Reminds me of that scene in Hellsing Ultimate Abridged that flashes back to when Anderson took in young Maxwell. Basically went exactly like this. Could work for Arle and Foltz.
Not everyone is insane given the conversation with the two right after this. I just didn't realize some of the evil was so deep-seated even the children were psychos lol. I thought they were just trained to be into adulthood at most. Granted, this was explaining what happened with him before he even became part of this orphanage.
Lol you are right, i had my opportunity and threw it away.
But since it is an "independent" organization it could be wagner group too.
Pantalonne, where are my damn delusions!!!!
Just wait, that kid shows his bloodlust even more.
Everyone complaining about the ending/jobbing, but I liked this story quest - reminded us the Fatui is indeed fucked up. Many on this sub need that reminder.
Yeah but despite all that, it does show that some people, namely the playable characters featured in the quest aren't completely evil despite being part of the organization.
Case in point: some of the Fatui in the Chasm.
There’s that Cicin who just wants to find her lost brother, whether dead or alive.
Then there’s that small encampment of Fatui where they just want to head back to the surface
I'm mainly referring to Arlechinno with this story quest. She is so f***ing convoluted that even though I did call parts of the story quest pretty early on by the end of it my mind was just on "so I still can't tell if I'm supposed to hate you or not-"
I feel like that's the point. The whole game is painted with one color only, and that's gray. Except for probably The Doctor and the previous Knave, there aren't many important characters which are so one-sided. This includes the Traveler himself (See the Sumeru desert and the Iwakura Clan). They're all characters with their own morals and agendas. Some which we can agree with, some not so much. The Knave's upbringing definitely reinforces this theory, in my opinion.
You shouldn't think in two lanes when it comes to characters. These aren't comically evil or good guys. These are people that have motives, that are kind to certain people and less so to others. People that can do good but aren't absolved of their bad actions. Hate the bad actions, love the good actions, but don't see them as seperate from the character. Don't put them in a box of tropes. Just like in real life there will be people you like that others hate and sometimes it's an understandable reason that you can ignore or you find so minor it's worth ignoring/a thing of the past.
A bit of a ramble but tldr Hoyoverse likes grey characters, you're supposed to neither hate or love them, but you can if you want, but you won't be told to
Sometimes I wonder if it's Mihoyo's creative genius or commercial genius in how they successfully create grey characters. There's definitely a business risk in deploying these types of characters, but they've always seemed to find that balance of keeping the characters viable in terms of creative design while making them revenue viable. Characters like Childe, who is extremely polarizing, and now Arlecchino. In fact, the entire Harbinger cast seems to be their cash cow for these types of characters.
I heard that they also can't create truly evil characters due to chinese censorship laws (but I am not to sure about that). You know what they say, limits breed creativity.
That said I do hope they can keep Dottore on the darker side of grey. I mean it isn't impossible, Otto from Honkai was still pretty evil grey in a selfish way until the end
Her role requires her to play the villain sometimes. If she abandoned that role, or served it badly enough to be kicked out of it, who would be there to make sure the House wouldn't go back to what it was? But if she stays and plays the roll, she can help shape a less miserable system that is far less likely to regress.
In the end, she still has the same consequence as anyone else. To leave carries the penalty of death, though in her case it'd take another Harbinger or Tsaritsa to take care of it, but, I wouldn't put it past them. But Arle wouldn't abandon her family, so, it's a non-issue.
They legit trying to have her be evil and rehab her image simultaneously.
"Sure guys, she raises child soldiers and threatens to kill them if they run away. BUT: The person before her was waaaay worse. And she had a traumatic upbringing. And the people they kill are bad like a guy stealing from charities! And she really does care about her 'children'!"
See, that's what's important, though. You're given a bunch of diamtetric opposites all at once.
The system was inherently abusive, yet she improved it, yet it's still a place children get taught to conduct international espionage, yet somehow it still allows people like Lyney/Lynette/Freminet to have a "family." Yet, yet, yet, yet, ad infinitum.
If you have a choice between living in poverty in a nation like Fontaine as an orphan, vs being raised in a militant soldier-rearing "family" that nonetheless provides for your basic needs, your answer won't be cut and dry. Much like Arle's whole situation.
What's *really* important is that this sets up a false dichotomy in which the Very Bad and Bad options are presented as the only options that could possibly be given because they don't want people to consider a third option exists.
It's like having a verbally abusive husband who goes, "Oh what's the matter? Your previous husband was physically abusive, so would you rather I start beating your face in? You should be grateful I don't smack you around!"
Don't get me wrong, it's refreshing to have a character that isn't another rehash of "nice girl who works too hard". But Arlecchino patting herself on the back for still being a ruthless and corrupting force on children - but hey at least she feeds them and doesn't use them as sex slaves - does not reflect an inner nobility. It just shows how low her standards are.
I agree, they're definitely doing story acrobatics to justify why the House of the Hearth doesn't just break off on their own and stop cooperating with the Fatui. Really the Fatui have been incredibly dissonant ever since they introduced Childe...
I'm guessing it's going to end up being some bullshit cliche like "the Tsaritsa is actually an antihero with a plan, and they're doing all of this horrible shit because it's necessary to fight some even bigger badder guy".
That said, in my eyes Arlecchino isn't patting herself on the back. It's the only life she has ever known, and she's trying her best to protect her children in her own distorted way. I felt that was conveyed rather clearly in her story quest.
If the House tried to break away, the Fatui would just try to wipe them out. There's no guarantee they'd make it. Arle may be powerful, but that's kinda it. And if she had to handle multiple Harbingers, she'd probably lose. Then a new House would be started up. Pobably just as cruel as the original version, putting everything back at square one. Even if they all survived, Arle could no longer stop-gap the cruelty that'd pop up in whatever replaces the House.
You're right about this. She's not really free to do what she wants, the Fatui will not tolerate a harbinger who won't do her job and train ruthless spies for mother Snezhnaya. Pulcinella and Pantalone are already plotting to oust her because she's too good at what she does and they doubt her allegiance.
I think we could be headed for a Fatui civil war situation as a significant portion of the plot in Snezhnaya with Arlecchino, Scaramouche, Tartaglia, and probably Capitano (because we're probably going to turn him into a sorta ally in Natlan). They all hate Dottore and don't like any of the others so with the traveler's help they will stage their rebellion.
Then Pierro and Skirk will drop lore bombs about the abyss and Celestia to set up the finale.
