Thread by @reallynotventi

SPOILERS FOR ACT 3 OF ALBEDO EVENT//

Were We Really Talking About 'Sunsettias'? : a theory thread about the last conversation with albedo

ok ik that last conversation with albedo in mondstadt is confusing bc of his 'prank' and we're not sure if he's fakebedo or the real one. there are two possibilities: either albedo was just in a silly goofy mood and pranked us and then talked to us about fruits. or...

let's first focus on what was being said. what was the conversation about, if not fruits? well, just look at these dialogues and replace 'fruit' with durin. isn't this what venti did with durin? (bear with me this will make sense...)

isn't this what is happening with durin's corpse in dragonspine and all the beings that it is giving life to?

continuing the metaphor forward, like we replaced 'fruit' with 'durin', replace 'sunsettias' with 'albedo'.

now we come to the gardener metaphor. it's interesting, bc durin, albedo, fakebedo(s), they're all created from soil. in albedo's case, he is pure chalk that came from soil. he's the perfect rose, but there are others. only someone who tends to them will know the difference.

replace sunsettias with albedo again. entertain the possibility that you've had this whole conversation with subject two (fakebedo). doesn't it feel like he's saying that we care about knowing which is the 'real' albedo only bc we're convinced that there's nobody else like him?

in other words, we care about the real albedo, the perfect rose, because we've tended to him and built a friendship with him. if it's indeed the imposter, why did he give us a glimpse of his markless neck before putting a mark on? maybe bc he Wants the traveller to know it's him

subject two knows that the traveller can sense him even without seeing the mark. so if he, the poisonous rose, cannot deceive the traveller (gardener) nor eliminate them, then maybe... maybe he wants to be tended by the gardener too. or take us out for good 😭

it's a bit of a stretch perhaps, but i think if the person at the end was truly subject two, then the only reason for him to show us his bare neck for a second was for him to let us /know/ that's he's not albedo. and then talk to us like an equal, asking us to give him a chance.

i mean look, albedo warned us about dragonspine. why would he ask us to go live there.

in conclusion: either that was albedo telling us about fruits, or that was albedo telling us about how there are still dangers on dragonspine, or that was fakebedo telling us that's he's still around and would like to take us out (on a date) or take us out (with a sword).

https://twitter.com/reallynotventi/status/1467087460924420098

there's also this issue with Joel's dad which i think... if that's not really Joel's dad then that might've been a disguise for subject two to get into mondstadt undetected...