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iustitians · 5 months

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ooc; headcanons - on Neuvillette's age, early life and relationship with humans, aka Neffi going insane for 4 Google Doc pages straight

Look, sometimes you just have a lot of feelings. This is something I've been thinking about for a few weeks now, and in a way, also a topic that I've wanted to properly sort out and organize for myself.

Spoilers below for Fontaine Archon Quest (in particular 4.1 and 4.2) as well as Neuvillette's character quest. Also warning because this is long and I just kinda went unhinged.

Neuvillette’s age & early life

So while we know - more or less anyway - how long Neuvillette has been living at the Court of Fontaine, we have precious little information on what he was up to before that. I say “more or less” because the descriptions of his term as the Iudex are frustratingly inconsistent, ranging from “(a little) more than four hundred years” (in his own words), through “almost five hundred years” (in Wriothesley’s words), to “five hundred years” (in Focalors’ words). Personally I lean more towards the 500 year mark - Neuvillette’s story quest implies that his perception on the passage of time and its consequences is somewhat skewed, so frankly his words I find least trustworthy on the matter. In addition there is difference between the length of his tenure as the Chief Justice and the events from his character quest. More on that in just a second.

We don’t have a lot of concrete info, but we have some hints:

Neuvillette states he never personally met Egeria, who died during the cataclysm. The invitation to become the Iudex came to him from Focalors, Egeria’s successor.

Neuvillette is close to the Melusines, but there is no implication of him ever interacting with Elynas, who also died during the cataclysm. He was there to deal with the Narzissenkreuz Ordo, however, which wasn’t much later.

And connected to that:

Neuvillette’s official introduction states that “the Melusines actually appeared much later than when Neuvillette took up his post”. Of course the definition of “much later” is up for interpretation, but we’re talking about what a human would perceive as such.

In his story quest, Carole states the Melusines stayed in their village “for almost twenty years” before Neuvillette brought them to the Court.

Egeria and Elynas both died during the cataclysm roughly 500 years ago. Some time after that, The Ordo and the Marechaussee Phantom clashed within the remains of Elynas, resulting in a violent explosion. Given the appearance of Alain Guillotin in Neuvillette’s flashback, and his words (“They're planning to reanimate the monster… We have to report this to the Chief Justice”), Neuvillette was already the Iudex by then. It was only after that explosion that the Melusines were born, and then according to Carole, some 20 years passed again before Neuvillette brought them to the Court.

So to sum up:

The cataclysm (~500 years ago) → Neuvillette becomes Iudex → battle against Narzissenkreuz Ordo within Elynas → Melusines are born → ~20 years pass → Neuvillette brings Melusines to the Court of Fontaine → institutional reforms that put society’s trust in him to the test → the Carole & Vautrin tragedy

Something that's interesting is that Neuvillette seemed to instantly know what he was doing as soon as he arrived at the Court. The guy didn't comprehend feelings or human customs, but he sure did know his way around both the work of a judge and administration, eventually rising to the position of Fontaine's top political figure. My theories and explanations for that are as follows:

As the Hydro Dragon, Neuvillette possessed innate knowledge and ability for these things from the moment he was born. Basically he's the "Dragon of Justice" in a similar way as how the Hydro Archon is the "God of Justice". This might be also supported by the game pointing out a few times how "the Iudex is the real him" and not just "a role he plays". Focalors also seemed to know from the start she could entrust this position to him.

Or more mundane: the Archon simply threw Fontaine’s legal code at him and he learned everything he needed quickly because he's just that smart. We do know he has an excellent memory.

It could also be a combination of both.

With that said, it’s worth noting that - unlike what his story quest kind of implies - the political reforms he introduced that resulted in the Carole tragedy weren’t something he did right away. As I mentioned before, this would have happened at least 20 years after the Narzissenkreuz Ordo had been dealt with, with him already as the Chief Justice at that point. It’s not that he appeared at the Court, instantly introduced a new species to the people and turned the Fontaine system upside down - more that his introduction of Melusines and the subsequent uprooting of the old regime were the biggest tests for him and Fontaine’s trust in him at the time.

OK, cool. How long had he been around before becoming the Iudex, and what had he been up to? In all honesty I think the answer is “not much”. He came to the Court to search for the meaning of his existence, after all - before becoming the Iudex, there likely wasn’t one as far as he was concerned. There is next to no info about what he could have been doing before he was invited to the Court. That said, considering the Heavenly Principles’ treatment of the Seven Sovereigns, that may have been a good thing.

The way I see it, the hints I listed point towards Neuvillette being born either during or not long after the cataclysm. It’s not impossible that the Dragon of Water had reincarnated earlier, but if that is the case, I feel like he wasn’t active - for all we know, Neuvillette may have spent a period of time in slumber or something. He never mentions any kind of “awakening” for himself, but also he never really talks to anyone in game about his earliest years, not even the Traveler. At any rate, his beginnings would have been spent in seclusion; there probably exists some kind of underwater sanctuary that served as both his birthplace and possibly also the grave of the previous Hydro Sovereign, lost to time and history.