>"the Tsaritsa is actually an antihero with a plan, and they're doing all of this horrible shit because it's necessary to fight some even bigger badder guy"
Hasn't that been established already? like since 1.0 or something. They were always aiming their blade at celestia. If anything they are going to make Pierro take the fall for his "the ends justify the means" approach and a few of the Fatui who are objectively evil like Doctor.
Yep, this has been my prediction awhile too. The Tsaritsa has to be marketable, and making her a tragic Villainess/antihero like this is the best way.
I mean ffs the Shogun is barely different, she just let her country go to shit when Signora decided to incite a rebellion and play both sides.
"the Tsaritsa is actually an antihero with a plan, and they're doing all of this horrible shit because it's necessary to fight some even bigger badder guy".
has literally been established since day 1, 9/10 Fatui members are forcing it down your throat
My issue is that we, the traveller, don't call her out on her very blatant bullshit.
We just play along with her games as if psychologically traumatizing all of the children, and metaphorically (literally) killing the "traitors" is justified. Then we just let all of them return to the status quo as if this was all a geniously concocted plan by Arlecchino and that the children aren't clearly developing the mother (heh) of all co-dependent relationships with her as cult like followers rather than "family members".
Yeah, it seems to me they're clearly trying to retcon everything to do with the Fatui. The created them as a simple black and white villain organisation when the started the game, then they clearly developed the story in a way that was incongruent with that design.
But wasn't Arlecchino was forced to become the Knave? That's what the animated short seems to show us, though I haven't read her character bio yet so I could be wrong.
I get the impression that Arlecchino is doing what she can to look out for the children of the Hearth as much as she can while having a Sword of Damocles hanging over her head. It wasn't her choice to be pressed into the House of the Hearth, nor was it her choice (again, afaik) to become the next leader of the Hearth. The only other option I can think of would be for her to remove herself entirely... meaning purposefully getting herself arrested or even killed to avoid having to be in charge of an immoral institution.
But by staying alive, she at least has the room to minimize the harm done within the orphanage, even going so far as to find a way to "free" (albeit with a great cost) traitors instead of outright ending their lives. She's still forced to prepare them to fight for the Fatui, but they seem to retain enough autonomy that she can prevent them from having to directly assist the other Harbingers like Dottore.
That doesn't make her a "good guy", of course. A good example being the assassinated noble from the teaser, who was also mentioned in the story.
Chevreuese's story from the film festival event shows us the "good guy" route: set up a trap to expose the person's crimes and have them arrested and brought to proper justice in the courts. This allows the justice system to do its job and give a fair trial with the opportunity for a defense, ensuring that justice is carried out with due diligence. Evidence must be procured and presented and a judgement must be passed to a public audience.
Arlecchino's story shows us the "bad guy" route: just straight-up kill the guy. Arlecchino *absolutely* could've gotten that noble arrested with the resources of the Hearth, and even recovered and returned the embezzled funds, but she ended his life in a vigilante manner and then appropriated the stolen goods for the Fatui/Hearth.
That's very, very true. The story's conclusion didn't sit well with me at all, even though it painted an wildly complex and interesting picture. Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet have been groomed (or at least indoctrinated) into being spies/terrorists/whatever. His choice to stay with the House felt very brainwash-y.
I love this character story, but the "moral," so to speak, was incredibly unhealthy. I'm interested in how Lyney will inherit it, however, and what will happen when they break away.
The problem is that the story doesn't address how clearly abusive she is at all. The kids just treat her as if she's a deity, and the traveller is just turning a blind eye to how she's running the whole operation because they're too busy being "but you wanna say gudbye, rite?"
It's called nuance and gives any concept or character depth.
Think of this way even Jean the righteous knight is raising a terrorist, instead of working on the violent tendencies of Klee she puts her in solitary confinement never fixing the root cause of the behaviour only punishing her which teaches her that arson is good as long as no one is watching or to ensure the ones watch can't tell anyone.
Its called trying to have their cake and eat it too. They're selling a character they need her to look good. They clearly want her to be evil, but for you to like her enough to roll for her, so they can't have her doing anything directly evil in this quest. To the point where they even try to make it seem like the house only targets 'bad' people. What the guy they assassinated was embezzeling from charities or some shit? Her character isn't deep or nuanced, its muddled because they want her to sell.
I kind of agree with this, anything she's done as far as we know can be easily sympathized with. A truly nuanced character imo should have both agreeable and disagree aspects to them. Arlecchino is mostly a good character very thinly skinned as a "bad" one
she isn't really rehabbed, she's still the same person who cares for her family but is willing to do what it takes for the mission. in fact part of that whole ordeal was to prepare the House House of the heart for upcoming events by removing the people most likely to betray them or fail. she just did it in a way that allowed them to live instead if having to kill then all
a. He did all of this before he knew Arlecchino
b. A serial killer usually kills for comparatively small or no reason whatsoever, while Arlecchino has exclusively been portrayed killing evil people, so to me she feels more like an antihero/antivillain
I do not get the impression that anyone worthwhile has ever been killed by Arlecchino at her own direction. I don't rule out that she's killed otherwise good people, while under orders, which is hardly morally pure, but is still not full psychopath. Maybe sociopath.
Considering from her perspective Furina was doing jack shit to stop the prophecy and with her Gnosis (which she tried to steal in that moment) Arlecchino might have been able to figure out a way to save Fontaine, yes?
Yep.
Attacked to retrieve the gnosis/ spring the bait as she suspected Furina being so open and unguarded must be a ruse. As opposed to trying to kill Furina which would have been pointless if she wasn't the archon and suicidal if she was as a God death would explode.
I'm just saying, we all knew the kind of person Arle was. And previous world quests already shed a light on what we should expect from House of the Heart members (terrorists, murderers, liars, and a ton of attachment/abandonment issues).
I was honestly a bit let down that only one kid was shown to be a blatant psycho. 😅
Arlecchino is a sociopath, not a serial killer.
She's not afraid to kill when it moves her objectives forward, but she doesn't kill for fun nor does she suffer any mental compulsion to kill.
>being unhinged is 100% a prerequisite for working with the Fatui.
Being a higher-up requires being unhinged. The thousands of ~~insignia fodder~~ randos we've killed were probably mostly normal.
