Blog Update Extra

Before I begin to ramble on and on about how amazing this character is put together, let's start with some questions first.

I'll present you with a scenario and you answer the questions I give you later. After that, the rambling will begin!

What if, one day you were forced to act and be someone you are not, for a noble cause, to save the world. You can't ever break out of the act, or let anyone know your true self.

How would you feel? How long would you last in this scenario?

It's quite an unfair situation to be in, I personally would not do it despite the noble cause. I think most would say no.

So let's change it up a bit:

What if you are told that one day, you won't need to act anymore, on that day, a fantastical event will happen and the world would be saved, but until then, you couldn't give up on the act.

You don't know when it will happen, it can be tomorrow, or years away, you only know that this fateful event will one day come.

How would you feel about it now? Is it really better knowing there's an end?

Would you endure until that fateful event?

I would love to know your answer to those questions but I don't have any systems in place to gather such answers, so instead, keep those questions in mind for the moment.

Sooooooo

Let's talk about The Hydro Archon of Fontaine and the God of Justice from Genshin Impact:

Furina de Fontaine

Furina is an eccentric, loud, sometimes obnoxious and even envious girl that oftens puts herself in front of others.

This is in stark contrast to all the Archons the traveler has met during his journey in Teyvat. They had a certain divinity they portrayed despite their personalities.

They knew their role as gods and acted as such, while Furina feels more like an annoying brat who can't help but need attention. So much so, that the first thing she does is directly confront the traveler during his first step on Fontaine. Her efforts were unsuccessful however, due to a friend's assistance, she was unable to trial and judge the traveler.

She gave me a strong first expression, it was a breath of fresh air to see such a high authority character be antagonistic to the traveler. I enjoyed her personality as well, it was quite funny and charming!

Fontaine is often described as the nation of trials and threatics, the court system: The Opera Epiclese, is a huge stage where trials are presented as spectacles for people to watch. Setting aside the unethical behavior of making a show out of a trial, it's a very interesting and fun place to be at.

But deep down, the Nation of Justice is in crisis… Everyone in the Nation have fears about the prophecy foretold by the previous Hydro Archon.

It goes like this:

Everyone in Fontaine is born with “sin”. No matter how the Nation of Justice holds trial after trial, this sin cannot be absolved.

Until one day, the water levels in Fontaine will rise, and the sinful people will slowly be drowned…

In the end, the people will all be dissolved into the waters, and only the Hydro Archon will remain, weeping on her throne… Only then will the sins of the people of Fontaine be washed away.

I was quite shocked to learn this, could a Nation really be doomed by a prophecy!? No, that can't be, surely it's just a bogus lie told in the past to fearmonger people.

There's no way... Right?

Unfortunately, the more days we spend in Fontaine, the more signs of this prophecy being real appear. We even witness people dissolving with our own eyes!

The prophecy is indeed real and dangerous!

With this massive guillotine above the people of Fontaine, surely Furina, the Hydro Archon, already has plans to prevent the prophecy… She will save everyone… right?

Furina claims that she has ways to deal with it and no one needs to worry about it, everything will end up okay. But yet things keep escalating, people keep dissolving, and yet she keeps enjoying desserts and drinking tea, almost like the prophecy doesn't exist.

It was at this moment that my opinion of this character turned from positive to infuriating.

How can the god of a Nation act like a child, lazing around doing NOTHING while her people are quite literally dying left and right!?

Why every time we try to ask for answers from her, she keeps deflecting them and running away with secrets!?

It's such a frustrating feeling…

Why can't she share what she knows!?

Why hide secrets when Fontaine is about to be flooded!?

With no other choice left, the cast of Fontaine and the Traveler set up a trap to bring Furina to the court of Fontaine, where she will be judged in a dramatical trial. Leaving her with two outcomes:

She confesses to her secrets and plans for the people;

Or we prove that she's not the real Hydro Archon, but instead a fraud who was never the Archon in the first place.

But curiously, Furina, during the trial, refuses to drop the act and at one point risks her own life by touching the dissolving waters to prove that she's the real Archon.

Fortunately, that sample of the water was diluted enough to not dissolve someone, but make her feel a little bit “dizzy”, something that happens with humans that touch said water.

In the end, Furina was unable to convince anyone in the court that she was nothing more than a human, and so…

Furina was judged-

After the verdict from Monsieur Neuvillette, she simply lowered her head, and said nothing.

She went back to her throne and began weeping away…

In truth, I did feel bad for her, there was real desperation behind her voice to prove herself, but she failed to provide her evidence. Ending up being rejected by everyone witnessing the trial, choosing to silently walk back and cry. Like she gave up on everything.

I did feel bad for her…

But why!? What was so important to Furina that she can't share with anyone!? Why did she put up this facade even at the bitter end!?

Why did she put her own life at risk to prove herself!?