And yes, that means he was quite young when he came to the Court of Fontaine. I personally believe that he literally didn't have a childhood - I don't think it's out of the ordinary for the Dragon Sovereign to reincarnate as an adult right away. He's not a new being, but a continuation of an old one.

As for what he would have been doing… again, probably not much. There wasn’t really anything of note for him to do, after all, when he didn’t understand the point of his existence. He probably simply lingered there. I imagine, however, that through the water, the whirlpool of emotions of Fontaine’s human residents would have reached him, causing him a lot of confusion. Upon realizing that these came from the ones who share his physical form, as well as how he found himself able to resonate with these emotions, he would have grown at least a little curious, and considered that maybe the meaning of his existence could be discovered there… which is how the letter from Focalors would have found him.

Neuvillette & humans

Which lets me segue into the next thing I want to talk about, namely how Neuvillette feels about humans vs how he used to feel, and just how huge a gamble Focalors had to take with this guy in order to try and save the people of Fontaine.

So here’s the first and main issue she would have run into: Neuvillette is a reborn Dragon Sovereign of Water. While he lost a large chunk of his memory, he did know from the start that his predecessor, alongside the other Sovereigns, was defeated by the Heavenly Principles, who then destroyed their world order and replaced it with their own, with humans as the species in control. He also knew that the Sovereigns’ power was forcibly seized from them and given to the Archons to maintain the Heavenly Principles’ control over the land. Neuvillette is in direct opposition to both the Heavenly Principles and the Seven - regardless of their stance on Celestia, they too are usurpers in his eyes. He had no reason whatsoever to think anything positive of either Focalors or the Fontainians. Several of his bios and voice lines that talk about this part of history are worded in a way that portrays these events and their perpetrators in a clearly negative light. Dainsleif also suggests how Neuvillette might feel about humans and the world order in his Collected Miscellany:

“From Neuvillette’s position, every conflict on Teyvat must seem like a comedy acted upon a stage. Fighting for territory that doesn’t belong to them, singing the praises of overlords who imprison them, and committing sins that will long outlive them…”

Neuvillette himself says something interesting on the matter at the end of Act II, while talking to Navia in front of Callas’ grave.

“There was once a time when I didn't want to believe that there could be anything more important to humans than life itself. No, rather than that, it's probably more truthful to say I didn't believe humans were capable of resisting the most basic instinct of living things. That they could rebel against their own nature, or consider certain things to be more important than their own lives. Which is also why I didn't stop your father from beginning that fateful duel… I believed that a truly innocent man would never throw away his life like that. That there was nothing… should have been nothing more important than one's own continued survival.”

What this tells us is that Neuvillette believed humans to be selfish. Which makes sense. They’re the creations of someone who stole his ancestors’ power and used it for their own ends, why wouldn’t they be as selfish as the one who destroyed the dragons’ world to make one for them? The quote above also suggests that Neuvillette considered humans to be… rather basic creatures, governed by instincts. He begins to wonder about that for the first time a little earlier, when Marcel begs to be taken to the fountain and claims the request is more important than his own life (“Humans… will they betray the instinct to live just to satisfy spiritual needs…?”). This is before Neuvillette’s story quest is unlocked, and as such, before he can discover just how much Vautrin sacrificed for him - but still, at this point the guy has been Iudex for around 500 years, and while his opinion on humans has grown better over time, he continues to hold such views of them. It does however also make sense when we remember that, as a judge presiding over trials and distancing himself from the public eye otherwise, most of his interaction with humans involves criminals, prosecutors and attorneys - people who come to the opera house, try to prove that they’re in the right and frequently have to be disciplined by him.

So why did he even accept the position among humans? We ask him that during his story quest, and he explains in detail - he became the Iudex to seek out answers regarding the meaning of his own existence. Trying to understand why he was born as a human, who he was and what he was supposed to do, by interacting with those whose physical form he shared and whose emotions he found himself able to resonate with even if he didn’t understand them. He, too, had rather selfish reasons for accepting this job - and right before Focalors’ execution he confirms that, at first, there wasn’t much else to it.

“In the beginning, I was uninterested in human existence, but these five centuries of living alongside them have gradually brought about mutual understanding between us, and I have even attempted to feel as they feel…”

He didn’t care. He accepted the position of the Iudex to see what was in it for him - hopefully, the answers he sought. The work he did, the position he held, everything else - at least at first and at least to some degree, it was something of an afterthought. He was told “while you’re at it, try to make Fontaine a good place to live” and said “ok”; and near the end of his story quest, he does explain that from his perspective, he just did what his job entailed and as far as he was concerned it was nothing special. If he actually started trying, it happened later, possibly without him even truly knowing; it’s not until he gets the speech from Wriothesley that he realizes just who he ended up becoming for Fontaine, and in all honesty, I believe that even post-Act V, he is still in the process of letting that sink in. He had been thinking of himself as an outsider for some 500 years, this stuff takes time.