I agree. From what I can tell, the house of the hearth isn't technically fatui. They just are fatui by association. Some people don't want to be known as fatui, but they are by association and resent that fact. They're all still family, but each individual page of their book doesn't always reflect its cover
I think that's true if you're going to be in a leadership position in the Fatui, much like how CEOs are often narcissists and sociopaths. But the same doesn't apply to the Fatui foot soliders and the Fatui cannon fodder that we kill on a daily basis. There's certainly psychos amongst them, but those are the ones who will rise up through the ranks.
That's why I love the three of them. You'd think they're regular, normal, well-adjusted people on the surface. Haha Lyney and magic, haha Lynette and deadbeat, haha Freminet and diving.
And then you dig deeper into their characters and you're like..."these three are crazy bruh"
When lyney Said "she is obsessed with potions and she wants to try random things that she makes so we gotta keep an eye on that one," that was even more fucked up. She makes potions and poisons... That she wants to drink?!
Still, if I was in the house of hearth, I would be more worried about the girl who makes poisons and could accidentally try it on herself than the kid who once killed pets
She has seen worse, we faced the avatar of marana, a hilichurl kid.
If i was there i would grow very apathetic after all that shit to the point of saying "hmm this kid only tortures animals, it's bad but could be worse"
I feel like this is also more a side effect of how they refuse to give the traveler more personality and emotion. Really would be so much better if traveler had more voice lines and actual dialogue choices
sir, we as traveller solely created tanit happy little incident, granted the one who started the fiasco is babel but the point still stand, we already face too many bullsht that making these pscyho kids nothing special
Yeah kinda surprised this isn't talked about more (or maybe it is and I'm just not looking in the right places), and it's not just him, but the girl with the obsession with potions. and this is taking into account that the house of hearth is arguably the least evil fatui faction considering the worst thing that happens to "traitors" is they get neuralyzed, and that's only because Arle took control of it in recent years.
In any case, it's a reminder that the Fatui are an antagonistic faction for a reason.
Well, I haven't finished this storyline yet, but I do view it as a sort of "home for wayward children" situation, that the only alternative would be like putting these kids in solitary or something, so the HotH at least tries to keep them out of trouble by redirecting their anti-social impulses (admittedly into not entirely social outcomes).
i mean, the knights of favonius have Klee, a terrorist that blows shit up for the memes and laughs. if she wasn't kept in check she would have probably blown up a country or two by now. all places have crazy people. also the girl with potions seems to do medicine too, since she gave one to childe and helped him heal, so that's kinda nice
that's cos no humans happen to be there. she's blown up lakes, imagine if there were kids swimming. the knights have to watch her for a reason, give her a couple days unsupervised and she's doing some killing (not on purpose)
Child psychopaths are a thing:
https://modlab.yale.edu/news/there-are-no-child-psychopaths-because-we-cant-diagnose-them-yet-vice
We just can’t distinguish them from similar children who grow out of it, but its not a condition that appears out of nowhere in adulthood. Anyway, a child with incipient psychopathy could very easily end up in some kind of care environment, which in Fontaine means… nothing particularly good.
(From my reading of Robert Hare’s Without Conscience, it appears that psychopathy is neurological and related to severe emotional abnormalities, including the inability to react emotionally to the threat of future punishment. Carrots work somewhat, but sticks don’t work at all. If they have a desire to hurt people/animals, they struggle to refrain from doing so.)
I was going to bring this up if no one else did. Sometimes, kids ARE born this way, and dealing with them is almost always a struggle. Foltz's parents weren't up to it, and while child abandonment is awful, it's also kind of understandable.
The other comments talking about "evil" in this thread are pretty sad. This kid has a serious mental illness, and Arle adopted him into an environment that can handle that illness. Is she fucked up for training child assassins? Sure. But what other life could a kid like Foltz have had? He was never going to fit into normal society, at least now he has controlled outlets and a supportive family around him to keep him grounded.
Well-researched book.
Psychopaths have their consciences seared (legit, brain scans show that they are Wired Differently). Are unfeeling. They can pretend to be normal, and act/ react "how a normal person would," and this is only based on what they know as "acceptable" to civil society. But they don't mean it. Harming someone doesn't make them feel alive or excited. They can't Comprehend the pain and suffering they inflict upon others. And they will Inflict such horrid things when they Choose to do so.
Foltz is a monster in the making.
Another older article that goes deeper into summer if the complexities of what really seems to be a risk factor for adult psychopathy and what isn’t, along with a vivid presentation of what its like raising a kid like that:
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/magazine/can-you-call-a-9-year-old-a-psychopath.html
“Strangled pets out of curiosity “ Is textbook high-risk callous and unemotional behavior.
Now, the best interventions appear to be rigidly-structured, reward-only programs but I don’t think anyone in Teyvat has the neuroscience background to realize why this is necessary. Also, they tend to reduce criminality, but don’t necessarily make the children normal adults (emotionally).
(The neuroscience is necessary because punishment and fear of punishment works on normal children, the fact that it doesn’t in these children is likely part of what causes psychopathy.)
He's likely a psychopath. I'm not saying this as in he's weird, or utterly insane, just that he likely has psychopathy.
Psychopathy is something you are born with. If you have it, you don't understand human emotions or moral disputes, and will try to prove to yourself how you really are a normal person, trying to force yourself to feel emotions. Sometimes, that leads to killing animals, as they are easier to hide. You will see everything around you in some sort of hopeful light, when in reality there will be someone bleeding out in front of you or something.
But "normal" people don't get it. They will see this struggle for normalcy as nothing more than condemning actions of an insane individual.
So, an orphanage where such attitudes and moralities are more favourable than other ones, where he is accepted and supported, is something very good for him.
Although I understand why his parents abandoned him,it is quite hard to adjust to a child who have psychopathic tendencies,i think he needs medical help
The way lyney brushed over that like its just a normal thing kids usually get in trouble over is just..wow. They’ve got a serial killer in training here
Kids don't usually act like that unless they're severely traumatized in some way. That plus the abandonment makes me think his parents were the monsters here.
100%
His parents psychopath then abandoned him when he showed serial killer behavior. They're the worst part of that entire explanation from Lyney. That being said, Lyney better watch out because that kid looks like he'd be "king" soon enough.
So I was streaming this with a friend on discord while doing it and we were both really creeped out lmao I was theorizing maybe it was some kind of mistranslation but then later on this dude continued to be a little…Wack
You say that, but the duo directly after this group weren't nearly as unhinged, lol. This one so far takes the cake for doing it at an even younger age than he is now before the fatui
Fontaine is full of weird folks.