With all these questions in mind, it was time for the final verdict of the trial by the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale.

And according to the judgment of the Oratrice:

“The Hydro Archon, guilty…

to be punished by the death sentence.”

…

WHAT!?

THE DEATH SENTENCE!?

NO WAIT, WASN'T THE WHOLE POINT OF THE TRIAL TO PROVE THAT SHE WASN'T THE HYDRO ARCHON!?

YET THE MACHINE BUILT BY THE ARCHON GAVE THIS VERDICT!???

In truth…

She has been fighting more than anyone else…

500 years ago, Focalors, The real Hydro Archon, the one tasked to deal with the prophecy, made a plan to deceive the heavens that gave Fontaine its curse. A plan that would allow the prophecy to come true while saving everyone at the same time…

A plan that would take a long amount of time. Something she didn't have with all her duties as an Archon tying her down.

So she made the decision to separate her humanity from her divinity, creating Furina in the process. Furina had no divinity, no power, she was a human.

a Human cursed by Focalors to never grow old or die as long as she lived, her mind and body would only be as strong as a human however.

She was essentially a human cursed with immortality.

One day, Focalors appeared to Furina on the reflection of a mirror.

She asked for Furina’s help, to save everyone, Furina would need to act as the god in the prophecy, while Focalors would work on saving everyone.

Furina could not tell anyone, and never let anyone discover she wasn't the Archon, otherwise Fontaine would be doomed to the waters.

Focalors said that everything would end in a dramatic trial and everyone would be saved, but until then, she couldn't give up. Furina was innocent and kind but still had the same sense of Justice as her divinity, she accepted Focalors request. Then Focalors vanished, never seeing Furina again until the fateful trial arrived.

Furina... for 500 years, she was trapped playing her role as the God of Justice, using a mask of someone she wasn't, seeing many grow old and die around her while she was still the same. She couldn't be her real self, she had to always have her mask on. Each day, quietly suffering… while acting cheerful for the people of Fontaine… waiting for that dramatic trial to save everyone…

Furina thought of giving up many times… so many times…

She wanted to share her burden with people, but telling someone would mean risking the entirety of Fontaine…

She couldn't be selfish…

She couldn't be happy…

Forever trapped in jail not for you…

All to save Fontaine…

Sacrificing her happiness for a brighter future. In some ways, you can say that she is the embodiment of Justice.

I barely have words to describe how sad I felt during these revelations… to feel trapped like this, unable to tell anyone your suffering…

It felt close to home for me, I was a bit like her long ago…

But my experience didn't have a noble goal like saving a Nation.

Fortunately for Furina, the fateful trial did come.

Focalors’ plan was to deceive the heavens , and gather enough energy to eventually destroy the Hydro Archon's Authority and power… Sacrificing herself to give back the Hydro Power stolen by the heavens, back to the Hydro Dragon of this planet… Back to Monsieur Neuvillette…

It was Focalors form of Justice to this world.

So he would absolve the “sin” from the people of Fontaine, something she can't do on her own.

And instead of describing what happens next, I'll just show you what happens:

I was already crying a lot before, but when that cutscene happened…

I-I cannot express into words what I felt during this cutscene…

It was a one-of-a-kind experience.

The music, the animation, the performance of Amber Lee Connors as Focalors and Furina… EVERYTHING!

Even right now, writing this… I still feel emotional seeing this cutscene.

This story made a huge impact on me, and it’s one I’ll remember for a long time.

I don't know what answers you thought of during the questions at the beginning.

I can only say this for myself: I would not be as strong as she was.

There's a scene where Furina is talking to one of her citizens, talking about trivial things. But her voice was shaky, the camera was purposefully hiding her face…

Until the citizen questioned her… Furina was crying, she managed to avert the situation by claiming this was just the Hydro Power “overflowing” while putting up a smile… But her spirit was almost broken after 500 years…

She had to hide so much pain for everyone…

Such a tragic story.

This was a fantastic story to witness, dare I say, one of the best in gaming.

To tell the truth, I had a falling out with this game a year ago, it stopped being fun, insightful or enjoyable, it had become a chore to play. So I decided to give up on it and only come back when Fontaine, a Nation I have been anticipating since the game’s launch, was close to being released.

And this masterpiece I witnessed… completely reinvigorated my love for this game.

If this is the direction Genshin Impact is going, well…

I am happy to tag along and to see it through to the end!

Furina is finally free.

Before ending this, I would like to leave you with another scene that also deeply touched me.

At the epilogue of the quest, we can ask Monsieur Neuvillette some questions, and one of them is about Furina.

He tells the traveler that she left the court of Fontaine and you didn't need to worry, he would guarantee that she would never be in need of food, clothing, board, or travel.

When he relayed Focalors words to Furina, she was neither saddened nor comforted…

She simply said… that she was tired and needed to rest.