, and formal structure that communes with a higher power. The right-hand path also usually incorporates systems of punishment and reward into their dogma, such as karma, heaven and hell, or the three-fold law.
I think it's also pertinent to mention that the right-hand path also divides the self into three parts. The mind, the body, and the soul. The id, the ego, and the superego. The heavenly self, the human self, and the worldly self.
"All who live yearn for equality, but unless the gods prostrate themselves and profess that they are mere servants of the living, equality can never exist."
"The creation of a world is the ultimate scientific experiment. I have taken my research to the highest level, where I shall be not just a god, but also a servant to many sacred spirits. I shall heed the truth and perform holy deeds."
- Il Dottore, A Traveler on a Winter's Night
Despite his selfishness and massive ego, Dottore in this instance wants to fulfill the role of the divine. While it certainly takes quite a bit of egocentricity to conflate oneself with a god, his image for the world and for humanity is one wherein the divine serve the many. The promises he offers up to the Traveler during this quest fundamentally aligns with upholding the world's current institutions.
"The hero Narzissenkreuz always dreamed on a scale so vast and noble,
That no mortal vessel could withstand its weight.
And so the hero longed to transcend the weakness of flesh and blood.
He dreamed of shouldering all sin and suffering by himself,
Of wiping every tear from the world through the mysteries of a tearless magick,
And of attaining what some called transcendence — a transformation like the leap from ape to man."
...
"Perhaps the dragon simply could not understand the hero's choice. The hero wanted to save the human world, but he couldn't accept human weakness."
"And if not everyone could become a hero strong enough to rise above fate, then there was no meaning in transcendence for one person alone."
- A Teaspoon of Transcendence, weapon description
However, Dottore's goals are overall antithetical to the right-hand path because it prioritizes his own transcendence over the transcendence of the many. Although he would ultimately be fulfilling the role that he feels a god should fulfill, he still fails to recognize that the world he wants to provide is not one so easily accepted by the many. He lacks the empathy necessary to understand human weakness, and thus cannot fulfill the role that he feels is being neglected by the shades.
This is reflected in the design of the Heretic of the False Moon, whose left hand is the one with the stigmata symbolism. His own ego puts him at odds with the right-hand path, because only a person as individualistic as himself could put themself on the same level as a literal god. And interestingly enough, the archive entry actually nods to a left-hand path ideology, rather than the right-hand.
The Exalted Master of the Heretical Path and the Left-Hand Path
Which brings us to The Exalted Master and the Left-Hand Path. We've discussed what the right-hand path is. Let's talk about the left-hand now.
The left-hand path in occultism is the right-hand's equal opposite. It focuses more on empowerment of the self in order to reach personal enlightenment, as well as the rejection of religious institutions and divine authority. The Exalted Master seeks to weaken the power of Teyvat's divine authority, by any means necessary. He, once again, elevates himself to the level of a god in order to challenge the world's laws. He is more committed to entirely overthrowing the system and building something new from the ground up, unlike his other half, who sought to perfect what was already in place.
However, once again, his actions are antithetical to the left-hand path, symbolized once more by the stigmata symbol being on his right hand. By ridding the world of Irminsul's influence, he essentially performs an act of altruism and sacrifice, freeing the many from the power of the ruling divine. That's not to say that it's necessarily a purposely altruistic act. However, it does potentially open up the avenue for humanity at large to transcend its current state. After all, now that all of Teyvat's information is being parsed by the Aaru, it is much more firmly in the hands of the people of Teyvat than it was before.
And just like with Heretic of the False Moon, his archive entry nods towards the right-hand path ideology rather than the left-hand.
Anyways. These are just some thoughts that have been on my mind. Leave it to a former practitioner to see patterns where they may or may not exist. There are people far smarter than me in this sub who could probably dig more into this and find even more evidence for what I'm trying to get at. Which, at the end of it all, is that Dottore is in some capacity a scapegoat. And he very well may have made himself into one purposely. The Christian iconography feels very intentional, so I can't help but wonder if there's some sort of a savior narrative going on here. I do think, however, that there is plenty of room to look at some of the other harbingers (Capitan, Columbina, and possibly Pierro) with the same saviors' lens. I want to emphasize that although I see savior imagery within Dottore, I don't think he is the end all be all savior, or that he is a literal representation of Jesus within the game. I think they each may represent an aspect of the Christ figure. Capitano sacrificed himself in order to preserve the afterlife, helping the souls of his men and many others to move on from this world and return to the leylines. He's a warrior and a champion of the people. Pierro would represent Christ as a leader, sending out the other harbingers to perform on behalf of the organization. It's worth noting that including himself, there are twelve seats within the harbingers' ranks, even if some of those seats are currently vacant. Columbina represents Christ as the divine, a genuine god sent to walk among men. Dottore, then, would represent Christ as the scapegoat. One who shoulders the sins of others in order to free humanity from the burden.
Do with this what you will :') I've run out of the energy necessary to organize my thoughts further. As I said before, there are people far smarter than me in this sub who can probably do way more with these threads than I can.
Thanks for reading!