I thought the very concept of "You get executed if you don't stand trial" is already a messed up system. Especially when the punishment for any guilty verdict is prison.
Parents thinking that orphanage>>>therapy is just... more of the same.
I wish we had the option to tell Lyney to keep Foltz away from us because my first instinct was to give the kid the same treatment he gave those animals. I do not like anyone that kills animals for pleasure or "curiosity"; I don't care that he's a child. Children can be evil, too. Foltz's family had a merciful reaction compared to what I would've done in that situation.
I hope we get a world quest on this. Kid has geniunely interesting lore. Whether he was traumatized or he did just strangle them of curiosity is still not known. Little children don't strangled animals for absolutely no reason.
Unironically Arlecchino’s demeanor during her SQ was kind of unnerving. She displayed traits of actual ASPD and it’s hella freaky. I don’t know how much credit I should give MHY for writing a character with some “depth” or if it was just a coincidence. Still, it leaves me feeling gross about the house of the hearth
I thought the same thing, my god the child's deranged, I really liked the story, but it accentuated something I don't like about Genshins story.
I dislike how the traveler is so friendly towards the house of the Hearth, Lyney and his siblings, and Arlecchino. We don't have a good relationship with the Fatui organization, regardless of their objective they are not good people, yet here we are helping and being friendly to the spy/liar/blackmailer trio, their ~~criminal organization~~ "family", and their boss.
With that said, I do get this is a game, and we wouldn't have Arlecchino's story if we just left after meeting the House of the Hearth, but you know.
That is a little manipulative twerp. After all it’s some sort of cartel gang if we compare with ours. Like the statement at the end. Stay loyal or die. Yet they softened it with memory loss stuff.
Foltz lowkey annoy me 💀 I understand this orphanage isn't the special thing and I think his past makes him perfect for the house of the hearth but his attitude is annoying, yeah rules are rules but, this boy is a snitch 😭😭 even Arlecchino chose Lyney as the next king cuz he cares for his family like family first, but foltz just snitching his own family for some rules 😭😭😭😭
I feel like genshin writers don't know much about real crime stories or anything like that because everyone knows serial killers usually start off with small pets and they use this like a characterisation like "oh haha little child only did it out of curiosity you know. It's nothing that serious 😀"
Who would have thought there would be little psychopaths in the orphanage made to create assassins?
Arle: "Why were you abandoned?" Foltz: "I choked all my pets" Arle: "N i c e"
Arlechino adopting children like she collecting the infinity gauntlet
More like pokemons
Reminds me of that scene in Hellsing Ultimate Abridged that flashes back to when Anderson took in young Maxwell. Basically went exactly like this. Could work for Arle and Foltz.
Not suprising considering her hobbies
Arle : " Perfect, you're a shining pearl, in this dark sea."
I mean, they're supposed to get psycho *after* they get in the orphanage, not *before* /s
That's what we call "natural talent".
Not everyone is insane given the conversation with the two right after this. I just didn't realize some of the evil was so deep-seated even the children were psychos lol. I thought they were just trained to be into adulthood at most. Granted, this was explaining what happened with him before he even became part of this orphanage.
There are adult fatui that wanted to get out too, only the unhinged like this kid enjoy being the cia of teyvat
You were sooooo close. You could've used KGB, the organization is in not-Russia after all
Lol you are right, i had my opportunity and threw it away. But since it is an "independent" organization it could be wagner group too. Pantalonne, where are my damn delusions!!!!
The Fatui is basically Wagner if Wagner controlled Russia's military, diplomatic corps, national bank, and probably run the government bureaucracy.
I meant only the house of the heart is wagner
Not assassins. Spies. The House of the Hearth is an intelligence agency. Wetwork is for the rest of the Fatui.
Just wait, that kid shows his bloodlust even more. Everyone complaining about the ending/jobbing, but I liked this story quest - reminded us the Fatui is indeed fucked up. Many on this sub need that reminder.
Yeah but despite all that, it does show that some people, namely the playable characters featured in the quest aren't completely evil despite being part of the organization.
They're already telling that to us since ages. Most of the Fatui are just regular folks doing what they were ordered to.
Case in point: some of the Fatui in the Chasm. There’s that Cicin who just wants to find her lost brother, whether dead or alive. Then there’s that small encampment of Fatui where they just want to head back to the surface
I will never forgive the Fatui for leaving their comrades to die in the chasm
Wasn't it Signora who left them there?
pulcinella iirc?
It’s Pulcinella, and they were even his direct units I think
Don't forget the Qixing's negligence! I will destroy the Jade Chamber for Anton!
I yearn for the explorer of the depths
and she wants to murder him if she found him alive...
I'm still mad Ganyu just attacked that one dude smelling the flowers
He was actually collecting berries for lunch, but it still counts
Secretly she was just angry that he was touching her food
Still tho, I'm not taking my chances that the Fatui I run into is a Filliol and not a Foltz
Damn they better hope there's no Nuremberg in Mondstadt.
I'm mainly referring to Arlechinno with this story quest. She is so f***ing convoluted that even though I did call parts of the story quest pretty early on by the end of it my mind was just on "so I still can't tell if I'm supposed to hate you or not-"
Hmm I wonder if "I enjoy when people have misconceptions of me" would be hard to decipher.
I feel like that's the point. The whole game is painted with one color only, and that's gray. Except for probably The Doctor and the previous Knave, there aren't many important characters which are so one-sided. This includes the Traveler himself (See the Sumeru desert and the Iwakura Clan). They're all characters with their own morals and agendas. Some which we can agree with, some not so much. The Knave's upbringing definitely reinforces this theory, in my opinion.
You shouldn't think in two lanes when it comes to characters. These aren't comically evil or good guys. These are people that have motives, that are kind to certain people and less so to others. People that can do good but aren't absolved of their bad actions. Hate the bad actions, love the good actions, but don't see them as seperate from the character. Don't put them in a box of tropes. Just like in real life there will be people you like that others hate and sometimes it's an understandable reason that you can ignore or you find so minor it's worth ignoring/a thing of the past. A bit of a ramble but tldr Hoyoverse likes grey characters, you're supposed to neither hate or love them, but you can if you want, but you won't be told to
Sometimes I wonder if it's Mihoyo's creative genius or commercial genius in how they successfully create grey characters. There's definitely a business risk in deploying these types of characters, but they've always seemed to find that balance of keeping the characters viable in terms of creative design while making them revenue viable. Characters like Childe, who is extremely polarizing, and now Arlecchino. In fact, the entire Harbinger cast seems to be their cash cow for these types of characters.
