ℕ𝕠𝕨 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘....❝𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙬𝙨❝ || Nahida & Wanderer

ˏˋ ☘°•*⁀➷ ❝𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙬𝙨 ❞ ✧ ೃ༄

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┆ ° ♡ • :wind_chime: :herb: ⸙͎ °

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• The only relationship in genshin that has had an unfathomable grip on me for a year now has to be Nahida and the Wanderer as platonic found family. I absolutely adore found family in general as a premise but give me two characters that mirror each other on such a fundamental level then take all my money???

• They not only have parallels in regards to backstory and shared trauma, but they ultimately mirror each other on a design level too and that's a post for another day. For now, here is my playlist of songs for the 'Love is like a symphony' challenge!

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❝𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛❝

—

• Your Blood is a fairly new song. There are themes of comion, pain, humanity and unity as stated by the artist herself within the lyrics that I believe reflect the 'arc' so to speak of Nahida's and Wanderer's relationship - meanwhile the themes in themselves are themes they both share that are core to them as individuals as well. It has many lyrics that can be taken from either Nahida or Wanderer's perspective; the first verse states “you prepared for battle, as you fell apart” which could refer to Nahida's perspective on Wanderer during the events of the Sumeru Archon Quest. Meanwhile, “Your voice is drowning in the white noise” could reference Nahida's imprisonment. To me, this song is like a conversation between the two, with a verse referring to a certain perspective one has on the other.

• The chorus serves to solidify their similarity and succinctly describes their relationship, with the last two lines of "And maybe if you called out for help, then I could help you outrun yourself," being the key focus of this display. Ultimately, their platonic relationship is based on a mutual care to ensure the other can push past their limits and grow. With Nahida, this is more obvious as we see her encourage Wanderer in game through opportunities such as studying in Vahumana and giving him the chance to best learn how to heal and settle debts from his past. As for Wanderer, he confirmed that he would be 'helping out in the shadows' to ensure that Nahida can become the greatest leader that she can be. They both ultimately have a relationship of assisting one another in growing, being the sound advice and one another can rely on.

• Moreover, I would like to add that, on the topic of 'humanity', the first two lyrics and last two are "your blood, what matter is it made of?". These are two non human beings that explore ideas of humanity; Nahida is made from a branch of Irminsul and explores humanity through dreams to learn how to better understand them. Meanwhile, Wanderer is made from the wood of Irminsul and grappling with humanity in itself is a core part of his character. Both of them are not authentic humans, but both of them explore humanity individually in their characters and together through their relationship - Nahida gaining insight on the human experience through Wanderer and Wanderer being encouraged to participate in the human experience through Nahida despite them both not typically being 'human'.

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❝𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙬𝙨 𝙪𝙥𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙫𝙚. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙❝

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• Flaws is pretty self explanatory; the singer explores their own flaws, as well as how their relationship with another helps to both compensate for this insecurity as well as inspire acceptance of these own flaws due to the other's own open acceptance of their own flaws. It's a pretty sweet song in how others can both serve to make up for your shortcomings but also how everyone has their own flaws that make them who they are, and that one should accept these flaws with pride ("we'll see that we need them to be who we are, without them we'd be doomed").

• This really fits a niche dynamic in Nahida and Wanderer's relationship - in all honesty, this song seems like it would come from the Wanderer's perspective - but it heavily relates to how the concept of worth and perfection have both influenced them greatly, and how this is implemented in their relationship. Throughout his life, he has been shunned and has buried his own imperfections in order to fulfill his 'function' as a tool. He perceived that he was discarded due to weakness and sought to eradicate from within himself ("and I have always buried them deep beneath the ground"). In contrast, Nahida was also shunned for her flaws and inadequacies but she has never forsaken them. Multiple times in game does she it to her shortcomings (being unable to understand human convention, not being omniscient, not being able to think clearly when scared or under pressure like in Apep's situation) and ultimately embraced them and the pain they bring as "the tuition paid for learning" ("you have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve").

• Simply put, she embraces her flaws, he rejects them, until he is encouraged by her to accept them - he accepts his 'sins' as well as the flaws that came with ing despite achieving the blank slate he initially desired. Nahida physically "digs them (his flaws) out" from her storybook which facilitates for the Wanderer to "finish what we started". To surmise, I think this job does an excellent job at describing their dynamic in regards to their own personal shortcomings, and how particularly Nahida helps Wanderer to embrace that which makes him imperfect - which makes him human.

• I'd also like to add that, the repeated lyrics in the pre-chorus also focus on another niche part of their dynamic, how Nahida gives Wanderer purpose. "There's a hole in my soul, can you fill it?"; Wanderer has always been someone to search for purpose, whether to fill the hole of losing the gnosis - his purpose for existing - or to fill the emptiness from his lack of sins. Nahida recognises this, recognises his loneliness as well, and decides to enrich his life by giving him purpose. Not only does he have a role in advising her but there is also her encouragement for him to enter the Akademiya long term. She fills that 'hole in his soul'.