This is the guy that Focalors needed to grow to care for the people of Fontaine so much that he would absolve them of the sin of being created from the power of the Primordial Sea. And the best part is that she did it. She placed an ancient dragon who had no non-selfish reason to care in the center of the country, gave him the chance to become part of the human society - of the audience, if you will - and created circumstances where the line between him and humans has become blurred over the centuries, and where he appreciates them and recognizes their strengths even as he continues to struggle to understand them.

She successfully got Neuvillette to care enough that he did what she needed him to do in order to save the Fontainians, while understanding and acknowledging that he was deceived by an Archon, something he would be fully within his right to be mad about even in spite of the fact that she did it to oppose the Heavenly Principles. She got him to value humans enough that he has begun to hand out Hydro Visions - something he is not obligated to do, but he wants to do.

God damn, Focalors. Good job.

#✦ ooc.#✦ headcanons.#long post.

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iustitians · 5 months

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ooc; headcanons - on Neuvillette and rain

Oh you came back for another 3 Google Doc pages of me going insane? In that case, welcome to Neffi rambling about the man, part 2. This one has been bouncing around my head in disorganized bits and pieces practically since the beginning, so I guess sit back and enjoy as I attempt to stitch it all together.

As per usual, spoiler warning for story content and reveals from 4.1, 4.2, and his voice lines. You know, typical Neuvillette stuff.

Let’s start with the kinda elephant in the room and also a common misconception I see that admittedly bothers the hell out of me whenever I come across it: no, it doesn’t ONLY rain in Fontaine when Neuvillette is sad. The country does not require the Hydro Dragon to suffer from chronic depression in order to have a healthy climate. Not only that, but we have multiple mentions in both his story and voice lines that Neuvillette actively enjoys the rain and rainy days. What sense would it make for him to do so if it only rained due to him experiencing grief?

“Neuvillette has always favored rainy days over sunny ones, as the moisture-laden air helps him relax. However, it has been a long time since he last delighted in standing under the rain.” – Neuvillette’s character story 5

“Some days, my mind wanders, and I fantasize about walking into the rain… *sigh* Ah, but don't worry, my flights of fancy don't distract me from my work.” – Neuvillette, Something to Share: Rainy Days

And also my personal favorite on the topic,

“I was once summoned by Neuvillette to discuss some matters with him in his office. When I approached the Palais Mermonia, I saw him standing by the road, completely drenched in the rain. I held out an umbrella for him, and while he thanked me politely, his expression was a little… distressed, I guess. I can only assume that I had disturbed him in the middle of something.” – Wriothesley, About Neuvillette

Neuvillette was literally disappointed when he got shielded from the rain falling on him, but couldn’t show it too much because he has to play his role of a Proper Completely Normal Human Being (Except 500 Years Old). He has issues, okay.

At any rate, I suppose that with him being the Hydro Dragon, it makes perfect sense that he prefers moisture. If anything, it’s warmth and the state of being dry that would be… borderline unnatural to him. Sure, over the years he has gotten used to it, but that doesn’t mean he will have grown to like it. And he doesn’t, really. His voice line about sunny days confirms that he likes to stay indoors during such weather - heck, he goes so far as to hesitate to call it beautiful (and it’s not impossible that, again, he did so just because he thought he should). We can also figure out from his quotes about snow and the desert that cold temperatures bother him a lot less than hot ones; the former is entirely neutral, with Neuvillette not raising a word of complaint, whereas the latter flat out has him go “are you trying to kill me?!”

Of course, I can’t really write about him and the rain without analyzing his quote on the rain, now can I. It is a short, but still interesting one.

“Ah, my apologies. This heavy rain must be quite an inconvenience for you.” – Neuvillette, When It Rains

Why is he apologizing? Well, setting aside the fact that he apologizes for just about everything ever (again, he has issues), I think this quote can mean two things: “I apologize for enjoying the weather you find problematic” or “whoops, sorry, I had an emotion and I didn’t like it” - and I feel like it’s going to be either one, depending on the particular situation. The same goes for the melancholic “It’s over…” that he utters when the rain stops. Either the weather he enjoys has come to an end and he’s a little disappointed, OR what’s actually over is whatever he felt that caused the rain in the first place, in which case this would be an expression of relief.