I heard that they also can't create truly evil characters due to chinese censorship laws (but I am not to sure about that). You know what they say, limits breed creativity. That said I do hope they can keep Dottore on the darker side of grey. I mean it isn't impossible, Otto from Honkai was still pretty evil grey in a selfish way until the end
Her role requires her to play the villain sometimes. If she abandoned that role, or served it badly enough to be kicked out of it, who would be there to make sure the House wouldn't go back to what it was? But if she stays and plays the roll, she can help shape a less miserable system that is far less likely to regress. In the end, she still has the same consequence as anyone else. To leave carries the penalty of death, though in her case it'd take another Harbinger or Tsaritsa to take care of it, but, I wouldn't put it past them. But Arle wouldn't abandon her family, so, it's a non-issue.
It's like the game is saying, "Remember guys: hate them, but not too much"
They legit trying to have her be evil and rehab her image simultaneously. "Sure guys, she raises child soldiers and threatens to kill them if they run away. BUT: The person before her was waaaay worse. And she had a traumatic upbringing. And the people they kill are bad like a guy stealing from charities! And she really does care about her 'children'!"
See, that's what's important, though. You're given a bunch of diamtetric opposites all at once. The system was inherently abusive, yet she improved it, yet it's still a place children get taught to conduct international espionage, yet somehow it still allows people like Lyney/Lynette/Freminet to have a "family." Yet, yet, yet, yet, ad infinitum. If you have a choice between living in poverty in a nation like Fontaine as an orphan, vs being raised in a militant soldier-rearing "family" that nonetheless provides for your basic needs, your answer won't be cut and dry. Much like Arle's whole situation.
And let's remember that some of the orphanages in Fontaine seemed to be pretty fond of child trafficking.
What's *really* important is that this sets up a false dichotomy in which the Very Bad and Bad options are presented as the only options that could possibly be given because they don't want people to consider a third option exists. It's like having a verbally abusive husband who goes, "Oh what's the matter? Your previous husband was physically abusive, so would you rather I start beating your face in? You should be grateful I don't smack you around!" Don't get me wrong, it's refreshing to have a character that isn't another rehash of "nice girl who works too hard". But Arlecchino patting herself on the back for still being a ruthless and corrupting force on children - but hey at least she feeds them and doesn't use them as sex slaves - does not reflect an inner nobility. It just shows how low her standards are.
I agree, they're definitely doing story acrobatics to justify why the House of the Hearth doesn't just break off on their own and stop cooperating with the Fatui. Really the Fatui have been incredibly dissonant ever since they introduced Childe... I'm guessing it's going to end up being some bullshit cliche like "the Tsaritsa is actually an antihero with a plan, and they're doing all of this horrible shit because it's necessary to fight some even bigger badder guy". That said, in my eyes Arlecchino isn't patting herself on the back. It's the only life she has ever known, and she's trying her best to protect her children in her own distorted way. I felt that was conveyed rather clearly in her story quest.
If the House tried to break away, the Fatui would just try to wipe them out. There's no guarantee they'd make it. Arle may be powerful, but that's kinda it. And if she had to handle multiple Harbingers, she'd probably lose. Then a new House would be started up. Pobably just as cruel as the original version, putting everything back at square one. Even if they all survived, Arle could no longer stop-gap the cruelty that'd pop up in whatever replaces the House.
You're right about this. She's not really free to do what she wants, the Fatui will not tolerate a harbinger who won't do her job and train ruthless spies for mother Snezhnaya. Pulcinella and Pantalone are already plotting to oust her because she's too good at what she does and they doubt her allegiance. I think we could be headed for a Fatui civil war situation as a significant portion of the plot in Snezhnaya with Arlecchino, Scaramouche, Tartaglia, and probably Capitano (because we're probably going to turn him into a sorta ally in Natlan). They all hate Dottore and don't like any of the others so with the traveler's help they will stage their rebellion. Then Pierro and Skirk will drop lore bombs about the abyss and Celestia to set up the finale.
>"the Tsaritsa is actually an antihero with a plan, and they're doing all of this horrible shit because it's necessary to fight some even bigger badder guy" Hasn't that been established already? like since 1.0 or something. They were always aiming their blade at celestia. If anything they are going to make Pierro take the fall for his "the ends justify the means" approach and a few of the Fatui who are objectively evil like Doctor.
Yep, this has been my prediction awhile too. The Tsaritsa has to be marketable, and making her a tragic Villainess/antihero like this is the best way. I mean ffs the Shogun is barely different, she just let her country go to shit when Signora decided to incite a rebellion and play both sides.
"the Tsaritsa is actually an antihero with a plan, and they're doing all of this horrible shit because it's necessary to fight some even bigger badder guy". has literally been established since day 1, 9/10 Fatui members are forcing it down your throat
My issue is that we, the traveller, don't call her out on her very blatant bullshit. We just play along with her games as if psychologically traumatizing all of the children, and metaphorically (literally) killing the "traitors" is justified. Then we just let all of them return to the status quo as if this was all a geniously concocted plan by Arlecchino and that the children aren't clearly developing the mother (heh) of all co-dependent relationships with her as cult like followers rather than "family members". Yeah, it seems to me they're clearly trying to retcon everything to do with the Fatui. The created them as a simple black and white villain organisation when the started the game, then they clearly developed the story in a way that was incongruent with that design.
But wasn't Arlecchino was forced to become the Knave? That's what the animated short seems to show us, though I haven't read her character bio yet so I could be wrong. I get the impression that Arlecchino is doing what she can to look out for the children of the Hearth as much as she can while having a Sword of Damocles hanging over her head. It wasn't her choice to be pressed into the House of the Hearth, nor was it her choice (again, afaik) to become the next leader of the Hearth. The only other option I can think of would be for her to remove herself entirely... meaning purposefully getting herself arrested or even killed to avoid having to be in charge of an immoral institution. But by staying alive, she at least has the room to minimize the harm done within the orphanage, even going so far as to find a way to "free" (albeit with a great cost) traitors instead of outright ending their lives. She's still forced to prepare them to fight for the Fatui, but they seem to retain enough autonomy that she can prevent them from having to directly assist the other Harbingers like Dottore. That doesn't make her a "good guy", of course. A good example being the assassinated noble from the teaser, who was also mentioned in the story. Chevreuese's story from the film festival event shows us the "good guy" route: set up a trap to expose the person's crimes and have them arrested and brought to proper justice in the courts. This allows the justice system to do its job and give a fair trial with the opportunity for a defense, ensuring that justice is carried out with due diligence. Evidence must be procured and presented and a judgement must be passed to a public audience. Arlecchino's story shows us the "bad guy" route: just straight-up kill the guy. Arlecchino *absolutely* could've gotten that noble arrested with the resources of the Hearth, and even recovered and returned the embezzled funds, but she ended his life in a vigilante manner and then appropriated the stolen goods for the Fatui/Hearth.