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❝𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙗 𝙖 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙. 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙❝

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• Yellow light is conversational in structure. With two vocalists, they divide the lyrics between them to form what looks like a talk between two individuals: one who is trying to make a new start but doesn't know how to ("I'm looking for a place to start and everything feels so different now"), and one who offers them guidance and assurance ("just grab ahold of my hand. I will lead you through this wonderland").

• I think it's pretty self explanatory as to why I feel this refers to Wanderer and Nahida's relationship, especially when reflecting on the events of Inversion of Genesis and Interdarshan Championship.

• In all honesty, I picked this song for its instrumental after the second verse. It makes me think of them both taking walks through the rainforest (as seen in Wanderer's EP video in a brief frame at Yasna monument) or both being in Vanarana since the Aranara are commonly related to them both - being Nahida's familiars and always somehow drawn with Wanderer in official art.

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❝𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙤 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪❝

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• Unlike Aurora's 'your blood' which focuses on talking about the human experience and comion towards others, 'My Blood' explicitly focuses on familial relationships. The lyrics, music video and inspiration all emphasise this; lead singer, Tyler Joseph, stated " This song is, I guess you can wrap it up and say it’s about family..... That story was stuck with me, that y'know defending your family, sticking up for them".

• This is something we see explicitly with Nahida and Wanderer. Both of them "stay with [each other]" and have no "need to run" from their troubles and traumas as they both act as a form of network for each other.

• The first verse can be argued to be from Nahida's perspective as I feel it references the three betrayals pretty well - "when everyone you thought you knew deserts your fight, I'll go with you". Despite his sins and the harm he has caused to her and Sumeru, Nahida refuses to wash her hands of him. As already established, she encourages him to involve himself in the human experience and generally works to help him overcome his past and learn how to best deal with it in the future. Moreover, as an immortal, she is the only one who will not "desert his fight" as her divine lifespan makes her a constant. There is then the lyric of "You're facing down a dark hall, I'll grab my light and go with you", which not only references Nahida's advice to Wanderer about his past seeming large and encoming (like a dark hall) but gradually having an end to it and becoming miniscule the longer he lives, but also the fact that she is quite literally his light. Nahida has several motifs, one of the moon, and her white attire is in exact reflection to his blacker, darker one.

• The second verse is from Wanderer's perspective. "Surrounded and up against the wall, I'll shred them all and go with you" refers to Wanderer's role as 'helping out behind the scenes' to enact Nahida's will and defend both her and her nation as we see in the Interdarshan Championship. He quite literally disposes of any threat.

• I specifically very like the lyric "Did they know I was grown with you?" as encapsulating them both on many levels. Firstly, the both of them are undoubtedly mirrors of one another and both have similar forms of character growth and arcs - the both of them are learning to move past notions of being 'unworthy' and their subsequent abandonment. Secondly, they both grow together now by helping each other with their own respective weaknesses and struggles. Thirdly, they are both created from wood - specially Irminsul - and therefore have quite literally grown together.

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❝𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙠❝

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• This song is wholly just headcanon territory for me rather than referencing tidbits of their conversation in game.

• "You make my heart spin sorrow into silk" is a lyric that I feel could refer to the both of them. For Wanderer, it's pretty obvious as Nahida helps him heal and grow from the betrayal he has suffered in his past, allowing him to move on from being trapped in the sorrow and 'weave his own fate'. Moreover, I like to believe that his relationship with Nahida mimics the familial relationship he had with the unnamed boy in Kannazuka; this one memory brought him sorrow, so much so that it became a betrayal, and yet the existence of Nahida - who takes on the visage of a child - rekindles that similar relationship again of siblings. As for Nahida, I headcanon that Wanderer resides in the Sanctuary (since you can't write academic theses and live out in the wild) and, as a result, it helps to counteract the sorrow she may feel from loneliness as the Sanctuary was once her isolated prison. She gains companionship and company, which helps to heal her hurts.

• The next lyric refers to them both strongly as well: "you make me sleep like a young child with warm milk". More headcanons here but I strongly believe, as Scaramouche, Wanderer did NOT spend a lot of time sleeping. This is largely because he believed doing so was a weakness as its only purpose was to restore energy for humans; it not only removes further weakness but avoiding sleep further distinguished him from the humans he hated. Moreover, I believe he would have nightmares, especially from the strife imprinted upon him upon first creation from the gnosis that caused him to cry. Nahida, being the god of dreams, would help to quell the latter part of his dislike for sleeping whilst he himself would have no need to view such as a weakness.

• I'm a big advocate for Nahida to be allowed to be a child AND an archon. Yes, she's the god of wisdom, but she was also locked up for 500 years and didn't experience a childhood. Let the girl live. Having Wanderer with her, especially in the Sanctuary, would allow her to openly experience a semblance of a 'childhood', hence why she can now sleep "like a child with warm milk".

• They also provide comfort to one another by mere prospect of being there - neither of them will have to fear isolation and abandonment - which consequently allows them to sleep easy, which is what the lyric also refers to. This is mirrored in the final verse with "I'll stay awake when you can't get to sleep"; they are there to provide and comfort for each other.

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• That's it for this post! I don't really know what else to put here apart from stream all of these songs and the album bad blood by Bastille.

#LoveLikeASymphony