So as I said, Neuvillette experiencing emotional turmoil is not a requirement for rain to happen around him. It can come as simply part of the climate and natural order, and I imagine he can also make it rain at will without negative feelings being involved. Such rain he can also stop when he wants - which we know from his idle animation. What Neuvillette’s sadness and grief do is cause additional rain to happen - and that is the main type of rain that is not truly and entirely under his control, because once this starts, it doesn’t stop raining until he can either put his mind at ease or strangle those feelings within himself.

This is something we have demonstrated to us full force during Act II, where we receive our first (and extremely blatant tbh) hints on his identity. We visit him in his office during a nice sunny day, he accidentally angers Navia and she snaps at him in tears, and when we exit the building, bam, rain. Navia also remarks that it was raining on the day her father was convicted, which is like, wow, you don’t say. Later on during this act, we find out and reveal the truth behind Callas’ sacrifice and the serial disappearances case, prompting Neuvillette to experience immense sadness and guilt that cause it to rain for literal days without pause - something that he indirectly confirms by outright saying “This regret has filled me with a sadness that has haunted me for days” to be his fault. (Shout-out to the fact that no one realized who he is right then and there. My only explanation for that, honestly, is that people probably expect a whole dragon when they think about the Hydro Dragon, not someone in human form. I mean come on, Navia isn’t stupid.) But Neuvillette and Navia manage to make their peace and come to an understanding, giving him some peace of mind, and just like that the rain stops, giving way to a beautiful sunset.

There’s also the moment from Act IV that results in the Traveler figuring it out, where Neuvillette’s grief and concern for the events to come prompt rain out of nowhere. And finally, of course, there’s the Act V cutscene - you know the one - where the rain comes crashing down heavier than ever before as he casts his judgment.

There is something very interesting to note in all of those situations. Namely the fact that during all those events, in spite of the severe emotional turmoil and grief he is experiencing - especially in that last case - Neuvillette still fails to shed a single tear of his own. He doesn’t do it in front of Callas’ grave, doesn’t do it in his story quest after Carole sacrifices herself and he has to exile his best - and possibly only - friend, doesn’t do it after he literally watches Focalors kill herself, doesn’t do it when he fulfills her wish. (In that last one some people like to speculate that he actually does, but sorry to tell you, no, as far as I’m concerned that really was just rain rolling down his face for the effect.) There comes a point where this can no longer be explained by him “maintaining his composure as expected of his station” or whatever - not only is that not necessary in that situation, but also he clearly loses said composure in front of Focalors. He can express positive emotions by himself just fine, however subdued and muted his reactions continue to be, but when it comes to situations where you would expect tears… It almost seems as though he is incapable of crying in a “normal human” manner, and the rain is something of a catalyst or conduit for him to express these emotions.

Which is, in fact, a headcanon that I am currently rolling with: Neuvillette does not have the ability to cry in a regular fashion.

As for what rain does for him, well…

“I don't think that the Hydro Dragon would "weep," per se. I think he just finds himself a little stirred when he gets a taste of the tears that have been shed on this land, on account of all the emotions they contain.” – Neuvillette, About Neuvillette: The Weeping Hydro Dragon

I believe that by causing it - willingly or otherwise - Neuvillette gives himself an outlet not only to express certain feelings, but also to release an accumulation of strong emotions that wash over him during certain periods of time and events, such as trials. We have multiple mentions of how it tends to rain in Fontaine especially on days when trials are held, and of course trials are a situation where emotions can and often will run absolutely wild; as well as a situation that directly involves Neuvillette.

Yet whenever we are shown a trial - be it the ones from Neuvillette’s character demo, Vautrin, Lyney, Marcel or eventually Furina - we can see that amidst all this turmoil, he maintains perfect composure, stability and impartiality, even at times of greatest uncertainty. It’s what he has to do, what he’s known for, and one of the reasons why he is so trusted. For his part, he calls it “routine”, and yet… Can it really be that easy? We know that he doesn’t have a heart of stone (hell, proving he doesn’t is one of the main points of his character arc, really).

So what I believe he can do, is that the events brought up during those trials and the powerful emotions of those involved that are attached to them will affect him, resonating with his own. Given that he does not allow himself to outwardly react or give voice to said emotions - and in come cases, cannot do so - he instead lets them wash over him, and then releases them outside. It is through rain that he can then not only give expression to his feelings in a way only he knows, but also let them out as they gather and accumulate. It’s almost like both a channel for excess and strong emotions, and a cleansing mechanism, in a way.

It is not possible for him to be entirely unaffected by emotions, and in truth it’s not what he wants, either - he doesn't aim to be an unfeeling piece of wood, and it’s through this resonance that he hopes to learn more about both humans and himself. But because he has limitations - both actual and self-imposed - on how expressive he can be… Every once in a while, Fontaine sees a bit of extra rain. Its residents go around praising their Iudex’s impartiality and self-control, and wonder about his rumored apathy, all while proof of his emotions pours on their heads, much to their dismay.

#✦ ooc.#✦ headcanons.#long post.

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