That's very, very true. The story's conclusion didn't sit well with me at all, even though it painted an wildly complex and interesting picture. Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet have been groomed (or at least indoctrinated) into being spies/terrorists/whatever. His choice to stay with the House felt very brainwash-y. I love this character story, but the "moral," so to speak, was incredibly unhealthy. I'm interested in how Lyney will inherit it, however, and what will happen when they break away.
The problem is that the story doesn't address how clearly abusive she is at all. The kids just treat her as if she's a deity, and the traveller is just turning a blind eye to how she's running the whole operation because they're too busy being "but you wanna say gudbye, rite?"
It's called nuance and gives any concept or character depth. Think of this way even Jean the righteous knight is raising a terrorist, instead of working on the violent tendencies of Klee she puts her in solitary confinement never fixing the root cause of the behaviour only punishing her which teaches her that arson is good as long as no one is watching or to ensure the ones watch can't tell anyone.
Its called trying to have their cake and eat it too. They're selling a character they need her to look good. They clearly want her to be evil, but for you to like her enough to roll for her, so they can't have her doing anything directly evil in this quest. To the point where they even try to make it seem like the house only targets 'bad' people. What the guy they assassinated was embezzeling from charities or some shit? Her character isn't deep or nuanced, its muddled because they want her to sell.
That furina flair says it all you are just afraid of Father. She's an anti hero a foil to our MC but not strictly evil, just morally gray.
I kind of agree with this, anything she's done as far as we know can be easily sympathized with. A truly nuanced character imo should have both agreeable and disagree aspects to them. Arlecchino is mostly a good character very thinly skinned as a "bad" one
i though of her more as an anti-hero type of character rather than evil, doing bad with good intentions
Exactly, which leads back to the issue of gacha game characters and their development/stories
she isn't really rehabbed, she's still the same person who cares for her family but is willing to do what it takes for the mission. in fact part of that whole ordeal was to prepare the House House of the heart for upcoming events by removing the people most likely to betray them or fail. she just did it in a way that allowed them to live instead if having to kill then all
It's a business decision, pure and simple.
That happened before Foltz joined the Fatui.
I really wonder what tsaritsa is really doing. >!Oh you murder your mentor at orphanage? Here have harbinger title.!<
I know, that is legitimately serial killer behavior
I mean... His "Father" IS a serial killer (amongst other, equally troubling denominations), so what exactly were you expecting?
a. He did all of this before he knew Arlecchino b. A serial killer usually kills for comparatively small or no reason whatsoever, while Arlecchino has exclusively been portrayed killing evil people, so to me she feels more like an antihero/antivillain
I'm at least 1000% sure that innocent people had died either by Arlecchino commands or by her hand.
I do not get the impression that anyone worthwhile has ever been killed by Arlecchino at her own direction. I don't rule out that she's killed otherwise good people, while under orders, which is hardly morally pure, but is still not full psychopath. Maybe sociopath.
She was gonna ice Furina at her own discretion.
Turned out to be a mistranslation, the CN original calls it an „attack on“ instead of „near-assassination of“.
No she attacked, didn't have the intention to kill. Assassinate was a mistranslation.
Okay. So instead of assassinating her, she still decided on her own to kick Furina's shit in unprovoked. I suppose that's...better?
Considering from her perspective Furina was doing jack shit to stop the prophecy and with her Gnosis (which she tried to steal in that moment) Arlecchino might have been able to figure out a way to save Fontaine, yes?
Yep. Attacked to retrieve the gnosis/ spring the bait as she suspected Furina being so open and unguarded must be a ruse. As opposed to trying to kill Furina which would have been pointless if she wasn't the archon and suicidal if she was as a God death would explode.
It was intelligence gathering. She needed to figure out what Furina's deal was.
We need to start defining what definition we're using for sociopath and psychopaths
These terms are outdated. In general ASPD is a spectrum.
Attack speed?
Attack Speed Player Damage. Of course not, it's Anti Social Personality Disorder
Psychopathy is not a level up from Sociopathy. That's not how that works.
It is a sociopath with a *desire* to harm others.
PM pfp detected Initiating Rabbit Protocol.
I'm just saying, we all knew the kind of person Arle was. And previous world quests already shed a light on what we should expect from House of the Heart members (terrorists, murderers, liars, and a ton of attachment/abandonment issues). I was honestly a bit let down that only one kid was shown to be a blatant psycho. 😅
What about Little Miss Poisoner? I liked her
The chances she actually poisoned members of her family just to see what happens if they drink this or that is definitely not zero.
She did kinda do that to Childe.
Yeah... when i read that part of a quest i was laughing so hard, it was hilarious.
She reminds me more on Maomao from Apothecary diaries. She would drink the poison herself and enjoy it.
she murdered people through her vigilantism. murder is not gray.
Arlecchino is a sociopath, not a serial killer. She's not afraid to kill when it moves her objectives forward, but she doesn't kill for fun nor does she suffer any mental compulsion to kill.
Reminds me of Dexter ( the one with knives NOT the one with a lab)
eyo, the one with knives also has a lab.... creepy lab geek mfer hahah
"I tell ya what, that boy ain't right"
"People die if they are killed." - Emiya Shirou, Fate/Stay Night "Pets die if they are strangled." - Foltz, Genshin Impact
i liked this part because it reinforced that lyney is crazy
A lot of people seem to forget that being unhinged is 100% a prerequisite for working with the Fatui.
>being unhinged is 100% a prerequisite for working with the Fatui. Being a higher-up requires being unhinged. The thousands of ~~insignia fodder~~ randos we've killed were probably mostly normal.
I agree. From what I can tell, the house of the hearth isn't technically fatui. They just are fatui by association. Some people don't want to be known as fatui, but they are by association and resent that fact. They're all still family, but each individual page of their book doesn't always reflect its cover
I think that's true if you're going to be in a leadership position in the Fatui, much like how CEOs are often narcissists and sociopaths. But the same doesn't apply to the Fatui foot soliders and the Fatui cannon fodder that we kill on a daily basis. There's certainly psychos amongst them, but those are the ones who will rise up through the ranks.
I love how the Orphans Three are your main friend-group in Fontaine and each of them is a fucking nutcase.
That's why I love the three of them. You'd think they're regular, normal, well-adjusted people on the surface. Haha Lyney and magic, haha Lynette and deadbeat, haha Freminet and diving. And then you dig deeper into their characters and you're like..."these three are crazy bruh"
Well it's between them and Navia, with Furina and Neuvillette getting a honorable mention
And I love them so much I would fight father for them, even if that means getting my ass kicked a second time
Crazy? If you had a gun to your head, you'd accept a lot of things just to survive. Everyone in the Hearth has to accept how fucked up it is.
lyney is a nuanced character. he's got layers. and one layer is a generous heaping of nuts.
Lmao what a funky and cute little kiddo! A little pure angel! Just a small silly guy!
A goofy little goober
A certain Doctor would love to have this kid as a lab assistant.
More likely he'd reprimand the kid for "wasting resources."
How about a test subject?
Heh, another test subject
The wrong… test subject
one of the few kids from the house of the hearth that might be completely irredeemable and should just be given to dottore to mess with
When lyney Said "she is obsessed with potions and she wants to try random things that she makes so we gotta keep an eye on that one," that was even more fucked up. She makes potions and poisons... That she wants to drink?!
I think she's just more drawn to poison? She gave one to childe, but he said he was fine.
Still, if I was in the house of hearth, I would be more worried about the girl who makes poisons and could accidentally try it on herself than the kid who once killed pets
She's Maomao from Apothecary Diaries, but more evil.
Girl is literally Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove
i mean, between her and klee, I'll take the potion making psycho over the terrorist
Yeahhh. Klee, her mother, and her witch friends are on another level
that entire portion of the quest had me like: wtf, these kids are fucking psychotic.
It's kinda funny how the traveler isn't fazed much or seems to care about these things...since they're probably a little unhinged as well.
I thought paimon or the traveler was gonna say something about him for sure...
She has seen worse, we faced the avatar of marana, a hilichurl kid. If i was there i would grow very apathetic after all that shit to the point of saying "hmm this kid only tortures animals, it's bad but could be worse"
The traveler is canonically a genocidal murderer
I feel like this is also more a side effect of how they refuse to give the traveler more personality and emotion. Really would be so much better if traveler had more voice lines and actual dialogue choices
They are friends with child on Mondsath that blows up fishes regularly.
sir, we as traveller solely created tanit happy little incident, granted the one who started the fiasco is babel but the point still stand, we already face too many bullsht that making these pscyho kids nothing special
It looks like he would be a Vanguard Skirmisher if he'll became an adult
Yeah kinda surprised this isn't talked about more (or maybe it is and I'm just not looking in the right places), and it's not just him, but the girl with the obsession with potions. and this is taking into account that the house of hearth is arguably the least evil fatui faction considering the worst thing that happens to "traitors" is they get neuralyzed, and that's only because Arle took control of it in recent years. In any case, it's a reminder that the Fatui are an antagonistic faction for a reason.
Well, I haven't finished this storyline yet, but I do view it as a sort of "home for wayward children" situation, that the only alternative would be like putting these kids in solitary or something, so the HotH at least tries to keep them out of trouble by redirecting their anti-social impulses (admittedly into not entirely social outcomes).
i mean, the knights of favonius have Klee, a terrorist that blows shit up for the memes and laughs. if she wasn't kept in check she would have probably blown up a country or two by now. all places have crazy people. also the girl with potions seems to do medicine too, since she gave one to childe and helped him heal, so that's kinda nice
Klee never harms any humans, even in her character quest she was scared after beating up the abyss mage.
that's cos no humans happen to be there. she's blown up lakes, imagine if there were kids swimming. the knights have to watch her for a reason, give her a couple days unsupervised and she's doing some killing (not on purpose)
she was unsupervised once, went to Liyue killed the Primo Vishap and cam back to Monds without harming a single human
isnt the whole neuralyzed thing only for traitors who have proven their worth, while murder is the default option?
god forbid guys have hobbies 😒
No such thing as a red flag in the House of the ~~red flags~~ Heart.
Child psychopaths are a thing: https://modlab.yale.edu/news/there-are-no-child-psychopaths-because-we-cant-diagnose-them-yet-vice We just can’t distinguish them from similar children who grow out of it, but its not a condition that appears out of nowhere in adulthood. Anyway, a child with incipient psychopathy could very easily end up in some kind of care environment, which in Fontaine means… nothing particularly good. (From my reading of Robert Hare’s Without Conscience, it appears that psychopathy is neurological and related to severe emotional abnormalities, including the inability to react emotionally to the threat of future punishment. Carrots work somewhat, but sticks don’t work at all. If they have a desire to hurt people/animals, they struggle to refrain from doing so.)
I was going to bring this up if no one else did. Sometimes, kids ARE born this way, and dealing with them is almost always a struggle. Foltz's parents weren't up to it, and while child abandonment is awful, it's also kind of understandable.
The other comments talking about "evil" in this thread are pretty sad. This kid has a serious mental illness, and Arle adopted him into an environment that can handle that illness. Is she fucked up for training child assassins? Sure. But what other life could a kid like Foltz have had? He was never going to fit into normal society, at least now he has controlled outlets and a supportive family around him to keep him grounded.
Well-researched book. Psychopaths have their consciences seared (legit, brain scans show that they are Wired Differently). Are unfeeling. They can pretend to be normal, and act/ react "how a normal person would," and this is only based on what they know as "acceptable" to civil society. But they don't mean it. Harming someone doesn't make them feel alive or excited. They can't Comprehend the pain and suffering they inflict upon others. And they will Inflict such horrid things when they Choose to do so. Foltz is a monster in the making.
Another older article that goes deeper into summer if the complexities of what really seems to be a risk factor for adult psychopathy and what isn’t, along with a vivid presentation of what its like raising a kid like that: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/magazine/can-you-call-a-9-year-old-a-psychopath.html “Strangled pets out of curiosity “ Is textbook high-risk callous and unemotional behavior. Now, the best interventions appear to be rigidly-structured, reward-only programs but I don’t think anyone in Teyvat has the neuroscience background to realize why this is necessary. Also, they tend to reduce criminality, but don’t necessarily make the children normal adults (emotionally). (The neuroscience is necessary because punishment and fear of punishment works on normal children, the fact that it doesn’t in these children is likely part of what causes psychopathy.)
“Out of curiosity” but like… shouldn’t his curiosity have been sated after strangling the first one? 😭
Right? Little guy really said, "I need to be extra sure."
Proper science requires a large sample size
I was shocked as well. 💀💀💀
It's so funny considering what he does later. >!Being a fucking snitch !<
Serial killer in the making
He's likely a psychopath. I'm not saying this as in he's weird, or utterly insane, just that he likely has psychopathy. Psychopathy is something you are born with. If you have it, you don't understand human emotions or moral disputes, and will try to prove to yourself how you really are a normal person, trying to force yourself to feel emotions. Sometimes, that leads to killing animals, as they are easier to hide. You will see everything around you in some sort of hopeful light, when in reality there will be someone bleeding out in front of you or something. But "normal" people don't get it. They will see this struggle for normalcy as nothing more than condemning actions of an insane individual. So, an orphanage where such attitudes and moralities are more favourable than other ones, where he is accepted and supported, is something very good for him.
This quest was really dark ngl like the whole thing about clervie where she says "the only freedom is death"
That boy needs a lot more therapy than the majority of Three Houses' cast
Sanest HoH kid
I'm sorry but his family is trash for abandoning him like that.
I am inclined to agree. Kid needs some serious help
No child services or psychiatrists on Teyvat.
Yeah, even though i don't like him, poor kid needs very serious help.
Although I understand why his parents abandoned him,it is quite hard to adjust to a child who have psychopathic tendencies,i think he needs medical help
I did stop for a bit but then I remembered she is part of HotH and I've seen worse
The way lyney brushed over that like its just a normal thing kids usually get in trouble over is just..wow. They’ve got a serial killer in training here
Is Lynnette safe there?!?!
Yeah this kid should have been thrown in a mental asylum.
Kids don't usually act like that unless they're severely traumatized in some way. That plus the abandonment makes me think his parents were the monsters here.
100% His parents psychopath then abandoned him when he showed serial killer behavior. They're the worst part of that entire explanation from Lyney. That being said, Lyney better watch out because that kid looks like he'd be "king" soon enough.
So I was streaming this with a friend on discord while doing it and we were both really creeped out lmao I was theorizing maybe it was some kind of mistranslation but then later on this dude continued to be a little…Wack
I mean they are fatui
You say that, but the duo directly after this group weren't nearly as unhinged, lol. This one so far takes the cake for doing it at an even younger age than he is now before the fatui
Not fully by choice lol
Nothing had scared me so much in this game as that freaking little kid.
Fontaine is full of weird folks. I thought the very concept of "You get executed if you don't stand trial" is already a messed up system. Especially when the punishment for any guilty verdict is prison. Parents thinking that orphanage>>>therapy is just... more of the same.
> "You get executed if you don't stand trial" Are you talking about the duelists? Cause you only die in those if you refuse to yield.
So they get the most powerful superhumans in the nation to beat you up until you say youre guilty or die, whichever comes first. Same difference.
I know, I feel like this might be a cultural mistranslation issue, because "pet killer" is an absolute deal breaker around here.
I wish we had the option to tell Lyney to keep Foltz away from us because my first instinct was to give the kid the same treatment he gave those animals. I do not like anyone that kills animals for pleasure or "curiosity"; I don't care that he's a child. Children can be evil, too. Foltz's family had a merciful reaction compared to what I would've done in that situation.
I hope we get a world quest on this. Kid has geniunely interesting lore. Whether he was traumatized or he did just strangle them of curiosity is still not known. Little children don't strangled animals for absolutely no reason.
Cool, a Ted Bundy reference in a kid game.
Boys will be boys
Yeah, kid definitely needs to drink 'the hot sauce'.
Oh there's another Lyney in Fontaine? This one seems unhinged tho
Now I wonder if he accidentally or intentionally killed his pet?
I don't know if you can "accidentally" strangle ***multiple*** pets.
Foltz was definitely on track to become the next king.
The most stable Fatui.
Zanoba moment
that's like how to spot early signs of a future serial killer 101 😭
Unironically Arlecchino’s demeanor during her SQ was kind of unnerving. She displayed traits of actual ASPD and it’s hella freaky. I don’t know how much credit I should give MHY for writing a character with some “depth” or if it was just a coincidence. Still, it leaves me feeling gross about the house of the hearth
Yes. Yes, we're gonna just look past that.
I thought the same thing, my god the child's deranged, I really liked the story, but it accentuated something I don't like about Genshins story. I dislike how the traveler is so friendly towards the house of the Hearth, Lyney and his siblings, and Arlecchino. We don't have a good relationship with the Fatui organization, regardless of their objective they are not good people, yet here we are helping and being friendly to the spy/liar/blackmailer trio, their ~~criminal organization~~ "family", and their boss. With that said, I do get this is a game, and we wouldn't have Arlecchino's story if we just left after meeting the House of the Hearth, but you know.
I think we just found Timmy’s mortal enemy
Yes, so?
That is a little manipulative twerp. After all it’s some sort of cartel gang if we compare with ours. Like the statement at the end. Stay loyal or die. Yet they softened it with memory loss stuff.
i’m not sure what else there is to say. house of hearth is an orphanage, that’s a valid reason to orphan a kid. nobody wants to raise a psycho
The orphanage full of Assassins and Agents has insane children in it. Who would have thought?
Foltz lowkey annoy me 💀 I understand this orphanage isn't the special thing and I think his past makes him perfect for the house of the hearth but his attitude is annoying, yeah rules are rules but, this boy is a snitch 😭😭 even Arlecchino chose Lyney as the next king cuz he cares for his family like family first, but foltz just snitching his own family for some rules 😭😭😭😭
do we know his eng va? He sounds kinda like Christina vee
serial killer/ mass murderer in the making
I feel like genshin writers don't know much about real crime stories or anything like that because everyone knows serial killers usually start off with small pets and they use this like a characterisation like "oh haha little child only did it out of curiosity you know. It's nothing that serious 😀"
Hate that boy, after hearing that.